CHAPTER 3: 01:57

As employees and security rushed into the now virtually empty Club S parking lot, Theo walked calmly towards the cab. He was walking through an empty alleyway, and popped out fortuitously right behind the cab. He quickly got in, but just sat for a while in silence as he leaned against the seat back, hands on the wheel, and just took a series of deep breaths. He had ‘sheathed’ the pets; however the Fallen’s vessel was still present, as usual. It looked down at Theo and after a moment or two of continued silence, it spoke.

“What is the matter, Othello?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I thought I had left this life behind.” Theo said as he opened his eyes and looked straight ahead.

“Which life is that?”

“The life of death…” Theo then laughed bitterly as a forced smile adorned his lips. “It took death to force me back into it.”

Theo suddenly felt the urge to cry. His face started twitching as he sniffed and forced the tears away. He shook his head violently, turned the key which was in the ignition, starting the car and quickly drove off down the road. He then started punching something into the in-dash navigation, prompting the Fallen to speak once more.

“Who is our next target, Othello?”

“That silent weirdo – Mike D. His real name is not known by any of those whose brains were… consumed, but I’d put good money on it having something to do with Michael.”

“Where is he?”

“According to Chelsea’s memories, he’s holed up in an abandoned and dilapidated high school in the outskirts on the other side of the city.”

“Understood.” The Fallen said as it continued to look down at Theo. “Tell me something, Othello.”

“What is it?” Theo responded as he looked up at the Fallen momentarily.

“Why have you begun referring to that woman by the name Chelsea?”

Theo looked at the road as the voice from the navigation prompted him to slow down, and then turn left. Once all that had been done, Theo turned his attention to contemplating how to answer the Fallen’s question.

“It’s her given, human name, Fallen. It just felt as though calling her by it was the appropriate thing after she decided to stop viewing me as a slave… or something. I can’t explain it.” Theo sat quietly for just a few moments before speaking again. “Perhaps it’s because even though she transformed into a demonic spider abomination, she spent her final waking moments as a human.”

Theo shrugged as his attempt at an explanation seemed to fall flat. The Fallen accepted it all the same however, and nodded.

“I suppose that makes sense.”

There was another period of protracted silence, and just like during the trip to the club, Theo’s face slowly morphed into an extremely pained expression, prompting him to start talking again.

“You know, my wife used to say that there was untold power in a name. That knowing a person’s name could make all the difference, which was why she refused to ever meet somebody, and part ways with them without having gotten their name. To her, names were damn near sacred. It’s kind of sad how she heard my real name for the first time tonight.”

“What do you mean, Othello?” The Fallen enquired.

“Over here, I go by the name Theo Burrows. I had been down here on a… job that didn’t quite go according to plan. I was severely beaten, shot, stabbed, and then tossed out of a moving car. Thought I died, but I found myself coming to in a park that was at the bottom of the hill I was thrown onto, and rolled down. Jessica was crouching in front of me, with a look of concern on her face. There I was, dressed in the remnants of combat attire, riddled with knife wounds and bullet holes, eyes virtually swollen shut, face all puffy and beaten to a pulp, and the first thing she says is ‘You okay, Handsome?’. I ignored her, and just wanted her to leave me alone to die in peace.”

Theo smiled and shook his head slowly as he stopped at an intersection, the red light almost unnaturally bright.

“Instead, she kept talking my ear off, all the while doing her best to treat my wounds. The first thing I said to her was ‘Fuck off!’, but as usual, she completely ignored me and kept treating me. Anyway, after a back and forth debate over her calling an ambulance, she respected my wish of not going to hospital and dragged me to the small hole she was living in at the time to treat me there. I recall I was losing consciousness when she asked me my name, and I answered her honestly, much to my own surprise. When I came to once more, she said ‘Welcome back to the land of the living, Mister Theo Burrows.’ I have no idea if she heard that because of how muffled my swollen lips made my speech, but… I just rolled with it. Seven years I lived as Theo Burrows, a regular civilian who ended up working in a bank. Seven years of pure bliss. I should have known happiness isn’t something somebody who lived their life as I did previously is allowed to obtain.”

Theo’s grip on the steering wheel tightened immensely as he put his foot down, causing the cab to wheel spin on launch, the pained and then happy expressions having completely disappeared from his face, only to be replaced with pure wrath.

“Those who took that happiness away still live, Othello. We will destroy them together.” The Fallen said as it lowered itself down onto his shoulder; wings brushing against Theo’s ear.

Theo just nodded and cracked his neck from side to side.

“For the coming hours, Theo Burrows takes a backseat, and for the first time in nearly a decade, Othello Barausse takes centre stage. These fuckers made a mistake in doing that to the people I loved most.”

