“Hurry up with the carts! You there, make sure the slaves are ready to leave! If I see any of you bastards slacking, I’ll kill you myself!” Geruda shouted out orders to the other members of Black Century as she ran around the camp. Damn. Why did this have to happen now? It’s all their fault. No, this is her fault. An elven girl they captured about a week earlier had somehow hid the fact that she was a crest mage from Geruda and escaped just before the slavers had filled their quota. This one girl could ruin their plans to capture more people in the future, so it was imperative that she was found before she revealed anything to the proper authorities, but things hadn’t gone as planned. The group she initially sent after the elf failed to return. Just when she was about to send a second team after the first, the scout from the first team returned with information. Apparently, Jobe and Kenji had found the girl with a young man and we’re about to enter combat to get her back. Geruda took the news in stride and waited for the two men to return with the escaped slave, but it became apparent as more time passed that they hadn’t been successful.

God, the people on this planet are f*cking useless! Geruda was by no means a slouch when it came to scheming, but she didn’t have any control over the men who we’re assigned to her. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she was put in charge of the fallen knight and the silent swordsman despite how she felt about their usefulness. She had always hated Jobe for his larger than life attitude and Kenji wasn’t any better in her opinion. They both lacked the intelligence or wisdom to make decisions on the fly. Despite that, they we’re two of the best fighters she had in her current arsenal. If someone actually beat them, that person would have had to have been quite powerful… I need to get out of here. Why aren’t the slaves ready yet?! Tired of waiting for her subordinates, Geruda burst into the tent where they had been keeping the people they captured but something was noticeably wrong.

¤  ¤  ¤

“What the- where did they go?!”

“Looking for something?” Geruda spun around and looked at the boy who was casually leaning on a tree behind her. She didn’t recognize the young man, and that realization put her immediately on high alert.

“Pretty sneaky of you. So, where did you take them?”

“Somewhere far away. By the way, I really should thank you. It was super easy to sneak into your camp with all that commotion you’re causing trying to get out of here.”

“Why reveal yourself to me then?”

“Something a friend said to me. I had to satiate my curiosity.”

“Oh? And what did this mysterious friend of yours tell you? I’m assuming it didn’t concern my darling figure?”

“Who knows, it might have.”

“Cheeky, aren’t you?

“When I want to be. No, I heard that the two of us are here for the same reason… you catching my drift? I was hoping I could convince you to leave all of this behind and come back with me. With your help, we might be able to figure out a way to stop this planet from going tits up.”

“You can’t be serious… Ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Is something I said funny to you?”

“You think I actually give two f*cks what happens to this place? Don’t make me laugh! Why should I do anything for anyone besides myself?” Uh-oh… I’m starting to think Kenji was right, I’m definitely getting flop card vibes from this chick…

“But the apocalypse-”

“Again with that shit? As I told that dip-shit who called himself The House or whatever, why would I ever want to stop an apocalypse from happening? F*ck if anything, I want front row tickets to the show!”

“I’m guessing then that you won’t be changing your mind?”

“Intruder!” Geruda screamed as loud as she could. The camp immediately went into a full panic, and her men rushed over from different tents nearby, completely armed to the teeth.

“That’s too bad. I was hoping things could go differently…”

“Oh, shut it! Let’s see how you handle this, brat- Huh?!” Geruda was confident that a group of trained criminals could handle the boy, but being surrounded only seemed to embolden the strange kid. His presence exuded confidence, and the smile that slowly crept over his face made Geruda’s stomach churn.

“Perfect, I was hoping you’d gather everyone here for me.” The boy said as he put two fingers in his mouth.

FWEEEEET!

¤  ¤  ¤

“What?!” After the boy whistled, the trees around the criminals suddenly started to move. An armed person seemed to come out of the brush from every direction, and the slavers panicked when they saw that they were the ones surrounded instead. Five other people had come to fight, but it was the identity of two of them that really bothered Geruda. She had always thought that she was an expert at identifying a person’s characteristics, but what she now saw was beyond any of her calculations. Kenji and Jobe had both betrayed Black Century and joined the enemy.

