The man scurried further, unknowingly backing himself into a corner, his whimpers and pleas filling the empty void of the cluttered storage house. The chase had been remedial, the victim's efforts wasted on fruitless retaliation. Certainly not a weakling human, but the ice giant was as unintelligent as one. A black market dealer pawning off demon weaponry to anyone who could pay the right price... many items of which were fake; hence the henchmen that now littered the floor in their blood and remains. Playing cat and mouse had been entertaining, but the lack of a challenge finally brought the masked man back to the reason for which he was terrorizing a helpless creature.
"You've got three seconds to tell me the location of the Crossbow." Summoning his weapon from the pits of darkness, he held the edge of the blade to the tip of the man's nose. "One-"
"I don't know, I swear!"
"Two-"
"Jesus Christ, have mercy!"
"Three-"
"Wait!"
The mercenary froze in an attack position, ready to strike, noting how the man's eyes flickered to a specific spot before returning his sights back to him. His own eyes found off in the distance a rectangular crate, clearly unopened and untouched by the look of the dust it had been collecting. It could've been a ploy, an attempt to elongate his life by pointing him in the wrong direction, but a man under pressure hardly ever lied when survival instincts kicked in. Regardless, the signature of the aura emitting from its depths confirmed its contents. And here the masked man had been looking forward to a long night of endless torture to reveal the weapon's location. Guess he'd have to opt for the next best thing.
Lowering his weapon, he walked over to the crate and cut open the top with one flourish of his blade. He levitated the cover off, hearing off in the distance the labored breaths of the ice giant as he attempted to gather his wits. The gravel shifted as the giant carefully stepped away from the corner as he silenced his breathing, calculating how quickly he could get away before the masked man noticed. Yes, thought the mercenary... Feel that spark of hope, that possibility of survival, as it drives you to your ultimate demise... The footsteps increased as the giant sprinted, his breaths heavy and fearful. Predictable.
The plank flew, a strangled "No!" echoed, as the board was sent straight through the giant's neck, severing his head. The body crumpled lamely to the floor, the blood pouring in rivers from both the head and the base of the neck from the body as the blood evaporated. The masked man turned his sights to the crossbow and clutched it in his grasp before pointing his weapon at a mass of crates several feet away. Instantly, they disintegrated in dark flames, revealing the source of the shout of mercy moments before. Well, well... quite the unlikely reunion this would be.
"I already warned you to stay away," the masked man reminded. Liora's eyes, having been drawn to the mutilated giant, shifted cautiously to him, small traces of fear and amazement reflected on their surface. "I might not be so lenient this time."
