Rigurd’s group came back in a hurry and began unloading the two carriages that they had brought with them. Rigurd, Bellamort and Eliquis were slightly wounded with cuts and scrapes. I wouldn’t have thought much of them, but when Eliquis drew near, I noticed something about her cuts. They were done by weapons, and monsters don’t use weapons. Rigurd, Josh, Will and Gary worked together to carry a body out of the last carriage and carried him inside our little fort, on a bed.
There was something strange about that body- yes, strange even to someone who keeps somehow changing the appearance of everything he corrupts. First of all, it was four meters tall from head to foot. Second off, it was a good two meters wide with massive mussels. It’s arms were much longer than a normal person’s as well. They fell just below the knees. And finally, the face...erm...head? The top of it? I don’t know how to describe this thing other than a snake. Close to a cobra, but he was pure orange with some sort of skin-looking dreads, a snake-like head and the gaping hole in his chest. Actually there were four of them.
What the hell? How is this guy even still alive? A lot of questions began piling up. Between “what am I looking at?” and “why won’t he bleed to death?” But I ignored all the questions and looked at Rigurd.
“Explain.”
“We have a lot of issues to discuss. Where do you want to begin?”
“That,” I said pointing at the thing laying on the bed. I say laying, but it was so massive that only about two thirds of its body was on the bed.
“I believe they’re called Besers, and we found him fighting a group of paladins. His comrades died before we arrived, though.”
“And?”
“That’s where the other issue begins,” Rigurd said rubbing his chin, clearly looking for a way to explain. “We need to leave, now.”
“Huh?”
“Whatever plans you have here need to be abandoned. This fort as well.”
I stood there staring blankly at him. What? Abandon all my plans? What for?
Rigurd paid close attention to my confusion before continuing, “There’s an angel on its way here.”
“An...angel?”
“How do I describe this,” Liora walked over scratching the top of her head, glancing at Rigurd. “Basically, those templars serve the church, right? The church doesn’t actually associate itself with any country but exists within most countries, and it has, uh, people who can call upon angels. I think the lowest rank that can summon them is a bishop, but that’s besides the point here. You ever hear of the city Llevial?”
“Nope.”
“Well, if you go through the woods over there for about a day or two, you’ll get there. There’s a few fortresses and a castle out there. The city had about 35,000 people living there. About a week ago, an Angel descended and almost everyone died.”
Eliquis gasped, “Garem, that’s where we…”
“Wait, you mean Mag summons Angels?”
“Mag?” Rigurd questioned.
“Uh… she was this woman with a black-”
“She’s not part of the church, then,” Rigurd cut me off. “They refuse to wear black. It was just probably a coincidence that you ran into her when an angel descended.”
“I see,” I said, trying to piece together everything I knew so far.
I thought Mag and her people destroyed the city. And there weren’t any angels around when we left the city, right? So who is Mag, then? Why was she there piling up corpses? Wait, the angel descended and there were still guards alive, right? So not everyone died.
“So, why do people die when angels descend?” I asked.
“It’s not when they descend. It’s the fact that they descend. Although the church worships them, angels take it upon themselves to… purge humanity of their sins.”
“And by purge you mean?”
“They kill everyone. Humans, demi humans, theanthropes- everyone. Except for the ones that the church has selected to protect the bishops and cardinals.”
“And how do we know an angel is coming”
“There was a bishop with those templars. They’re heading for Jumial. Apparently, they refused to build a church in the villages, so they’re going to purge the land, and reclaim it.”
“What?” Wait. They don’t have a country of their own, so what’s the point in purging and reclaiming? No, stop. There’s a bigger issue here. The church exists within almost every country, and they selectively summon angels to wipe out cities. This time, they’re doing it because a church won’t be built. So, are they trying to build influence? Or maybe it's a show of power. No, there has to be more to this, right? If there’s not, then… Are they just killing because they can?
“Pack up what we can, leave room for the wounded beser and the spider, though,” Rigurd ordered.
Everyone went around taking what they thought would be useful- mostly the pillows. Abandoning my home? Retreating from an enemy? Giving up on my ambitions?
“We’ll have to go south west, but avoid the village of theanthralopes. We don’t want to fight needlessly,” Liora explained, looking at a map she purchased the other day.
“If that’s the case, why don’t we go along the river here, and then when it turns, we go..”
