A Midnight Burial
I regained consciousness as I retched up the contents of my stomach. Every time I let out a dry cough, thick, viscous blood spilled from my lips. The air was thick with the metallic stench of blood. The once-white bathroom floor was stained a gruesome, vivid red.
I shook my dazed head from side to side. Lucia's gorgeous golden hair was a tangled, matted mess of dried blood. What happened...? Why did I fall asleep here? I tried to gather my thoughts through the lingering fog of sleep. Let's see... what was I doing before I passed out?
Sleeping naked in a pool of blood in the bathroom—no matter how much of a degenerate Lucia was, even she wouldn't do something this bizarre. Then, I noticed something submerged in the crimson puddle. Reaching down, I pulled out a blood-drenched wire saw. Ah, right. Before I fell asleep, I was trying to slice my limbs off like pieces of cake.
First, I sawed off both of my legs. Next, I carved away my left arm with the wire saw. It was so thrilling. Severing the muscles and tendons, ruthlessly grinding through the resisting bone... The legs that used to run so vigorously were rolling around like trash. The left arm that once held weapons had transformed into a mere lump of flesh. A useless, lifeless piece of meat destined only to rot.
I loved it. I loved it so much. It was absolutely ecstatic. I wanted more. I wanted to push it just a little further. So, I tried to cut off my one remaining arm. But that was where I ran into a problem. I had no way to cut it. Think about it: I had used my right hand to saw off my left arm and both legs. How on earth was I supposed to cut off my right arm with my right hand? My left hand was already severed and no longer obeyed my commands.
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn't find a way. So, the conclusion I reached was simple and brutally crude. I slammed my right arm down onto the wire saw. It didn't work the first time, so I tried dozens of times. Using my stump of a leg to prop up the saw so it wouldn't fall over, I swung my right arm, gradually hacking away at my forearm. It was exhausting. The saw kept wobbling, leaving my entire right arm in tatters. Compared to my cleanly severed left arm and legs, my right arm looked like it had been chewed to pieces by a vicious beast. But I still succeeded. After countless attempts, I finally managed to sever my right arm.
Once my right arm—the very last of my limbs—detached from my body, there was absolutely nothing left for me to do. No arms. No legs. I was nothing but a torso and a head. I squirmed like a caterpillar on the sticky, blood-stained bathroom floor. Blood gushed relentlessly from the stumps. The crimson pool on the floor expanded further and further. Any normal person would have died of blood loss long ago. It was an unbelievable amount of blood to come from a single human body. Face-planted in my own blood, I barely kept my Super Regeneration active to avoid dying of blood loss, my entire body twitching in sheer ecstasy.
Hot blood rushed into my nose and mouth. I coughed, flailing my stumped limbs, but that only made the blood pour out faster. I couldn't breathe. It felt like suffocating with my face pressed into a shallow dish of water. It tasted of iron. It smelled metallic and raw. Squirm, squirm. I twisted my waist, trying to move, but I couldn't even roll over. And then... well, I passed out. Almost suffocating in a pool of my own blood—how hilarious is that?
"Ugh... I reek of blood... I need to shower first." I smiled wryly as droplets of blood dripped from my hair. Placing my hands on the floor, I pushed myself up. As I walked toward the shower on my two legs, I spotted two arms and two legs still rolling around on the floor.
"...?" Huh? My arms? My legs? But they're currently attached to... wait, what? "Ah." I slapped my forehead. Oh, boy. This is bad. I had carefully controlled my ability to prevent my limbs from regenerating—before I passed out, that is. But once I lost consciousness, I couldn't control it anymore. If my Super Regeneration kicked into overdrive and fully restored my severed limbs... this is what happens. A brand-new set of limbs was now attached to my body, while my original, severed arms and legs were left behind, forever unable to return to their proper places—homeless orphans.
"What do I do now...?" Cutting off parts of my body is great. Honestly, I'm addicted to it. The profound sense of loss from losing a precious body part. The sheer ecstasy of having limbs missing that should obviously be there. The spine-chilling thrill of feeling like I'm no longer human, but rather livestock or an object, every time I lose another vital part of myself. I loved that feeling so much that, starting with my fingers, I had mutilated my body multiple times. And when it came to cleaning up, I made sure to reattach the severed parts instead of letting them regenerate. Otherwise, I'd have to secretly dispose of the severed flesh.
If it were something small like a finger, it would be easy. But bulky arms and legs are a whole different story. If I handle this poorly, it'll easily be mistaken for a gruesome dismemberment murder. It's not like I can just say, 'Oh, I cut them off myself!' I mean, even with Super Regeneration, what kind of crazy bitch chops off her own limbs as a hobby? Well, me.
