Apparently, not everyone responded to threats with common sense.
At least, given the scowl and murmurs from the Players ahead of her, Sally was getting a little excited that she might actually get to eat really well. Oh, now she was drooling.
“Why do you think threatening us is a smart idea?” Brian tilted his head and raised a hand to silence his troops. “You’re already a murderer that we can barely stand. Now you are alone and trying to dissuade us from-”
“Shhh.” Sally glared at them. “It’s pretty simple. If you walk away, you will all live long and safe lives. If you force me into attacking you, then I can’t guarantee that this would be the end of your life.”
Chuck hadn’t mentioned if he would be able to bring back any dead people that were hanging around in the System’s temporary memory. For all she knew, that might get erased anyway when joining with Sanctuary. Given the number of people she had doomed to oblivion already, a dozen or so more weren’t going to leave a dent on her conscience.
Even as the Aspect of Life.
“Even if I thought you could take all of us in a fight alone, why are you protecting the others? What right does your judgement have to usurp our laws here?”
“You mistake me for something benevolent or guided by higher purpose, my dear.” Her glare turned colder now, the smile sinking from her face. “I protect them because they are my friends. I will kill you because I am a Monster who eats brains. My care for your continued existence wanes the more you push me into remembering how empty my stomach is. How tasty your friend was.”
A little goading was unfair, but the writing was on the wall. They weren’t intimidated by her. They hated her. They were willing to risk their lives to erase her so they could chase down Cross and the others.
“You would have had a fair trial back at the outpost,” Brain said, drawing his weapon while his eyes stared her down. “Clearly you expect and deserve the barbarism that you drape yourself with, monster.”
She was kind of hoping he’d use some stronger language and call her a bad name, so that Theo could appear and teach him some manners. Looks like talking time was just about up, however. She would have to deal with this alone.
Well, not alone.
Grin returned as her enemies prepared spells and raised their bows and swords. Her true purpose muddied as new powers swirled within the memories of old.
Life? She would show them life.
[Zombie Apocalypse]
----------------------------------------
Theo raised an eyebrow as he looked into the edge of the growing abyss. Just pure darkness, gradually moving across the island foot by foot. He looked up at the sky. Somewhat enthralling. A total void that went beyond any normal comprehension.
He tilted his head to the side as a group of Monsters ran down from the nearby Dungeon. Well-armored knights with bright swords. One of them stumbled on a jutting wall and fell over the edge into the darkness, completely vanishing and becoming one with it.
“I probably don’t want to do that,” he murmured to himself.
Hands crossed behind his back, he turned and walked away from the growing oblivion. The knights charged into him, but blood burst from their necks and they collapsed whenever they got within ten feet of him.
Theo felt a prickle of energy up his spin, and he grinned, fangs catching the light. Sally was fighting - the Players giving her no option - he was certain. Probably didn’t need his help. Even without their new roles in this world, she was great at fighting against the odds.
In saying that, what was he going to do instead?
There wasn’t anything obvious that could stop the darkness from spreading. It was almost like a natural disease, or someone had pulled the plug on the failing System and now all that remained for it to do was just drain away.
He furrowed his brow.
[Theo: The world is dying. Will claiming it stop it from progressing?]
[Theo: Or spread the issue to Sanctuary?]
[Chuck: … I’m not sure]
[Chuck: There’s not exactly a guidebook for this sort of thing.]
[Chuck: How does it look from down there?]
[Theo: I wouldn’t stick my fangs in it if it had a neck.]
[Chuck: Noted. Doing my best, will keep you updated.]
The vampire hummed to himself as he continued to walk away from the oppressive gloom. Would be ironic if stealing the land just transplanted the dying System issue onto Sanctuary and their world started to drain off into the infinite sea beyond.
Not ironic. Just terrifying.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He paused and turned back around as the ground vibrated around him.
“Ah, there you are,” he said with a grin.
----------------------------------------
Sally slid across the grass, a wide grin on her face amidst the blood. They had been just as surprised as she was when fifty sunflower-zombies burst up from the ground around them.
Dagger spun in her hand as she blocked the slash of a sword, and she slipped behind one of her pals to avoid the follow-up. Grabbed the outstretched hand and pulled the attacker into the waiting zombie, allowing them to get a bite before she stepped back forward and ate their brains.
Such a waste of life, but she felt on top of the world. Morality be damned. Her stomach was filling and her friends were becoming safer with each bite.
A beam of fire burst a hole through three zombies as she dove to the side. Scrambled up and took a spear to the arm. She growled as small threads emerged from beside the wound like little worms, curling and stitching up the injury so that it could heal.
The surprise in the face of her assailant was quickly erased as pain and confusion had them looking down to the sunflower taking a bite out of their calf. Sally lashed forward and cut through their distracted neck, eating the brains from their skull with her skill.