“You two?!” Geruda screamed at them. “You weak, pathetic, excuses for warriors! I should have killed you myself!”

“Nice to see you too, Geruda.” Jobe shot back at her, which only seemed to piss her off even more.

“You’ll both pay for this…”

“If you want to live, drop you’re weapons and get down on the ground. Anyone who does otherwise will be executed. This is your only warning.” The boy calmly stated out loud with a conviction a child of his age shouldn’t have had.

Most of the slavers just laughed, but four of them dropped their swords and promptly stepped backwards. The boy nodded to Jobe and he quickly kicked their weapons away while they knelt on the ground. Suddenly, a flash went by Jobe and we all froze. Geruda had somehow had gotten completely across the clearing and stood next to Jobe with her back to us. Alarmed, Jobe leapt backwards and drew his weapon while clenching his teeth.

“Unacceptable…” Geruda muttered under her breath just loud enough for us to hear, and I couldn’t help but think she looked like she was having a mental breakdown. She turned slowly, and the rest of the crowd saw that she was now holding the decapitated head of the fourth slaver who had surrendered. Something about her eyes looked absolutely psychotic, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do as they watched her drop the head she was holding like it was completely inconsequential. No one had even seen her move, but there was no denying what we all had just seen happen. The rest of the slavers seemed to get the message, and perhaps fearing retaliation from Geruda, decided that they would take their chances fighting us instead. Geruda realized she needed as many people fighting as possible if they we’re going to escape this predicament. With that one move, Geruda had avoided a complete loss and almost balanced the scales back into the slaver’s favor. I’ve always been a good strategist, but even I could tell with one quick look that this child was a monster, just like me. Let’s see how he handles this!

“So the rest of you have made up your minds? Oh well. Let’s get to it, then.” The boy said as he drew the two knives from my belt with a whimsical smile.

¤  ¤  ¤

“Crest Magic: Crest of Haste! Crest Magic: Crest of the Giant!” two black tattoos suddenly materialized on Geruda’s face and the warning bells in my head told me to get the hell out of there. I used my acrobatics skill and somersaulted backwards just in the nick of time. Geruda smashed into the ground where I just was with an insane amount of speed and strength, leaving a massive impact crater where she had struck. I kept using blink and dodging as fast as I could while Geruda kept up her rampage. She swung away at me with the strength of a bulldozer as I desperately tried to avoid her brutal attacks. I had come into the fight knowing that I would need to be on my toes, but Geruda was so much faster than I initially anticipated. She finally caught me with my guard down between dodges, and lunged at me while preparing another punch. “Support Magic: Fortify!” I screamed, somehow managing to deflect the strike by drawing Last Resort and nullified some of the damage with Fortify, but the impact still sent me flying through the forest. I smashed into the trees behind me, losing about half of my HP from the collision, but was otherwise still on my feet. I could feel a trickle of blood running down my face from a cut above my eyebrow and I think she broke a few of my ribs.

“Is that all you can do? Considering how easily you tampered with my plans, I thought you’d be so much stronger than this. Did Jobe and Kenji actually lose to you?” Geruda asked in a mocking tone.

“In all honesty, I didn’t fight Jobe, so I can’t say who’d win in a fight. I did beat Kenji and the others though.”

“You pathetic weakling. Do you think I’ll go easy on you for being humble?”

“No, but I think you’ll let your guard down.” Geruda realized what I had done and spun around just as my Black Tendrils spell was about to grab her.

I had fired off Black Tendrils in between blinks earlier but that hadn’t worked either, as they weren’t nearly fast enough to keep up with Geruda’s speed. The good news was I didn’t need the tendrils to hit their target, just force her to go in a general direction. Geruda hadn’t realized it yet, but I had been baiting her the entire time we fought. I had to take that last blow head on, but I had finally gotten her into the perfect spot for my prepared counter attack. “Dark Magic: Decay!” The ground below her turned into a black bubbling liquid and Geruda couldn’t help but let the surprise show in her expression. Geruda only touched the ground for a moment as she landed in between strikes, but that was all I needed for my plan to succeed. The dark puddle attached itself to her, causing Geruda to scream out in pain before falling to the ground.