The Fallen looked at Theo and grinned, baring all of its teeth once more. Due to the lateness of the hour, the roads were relatively empty, which meant that the trip to the school was not as long as it could have been. Luckily for Theo, the school in question was a boarding school, so it was in a somewhat secluded area. As they got closer to the school, the surrounding areas suddenly started changing, looking as though they themselves hadn’t been lived in for a long time. Theo looked up to his right and saw the school building at the top of a cliff, overlooking the area below which they were about to drive into.

“Well, that’s fucking ominous, isn’t it?” Theo said to himself.

“It is as though you are approaching a castle, is it not?”

“Yeah, it is. That said, the sooner we get there and take this Mike D out, the sooner we find out if he knows where Phantom is.”

Theo’s blood visibly boiled at the mere mention of Phantom’s name, and as he turned into the winding road that led to the school, the look on his face slowly changed. During the drive, he had been thinking and talking about his wife quite a bit, so his face was far more emotional than it had been when he was in the club. Now that he was approaching the next target, his game face was slowly coming back, and his eyes began to glow instinctively as he prepared himself mentally for whatever it was that was lying in wait for him. The speed with which Theo was blasting up the road was increasing, and after around fifteen minutes, the school gate was visible.

“The second target is within reach. Are you ready, Othello?”

“Hmph, of course I am. The sooner we take care of him, the better. The dawn is only a matter of hours away.”

Theo parked the cab just short of the gate and stepped out, preparing himself to make the remainder of the journey on foot. He walked to the tall, padlocked gate, and looked to the right, seeing the name of the school; the letters of which he was barely able to make out.

“R..Rosew… W-Wal…” The Fallen mumbled as it tried to read it.

“Forget about it, Fallen.” Theo said as he reached for the padlock and chain. “These are relatively new in comparison to the gate.” Theo pointed out as he held the padlock within his clenched fist.

He then simply pulled on it as if he was ripping toilet paper, and the links on the chain simply shattered, leaving the gate completely unlocked. Theo tossed the padlock onto the floor and walked right in, making his way up the meandering school drive way as he neatened his suit up once more, shoving his hands into his pockets once he was done. It was an eerily silent walk, the only audible noise being the one made by Theo himself as his footsteps echoed slightly. He approached what looked like a reception area, which had a large tower next to it.

“Hmm… let’s see if this works.” Theo mumbled to himself as he approached the building.

He suddenly dashed forward and with a single leap, jumped up towards the roof. His back glowed a bit through his suit, and immediately afterwards, a large pair of white feathered wings materialised on his back. They flapped once, and Theo suddenly received a major boost in terms of elevation.

“Whoa!” He exclaimed as he tried adjusting his position in midair.

He landed pretty heavily on the roof of the reception building, cracking a few roof tiles in the process. After steadying himself, Theo quickly changed direction and dashed towards the tower, before leaping up in its direction. He landed on a wall, but instead of falling, the wings appeared and flapped once more, with Theo having timed the flap with his jump. He zipped through the air, the wings flat against his back as he tucked his arms against his sides while his feet were together. When he reached the small, pointed roof, he flew past it, and once again had to clumsily adjust his body in as he dropped towards the roof. One rough and roof tile damaging landing later, Theo was crouched down on the roof, breathing in deeply as he slowly stood up. He stood atop the tower, which gave him enough of a vantage point that he was able to look over the entire school.

“Impressive, Othello. Considering that was your first time using the wings to increase your jumping capabilities.”

“Yeah… I used to have a grappling hook to help me do shit like this back in the day. The boost imparted by the Bond and these wings render my old equipment completely useless. That and they also pick up the slack brought on by my rustiness.”

There was a brief period of silence as Theo looked the school buildings over, his head slowly turning as his eyes scanned as much of the area below as they could. There were a bunch of dimly lit lights all around the exterior of the school’s buildings that were somehow still working.

“Have you seen anything particularly useful, Othello?” The Fallen asked after a while.

“Well, a large number of these buildings are wrecked, and a whole host of them are roofless. I don’t know if anybody lives in them, but there appear to be a fair number of buildings that still have roofs, including what looked to be a chapel, which had an even taller tower than the one he was standing on. In fact, if you look over in the direction of the boarding house, it is not only roofed, but the windows are intact, and it actually looks somewhat… hospitable. I’d say that if Mike D is anywhere, it would be in there.”

“Whatever you are, you aren’t going to escape!” Theo shouted as his vision was locked on it.

“Watch where you’re going, Othello!” The Fallen boomed.

“Huh?! What are you talking about?!” Theo boomed right back as he turned more to the left.

Before the fallen could respond though, Theo suddenly noticed the partially destroyed roof of a building directly below. Both Theo and the Fallen cringed somewhat as they braced for impact, and moments later, Theo crashed right through one of sections of the roof that didn’t have a hole in it, producing a loud crash, along with a dust cloud that blew out from the multiple holes – including the freshly made one. Theo found himself lying atop a bunch of old pots and pans of various makes and cultures. He somewhat fortuitously landed with a Tajine between his legs. He looked down at it and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank fuck for that…” He remarked as he sat up gingerly. “That… wasn’t fun.”

