Reborn with my killer's looks-Chapter 47: Don’t stop

The sound of a blade cutting through concrete jolted Montez awake.

His body moved before his brain caught up. He rolled sideways, just as the pavement where he’d been lying split open.

The slash was Carved straight through the ground like it was butter.

Montez’s heart hammered in his chest. He tried pushing himself to his feet, but his body was still sluggish from the beating, the alcohol. From everything.

But adrenaline took over

And he managed launched himself upward, using what little pneuma he had left to propel higher onto the roof of the bar.

He landed in a crouch with heavy breathing and looked down at the street below.

steam rose from the cut edges of the slash where the heat had cauterized the concrete.

What the hell was that?

And then he felt it again.

That same pressure in the air with full killing intent behind it.

Montez threw himself to the side.

The door to the roof split in half behind him with a screech of tearing metal. The two halves collapsed inward, crashing onto the rooftop.

Montez didn’t have time to process it.

He was still airborne when he felt the third slash coming.

Mid-air with no ground to push off and no way to dodge.

"Shit."

He activated his Crest and detonated the air behind him, using the blast to propel himself backward at high speed.

His trajectory was wild and he slammed into the water tank on the opposite side of the roof.

The impact drove the air from his lungs and stars burst across his vision.

The water tank ruptured on impact and water gushed out in a torrent, soaking the roof and cascading over the edges.

Montez dropped through the spray and hit the roof hard.

Everything hurt.

His ribs. His back. His head.

He gasped for air, biting the blood of his tongue.

He managed to push himself up slightly on shaking arms arms.

Water pooled around him and his broken shades had fallen off somewhere in the chaos.

Montez looked up through the spray of water still raining down from the broken tank.

A figure walked toward him, backlit by the streetlights below. The silhouette was unmistakable even through the haze.

Tall and curved in all the right places.

Montez focused his eyes onto their silver coloured hair and Long trench coat billowing in the wind.

"I’d recognize that rack anywhere," he wheezed.

Hailee Cross stepped fully into view.

Her green eyes glowed in the darkness like a cat’s and her silver braids hung over her shoulders, swaying slightly in the wind. The water from the broken tank hadn’t touched her.

She’d walked right through the spray without getting a drop on her.

She stopped a few feet away, tilted her head, and smiled.

Montez coughed and forced himself to sit up more. Every movement sent pain shooting through his torso.

"To what do I owe the honor," he managed, "of the Vice-Magister of Luce Nera trying to kill me?"

"Oh, I’m not trying to kill you." Hailee’s smirk widened into a genuinely wicked smile. "I’m just going to cripple you enough so you can’t run. Makes the part that comes next so much easier when you’re not squirming everywhere."

Her eyes began to glow brighter.

Montez felt his own Crest respond. His eyes ignited orange, heat radiating from his body and evaporating the water around him.

"You know," he said, grinning despite the pain, "I’ve always wanted to go toe-to-toe with a Vice-Magister."

Hailee let out a light laugh that was Completely at odds with the promise of violence in her eyes.

"Oh sweetie." She took a step forward. "This won’t be a fight."

The concrete beneath Montez’s legs rippled and his eyes widened.

The solid rooftop turned into a thick and viscous like liquid. He instantly sank up to the thighs before the concrete solidified again.

Montez tried to pull himself free. He put all his weight into it and even tried using his Crest to try to blast himself out.

But Nothingnworkrd

His legs were locked in place like they’d been encased in titanium.

"I wouldn’t bother," a calm voice said from behind Hailee.

Montez looked up.

Professor Thadeus stood at the edge of the roof, his hands pressed flat against the concrete. His eyes glowed blue behind his glasses.

The glow faded slowly and Thadeus stood, brushing his hands off and adjusting his glasses with two fingers.

"You’re not getting out," Thadeus said evenly. "Even if a nuke dropped on this roof, your legs would stay pinned exactly where they are."

Hailee’s eyes dimmed back to their normal green, she let out an exaggerated sigh and crossed her arms under her chest.

"You’re no fun, Thadeus. I was just getting started."

"We need him conscious."