¤  ¤  ¤

Meanwhile, about half an hour earlier…

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.” I had asked Kenji and Jobe for information on Geruda’s skills as we hiked to the Black Century camp. They had taken the time to explain the abilities of circle mages to me. Apparently circle mages could place different temporary or permanent crests on themselves, their allies, or their foes. With a name like mage in the job title, I figured there would be more magic based attacks, but a circle mage mostly focused on making themselves extremely strong and fast from during combat from what they told me. “So she’s basically a powerhouse?”

“Yes, in those moments when she has all of her fighting crests active, she’s completely unstoppable. A direct hit while she has Crest of the Giant activated will kill you instantly if you aren’t being careful.”

“Do the crests have a time limit or any vulnerabilities?”

“Technically yes, but I wouldn’t rely on that in a fight. The crests only vanish when the caster is out of magic or stamina, and she’s got boatloads of both. Personally, I don’t know anyone who’s ever won a fist fight against Geruda, but I assume the higher ups in Black Century could do it if they actually got serious. Otherwise she’d be a much higher number.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What about the slave crests?”

“The slave crests are semi-permanent, I’m afraid. Unfortunately, you’ll have to kill Geruda if you want the crests to be removed.” Damn. I hadn’t expected that. Based off what I heard, I was hoping to recruit Geruda, but the information I just received about slave crests dashed any chance of that. Hold on…didn’t Elendria remove the slave crest herself?

“Can’t Elendria remove the slave crests like she did for herself earlier?” I asked but Jobe shook his head to indicate that I was incorrect.

“I don’t think so. From what I know, a crest mage can only remove crests from themselves. Otherwise, she probably would have freed the others when she escaped herself the first time.” Jobe said and Kenji looked surprised.

“What’s with you?” Jobe asked him suspiciously.

“I was just impressed, that’s all. I didn’t realize that you actually had a brain behind all that meat in your head.”

“What? You must have been thinking about how she got away while you were off silently brooding to yourself like you always do.”

“I was contemplating our situation, asshole. You know, something a gorilla like you would never understand.”

“Careful now, those are fighting words squinty.” Jobe’s entire neck bulged as he went eye to eye with the swordsman.

“Who you calling squinty, chrome-dome?”

“That does it! Let’s fucking go right now-”

“Can you two put a sock in it?” Knowing that she must have had to put up with their attitudes, I was starting to feel for Geruda, but I didn’t have the time to reflect too hard on that. “We’ve finally arrived.”

“Oh, Adam? One more thing.” Jobe said as he quickly grabbed my shoulder before I could get moving.

“What’s up?”

“Whatever you do, don’t give her a chance to recover if you manage to back her into a corner. Just finish her off. Promise me that.”

“Why?”

“Just promise me you’ll do it. If she activates her final crest, we’re all going to die.”

“Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep an eye out for that, now let’s get going!” I was really curious as to what Jobe could be so scared of, but I decided that I should just do as he said before my curiosity got the best of me and I f*cked everything up for everyone.

¤  ¤  ¤

The Decay spell opened a circle of darkness that sucked mana and stamina from anything that touched it, draining a foe of the energy it needed to fight. As a level one spell, it wasn’t strong by any means, but it did the trick in this case perfectly. Geruda lost about a tenth of her mana and stamina every time she touched one of the decay circles and I had littered the area in them. The two of us continued to fight for a few minutes longer. She almost killed me several times, but I managed to barely avoid dying while hitting her with the decay spells when I could. She was much more careful after the first time and it was hard to hit her, but the speed she was missing from each subsequent hit of decay more than made up for the fact that she knew the attack was coming. Geruda stood before me, huffing and puffing as she tried to regain her breath. Her crests slowly vanished, indicating that I had one the battle of endurance once and for all. Now to finish her.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“How?! This can’t be possible! You’re just a f*cking brat! I can’t die now, I’ve been playing this game for months!”

