Chapter 647 Let Me Hide This Time


    As Anna trailed behind the Doctor and the guards, her heart sank with every step. They led her, Mira, and C into a cramped, dark room that seemed to swallow the air from their lungs. The room was ominously quiet, except for the faint hiss as the windows opened, allowing the reddish Martian light to filter through and make the interior visible.


    The room was sparse, with only a single chair upying the center. But it was the figures present in the room that made Anna''s blood run cold.


    Max Schmidt, the Master, stood with an unnerving smile stered on his face, his toothbrush mustache twitching with malevolence. Beside him, the blue-eyed monster, sat on the chair, his right eye-piece glinting ominously in the reddish light. His very presence seemed to darken the air around him.


    Mira and C exchanged terrified nces, their eyes wide with fear. Anna''s heart thudded louder as she took in the scene, her mind racing with worst-case scenarios.


    She forced herself to speak, her voice barely above a whisper, "What are we doing here?"


    Mira and C looked at them with palpable fear. Their faces were pale, eyes wide as they saw themselves in the presence of the three most terrifying faces they had known in their lives.


    Max''s smile grew wider, his eyes glinting with sadistic pleasure. He caressed his mustache, his fingers stroking it with an unsettling gentleness, "Ah, Anna, always so curious." He suddenly produced a sharp de, its edge shimmering with a malevolent red light that seemed to pulse in sync with the Martian glow, "We''re here to discuss your...mishaps."


    As the guards forced C and Mira to kneel before Max, Anna''s instincts screamed at her to act, "Wait! What are you doing?!" she cried out, taking a step forward, but a guard swiftly pressed a rifle pulsing with red light against her head, freezing her in ce.


    "How dare you yell at your Master?" Max scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain. He pressed the de slightly against C''s skin, causing a tremor to run through her, "I might identally cut this weak demon flesh if you don''t mind your manners."


    Anna''s heart wrenched with fear as she raised her hands in a cating gesture. "Please, Master...D-Don''t hurt them. Whatever this is, it''s my fault. Please punish me instead of them."


    C shook her head, a silent plea in her eyes as she whispered, "Anna, no..." Mira''s cheeks were streaked with tears, her emotional turmoil causing her cor device to crackle sporadically.


    Max''sughter filled the room, a sound devoid of any warmth, "Haha, did you hear that, Derek? She wants me to punish her instead of them," he mocked, his expression turning into a scowl as he red at Anna, "You dare make demands after fucking up big time? This isn''t how I trained you."


    Derek, who had been silent, finally spoke, his voice calm yetced with an unmistakable darkness, "I told you that thest time would be the only time I would warn you nicely. So now, you will be reminded of what happens when you fail my orders. One of them will have to pay for your mistakes. You may choose who."


    Anna''s heart dropped like a stone as she heard his words, and she felt her legs give way beneath her. She fell to her knees, her hands sped together in a pleading gesture.


    "Please don''t...I gave it my all to catch the cult members but their Master, Hellbringer, showed up and I wasn''t prepared to fight him. He was stronger than I expected," she begged, her voice trembling like a leaf.


    Derek''s gaze was like a cold, calcted knife, slicing through Anna''s defenses, "Did you really give it your all?" he asked, his voice devoid of emotion, "If you truly put your mind to it, all those cult members would have been kneeling before me and Hellbringer wouldn''t have had the time to stop you. We could have finished them all easily. But you...a part of you held back because you want me to fail. Am I wrong?"


    Anna felt a chill run down her spine as she met his piercing gaze. She shook her head, her eyes welling up with tears, "N-No...That is not true. I have done everything you ordered without fail until now. I-I promise it won''t happen again. So please...don''t-"


    Derek''s expression didn''t change, but his voice took on a sinister tone, "You already broke your promise once, and I don''t entertain second chances."


    Max chuckled, a cold, mirthless sound, "That''s right. It seems like she needs to be reminded again of what happens when she upsets her masters. But you should be feeling lucky because unlikest time, this time we are giving you a choice. So choose which one of these rats you want to sacrifice? The broken rat or the half-mute rat with the annoying voice? Or both? I never liked these failed products anyway, kekeke..."


