The inside of the massive red tent was warm. It smelled like expensive spices, strong wine, and unwashed bodies.
Karg paced back and forth across the floor. He was a massive man. He wore heavy iron chest plates over a thick leather tunic. Deep, ugly scars covered his bald head and his thick arms. He was the boss of the broken tooth camp.
He was a Middle Core Formation cultivator. He was at Level 5. In the wild wasteland, that made him a king. He was stronger than all the other scavengers and thieves. He ruled them with absolute fear and brutal violence.
He walked across stolen silk rugs. The floor of his tent was covered in loot. Wooden chests overflowed with glowing low-tier Aether cores. Stolen weapons leaned against the thick wooden support poles. Bright, glowing stones sat in iron bowls, casting a warm yellow light across the room.
Karg did not care about the gold or the weapons right now. He was waiting for his real prize.
He was impatient. He rubbed his thick, calloused hands together. He stopped pacing and stared at the heavy leather flap of the tent entrance. He listened to the loud, chaotic noise of his camp outside. The men were drinking. They were celebrating a very successful day.
Earlier that afternoon, Karg led a raiding party to the main trade route. They found a fat merchant caravan traveling from Cloud City. It was lightly guarded. Karg and his men slaughtered the guards in minutes. They killed the merchants. They stole three wagons full of expensive supplies.
But the best loot was not in the wooden crates.
The heavy leather flap of the tent finally opened.
Two dirty, armored bandits walked inside. They were grinning widely. They held the arms of a young girl, dragging her across the silk rugs.
The girl was small. She was incredibly beautiful. She looked like a fragile porcelain doll brought into a slaughterhouse. She wore a dress made of fine, pale blue fabric. The dress was torn at the hem. It was stained with dark mud and dried blood.
Her name was Luna. She was the daughter of the merchant Karg killed that afternoon.
Luna was not fighting them. She did not have the strength. She was completely broken. Her wrists were tied tightly behind her back with thick, rough rope. A dirty grey cloth was tied tightly across her mouth as a gag.
She was crying violently. Heavy tears streamed down her pale face. They washed clean tracks through the dust and dirt on her cheeks. Her whole body shook with terror and pure grief. She had watched Karg cut her father down. She had watched her mother die screaming in the dirt. Now, she was a prisoner in the monster's tent.
The two bandits dragged her to the center of the room. They pushed her down. Luna fell hard onto her knees on a red silk rug.
Karg looked at her. His cruel eyes scanned her small, trembling frame. He smiled. It was an ugly, dark smile. It revealed his yellow, rotting teeth.
"You brought her," Karg rumbled. His voice was deep and coarse.
"Yes, boss," one of the bandits said. He wiped his nose with the back of his dirty hand. "She fought a little in the wagon. But she is quiet now. We made sure nobody else touched her. She is all yours."
"Good," Karg said. He reached into a small pouch on his belt. He pulled out two dull, low-tier Aether cores. He tossed them through the air.
The bandits caught the glowing stones eagerly. They bowed their heads.
"Get out," Karg ordered. He waved his massive hand toward the door. "Tell the men outside to step away from the tent. I do not want to be disturbed for the rest of the night. Anyone who interrupts me will lose their head."
The two bandits laughed a low, ugly laugh. They nodded quickly.
"Have fun, boss," the second bandit sneered.
They turned around and walked out of the red tent. The heavy leather flap fell shut behind them. The loud noise of the camp was instantly muffled. The tent became very quiet. The only sound was the crackle of the glowing stones and the heavy, muffled sobbing coming from the girl on the floor.
Karg and Luna were completely alone.
Luna squeezed her eyes shut. She pulled her knees tight against her chest. She tried to make herself as small as possible. She could not breathe well through her nose because she was crying so hard. The dirty cloth over her mouth tasted like stale sweat and dust.
Karg did not rush. He enjoyed the moment. He liked it when his victims were terrified. It made him feel powerful.
He walked slowly around her. He circled her like a massive, hungry wolf stalking a wounded rabbit. His heavy iron boots thumped softly against the expensive silk rugs.
