Episode 8

I didn't want any more trouble, any more blood on my hands. But suddenly I wouldn't mind killing this arrogant prick too much. I smiled, wild and free, even as the weight of the armor still crushed me to the ground.

Defiant. I had been defying fate since birth.

“I'd like to see you try.”

“I don't try. I do.”

That woman lifted a leg to crush my head. As if she could do it in the first place. But she didn't get to test it.

Plague crashed into her, coming in from the side.

Since she had one leg up, she wasn't in the best position, but the imbalance wasn't enough to knock the woman to the ground. Maybe the tentacles would have balanced the scales in her direction, but for the moment Plague was surprisingly heeding me.

Even though even I could sense that this woman was bad news.

“Stronger than you look. Even with those skinny arms, those hands that have never experienced battle or hard work. You...”

Oh oh. She was beginning to realize something didn't add up. Well, I could rectify that.

Diverting her attention. I swept her leg, the only one touching the ground. One more blow with all my strength wasn't enough to take down that chick, who looked solid as the Great Wall of China. I shouldn't have expected that, being a ten-year-old brat. Or nine maybe.

But at least I gave Plague a chance and she took it. Before I knew it, the good Samaritan was on the ground, with the monster grabbing her arms and legs, on top of her.

For a few seconds, I imagined it so clearly that I saw her face open up as it did then. I saw the tentacles lunging for their prey. But in the end, nothing happened. She was holding back, for the moment. Good.

Celebrated too quickly, though. As usual.

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The woman spun on the ground backwards, dragging Plague with her. But not too far, because she threw her as she stood up, taking advantage of the momentum of the movement.

Even so, fuck. How light she moved for wearing such heavy armor.

Nothing in this fucking world made sense. My head was going to start hurting. Plague saved herself, the woman hadn't thrown her too far, but she managed to land just fine. On all fours, like a beast, especially seeing how it roared.

It hadn't brought out her tentacles, her true self, but she wasn't trying too hard to look human either.

Anyway. I could worry about that if I survived this shit.

I mean... If my... Spirit? If my soul had been stolen, what exactly was this form I was walking around in? Neither a body, nor a soul? What was the third option?

Oh god. Seriously, what a headache.

In any case, it was my time to escape. I crawled out from under her, first crawling on the grass, of course still clutching tightly the money bags and my sword, my only weapon, at my waist. Then I managed to get to my feet. And run away.

In the meantime, Plague threw herself on our enemy for the second time. With identical results.

No, even worse.

She was easily repelled. And her flight was only stopped by her impact against a tree trunk. After which her neck was twisted in a way it shouldn't. And she stood still, very still.

“Did I kill her? I didn't think... that I had put so much force into it.”

She sounded remorseful, though she wouldn't be if she knew Plague's true nature. I supposed that, anyway, meant she was a nice lady. But what did I care?

She was in my way, fucking with me, anyway.

In any case. I'd come to believe she'd died just like that, too. So easily, but I should have expected it would be like all the other times I thought I'd killed Plague.

Even this bitch couldn't claim victory so quickly.

Plague finally moved.

The tangle of tentacles emerged from her face after splitting in two, as usual. And then everything changed. Literally. I didn't worry that she'd disobeyed me. Because it seemed reasonable to me with this chick behind us, but also because I stopped thinking about it and anything instantly.

Everything changed, really, there was no exaggeration.

The woman's face lost any trace of color and she suddenly behaved as if she was the one who was cornered. No way to flee, no place to hide.

I've seen a lot of scared people in my life, believe me. Mostly poor bastards who found themselves with no way out but to plead with me, when I wasn't the one calling the shots.

And I could assure you that I had never seen anyone more scared in my life.

“You... You're...”

Her legs were shaking now.

“I have to evacuate the village now.” The new obstacle in my way, one of many, muttered to herself.

So low it was barely audible, but I did hear it.

This was a more serious matter than I had thought, eh?

It suddenly occurred to me that there might be very literal reasons why they called my new friend's species Plague.

Episode 8: FIN