Even though I’d just dealt the biggest amount of damage, Squirmy continued to attack the troops. Not just destroying their bodies, but devouring their quintessence. They were after all the easiest source of power. To the centipede they were nothing more than med-packs.
Aku was a bright kid, but her imagination clouded her judgment. That was something I knew from experience. The troops could fire weapons, but they were no match for Squirmy’s ability to break things down.
Especially not with their soft plush bodies and low mobility due to their stubby legs. I couldn’t criticize her too much. If I hadn’t sped things up by summoning Squirmy. Then we probably could have set up some pill boxes and trenches. That was easy to say in hindsight.
Still, I couldn’t account for how big he had gotten and the time was still ticking. It didn’t help that Aku and Centa were hell bent on wasting time talking about pointless things. Sometimes like the buffalo you just needed to charge into the storm.
This was actually a good opportunity to get a better idea on Squirmy’s attack pattern. Kaiju snowball did her best to knock Squirmy around, but the rest of the bug was free to trample everything in its path.
Squirmy seemed to be adapting to Snowballs attack pattern. He avoided kaiju snowballs fists and crawled onto her body creating rips and tears over her soft outer layer.
Snowball struggled against the centipede to no avail. This caused stuffing to fall out turning into raw quintessence, which Squirmy greedily drank right up. The rest of the troops open fired unleashing blasts of pink light that exploded like fireworks.
Squirmy screeched in a horrific display of pain. His mouth opened releasing a putrid cloud of acid. It expanded over Snowball and the rest of the Furry Troops. Aku started crying as she watched her army melt and scatter into light particles.
Their little bodies were no match for the green cloud clinging to them like napalm. It was as if the acidic gas was alive as it hunted the troops down like a pack of coked out wolves. The only one left was Snowball and that was only because of how stubborn she was.
The green cloud lingered becoming a mist that clung to the ground. I wanted to jump in and help, but with the cloud it was too dangerous. With the amount of power I had, surely I could last a while in the mist.
If I did that then my quintessence would be stripped from me in no time. I couldn't even imagine the pain I’d feel from accidently breathing that stuff in.
Aku broke free from Centa’s hug and ran up behind me. She took hold of my leg crying. “Papa do something! He’s going to kill Snowball!”
At first I thought kaiju Snowball was its own entity, but in reality she was actually the stuffed toy I had a tea party with not that long ago.
God dammit, now I really did have to do something. I couldn't let my newly adopted daughters favorite toy get eaten by the monster in the basement.
“Okay, step back kiddo.” I gave her a little head pat and she seemed to let go.
Squirmy was tightly wrapped around kaiju Snowball, so I couldn’t just attack it again. At least not without hurting Snowball. I needed to get closer, but the acid wasn’t clearing up. There was only one way.
Focusing energy towards my back, I started to form something new. The power expanded taking the shape and texture of a pair of wings, but not just any wings. No, these were the wings of the buffalo.
Before I could make use of my new appendages, Centa stopped me. “Isaac, maybe you should take Aku away. I can hold him off until the ascension is over. From there you’ll need to kill that bastard in the real world. That should end this nightmare.”
“Not happening.“ I said.
“Why the hell not! If it eats you guys that’s it! Ascension be dammed, you’ll both disappear!” Yelled Centa.
She still didn’t get it. I sighed. “I don’t plan to run away. I don’t care if it takes every last bit of quintessence. I will not abandon you… besides, I still need to make that asshole pay for all the crap he put me through.” I finally looked back at her.
Her face was covered in tears as her body trembled n fear. How long had she been crying? It struck me then that maybe she was the one that needed revenge on Squirmy the most. Too bad she wasn’t in the mindset for it.
“Don't cry… remember what you told me.” I threw her words back at her. “Your not afraid of a little centipede are you?” The wings on my back expanded. A moment later I vanished leaving a gust of wind in my place.
Snowball was falling apart as Squirmy started to crush her body. He must have noticed me, because his head turned to greet me expanding into a swirling mess of teeth and darkness. I was more angry than afraid.
Excalibur glowed gold as I poured power into it. Instead of swinging my blade I charged into that mess of teeth sword first. The darkness started to close in, but the golden aura of Excalibur expanded to protect me.
