Riley Ross

Chapter 195 195: The Chort

"Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.""P-please—no, no more, pozhaluysta. I am not close with my mother, okay? Ona… ona ne otvechayet. She's busy. Always busy. She won't pick up. She never does."

"Well, that's fine. You still have, hm…"

Darkday tilted his head to the side, studying Nikola's body. Well, whatever was left of it, anyway.

He was now sprawled on the floor, almost like… cattle. All of his limbs were gone, his left ear, his right eye, and most of his lower teeth had been torn out.

And, perhaps to remind him of this, all of his dismembered and severed parts were floating right above him. Hovering just inches away from the ceiling, arranged in a way that it felt like the parts were slowly, but surely, shaping into the image of himself.

It wasn't messy at all, no. There was no blood at all, and even if there were, it was minimal—Darkday was making sure that he wouldn't bleed to death.

"Call again," Darkday shoved Nikola's phone down his face. And although Nikola vehemently shook his head, he ultimately stuck out his tongue to tap the call button.

And the dreaded ringing once again chimed in the air.

"Ring. Ring." And of course, there was also Darkday imitating the tone. "In case she doesn't answer, Nikola. Which part do you want us to shave next? I was thinking of removing your—"

"N-not my dick. Please! P—"

[Make it quick, Niko—son?]

"M-mama!" Nikola screamed in relief as Sofiya finally answered her phone, but Darkday immediately cut their conversation short and pulled the phone away from Nikola.

"W—"

"Shh." Darkday covered Nikola's mouth and then tapped the video call button, placing the camera in front of him, or rather, his helmet.

"Da. Dobryy vecher, mama," Darkday cheerfully said, waving his hand at the screen. "It's so very nice to finally talk to you."

Sofiya didn't turn on her camera and stayed completely quiet.

"You don't need to have someone track your son's phone—we're in his apartment." Darkday chuckled, shaking his head as he spun around to show Sofiya the living room. "I do need to warn you, however, that if you even try to talk to anyone, or have anyone tap our conversation—I will kill your son, and everyone else in this building. They'll all go… kaboom. Or just boom, it depends."

[...What do you want?] And finally, after what seemed like a moment, Sofiya turned on her camera—and from the tiles behind her, she was inside the restroom. [You… are Darkday, correct? Why are you here? Did… someone enter my son's name in your website?]

"No. Someone did enter your name, however. Naughty, naughty." Darkday let out a long, trailing sigh as he made his way to the sofa.

[Then why are you in my son's apartment? Where is he?]

"I think you and I both know you're quite hard to reach. Tch, tch, tch." Darkday wagged his finger. "I don't want to put the blame on you for what is happening to your son, and I won't—I'm enjoying this, after all."

[What did you do to my son? Show me proof of life, or I swear—]

"Taadaa!" Darkday shifted the main camera, showing Nikola's mutilated state.

[Nikola…]

"Ah, tut tut. You should blame yourself for him looking like that, however." Darkday rushed back to Nikola. "If you answered the first call, then he'd have just lost two limbs. But alas, mama was busy."

[He's… alive?]

"Yes." Darkday shrugged before crouching behind Nikola and lightly slapping his cheek, causing him to whimper. He couldn't let out a word, however, as Darkday wasn't allowing him to even open his mouth.

"He's actually pretty healthy, believe it or not," Darkday said. "He'd need some mechanical limbs and a few prosthetics here and there. But he'll be fine, considering."

[Th—]

"Kidding."

[No!]

And without even any warning, Darkday raised the phone above his head, making sure Sofiya would see him stomping and squashing her son's head into a pulp—his eyes, even popping out from the sockets and shooting toward the phone's camera.

Of course, Darkday used his telekinesis to make that happen for dramatic effect.

[W… what did you do?! No… You… I will make sure the army will rain fire wherever—]

And before Sofiya could finish her words, the apartment's doorbell rang.

"Oh, they're here. Can you please hold that thought for a moment?"

[What? Where are you going?! You think you can get away?!]

"I'm not going anywhere, I just ordered delivery, that's all." Darkday placed the phone on the floor, placing it just right so that Sofiya would have a good view of her son's corpse. She then watched as Darkday walked to the door and saw someone handing him some sort of duffel bag.

Darkday talked to the "delivery guy" for a few moments before returning to the living room. The phone on the floor started to float up, focusing on Darkday as he walked toward the kitchen counter.

And there, Darkday opened up the bag, revealing a bundle of white cloth.

Sofiya watched this, already just one word away from commanding an entire fleet of drones to prepare and launch an attack into the building.

But then, her expression started to twist, turning from grim to just utter despair. What Darkday removed from the bag wasn't a bundle of white cloth at all—well, it was. But it also had something inside it.

Or rather, it had someone inside it.

"Aww…" Darkday wagged his finger, and a small pair of hands reached out for it. "I suppose you can call this little child cute, no? But I always think that babies all look alike. But… I wonder if you can recognize him?"

The phone flew closer to Darkday, focusing on the… baby that he was carrying.

"I do hope I got it right. You really should answer your phone," Darkday whispered as he turned to the camera. "Can you confirm that this is your grandson from your eldest daughter?"

[...Yes,] Sofiya also whispered, the tone of her voice almost muted now.

[What… do you want?]