On the other side of the platform stood a scrawny man holding a megaphone, screaming at the crowd below.
The crowd roared frantically. In the chaotic din, the masked giant raised his axe and, ignoring the turbaned man's desperate pleas, cleanly severed his head.
Bella and Natasha were too far away. The straight-line distance from their hiding place to the central square exceeded three hundred feet. There was no time for a rescue attempt.
"What the hell is that thing? Please don't tell me it's another one of your undead creations." Natasha stared intently at the masked giant with the axe. Her first impression: terror. She had to consult the expert beside her.
Bella gave her a thumbs up. "Natasha, you're half right! That thing should be a bound-spirit corpse—a massive body assembled from numerous parts. By the looks of it, they didn't learn the technique properly, or maybe they only got part of the tradition. They can only add modern bioweapon viruses to the ancient ritual. What its actual state is now, I can't say for certain..."
Natasha sighed. "My first sixteen years of life were pretty normal. Ever since I met you, all kinds of bizarre things keep appearing..."
Bella's expression turned awkward. What could she say? "Me too"?
She tried to save face. "You need to look at this objectively. Even if I hadn't appeared, these agents and monsters would still exist. They just wouldn't have entered your life."
The corner of Natasha's mouth curved upward. Her gaze held an indescribable quality as she looked at Bella. "That's exactly why I love this thrilling life..."
Bella met her eyes. In Natasha's pupils, she seemed to see her own reflection.
The distance between them was extremely close. They could feel each other's breathing growing heavy. Despite Natasha's recent dedicated training, Bella still stood a few centimeters taller. Bella reached out to pat the other woman's shoulder, trying to defuse the awkward atmosphere. But somehow—as if possessed—her fingers unconsciously lifted Natasha's smooth chin slightly upward.
Alluring lips were mere inches away. Natasha, seductive to her very core, raised an eyebrow slightly. Her eyes held encouragement, uncertainty, and many more impossibly complex emotions.
Bella felt incredibly tense. Why was she tense? In her haste, she couldn't identify the reason.
They stared at each other for five seconds.
A burst of incomprehensible shouting interrupted their strange atmosphere. Both turned their heads in annoyance to find the man with the megaphone on the platform pointing in their direction, seemingly saying something.
The villagers, who'd been focused on the platform, all turned simultaneously to look at the shack.
"I'm going to kill him." Bella pointed at the man with the megaphone, her tone absolutely resolute.
Natasha closed her eyes, steadying her emotions. She quickly recovered, though with a somewhat troubled scratch of her head.
"...The informant's head is gone. Can you pull him back up?"
Bella rolled her eyes. "Are you trying to make my life difficult? Hate to disappoint you, but no, I really can't do that."
They complained, but their hands didn't slow down. As villagers surrounded them, they were met with a hail of bullets.
Natasha fired repeatedly, but like before, some villagers dropped with one shot while others could slowly climb back up after taking three bullets.
"This is getting troublesome. There are more infected in this village than expected." She kicked a villager in the side of the neck. His head ended up parallel with his shoulder, but after lying on the ground briefly, he could straighten his head and stand back up. That clearly wasn't something a normal human could do.
Bella was also firing, prioritizing suspected infected villagers.
These villagers had twisted faces and blood-red eyes. If you didn't know better, you'd think this was a vampire village.
"They can't be considered human anymore," she said.
Natasha pursed her lips, loading, aiming, and firing with swift efficiency. "Didn't need you to tell me that!"
Jason, who'd been standing aside like a statue, raised his machete and re-entered the battlefield.
Once ordinary villagers had been eliminated and only infected ones remained, Jason's kill count wasn't as impressive as before. He often needed two or three strikes to kill a single enemy. This annoyed him.
These villagers had extremely high defense and could use weapons.
"Watch out!" Natasha shouted.
A villager wielding a chainsaw, head covered with a burlap sack, suddenly charged from the side. The chainsaw buzzed menacingly as it sliced toward Bella's waist.
She'd been prepared. Grabbing a villager holding a pipe wrench, she shoved him hard toward the chainsaw attacker.
"Zzzzzt!—" The sharp chainsaw cut the pipe-wrench villager diagonally from shoulder to ribs, slicing him in half.
Before the chainsaw could rise again, Bella quickly leaped away. Her Lightning Rapier flashed white as it thrust straight into the chainsaw villager's head. With a muffled explosion, the entire head burst into pulp—parasite and brain, all obliterated.
"Nice work," Natasha offered brief praise.
"Let me show you something even better!" Bella was extremely pleased with herself. She looked around, selected a particularly strong-bodied villager, grabbed his neck, spread her fingers, and traced a complex pattern on his chest.
Smoke suddenly rose from her arm and palm, faintly carrying the sound of air raid sirens.
In less than three seconds, Bella released her grip. The unfortunate villager staggered forward two steps, then underwent a dramatic transformation.
His body stretched taller and longer. Muscles bulged. His head sprouted an enormous triangular metal helmet!
Bella had used this villager's body and life force as a foundation to briefly summon Pyramid Head to the material plane!
This spared her continuous psychic energy consumption during the summoning. The cost was the life of that villager.
Pyramid Head's utility in this chaotic battle far exceeded Jason's.
Arms swinging in full arcs, one horizontal slash could bisect three or four villagers. Pyramid Head dragged his massive blade across the ground for several steps, building momentum, then delivered another devastating horizontal cut!
His movements seemed slow but were actually fast, methodical, and filled with a violent beauty.
Jason immediately noticed Pyramid Head's arrival. He looked at his own machete, then at Pyramid Head's six-foot blade.
He had to acknowledge a hard truth: this was his big brother!
He hadn't noticed before, but now he realized his blade was too small!
This time when he returned to Crystal Lake, he'd forge a greatsword! Six feet might be too much to handle, but five feet should be manageable.
Natasha had become immune to Bella's summoning abilities. She wouldn't be surprised if Bella summoned a robot at this point.