My vision went black, and the noise slowly turned into muffled static around me, as I drifted into the depths of my thoughts. Why am I running? No, it makes sense to leave, right? No, that’s not me. Is it not me? Shouldn’t I do the smart thing and run? No, there’s more I need to test. I want to protect what I can hold on to. But wouldn’t that mean leaving with what I have right now? But if I run now, won’t I just be running forever? Is there any proof that I can handle this? NO! I can’t just run into something without the proper information. But… that doesn’t mean I have to give up everything, right? Yeah, there’s still time. My amus are faster. There’s no need to run, we’re pretty far away from the village right here, and I don’t need to give up my home. Never again. Never again? When has this happened before? Stop, stop with the stupid questions. You’re wasting time. My path is set.
I exhaled heavily. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath. My mind was made up- if I was going to run, I would do it after I fulfilled my ambitions and not a minute sooner. I didn’t need to know why I felt like this, nor why these dreams made me act in different ways. I don’t need any of that useless information. It’s not helping me stay alive. What I do need is more information on Corruption. And to do that, I need more bodies. I need more test subjects, more pawns. I need a place that I can live freely and have plenty of others to help protect it. I need the strength and courage to face anything and everything.
“We’re not leaving,” I stated, stopping everyone in their tracks. “Gavin, Rigurd, Josh and Alex. Grab some amus, we’re headed to Jumail.”
“WHAT? There’s an ANGEL coming!” Liora protested.
“Yeah, but we’re faster. We’ll be in and out before it descends. I’m not going to give up on my ambitions just yet.”
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“But-”
“I’ll run if it comes to it. But I’m at least saving one life before then,” I stated.
My mind is made up. Follow or leave, but I’m not running from this. I attempted to portray my thoughts through a glare at Liora. I guess she got the message because she nodded and took a deep breath to relax.
“Let’s take Marie as well. She’s pretty quick. Four amus should be enough. Josh and Marie on one, Gavin and Alex on another, and both of us will go with a slime. Gavin, Alex and Marie- you’ll be on watch. Keep a slime with you. We’ll leave two amus outside of the village, just in case. Myself, a slime, and Garem will go inside. BUT! When I say it's time to go, it’s time to go. Deal?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Worst case scenario, we’ll have to corrupt a few amus on the way out,” Rigurd grinned.
Ah, I see. That’s not a bad idea.
“Eliquis, keep a weapon on you and be ready at any moment.”
“Huh?”
“Just do it. I don’t know how things are going to turn out, but in the worst case scenario, I’ll be needing you to be ready.”
“Eh? Wouldn’t it be better if I came with you, then?”
I ignored her and checked that new skill that came up not too long ago. I guess Eliquis’s clinginess can be useful. Our amus came to us without needing any words or mental contact. They were itching for a race against time as well. In order to move a reasonable force, they’ll have to move slowly. It’s just past midday right now, so we probably only have until nightfall. I organized my thoughts on how, exactly, I wanted to handle the goal as we took off towards the village at the amus top speed.
----------------------------------------
The village was in chaos by the time we arrived. I looked around and saw a few houses on fire, and a few more in the process of being caught on fire. Among the assuming chaos, the sounds of weapons clashing could be heard.
“What the-?”
“Looks like a revolt. But it's happening too late,” Rigurd answered Josh, while dismounting from his amu. “Gavin, we need eyes on the situation. Marie and Alex should lay low but stick close to him. Josh, we’re going with the pain. Oh, and um amu, bring me a slime or two.”
I blinked and both Gavin and two amus were gone. I guess the amus went back to the fortress, but where did Gavin go?
“Don’t die,” Alex whispered as he passed me, close behind Marie.
Before I could say anything, Rigurd tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Corrupt those two amus over there and let’s get this done quickly.”
I nodded and swiftly walked passed the amus, watching two black projectiles fly out of my CMP coat. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this thing. We moved swiftly to my target, bypassing every fight we came across. Damn, they’re really trying to kill all of the soldiers here. What the hell happened?
Thanks to all of the chaos, none of the soldiers were anywhere near the ‘upper class’ area and we were able to get to the slave owner’s store pretty quickly. However, it felt like it was already abandoned. There were no guards around, the gate bent outwards and there was blood splattered here and there.
I ignored the scene and walked through the front door taking in the sight. There were people here, but it seemed to be some sort of free-for-all. Everyone who worked here were just grabbing everything they could get their hands on and running in different directions. I stood there, watching the chaos unfold for a minute before following Rigurd to the basement.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“Humans have a tendency of taking advantage of chaotic situations,” Rigurd answered me.
The answer made sense. A lot of sense- more than I wanted it to. It felt like his answer was poking at a memory and it made me light headed. Why now of all times? Stop it- Stop it!!! I fought against the images trying to rush to the front of my head. I don’t have time for that right now. I can have answers later.
