Katie walked back to her “home”. Mrs.Adams was a rich employer, and she didn’t mind spending some money for business usage. Renting a house was hardly a financial burden.

As Katie opened the door and walked inside, she felt a surge of sleepiness on her head. She frowned. She had more important things to do than sleep. She took out her dagger and stuck it into her chest and twisted it. The blade barely missed her heart, not that it mattered.

The mind blowing pain cleansed Katie’s mind of the desire to rest. Satisfied, she pulled the blade out. It put a groan to her lips and a smile to her face. She finally rested the blood soaked weapon on her laps and started examining it.

When she was back in the warehouse, when the blade fed power into her body, she felt a surge of anger in addition to that power. It was as if someone started a fire in her head. She wanted to destroy everything in front of her. That was the primary reason why the torture only lasted for two hours. Usually, someone as experienced as her could keep the process going for the entire night.

That discovery made her frown a bit. Being tied to a chair and tased? She enjoyed it. Being stabbed in the chest repeatedly? Casual wakeup call. But being influenced and losing herself and become a zealous killer...there was no excitement in that. She was already a killer, but sneaking around and hunting criminals was a pleasure. Charging around the city stabbing random people was stupid.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t so bad. Katie was confident of her willpower. As someone who routinely beats the shit out of herself, she wasn’t easily influenced. As long as she could be careful, she could use this dagger without risking her own mind.

Upon making up that decision, Katie climbed onto her bed. As much as she enjoyed the pain of waking up without sufficient sleep, she had something much more fun to attend to tomorrow.

With any luck, she could find herself a supernatural target.

The first half of the next day went by without a fuzz. All Katie received was a notice by Caroline to go to somewhere when school was done. As Katie found her way there, she realized it was a house.

One of the members opened the door. Katie walked inside and found a dozen other teenagers already inside. She didn’t find the owner of the house, and she didn’t care. Dead or alive, they were irrelevant.

The house was messy. Food wrappers and emptied bottles, glass and plastic, were all around the floor. Katie didn’t mind that as she sat down next to Caroline.

The group members were saying something, but they immediately quieted down when they saw the brunette. Caroline sent them the footage from the surveillance camera, and even they were horrified by what they saw. It wasn’t the killing that bothered them. Each of them had a blade of their own and has killed at least a couple people before, but it was the way Katie delivered the kill that haunted them.

When they struck, it was a series of zealous stabs to the chest. The victim would scream and blood would come out, but that was it. The entire process took half a minute. The way Katie acted...it was as if she was an experienced chef and the man was a dish she was making. She almost made the act of taking away a man’s life look like art.

“Welcome, my fellow sister.”

Victor was very different from the time when he told Katie to fuck herself. They were in a cult and their god delivered his disciples blades that could gain power by killing. Each and every one of them has taken several lives. They were the very definition of Darwinism. The strongest had the privileges and the respect while the weak had nothing.

Katie was certainly the stronger ones.

“Thank you…what’s your name again.”

“It’s Victor.”

“Hello, Victor.” Katie quietly replied. “Now that I have proven myself, do you mind telling me what’s going on? Last night was fun, and I can’t wait for more of it.”

Victor felt his back cold from sweat. He did everything for his ambition, but this girl was just doing it for fun...he struggled to hold the fear as he told Katie everything about them.

Four weeks ago, when he was walking home, Victor came across a long, black sword with a red crystal on its end. He picked it up, thought it was some cosplay item of some rich guy, and wanted to sell it for some cash, but then the impossible happened.

The blade spoke to him.

Through the conversation, Victor knew the blade had the name of Kassak. It didn’t know where it came from, or at least that was what it claimed. However, it did show Victor its power.

With a single tap, Kassak turned a kitchen knife into a dagger that was a complete duplicate to itself. Victor tried the blade on his desk, and it took out a corner of the wooden desk like it was hot butter. He tried a similar thing on a corner of the wall, and the result was similar.

Just that wasn’t enough to convince him it was a god and serve it with all his mind, but after he, being convinced by Kassak, killed a homeless man with the duplicate blade, Kassak did something to him that made him shake just by thinking of it. The process was hell like, but in the end he was willing to go through this again if he had to.

The process allowed him to establish a bond with one of the duplicate blades. Before, the wielder of the blade could get feedback from the blade when it was used to kill someone, but the effect was relatively insignificant. However, after the bonding, he could become one with the weapon. The weapon could be summoned to him with the snap of a finger. It could establish a psychic connection with the user, allowing him or her to use it like it was a limb. It could even be swung out and bounce around to knock out enemies like it was Captain America’s shield.

Of course, all of those needed life force and therefore human sacrifices, but that was nothing compared to the power it provided. This was especially so when Victor took out two armed drug dealers by using the blade like a boomerang.

But Kassak was still restrained. According to itself, most of its power was sealed off. Apparently, at the height of its power, Kassak could slaughter an entire army in just seconds. With it as an ally, even if Victor couldn't become the king of the planet, he could become much more than a casual sophomore teenager.

But just like everything else, this power came with a great cost.

Human sacrifice.

44 human sacrifice, to be exact.