The teeth started to cut into my swords aura slowly sawing it away as they spun around me at rapid speeds. There was a heavy resistance, but I focused on pushing through. Eventually I managed to come out the other side, ripping my way through that dark cloud of shadow and madness.
The edges of that cloud started to break away converting themselves into red quintessence. That should keep the monster busy for a bit.
I quickly turned around and went for Snowball who was nothing more than a head now. Reaching out I took hold of Snowballs fabric forcing my own power into her and turning her back into that all too familiar cat plushy.
I held her tight in my left hand. Then started to fly away only for Squirmy’s head to morph into a mass of tendrils. One of which reached out, somehow managing to eat through my swords aura and wrap around my ankle.
The tendril burned my skin as it dug into my flesh. Thin sharp spikes grew like shark teeth puncturing my leg all the way through the bone.
It felt as if my leg was on fire as I flapped my wings to try and brute force my way out. It didn’t matter as it started to pull me down towards its black hole of a mouth.
Aku forged a cannon out of her quintessence. Like most of her weapon constructs It was pink and made of plastic. “Leave my papa alone you big bully!” The cannon fired, a large ball of pink light rocketed out of the toy and slammed into Squirmy.
It exploded into multiple balls of light that spread out detonating against Squirmy’s body. If it wasn't for the golden aura of Excalibur, I might have been in trouble.
Centa seemed to pull herself together and started pelting the centipede with distortions of varying frequencies. They did decent damage to Squirmy as his pull weakened. It wasn’t enough to break his hold though.
Without the constant pull I was free to turn around and attack. projecting a golden slash, It slammed into the eldritch abomination causing its body to split open.
It wasn’t enough, so I unleashed one slash after the other, adding onto Centa’s and Aku’s volley until finally, it’s body collapsed into a mesh of shadow and dark quintessence.
Now free I headed back to the others. It took no time to get back. My landing was almost smooth. Aku ran over hugging me.
“You saved Snowball!” Taking her plushy back she crushed it in her arms.
I smiled, “You saved me. Sorry I couldn’t save the others.” The rest of the Furry Troops had all melted.
“It’s okay, Snowball was the only one I really liked. Mr. Ghost was too afraid to come and Chompy was too busy with a pie-eating contest.” She rubbed her cheek with the white cat.
“Pie-eating contest?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah! Chompy really wants to win, but I think that’s silly. In a pie eating contest, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose because you get to eat pie.”
I nodded. The girl had a point. Truly wise beyond her years. After making her a cookie, I turned my attention back to the battlefield. Red quintessence seemed to collapse over itself as Squirmy tried to regain its form.
“That was a bit too easy. Why were we scared again?” I looked to Centa who sported a worried expression.
“That’s because Squirmy expanded his body too much. He always makes himself bigger. Since his body is designed to break things down, more coverage means a bigger mouth to eat with. That’s how he fights. He uses his body to intimidate then whittles you down slowly.” Said Centa.
“Why does any of that matter?” I asked.
“He has no density. He might as well be made of paper. Squirmy might have a lot of power, but it is spread too thin. That's why this next part scares me.” She pointed out into the cavern.
I turned my head only to see rampaging red quintessence focusing itself into one spot. Even the body and green mist seemed to be sucked in. Despite all the hits I landed, there was still so much of it.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “He wouldn’t be the final boss if he didn’t have different stages.”
That was when I realized what was happening. This was bad. Fighting something that dense was like a Ferrari trying to ram into a train. The car might be faster, but the train held far more power, mass, and momentum.
Squirmy was taking the power, mass, and momentum of a train and packing it all within the mobility of a Ferrari.
Within the red glowing mist a humanoid figure could be seen. I couldn't believe my eyes. This was just cruel.
Have you ever played ocarina of time? Of course you have! It's like the best game ever! Anyway, during the water temple there’s this shadow mini boss that takes the shape of Link the MC, and uses all of Links powers against you.
This felt like that, except instead of taking the form of my shadow, Squirmy took the shape of someone else. Someone I used to know. He flexed his new muscles admiring his new body. He was now a young man in his early 20s.
Just as tall as me with similar short black hair, and the face of my little brother. He even had the same asshole smile Cain did.
I felt like punching him, which was strange considering I was currently holding a sword. Stabbing my brother with Excalibur felt… strange.
I could already tell Centa would be no help. She looked like she was having a Vietnam flashback.