The further down the basement we went, the more horrific the smell became. And voices could be heard. Both the shouting of men, and the crying of others. What the hell? Every scream I heard, once every couple of seconds, made me more and more light headed. I kept trying to take deep breaths as we made our way forward, but the smell of blood and rotting flesh made it difficult to breathe.
“We can call it quits here,” Rigurd suggested.
[Program Terminated. Reboot Suggested.]
“No. I need to do this!”
[Rebooting System.]
We made it to the bottom of the stairs and I cautiously looked to my left. There were over forty cells down a long hallway where crying could be heard. I wasn’t sure how many of them were occupied, but before I could even check it out, I heard more screaming coming from my right. I pushed past Riguard, who was purposely blocking my view and took in the scene.
What the fuck? There were over twenty corpses on the ground. All of them demi humans. Each one of them had their ears cut off. One of them had a knife in his eye. There was a girl- or at least I thought she was- covered in stab wounds all over her chest. Everywhere I looked, it was just death. I looked away from the corpses to the three men in front of me. One was in the process of raping a woman. Although, I’m pretty sure she had died at some point during the act, seeing how she was just limp. Another was holding a demi human by her rabbit-like ear. Her other ear was already cut off and on the floor, in front of the girl who was screaming and crying uncontrollably. The third man had already threw his corpse over at the others, turning to face me.
“What the fuck.”
[System Updating.]
----------------------------------------
There were gunshots ringing throughout the building as the police officer kicked me over and over. I cried as I gasped for air, trying to reach for my sister. The officer turned at the noise of a grenade being thrown into the hallway. Gunshots could be heard just outside, which caught his attention.
I took the pistol from the police officer and shot him in the left knee. I shot him again. And again. And again. I kept pulling the trigger, even when there was nothing but clicks of the bolt hitting nothing, and my own cries. Slowly, I crawled over to my sister and tried wiping the sperm off of her, as I cuddled her. Her eyes were wide open, but they weren’t looking at anything. She was dead. For hours, I watched them rape her to death.
“Why. Why?”
“Don’t get cocky... you filthy animal. You just look human, but you’ll never... be one,” the officer replied, coughing on his own blood.
I looked around at the men that were raping my sister not too long ago, and the three soldiers with their weapons checking their corpses. They pulled the white sheets off of their faces.
[Confirmed Program Update. Updating.]
“You act like we chose to be born like this,” I muttered.
----------------------------------------
One of the soldiers came over and put his hand on my shoulder. “It’ll be alright.”
No. No it won’t. I know it won’t. They’ll keep coming just because I was born. What the hell did I even do?! I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to live!
Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked up at the soldier, “Please. Kill me.”
----------------------------------------
[Update Complete. Virus Uploaded. Parameters Changed.]
“Everywhere I go, there’s always people like you. Who the fuck are you to define human?” I asked.
“Huh? Sad cuz we killed a few beasts? Just because they pretend to be humans, doesn’t make them humans. Get over yourself kid,” one of them grinned and gripped a sword, walking over to me.
[Limiters lifted. Virus will be Terminated in 900 seconds. Do you want to proceed?]
“Yes.”
[0101011101101101010110101111101011010111010111010111]
[K!- ryt!ng.]
“Devour my soul and grant life to the fallen. [GRUDGE]!” I chanted the incantation that came to my mind, while glaring at the three men. I won’t hesitate anymore. I will keep killing everything until I, too, deserve to live.
“What the hell?” the man raping the corpse yelled, as the corpse melted into a black viscous liquid.
The other men watched as all of the corpses around us melted just like her and made its way back to me. I pulled out one of my blades made from CMP and threw it into the ever growing whirlpool of black liquid.
[Class obtained: Reaper.]
[Class obtained: Chain Meister]
[[Living Weapon: Scythe] Created]
[[Living Weapon Blade] Created]
[Grudge being held. 900 seconds remaining.]
Out of the black whirlpool formed a massive panther that was just under three meters tall, and six meters long. It’s paws were half the size of my body, and its mouth was big enough to eat a fully grown man in two bites. All over its body faces were forming, trying to push their way through and take a look at the three men in front of us- who now stood mortified.
The rest of the black whirlpool formed into a woman standing just under one hundred and forty centimeters tall. Her hair was purple and tied into pigtails that fell below her waist. And on her waist were two daggers. She glanced over at me, and some of my CMP jacket left me, to cover a small amount of her chest and nether region.
Images of the day the KKK raped my sister to death, rushed through my head. And the more images that came to me, the more my CMP began to move on it’s own, slowly consuming me, turning me into something else. But I didn’t care. I just wanted everything to die.