Chapter 3: Painting the Highway Red
"I just have to slaughter all of them then torture the survivors till I get what I need!"
The sinister declaration of Ashen resounded. Surprising everyone around him with his sheer bloodlust laid bare.
"Wha-", Rossweisse stuttered and looked at Ashen in horror.
The same went for the gunmen who were obviously taken aback by his rather bloodthirsty words. A good minute of silence passed by before Ashen realized that everyone else was rendered speechless.
He was bewildered by their reaction, 'Was it a good idea to just blurt that out?', while thinking so, he starts thinking of possible scenarios but before he could settle on one, the gunman who had stepped forward suddenly spoke,
"Young man, take care of your words. It would be one thing for you to just say it as a joke, but to say something like that in such a serious manner is just foolish. Do you understand your current situation?"
"Yes. I'm surrounded.", Ashen replied callously, "So doing what I just said is quite impossible right?"
He peels away Rossweisse from his shirt then starts to circle around to her back.
"Then you should know that no matter what you try to resist will only end with you dying a senseless death.", the gunman once again levels his firearm at Ashen who was smiling deviously behind Rossweisse.
"Ah yes. That is what anyone would think. But you see old man-"
The gunman notices something amiss and that Ashen was doing something from behind Rossweisse.
"Put your hands in the air and step away from the Saint right-"
"Hehe...too late!"
As soon as Ashen said that, he pushed Rossweisse towards the gunman who reflexively backed away to avoid getting hit by her stumbling figure.
"Wha-"
The attention of everyone was momentarily diverted towards Rossweisse giving Ashen the opportunity to close-in on the unbalanced gunman.
"First is...One!", he thrusts his arm forward. Hitting the throat of the gunman with a knife that he had taken from the church's kitchen the night before. He then pulled away Rossweisse from the gunman before any of his frothed blood got on her pure white clothes before finally kicking the dying gunman towards the nearest enemy. Leaving the knife he had stuck in the throat of the dying gunman.
"Next is TWO!!!"
Grabbing the fallen firearm from the ground, Ashen shoots at the other gunmen who then hid behind their vehicles. As soon as they did so, Ashen shoots the gas tank of one, making it explode and bringing with it a good number of the gunmen.
"Alright!"
Ashen makes a mental fist pump then grabs the horrified Rossweisse's arm, "Stop gawking like you just saw some horror movie and let's go!", and drags her away.
"But the people-!"
"Look here Nitwit, your job right now is to live regardless of the sacrifices made.", Ashen cuts her off mid-reply, "I do not know how important you really are to the world but since its been threatening me to help you out, I don't have much of a choice but to do it my way just to manage."
'Considering that nothing freaky has happened right now means that I'm doing as Mother Nature says...now that is just goddamned annoying!'
Ashen felt unpleasant as he thought about that.
He then drags Rossweisse towards one of the gunmen's vehicles and unhesitatingly eliminated the ones who were near it before opening the passenger seat and tossing Rossweisse inside.
"Like it or not Nitwit, you're with me. Death and bloodshed is but a normal occurrence in this world and in my case, it happens quite frequently."
He then closes the door and circles around to go to the driver's seat,
"So now-"
"Wait a minute Mr. Ashen!", Rossweisse suddenly stops him which surprised him.
"What is it?"
Rossweisse stared at him with the intensity of utter seriousness. Ashen felt a little awkward seeing her like that. Ashen is not used to being stared at as he generally avoided crowds whenever he walks outside hence he sometimes feels very uncomfortable when someone even takes notice of him. Even more so if the one who looks at him is a female.
In all honesty, he has never seen any girl like Rossweisse;
Deep-blue eyes the color of sapphire that seem to gleam under the light, a small youthful face, fair complexion, pink luscious-looking lips, and judging from the rogue lock of hair hanging down from under her headdress, she has platinum blonde hair.
All of these combine to make a very beautiful young girl which Ashen vehemently refuses to admit.
And now, that beautiful young girl is staring at him intently.
"What? We don't have all day"
A moment of silence passed and then-
"Do you know how to drive Mr. Ashen?"
-Rossweisse asked in a very serious tone.
"..."
Ashen was rendered speechless for a bit and then after recalling something for a few seconds, chuckled lightly as he replied,
"Nope. Not a clue!"
"!", Rossweisse's eyes widened and Ashen could see that she was shocked but he did not care.
Pressing the auto-lock button for the doors, he rummaged around the driver's seat looking for the key.
"Wait! Is it not dangerous to drive without prior knowledge?!", Rossweisse was panicking a little.
"Well, it is yes. I'm surprised you know that Nitwit. Ah! The key!"
Ashen nonchalantly replied as he put the key in the ignition.
"We might die you know!", Rossweisse was now in full-blown panic.
"Trust me. You won't die when you're with me! Besides-", the car engine roars to life and with it, bullets start hitting the car from all directions, 'Luckily, the car is bulletproof. These guys are rich I'll give them that.', but Ashen did not care and he simply looked at Rossweisse with a rather sadistic smile on his face as he said, "No better time to learn how to drive than when you're being chased by trigger-happy gunmen!"
