Chapter 476 A Debt Paid
"You heard me. Take their souls." Cain ordered. Lee Seng watched the men inch closer to the woman as she backed herself up into the rusted cars. The men cracked a wicked smile as one of them pointed straight at her.
"Get her." The cacophony of yells erupted in the stale air. Four men dashed forward towards the woman. Lee Seng watched as the men\'s forms shifted. Weapons flew out of their bodies with ease as they swung at the woman. Lee Seng began to move when the woman dodged the first set of attacks with ease.
\'How can she—\' Lee Seng\'s thought unfinished as the woman swung the hind of her boot straight into the first man. A knife flew out of her boot, piercing him as she pulled. Her lef bent, knee flying socking the first guy running at her.
"Take their souls before its too late." Cain told Lee Seng.
"Why it looks—"
"Heh." The woman\'s voice distorted. Her image flickered for Lee Seng and the innocent woman who was doing well, turned into something sinister. The woman bent her arms and legs in weird shapes, quickly slithering through the air past her opponents.
"What the—" One of the men began to say when the guy she knifed fell onto the ground. His skin glowed bright green like radiation as the snake lady made an odd \'sss\' noise.
"Oh what fragrance! I mussst feed on your poor ssoulssss!" The woman giggled. The men began to back away from her, all stuttering on what they should do now.
"Run!"
"Nuh uh!" The woman\'s arms erupted into large snakes, launching themselves at the men as they tried to dodge. Two men managed to dodge out of the way as the rest felt snake\'s chomp down on them. Lee Seng\'s neck pulsed, a mercury tattoo appearing. He could feel the urge to do what Cain had told him to do.
Lee Seng sprinted forward, body materializing. The snake woman turned as if she was anticipating him. A loud scream erupted from her vocal cords, green light washing over Lee Seng. He continued pushing through, punching the woman straight in the gut. The force pushed her backwards off her feet and into the rusted car wall.
The two men screamed as their skin began to pulse bright green. Lee Seng moved pas them, flying straight for the woman as snakes flew out of the smoke. The snakes shoved Lee Seng backwards through the air as two more men fell to the snake\'s deadly poison. Cain watched as his Collector was pinned to the ground by the snake woman. Snakes flew at Lee Seng, biting at him and injecting with poison. Each bite burned worst than the last as Lee Seng struggled to rip the snakes off of him.
"Ahahahahaha!" The snake woman cackled. She stepped out of the smoke, revealing her bloodied state. The two remaining men made a break for it. They ran in different directions. One of them would get out as the strange young man fell to her deadly poison. The woman lifted her hands, snakes firing straight for the men\'s necks. The snakes chomped straight down on the men\'s necks, bodies falling to the ground.
"A man like you wants to try to stop me? Ha! You think anyone can stop me? No!" The snake woman cackled. "And now I\'ll feast on you!" The snake woman lashed her right arm straight for Lee Seng. The snake whipped itself straight for the neck, chomping down on it. Poison oozed into Lee Seng\'s body. Lee Seng\'s body quickly turned greener and greener. The woman pulled away, cackling as the snakes melded back into her body.
Lee Seng laid, unmoving, on the ground as the snake woman took a moment to appreciate the amount of work she\'s done.
"Fools! You\'re all fools!" The snake woman smiled. Her eyes slowly went back to Lee Seng, moving closer to him. "And you… You smell like that retched place… Why do you smell like it? Are you one of those Reapers after me? Ha!" The woman looked away from Lee Seng. She slowly looked around her like she was trying to make eye contact with someone she knew was there. "You\'ll never get me! You\'ll never ever get me!"
Lee Seng\'s eyes opened, poison pouring out of his pores as he rose in his feet. His hand plunged into the back of her chest, straight out the other side as the snake woman\'s eyes widened.
"H-how…? You were… Dead!" The snake woman coughed blood. Lee Seng smiled allowing the woman to look at him as he turned his head to the side. A mercury colored tattoo glowed. It was a tattoo of a teenager on top of another teenager, stabbing the other. "No…! I-it can\'t be!"
