In the alleyway behind the abandoned chapel, Kars and his homunculus minions in black cloaks that he named the Dark Hand, which is an assassination, espionage, sabotage, and infiltration specialist variant Kars recently created, surround Elsa and Ghislaine with their hands on their weapons hidden under their cloaks as they watch in silence while their boss walks towards the two women.
"You know, there was a greedy little bird who told me that there will be a clash between you two..." Kars said while thinking about Mei Mei, who sent him a letter through her bird last night to inform him about this, as he stopped three meters in front of Elsa and Ghislaine in the circle of his homunculi before he continued to speak. "And I also thought it would be quite a waste if one of you ladies happened to die without my consent."
"Oh my, that's the most arrogant thing I've ever heard..." Elsa chuckled at Kars' egoistic words before she glanced around at the homunculi around her before she carefully crouched down to pick up her Kukri knife that her severed hand was still holding onto while minding her naked lower half so she didn't flash Kars too much. "Not that I mind dying, but I'm still struggling to figure out why this would concern you."
As the assassin stands up with her knife covering her crotch and her arm covering her nipples as she assesses her situation, Kars, on the other hand, is gazing at Elsa's regenerating wounds around her curvy body briefly with interest, noting the way her wounds are healing unnaturally fast as they stitch themselves back together in seconds.
Then his gaze moved briefly to Ghislaine, who, in contrast, was bleeding from multiple deep wounds but still stubbornly gripping her sword with her eyes filled with fighting spirit, but the tail behind her remained defensive, showing her reluctance to engage in combat with Kars, especially in her current condition.
"Hell nah, I don't give a fuck about the opinion of an assassin, and since you are wanted, your human rights are nonexistent, so I can legit do whatever I want with you, and no one can say anything about it." Kars glanced back at Elsa as he replied to her with a gaze that was filled with disregard and mockery for her in general.
"Excuse me...?" Elsa narrowed her purple eyes as her grip tightened on the kukri knife.
"I'll deal with you in a bit, so just shut the hell up and wait for your turn." He said with a smirk as he watched Elsa's expression turn unpleasant at his attitude.
"The cat lady over there, however, I do owe her some courtesy of giving her an explanation." Kars then turned toward Ghislaine, ignoring Elsa, who was considering attacking him this instant for such disrespect but stopped her intrusive thought in time.
"What do you want...?" As she was being addressed by him, Ghislaine muttered with a guarded expression as she looked at her friend Saruda, who was being carried down from the chapel's roof by Kars' homunculi with some concern.
"Nothing too complex... you see, I've been lacking powerful combatants to do my bidding for quite a while." Kars began with a hum as he pulled out a piece of parchment from under his jacket.
"So my associate suggested that I recruit or hire someone, but not many combatants in Jinkai are qualified to serve me. The number of candidates was so small that I had trouble finding them since they were also fucking difficult to find... and here I am, in front of you two for that exact reason." Kars finished explaining as he used his telekinesis magic to move the parchment in his hand and sent it to Ghislaine, who grabbed it with some hesitation at first from the air.
"..." The feline woman looks down at the piece of paper and reads—wait, she can't read, so she can only awkwardly hold the parchment in her hand and stare between Kars and the paper, looking very lost.
The three of them then stood in silence for a minute while Kars and Elsa stared at the expressionless Ghislaine with their eyebrows raised.
"Well, you get what I'm on about...?" Kars couldn't help but urge the feline woman to give him some reaction or respond.
"Get what...?" Ghislaine responded, but not with what Kars expected to hear, as she was staring back at him with a blank look.
"Didn't you fucking read that?" Kars starts to feel irritated by her dull reaction and point at the paper in her hand.
"I... can't read," Ghislaine let out, with her cat ears dropped slightly and looking down at the paper in her hand, feeling a bit ashamed.
"Are you fucking serious...?" Kars gave her an incredible look after hearing such an absurd thing from Ghislaine, the Sword King's mouth, since Kars, who is a person that came from a world of very low illiteracy, couldn't believe that he would find such a person in real life while totally forgetting that he is not in his original world.
"Pfft—ahahaha...!" The awkward silence that followed was rudely interrupted by Elsa's sudden genuine laugh that resounded in the blood-stained alleyway, her shoulders visibly shaking as she looked between the bewildered Kars and the stoic, illiterate feline swordswoman who was giving her a dead glare.
The absurdity of the moment was just too funny for Elsa to not laugh out loud, and the tension in the air had been completely blown away by a piece of paper that started the entire thing.
"Right..." Kars ignored the Bowel Hunter and stared at Ghislaine for a few seconds; his expression was that of an amazed fast food worker listening to Big Smoke's order from the drive-through in San Andreas.
"Alright, give that back..." He sighed before he used his telekinesis magic to snatch the parchment back from her hand with a flick of his fingers, glancing at the contract that detailed Saruda's deal with the Blood Fund.
To be honest, he had not expected the Sword King to be this lame, and while her combat skill was probably elite tier, her academic side was clearly nonexistent, a muscle brain. Her aura is definitely in the negative at this moment.
