Ryzen, who had been slumped in his chair, immediately perked up at the word *help*. His eyes gleamed with a sudden spark of excitement, and in a blur of movement, he dragged a chair across the floor with a loud screech and plopped down beside Espen.

Espen, sensing Ryzen's shift in energy, hopped into the chair beside him, mimicking his exaggerated seriousness. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and they both clasped their hands together in a parody of professionalism.

In unison, they said, "Let's talk business."

The rooster, still standing in the doorway, blinked, looking between the two of them. He puffed on his cigarette for a moment before stepping fully into the room. His feathers were a little ruffled, his beak chipped, and his eyes had that world-weary look of someone who had seen too much.

He sighed, the cigarette bobbing in his beak. "Name's Gunjo. And before you ask, no, I don't know why I can talk. I don't know why I smoke, either. I became sentient just a few days ago."

Ryzen leaned forward, pretending to scribble notes on an invisible notepad. "Fascinating," he muttered in a mock-serious tone.

Espen elbowed him in the ribs, barely containing her giggles. "Shh, this is important."

Gunjo ignored their antics as he continued. "What I do know," he said, his voice dropping an octave, "is that I had a hen. Her name was Clova. She was... well, she was my everything."

Espen's eyes widened, and she clasped her hands together under her chin, her demeanor shifting from playful to genuinely invested. "Oh my god, you had a hen?! This is already the best story ever." She grabbed Ryzen by the face, squishing his cheeks, "Isn't that romantic?!"

"Get offa me! Clips are on the line!"

Gunjo's gaze grew distant as he exhaled a cloud of smoke, his voice softening. "Yeah... even in this crazy world, we found each other. Guess love's like that. Doesn't care if the world's falling apart. Clova and I... we survived together. We fought off zombies, scavenged for food, even took down a few Monarchs along the way. She was tough as nails—a real fighter. But she had a soft spot for me."

Ryzen and Espen leaned in, fully engrossed now. Espen's face was glowing with excitement, and even Ryzen, for once, seemed genuinely moved by the story.

Gunjo's expression darkened, his feathers bristling slightly. "Then... the zombies came. Not just any zombies. One of the strong ones. The one that controls this school and the freaks in it. It took over. And Clova... she was protecting our eggs. She fought, but... she didn't make it."

Espen gasped, her excitement giving way to sadness. "Oh no..."

Gunjo continued, his voice growing more strained. "The zombie that runs this place took the eggs. I don't know why. I don't know if it's trying to use them or... or if it's just hungry. But I need them back. I need to save them. I've already seen one of them... turned into a zombie chick. I couldn't... I couldn't do anything. I just ran."

Espen's expression fell, and for a brief moment, she seemed genuinely heartbroken. "That's awful," she whispered, her earlier excitement completely gone.

Gunjo shook his head, his beak clenching slightly around the cigarette. "I don't know if I'm just a coward, but I can't let them stay like that. I need to find the rest of the eggs. But I can't do it alone."

The room fell into a heavy silence. Espen looked over at Ryzen, who was staring at the floor, deep in thought.

'Hmmm. 100 clips for a search and rescue mission. That's a pretty good deal. And with me being a god now, I have Espen with me, this can be a piece of cake.'

After a few moments, Ryzen stood up, His voice was steady, with just a hint of a grin at the corners of his mouth. "Don't worry, Gunjo. We'll avenge Clova and find your eggs. How many are we talking?"

Gunjo looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Five. Five eggs. I've only seen one zombie chick so far, but there could be more. I wasn't exactly in a position to investigate."

Ryzen nodded, cracking his knuckles. "Piece of cake."

Espen, regaining some of her earlier enthusiasm, stood up beside him and punched her fists together. "Easy peasy!"

Gunjo, though clearly skeptical, nodded slowly. "The zombie running this place... it's smart."

Espen's face lit up with a sudden idea. "It's probably trying to build more zombie soldiers. Using the eggs to create a new army."

Ryzen nodded in agreement. "Right right, we have a job to do now soooo…"

Just as the group was getting ready to move, the air in the room seemed to shift. A low, ominous creaking noise echoed through the hallway outside the classroom, followed by the soft thud of approaching footsteps. But these weren't normal footsteps. They were slow, uneven, each step accompanied by the wet, sickening sound of something dragging itself across the floor.

Ryzen, Espen, and Gunjo turned toward the door, their bodies tensing instinctively.

The door creaked open, and what entered the room sent a chill down their spines.