Aku was in a similar boat. Not the Vietnam flashback, just the not being helpful thing. She had used her quintessence to forge a pink hair dryer. I wasn’t sure what that would accomplish, but I hope it shoots something at him.
Squirmy was making his way over to us. His steps looked so natural, but they carried him way farther than they should have.
Something about him was different. Obviously he was no longer a giant creepy crawly, but that wasn’t what bothered me. His body was small compared to his giant centipede self, So why did it feel even more menacing?
“Stay away!” Yelled Aku as she pointed her hair dryer at Squirmy firing a ball of sparkling light. It was just like the cannon. It erupted like pink fireworks, but with more focus. Squirmy took it head on and just kept walking forward like it was nothing.
Centa used an invisible force to gather loose rocks crushing them into a dense black mass. She then fired it at squirmy like an oversized bullet. The former creepy crawly took it like a champ. Not a scratch or even a reaction.
“Die you fucking asshole!” Cried Centa as she followed up her attack by making two semi-invisible walls on opposite sides of him. then slammed them together with squirmy in the middle.
It was like a giant clapping its hands together. “That’s for making me kill all those people!” Her voice had so much emotion behind it. I was so proud of her. Had she finally unlocked her anger?
For a second I thought it might be over. That was until red energy exploded in every direction as my not-brother roared in anger.
Looks like that one actually hurt. Squirmy tore the ground apart as he jumped putting a huge amount of power into his forward momentum.
He was so fast I nearly forgot to block. I brandished my sword just in time for his foot to slam into Excalibur knocking me into the wall and breaking the legendary Avalonian blade.
Blocking was clearly the wrong move. It was like trying to stop a wrecking ball by jumping in front of it. The rock around me broke and my body was embedded into the wall like I was in a Loony Tunes cartoon. It appeared that with our new levels of power even the indestructible walls of the hole were no match.
This was bad. Squirmy might have lost that thorn body that destroyed durability, but the entirety of his power was compacted into that small human frame.
With his density he might as well have been a mountain with legs. “You little shit! You tore out so much of my power! Do you have any idea how many souls I’ll have to eat just to get that back!”
I tried to speak, but ended up coughing up blood. “Shit…” The blood quickly evaporated into quintessence. “fuck you! You’ve been torturing me for years! That’s the least you could have given me! You deserve far worse!” My quintessence started to soak into the damage he did and I felt my body begin to repair itself. I even managed to break away from the wall.
Before I could do anything, Squirmy reached out holding me by the throat. Then lifted me up like I was nothing. I grabbed his arm, but couldn’t break free.
The memories of my brother choking me came to the surface. There was so much crap I gave to the hole and simply being here made the memories crawl their way back into my head.
Aku cried out, “Stop it!” as she shot another ball of fireworks at Squirmy. Unfortunately, he used me like a shield. The shot erupted all over my back, burning a large hole in my coat, and melting parts of my skin.
The pain was awful, but my anger only swelled. Aku quickly apologized. That asshole laughed just like my brother did whenever he would fuck with me.
Centa’s hands vibrated with kinetic energy as she tried to attack the former bug from behind, but it was as if he had eyes on the back of his head. Squirmy used his free arm to knock her kinetic palm strikes aside.
It didn’t matter. Even when she did manage to hit him the kinetic force did little to nothing. Every attempt to attack him seemed to fail as he either avoided them, took them head on, or used me like a god dam meat shield.
I needed something that could cut through his density. Instead of trying to escape his grasp, I focused my power into my right hand until it was so thick that I could no longer condense it anymore. Reforming Excalibur I swung the blade at his arm. There was some resistance but the sword managed to cut through his flesh and bone.
Squirmy screamed in pain and I used that opportunity to attack him again. My attack missed, as he jumped away putting a huge amount of distance between us. I swung the blade again projecting a golden arc.
It connected, but only made a shallow cut across his chest. The arm I took started to unravel, but before it could completely vanish I fed that power into my spirit body.
It felt wrong. The energy was different somehow and made me feel sick. Slowly though it converted into the white stuff and I started to feel better.
Even though it was only his arm. The power I got was almost as much as what I already had. Forgotten memories of my brother flooded my mind. Things I couldn't believe.
A cold night. An argument. So much yelling and a knife. It was fuzzy but I was sure something had happened. The last thing I saw was a doctor holding a big needle. I nearly threw up.
