Chapter 74:An eye-for-an-eye

Chapter 74: 74:An eye-for-an-eye

"You! How did you get in here!" Rita shouted in terror, hiding behind her mother immediately.

The air in the room instantly plummeted to freezing temperatures. A suffocating dread pooled in the corners of the grand living room as Nova’s dark presence seemed to swallow all the light.

Vivian’s eyes widened. Clenching her nightgown tightly, she took a step back, desperately trying to control her racing heart.

Mr. Zion noticed both of his daughters’ terrified expressions and immediately sensed something was terribly off. He looked at Nova, adjusting his glasses.

"Little girl, coming into my house so late at night... this isn’t appropriate," he said. Though he was feeling a deep chill from Nova’s overwhelming aura, he still tried to look calm.

"Little girl," Nova repeated and laughed softly, her beautiful blue eyes flashing with danger. "It annoys me when outsiders address me as little, but... I’m not here for you," she replied coldly.

Mrs. Zion patted Rita’s trembling hands and spoke. "I’m really curious how you managed to avoid all the security and enter in here. Aren’t you afraid you might not go back home tonight?" she threatened, her voice laced with a false sense of danger.

Nova stared at Mrs. Zion and nodded. "I see where your two children get their bad habits, it’s actually from you. I won’t be surprised if you are already aware of what they did," she said.

Mr. Zion stared at Mrs. Zion, who dared not look back into his eyes, and then at the shivering Vivian and Rita. "What’s going on here?" he questioned, his voice slightly raised.

"Why are you shouting? They just got into a normal argument. Is that worth her barging into someone else’s house in the middle of the night like a thief? I think she should be arrested!" Mrs. Zion shouted angrily.

"You!" Mr. Zion pointed at Mrs. Zion. Taking in a deep breath to calm his anger, he asked, "What caused the argument?"

Nova chuckled, staring at Rita. "Not an argument, Mr. Zion. Your two good daughters treated me pretty well. One keeps stressing me in the class, throwing paint at me," she said, turning her head to Vivian, "and the other one sent many thugs to beat me up. And this happened because one is jealous of my peerless beauty, and the other is eyeing my man," she explained before anyone else could.

"Is that true?" Mr. Zion asked, his gaze shifting between Vivian and Rita.

"Dad, I... I didn’t throw paint at her. I ended up throwing it on myself. I didn’t offend her, Dad," Rita immediately explained, feeling intensely pressured even without Nova taking action.

"I didn’t ask them to hit her much. I just wanted to teach her a lesson," Vivian said, her whole body already shivering.

"You two!" Mr. Zion was very angry, but Mrs. Zion immediately spoke.

"My children can never be wrong. Do you want to side with an outsider now and bully your daughters, huh?" she spoke angrily.

Nova clapped her hands together, a beautiful, chilling smile spreading on her lips. "What motherly love, truly moving. I was actually here for the two of them before, but it seems there is a plus-one already," she said.

"What do you think you are? Fine, you are here to get justice, aren’t you? Speak, how much do you want?" Mrs. Zion questioned arrogantly, staring at Nova with a disgusted expression on her face.

Nova laughed loudly, standing on her feet. "First, justice and I are complete opposites," she said, her gaze turning deadly instantly. The tension in the room spiked, the atmosphere growing so heavy and lethal that breathing became a chore. "I am strongly obsessed with an eye-for-an-eye option, and of course, with interest," she said.

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly appeared right next to Vivian, grabbing her by her hair and dragging her ruthlessly across the glass table.

Her movement was so fast that no one even noticed her approach. Even Vivian, who was now being dragged, didn’t know when or how Nova had appeared next to her.

"Ah! It hurts! It hurts!" Vivian shouted painfully, but Nova didn’t have a single ounce of pity in her eyes. With a vicious, brutal kick to the stomach, she sent Vivian crashing to the ground, clutching her abdomen in agonizing pain.

"Vivian!"

"Vivi!"