“You almost killed us, Othello! What kind of gliding technique was that?!” The Fallen barked.

“What do you mean us?” Theo asked. “Besides, that wasn’t gliding, it was falling… with style.” Theo said dryly as he stood up.

“Falling with what?” The Fallen snapped.

“Ugh, nevermind. Let’s go.” Theo said as he dusted himself off and quickly shot out of the door, his head darting back and forth. “That person went this way.”

Theo darted off in the direction they were headed before the crash landing. What he quickly discovered however was that the pathways between the school buildings were almost maze-like, and that made it extremely difficult to track or find somebody. The search continued for longer than Theo even tried to figure out, as he would randomly turn and dart down a certain path. Every now and then, the Fallen would randomly bark out a direction for Theo to turn in, or boom the word ‘NOW!!!’ and Theo would turn or dart in a particular direction. After a while, the both of them felt incredibly foolish, and Theo even stopped to rest and catch his breath with his hands on his knees.

“This is fucking hopeless!” Theo remarked.

The Fallen was about to say something, when the both of them suddenly perked up.

“Can you hear that?” Theo asked. “It sounds like… like…”

“Laughter!” The Fallen replied.

As The Fallen said this, both it and Theo suddenly scowled, baring their teeth as their eyes glowed simultaneously. Theo suddenly dashed off towards the direction of the laughter, moving much quicker than he had been before. That person who was laughing suddenly squealed in panic and ran, realising that making Theo angry was a grave mistake. The chase didn’t even last that long, as Theo quickly hounded the fleeing culprit down, reaching out and grabbing the back of his robe, and holding him up in the air as he slid to a halt. Once again, his and the Fallen’s eyes started glowing bright with rage.

“Who the fuck did you think you were laughing at earlier, huh?” Theo said through gritted teeth.

He suddenly felt as though something or someone was about to attack, and it prompted him to drop the person and evade. He did just that, but the attack wasn’t forth coming. Instead, the figure scurried backwards, and moments later, a group of similarly dressed people suddenly dropped down from above, and surrounded them protectively. Theo, who had calmed down somewhat, just looked at everybody standing in front of him. They were all dressed in brown robes and what looked like combat boots. Their hoods were up, and what struck Theo was that they were all dressed exactly like Mike D was in his house. He clenched his fist, and his knuckles automatically cracked, rage filled expression adorning his features.

“Where is Mike D? Tell me where he is!” Theo demanded. “If you don’t, you will die; simple as that.”

The group of hooded folk did say a thing, or make a sound. Instead, they slowly reached up and flipped their hoods down, revealing their faces and drawing out cringe from Theo. These ‘people’ were absolutely hideous, with all of them having pale, splotchy skin, riddled with scars, acne, and parts of skin that appeared to be festering; some of which was actually hanging off their faces. Their hair was a patchy mess that looked like a serious case of alopecia gone wrong. They were also missing bits and pieces of their faces, with some missing an eye, a nostril, or even an entire nose. They also produced an absolutely rancid smell, which caused Theo to recoil the moment he smelled it, as if he had been smacked across the face with a rotting foot or something. The Fallen’s vessel was also suffering as a result of the smell, with its face dripping with disgust.

“Whoaaaa, fuuuuck!” Theo said as he squinted, the smell screwing his face up. “It’s like I’m looking at Jason Bright’s followers.”

“Who?”

“You know, the Bright Brotherhood? Ugh, not again…” Theo said as his reference fell flat.

The conversation was interrupted as the group all suddenly started smiling; revealing a mouth full of sharp, black teeth. Theo and the Fallen’s brows rose in surprise, but that was far from the end. The smiling ‘people’ suddenly opened their mouth as their smiles grew even bigger. Their mouths didn’t seem to stop growing in size, and soon, large black pincer type growths sprouted out from the sides of their mouths as they all made a strange hissing sound. A thick, foul smelling gelatinous substance poured out from their mouths as the pincers and teeth grew in size and number. Their mouths started splitting at the edges and continued growing, more pincers popping out from what used to be cheeks. Bug like feelers sprouted from their foreheads and began moving about, and the entire group let out a shrill hiss that was as revolting as it was ear piercing. Theo and the Fallen continued to look progressively more disgusted, and it was compounded when the group leaned forward made a hiss/roar type sound, and copious amounts of the thick saliva stuff spewed from their mouths in Theo’s direction.

“Why?! Why Fallen, tell me why!!!” Theo boomed as he looked up at the winged vessel.

