Reborn with my killer's looks-Chapter 31: The witness part 11

The temporal echo of the Reaper’s Charis followed the box through time, showing them the next significant event in its two-day history.

The colors reformed and the palace space dissolved, replaced by another location. A modern office with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a city at night.

Q sat behind a desk and the red-robed figure stood before him, the box held in both hands.

"See that this" said the red robe without preamble. "reaches Azzuri within the week."

Q took the box. "And the purpose?"

"Insurance. Our initial plans for the Nexus Key have failed, we’ll need another means to get our hands on it and on the one who bears the mark of Nemesis." The red robe turned toward the window. "We make sure the word gets out and they’ll come looking for it."

"That’s rather Clever." Q set the box on his desk. "And Azzuri’s safety?

"Azzuri is expendable. His only value is his greed and paranoia. He’ll keep it safe because I’ll tell him to. And when the time comes..." The red robe made a dismissive gesture.

He handed Q the box and he sent it somewhere else

The vision shifted again.

"Wait we didn’t get to hear what he was going to say." Said Josephine.

"The box wasn’t present at the moment, there’s nothing I can do about it." Replied the Blue Reaper

Now they were unmistakebly watching Montez, in his vintage shirt and dark glasses approaching a nervous-looking Robert Azzuri in what appeared to be a private restaurant booth.

"From our mutual friend," Montez said, sliding the box across the table. "He says it’s valuable. Guard it with your life."

Azzuri picked up the box with trembling hands, examining it from every angle. "What’s inside?"

"Does it matter?" Montez leaned back, supremely casual. "You’re being paid to keep it safe not to ask questions."

"But if someone asks—"

"They are supposed to know you have it, that’s the point." Montez stood, straightening his shirt. "Just put it in your vault and forget about it."

The vision began to fade.

Colors leached away, replaced again by that pristine white. The temporal echo had reached its limit.....two-three days of the box’s history, now fully revealed.

Calvin felt himself being pulled backward, yanked out of the vision like a fish on a hook.

He sucked in a breath, stumbling forward and found himself back in the real world.

The office materialized around them, Azzuri’s body still slumped against the desk and The Blue Reaper standing beside the box with those glowing eyes slowly dimming back to normal.

The box sat on the mahogany surface.

And it was shaking.

"Huh" Josephine started.

It started subtly, just a slight vibration against the wood. Then it intensified, rattling so violently that it danced across the desk surface.

The Blue Reaper’s eyes went wide behind his mask. "Get back."

The box exploded.

there was no fire, but the lid flew off with enough force to embed itself in the ceiling, and from the interior erupted a torrent of water.

it curled upward in a tight spiral, a serpentine column of liquid that twisted through the air.

And then it headed straight for the window.

"Move!" Luna shouted, but they were already diving aside as the water slammed into the reinforced glass.

The window shattered, but it definitely wasn’t the impact rather it was from the water seeming to dissolve the molecular bonds holding it together, a thousand glass fragments raining down onto the night

The water column shot through the opening and into the darkness beyond.

For exactly 10 seconds, nothing happened.

Calvin counted them in his head as he slowly moved toward the broken window, the metal from around the office beginning to orbit around him defensively.

Something hit the building with the force of a missile strike and it shook.

The wall beside the window exploded inward in a spray of brick and mortar.

Water burst through the opening like a tidal wave compressed into a hallway, a destructive torrent that would have drowned them all in seconds if Josephine hadn’t reacted.

she created a wall of light with her outstretched hands.

A barrier of solid light materialized between them and the water, a glowing golden surface that held back the flood through sheer force of will.

But Calvin could see the strain on Josephine’s face, the way her arms trembled and the sweat already beading on her forehead.

She couldn’t hold it forever.

The water pulled back, gathering itself, and they could all see the shape it was forming.

A man, or something that had once been a man.

The figure that emerged from the wall of water was tall and lean, dressed in a white robe that clung to his translucent form. Water flowed constantly across his surface.

And his face.....

The blue reaper recognized it from the vision they’d just witnessed.

Phillip. Phillip the Purger.

The water-man’s eyes fixed on them, and when he spoke, his voice sounded like it was traveling through deep ocean.

"The Blue Reaper," Phillip said, each word accompanied by the sound of rushing water. "And the Trinity, How... convenient. The master will be pleased."

Calvin’s hands were already glowing green, every piece of metal in the office beginning to vibrate in response to his Crest.

Luna had taken a step back and readied her staff.

Josephine held her light wall steady, but her pneuma was beginning to waver.

And Phillip just floated there, a monster made of the very element that covered 70% of the earth.

"I’ve been looking for you, Reaper," Phillip continued, taking a step forward. Water from his footstep spread across the floor like blood from a wound. "And your negativa touching that box, was all I needed to know that you had taken the bait."

The Blue Reaper wondered what he meant by negativa but it was clear this man wanted nothing more than to hurt them.

"You’re probably wondering what I mean by negativa, I thought my foolish brother would have explained that to you." Philip clenched his fists

"You see the power you and I share stems not from how much pnuema you have, but instead how much you lack."

"Our master is better positioned to explain this to you, so why don’t you come with me."

Said Philip with an outstretched palm.

The blue reaper instinctively took a step back and The Trinity followed suite.

They were all technically in combat gear, but this office wasn’t designed for a fight against something that could literally drown them with a thought.

This was very, very bad.

"I didn’t fail the master," Phillip withdrew his hand and said In a reminiscent tone. "But Peter did, and when Peter fails, I suffer. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will always be."

He took another step forward and the water spreading from him had reached Josephine’s light wall now, beginning to seep around the edges.

"So I’m going to make this very simple," Phillip continued. "The master wants the Blue Reaper alive. He has plans for the one who bears the mark of Nemesis. But the rest of you?" His smile was terrible. "Will immediately be purged of your sin."

The water surged forward.

Josephine’s wall held for approximately half a second before the sheer mass of liquid overwhelmed it, shattering the wall of light.

And then the room was full of water, chaos and the very real possibility that they were all about to die.