For whatever reason It made me so dam angry. Not just at my brother, or squirmy, but at myself for forgetting what he did. What he didn’t do. how could I forget.
This wasn't the time. The fact was that this was a huge blow. If I could cut more limbs off then this would be over in no time.
“Isaac don’t! You cant take that dark stuff in!” Yelled Centa.
I rubbed my sore throat and asked, “Why not? He’s taken so much from us.”
Aku tried to look me in the eyes, “Strange… papa is still human.” She then started poking me in the ribs, but I put a stop to that.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Centa also looked me over. “There’s no antessence inside him, and his eyes are still normal. Do you feel Strange?”
I shook my head. “Guys, now isn't the time for this we need to focus.” They let it go and moved on to the more important thing.
“You hurt him. How?” Asked Centa.
“Papa is the strongest… obviously.” Said Aku.
“You guys can hurt him too. You just need to focus enough power into a single edge or point.” It didn’t matter that this guy had more power than us. If we can make our attacks denser than his body then we can hurt him. I’ve already proven that he can bleed and that was a huge boost to everyone’s mood.
Aku traded out her hair dryer with a pink plastic sniper rifle. then started to push power into the chamber. It looked like a toy, but I knew it probably did something fancy.
Centa gathered her own Strange power in her hands creating a ball of vibrating space. They both had potent methods of attack, but there was a few issues with our approach.
First off unleashing long range attacks like that would drain our power faster than we could hurt Squirmy. That’s why my last golden slash was low powered. I was afraid to commit to the attack and lose a good chunk of quintessence. However, cutting off his arm cost me nothing.
Second off, even if our attacks are strong enough to hurt him, there is no guarantee we’ll manage to hit that asshole. Close combat sure, but long range would just be a forfeit of energy.
The only reason I managed to land a long range attack was because he was in the air and couldn’t avoid it. If we attacked now, it would only be a waste of energy and we needed all we had, just to hurt him.
We didn't have much time left. It looked like the walls were really falling apart now. White cracks of light seemed to spread over the cavern.
Aku yelped as a pillar of light cut right through The hole without a care in the world. The light acted like a tornado ripping sections of the ground apart. There was quite a few of them springing up, but not as big as the first one. Time was running out and I still wasn’t any closer to saving Centa.
Think Isaac, what else do I know… what are his methods of assault? He hasn’t used any long ranged attacks, or fancy weapons. That's not true, what about the acid? The acid was reabsorbed though. Like it was apart of his body. Why is that?
Squirmy uses quintessence to enhance his body. Either by giving it the ability to digest things at a touch, or making it super dense to where he can’t be stopped.
Simply by keeping it inside himself he is stronger than all of us. The way it rampages when outside his body... could it be that he isn’t able to control it like us? That didn’t seem right. Especially when you realized, he could reshape himself, so effortlessly.
What was I missing? What is Squirmy like? He spent his entire life in the hole. In this place. All that time and the hole is simply that. Just a hole. No gardens, no castles, nothing. The only thing he has ever done is eat the world. The pieces were coming together.
His use of quintessence was less of a strategy and more like a personal choice. Sure his body was dense, but his plan couldn’t be to simply over power us. There was only one explanation.
My not-brother was a greedy black hole. That’s why instead of creating things he chose to make his body into a weapon. It also explained his reaction. When I stripped him of quintessence. The idea of losing something that was his, absolutely infuriated him, and to Squirmy everything belonged to him.
I couldn’t take him in a straight fight, but that was okay. I didn’t need to beat him to a pulp. I just needed to get him into vulnerable positions. Allowing Centa and Aku to attack without remorse.
I could continue attacking him with Excalibur… but I wasn’t great with swords. That might not put me at a disadvantage, but I should probably stick with what I know will work. Again, I just need to make openings.
To do that I needed to box. Boxing was more than throwing a fist. It was about feeling the flow of a fight and moving with that flow. Sure he was a bigger fish, but I’ve been fighting guys bigger than me for years.
The good thing was that I knew how to throw a punch, and as long as I really focus, I can manhandled an emotionally compromised greedy asshole.
If I do this I need to move fast and attack hard, and no matter what I can’t let him grab me. For that I’m going to need more power.
My sword glowed and started to reenter my body along with the wings on my back. I even absorbed the items Aku had made me. Like the remains of the coat, and compass.
