Chapter 44: Catch Me If You Can, Sobek

"Shut up!"

Sobek shouted while he used every skill and technique he knew with a whip to land an attack on her. One, at least one would do. By the looks of her body and movements, she didn’t seem very durable.

One blow from him would be enough to cripple her, but that was easier said than done. The weapon kept cracking against the stone floor instead of his intended target.

"You’re getting rather energetic now. Is this your way of impressing me? Sorry, but I feel like you’re desperately trying too hard to compensate for something. Those types turn me off really quick"

"I said shut up!"

Another issue Sobek dealt with was her teasing and the high pitched tone of her laughter were really getting on his last nerve. He couldn’t take it anymore!

His breathing became ragged as he forced his attacks to become faster and more unpredictable. But none of them could reach her. While focused on his barrage, he failed to notice the hand that dipped into the bag.

When she pulled it out, something flicked between two of her fingers. It was a small silver coin.

The small piece of metal slipped directly through the chaotic flurry of his whip and struck him squarely in the forehead.

"GAH!"

Sobek stumbled to his rear, stopping his assault and clutching his forehead with one hand. His face grimaced in pain.

"You fucker...!"

He had durability but still that coin still hurt like heck. He recovered in no time and looked up. The woman was no longer skipping meters away..... She was standing beside him.

She had one hand in her black coat’s pocket while the other held onto the cloth bag. She just stood there looking at him with wide open eyes.

His heart sank, prompting him to quickly inspect his body. He touched his chest, his arms and legs. He was completely unharmed.

"I’m... not wounded? Oh, thank Gilgamesh"

He sighed a breath of relief, but that turned into horror the instant a sudden realization dawned in.

The Ripper had been standing beside him for who knew how long, and if she had actually wanted him dead, he would already be dead.

"What’s your game here, woman? Are you really that much of a psychopath you revel in the suffering of others?"

His line of sight suddenly became lower. Compared to him, Ripley was a very short woman. He eclipsed her, so why was he looking at her legs now?

"My legs gave out?"

Without him knowing it, his body had given up and fell to its knees. He felt genuine terror chaining his body to the stone floor, locking him in place.

Ripley watched at his current state and let out an amused chuckle.

"You’re much weaker than I expected. I thought you were going to at least make me work for it."

Sobek’s face paled when he felt movement from her. However, instead of getting the finisher his body had already resigned itself to, she just walked away from him.

"Here I thought you’d be the one good enough to smashing me"

She sighed in disappointment.

"Though, judging by how you’re handling that whip, I suppose you’ve already demonstrated that you’re much better at talking about what you can do than actually doing it. Guess I’ll wait for my darling then"

Hearing all this mockery, Sobek’s face burned with humiliation.

Once she reached a satisfactory distance, Ripley dropped the black bag onto the floor and turned back to him before spreading her fingers.

That playful demeanor she displayed all this time was gone now, something colder had entered her pale eyes.

There was a strange blue glow passing across her hands, manifesting two knives which she gripped quickly. She admired them for a moment then spun them between her fingers.

"I’m a kind person so I’d hate to leave without showing you a thing or two. If you’re going to woo a lady, you have to do it properly"

She smiled while taking a battle ready stance.

"Allow Saucy Jacky to teach you how it’s done"

At how things had unfolded, Sobek considered begging for his life. But he quickly decided against it. There was no point.

Whatever humanity this woman possessed had apparently been buried beneath several layers of insanity and Sobek had no intention of dying while groveling at her feet.

"Obba, you useless, good for nothing...!"

So he said bitterly, forcing himself upright despite the trembling in his legs.

"I should have known better than to rely on a mute oaf. After everything I paid to keep that oversized idiot around, this is how he repays me?"

Red spiritual energy surged through his body, illuminating the passage. His breathing became heavier, and his muscles tensed. The fear in his eyes was replaced with burning desperation.

"No, I am not dying here damn it"

He raised the whip and glared at her.

"Tonight was supposed to be my biggest night! I have worked for years crawling through this filthy lower ring, selling whatever people were desperate enough to buy, enduring every bastard who stepped on me. I’m not going to throw all of that away because of some crazy b–!"

Before he could finish, a horizontal cut tore across his chest, opening his flesh as blood sprayed into the air. Sobek staggered forward, struggling to keep his footing while the woman walked alongside him as though they were taking a stroll.

"First, it’s important to know, a little wining and dining isn’t enough to make someone fall for you..."

Sobek desperately swung his whip but she hopped above the strike with almost insulting ease. When she landed, she continued.

"You have to make her believe that she matters, that you care"

Her second knife carved across his side, spilling more blood onto the air.

Sobek screamed and lashed out wildly, but Ripley danced around every strike the man dished out.

"You have to make her believe that, for that moment, she’s the most precious thing in your entire world"

Another slash from her rendered his attacking arm useless. He couldn’t attack and his body was too battered to defend himself.

"When she finally trusts you enough to open her legs..."

She stepped inside his reach.

"You make damn sure you give her everything..."

The final slash passed through his neck.

Sobek’s eyes remained wide with disbelief as his head separated from his body and struck the stone floor. His corpse collapsed a moment later.

Jack Ripley stood behind him. She flicked the blood from one of her knives before smiling down at what remained of the man.

"...and leave nothing"