“Someone’s a sore loser…”

“That’s getting old pretty quick. It doesn’t seem like you have anything useful to add. I hope you enjoy dying a second time. Space Mag-” I began chanting my magic spell, but suddenly felt like something was off. Just before I cast the spell, an arrow came shooting out of the woods, heading directly for me at a ridiculous pace. What- where did that come from? I quickly used space magic to change the path of the arrow so I caught it instead of it hitting me, but the delay caused by the unforeseen attack had given Geruda the time to recover. “Crest Magic: Crest of Mutual Destruction!” I got a terribly uneasy feeling as I saw a black tattoo appear on her arm that looked like a large skull on fire swallowing a smaller one Pac-man style.

“Nooo!!” I heard Jobe scream and the rest of the slavers had all gone pale from fright. Most of the slavers we’re so scared they refused to move, but a few of them turned around in the middle of their respective battles and began high-tailing it out of there as fast as they possibly could. They way the criminals fled with reckless abandon caused me to pause momentarily and observe their strange behavior. My gut grumbled and a heightened sense of panic accompanied the suddenly bad vibes I was getting. Uh-oh. That’s not a good sign…

I turned back to look at Geruda, but what I saw wasn’t human anymore. Hell, I wasn’t even sure that was still Geruda. The seal on her arm looked absolutely demonic and blood red lines that looked like spider webs surrounded the seal in waves. The woman’s appearance had taken on the form of a biblical monster, with four massive arms and two dark horns protruding from her skull. Her face was relative the same, but her skin had changed to a pale blue colour, her hair was now jet black and her eyes had turned bright yellow. Every hair on my body stood on end, and my instincts told me I needed to get away from her right now. I started slowly moving backwards, trying to build up space between me and Geruda, when I heard her voice for the first time since the transformation took place.

“HoW…DaRe YoU…I NeVeR SaId AnY Of YoU CoUlD Go, DiD I?”

“Everyone stop retreating, now!” Kenji yelled from somewhere nearby and I paused, but it was too late for most of the others. Geruda was gone, moving so fast that she basically was little more than a blur in my vision. Compared to her speed earlier, I realized that she was now easily ten times faster than before. I heard screams coming from all around me, but again it was so fast I couldn’t make heads or tails of what was happening. Suddenly, Geruda reappeared a few feet away from me, drenched in blood that I didn’t think belonged to her.

I reluctantly took a look at my now gore-covered surroundings and almost threw up from shock. It took my mind a moment to comprehend everything I was seeing. For a second I almost convinced myself that it was all fake, but the smell of decay and rotting flesh wafting through the air quickly dispelled that thought.

All of the slavers who had tried to run away had been slaughtered horrifically. Pieces of their flesh, mutilated corpses and wounded bodies where lying all around us, but they weren’t the only ones who had been attacked by Geruda. Jobe had lost his hand and was howling in anguish somewhere to my right. Gerrix was missing a portion of his face, and he grasped at where his right eye was supposed to be while trying to push it back into place. That hadn’t stopped him from trying to find where his weapon had went during the chaos either. Kenji was bleeding pretty badly from his stomach against a tree and was half-unconscious, but upon closer inspection the wound looked rather shallow. I could see an empty potion lying beside him and figured he must have used it before the wound had become a major issue.

Although my friends had been hurt nothing seemed fatal, and I breathed a small sign of relief. That moment didn’t last long. I heard Kreedy scream, and I spun around to see what was wrong with her. She was kneeling next to Hugo, who lay face down in a puddle of his own blood. I moved to pull out a healing potion, but Kreedy just shook her head at me while crying as she held her fingers on his jugular to check his vitals. Hugo was clearly dead.

¤  ¤  ¤

F*ck!!! This is all my fault! I was way too reckless! A couple of fights that went decently made me think I was invincible, but I had failed to realize that my actions could lead to other people who we’re important to me being hurt. It was stupid of me and extremely short-sighted. As I looked down at Hugo’s lifeless corpse with anger and regret, I felt immensely responsible for making him come to the rescue with us. The anger I had felt earlier began to boil up inside of me again, but unlike with the Gilly Monster, I chose to embrace the feeling instead as it overwhelmed me this time. I swore to myself on Hugo that I was going to do something about this. I let the anger I was feeling boil over the top, and the mysterious energy within me finally exploded.