As for the wall walking boots I simply stripped them of there ability turning them into regular footwear. There was power in all of them and now they were all inside me.
My body felt strange as the power surged over the surface of my skin. There was this feeling of static running over me. Like being tazed, but in a good way.
Simply moving my hand carried so much weight behind it. As I was I could probably walk through a building and not even realize it.
“Guys don't attack yet. Wait for an opening. I’ll keep him busy.” I jumped forward and made my way to my not-brother. It took several jumps before meeting squirmy at the center of the hole.
No one questioned my lead. It made me nervous to know they expected me to win. Try or win, this ended here and now.
Squirmy was hunched over holding his newly formed arm. The skin was only just starting to close over the muscle. Instead of blood, antessence leaked from the opening.
He glared at me like I was the bad guy. “You fucker!” yelled Squirmy. “Once I get my new body, I’m gonna find that wife of yours and make her feel what your whore of a mother did to you!”
As he mentioned my mom the memories of her flashed through my mind. All the horrible shit she ever did to me was relived in an instant. I held my head and screamed only to realize it was just a memory. It looked like the thin wall I’d set up wasn’t enough to protect against mind-rape.
I fucking hated this place. The memories are right there. Squirmy laughed brandishing my brothers old asshole grin. He was going to do that to my wife? To my Alice…
No. Fucking. Way.
I dashed forward slamming my fist against his rock hard face. His head rocked back before he retaliated with his own fist, but I used my favorite maneuver ducking under it. Then landed a solid blow to his ribs.
This time I focused more power into the attack and felt something crack under the pressure. It sure as hell wasn’t my knuckles.
Squirmy let out a pained grunt before jabbing at me again. This time his arm elongated acting like a striking cobra. I avoided it, but once it snapped back a bone scythe grew out of his wrist cutting into my right shoulder, before returning to Squirmy.
It hurt but I couldn’t lose focus now. I jabbed at his face, only for Squirmy to block with his arm. What he didn’t notice was my other quintessence charged fist planting itself in his gut.
My fist sunk deep before I finally released the power in a controlled explosion. The explosion wasn’t the fiery kind, but instead more like the concussive force of a grenade. Squirmy was knocked back by the controlled blast.
It was a trick my dad showed me. When someone sees a fist coming to their face. Their instinct is to try and block or avoid it, so by faking it you can land a blow to their gut, and if you aim it right, you might be able to get off a solid liver punch.
Centa quickly jumped into action creating a pulse of concussive force at Squirmy’s back. It was so powerful that Squirmy was sent flying back my way like a wrestler being pushed against the ropes of the ring.
She lined him up perfectly. I stepped forward unleashing years worth of bag punching experience into a single perfect jab. My fist slammed into Squirmy’s face causing his lower half to pull forward while his head stayed pressed into my fist.
This in turn sent him spinning through the air before he landed on his neck making a satisfying, “CRACK!” Aku even covered her eyes not wanting to see the gruesome display, as Squirmy pulled himself to his feet nursing a broken neck.
He held it in both hands before his antessence finally managed to fuse the bone back in place. “You dirty cheater! You tricked me!” He yelled.
“Of course I did. This is a fight for survival, not a karate tournament. Besides-” I spat on the ground. “-last I checked stretchy arms and bone scythes weren’t allowed in any rule book.”
Squirmy mashed his teeth before dashing at me. He threw a fist. I ducked under it and tried to deliver another blow to his chest, but he grabbed me by the wrist. Then tossed me into the air. He followed it up with a spray of acid from his dislocating mouth.
I couldn’t let that stuff touch me. On the fly I created another support item. This time I went with the bansho-sen. A powerful fan from Chinese mythology.
One swing created a strong gust of wind clearing the acid in one go. I quickly turned the fan back into energy only to realize I was in the air and wide open. Recreating my wings would take too long.
I couldn’t help but notice how unstable things were getting. It was like space itself was shaking. Once you saw it, it was hard to ignore. I felt like a fish realizing it was surrounded by water. That gave me an idea.
Before he could attack me, I focused on the waves of space. The math proved it was real, so I knew it was possible. Pushing on the fabric of space-time, I created a foothold by folding space.
I was essentially sticking my foot through a small worm hole. While I was in mid air the bottom of my right foot was next to Aku. She shrieked running behind Centa in child-like fear.
The foothold quickly rotated until I was at the perfect angle. One push was all I needed to launch myself back at not-Cain. I’d taken him by surprise as I drop kicked him in the chest.
He took the hit head on hardening his body by flexing his muscles and shapeshifting his feet, so that they dug partially into the ground.
He took hold of my legs then slammed me into the cold wet ooze. It really hurt. Before I knew it he was on top of me landing hits to my face.
This was just like when Cain use to beat the crap out of me. I lifted my arms in an attempt to block and felt his heavy hands slam against my forearms. They cracked under the pressure.
That wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. It was better than having my head bounce off the ground. I tried tilting my head left and right, to avoid the hits all together. It kind of worked.
His fists ended up pulverizing the rock under me. Every time he missed I Jabbed him in the face causing blood to spill from his nose, along with trace amounts of antessence. It was to bad that my quick thinking didn’t stop him from landing hits, and I couldn’t seem to get him off of me.
That's when a bolt of kinetic energy slammed into the side of Squirmy’s head knocking him off of me. I used that chance to get on my feet.
“Don't lose dumbass!” scolded Centa. At first I thought she was being mean, but I held my tongue as I noticed the worry in her voice.
I went to try and attack Squirmy, but he was already on his feet. His ears were bleeding and his right eye had been knocked out of it’s eye socket.
He eyed Centa, but I moved myself between them as if declaring I was his opponent. He seemed to only get angrier at the sight of me, causing him to try and fist me again. I avoided it, but then something strange happened.
As soon as I ducked under the attack, another fist grew out of his forearm slamming into my face. I was knocked back a few feet before regaining my composure. Squirmy smiled.
The extra arm reentered his body as he made a dash at me. this time he reshaped his arms, turning them back into the centipede needle-like legs.
These had more potential to do harm, so I avoided them as best as I could, but one of them managed to cut a shallow wound across my chest. It burned like acid.
I tried to jump away to gain a little breathing room, only for Squirmy to match my speed, keeping the distance between us the exact same as before. His claws were relentless.
This was no longer a simple 1v1. I was fighting a frenzied monster. There was no rhyme, or reason to his attacks. He was lashing out like an angry bear. I tried to form Gungnir, Odin’s spear from Norse mythology, but before I could form the tip, Squirmy cut it in half.
That's when his face changed into that of my long dead mother. He even spoke in her voice. “Devil child! I’ll fix you sweetheart! I’ll make you better!” He yelled as the memories of my mother rampaged through my head. I nearly started to cry as squirmy forced his needle like arm through my chest.
“Isaaaaac!” Yelled Centa, as she suddenly appeared on Squirmy's right side, unleashing a powerful pulse of kinetic energy, through a palm thrust. The attack hit Squirmy’s abdomen. He wasn't expecting it and was sent flying.
The force tore his arm out of me, leaving a big hole in my chest, and a stream of silver quintessence. I fell onto my back. There was the briefest of flashes, as Aku used her weapon.
It was nothing like a sniper rifle. Instead it was more like a rail gun. A burst of burning particles blew through the former bug. Aku’s attack was so strong, that it lit the air on fire casting a huge explosion.
“Yeah!” Cheered Aku. She appeared by Centa and they high fived like it was over. It looked like they were folding space too, but instead of making solid platforms like I did they were warping threw space.
Squirmy lost a lot of antessence. I could see it all leaking out and up into the air mixing with the power that seemed to rampage all around us.
My chest was nearly closed, but that didn't matter. I got to my feet ready for round… I don't know. Centa looked at me like she was upset. Even Aku seemed to be upset with me.
“Papa! You said you didn’t need help!” She cried. Centa comforted her by giving her a half hug.
“Stop losing Isaac. Use your brain. You keep getting distracted.” Unfortunately she was right.
The memories in this place and Squirmy’s utilization of them left me a mess. I needed to be more like dad. Unshakable, unmoving, and focused. I thought about the times we were in danger and how dad acted.
Like the time our tire blew out in the middle of the free way causing our car to spin, or like when that drunk guy rammed his car through our living room.
Forget about what you cant do, or what already happened. I took an un-needed breath and decided to deal with what was in front of me. “All right, I get it, I’m sorry. It’ll be different this time, so just get ready to hit him with everything you got.”
They both agreed, but didn't seem convinced. A moment passed and they moved back to their original positions. I took a breath turning my attention to squirmy.
He was badly burned and broken, but his bones were shifting around. Instead of simply healing, he was shape-shifting himself back to that disgusting half mom, half Cain, all psycho form.
I thought he would come after me, but instead he went after Aku and Centa. I tried to move to intercept him, but he had a head start .
The only way was to move faster than light. Using quintessence, I folded space and managed to cut the distance between us in an instant.
I turned to face him unleashing a fist full of power. He blocked with his disgusting limbs, but the power in my fist exploded, like a focused demolition. He took the hit as his body flew back, and his feet slid on the hard ground.
I moved forward to punch him again. He tried to step back, but Centa lifted a rock wall in his path stopping him in his tracks. My fist connected again. I hit him so hard that he broke through the rock wall and went flying. His body bounced off the ground like a rock skipping on the surface of a lake.
Just before he could regain his footing I folded space once more moving farther along his trajectory. Then took a running start before kicking him with my quintessence empowered foot. This time I felt his spine break as he screamed in pain.
He must have flown over 100 feet into the air. Aku took advantage of it aiming her rail sniper at him. “This is for what you did to my castle!” She fired a beam of light. The light moved right through him followed by an explosion, only instead of it expanding outward, the entire thing was contained within a sphere shaped force field.
Centa had sealed him inside a ball of kinetic energy focusing the blast. A moment passed before a charred and broken body fell to the ground, making a loud “CRUNCH!” on impact.
Antessence leaked out by the gallons. I made my way over, as Squirmy’s power became lower than my own. He couldn't even speak. Most likely his lungs collapsed when he breathed in the flames. I think he was also blind. His eyes were black, brown, and bloody. He tried to make a sound, but his mouth and throat had melted shut.
“That's what you get for impersonating my brother, and my mom.” I spat on him. “You think I’m afraid of Cain and my mom!” I kicked him. He made a strange sound.
“I’m not afraid of them. Not any more. I fucking hate them. Especially Cain.” I kicked him a few more times. “I remember now! All of it!”
I wasn’t even sure if this peace of shit could hear me, but the anger I felt was 100% justified. I might be able to forgive my mom. There was way more stuff going on with her than I originally knew, and until I knew what really happened back then, I’d try to be neutral towards her.
As for my brother…… he was the worst. He wasn’t a monster. He was just weak and would use me to validate his own ego. He was just a bully.
It was easy to put me down, since I never felt threatened by him. Without threat I never felt the need to defend myself. He was annoying at best. Like an obnoxious little kid that didn’t know any better.
To think the whole time I was being tortured he knew. He knew and he kept it a secret because mom was treating him like the favorite. What a garbage human being he was.
My sister was just as bad leaving me in that shit hole, just because she wanted to finish college.
Oh man, but the worst person in all of this was me for letting them get away with it. No wonder I tried to kill my brother, and if it wasn’t for Alice I would have.
A year… a fucking year I spent locked in that fucking Psych ward and in the end my so called family got to live their happy lives, while most of my life was sacrificed to facilitate theirs.
(Authors Note: no more flashbacks. People don’t like them. Figure out Isaac’s back story on your own. Also I’m sorry for the inconsistencies. I’ll fix then eventually.)
“Papa! You did it!” Aku ran up to me before I could go scorched earth on Squirmy. She gave me a hug and just like that my anger faded. Kids were good like that. I wonder if that's why dad was always so chill around us. I petted her head as a thank you.
“I couldn't have done it without you guys. That's some sharp shooting you got there kiddo. Your grandpa would be proud.” Aku giggled and smiled. She was a good kid.
“Is it really over?” asked Centa as she approached Cautiously.
I looked to Squirmy’s corpse. He was still leaking quintessence, and his body wasn't healing like it should have. Whatever bit of energy he had left would soon evaporate.
This was like when I lost my arm. Since I didn't have a lot of energy at the time I couldn't regrow it right away. To think this bastard was the one tormenting me this whole time. How pathetic I must have been to let it go on for so long.
I looked to Centa and said, “I think it's over.”
She had tears in her eyes, but she was also smiling. I don't know why, but this moment just felt so nice. There were swirling beams of impure quintessence flying around, and Squirmy’s particles floating about, like glowing red flower petals.
