When Lia woke up again, sweat trickled from her forehead and she squinted her eyes at the figure before her. This hateful person sent her back to hell and she had to crawl out of it again.
Again and again. Every time she dyed her hands in the crimson blood of her family, her hatred grew and her mind was tired from the abuse. She wanted this to stop. Yet for the tenth time, Fourth gently closed her eyes and put her into an illusion again.
"Just stay there. It's more convenient for you," Fourth more or less could guess how she broke through the illusion. He was astonished by her strong will that could convince her to murder her own family, countless times.
If it was him then-
It wouldn't be him and even if he was pulled into an illusion, his desire would be never related to his family. He couldn't care about them and they didn't care about him.
On the day when Fourth went to tell his parents about his guess, his mother was in his father's studies viewing herself while they waited for him. However, he didn't come home until now, so his mother left all the preparation to greet Lia to him.
She said it'd be best not to contact his father right now as he was busy and it was only a hunch that it could be Lia. Neither of them grieved the fact that his brothers were dead or wasted a word about this.
Yet, despite it just being a possibility, Fourth still considered all the factors and made the decision to pull Lia into an illusion. However, he didn't expect her to actually get out of it. He didn't have any feelings towards her but he did think that it would be easier to take care of her if she was stuck in the illusion.
His expression became more complicated as he looked at her. He tried to coax her with words, telling her it would be easier for her to endure the illusion than coming back to the real world, yet she kept breaking out of it
He was always able to find a way to people's hearts and use their desires as a method to manipulate them. So, he felt a bit helpless when his words fell on deaf ears with her.
Fourth watched her quiet face shed tears again before her eyes fluttered open. He was ready to put her into another illusion when she kicked him in the stomach. He flew a few steps back and looked at her in surprise.
It was the 11th time he dared to make her go through the same thing, dared to make her suffer again. This time she wouldn't give him the chance to react and immediately attacked him.
Her blood was boiling and the adrenaline rushed to her head. Loud rustles were in her ears as she put her feet on the ground and jumped up onto the wall.
Her arms were twisted because of the shackles, yet with force, she used the wall as a springboard and ripped on the confines of the shackles. The metal connecting her shackles to the wall cracked and she landed back on the ground.
Lia then sped towards Fourth who was still lying on the floor perplexed and wrapped her arms around his neck, the metal rope against his throat. She applied pressure and Fourth lightly tapped the ground.
She wasn't sure what the requirements were for him to send her into an illusion, but if he had no time to think about using his ability, then he couldn't send her back.
With that, she twisted her body along with his and put one leg between his. The chokehold worked as Fourth didn't have much physical strength. He gripped her arm trying to free himself but she only tightened her stance.
Then she quickly commanded the corpses to come to her. However, the split-second she used was taken advantage by Fourth who felt her grip lightly loosen. He took the opportunity and smoothly escaped her grip.
He held her shackles, pulled on it and threw her to the ground. Lia was able to soften the impact by rolling and instantly stood back up but by this time, Fourth already left the room.
Cursing she followed him, her hands still confined by the shackles. She needed to get rid of them. As she stepped out of the room, a cold breeze greeted her.
It was clear that this was an area within the residence. The room she was in was actually a small wooden house, next to various other wooden houses.
Lia didn't have the time to check if others were imprisoned and rushed along the path that led her to the main mansion.
Halfway to the mansion, the path in front of her was littered with corpses of servants. She stood still and moved to the right, along the wall and hid in the darkness. She was vigilant and her eyes searched for anyone.
Loud footsteps came her way. She held her breath and further retreated but the sounds closed in. She was ready to escape when a familiar face appeared. It was Second and behind him the other two brothers. Their hands and mouths were bloody.
Lia sighed relieved, "Remove these."
The strength of the corpses was great and Second was able to quickly destroy the metal. Lia moved her wrists, a slight pain stung.
The corpses in front of her didn't move and looked at her waiting for a command. For a few seconds, Lia thought.
Inside the mansion were several servants and Fourth must have already alerted them and Madam Z. There was also the possibility that Elder Z has returned. The even worse odds were that Min would also come.
Lia looked at her corpses before coming to a decision, "Go inside and lure all the servants to one place. Then kill them."
If the servants were all gone, then Madam Z and Fourth had no other choice than to hide in a secure place inside the mansion. Then if Elder Z and Min were not present, she could sneak in and finish those two off. And when Elder Z returned, no one would disturb her taking her time killing him.