“I HOPE YOU”RE READY, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! I’M GOING TO F*CKING KILL YOU!”

“??? Conditions met. Fury activated.”

I sensed the energy flowing out of my body, and the intensity of it burned like crazy. Finally, after enduring the pain as long as I possibly could, a burst of visible energy exploded around me, causing a small sonic boom and enveloping me in golden flames.

“Fury has almost reached full charge.” The mysterious voice declared. I could feel myself losing control of my body, but it felt natural and I wasn’t scared in the slightest. Just before I surrendered myself to this mysterious power completely, the voice kicked in once again.

“Fury has reached a sufficient charge. Fury has successfully transformed into Wrath.” The energy that I felt shooting out of me suddenly became visible and extremely hot to the touch. I remember having one thought just before I blacked out. It was time for some payback.

¤  ¤  ¤

Kenji woke up to a commotion that sounded a lot like the discharges of thunder, feeling quite groggy with a pain in his abdomen. Every movement he made felt like someone was kicking him in the stomach repeatedly, but Kenji knew that he needed to try and confirm his surroundings before he rested. He took a quick look around and could see Kreedy trying to take care of Jobe, but everyone else was either unconscious or dead, including the badger-man who had come with them. Kenji tried to call out to them, but the words never left his throat. The memories of his past suddenly came flooding back to him, and a horrible feeling of Déjà vu overtook Kenji. Damn it… Not again.

While he was out of it, Kenji had been dreaming of his old life. Kenji had perished back in the early 17th century, but unlike Sake, Kenji had been brought to this world about a month ago by The House. Kenji was an incredibly famous swordsman in his past life, even rising to the rank of Samurai and becoming the main guard for his Daimyo before he passed. After getting an explanation from The House, he materialized in a small town not far from here, where he met Jobe for the first time who was trying to buy supplies for the current mission that they were on. Jobe wasn’t the most careful fellow but clearly sensed something in him. After seeing his skills in a bar fight that turned ugly quickly, Jobe revealed to Kenji that he was a criminal working for a group called Black Century. Jobe explained how the organization was looking to flip the broken social system on its head by doing away with the nobility once and for all. The group was gathering thoughtful and talented individuals that they thought could bring society back from the brink after it was destroyed. Jobe offered to have Kenji invited into the group if he wanted, and Kenji had eventually accepted due to his lack of available options. Kenji was then invited to take a small test, which he passed with flying colors. With his previous life experience helping him, it only took a few days for the man to gain a position as one of the upper members of the entire Black Century organization.

It’s all that asshole’s fault… That man was the reason Kenji had to stoop to being a criminal despite how he felt about crime in general. The being known as The House had let Kenji design a character that looked exactly like a younger version of the samurai, but he had failed to explain that most of the people in this world we’re white before letting him design his character. It didn’t take long for Kenji to discover that the people of this continent we’re pretty racist towards him and seemed to have problems with a group of humans they called ‘Islanders’. Not being able to find any legal work due to his appearance, Kenji really didn’t have any choice but to join the criminal group anyway. He had only been with the group for a few weeks when Kenji recognized that he had made a horrible mistake. Black Century seemed to be gathering violent sociopaths to their cause, which struck Kenji as not the sort of people you’d want to have around after an uprising. It became painfully obvious to Kenji that the organization only cared about dismantling the system and really didn’t have any plans for what would follow.

So when Adam revealed himself as not just one of the reincarnated but actually another Japanese person named Sake, Kenji gained a small sliver of hope for the first time since he arrived here that things might be okay for him. He really didn’t care what Sake’s goals were, Kenji was just happy to have someone around who truly understood him. He even swore to serve the boy after their initial battle, hoping he’d prove to be a good leader over time. Then this whole mess happened.