One by one, they shuffled in—grotesque, twisted figures, each one more horrifying than the last. Their bodies were rotten and decayed, barely held together by torn, sagging skin and exposed bones. But what made them truly disturbing were their heads.

Each abomination had the head of a school supply.

The first one that entered had the head of a pencil sharpener, its rusted blades grinding together with each step. Its body was hunched over, its arms dragging on the floor, leaving behind a trail of black, congealed blood.

Behind it, another creature stumbled in, its head an oversized pair of scissors, the blades snapping open and closed with a metallic click with every step. Its limbs were long and spindly, its fingers nothing more than jagged shards of metal.

Next came a beast with the head of a ruler, its body stretched unnaturally long, its arms and legs grotesquely elongated to match. Every time it moved, its limbs cracked and popped as if they were barely able to support its weight.

More followed—a stapler-headed monstrosity, a creature with the head of a giant chalkboard eraser, and others with strange, horrifying combinations of school supplies and decaying flesh.

In total, there were at least fifteen of them, each one more grotesque than the last. They filled the room, their breathing heavy and labored, their bodies twitching and shifting unnaturally.

Ryzen, Espen, and Gunjo stood frozen, their eyes wide as they stared at the abominations. None of them said a word. The air in the room had grown thick with tension, the only sounds being the grotesque huffing and puffing of the creatures as they shuffled closer.

Gunjo's cigarette fell from his beak, landing on the floor with a soft hiss as the embers extinguished. Even the rooster, normally so calm and unbothered, seemed shaken.

The abominations continued to shuffle forward, their twisted, nightmarish forms filling every corner of the room. The atmosphere was heavy, oppressive, like the room itself was holding its breath, waiting for the inevitable clash.

Ryzen said, "We gotta fight now, don't we?"

Espen nodded, "Damn right we do!"

The moment the abominations entered the room, the tension exploded. The air became thick with the stench of decay and the sharp tang of metal and blood. The abominations—fifteen grotesque monsters with bodies of rot and heads of twisted school supplies—advanced slowly, their heavy breathing filling the classroom like the ominous ticking of a clock. Each step they took seemed to charge the air, and when one of them, the pencil-sharpener-headed freak, let out a metallic grind, all hell broke loose.

Ryzen was the first to move, his impulsive nature driving him forward. He sprinted toward the closest abomination, leaping onto a desk and launching himself into the air with a wild kick aimed at the creature's chest. His foot connected with a wet, sickening *crunch*, sending the abomination stumbling back.

But as Ryzen landed, another abomination—one with the head of a pair of scissors—lunged at him from the side. Its blades opened wide, aiming to slice him in half. Ryzen barely managed to duck, the sharp *snick* of the blades echoing above him. He rolled across the floor, grabbing a chair on the way up and hurling it at the abomination's legs.

BAM!

The chair collided with the abomination's kneecaps, causing it to trip and crash into a desk. Ryzen grinned, but his moment of triumph was short-lived as two more abominations rushed toward him. One had the head of a ruler, its body stretching unnaturally as it lunged forward. The other was the stapler-headed freak, snapping its jaws with a loud click-clack.

Ryzen kicked off the wall, flipping over the ruler-headed abomination, and landed on top of a desk. He swung his leg down in a powerful axe-kick, smashing the ruler-headed creature's spine with a burst of bone and black blood. But as the stapler-headed one closed in, Ryzen's movements became sloppy. He threw a wild punch, but the stapler monster dodged and slammed its heavy head into his gut.

THUD!

Ryzen gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He staggered back, barely managing to block another attack with his forearm. His punches were powerful, but without precision, and the abominations immediately capitalized on his carelessness. Ryzen was forced to retreat, panting heavily, blood already trickling from a gash on his side.

'Fuck…I'm weaker without Espen..feels like they're trying to keep us away from each other the way they're fighting.'

Espen was a blur of motion, her signature grin plastered across her face. She leaped into the air, spinning like a tornado, her claws slicing through the air with a deadly precision. Her first target, the chalkboard-headed abomination, barely had time to react before her claws tore through its torso. Blood and chunks of rotten flesh flew in all directions as she landed on all fours, her demonic tail lashing behind her.

She let out a low, guttural laugh, her eyes glowing with a sinister light. With a flick of her wrist, she sent a wave of shadowy energy through the room, knocking back two more abominations that dared approach her.

Espen's combat style was brutal, animalistic. She pounced forward, claws extended, slashing through the ruler-headed abomination that was still twitching from Ryzen's earlier attack. Her claws carved deep into its chest, and with a savage twist, she ripped it in half, black blood spraying across the room.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

RIP!