I don't know. Maybe it was the feeling of finally winning a battle we’ve been fighting our whole lives, or the fact that we were finally free. I couldn't help, but turn my gaze up and laugh. My joy was short lived as I spotted something unnatural. Immediately my eyes went wide.
Above us was not the cleansing of the world, but a swirling black abyss full of giant razor sharp teeth, all swirling around as they closed in on us. I tried to attack it with an exploding fist of quintessence, but the swirling abyss had no interest in me. Instead it parted avoiding Aku and I completely.
It was like a sea of shadows. I held onto Aku in an attempt to protect her, but Squirmy ignored us and went after Centa. It slammed into her like a tsunami dragging her away.
“Centa!” I yelled. Aku cried in fear as the ground started to crumble under our feet. While carrying her I tried to go after Centa.
Centa unleashed burst of kinetic energy, but the black cloud simply moved around her attacks. She was doing her best, but the black cloud wasn’t solid and bit by bit continued to close in around her. I could see bits of quintessence being torn out of her as the shark-fin-like teeth sliced into Centa’s flesh.
It was like she had fallen in a lake and was trying to paddle the water away with her bare hands. I needed to move now, but the unstable ground made it hard to move.
I needed to stop panicking. Taking a moment to breathe I finally got a hold of myself. I focused on bending space, but everything was so unstable. It was all collapsing on top of us.
I put all my power into my legs and pushed, but before we could reach her, a beam of impure energy slammed down in front of us, followed by a wave of white all consuming light.
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-Aku/Isaac-
I woke in a pale blue void. Air was moving past me at an insane speed. There was nothing… wait is that?
a cloud?
Oooh…
Oooooooh!
That was when I realized this wasn’t another void and instead, I was falling from hundreds of feet in the air. “Oh! fuck!” I yelled in Aku’s voice.
Wait! I was out?! I’m back! “Yeah! Let's gooOOOOooooOOoooo! Crap! What about Centa!” She was right there. All I had to do was get to her. What happened, did we win? I was supposed to save her!
“Oh… my… Cosmo!” I finally noticed all the giant centipedes falling alongside me, and the giant one currently crawling within the walls of Serenity. I was so tired of stupid bugs, but that wasn’t the most pressing issue right now.
Right now, I needed to break my fall. I tried to open my menu, but that wasn’t working. “Well shit…” I no longer had a hot bar either…. Or a health and focus bar…
“Wait!” Something felt… off. Usually there was this little ball of energy under my tummy, but I wasn't feeling it. No… hang on, it was there, but different.
Before the ascension it was full of taco bell, Ice cream, and lots of hot sauce, but now it was full of Porridge and warm creamy milk. Did that make any sense?
The better questing was, Can I do something with it? I've never tried it without the hot bar and it felt more noticeable now. You know what, I can feel a lot of things now.
The ground was quickly approaching. Pretty soon my innie would be an outie. That's when I got a strange message.
System:
Princess Aku: papa! Use that power stuff and move it through your body! Quickly!
I didn't have time to question it, so I did just that. The energy felt so different. I couldn't exactly call it focus and It was too dirty to be quintessence. This stuff was more in the middle. I tried to make it move through my body.
At first, I tried to make it go into my left arm, then my head, then right arm, then right leg, and finally left leg, but that felt odd. It was unnatural and didn't really do anything.
It needed to flow more like… this? It moved from my center to my head. Then to my right leg. Then to my left arm. Then my right arm. Then my left leg, and finally back to my head. The power was still there, so I had it repeat the path it took.
It looped over and over until finally my skin felt kind of fluffy. I now felt a familiar fuzzy bubble form around my body. It made me giggle, but only up until I crashed through a roof top.
The flow of power was cut off and I was in so much pain! Lucky for me the hard stone floor broke my fall. “ya… ya… yaaay…” I laid there with what I was certain was a few nails in my back…. I think I broke something… but I’m not sure what. I want to say…. Arm, but I also don't like being wrong.
This floor is actually kind of nice. I like the feel of chilled stone on my sore spots. I could fall asleep here. Actually, I feel really tired all of a sudden.
The floor is warming up. It also feels kind of wet, and sticky. Like when dad showed me how to do an oil change and I got oil all over me, but pleasantly warm.
The corners of my vision were getting dark. “Night… night…” Then everything faded to black as I gave into the sweet embrace of death….
Probably….