At that, Ashen floors the accelerator and thus the car surges forward. He did not even try to avoid running over the gunmen who were standing on the road in front. To be exact, he deliberately aimed to run them over.
"WAAAAAAAH! MR. ASHEN!!!", Rossweisse screamed as the car surged forward.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DIE!!! DIE!!! YOU STUPID HUMANS DIE!!!"
Ashen on the other hand, was laughing hysterically as he maneuvered the car around the highway trying to run over every single gunman who was shooting at them.
"I AIN'T RUNNING FROM YOU, SUCKERS!!! I'M GOING TO DO THE CHASING AND PAINT THE WHOLE DAMNED SECTION OF THIS HIGHWAY RED!!!!"
*****
Rossweisse did not know how much time has passed.
All she could remember was that Ashen had personally strapped her to her seat using the seatbelt, then put the pedal to the metal as he spun the car around in literal circles.
The only thing she could remember hearing was the sound of bullets hitting the car, the screeching of the tires against the asphalt, the occasional bumps of bodies as they are ran over and the never-ending hysterical laugh of Ashen as he drove the car.
'Ah...forgive me Lord for my sin. I have let the people die.'
She felt remorse at the fact that she was unable to save the gunmen from Ashen.
Ever since she was young, she was taught to treasure all life by her parents. To learn how to forgive others for it is the right thing to do. These teachings were further emphasized by the church when they took her in after they discovered that she was a Saint.
As a Saint, she was taught that she has the duty to provide relief and comfort for the people, redemption and forgiveness to the sinners, and eternal repose and honor to the departed.
And she has not failed in these duties not once in her life until she met Ashen.
He was a very strange young man who has unkempt ash-white hair that reach until his shoulders and wore an ensemble of rather old clothes. Giving him the image of being a wandering vagabond or orphan.
But that was not what really shocked Rossweisse, it was the part where he was obviously a misanthrope with a particular hate for Saints like her.
This was proven last night during their stay in the church where he refused her cooking and even her offer for a change of clothes or taking a bath. Verbally abusing her at each rejection.
What was more shocking was that even after introducing herself, he went and called her something as derogatory as 'Nitwit'.
But even then, she chose to forgive him as he had saved her life.
But right now...she feels like forgiving him that lightly was a little too hasty.
"COMBO! COMBO KILL x3!!!"
For the man in question is busy slaughtering humans right in front of her.
Thinking that the killing was already enough, Rossweisse tugs at Ashen's sleeve, "Hey Mr. Ashen...is it not enough already?", she pleads him to stop.
"Hmm? Why? There's like 4 of them remaining so why stop?", Ashen replied.
"Do you not feel any remorse for killing them?"
"Nope. Not really.", Ashen immediately answers her.
"Why? They're the same as you. People who were born and live on this world."
"Huh? Are you serious?", Ashen scowls as he steps on the brakes, "It is because they are also people in this world that I will not hesitate to kill them!"
"Eh?!"
"Why don't you try asking them the same question, 'Excuse me! Don't you feel remorse trying to kill us?'. Try it. They'll probably say that they have their own reasons like, 'For the sake of the world' or something stupid like, 'Because you're an obstacle'.", Ashen replied.
Hearing that, Rossweisse resolves herself and says, "Very well. I shall ask them."
"Wait what?!"
Before Ashen could properly process what Rossweisse had just said, she had already rolled down her window and proceeded to ask the remaining gunmen outside, "Forgive me misters. But I wish to ask of you, do you not feel remorse in trying to kill us?"
"You idiot!", Ashen immediately presses the button to close Rossweisse's window and in split-second, grabs Rossweisse's head and pushes her down just in time when the bullets came flying inside the car through the window, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING NITWIT!!!"
Rossweisse couldn't see what Ashen was doing as he pushed her down but she heard him pull out something from the back seats and then gunfire.
"Ack!"
She heard him react painfully, "Mr. Ashen?"
"Keep your head down and stay inside the car!"
Hearing him shout with such intensity, Rossweisse reflexively obeyed and kept her head down as she sees Ashen go out the car carrying another gun and engaging the gunmen outside.
The sounds of gunfire lasted for a good couple of minutes before finally, Ashen calls out to her from outside,
"Oi Nitwit. You can come out now."
She wondered what had happened and so she slowly raised her head to see.
There she saw a scene that would forever remain in her memory for the rest of her life;
"Mr. Ashen, those wounds!"
"Huh? Oh these? Don't mind me."
It was the figure of Ashen all covered in wounds and bleeding all-over in a much worse state than last night's.
"Ah...I killed them all. Looks like we won't be interrogating any of them today. Oh! Nice pants. Don't mind if I take it."
However, just like before, he seemed unfazed and was moving around as if he felt no pain as he looted the dead gunmen without hesitation.
Rossweisse was horrified. Not because Ashen had practically killed all of the gunmen in cold-blood, nor was it because he had literally painted the road red in blood...
But because he was moving around looting everyone with a smile on his face while covered in fatal wounds that would have killed a normal human.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone