It was an appropriately miserable day as he sat next to his weeping mother clad in black. He was clad in a similarly coloured expensive black suit that itched uncomfortably, probably as a result of its newness or maybe that was just his imagination. His dad sat on his other side; his face was stoic while listening to the priest drone on and on spouting generic praise about his brother as told by somebody who had never met him in his life. Unfortunately the words that fell out of his lips were more lie than truth; the platitudes of the lying priest painted his brother as a far more heroic individual than he ever was although his parents seemed to buy into it to an extent or maybe that was self-delusion.

Maybe that was why he didn’t cry even as his family was permanently reduced by one. No matter how much love he had for his brother; no matter how many good moments they had shared together and no matter how his loss would leave a hole in his heart the truth was that his brother probably, no he absolutely deserved his fate. It was unfortunate that his exit to the world hurt just as many people as his brief time spent in it. Looking at it from a more harsh perspective did his parents even have a right to mourn when their inaction and apathy no doubt contributed towards his death?

Or was it hypocritical to judge them for their indifference towards his darker actions when his own adopted stance was so weak and passive. Had his personal acedia led to at least three deaths?

xxx

When he woke up the sky was a much brighter shade of green and he was lying propped up against a short stump of a tree while his secretary shook him awake. She still looked relatively fresh which was a bit alarming since he also felt well rested; just how much sleep did she require that she apparently carried him throughout the night and still looked like she was raring to go.

“They’re close, Sir,” Wendy stated with a note of eagerness beneath her politeness. It looked like she was just as eager to get this over with as she was. Struggling to his feet he noted the smell. While there was a salty smell that he recognized as that of the ocean there was a sweet smell mixed in that he briefly remembered from his arrival.

“How close is the convict,” he stated as he stretched out his limbs taking a step forward and getting a good look at his surroundings. It seemed that they were at least partway up the mountain by now. The air was thinner and the ground was sloped at an angle that forced him to balance so that he didn’t topple over. The ground was thin of any brush and as he looked towards down the mountain to the plains he had seen yesterday he was shocked to see an ocean stretching as far as the eyes can see.

“Pretty close, Sir,” Wendy said. “I can smell him not too far away. We’re also reasonably close to the top of the mountain so there’s nowhere for him to go.”

“That’s good,” Warden agreed. “It really hasn’t been two days. Good job, we would have been underwater if it wasn’t for you.” For a moment he saw a massive shadow pass beneath the surface of the water, multiple fins poking out through the surface, before the being dove and its shadow faded as if it was never there.

“Right, Sir,” Wendy stated standing at attention. “Should I go ahead and you can back me up.”

“Unfortunately if the convict is as fast and strong as you then I have no chance,” Warden admitted to his own weakness. “I will do the talking. I doubt that it will have any benefit, but we should at least attempt diplomacy before jumping in.”

“Understood, Sir,” Wendy said saluting him as the two of them walked up the mountain guided by her nose. As they walked he kept one eye on the waters noting that they were rising further and faster and twice more he saw the waters briefly stir as the movement of massive creatures the size of whales or even larger stirred breaching the surface. With his luck they would be carnivorous indiscriminate predators which could smell a human from miles away. Yes, the water was definitely a failure condition at least from where he was standing.

His eyes were so focused on the water that he could barely react as a clump of soft ground erupted in front of him for the second time today and it was only a push from Wendy that prevented him from being cut in two. He regained his footing somehow grabbing on a nearby scrub of brush and got his first look at the escaped criminal wondering how that thing could ever be called an insect.

The convict was a bit over six feet tall with bulky red armour covering his body looking like a knight out of medieval times. Its head was circular and flat, shaped like a spinning top, with two massive pincers on the side and a pair of compound eyes that were visible when it hunched over. It had four very long arms with three fingered hands with the middle finger on each hand shaped like a wicked-looking blade. With every movement small holes on its side opened up releasing a fragrant blue steam.

“Exinaught the Slasher, you are under arrest,” Warden said. He wasn’t exactly sure what the normal procedures are so he did his best to make it seem as official as possible.

“Well I’m afraid I’m going to res__” he started in a deep scratching voice, like a broken microphone.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Talks broke down, hit him,” Warden commanded, not letting him talk. It wasn’t as if he expected a different outcome so he was fully prepared at the first sign of resistance to spring an attack and when he had faced him to give his refusal he took his attention off of Wendy for a moment and the girl took that moment to hit him in the back with a two fisted blow that impacted his armour with a cracking sound.

It was a punishing blow but poorly struck and the momentum caused Wendy to overbalance slightly. The bug tumbled forward as well, only to lean forward standing on his hands and lashing out with his unoccupied knife-like hands. Two daggers stabbed into Wendy who screamed in pain before her pain turned to rage and she grabbed onto the arms squeezing down causing the carapace to crack slightly. Not even wasting a moment one of Exinaught’s powerful legs lashed out with a kick that hit the neck of the secretary with a sickening crack causing her head to twist unnaturally before her head snapped back and she grabbed shoulder the carapace with her teeth causing cracks to form on the armour.

“What the hell are you,” Exinaught said his scratchy voice conveying deep frustration as he withdrew his knives from her body only for the wounds to abruptly heal as soon as they were taken out.