"He’ll still be conscious with a few broken bones. I’ll be careful."

"Vice magsiter Hailee."

"Fine." She pouted and stepped back reluctantly.

Thadeus walked over to where Montez was trapped and crouched down to eye level.

Hailee stood beside them, towering over both men with her arms still crossed. The position made her figure even more pronounced.

Even In his current situation, Montez still took notice.

Thadeus cleared his throat and his eyes snapped back to him.

"You’re going to answer my questions Honestly" Thadeus said calmly. "Or I’ll step aside and let her do whatever she wants to you."

"As tempting as that may sound..."

Montez looked at Thadeus. Then up at Hailee, who was smiling down at him like a cat that had just cornered a very interesting mouse.

Then back at Thadeus.

He gupled.

"What do you want to know?"

The holding room was still bathed in that eriee red light and Alessia still couldn’t move.

Her body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and her arms lay useless at her sides. Her legs were completely numb and she couldn’t even feel the cold concrete beneath them.

She lay there on the floor, surrounded by other Virelia students.

Some were unconscious, their chests rising and falling slowly.

Others were awake with their eyes wide and staring at nothing. Trapped in their own bodies just like she was.

There were fewer students now than when she’d first woken up.

She’d been counting and trying to keep track.

Seventy-two when she’d first come to.

Now? Maybe thirty

The metallic door opened and heavy footsteps echoed through the room.

Alessia’s heart rate spiked but her didn’t and couldn’t respond.

A figure walked in and scanned the room slowly, before pointing at a boy near the back wall.

Two others; guards or assistants or whatever they were grabbed him under the arms and started dragging him toward the door.

The boys lips moved to let out a scream or even a little protest but no sound came out.

His eyes were filled with terror as they hauled him across the floor like a sack of grain.

They pulled him through the doorway and the door slammed shut behind them with a heavy clang.

Alessia stared at the door. Counting seconds in her head.

One. Two. Three. Four—

A scream came next and it went on for about thirty seconds before becoming high-pitched, desperat and then cut off abruptly.

Alessia’s breathing was shallow and her eyes burned but she couldn’t even blink properly.

They’d been coming at intervals. Every ten, maybe fifteen minutes and taking students one by one.

The red gas they’d used on all of them was the same substance from the art exhibition weeks ago. She recognized the effects.

It depleted pneuma, dropping it so low that even basic motor functions became nearly impossible.

Recovery took days. Sometimes even longer depending on exposure.

"but we don’t have days."

Alessia looked at the student lying next to her.

A boy. Younger than her, maybe seventeen. His uniform was torn and his face was pale.

His eyes were starting to drift closed.

"Hey," Alessia whispered. Her voice came out weak and raspy. "Stay awake."

The boy’s eyes opened slightly and he looked at her.

"We’re going to be okay," she said, even though she didn’t believe it. "Just stay awake."

The boy’s mouth moved. His lips formed words slowly.

"I... can’t... feel..."

His voice was barely audible, like he was speaking from the bottom of a well.

"I can’t..."

And then he stopped talking, and his mouth hung open.

But his chest wasn’t moving anymore.

Alessia stared at him waiting for a reaction but eventually the realization hit her like a punch to the gut.

Panic surged through her but her body but it still wouldn’t respond.

"If we don’t get out of here, that’s going to happen to all of us."

She focused everything she had on her right hand.

All her will power and desperation.

"Move."

Her finger twitched slightly

"That’s something, keep going."

The door opened again.

Alessia’s heart hammered as the same figure walked in and scanned the room.

"Please. Please. Not me. Not yet...."

The figure pointed.

Someone on the other side of the room.

They dragged another student out, a girl this time. Her face streaked with dried tears.

The door closed.

And Alessia started the count down again.

One. Two. Three.....

And then came the screams.

Louder this time and it went on longer too. Almost a full minute before it cut off.

Alessia’s eyes found a small and sharp at the edges metal piece some distance away from where was lying.

She closed her eyes and focused everything on her hand again.

Her finger twitched, then her whole hand moved albeit Just a centimeter.

"Keep going. Don’t stop. You have to keep going."

Because if she didn’t?

She was next.