Serena ignored him completely.
Shoving her hands into her pockets, she walked straight toward the scattered corpses.
As she moved, she casually hooked a finger toward the two Dragon-Thorn Operatives who were standing frozen in shock near the door. "You two. Come here."
The operatives instinctively glanced at their commanding officer.
Seeing Jerrick give a curt nod, they immediately snapped to attention. "Yes, ma'am!"
They hurried over to her side.
Serena stood amidst the carnage, her eyes drifting over the ruined bodies before stopping next to one in particular.
She stared down at the Augment's twisted, grotesque face. Nicholas had battered this one relentlessly. Its body was contorted into an impossible angle, something no human spine could ever achieve.
Its head was twisted a full 180 degrees, staring up at the ceiling with bulging, lifeless eyes while its torso lay face down.
Because Serena was standing right above it, looking down felt like making direct eye contact with the corpse.
The entire scene was deeply unsettling.
Serena simply held out her hand. "Knife."
One of the operatives blinked, then quickly drew a tactical combat knife from his thigh sheath and handed it over.
"Gloves," she demanded.
The other operative scrambled to produce a pair of tactical gloves from his gear.
Serena pulled them on and tested the weight of the blade.
She twirled the combat knife effortlessly through her pale fingers, her expression perfectly serene as she gave her orders. "Drag the rest of them over here. Line them up. Be gentle. Don't damage the back of their skulls."
"You two, secure its arms and legs."
But for some reason, hearing this stunning young woman dictate the cleanup with such bored indifference...
And watching her press her pale hand firmly against the creature's skull while she methodically carved into its brain tissue...
Both of their hearts gave a hard, involuntary lurch.
The visual contrast was staggering.
She possessed a breathtaking, cold beauty—a flawless face that looked completely out of place in a slaughterhouse.
And yet, performing this gruesome task didn't diminish her elegance. Instead, it gave her a dark, terrifyingly hypnotic allure.
The operatives suppressed a shudder.
On the other side of the room, Jerrick had barely glanced at Serena before locking his burning gaze back onto Nicholas.
The more he looked at him, the more he wanted to punch him.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Messing With Her? Are You Crazy!