To say that a massacre occurred wouldn’t be the proper way to describe Mae’s antics. Rather, it was a feast. A bloody feast comprised of raw flesh and bones.

The first to perish was a young woman who, unlike the others who were frozen in shock, tried to run the second that she saw Mae moved. But of course, Mae was far faster than her.

Unseen blades fell upon the woman’s body and shredded her skin and flesh, making her look as if she had been put through a meat grinder. Before she could even register the pain, another unseen force slammed down on her, spraying blood everywhere as she was flattened into a thick, chunky paste.

Mae licked her lips and began to remove her clothes until she was completely bare. Everyone looked at her in confusion, but nobody dared utter a word or breathe too heavily. No one wanted to get her attention. In fact, they’d rather run. But the stony-faced man was standing by the only exit, his eyes focused on the group crowded in the corner of the room.

In the next second, his eyes darted over to Mae who had begun to roll around in mess, picking up pieces of the woman and placing them into her mouth.

The cultists watched in horror as Mae devoured the remains of the woman. Their ears were ringing with the sound of bone shards being grinded to powder underneath the force of her strong jaw… the sound of meat being ripped and torn. Mae let out a delighted laugh, rubbing the viscera over her bare skin and rubbing blood into her face like it was a moisturizer.

One man couldn’t help but gag.

This caused Mae to freeze in her movements, her neck snapping in their direction.

Slowly, she rose. On her face, there was a cruel smile. Her voluptuous body was painted completely red from head to toe. She began to walk towards them, wide hips swaying hypnotically. Mae began to hum, a sweet, carefree sound filling the room.

Everyone couldn’t help but be entranced by her. There was a wicked charm to beauty which made them want to throw themselves at her feet. The fact that she was a man-eating beast coming to kill them escaped their minds, not even leaving a whisper of caution.

Somebody was too weak to resist the urge to charge forward, so he raced over to Mae and dropped to his knees. His beady eyes were glistening with lust and reverence. His mouth started to move, incoherent words spilling out. What he said only made sense to him and, apparently, Mae.

Mae nodded, her smile growing broader and more devilish. “You have no right to look at me. Give me your eyes.”

He didn’t waste a second. He pried his lids open and tore out his eyeballs in rapid succession, not even cringing or making a sound as the blood began to gush in the form of tears down his face. Blindly, he stretched out his palms with his eyes as offering.

“Eat them,” she instructed, looking as if she was holding back giggles.

His mouth opened and he tossed the organs inside, chewing with happiness and vigor.

She burst out into hysterics, her body trembling with laughter. “You damned fool!”

In a casual movement, she swept her hand to the side. His body was blasted to the side, where it slammed into the wall and compressed until he resembled the same meaty substance as his fallen comrade.

His death caused the others to jolt back into reality, realizing that they had been put under some sort of spell. Despair seized their hearts once again. The woman in front of them was certainly a monster dressed in the skin of an innocent beauty.

Knowing that they were completely powerless and had no defense against her was the worst sort of feeling. They were simply animals waiting until she slaughtered them. Would their deaths be quick? They could only pray for it. Their corpses would be mutilated, certainly, but it was better than living through and enduring that sort of agony. None of them could even fathom what it would feel like.

It was in these dim moments that hope suddenly flared up again. Someone had taken a step forward, Lyra! Everyone still vividly recalled her pitiful defeat, but no one wanted to toss away the idea that she could defeat the beast. Maybe that man would also join in on suppressing Lyra. Then, even if she died, at least they could attempt to escape.

Normally, they would not have such cold thoughts, but every single one of them had abandoned the idea of loyalty.

Lyra was no saint, so her thought process wasn’t any different. She wasn’t stepping up to defend her followers, rather, she was hoping to strike up some sort of deal! If she could find some way to appease this cannibal, then she would be able to escape with her life.

She was already prepared to offer their lives to save her own hide.

With a roll of her shoulders, Lyra tilted her chin up and strode over to Mae, ignoring the quaking of her knees. The few seconds that it took for her to travel a couple of meters felt like an eternity. She stopped in front of Mae, staring straight into her eyes.

“I--”

Before the words could even leave her mouth, Lyra’s body was savagely ripped in half. The two pieces were thrown to the side like trash, uselessly clattering on the ground.