He sat up as gingerly as possible while putting pressure on his wound, trying to figure out what was happening when another loud boom caught his attention. “What the…” Two blurs smashed into each other at the speed of lightning, a whirlwind of limbs fiercely exchanging attacks faster than the naked eye could see. There would be brief moments where one of the blurs would suddenly be thrown backwards from the fight, and Geruda’s monstrous form seemed to appear more frequently than Sake, looking more and more banged up each time there was a small break in the action. The two blurs continued to fight at a speed that Kenji couldn’t comprehend, leaving him completely awestruck as he watched them.

Kenji had partaken in his fair share of battles in both his previous life and this one, but what he saw glimpses of here far surpassed what human beings were supposed to be capable of. To Kenji, it felt like the samurai was watching a battle between two gods as it played out right in front of him from his front row seats. Suddenly one of the blurs moved behind the other, and Kenji could see that Sake had Geruda’s tattooed arm in a limb lock, while she struggled to rip herself free with her other limbs. She clawed away at him, ripping chunks of flesh off of the boy while screaming in his face, but Sake seemed to just ignore her desperate attempts to flail herself free with a look of pure contempt on his face. He slowly began to turn her arm further over, revealing that he somehow had successfully targeted the arm that had the seal of mutual destruction. There was a horrible crackling as Sake pulled harder, and Geruda’s arm was eventually torn out of its socket completely with a nasty popping noise. Geruda started to moan and whine, which only seemed to amuse Sake as he discarded the arm by throwing it over his shoulder. Dark red blood spewed from Geruda’s open wound and a creepy black liquid slowly leaked out of the seal on to the ground underneath it.

With the crest now separated from her body, Geruda slowly began returning to normal. The fight may have been over, but Adam wasn’t finished. Using Last Resort, Sake methodically cut Geruda into little pieces until just a limbless husk remained, but that’s not what bothered Kenji. Adam had a look of pure glee on his face as he cut away at her, making him appear like a madman. Kenji shivered as he watched the boy torment his opponent. What insane bloodlust…This can’t be the boy I met in the forest anymore. He’s a monster!

The Sake he had briefly known seemed like your average kid, although Kenji had noted that he had a clear disdain for people who acted superior to others right from their first encounter and a high emotional quotient for someone his age. The Sake that stood before him now though was closer to a demon than the child he had just met. Adam slowly came to a stop and coldly thrust his sword through her skull with the final stroke, which would have been the death blow if Geruda hadn’t perished some time ago from Adam’s unnecessary onslaught.

Adam then calmly walked over to Kreedy and Hugo, still permeating hatred and an impossible amount of magic energy. Kreedy seemed petrified as the boy approached her, and she panicked. She quickly tried to draw another flash orb from her belt, but fumbled it out of fright. She scooped up the orb and began to tried to light the fuse as he approached her.

“No, Don’t!” Kenji shouted. Kreedy did as she was told and paused, but mostly out of fear.

“Why not? You got a better idea?”

“This may sound crazy, but that’s still Adam!”

“Yeah, obviously!”

“Just listen to me! This isn’t the boy we met, but he's still in there! He isn’t in control of his actions! I think… someone else is.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to pretend I understand what’s happening either, but for god’s sake, stay out of his way!”

“Says you! He’s trying to do something to Hugo! I can’t just let Adam desecrate his body!”

“Let him by you or you’ll die too! Please, just trust me!”

Kreedy clenched her jaw in a grimace, but reluctantly moved out of Adam’s way. Once she had moved, Adam suddenly knelt next to Hugo and placed his right hand on the badger’s chest.

“The required ??? energy to activate Greed has been acquired from the individual known as Geruda. Greed will now activate.” What the hell was that voice? To Kenji, the voice was so lacking in emotion or personality it almost sounded like it couldn’t have come from a living person.

