0001 Asura

“That damn bitch sure knew how to fight.”

In a dimly lit place where the normally raucous sounds of cars were very muted as the road was quite a distance away, a huge patch of soil showed clear disturbance. Surrounding it were five young and middle aged men who looked like local gangsters with their burly bodies.

“Are you sure she’s dead?” one of them asked as he flinched and raised his hand to touch the corner of his mouth which was bleeding.

All five of them were obviously roughened up. It was as if they had just gotten out of a huge fistfight. Not only were their clothes in disarray and torn in some places, injuries also littered their skin which still mostly bled.

“She’s dead. If she’s not yet dead, then she will be. The bitch’s six feet under now, isn’t she?”

The snarky remark was welcomed by grunts of approval from the rest. All of them seemed to have suffered greatly and were now gloating over the fact that the one who inflicted them pain was gone.

“The client was right when she told us to drug the wacko first before taking her,” another commented as he held his stomach where he hurt.

“I told you. I’ve seen that girl fight near my school before. She’s really strong,” the youngest among them chimed in.

He was the least injured among them because he knew who the girl was. She was a famous delinquent at school. That’s why when his burly brothers scoffed at the idea of knocking her out with drugs before taking her, he persisted. If not, they wouldn’t have succeeded at all. Not only was the girl very strong, she’s trained in martial arts as well. She knew where to hit to inflict the most pain.

The girl had a habit of going to the unpopular café a bit far from her school for milk tea. It was not very difficult to bribe the server to dope her drink. She liked sitting alone at the secluded part of the café so it was easy for them to carry her out.

Their client wanted them to take lewd pictures of the girl before doing whatever they wanted with her. They brought her there at the suspended construction project of a residential village near the outskirts. But before they could even begin, the girl woke up prematurely and put up a good fight despite still suffering from the drug’s side effects. In the end, not only were they not able to take photos that the client asked, they had to kill her too. She was just too fierce for them.

Since they were at a suspended construction site, it was easy to grab tools that lay strewn on the ground and used them as weapons. One of them was able to grab a shovel and hit her hard on the head with it, knocking her unconscious. The man did not control his strength at all, and he knew that the girl was gravely injured if not dead. Using the same shovel, they dug a hole in the ground and buried her in it, but not before smoking and throwing the stubs at her to vent their anger.

“Are we still going to get paid? We killed the target,” one of them asked and the other grunted.

“Of course. Didn’t we just make life easier for her? She hates this girl. We did not take lewd pictures but we did take some photos before we buried her, didn’t we? She should be happy she’s dead.”

The others just grunted their approval before shifting on their feet to start to leave. The fight had been fierce, and they were more than ready to drag their injured bodies home.

“Good riddance, bitch,” one burly guy said before spitting at the grave.

WOOOOOSH!

Cold wind suddenly blew, making all of them shiver.

“Shit! Is that her ghost?” the youngest asked in a terrified voice which earned him a whack on the head from their leader.

“Are you stupid? We just buried her. She might not even be dead yet. What ghost are you talking about?” the leader countered, but he too was obviously rattled.

WOOOOOSH!

The wind blew again, and the group cowered in the cold. It was summer and the temperature was supposed to be still high at night, and so they dressed lightly. However, the wind that blew seemed to carry winter with it as they continued to shiver.

“W-What’s that?”

All the others turned to see what the youngest pointed at. There was a spot above the grave that appeared out of nowhere. Even with the dim lights, they could make out what seemed to be a black crystal ball.

“W-Why is it floating?” the leader stammered as the crystal ball lit up from the inside, giving ample illumination in the area.

The light in the crystal ball flickered, and the space above it rippled, distorting the image of the unfinished buildings behind. Afraid, and yet,  fascinated at the same time, they watched as the distorted  space expanded like a huge circular wall suspended in midair.

Above, the sky appeared to be in sync with the abnormality. Clouds began to build up as thunder rolled and lightning flashed, striking with extensive branching towards the ground where the grave was.

“Watch out!”

The scream alerted the others and they all jumped as far as they could from the grave, diving onto the ground as they did. A bolt of lightning suddenly struck the ground, creating an explosion before it broke up into a string of fleeting, dazzling sections.

ZZZZZZZZT BOOOOM!

Clouds of dust and debris covered the place, making the men cough as they choked. This lasted for several seconds before the place cleared. They all rolled on their backs as they checked what happened. The huge distortion in space was still there, but the one that gave them more fright was the figure which now floated in front of it.

“N-No way…”

Even if they were a bit superstitious, they really did not believe in religion. But at this moment, the men all kneeled on the ground as they started to pray, but their terrified eyes never left the figure that was in front of them.

There, atop the grave which was now just a huge hole, the girl whom they just buried in it a while ago stood suspended in the air, unmoving. Her smudged makeup and violet hair made her appear out of this world. Her dirty and tattered form only added to her ghastly appearance.

The distortion of space behind her flickered thrice, and on the third time, the quiet form suddenly gasped. It was as if she had ceased breathing previously, and had only taken air in after a long while— like a person who drowned and had just revived.

However, to the five men who were her murderers, she was Asura who returned from the gates of hell to seek vengeance.

“N-No way…”