Immediately after he asked the question, the creatures all reached within their robes and pulled out all manner of firearm. Some were holding assault rifles, others shotguns, while others were holding hand guns. Where the magazine or shells were supposed to be inserted, were large, round fleshy growths that pulsed and throbbed. Before that could gross Theo out any further, the guns were all pointed at him, and he found himself turning around and dashing as fast as he could in a zigzag pattern as gunfire erupted in his direction. Bullets zoomed and zipped past Theo and much to his surprise, these beings were immaculate shots. If it wasn’t for Theo’s speed and evasive maneuvers, he probably would have been turned into Swiss cheese. Luckily for him, there were so many derelict school buildings and remnants of buildings that Theo was able to find cover relatively quickly and duck behind it.

“Holy fuck! Those… those… things have such powerful weaponry! Where the fuck did they get it?! This is a school!”

“That is not the biggest issue here, Othello.”

“Oh yeah? What is the biggest issue, then?” Theo retorted as he quickly looked up over his cover, before quickly ducking as the section of wall he popped his head over was blown to smithereens. “Fuuck!!”

“Precisely.” The Fallen said as Theo sprang from his cover, running to a different spot, vaulting over the wall, and quickly pressing his back to it.

“Precisely? That doesn’t explain a thing!” Theo barked.

“I was still explaining when you suddenly ran, Othello! Now, listen. These creatures are using weapons that have been enhanced, and their ammunition is made of refined Life Essence.”

“Really? That’s not good. Life Essence bullets can be a real pain, and have any number of effects.”

“Exactly. Have you come across them before, Othello?”

“Yeah, once or twice. I’ve used them once or twice as well, so I know what happens when somebody is shot by one of those things.

The Fallen listened to Theo speak, and was constantly impressed with his knowledge.

“Your life prior to your marriage must have been quite the life, Othello.”

“Not as much as you would think, Fallen.” Theo said as he looked down at the ground with something of a bitter smile. “Anyway, what next?”

“Well, things are about to become rather difficult, Othello. This Mike D is likely Contracted to Skelem’Dor, the Decayed.”

“Who? What? How can you tell?”

“I know what happens to those who are the recipients of her tainted Life Essence. We do not have the time to discuss it, however trust me when I say, this is the work of Skelem’Dor.”

“…understood. What is the best way to fight these creatures?”

“You have a weapon of your own that uses Life Essence ammunition.”

“That’s right! D… Daemon’s Bane.” Theo said, suddenly becoming deflated.

He held his left hand out, and with a completely disinterested look on his face, he called out to it, much like he did with Ygg’Rael.

“C… come forth, Daemon’ Bane.”

The cross on his left wrist glowed brightly and with a slight flare, the unnecessarily large hand gun appeared in his left hand. He quickly had to hold it with both hands, and he just stared at the five barrel, white and gold gun.

“What is it, Othello? Why such an unenthusiastic attitude towards Daemon’s Bane?”

“Every time I hear that name… ugh, could you not have chosen such a clichéd name for a weapon used for hunting demons, Fallen?”

“…… silence, Othello. Daemon’s Bane is one of the most powerful of all the Hunter’s weapons! Your attitude towards it is incredibly insolent!”

Theo continued to eye the gun, looking thoroughly unconvinced. It was as if the urgency and seriousness of the situation had become totally lost on Theo, and he just stared at the gun, when all of a sudden, the sound of a loud, raspy hiss snapped Theo out of it.

“To your left, Othello!” The Fallen shouted.

Theo quickly raised the gun, holding it like a master marksmen who had held and pointed a gun countless times in his life, got on one knee, and pulled the trigger, firing bullets at the chest and head in such rapid succession, the creature was airborne and then flew into the wall behind it before it even knew what happened. For his part, Theo held the pose as if there was a photographer around waiting to take a picture, before slowly standing up and looking at the gun with a rather impressed look on his face.

“Not ba—”

The creature suddenly hissed as it fired off a few shots at Theo, who just barely managed to avoid the first before ducking behind cover again.

“What the fuck?! Those were clean shots!”

He stood up once again, firing shots at the chest and head again, which resulted in the spray of a green substance that Theo assumed was blood, but once again, the creature stood up. Theo let out a roar of annoyance, and hopped out from behind cover and held the gun up, shooting vitals repeatedly, walking the creature down as if it was a mannequin. As it slumped against the wall, he kept shooting, until its chest was a mass of rancid, pulpy flesh. Theo stood with the gun pointed at the slumped figure, before slowly lowering his gun.

“You’ve got to be kidding me—” There was another hiss, and Theo let out a roar as he fired a whole host of bullets into the thing’s head, shooting until it exploded. “Fucking DIE already!!!” He boomed.

This time, as smoke wafted up from the now headless neck, Theo was absolutely certain that whatever this thing was, it was now dead. After a few moments of silence, the Fallen’s vessel lowered itself to Theo’s shoulder.