She’d lost sight of Brian almost immediately. Told her pals to leave him alive if possible. Sure, it was a little cruel to have him watch all his friends cut down before him, but that was the issue with being the leader of a group. Your actions had much bigger consequences. Now all these people would die because he couldn’t take her threats seriously.
The roving throng of bodies parted slightly, a pathway leading her directly to the man in question.
He turned from the patient zombies to glare at her. Anger and indignation covering his face just as the blood of his group covered hers.
“Bet you wish you could go back ten minutes and choose to fuck off,” she said, flame dancing in her eyes.
“I’m not afraid to die for my beliefs and values, wretch.” He spat on the ground, blue light now circling his held weapon. “You’ve doomed this world and those in it. A living curse that must be exorcised.”
“Goodbye, Brian.” Her expression cooled as a wave of zombies washed in front of her, obscuring her from his view.
She walked away from the situation. Beyond petty duels or such things at this stage in her life. He could thrash and seethe against her tide of undead in search of her, exhaust himself and succumb to the ceaseless zombie horde. A fitting end that she didn’t have to be a part of.
She’d eaten six personally, and another four had fallen to the sunflowers. Now severely outnumbered, she didn’t care to stick around and count the last out. Plus, the last thing she wanted was to throw up all the delicious brains they had afforded her. For once, she chose restraint.
Something slightly dampened by the screams of those ceasing to exist.
[Sally: Good and bad news.]
[Poppy: Are you okay???]
[Cross: …]
[Sally: Bad news is I’m dead.]
[Poppy: WHAT]
[Sally: coz I’m a zombie lol!]
[Sally: also I murdered fourteen more players~]
[Cross: …]
[Claude: You… killed Brian’s three groups?]
[Sally: There’s like five still fighting butttt I don’t rate their chances.]
[Claude: Was that the good or bad news?]
[Sally: yeah]
She closed the chat down and furrowed her brow. While she didn’t have Zombie Apocalypse in this world, she had been able to cast it. Still wasn’t on her ability list. With a deep breath, she held out her hand and focused.
[Meat Hook] shot out, hitting one of the remaining Players. She slid across the ground, surprise on her face as she collided with them. Rolled out of the melee, rubbing at her head as she allowed her pals to take advantage of the knocked-over meal.
How very strange. Somehow, she was able to use her Sanctuary skills… innately.
Eyes twitched as she tried to connect the dots. Bernard might have inadvertently given her something much more important than control over the parts of the System dealing with creation.
[Sally: Pup!]
[Sally: Try really hard to use a Sanctuary skill.]
[Sally: Pretend the skill designations don’t work - just go by feel.]
She waited a moment, but he didn’t reply. Surely he wasn’t still stuck in the room? Or worse - dead?
[Theo: ok]
[Theo: works]
[Theo: :)]
Shorter messages than usual. He was only ever distracted when in the midst of battle - and if so, then she hopefully gave him a key to win a little better. Her gaze went over to the growing darkness. Hopefully he wasn’t doing anything dumb.
[Sally: If you have the time, drink deep of my current Aspect bs]
[Sally: because this might be how we can change our System]
[Sally: in regards to classes etc.]
[Chuck: Noted and already three different scans and knowledge bases compiling.]
[Sally: Wow, really putting your all into this. You have enough power for everything.]
[Chuck: Yeah… don’t be mad… but we had to hit the button…]
[Sally: YOU DIDNT]
[Sally: IM NOT MAD]
[Sally: we’ll talk when I’m back.]
She closed the chat down again and sighed deeply, pinching at the bridge of her nose. Although she understood why he had to do it, it still drove a stake through her heart.
The first World Pancake Day and she wasn’t even home to enjoy the day of rest and soft breakfast treats.
Good thing he told her that after she’d killed everyone, otherwise she would have probably eaten too much Player in anger and made herself ill.
Her pals meandered around idly. Job was done. She blew them a kiss, and they puffed into mist one by one. Eventually, as the clouds dissipated, all that was left were the dead Players laying across the blooded grass.
She walked over and put her hands on her hips. Shook her head at the mangled corpse of Brian.
“Bet you feel silly now, huh? Dumbass.”
A rather boring part of the process, but she paused to rifle through their figurative pockets. Mostly for consumables and things to pass on to her Party for their survival. If she could just use any of her normal learned skills now… well, she didn’t need much else from this System itself.
And that’s how she wanted things to be. No stats or weird looting. Abilities gained from practice and more nuanced learning, not just granted every level. Strength rewarded by effort. She wasn’t sure if everyone else on Sanctuary would be keen, but that was a problem for when they weren’t on this world.
Sally stretched out her shoulders. Now she could go back to the others and sort out the next steps.
Right before she could head off, the air beside her tore open. A rift created by the square head of a familiar hammer.
Theo stepped out, and the rift closed behind him. He looked flustered, his smile not containing the usual confidence in it.
As he opened his mouth to say hello, his left arm slid off from the shoulder. Blood sprayed across the zombie as the limb slumped onto the ground.