Page 76 of Soulless Deeds

With the combined music, screams and sounds of combat, I wouldn’t be able to fully control the soundwaves in a safe and manageable way.

Sure, I could use it anyway, but at what cost? If the frequencies staggered out of control—which was highly likely in this type of environment—my Variant was as lethal as a wayward bullet. Which could potentially hurt someone I cared about.

With that option unavailable, I slipped Spencer’s knife from my chest holster and entered the panicked crowd.

A gargantuan he-man stepped up to me with a mocking sneer. As if his size was all that mattered in a fight.

I held back from rolling my eyes, and when he came within range, I kicked out, hitting him right in the balls. With a pansywhimper, he buckled to his knees, and I followed through with a clean knee to the face. Yanking on his hair to position at the right angle, I slit his throat.

Unfortunately, it was too easy. Sure, Ludus soldiers were trained in specialised martial arts and all manner of combat. However, they were restricted in their way of thinking. Their regimented lifestyle and misplaced honour ultimately a weakness against spontaneity and underhanded tactics—in which I was an expert.

I continued on, my eyes narrowing with tunnel vision as I sliced and stabbed through a long line of firm flesh. The onslaught never ceased to slow.

When the next darted forward, I slid to my knees, cutting deep across his inner thigh to pierce his femoral artery. Before all the blood had drained from his body, another was already there to replace him.

With the same momentum, I vaulted upward, spinning in an elaborate twist as my blade made contact with his neck, severing his carotid artery with pointed precision.

More continued in the same fashion as I tried to utilise the least amount of energy possible.

It was a grotesque dance, one I was willing to continue all night. Until I had a lapse in contenders, giving me half a second to check the area.

Disbelief shook my foundations as I took in the scene.

Emerson was behind the bar, clearly inebriated—as shown by her swaying form—yet not any less dangerous. She utilised everything she could get her hands on, bottles and glasses flying, her aim surprisingly sure as many Ludus soldiers lay unconscious without ever touching her.

Ace was on the far side of the room, brandishing a makeshift flamethrower from a gas cylinder and his handy lighter, burning idiots alive if they came within range.

Micah fought alongside her lover, doing some acrobatics bullshit that had those burly men twisted in knots. And Psycho lived up to his name, truly psychotic in his deliverance of violence.

Tanner, on the other hand, was a different being altogether. I knew he was hiding his true form, but it was fucking mental. A legitimate hellion metamorphosed from his dark skin, the machete hacking flesh and bone until corpses riddled the dance floor—if they could even be classified as such. They were unrecognisable, carved up so thoroughly, they resembled a mangled carcass after being processed through a grinder.

But that’s not what had my lungs seizing up in my chest as my heart rate spiked faster.

Spencer fought like a lioness, protecting Remi, who was huddled against the wall behind her.

I couldn’t believe what the fuck I was seeing.I fucking told her!I should have known better than to think she’d listen.

That’s when I processed the sheer volume of Ludus Maximus soldiers present. I don’t know how long we had been fighting for, but the amount of casualties already was evidence enough.

The Kings were elite killing machines, proven by the Ultraviolet skull tattoos glowing from the underside of their chins, identifying them as a powerful force with all manner of control over life and death—but eventheycould not go on forever.

We were severely outnumbered. We wouldn’t survive.

That revelation caused terror to infect my senses, fucking contaminating all my faculties. I couldn’t live without her. Hell, I refused for that to even be a possibility.

Although I fucking loathed the thought of her lips on Remi’s, her choosing another man over me, at that moment it didn’t matter.

As long as she was alive and breathing, no one else mattered.

That one binding promise caused a frenzy in my system that wouldn’t abate. So, before we could be overrun, I accepted the risk of surviving the Ludus vs surviving me.

Inhaling deeply, I let my Variant saturate every last cell, and highlighted the victims who would receive my gift. Then, I unleashed on those fools.

“LUDUS SCUMMMM!!!”

An invisible tidal wave of infrasound washed over our enemies with unrelenting force, causing their very blood vessels to quiver and burst, their hearts giving out before their bodies even hit the floor.

An unnatural stillness took over the entire room, our team a little beaten, but alive.

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