“Well done, Othello. You really are— WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

The Fallen screamed this as Theo had stood up, and then thrown Daemon’s Bane onto the floor with such disdain and force; it actually created a hole in the pavement below.

“Most powerful demon hunting weapon my ass! Did you see how many times I had to shoot this thing for it to die?! Daemon’s Bane is a piece of shit!”

“How dare you?! Daemon’s Bane wasn’t the problem! These creatures have all been injected directly with Skelem’Dor’s Life Essence! They essentially have Contracted Items inside their bodies! Of course they are harder to kill!”

“Bullshit! This is just some ornamental weapon that’s unnecessarily bulky, and heavy as shit!”

Hissing and screeching interrupted the argument, as Theo was forced to pick up the gun and start running for cover once more. The sound of gun shots behind him made Theo fall to his ass and slide along the cobbled paving until he reached a ruined building which was little more than a wall. He then placed Daemon’s Bane in his lap and quickly hit the ground with his open palms, which launched Theo off the ground, with him tucking his legs in as he somersaulted over the wall, grabbing his gun as he completed it. The moment Theo completed the somersault and landed on his feet, he stood up, pointed Daemon’s Bane and started firing. The recoil was insane, however thanks to his boosted strength, he was able to shrug it off relatively harm free. The problem was that these robed creatures were virtually shrugging off Daemon’s Bane’s bullets, with the larger ones able to keep running even when shot in the shoulders.

“They’re like zombies!” Theo remarked as he quickly lowered his aim.

He fired off a few shots at the creatures’ knees, and after having their knees blown away, more of their luminescent, bright green blood sprayed everywhere, smoked and starting to melt into the paving. Theo then quickly readjusted his aim, and fired off a series of bullets into the heads of those who had been felled like some sort of alien tree, blowing their heads to bits. All in all, it took far too many bullets to kill these beings, but as things stood, Theo had no choice but to go with this course of action. The remaining few from the initial group stood at a distance, looking at Theo, before one of them suddenly threw its head back and started hissing and screeching. Theo watched from behind his gun, before lowering it slowly.

“What the fuck is going on?” He asked himself.

His question was answered sooner than he thought, as all of a sudden, the sound of an untold number of hisses and such could be heard. Theo’s eyes grew to near golf ball size, as he watched hordes of robed denizens literally crawling out of absolutely everywhere. Some were crawling along walls, out of roofs, holes in the wall and ground, and Theo and the Fallen both shuddered somewhat.

“Ugh, forsaken demons! This is what I hate about them!” The Fallen said as its vessel spread its wings as it shook about in discomfort.

“Them? Hate about them? You speak as though you aren’t one of them!” Theo said; the expression that was on his face a carbon copy of that of the Fallen’s.

Before the conversation could continue, Theo suddenly heard a hissing sound coming from behind him, coupled with the smell. He turned around to see one of the Mike D’s fellows with its giant mouth open, as if it was about to bite him. Daemon’s Bane became a white blur as Theo raised it with the intention to aim. The creature slapped the gun away with its forehead feelers and launched itself towards Theo, who raised his right foot in an arc, the toe of his shoe catching the creature from below on the chin. As it started spinning backwards he blasted it in the chest, sending it crashing into the wall behind it, before firing off a few more shots, all aimed at the head until it exploded. Theo then felt a pair of arms hook him beneath both armpits and hold him in place while a hiss came from behind. The glint of a shotgun caught Theo’s eye, and just as the trigger was pulled, he turned his back to face the line of fire. The shells all hit the back of the creature, and immediately afterwards, Theo forced his arms out of the grip, and quickly pointed his weapon in the direction of the one with the shotgun, blasting at it without even aiming for a vital area. Shots then came in from behind him, prompting Theo to slide on his butt once more in the direction of the creature he had just shot, springing up and forcing Daemon’s Bane into its face and unleashing a series of shots that made its head explode. Theo used the creature’s shoulders to vault over it, landing on his feet before turning around and kicking its back, launching it towards the one that was shooting at him. He then quickly dashed away from where he was standing, only to be confronted by another two. He closed the distance almost instantly, and as one pointed its gun with the intention of shooting, Theo ducked beneath the gun, before rising up, and driving his knee into its midriff. As it keeled over, it felt all five of Daemon’s Dane’s barrels on the back of its patchy head. Consecutive shots burst its head, and just as the other one was about to shoot, Theo reached over with his left hand and forced the gun up which resulted in it being pointed directly at its own face with little time to evade. Green sludge sprayed all over the wall as the head exploded.

“These things are endless!” Theo shouted.

“That is true, Othello. And judging by the number of buildings, and the size of the dormitory, there is plenty more where these creatures come from.”

“Wait, do you mean to say—“

“Above!”