"How do I get rid of these?" I poked the pale, bloodless arms and legs. At a glance, they looked like mannequin parts, but a closer inspection revealed they were unmistakably real human limbs. If anyone else saw this, wouldn't they get the wrong idea? I had to dispose of them. They were fine for now, but once they started to rot, it would be a disaster. The stench would be unbearable. I'd definitely get caught. The problem was how to dispose of them...
Burn them to ashes? I didn't have that kind of firepower. My Supernatural Ability is Super Regeneration. If I tried to burn them half-heartedly, the smell and smoke would only draw unwanted attention. I knew a few people who could do it, though. Yujin could burn them down to the bone, leaving nothing behind. Aris could vaporize them into dust with her heat ray. But I couldn't ask them for help right now. Neither of them knew that Lucia was a degenerate driven entirely by her twisted desires, so asking for their help was out of the question...
I did have an excuse. If I said I did it to train my ability, I could probably convince them. Yujin and Aris are both innocent, so they'd take it at face value. But what about Frey? Would that paranoid, suspicious psycho actually believe me? She'd doubt me over and over until she eventually deemed Lucia a dangerous threat. That would be troublesome. I want to get along with Frey if possible. I even have a whip I plan to gift her someday. Since I made this mess, I should clean it up myself. First, let's check the time... Ah, it's dawn. There's still plenty of time before school starts. Fortunately, I couldn't have been unconscious for more than an hour.
"What's the best way to dispose of a body?" Well, they aren't technically a body, but close enough. Dump them in the ocean? No, it's too far. I'd have to use public transit, which might draw suspicious looks. Bury them in concrete? I don't have the tools for that. In that case... "Let's bury them." Conveniently, there's a mountain behind the academy. It's not a massive peak, but it's dense enough to bury a body without anyone ever finding it. Not that I'm burying a person. I'm just disposing of some arms and legs. And they're mine, anyway. Who's going to complain if I return my own limbs to nature? Right?
I chopped the arms and legs into smaller pieces and stuffed them into a black plastic bag. In the process, I accidentally cut off a few of my current fingers, so I tossed them into the bag as well. It was an accident. A genuine accident. Absolutely not intentional. I definitely didn't think, 'Well, since I'm burying them anyway, what's the harm in adding a few more fingers?' ...Okay, maybe I thought about it a little. B-but my hand just slipped because the axe was covered in blood!
I carefully placed the bag inside a large backpack. I pulled a hat low over my eyes and covered my nose and mouth with a mask. Since I didn't have a shovel, I packed the axe as a substitute. I paused to examine myself in the mirror. Yep, a textbook suspicious person. Climbing a mountain at this hour with a backpack, face completely concealed by a hat and mask? And to top it off, carrying a dismembered body (not really) in the bag? There's absolutely no defending this.
"It took some time to wash off all the dried blood... Let's make this quick." I had been covered in blood from head to toe, and I couldn't exactly go out looking like that. After scrubbing myself clean, I stood before the door with a refreshed mind. First, the moment I step outside, I run. Not a leisurely jog like when I did those sixty laps, but a full-on sprint, utilizing my Super Regeneration to manage my stamina. Given my physical abilities as a Supernatural Ability User and Lucia's tireless endurance, a trip to the back mountain would be over in a flash.
The only problem was where to bury it. Ideally, it should be somewhere people rarely go. Maybe halfway up the mountain, far off the beaten path? Since I had never climbed the academy's back mountain before, I'd have to find a suitable spot myself. I just had to make sure I didn't get lost. It seemed Lucia's body had a terrible sense of direction.
Mmm, it was a shame I didn't have a shovel. But it wasn't like I could just go out and buy one right now. I had the axe as a substitute, and if all else failed, I could just dig with my bare hands. I had to trust the superhuman physical abilities of a Supernatural Ability User. Even if I got hurt in the process, I could just regenerate. Alright, let's go! Despite my energetic inner battle cry, I opened the door with extreme caution. He-het, this is actually pretty thrilling. The thought of having to avoid getting caught made my heart flutter with excitement.
Lifting my heels, I crept down the hallway as quietly as possible. Avoiding the stairs, I opened the window at the end of the corridor. I poked my head out to scan the surroundings, then leaped without hesitation. It was a three-story drop. Just because it didn't look that high didn't mean I could let my guard down. For an ordinary person, this was a dangerous height. Depending on how you landed, it could easily be fatal. If you fell headfirst, your survival was far from guaranteed. But of course, none of that applied to Lucia.
I landed safely. My ankles felt only slightly stiff. I moved stealthily, dodging the security guards' patrols and the CCTV cameras. My usual night walks were really paying off. Although scrubbing away the smell of blood had eaten up a lot of my shower time, I still had plenty of time to spare. Wow, this might actually be easier than I thought.