Her tail whipped around, catching another abomination in the face with a brutal snap, sending it flying across the room and crashing into the wall. She was laughing the whole time, her voice a mixture of excitement and madness. "This is too much fun!"

Meanwhile, Gunjo was a flash of white flames, moving through the battlefield with blinding speed. His rooster body ignited with white-hot fire as he darted between the abominations, his beak glowing with heat as he pierced through them like a bullet.

WHOOSH!

Gunjo slammed into an abomination with the head of a stapler, his beak stabbing through its chest and out the other side. He didn't stop there—his momentum carried him forward, dragging the abomination with him as he crashed into another one with the head of a calculator. Both creatures were torn apart by the force of his fiery charge, their bodies disintegrating into piles of ash and molten flesh.

But Gunjo wasn't done. He twisted in mid-air, spinning like a fiery cyclone, his beak cutting through the air like a blade. He ripped through another abomination, its body bursting into flames as his white-hot beak sliced through its neck.

Ryzen, though fighting valiantly, was struggling. His punches, while strong, weren't landing with the precision he needed. Each time he took down one abomination, another two would take its place. He smashed a desk over one of their heads, only for another to grab him from behind, its jagged fingers digging into his shoulders.

"Dammit!" Ryzen cursed, headbutting the abomination behind him. He managed to shake it off, but he was quickly surrounded again. Without Espen's support, he was fighting carelessly, his movements wild and unfocused.

Espen noticed this from the corner of her eye. She was still laughing, but her sharp mind was processing everything. Every time she got close to Ryzen, one of the abominations would dart between them, as if it knew how dangerous they were together.

"Oh, you clever little bastards," Espen muttered with a grin.

She ripped a piece of her hair out—a long strand of her hair infused with her demonic energy. She tossed it into the air, letting it float toward Ryzen, who was still fighting off a pair of abominations.

"Ryzen! Catch!" she yelled, her voice filled with playful energy.

Ryzen, dodging a swipe from the scissors-headed abomination, looked up in confusion as the strand of hair floated toward him. "What the hell am I supposed to do with that?!"

Espen was laughing uncontrollably now, flipping over an abomination and driving her claws into its back as she yelled, "Just eat it, it's good protein!"

"Protein?!"

Ryzen was still confused, but with the chaos around him, he didn't have time to think. He darted through the battlefield, ducking and weaving between desks and abominations. He leaped over one of the creatures, grabbing the strand of hair as it floated by.

"Are you serious?!" Ryzen called out, holding the hair in his hand.

Espen, still battling a wave of abominations, yelled back, "Just do it! Trust me! They're trying to keep us away from each other! Wonder why that is…hmmm.."

"Your father maybe…? A monarch?"

"Gotta be! No matter! He's gonna get fucked up like the last one! Then we're gonna gobble him up!"

With a groan of frustration, Ryzen shoved the piece of hair into his mouth. Immediately, he regretted it.

Ryzen hit the ground, rolling left and right, gagging and choking. "It's trying to kill me!" he yelled, clutching his throat as his body convulsed.

Espen paused mid-fight, laughing hysterically. "Oh man, you're being so dramatic! It's not poison, it's a power boost! You'll be tougher, and stronger for a few minutes, like 5 minutes! After that, you're done! That'll hold you off until we can clear them out and you can wield me! Theseeee bastards are annoying! Anyway, my entire body is filled with Inferno, all beings from hell are created like that if that explains why you should be getting any boost. You're eating literal power."

Gunjo, mid-charge, glanced over and cocked his head. "So the kid who takes odd jobs for clips eats hair as well? Should've known you weren't right in the head."

Ryzen scoffed at Gunjo, "Damn you! I'll eat you next! And where did you get power from?!"

"That's another thing, brat. I don't know that either."

Just as the tide seemed to be turning in their favor, the ceiling above them exploded.

CRASH!

Chunks of debris rained down, and from the gaping hole in the ceiling, a group of zombie teachers descended, their bodies twisted and broken, their eyes glowing with a sickly green light.

"Have you done your homework?!" they screeched in unison, their voices a horrific blend of zombie moans and distorted human speech.

Espen's eyes widened in delight. "Oh, this is just getting better and better!"

The zombie teachers blasted through the walls and floors, tearing the room apart. One of them lunged at Ryzen, its hand glowing with a sickly green energy. Ryzen barely had time to block, and the impact sent him crashing through a row of desks.

The room itself seemed to split in half as the zombie teachers tore through it, ripping apart the floor and walls with their supernatural strength. The ground beneath Ryzen crumbled, and he felt himself falling away from the others.

"Ryzen!" Espen called out, her voice filled with genuine concern for the first time, reaching out to him.

Ryzen could even feel the genuine concern Espen had for him.

Gunjo, too, was caught off guard as two abominations tackled him, sending him crashing into a pile of rubble.

"Get off me, bastards!"

Ryzen hit the ground hard, landing in what looked like the school cafeteria. The room was dirty and abandoned, tables overturned, food trays scattered across the floor. The stench of rot was overwhelming.

Groaning, Ryzen pushed himself to his feet, wiping blood from his forehead. "Great... now where am I?"

He glanced around, and to his surprise, Gunjo was nearby, standing up slowly amidst the rubble.

"My dear client!! You okay?" Ryzen asked, walking toward him.

Gunjo didn't respond. Instead, he stood there, his body trembling slightly.

Ryzen's eyes narrowed. "Wait... no way..."

'He got touched by the True One's blood…is he done for?! Is there no way to save him?! Does that mean no paperclips?!'

Gunjo's body began to grow, his feathers ruffling as his form expanded. His legs lengthened, his arms bulging with muscle, and his beak sharpened into a deadly weapon. Within seconds, the once small, fiery rooster had transformed into a 6-foot-tall, muscular humanoid figure, his body covered in feathers and patches of black blood.

Ryzen took a step back, his fists clenching. "Oh shit..."

Gunjo's eyes burned with a wild, feral light. Without warning, he vanished, moving so fast that Ryzen barely had time to react.

BAM!

Gunjo reappeared behind Ryzen, delivering a brutal punch to his back that sent him flying across the room. Ryzen crashed into a wall, blood spraying from his mouth as he slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

His body trembled, black veins spreading across his skin, his left eye darkening with the infection of the True One's blood.

"I'm gonna... take you down, chicken!" Ryzen spat, struggling to stand.

Suddenly, the power from Espen's hair kicked in. Ryzen's muscles bulged, his strength returning tenfold. His vision sharpened, and the pain in his body dulled, replaced by a surge of demonic energy.

In a blur of motion, Ryzen shot forward, his fists blazing with energy. He ducked under Gunjo's next punch, delivering a rapid series of strikes to his torso. Each punch landed with a sickening crack, feathers and blood flying as Ryzen pummeled the massive rooster.

But Gunjo wasn't finished. With a powerful flap of his wings, he launched himself into the air, spinning like a tornado and raining down flaming kicks on Ryzen. Ryzen blocked as best he could, but the force of Gunjo's attacks sent him skidding across the floor, his arms bruised and bleeding.

Both fighters stood panting, blood dripping from their bodies, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Ryzen wiped the blood from his lip, a wicked grin on his face. Gunjo, his feathers scorched and his body battered, let out a low growl.

Ryzen thought again, 'Am I actually feeling sympathy for some rooster? His situation? Losing everything? I was supposed to care about only the clips…but seeing this rooster right now in this state, touched by the True One's blood, this bastard is willing to do whatever to get his chicks. Even with the thought of them being zombie humanoids like him now. But it's like he wants closure. And here I am focused on just clips and nothing else. What is wrong with me..?'

The moment the floor split and Ryzen disappeared from view, Espen felt a surge of rage bubble up inside her. Her usual playful demeanor gave way to something darker, more primal. Her eyes narrowed into slits, glowing with a sinister red hue. The abominations that surrounded her barely had time to react before she moved—a blur of savage, precise destruction.

She let out a guttural growl, her voice echoing with demonic power as she slashed through three abominations in a single motion, her claws tearing through their decayed flesh like paper.

RIP!

Blood and torn muscle sprayed into the air, painting the walls in gore as Espen landed on all fours, her tail whipping behind her like a serpent. Her movements were feral, animalistic, but with the deadly precision of a seasoned warrior. The abominations, sensing the danger, tried to swarm her, but they were too slow.

An abomination with the head of a stapler lunged at Espen, its jaws snapping open and shut with metallic *clacks*. Espen didn't even flinch. She ducked low, her body twisting like a coil of black and red shadows, avoiding the creature's attack with ease. As she spun, her tail lashed out, wrapping around the abomination's neck. With a violent yank, she snapped its head clean off, the body crumbling to the floor in a twitching heap.

But Espen wasn't done.