"Sister!"

The three shouted in shock, but they dared not take a single step forward because the air had morphed into something unspeakably dangerous and terrifying. A heavy, predatory tension rooted them to the floor.

Second," Nova said, looking at them. Suddenly, a glowing, thick blue whip materialized in her hand. It was designed like a cat-o’-nine-tails, but instead of nine, it featured exactly fifteen distinct, razor-sharp leather strands—the fifteen "heads" of the whip. Its mere presence crackled with dark energy, making the atmosphere in the room feel suffocatingly heavy.

"Did I say I lack money? How much did you want to give me that will make me think twice about my actions?" she said. She flashed a mocking smile at Mrs. Zion.

"If you dare touch my daughter, I will make sure you rot in jail!" Mrs. Zion threatened.

"Wow! I’m so scared," Nova replied, her devilish smile never fading. She looked down at Vivian, who was still lying on the floor, clutching her stomach with a terrified expression on her face.

"Lucky you. When I counted the number of men that attacked us, there were exactly fifteen. So, this whip has exactly fifteen lash strands. You are really blessed," she said.

"Please... please don’t! I promise, I will never dare to mess with you again," Vivian stuttered, her whole body shaking violently at the sight of the glowing whip.

Nova lightly shook her head. "Unfortunate for you, apologies have always been a useless thing to me," she said.

With a ruthless glint in her eye, she raised the whip high into the air and brought it down with terrifying force, delivering the stinging bite of all fifteen strands directly onto Vivian’s back.

"Ahh!" Vivian screamed in agony.

The fifteen lashes tore right through the fabric of her nightgown, slicing into her delicate skin like hot knives. The brutal impact sent a shockwave of blinding pain through her body. She could instantly taste the metallic tang of blood welling up in her throat.

Tears cascaded from her eyes, and she scrambled desperately, trying to crawl away and escape the torment. But somehow, it was as if an invisible, crushing pressure hidden within the air was pinning her rigidly to the floor, leaving her completely defenseless.

"Mom, please save me!" Vivian cried bitterly, terrified of taking a second strike.

"Save your screams for my whip. Even if your soul wants to help you, it’s impossible," Nova commented. She raised the heavy whip again, snapping her wrist to deliver another devastating blow across Vivian’s flesh.

The sharp crack echoed violently through the room. Vivian vomited a mouthful of blood onto the pristine marble floor. Her vision began to blur as the edges of her consciousness frayed. Her entire body was already covered in crisscrossing, bloody welts and deep lacerations from the multi-stranded weapon.

"Don’t die yet. I only want to give you just fifteen lashes. You have taken two, thirteen remain," Nova laughed. She brought the whip down in another merciless strike, the sickening sound of tearing skin making Vivian violently cough up more blood.

Mrs. Zion burst into tears, forced to watch her daughter get brutally beaten right in front of her. "Stop her! She wants to kill my daughter! Stop her!" she cried, frantically shaking her husband’s arm.

Mr. Zion couldn’t take it anymore and took a step forward to intervene. But the moment his foot hit the floor, he suddenly found himself entirely paralyzed. He couldn’t move a single muscle, and his vocal cords locked up, preventing him from even speaking. His eyes widened in paralyzing terror, instantly realizing that they had offended a terrifying, unearthly entity.

Nova didn’t stop her beating. The rhythmic, horrific crack of the whip filled the silent room as she delivered strike after strike, not pausing until the full count of fifteen lashes was complete. Vivian was now completely bathed in her own blood, lying utterly motionless on the floor. Thick crimson droplets trickled slowly from her lips, her shallow, ragged breaths making her look as though she were breathing her absolute last.

Nova turned slowly, her fingers gently caressing the handle of the whip, which was now dripping with Vivian’s blood. She shifted her glowing gaze to the terrified Rita and smiled coldly.

"It’s your turn now," she said.

Rita’s mind went completely blank. Her vision turned blurry with terror, and she fainted right away on the spot.