Victor and the comrades he managed to recruit worked hard. Throughout the two weeks, the group members have taken out individual targets. Criminals. Homeless people. The clean ups were careful. As far as the group could tell, the authority didn’t notice something was off. But 44 people was completely different. After just the first dozen, there was no doubt the authority would realize something was wrong and start investigating. Plus, these 44 men needed to be different from those used to feed the duplicate blades and needed to be taken out at around the same time.

Victor knew he had supernatural support, but he doubted he could fool the police. He also doubted a blade could protect himself from a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher. He needed to lay low before the Blade of Kassak was freed.

This forced him into a dilemma, but perhaps this new girl could change that.

Unfortunately, there was still another step.

“We need to build a bond between you and our god. Only then can you utilize the full strength of his creation.”

“How?”

Caroline pulled up one of her sleeves, revealing an angry red scar. Katie immediately realized it was the picture Mrs. Adams showed her. She was starting to have a grasp on what really happened.

“It’s going to hurt.” The blonde said hauntingly. She could remember that nightmare. She screamed and cried and forgot about all her hope for the future, but the process kept going. When she was done, her body was wet.

“Great!” Somewhat surprising, Katie exclaimed. “Do I get a choice on where I get this? If so, I want to choose my ...”

“It’s on your dominant arm.” Caroline shut Katie down quickly. She almost forgot how mentally ill the brunette was.

“Oh. That’s disappointing. Any chance it can make an exception for me?”

Caroline face palmed. She should’ve known.

Victor retreated to another room and came out with a large sword. It was put inside a black sheath. All the cult members lowered their head in obedience. Their duplicate daggers sung in a sharp rhythm. Katie could feel her duplicate dagger bowing. She had no idea how it was possible for a dagger to bow, but she didn’t care either.

It was Victor’s god. The blade by the name of Kassak.

Victor held the blade in the air before letting go, but instead of falling to the ground, the blade floated in the air.

Katie ignored the rest of the cult members and took off her leather jacket, revealing a tank top. She fearlessly held her right shoulder out.

“You might want to bite onto something.” Caroline advised.

“Oh trust me. This isn’t my first rodeo. It’s not even the first ten.” Katie replied casually. As if insulted by her fearlessness, the Blade of Kassak suddenly struck down and ripped open her skin inch by inch.

Katie’s arm tensed up from the sudden pain for a brief second, but she immediately relaxed. A satisfied smile found its way onto her face. She layed back on the sofa and let out what Caroline could certainly describe as a moan. She looked like she was really enjoying herself.

Caroline blushed when Katie took the time to blow her a kiss.

Kassak seemed to feel even more insulted. She should be screaming, but she was actually flirting? He didn’t say a word, but the steel dug deeper and harder.

It only made Katie smile even more.

Finally, two minutes later, the Blade of Kassak backed off in dismal. Katie groaned as well. She drew the duplicate blade from her belt and jammed it into her right thigh. It brought a brief scream to her chin as well as a wave of vibration to her body.

As that was settled, Katie finally smiled. She twisted the duplicate blade in her leg while turning to Victor, who was looking to the side in awkwardness after realized what just happened.

“Remind me again. How many people do we need to unseal our master?”

Katie and Caroline found their way to in front of a bar. Two large men in suits were at the door. Their packed sides meant they weren’t just any doorman, and this bar wasn’t just any bar.

“On the surface this place looks like an ordinary bar, but it is actually the property of a gang. This is also a distance away from the residential areas. No innocent people will come here. Most of the customers are either criminals or whores. There might be some unlucky innocent, but, well, they’re unlucky. That’s all I can say. Last time I counted 48 gang members. There might be more but last time I was here there was a girl with long legs there and I got really drunk and...point is, if we kill everyone inside we should have enough life force to revive our god.”

Caroline checked her blade again. She was in a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Remember, you must use the duplicate blade to deliver the kill.”

“I’m not stupid.” Katie smirked. “Is everyone else in place?”

This was a full scale attack. The followers of Kassak knew it was now or never. The thing with collecting enough energy to summon the Blade of Kassak was that the followers needed to make all the kills at roughly the same time. If they killed individuals, their action would likely go unnoticed in a city this big, but the duplicant blades automatically absorb the energy earned by the kills, and there wouldn’t be much left over after feeding the duplicant blades. If they killed small groups of victims at once, they would have enough leftover, but they would likely be discovered.

This meant they needed to deliver enough kills in one single strike. Otherwise, they would be discovered and hunted down. Their only way out was if they managed to summon the Blade of Kassar, who should be strong enough to deal with any type of threat. This was why they waited so long and still refused to truly make a move.

But Katie’s presence changed everything.

For one thing, she knew there would be dozens of grown men inside the bar. There was a difference between different human beings, and the amount of life force gathered by killing a grown man was completely different to that gathered by killing an infant. Katie provided an opportunity where dozens of grown men would be in one place, and their death could certainly fuel the revival of the god of blades.

All the followers of Kassak were in place, covering all the exits.

Caroline took out her phone. It was linked to all the followers. “We are in position at the front door.”

“Back exit one is covered.” This was a girl with red hair.

“Back exit two secured.”

“We’re at the side door.”

“Alright.” Victor finally declared. “Prepare for action.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“Go!”