    As Max spoke, he toyed with the de between C and Mira''s necks. Anna''s face paled, her heart racing with fear. She felt like she was trapped in a nightmare, with no escape.


    Tears blurred her vision, but the fearful and resigned expressions on C and Mira''s faces were crystal clear.


    "Anna...don''t do anything...It''s alright..." C whispered, trying to offer a brave smile through her tears. She wanted Mira to be spared, but she knew she couldn''t make Anna pick Mira lest she burden her with guilt and regret.


    At the same time, she didn''t want to let these monsters use her as a reason to control Anna.


    "A-Anna...save C a-and protect our sister...I-I will hide this time..." Mira''s voice trembled, her high-pitched synthetic tone unable to mask the fear and sorrow that cracked through.


    Anna''s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her sisters. She felt paralyzed, unable to move or speak. She knew that the blue-eyed monster would never budge, that he would never show mercy.


    "Mira, stop talking..." she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She then looked up at the Master and added, "Please...Just take me and get this over with..." She bumped her head against Max''s leg, her eyes pleading for an end to their torment.


    "Ugh! How dare you touch my leg with your dirty head!" Max reacted with disgust, striking C''s head with his knee. "AH!!" C cried out in pain, but Anna''s movements were swift, her body driven by instinct as she reached out to catch C.


    *SSSSHK!*


    But just as she gentlyid down an unconscious C, a high-pulsing gunshot echoed through the room, a sound that seemed to haunt every cell in her body.


    The world around Anna seemed to slow down, as if the very fabric of reality was bending to amodate the horror that was unfolding. She turned to the side, her eyes widening in terror as she saw Mira''s fragile body crumpling to the floor. The white fabric of her top was rapidly turning blood-red, the stain spreading like a dark flower blooming in the shadows.


    "Mira!!!" Anna''s scream tore through the silence, a desperate, heart-wrenching sound that seemed to suck the air from the room.


    She lunged forward, her body moving on its own as she gently lifted Mira''s head and cradled it against her chest, "M-Mira..." she whispered, her voice breaking like a fragile twig.


    Mira''s dark green eyes, once vibrant, flickered weakly. Her face grimaced with pain, yet with all her determination and waning strength, she reached up, her touch feather-light against Anna''s cheek. Her high-pitched voice, distorted and faint through the cor, carried her final breath, "Anna...I will hide...for you in our house...You have to...find me...okay?"


    Tears streamed down Anna''s face, like a river of sorrow. She nodded, her voice a whisper lost in the turmoil, "I...I..." But the sentence would never bepleted, as Mira''s hand slipped lifelessly from her cheek, her eyes closing for thest time.


    C, slowly recovering from the blow to her head, gasped at the sight of her sister''s lifeless body in Anna''s arms, "N-No... Mira..." Her voice was a mix of disbelief and sorrow, her metallic hand covering her mouth as if to stifle the screams that threatened to escape.


    L''s voice cut through the tense air, her words dripping with boredom, "Ha, this was anticlimactic. I was hoping she would make the choice. That would have been more interesting to see."


    Max added with a hint of disappointment, "I know right. You could have let me have this moment, Derek."


    "We wasted enough time here," Derek spoke indifferently as he rose from his chair, a pistol shimmering with a radiant blue light in his hand. Anna''s quivering gaze slowly shifted towards him, her eyes burning with a dark yellow glow, her tears evaporating in the face of her all-consuming rage.


    He intentionally used such a gun to not even give Mira a merciful death. The radiant mana must have filled her final moments with excruciating pain.


    Anna''s fists clenched, her body trembling with fury, as she gritted her teeth, gathering all her strength, her sorrow turning into killing intent, "You monster!!!"


    Derek turned towards the surge of killing intent emanating from Anna but,


    *ZZZ-KRAK!*


    Anna''s form transformed into a dark yellow lightning bolt, zooming straight towards the blue-eyed monster with a speed that defied humanprehension. Time around her slowed down, as if the very fabric of reality was bending to amodate her wrath. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The two guards that stood in her way were annihted by stray lightning bolts before they could register what was happening.


    Her form was a blur of vengeance as she aimed straight for his heart, her lightning of wrath lighting up the entire room in an eerie dark yellow glow.