The air was still.

Just like that, their last chance for salvation was gone.

Driven to the edge by terror, one woman began to shriek, tears streaming down her face. She pointed a long nail at Mae, spitting out rapid curses. Not too long after, the invisible blades struck once more, severing her limbs from her body and destroying them in a spray of red mist.

A pop. Her head exploded, splashing all over everyone.

Once someone inside the group had been targeted, everyone snapped. What ensued was chaos. Screams and other nasty sounds quickly filled the room, reverberating off the walls. All the servants in the surrounding areas could hear it, and the beings with heightened senses could get an even clearer sense. Not to mention, the thick, metallic scent of blood was seeping out of the room and spreading everywhere else.

Bodies were torn apart and shredded. Others received the same treatment as the first two victims and were crushed into a gooey paste. Limbs and innards were strewn everywhere, blood painting the walls and pooling on the floor.

It only took a minute for all of them to be annihilated.

Mae chewed on an arm pensively, realizing that she had ran out of toys to kill. She had meant to savour the moments, but the taste of flesh had caused her to rampage. The aggression that she had barely been concealing had taken over, too, which was obviously no help either.

But now, all that had faded and she was left in a much calmer state. Still, she was buzzing with excitement. For her, this was the purest form of entertainment. It had been so long since she had been able to feast.

Ah, wait, there was still one bug hanging on.

A hand reached out from the mass, latching onto Mae’s foot. “Please… spare me. I will do anything.” Blood bubbled up and she spat it out onto Mae’s shin.

Mae frowned, showing hints of disgust on her face. “Hey, human.”

Lyra looked up, hope filling her eyes. Her body had been ripped in half, her insides spilling out and mixing with others, even her spinal cord was peeking out from her torso… but she was still alive. Whether it could be attributed to her insane desire to survive or the fact that she had gone through arduous training to make her body strong was unknown. But she clung to life. If she was saved now, she would be able to get healed with the proper magic. Even wounds like this meant nothing to strong, magical spells. Someone like Mae was sure to have such capabilities. Or potions that could mimic it. If she pleaded now, she could continue on. She still hadn’t given up on this!

“You talk too much.”

An unseen force slammed down onto Lyra’s skull, and reminiscent of a grape being stepped on, grey matter and blood splattered everywhere. The pressure slammed down again and again without a single second of hesitation, causing an even greater mess. If her brother had seen this, even his heart would cramp for the sister he felt little love for.

And as for Vyne--who was still sitting there silently observing--he had been exposed to plenty violence and gore throughout his entire life, well… He never had any qualms with killing either, even to the point where he enjoyed torturing victims. Innocent or not. But he always had some class about it.

But watching Mae? It was like a savage beast playing with its prey. It made even his stomach twist. Her attitude was wholly different from his. There was ecstasy in her eyes. Was she a sexual sadist? No, even that seemed too lukewarm to describe the current scene.

He watched as she began to bathe in the gory mess, giggling and rolling about as if she was a child playing in the snow. She looked… happy.

It wasn’t like he was going to double over and puke, but even Vyne couldn’t stomach this scene. It was too much. This was the woman Lord Erebus considered to be something like a friend? Impossible. If his master knew about her true personality, he’d definitely turn her away. That man’s apathy only went so far, right?

But then Vyne remembered Lord Erebus’ words. He knew. It was just something he didn’t get involved in. Erebus only “cared” about the planet. If anyone dared harm it, he would quickly act. If not, he would allow them to do whatever they wanted. The other dragons were also like this.

In the eyes of her victims, Mae was undoubtedly sinister.

The concept of evil was relative. When one considered life to be sacred and precious, those who disregarded that principle were evil. This held true for the majority of species that lived in this world. For some even if they did not respect all life or hold it equal, there were still lines not to be crossed.

Vyne shook his head. He was the one who was being naive here. Doppelgängers were beasts like this at the core. Their only desire was to devour. Since Mae had been such a fine and sophisticated one outwardly, he had almost forgotten. Who knew that as their behavior bettered, their inner personalities grew more twisted! Or maybe her case was special.

Not wanting to stay any longer, he turned and left, leaving Mae’s gleeful laughter in the distance.