The one she had to be wary of was Fourth with his power. It was still a mystery to her why Fourth had his ability, but Lia was sure that one of the conditions for him to use it, was that he needed to see the target or at least be in their presence.
The first time Fourth used his powers, he must have been at the entrance waiting for her. Lia could still recall that there was a voice when she fainted, sent to the illusion.
The other evidence was if Fourth didn't have that condition, then right now she would be in an illusion again, but that wasn't the case. So the only explainable conclusion was that she needed to be in his field of vision.
If she was in the mansion then there would be the possibility that he could see her, after all, she wasn't familiar with its layout but he was. He could know where she was and sneak behind her. Her not seeing him didn't mean he couldn't see her.
Reaching this possibility, Lia looked at the dead servants. She was about to take their clothes off when she saw that the corpses still didn't leave.
"What are you waiting for?" Lia scolded but the corpses only titled their heads.
Was there something wrong with her soul? No, it couldn't be. Then... was there something wrong with her command?
'Go inside and lure all the servants to one place. Then kill them.'
No way. Was such a simple order that difficult for them? Her face went blank.
Why didn't she think of this earlier? They were only corpses and she was controlling them. They didn't have the brains to think on their own.
This was a hassle, Lia needed to know if she could enhance her power to the degree that her corpses had intelligence and could think on their own.
"Go inside, lure all the servants into the biggest room and then kill them."
Her first order was to lure the servants into one room however the corpses were just corpses. They couldn't communicate with each other nor figure out which room they should lure the servants too. If she narrowed down the options then they would have an easier time.
But again, the corpses didn't move. Lia had a bad headache. What if they couldn't lure in the first place. What did lure mean? They needed the intelligence to not only find the servants but also lead them into a big room. Which big room? How could corpses figure out how to lure people?
This was the actual problem.
"Ok, just kill all the servants inside the mansion," once those words were spoken the corpses instantly left.
Lia wanted to cry. Such a simple order really fit them.
She was about to change the clothes of a servant to sneak into the mansion in order not to raise suspicion when she suddenly realised she just gave her corpses the order to kill all the servants. If she dressed as one, wouldn't they come after her too?
She didn't trust they were clever enough to figure out she was their master. Although, she could order them to not attack her. Lia was conflicted. Having stupid undead was a big problem.
After she dealt with the Z family, the next priority was to first figure out more about her power.
She decided to change into the servants' clothes and nimbly made her way to the mansion. From the path she came from there was a small entrance that led inside. The way was again littered with corpses. Her undead must have used this path too.
The inside of the mansion was also filled with several corpses and the pungent smell of blood. Lia strode over them before coming back and infusing her soul pieces into each servant.
Then she pointed at some of them and said, "You go and block all the entrances of the mansion. Don't let anyone come in or out if they try to, kill them."
The undead servants left, the other few strode behind her. It was a shame they couldn't talk, so Lia aimlessly tried to locate Madam Z and Fourth.
The mansion was like a labyrinth with dead ends everywhere. One wrong turn and she would get lost.
The corpses went rampant and Lia lost the hope to find anyone alive. Yet when she opened one of the doors, a servant cowered in the corner. He held his arms above his head as if to say she should spare him.
Lia got closer to him yet the moment the distance was only a foot, he pulled out a knife and aimed for her. However, Lia was long prepared and took a step to the side to evade him.
Afterwards, she grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back. The knife that fell out of his hand was skillfully caught by her.
She held it against his throat and whispered, "You seem to know where Madam Z and the fourth son of the family is."
"S-Spare my life please."
"Oh?" Lia could feel him tremble underneath her. The corpses that followed her stood silently at the door.
"You saw them, I can't. However, if you lead me to them, I promise I won't let the corpses kill you. You can die a normal death," Lia glanced at the knife with a light green glow.
As she guessed, all of the weapons in the Z family had Min's approval. The servant bit his lip and he surrendered.
He was still in Lia's grip when he slowly showed her the way. He trembled even more as he saw all the blood, the corpses and the undead viciously killing everyone.
"It's such a cruel sight isn't it?" Lia sighed as if she was helpless in front of this massacre, yet the servant could see that her indifferent eyes told another story.
"I-It's here," the servant pointed in front of the door. Lia quietly stared at it and before she could move to open it, the servant made the first step.
He kicked open the door and screamed, "Fourth Master, she's here. Please use your powers!"
"Damn," Lia cursed as the servant grabbed her and pushed her inside the room.