“Your worst nightmare,” Wendy stated dispassionately; somehow her tone managed to make the cheesy line actually nightmare inducing.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Exinaught spat out as his armour cracked further causing scars to sprout from the wound all over his body. With a whooshing sound a cloud of blue mist exploded outward from his body hitting Wendy dead on. Her eyes went wide and she froze in that position before her body locked up. Twisting his arms in an unnatural fashion Exinaught tore free his grappled limbs and abandoned the part of his armour that was caught; pulling a squishier blue coloured pair of arms out the red cracked carapace with a cry of pain.

Barely had he escaped before he twisted his body stepping casually upright and rushing towards Wendy again. However before he had even taken two steps the serial killer’s senses warned him and he lashed out easily catching a projectile aimed at his head; before crippling pain tore through his body and brought him to his knees. A screech loud enough to shatter glass tore through his spiracles releasing the remains of the mist but try as he might the pain didn’t diminish and instead increased by the second.

His right hand was clutching something and absolutely refused to let the object go and the foreign item was wreaking havoc on his body. What felt like lightning burned him and the bug became aware that if he didn’t release it right now then he would die. Snarling in pain, rage and humiliation he reached towards his upper arm and with one movement severed the limb. Instantly the pain went from debilitating to merely excruciating and he stumbled to his feet looking at the remains of his arm clutching a small silver object, a dangerous weapon empowered by a stupid mistake.

“Unfortunately that didn’t kill you,” the voice of Warden came through the blue mist causing the insectile serial killer to screech in agitation.

“How are you resisting the Sweetmist,” he snarled trying to recover from the pain.

“Good genes,” the man replied riling him up more. “You know if we don’t arrest you then you will die here on this planet, probably eaten by something terrifying. Do you still choose to go through with this?”

‘If that’s the case then I can still kill two more before I die,” Exinaught said with barely contained glee ignoring his ravaged body. “You’re from Coldreach. You must be new. Just the thought of killing one of those monsters is making me salivate.”

“Monsters?” Warden asked as he stepped out from the mist. “What do you mean by that?” The serial killer started to speak before he stopped and then continued with a sinister voice.

“You’re stalling,” he said gleefully. “Waiting for your little bodyguard to recover. “I’m sorry to inform you that the Sweetmist lasts for hours,” he said in a voice that suggests that he wasn’t sorry in the slightest.

“Good, then Wendy can wake up to your broken body,” Warden stated coldly as he took off his jacket.

“Continue to talk big braggart,” Exinaught said losing his temper as he lunged forward closing the distance at a tremendous speed. In an instant his opponent’s jacket was soaring towards his head and he blocked taking a step back as his sight was momentarily obstructed. Still his hearing was not impacted and the soft clink of his opponent’s footsteps gave away his position. With a screech of triumph he threw off the jacket and lashed out…into empty space. Dumbfounded he watched as a small stone bounced off making a minor noise that he had overreacted to; only for his stable legs to catch a kick right between the joints and for his already weakened leg to go numb.

With a look of surprise and shock Exinaught slayer of a hundred lives lost his balance and started to tumble down the hill. It was only after three dozen feet that he somehow managed to catch himself and it was to his alarm that the sound of rushing water announced just how close to the waterline they were. Risking a glance back the murderer saw a massive triangular head just below the surface eying him up before it retreated into the depths.

If he won that would be his fate, unless he killed himself first, but surrender still didn’t cross his mind. Instead the murderer stood up and then froze as he saw an unusual sight. The woman who he had fought so shortly ago was twitching uncontrollably as her eyes darted back and forth with a look of hate while the tricky male stood in front of her holding his own severed limb like it was a weapon.

“How…” he began dumbly looking at the woman who was fighting off his Sweetmist. That should be impossible, but he had no time to worry about it. Even the fury at the mishandling of his limb faded compared to the burning desire to kill that woman right now before she killed him. He crouched and used his full speed lunging up the mountain towards the duo. However despite his speed he didn’t drop his alertness even once and so he was in a prime position to see when the man unclenched his fist and threw an object at him.

He had learnt from the prior time and this time he simply dodged to the left easily sliding past the silver__rock??? His attention wavered for a second and then pain split his mind as the silver object hit him once again on the chest causing him to howl. His eyes forcibly opened by the pain he saw in detail how he was tackled by the squishy, light, weak man as soon as he locked up and the pair of them went tumbling down the mountain, stopping only at the edge of the water.

The silver object had slipped free from Exinaught’s carapace but he barely had any time to recover as his pincers were grabbed and heh had his head pulled off the ground before it was slammed into the rock again. The armour held but the insectile serial killers head was rattled even through its cage. Fumbling around the serial killer tried to lash out with his remaining hands sinking one into the back of his opponent, narrowly missing the spine, and Warden in retaliation tried to twist his head and break his neck.

“GEt OfF, gET oFf, geT oFF,” Exinaughts voice distorted before Warden mercilessly plunged his thumbs into his eyes and Exinaught stabbed into his back puncturing deep into his organs. Blinded he tried to carve into his back thrashing his remaining limbs into the squishy flesh and blood and he was rewarded by a crack of the spine his opponents thrusts get weaker in response as a familiar bloody-gasp of pain left his attempted captors lips.

He screeched in bloody exaltation that he had at least taken one of them out before his blinding when he was immediately proved wrong when he felt his neck snap to the side from sheer unexpected force. No, it was sheer familiar force; the girl was back. He tried to react, to do anything when punch after punch rained down upon him causing the ground beneath his head to crack as he felt the pain swell until his consciousness dispersed. The last words he heard before darkness took him were a simple gargling “Iar_”.

Result:???