Theo didn’t even hesitate as he aimed above, and saw two of the… things attempting to ambush him from above. He crouched down, and in an instant, the wings appeared. Theo jumped up in tandem with the wings flapping to give him a boost, and he zipped up between them both, aimed his gun down, and blasted at both heads as he flew up. Both heads exploded after a few seconds, and after Theo turned around in midair, he landed on the roof with a bit more grace than in his previous attempts.

“You certainly are more skilled at using a gun than you are a sword, Othello.”

“You aren’t lying, Fallen. I was always average when it came to melee weapons. Fists and guns were always my specialty.” Theo said as he watched the robed creatures all moving in his direction. “They’re like fucking roaches!”

“That is precisely what they are, Othello. Skelem’Dor is a massive, foul smelling cockroach.”

“Now there is a fitting demonic creature, if there ever was one.” Theo said with a shake of the head. “They eat glue, Fallen. GLUE!”

“They are absolutely revolting, Othello. That said, why are not using the weapon you are most skilled with to its full potential?”

“What do you mean, Fallen?” Theo enquired as he looked at the gun in his hands.

“Daemon’s Bane has five barrels, Othello. You are currently using one.”

Theo continued to look at the gun, before closing his eyes. He held the gun as if he was preparing to shoot, and took a deep breath.

‘Well, Daemon’s Bane… show me what you can do. Hopefully you’re more than just a shitty name.’ Theo said internally, speaking to the weapon.

Theo continued to stand with his eyes closed, yet unlike with Ygg’Rael when he could instinctively feel something, with Daemon’s Bane, he felt absolutely nothing. Theo’s eyes shot open as he scowled in disdain.

“This useless fucking – wait!”

Theo’s vision was suddenly filled with what looked like four screens, or boxes with live images. As if his eyes had picture in picture… times two! Two of these screens were in his left eye, the other two in his right, providing live imagery over and above that which his eyes naturally produced.

“Whoa…”

Theo moved the gun about, and the imagery changed. It was if there were four cameras attached to the gun, relaying images directly into Theo’s eyes.

“What the fuck…? I can see… four different images, Fallen.”

“Yes, that is right. Daemon’s Bane allows you to control – wait, did you just say four?”

“Yeah, four. It’s really weird. I’m looking at two Roaches climbing directly up the wall of the building we’re on right now.”

“You can use all four barrels already? The gun acknowledges you, it seems. You are able to decide on how the barrels are used, Othello – whether to use them all on one target, or to split them up and shoot four separate targets. The choice is yours.”

“You said all four, Fallen; what about the fifth?”

“You will not be able to use it in tandem with the other ones just yet. That would require a lot more time to practice as well as Life Essence, both of which are in short supply to us.”

Theo suddenly pointed the gun, and after a few moments, he pulled the trigger, resulting in four bright bullets shooting out from the gun, each bullet having a glowing tail of sorts, as if it was a firefly. They actually bent over the roof and changed direction as two of the bullets hit the hands of one of the ‘Roaches’, blowing its hands clean off. As it fell back off the wall, the other two bullets hit its forehead, resulting in a loud, squishy sounding explosion. The other one that was crawling up the wall looked down at its fallen comrade, but that was all it had time for, and it suffered the exact same fate as its fellow. Theo looked at Daemon’s Bane, barrels smoking slightly, and then smirked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“…not bad.”

“I agree... however, be careful, Othello. Those controlled bullets require a much higher amount of Life Essence to not only be made, but to also be fired. You can get away with recklessly firing the regular bullets, but these ones will leave you drained before you even reach Mike D.”

“Can I not just find a way of absorbing the bullets these things shoot at me? I mean, they’re made from pure Life Essence, are they not?”

“Yes, they are. However they are made from the very same Life Essence that has transformed them into these monsters. If you were to ingest it, you would end up like them… if you did not die from the poison inherently in Skelem’Dor’s blood and Life Essence.”

“Understood.” Theo said as he summoned the wings once more. “From now on, we move in the direction of that boarding house. Mike D had better be there.”