Using the decapitated body like a club, she swung it with brutal force into another abomination, the impact crushing the creature's ribcage with a loud *crunch*. Black blood sprayed across the floor, the abomination crumpling under the sheer force of the blow.

WHAM!

She flipped backward, her legs coiling into a perfect kick aimed at another abomination's head, shattering its skull and sending it flying across the room. Before it even hit the ground, Espen was already moving again, her claws slashing through the air in a deadly arc.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Her claws tore through the chest of one of the zombie teachers that had been snarling at her, ripping through its decayed flesh with ease. Espen grabbed the zombie by its arm and swung it like a weapon, using its body to knock back two more abominations that were approaching her from behind.

Her laughter echoed through the room, manic and wild. She was enjoying this—the chaos, the blood, the sheer thrill of combat.

A zombie teacher, its head twisted at an unnatural angle, lunged at her with a sickening groan. Espen's eyes flashed with fury. She pivoted on her heel, dodging the attack, and in a flash, her claws were on its throat. She didn't just slice it—she *tore* the entire front of its neck out, blood and flesh flying everywhere.

SPLAT!

With the teacher still twitching, she kicked it into the next wave of abominations, using its body as a projectile. The creature collided with two more zombies, sending them sprawling to the floor.

Espen dashed forward, her claws a blur as she unleashed a ferocious multi-hit combo. She slashed one zombie across the chest, spun on her heel, and backhanded another with her clawed fist, sending it crashing into a desk. Her tail lashed out behind her, grabbing an abomination by the leg and slamming it into the ground with enough force to crack the floor.

THUD! CRACK!

Blood sprayed in all directions as she moved like a whirlwind, her body covered in the red and black shadows that seemed to pulse with her fury. She ducked under a zombie teacher's wild swing, then leapt into the air, spinning mid-flight to deliver a devastating roundhouse kick that shattered the zombie's ribcage.

The impact sent it crashing through a wall, blood and bones splattering across the floor.

Espen didn't stop there. She grabbed one of the zombie teachers by its arm and swung it like a club into the next abomination that charged at her. The two bodies collided with a sickening crunch, and Espen used the momentum to swing again, smashing the abominations into the ground with brutal force.

WHAM!

Blood and gore splattered across the walls as she continued her rampage, using the broken bodies of her enemies as weapons, smashing them into each other with reckless abandon. She kicked the decapitated body of one abomination into another, sending it flying into the back wall with enough force to crack the concrete.

Her claws were dripping with blood, her body moving with the deadly grace of a predator in its prime. She was unstoppable.

"Ryzen!" she snarled, her voice echoing through the chaos. "I'm coming!"

After tearing through the remaining abominations in the hall, Espen kicked open the door to the art room, her chest heaving, her body covered in blood and shadows. The room was eerily silent, a stark contrast to the chaos she had just left behind.

Large, sprawling paintings littered the floor, their colors vivid but dark, as though the paint itself was alive. Pools of thick, viscous liquid leaked from the canvases, forming strange patterns on the floor. The air was heavy with the smell of oil and blood.

Espen narrowed her eyes, her claws twitching in anticipation.

That's when she saw them.

The figures in the paintings began to *move*.

At first, it was subtle—a shift of color here, a ripple of fabric there. But then the figures began to emerge from the canvases, their bodies warped and twisted, their faces smeared with the blood of the True One. They were humanoid, but grotesquely deformed, their features blending into one another as though they had been melted together.

Five of them stepped forward, their eyes glowing with an unnatural light. Each one of them radiated a sense of ancient power, their voices low and rumbling as they spoke in unison.

"We are the wisdom of the ages... lost in the chaos of blood and time."

Their faces were grotesque parodies of famous historical figures—great minds twisted into abominable forms. One looked like a warped version of Leonardo da Vinci, his eyes hollow and his mouth twisted into a cruel sneer. Another resembled a nightmarish version of Cleopatra, her once-beautiful features now distorted and monstrous. A third had the likeness of Genghis Khan, his body fused with the others in a grotesque amalgamation of limbs and faces. The others were just as twisted, their identities lost in the madness of their new forms.

Espen's lips curled in disgust, her eyes glowing with rage. The shadows around her thickened, swirling with malevolent energy. Her tail flicked behind her, sharp like a blade, as her body became enveloped in the dark, pulsing mass of red and black shadows.

"Get the fuck out of my way..." she growled, her voice low and dangerous.

The figures in the paintings stared down at her, their twisted mouths curling into cruel smiles as they prepared to strike.