Lee Seng ripped his hand out and plunged it back in, pulling the heart out. It was covered in snakes and green venom. Her form started to fall apart before him. Snakes spilled onto the ground as Lee Seng stomped on one of the snakes\' head.
"You\'ve taken more than what I offered you." Cain\'s voice spoke through Lee Seng\'s. "And for that… every soul you\'ve claimed will result in an additional hundred of years of restless torment before I give you up to where you\'re supposed to go." Cain giggled. Lee Seng crushed the heart as Cain\'s giggle grew louder. The snake woman\'s fear grew deeper as her body fell to the ground.
The colorful world turned to black and white. Lee Seng glanced at his bloodied green hand as Cain smiled. The cane slammed down onto the snake woman\'s spot. Cain\'s cane absorbed the snakes as he turned to look at his Collector.
"Job well done." Cain nodded. "Now, if you\'d just do what I say without me forcing you to, you would remember what to do." Cain grabbed Lee Seng and pulled his head to look at him. Lee Seng\'s arm dropped to his side as the mercury mark pulsed. "Do what you\'re told and you\'ll retain much more than you think I\'m offering you… Your fate is what you make It." Cain turned to the side and sighed. He patted Lee Seng\'s shoulder and the two vanished from sight.
Lee Seng snapped out of it, running at full speed like he had planned when he was stopped. His eyes went up, wondering who stopped him and to his surprise, Cain was looking down at him.
"C-Cain? W-what happened?" Lee Seng asked. Cain pushed the Fox Spirit backwards and swung his cane around. "Wh-what happened to the snake lady? I was about to go when—"
"You didn\'t go when I told you to. You watched like the observant little Fox you are. That won\'t work with me, Lee Seng." Cain replied. Lee Seng began to open his mouth when Cain continued. "If you are to survive as you are, you must adapt to Limbo\'s ways or else you\'ll be devoured by something much more willing to be my Collector. You must not hesitate to kill. It\'s killed or be killed around here.
"If you want to become a rock like promised, you must do what you\'re told when I tell you. You must always further my cause. If you don\'t, I\'ll make you do it. I\'ll creep into your soul and change you in ways you will not want to be changed. I will get what I want, got it?" Cain raised an eyebrow.
\'That\'s what happened.\' Lee Seng thought. He let out a sigh and kept his eye contact with Cain.
"Kill or be killed? It\'ll go as smoothly as you say it will?" Lee Seng asked. Cain nodded.
"Everything will go smoothly if you do what I say. You won\'t suffer as much." Cain replied. Lee seng let out a sigh. He didnt\' have any other choice. He needed to figure out what \'turning into a stone\' meant and if that helps him get to Keng and stop the two of them turning into a demon fox, it was probably worth it.
"Fine. Anything to stop me from turning into a demon fox." Lee Seng nodded.
"Good." Cain nodded. He threw the cane into his other hand and lifted extended his right arm out. Blood spilled and a sword appeared in Cain\'s hand. "Take this sword. It\'ll have to suffice while you\'re with me." Cain pushed the sword into Lee Seng\'s hands. "You won\'t be able to use any of your abilities while you\'re here. This sword and your immense strength, speed and vitality should be enough. You should do well with those things. You\'ve had plenty of time to hone your skills."
Cain turned around and stepped up onto the mercury throne. He spun around and sat, leaning his head onto his knuckles as he crossed his leg. Lee Seng pulled the sword out and noticed the red-stained metal. The brand of Cain flashed in the sword and Lee Seng quickly shut it.
"Powerless, again. Great." Lee Seng nodded, putting his hands behind his back as he looked at Cain. "Is there anything you need me to do since I botched the other one?"
"Your punishment first." Cain put up a finger. "Once you come out of that, we\'ll talk." Lee Seng immediately dropped to the ground. Pain erupting all over his body as his vision blurred. "Defy me and I\'ll make it much much worst."