Theo then jumped right off the roof and spread his wings, gliding quite a bit slower than before, and with more grace and control. He started raining bullets down from above, mowing down a few Roaches as he had taken to calling them, but when he was low enough, he withdrew the wings and fell down to the ground. He did this as the others began to shoot at him, causing him to charge directly towards them in a zigzag pattern, bullet holes trailing him like a tail. As he ran, Theo would also occasionally shoot at those who were shooting at him, if only to put them off for a few moments as he increased the distance. Theo decided to stick with the pattern he had decided upon earlier, of shooting the knees of the Roaches before blowing their heads off whilst at distance. When he was up close, whatever was required to take them out would be done. He raised Daemon’s Bane, and the two lower barrels suddenly fired two guided bullets that hit two Roaches holding larger guns clean in the chest and sent them flying back as their chests and heads all exploded. Theo then suddenly increased his speed, zipping right up to a Roach, taking a knee and pressing the barrels of his weapon against its chin. Three pulls of the trigger later, and its headless corpse was falling back; its blood spraying everywhere like a fountain. A few shots went off as those who were still standing all aimed their weapons at Theo and fired, however he had rolled out of the way, stopping in front of another Roach, shooting it in the stomach. As it doubled over, Theo did a somersault from his crouched position, shooting the Roach in the back of the head as he flipped over it, blowing its head up, and as he completed the flip, he extended both of his legs and kicked two Roaches in the face, and launching them backwards. Instead of landing on his feet, Theo landed on his knees and used his momentum to slide along the ground, holding Daemon’s Bane up and after a few moments, fired four more guided bullets that all ended up as headshots – blowing them up and sending head residue flying like it was watermelon lumps after being smashed to bits with a pole. He then stood up and started running in the direction of the boarding house, leaving a litany of headless corpses in his wake.

“Magnificently done, Othello.” The Fallen crooned as Theo ran.

“Thanks, but I think I used a few too many of those special rounds.”

Theo then noticed some Roaches crawling on the walls of a number of two and three story buildings that he assumed were formerly classrooms. Daemon’s Bane was aimed, its trigger pulled, and much like swatting cockroaches off the wall and then quickly squishing it with a newspaper, Theo shot the Roaches that were falling off the wall until their heads blew up.

“What the fuck kind of school is this?” Theo asked as he continued to make his way towards the dorms, no longer getting lost as he was before.

“Skelem’Dor has a previous history. She often goes for isolated areas that have a high concentration of people she can corrupt.”

“Such as boarding schools?”

“I would not put it past her, Othello.”

“So are you telling me that these are… these are school children that I’m gunning down?”

“I will not commit to any one theory without the proper evidence to support it, Othello. But there could be a chance that these are school children. Does that bother you?”

Theo did not respond, as he turned down a dead end. He just summoned the wings on his back, and with an almighty flap, jumped over the broken down walls and rubble that formed the barrier. As he flew over it, he was suddenly tackled in midair, and sent crashing through a wall into a building. Theo and his attacker both wrestled on the floor for a bit, both of them trying to get in a position to shoot their respective weapons. A few moments later, the sound of a gunfire echoed throughout the building, and Theo quickly rolled out of the way so as not to get any of the toxic blood on his clothes.

“Man, these fuckers stink.” Theo remarked as he stood up. “What is this building?”

He started walking down the hall with Daemon’s Bane in his hands at the ready. He wasn’t expecting to simply walk through the halls unchallenged, and he was right, as one of the doors burst open and a hissing Roach grabbed Theo’s neck with both hands, pushing him back against the opposite wall. The moment his back made contact with the wall, Theo shot the Roach in the stomach a few times, causing it to stumble back just a bit. Theo used the space created to drive his foot into the recently shot stomach, causing the Roach to scream and move back even further. He then raised Daemon’s Bane and pulled the trigger until the face before him exploded. Another Roach burst out from the door next to him, and Theo was quick with it, aiming and shooting at the hissing face until it too exploded, the body flying down the hall and sliding even further after landing. Theo quickly dashed through the door the first Roach burst out from, and the sight that greeted him made Theo’s eyes open extra wide. He was in what was supposed to be a class room, but what he found instead, was a room full of Roaches, all seated and bound in chairs. They had the same brown robes on, but they also had a large number of pipes leading into and beneath their robes, pumping a green fluid that looked suspiciously like the ‘blood’ that squirted out of them when shot. The pipes all led to larger, main lines which led to holes that were on either end of the room, The Roaches were all alive, and they were blindfolded. On the desks before them, there were all manner of torture devices which appeared to be made and used specifically on the Roach seated at the desk. The Roaches that had burst out from the rooms to attack Theo seemed to be guards of some sort, as there wasn’t an empty desk.

“Well, I guess this confirms my question from before, Fallen. These all appear to be school children.”

“I agree, Othello. I do not know how long these children have been sitting in this bondage, however one thing is for certain; Skelem’Dor has been torturing children and turning them into a demonic army. The filthy demon, we must put a stop to this, Othello.” The Fallen virtually demanded.

“What? What do you mean put a stop to it? Put a stop to what exactly?” Theo enquired in slight confusion.

“Look at these children, Othello. Trapped in torturous bondage, subjected to physical and spiritual torment… can you not hear their souls crying in anguish? Have you not been hearing their cries the entire time? The demonic activities that occur in this place must come to an end, Othello!”

The Fallen’s eyes glowed with wrath, and its vessel even started glowing as it gave the impassioned call-to-arms of sorts. Theo on the other hand looked completely disinterested.