The energy that enveloped Adam seemed to flow out of his body through his hand on Hugo’s chest, turning from a burning red to a golden yellow as it moved from one person to the other. Kreedy, Jobe and Kenji watched on, completely unaware of what the boy was doing but also unwilling to try and stop him. The amount of energy was slowly reduced to a trickle before it stopped altogether. After he was finished, Adam seemed to freeze momentarily as the golden flames that surrounded him vanished. He stood still for a second, then dropped to the floor completely unconscious. As he hit the ground, Hugo suddenly sat up, utterly terrifying everyone still awake. “Huh? Where am I?” He muttered as he rubbed his head with his claw. Kreedy immediately burst into tears and tackled him, holding him tightly as she cried tears of joy. “Hey! What’s up with you lassie?”

“I’m just so happy!” Kreedy said in between sobs.

“Aye, and you’re also confusing the hell outta me. Can someone tell me what’s going on? You’re all acting like you’ve seen a ghost.” Well Hugo… I’d say that’s not too far off. Our little celebration would have to wait though.

“Due to the activation of Greed, the required ??? energy being used by Fury and Wrath has reached its initial threshold. Tantrum of the Tainted Mind has now been activated.”

Suddenly the flames around Adam grew out of control and changed color to a ominous black. His facial expression also changed, and Adam seemed to clutch his head as he fell to the ground in a heap. Seeing this, Gerrix slowly picked himself up and carefully made his way over to check on him.

“My king, are you alri-UGGGGH!” Adam suddenly lashed out and violently punched Gerrix, sending him flying through the canopy of trees behind him.

“What’s happening now?!” Hugo asked Kreedy

“I don’t know, it’s almost like he’s having a meltdown-”

“AgGgGgHhH!” Adam let out a horrible scream and began violently charging into the woods after Gerrix. The chimera ant had hit several trees and looked stunned. He barely had the time to pull himself together when Adam hit him again. Adam continued to hammer on Gerrix, unleashing a combo of hits on the poor unsuspecting warrior. The barrage ended with a merciless drop-kick that shattered his mandibles and broke most of the bones in the Chimera Ant’s face. Gerrix flew a good thirty feet, smashing into different branches and finally coming to a stop after colliding with a large oak tree. He violently coughed up a large puddle of blood as he tried to roll himself back over on to his side.

“Adam, what the fuck are you doing?!” Kreedy was horrified and could barely contain her shock.

“You’re going to kill Gerrix!” Hugo added as he tried to wrap Adam up in a hold to stop him, but Adam tossed him to the floor with one hand like the big badger man weighed almost nothing.

“My king! This isn’t you! Snap out of it!” Gerrix shouted but Adam didn’t respond at all. Kenji got a good look at him for a second and almost did a double take. His eyes look empty, it’s almost like their hollow! Is he in a trance or something?! Shit. We have to get out of here before he kills us, but Gerrix and Jobe are too injured for us to go anywhere. Should I leave them? No, I can’t leave Jobe after everything he’s done for me. The flames that surrounded Adam suddenly changed colour again, going from a glowing gold to a scarlet red in a heartbeat. As Kenji tried to gather himself, Adam slowly turned to look at Kenji. Or he would have, if his pupils weren’t gone. Fuck that, I’m getting out of here! I’ll just have to apologize to Jobe and Gerrix in the afterlife later. Please forgive me!

Just as Kenji was about to give up and run for the hills, a female chimera ant burst through the bushes and threw herself at Adam despite the obvious danger. The mystical fire that enveloped him slowly began to chip away at her flesh too, burning her rather badly but she refused to move. Seeing this, Gerrix became even more desperate than before. He painfully crawled as fast as he could as he tried to stop the fight from continuing.

“Princess no! He’s completely lost control! You have to get out of here! Gerrix desperately shouted but the female chimera ant refused to listen to him.

“ADAM! ENOUGH! The enemy is dead! Please…let’s go home.” The chimera ant whispered as she carefully embraced him. The flames slowly began to vanish, and a peaceful expression finally spread across the boy’s face. It can’t be…what in the world was that? The ominous light faded from around Adam, and he eventually fainted into the arms of the female chimera ant, who then slowly lowered his unconscious form to the ground as peacefully as possible.

“Finally. It’s over.” She whispered with a loving smile as she brushed his hair off of his face.

¤  ¤  ¤