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SEASON ONE, EPISODE ONE

STARTING CHAPTER OF THE MERCENARY FOR HIRE ARC

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*WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: Death, murder, pillaging of villages, mentions of past mass murders, cussing, implied sexism, and torture

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Her bright purple eyes looked around from the roof she was on, scanning the area for any form of movement below her while playing random notes with her silver biwa.

Nothing as of yet. The streets have been dead empty for the past hour. Honestly, Uga wanted to just leave, but she needed the money. Her client was willing to pay a rather hefty amount of money for the assassination of this mysterious target.

All her client told her was that the target emitted a large amount of cursed energy, so it was possibly a Grade 2 at least, maybe a Grade 1. He didn't even know if the target was a sorcerer or a cursed spirit, but he does know that this thing has been able to kill the village's strongest sorcerers.

Should she leave, then she would leave without any money and possibly be the reason for more deaths of innocent people. That was when she saw a quick shadow hopping from rooftop to rooftop rather quickly and was heading straight towards her.

Uga took a deep breath and held it until the shadow was on the same roof she was on. That was when Uga exhaled and as she did so, a bubble started to form in her mouth and kept getting bigger and bigger. As the figure got closer, it was most definitely a human. He eventually got himself trapped inside Uga's now giant bubble. "Hm. I believe I understand the situation now," she walked up towards her now captured target, looking at his features, "You're a curse user who's been running around, attacking villages and some of their shamans."

This guy was ranked Grade 2 and has a large bounty on his head. His name was Koda Shoji if she remembered correctly. Shoji was known for robbing villages blind with some associates of his, with his favorite places to pillage are those with jujutsu sorcerers.

"Huh, so my reputation precedes me," Shoji smiled after hearing that Uga had heard about him. He didn't really care about him being trapped inside a bubble. How could he be? His captor is a female shaman with no man in sight. All he has to do is use his charm on her, and take advantage of it all to escape. It was almost too easy, it was laughable. Shoji leaned against the bubble with a cheeky smile. "What are you going to do with me, little lady?"

It was safe to say that Uga wasn't really impressed by this idiot. Did this stupid in the past for him? Maybe that's why he's trying to flirt with her.

Uga snapped her fingers, creating chains from inside of the bubble, forcing Shoji to get on his knees. "You know, your head alone is worth over 2 hundred gold mon. People would love to see your dead body for themselves. But then again, there are also those who would also love having you alive and kill you with their own hands."

Shoji paled after hearing the woman's statement. Not only was she not enchanted by him, but he was getting scared of her. But he kept a straight face and then asked Uga, "And what you would plan to do to me, ma'am?"

"Turn you in alive and get the reward money while the villagers enact their vengeance onto you. Or, I would let you live if you were to tell me where your associates are hiding." Truth be told, many of Shoji's partners have bounties on their heads. Plus, Shoji is known for doing business with other shamans, which means more practice for Uga and more food for Haito and Yoko.

The man kicked the bubble several times, making it multiple ripples with each kick. "Like hell, I will betray my men and hand them over to a broad like you! You'll have to kill me first!"

For a curse user, he is rather loyal. Makes her wonder how far is his loyalty to those in his association. "Very well. As you wish." Uga simply walked away from the bubble and started to play her biwa.

Just then, he felt himself getting hot and tired, and started to sweat out of nowhere. The curse user felt weaker as well, losing his strength to pull on his chains. The roof of his mouth and tongue feel dry like sand and his heart was beating like crazy. With what strength he had, he looked up at his captor, seeing that she had a ball of water floating next to her.

"Wh-What ... did you do ... to me ..." Shoji asked Uga, who simply smiled. "I simply took away the water from your body," she explained to him, thinking for a moment, "around 5% I believe. Now I was going to remove only 2%, but your comment and little outburst made me want to increase the percentage."

Benzaiten then kneeled to the man's level, just below his head that he was struggling to keep up. "The human body is made up of 70% water, and if more than 12% is missing, then the person dies from dehydration. Now, for humans, this process would take a couple of days, and only some live afterward. But for a shaman with water manipulation like myself, the task can be done in mere seconds before one could blink."

There was nothing but malice and sadistic intentions in her purple soulless eyes, and Shoji was staring right at them. He could feel his own soul leave his body.

Neither of them saw a human or a fellow shaman anymore. One saw a monster in human skin while the other saw a measly and pathetic creature that was at their mercy.

"Well then, will you give me your hideout location or will I have to take out more of your water?" Uga slowly held up her pick and kept it in the air, almost taunting the dehydrated man.

Shoji looked like he wanted to cry his eyes out. It was a lovely sight to watch. Uga enjoyed seeing this man, who's managed to kill countless shamans and non-sorcerers in cold blood, was now unable to cry at her mercy. Oh, how he hated feeling this helpless. She should've been one feeling helpless and at his mercy. Shoji felt worthless, chained down and slowly getting more and more dehydrated.

"S-Stop ... please," Shoji mustered out. "I'll tell you where the hideout is located. Just please! Please spare me so that I may live to see another day!" He began to shout out his plea. He wasn't going to survive another minute from within this bubble. That was a fact. If he does, he'll die within said minute. Screw the others! He wanted to live and get away!

He then proceeded to tell Uga everything about the hideout.

"Thank you for telling me what I would like to know. But unfortunately for you, I don't plan on keeping you alive. After all, what kind of curse user in an association would betray his brethren to save his measly life," Uga said, all while giving him a bright toothy smile as she lowered her hand with her pick and a note on her biwa that left an echo.

Before Shoji could react, he felt something stab through him. In fact, that stabbing feeling was all over his body. He wanted to look down, and when he did, all the color from his face was gone and he was white as a ghost. His body was covered in spikes made from water that was sharpened.

He didn't say anything but just looked dead in Uga's soulless eyes, finding indifference. No sign of sympathy or guilt anywhere.

As the spikes were removed his body and chains were removed, his body fell in his bubble prison. His blood was splattered throughout the bubble but most were around the now dead body.

"Hmm...," Uga looked at Shoji's corpse, his now dull blue eyes still open, unable to close. She then sighed, "That was boring. Maybe I'll get a kick killing his associates. Oh well. At least Haito has a snack before dinner tonight."

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𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑 NOTES:

Uga is such a baddie.

She has no remorse for her victims. And it shows in this chapter.

You got an inside look at what one of Uga's cursed techniques looks like, which is Water Manipulation.

More of Uga's violence is gonna appear in the next chapter. As well as some new characters in this fanfic.