Chapter 53: The Silence of the Ripper

Patron Spirits often influenced their users one way or another, especially in the case of Beast-types and Descendant-types. The latter could be troublesome because the influence was not always something as simple as temporary loss of control.

Descendant-types carried the impressions, habits, and sometimes the psychological tendencies of the figures they originated from, meaning over time they gradually condition their users to behave in ways they normally would not.

This made them tragic in a sense because this was no different from brainwashing.

A Beast could make someone act like an animal for a moment, but a Descendent could make someone forget where the influence ended and their own personality began.

Ripley was perhaps the most obvious example of how dangerous that influence could become.

Rhos believed that her Patron Spirit, Jack the Ripper, was one of the reasons she was so messed up in the head. It had not just given her a talent for killing or made her more comfortable around violence.

It had weakened the barriers between her darker impulses and her actions, creating sudden urges to harm others, eroding the restraints that would normally prevent a person from acting upon them.

When that influence became strong, Ripley usually became very good at hiding her killing intent, making her difficult to read. She would hide behind that charming smile of hers and behave as though everything was perfectly normal while hiding a venomous blade.

But this was not the same situation.

He could tell because the smile stretched across her scarred lips looked way too ugly and almost sinister. It was deeply unsettling. Several veins bulged against her temples, and her pale blue eyes were solely fixed on the unconscious little girl in his arm.

For the first time since seeing her in 8 months, there was no playful light in her eyes, no mischievous amusement or that eccentric excitement. Clearly something was wrong here.

’Did something upset her?’

Rhos wondered while holding the girl tightly. He was relieved to see she was still alive and because he won’t have to go looking for her now. But that relief disappeared the moment she tried to put a blade through the child’s skull.

"Rip, what the hell was that? Were you really aiming to kill her just now?"

He asked with a measured tone and her forced smile twitched, her piercing gaze not leaving the unconscious girl even as Rhos addressed her.

"Why did you defend that thing?"

She asked with a voice that sounded restrained as though she was holding back a scream and did her best to sound normal.

’Thing?’

That word alone made Rhos wonder if Ripley could tell that this girl wasn’t actually a human, but a Spirit?

This question made him even more cautious of the young woman, but he didn’t show it externally. His facial expression remained unmoved.

"She is the girl I came here to retrieve. That’s all you need to know for now. Whatever you think she is can wait. Right now, she is unconscious and poses no threat to you."

Even as he said it, Rhos knew he couldn’t guarantee that. The girl’s feral nature made her attack anyone who got too close to her with the intention to kill. Something like that wasn’t received kindly in the lower ring.

But none of that mattered right now. Because the woman standing before him was even more troublesome than the unconscious girl.

In her hands she was holding twin knives, they weren’t ordinary knives. The craftsmanship alone made that obvious. Strange markings had been engraved into them, one bearing the name ’Saucy’ and the other ’Jacky’.

These were Otherworldly Treasure.

That recognition made his expression grow more serious.

Otherworldly Treasures were extraordinary tools. Their abilities could vary wildly depending on their origin and nature, but even an average Treasure could completely change the balance of a fight.

Ripley manifesting hers meant she wasn’t playing around.

"We can leave now. Together"

Rhos knew how Ripley processed information. If saying the girl wasn’t dangerous was enough to keep her from attacking the child again, then he will gladly lie through his teeth.

The young woman didn’t say anything for a while. She raised one hand and brushed her fingertips across the scars running over her lips.

"Darling, have I ever told you how I got these scars?"

Rhos lowered his center of gravity and moved one foot back a bit.

"No. You’ve never told me anything about your past and honestly, I never cared enough to ask, Rip"

The moment the words left his mouth, her pale eyes widened and whatever restraint she had been desperately maintaining snapped.

"Ask that damn WRATH!!!"

From where she stood, she suddenly disappeared. Or rather, his perception failed to follow her.

As expected for a woman with a slender build, Ripley was absurdly fast. Even though he had a quick reaction time, he couldn’t follow her moments completely. His eyes caught fragments of motion, but not the complete sequence.

This forced him to rely on the one skill that had kept him alive against opponents faster and stronger than himself.

There was a pattern to everything and adapting to those patterns was what allowed his body to move on reflex. The chain in his hand snapped upward just as Ripley reappeared at his side.

There was clang when the knife struck the metal chain inches away from the girl’s head. As sparks flew from the collision Rhos twisted his wrist and shoved the blade aside before she vanished again.

"Whatever you’re angry about, this isn’t the time for it!"

"What are you talking about...?!"

Her voice came from behind him. Rhos quickly spun just in time to meet yet another attack aimed for the unconscious girl.

"I’m perfectly CALM!!"

Rhos clicked his tongue when he saw her disappear right before his eyes and appeared above him. He quickly ducked to allow the blade of the knife to pass over his head.

For his counterattack, he swung the chain upward in an attempt to catch her ankle, but Riplely slipped through it and landed 5 meters away from him before lunging again.

The corridor exploded into a rapid clash of steel and metal, neither combatant willing to give the other an opening. Rhos protected the girl while using the chain as both a weapon and a shield.

But that wasn’t enough. Ripley was far more experienced than him when dealing with human opponents so she naturally had a better edge in a one on one confrontation. When she found the opening to split the girl’s skull, she was suddenly stopped by a sudden voice.

"Cease fire!"