Harper awoke in his fridge with a splitting headache. He didn’t even realize it was possible for him to awaken with a headache. Didn’t the fridge reset him from zero? Ah, but he needed sleep when he respawned, so why not hangovers too?

“Right, didn’t I earn a new skill? Yeah, I think it was called… Primal Fury.”

Primal Fury(Rank 0) RP: 0/10 > 1/10

The next 10 minutes were a blur. Harper sprinted into the jungle, seeking out the nearest tree. He then climbed straight into the canopy and tackled a rather large monkey from a tree, breaking its spine when he landed on top of it. He then proceeded to rip into its throat and kill it in seconds.

Afterwards, he dragged the monkey corpse back to the camp with him. He then started devouring the monkey raw.

He finally calmed down as the fury left him. Only then did he really notice he was covered in monkey blood and gore. He coughed up a hairball. It was unpleasant.

Ok, so that’s… something. It’s not useless, but damn did I just want nothing more than to inflict violence on that jungle. Plus, holy shit am I dehydrated now. Like, I think I can literally only use that once without dying of thirst. Not good.

“Clones.” Two clones came out of him rather quickly, and he was glad for it. “Good, guess the speed wasn’t a hallucination. You two, come on, we gotta find some water.”

Clone(Rank 2) RP: 4/10 > 6/10

They all walked off into the jungle again, whereupon he was immediately tackled to the ground. Before he could say anything, his mouth was forcibly covered. His eyes flitted over to his clones. Both decapitated and fading away.

The woman from the prior group leaned close into his face.“Listen up and listen close. We don’t know what the hell is going on, or why you sent a clone after us, but you need to call it off. Right! Now!” She slammed him into the floor to punctuate each sentence. “It’s been killing us all, over and over. It refuses to stop.”

Only now, in the light of his fridge, did he realize that he wasn’t just blinded by his imminent death before, she actually was blurry to look at. It’s like someone dragged their fingers around in the paint that made up her form. Loose strands of what he assumed was bright orange hair hung in his face.

The woman uncovered his mouth so he could speak. “What clone? I didn’t send any clones after you. If I were to kill you over and over again, I’d prefer to do it with my own bare hands.” His eyes hardened as he stared into hers, unblinking.

She grit her teeth and stared right back. “Tch. Noted.” She punched him in the jaw, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Harper slowly faded back into consciousness. He could hear the sound of muffled speech surrounding him.

“What if he’s telling the truth?”

“Then we’re screwed. We’ll never escape if we have to constantly deal with that thing attacking us.”

“...maybe he can help.”

“The first thing he told me was how he wanted to kill us. That’s unlikely.”

“Make it up to him.”

“How exactly do you propose we do that?”

“...train him.”

“I-... Might as well. I’m out of ideas, anyways.”

“One of us can train him one on one.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Are you volunteering? I don’t think he’s going to do it, and I’m busy preparing, so it’d have to be you regardless.”

“Fine.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Harper chose that moment to open his eyes. “Is anyone going to ask my opinion?”

Malgren looked down at his tied up, sideways form. “No.”

“...you’re a danger.” That was Alvieri speaking. It seemed every word was a strain for him to get out.

Harper nodded. “Fair. I will kill you all as soon as I get the chance. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but what are you going to do, kill me? Trap me? There’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Harper stared at each of them in turn. “ But I digress. If it really is my clone killing you all, then I know exactly who it is. I have no control over him. I will work with you until we can kill him dead. After that point, watch yourselves.”

They each looked at each other in silence, then looked back at him. The woman spoke up once more. “We can live with that. We don’t have much choice. Malgren, escort him to his spawn.”

Malgren grunted in the affirmative and walked towards the tree line. “Let’s go.”

Harper struggled against his bonds. “Wait, I’m still ti-”

Alvieri flicked his right hand forward. Just like that, Harper was free.

“Uh, nevermind then. Oh, right.” He turned to the woman. “I never got your name.”

She turned away from him. “Luna. Now go.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Something told him that those bastards would just kill him again if he didn’t listen. He got up off the floor and followed after Malgren.

Once they were a good distance into the jungle, neither saying a word, Harper spoke up. “She’s just a handful of roses, huh?”

Malgren grunted as he walked. “I don’t know what roses are.”

Harper looked at him sideways. “They don’t have roses where you’re from?”

“I don’t have you where I’m from.”

Harper put up a finger, then slowly lowered it. “I… Uh… what?”

This time Malgren did look at him, though his disinterest was still present. “Whatever your kind is, I’ve never seen it. You seem like a Neuman, but somehow even more pathetic.”

Harper cocked an eyebrow. “Well, a clone of this pathetic human has been offing you and all your friends on repeat, so how pathetic can I really be?”

This made Malgren stop. Harper walked into his back, but if he felt it, he certainly didn’t show it. He turned around. “You are not your clone. I knew immediately you were not behind the clone that was attacking us. They were too practiced, deadly. You… you are weak. You still walk with fear in your steps. I will make sure to kill that fear.”

Harper craned his neck up to look Malgren in the eyes. “How?”

Malgren looked down at him. “You have five minutes to prepare. Run.”

Harper’s eyes widened. He then turned tail and tore up the ground at a dead sprint. His head was still swimming from being knocked unconscious.

“Rrgh, no, I’m not giving him the satisfaction! Not again!” His steps became more spiteful, more certain. He had one trick up his sleeve. He just needed to wait for the right moment.

He spawned his two clones, then had them help him up into a tree. “Hand me a rock with a sharp tip. After that, one of you grab a sharp rock and one of you grab a blunt one. Defend this tree with everything you have.”

Clone(Rank 2) RP: 6/10 > 8/10

They did as he asked, then positioned themselves in defensive stances. He put the somewhat pointed rock between his teeth and climbed higher into the canopy. Birds flew away in response to his intrusion. He then parked himself directly above them and stared down. When Malgren showed up, he would be ready.

That’s when Malgren patiently plodded into view. He didn’t run, he didn’t jog, he didn’t even walk. He plodded forward, as though he were walking up to his home after a long day of work. He stopped in front of the clones.

Their eyes locked onto their new target. The moment he took another step, they exploded forward. The blunt clone jumped for his face, while the sharp clone slipped underneath and stabbed at his abdomen.

Malgren didn’t move. Not when the blunt clone two-hand slammed a boulder directly into his face hard enough to smash it to pieces. Not even when the sharp clone pierced into his abdomen and sliced upwards, ripping his abdomen apart.

Malgren began vibrating in place. He punched the two clones in the head. Their heads disappeared. He then looked into the canopy and stared Harper in the eye. His expression was neutral, unreadable.

His options went from several to none in a matter of seconds. “Fuck it. Primal Fury.” He jumped from the tree, an echoing bellow slowly exploding into a barbaric howling as Primal Fury overtook his thinking.

Primal Fury(Rank 0) RP: 1/10 > 2/10

He slammed into Malgren from above, stabbing at him with reckless abandon. Harper broke several ribs in the fall. They didn’t matter to his raging mind.

Malgren still didn’t move. He grabbed at his creased forehead. “Wrong. You gave up your only advantage.” He grabbed Harper by his armpits, treating him like nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum as he peeled him off. “You’re no better than an animal backed into a corner. That is not a compliment.”

Harper screamed and frothed at the mouth as he kicked and stabbed at Malgren’s arms. Nothing mattered more than killing his enemy, no matter how much effort it took. No matter how tired he felt. And damn, did he feel… really… tired.

Malgren stopped vibrating. He watched as Harper slowly stopped raging in his arms, then the color left him. Without inflicting any intentional damage to him, Malgren had killed him.