He rubbed his hands together again. He cracked his thick knuckles.
"Do not cry, little bird," Karg said mockingly. His deep voice vibrated in the warm air. "Your parents were weak. Weak things die in the wasteland. That is the rule. But you are pretty. I like pretty things. I keep them safe in my tent."
Luna whimpered behind the gag. She shook her head side to side.
Karg stopped walking. He stood directly in front of her. He looked down at her bowed head. He saw her soft, clean hair. He smelled the faint scent of expensive soap and flowers, completely out of place in his dirty camp.
He reached down with one massive, scarred hand.
He grabbed the knot of the dirty cloth tied behind her head. He pulled hard. The knot came undone. He yanked the gag down from her mouth.
Luna gasped loudly. She sucked in a massive breath of air. She choked and coughed. Her throat was raw from silently screaming for hours.
She looked up at him. Her eyes were wide, blue, and filled with absolute horror.
"Please," Luna whispered. Her voice was tiny and broken. "Please let me go."
Karg laughed. It was a dark, booming sound.
"Let you go?" Karg mocked. "Where would you go? You are miles away from the city. The beasts outside these walls would eat you in five minutes. No. You belong to me now."
He leaned down. He bent his massive knees. He brought his ugly, scarred face very close to hers.
Luna tried to lean back, but her tied hands prevented her from moving far. She was trapped. She smelled his breath. It smelled like cheap, sour wine and stale, rotting meat. It made her stomach turn.
Karg reached out. He grabbed her small chin with his thick, dirty fingers. He held her head firmly in place. She tried to turn her face away, but his grip was like iron. He was far too strong.
He smiled again. His yellow teeth were inches from her face.
He leaned in closer. He closed his eyes. He prepared to forcefully kiss her trembling lips. He wanted to taste her fear.
Luna squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She prepared for the ultimate disgust. She wished her heart would just stop beating. She wished she had died with her parents on the dirt road.
The kiss never landed.
The heavy, warm air inside the tent suddenly turned freezing cold. The bright yellow light from the glowing stones seemed to dim.
The deep shadow in the corner of the tent shifted. It did not make a single sound. It detached itself from the thick wooden pole. It moved across the silk rugs faster than the human eye could track.
It was a blur of absolute black.
Karg's eyes snapped open. His Core Formation instincts flared a fraction of a second too late. He felt a terrifying, massive pressure suddenly appear right beside him. He let go of Luna's chin. He tried to turn his head. He tried to reach for the heavy sword strapped to his back.
He did not even get his hand halfway to the hilt.
Nyx appeared directly on his right side. She did not yell. She did not announce her presence. She simply delivered death.
She held a small, curved dagger in her right hand. The blade was dark and dull. The edge was lined with invisible monomolecular wire.
She drove her arm forward in a short, brutal, horizontal strike.
The dagger plunged deep into the side of Karg's thick, muscular neck. The wire edge met absolutely no resistance. It sliced cleanly through his tough, scarred skin. It cut through his thick neck muscles. It severed his major arteries and completely shattered his heavy cervical spine.
Karg froze. His eyes bulged out of his head. He let out a wet, gurgling gasp.
Nyx ripped the dagger out sideways.
The pressure released. A massive, hot fountain of dark red blood sprayed violently from the gaping wound in his neck.
The blood sprayed in a wide, heavy arc across the room. It hit Luna directly. It splashed across her pale, terrified face. It soaked the front of her torn blue dress. It was hot and sticky.
Luna sat completely frozen. Her eyes were wide open in pure shock. She stared through the red blood dripping from her eyelashes.
Karg did not fall backward. His nervous system was completely destroyed. His massive body simply folded in half. He collapsed face-first onto the expensive silk rugs. His heavy iron armor clattered loudly against the floor. Blood pumped out of his neck, rapidly soaking into the stolen fabric.
He was dead before his face even hit the ground.
Nyx stood over the massive corpse. She held the bloody dagger at her side. She looked down at the shocked, blood-soaked girl kneeling on the rug. The silence in the tent returned, heavier and colder than before.