"Fine, since you're actually illiterate, let me spell it out for you," Kars said, his voice regaining its serious edge as he gestured lazily toward the paralyzed Saruda, who was currently being held by two of the homunculi as they brought him into the circle. "Your monkey friend here has borrowed quite a lot of money from me, and I highly doubt he could pay it back in time with how this venture of you two to get that assassin's bounty reward ended up with me interfering."
"..." Ghislaine looked toward Saruda, her expression complicated with various emotions but mainly with frustration by the situation and concern for her friend.
She knew that the struggle to get rid of Saruda's debt was at its end now that she was seeing Kars and feeling his presence up close.
The man in front of her was undoubtedly a monster stronger than her. Even if she were at her peak condition, she wouldn't know how long she could last fighting against him; her experience and instinct told her so.
Ghislaine tightened her grip on the crimson sword, her muscles tensing with pain spikes all over her wounds. The silence that stretched between them was heavy, filled only by the distant sound of the city and the chuckled sound of Elsa, who was now completely healed.
Kars watched the internal struggle play out across the feline woman's face with a smirk on his lips. Now he has driven her to the cliff, and it shouldn't be that difficult to guide her to accept his deal that technically "helps" her and her friend out.
"The amount of debt is too unrealistic for you guys to do something about in just a month and a few days. I can't really legally do anything to Saruda before that, however, but that doesn't mean I have to compromise myself for your circumstances. You know that, right?" Kars almost monologued with Saruda's contract in his hand as he waved it around.
"Well, well, this is getting interesting..." Elsa muttered while twirling her kukri knife, with her gaze switching between the two of them. She found the scene quite dramatic, though she remained wary of the man and didn't do anything just yet.
The way the atmosphere seemed to bend to Kars' whim suggested a level of power that made her cautious but also curious if that actually reflected his real strength.
"Fufu..." The Bowel Hunter smiled with a deceptively serene expression as she remained silent, waiting to see if the Sword King would actually submit to that guy.
"I am not a charitable man, but I am a very generous man to my people. A woman of your skill is a rarity. I do have a need for such people, and if you agree to serve me, to be the sword that cuts through the obstacles I find tedious, I will have Saruda's debt settled in full right here and right now." Kars crossed his arms on his chest, his amber eyes locking onto Ghislaine's mismatched eyes with intense focus, daring her to refuse.
"..." Ghislaine broke eye contact first as she glanced at Saruda, whose eyes were wide and pleading at her despite the paralysis. Whether it is for her to refuse or to accept this deal, she doesn't know.
"I..." Then she looked back at Kars as the Sword King's pride warred with her loyalty to her comrade. She knew the type of man Kars was, or at least what the rumors said, so she knew that he was actually not treating the people who were indentured to him inhumanely, but he also didn't treat them like normal people either. An odd balance that confused her.
To submit to him and accept his deal felt like entering a luxurious cage and being taken care of like an exotic pet, but to let Saruda, who was forced into such circumstances and had to lose his freedom because of it, also didn't sit right with her, especially when she could help him so easily.
Slowly, she lowered her blade, the tip of the crimson sword clicking softly against the ground as she made up her mind with an exhausted but determined expression.
"I will serve you," Ghislaine muttered, her voice raspy and low. "But Saruda's debt must be wiped clean. No strings, no hidden clauses."
"Haha! Happy to hear it, and sure, his debt is clear from today, at this moment!" Kars let out a short, sharp laugh, the sound echoing off the walls in the alleyway as he used simple fire magic and burned the contract in his hand into ash. Kars wasn't really surprised by Ghislaine's submission, as he could tell that this feline woman was too soft on what she considered her friend. To actually sacrifice herself for her friend—how gallant.
"You have such a noble soul, cat. It is a double-edged trait, but it makes you a reliable ally at least, which is good enough for me." Kars then nodded his head and sent a signal to the homunculi holding Saruda before they released the paralyzed man and put him on his back on the ground.
"As for you, Assassin, you are coming with me whether you want to or not. It doesn't matter," Kars said, turning his gaze from Ghislaine toward Elsa. He didn't need her consent, simply gesturing for the Dark Hand to back off to make some space.
"Oh my, such a pushy attitude..." Elsa's amusement at being an idle spectator immediately vanished, replaced by a sharp flash of bloodlust. She tightened her grip on the kukri knife, her muscles coiled like springs, but the sheer number of homunculi surrounding her left her with very few viable exits.
She looked at Kars, who summoned his greatsword with a flash of green light, then at Ghislaine, who was already beside Saruda's side, speaking something quietly to him as the assassin felt the full oppressive presence, which Kars bore down upon her, telling her that any attempt to flee would simply result in a more violent game of cat and mouse.
"Let me give you some advice. DO NOT take my hit!" Kars grinned with his two canines showing as he brought his heavy greatsword to rest on his shoulder with an unusually heavy thud sound.
"Heh, you're so full of yourself..." Elsa tilted her head slightly as she pointed her knife at him with a clearly thrilling smirk that was filled with anticipation for the incoming deadly battle...