“Be that as it may, this all has absolutely nothing to do with me, Fallen. I’m not here to liberate the anguished souls of these possibly middle aged children. I’m here to carry out my act of vengeance on one of the people who destroyed my family. Let the families of these Roaches exact revenge for them; these… things are not my problem.”

Theo’s face had cold, heartless expression on it as he looked up at the Fallen with something of a sneer, before turning around and walking out of the former classroom.

“So I guess to answer your question Fallen, no – it doesn’t bother me.”

Theo started moving quickly down the hallway towards the stairs on the other end, seemingly having forgotten about the hole he was brought through so violently moments earlier.

‘Just who or what the fuck is this Fallen? It claims not to be a demon, and appears to despise them, yet continuously pushes me to kill and consume…’

Theo was caught up in his thoughts and as he reached the stairs, his peripheral vision caught the presence of something, but it was too late even for his razor sharp reflexes as before he could react, Theo felt pain like no other and in the blink of an eye, he went from being in the buildings, to smashing through a wall and careening towards a surprisingly maintained sports pitch, which became unsurprisingly heavily damaged as Theo absolutely thundered into the turf. The force of his latest crash landing resulted in dust and sand flying everywhere – completely encapsulating Theo in a cloud of dust and darkness. He found himself lying in the centre of a moderately sized crater, completely winded. There was a ringing in his left ear, and he couldn’t tell if his woozy vision was due to the dust, or double vision.

“Holy shit… what was that? A wrecking ball?” Theo asked as he shook his head a few times to try and regain his senses.

All of a sudden, Theo could smell something that was far more pungent than any odor he had encountered since arriving at the school. He wasn’t able to even react to it however, as before he could even try to figure out what it was, he felt his head being held and squished inside of a massive, and worryingly moist hand. He was suddenly lifted out from the crater, before the ‘wrecking ball’ hit him in the gut, sending him flying across the field, and after bouncing off the turf a few times, Theo recovered in midair, adjusting his body and landing on his feet; sliding backwards until he came to a halt. He stood up to his full height slowly as he spat out quite a bit of blood, wiping it off with the back of his hand. He looked in the direction whatever it was that hit him, and when he saw what it was, he had to take a second to process it. At the very least, the creature in question stood at eight feet. It was absolutely massive, not only with regards to height, but in terms of mass as well. It was an odd combination of muscular and fat, as it had massive, heavily muscled arms and shoulders, along with large, prominent trapezius muscles. It had a ripped chest as well, but then a massive, perfectly round pot belly, as well as a double chin. Thick, tree trunk like quads and massive calves made up its legs. In terms of clothing, it was dressed in trousers with suspenders and heavy duty boots. It was topless, and the suspenders were actually hooked up. It wore fingerless gloves, and a large, brass mask covered its entire head. There were two eye holes, and some around the nose and mouth to allow the massive Roach to breathe. Its skin was in identical shape to those of the other Roaches, except for the fact that its belly was actually glowing. It was a deep glow, which was the same colour as the green fluid being pumped into those Roaches Theo saw in the classroom, as well as what sprayed out in the place of blood when they were shot. The massive Roach let out a positively bone chilling roar which caused the few smaller Roaches which had gathered to hiss and cower in fear. Theo watched this happen as he tried to recover somewhat from the two blows.

“What is that thing? What is its role here?”

“Its role?” The Fallen asked.

“Yeah. I mean, Black Widow was the leader in that fucking club. Is this thing the leader here? If it is, then what the fuck is Mike D’s role here?”

“Does it really matter, Othello? At the end of it all, you are here to kill anybody and anything that stands between you and your revenge.”

“That’s true.” Theo said as he cracked his neck while breathing in deeply. “That said, fighting this thing is gonna be a real bitch.”

“Just shoot it until it falls, Othello.”

“I’d love to, Fallen… but I seem to have lost the gun.” Theo said with a shrug.

“You lost Daemon’s Bane?!”

“Not to worry, Fallen. I’ll just use the sword.” Theo held out his right hands, mentally calling on Ygg’Rael.

The giant Roach let out another roar as it began charging Theo, who stood there with utmost confidence. The ground shook with every step the Roach took, and it was also deceptively quick. As it gained on him, Theo would occasionally look up from his hand to look at the oncoming foe, and the closer it got, the more his gaze would alternate between his hand and the Roach, with a progressively more concerned expression his face. The Roach reached Theo, and unleashed a punch so surprisingly fast; it took everything Theo had to successfully evade it, leaping out of its path. The ground below was hit, and actually split due to the force of the blow. Theo was now running and looking at his hand.

“What the fuck?!” He boomed as he ran.

“I have told you before, Othello. You have such a paltry amount of Life Essence in store; it is amazing that you have made it this far by relying on skill and experience alone. I mentioned that you would have limited uses of the items, and you have exhausted all of Ygg’Rael’s.”

“Shit! I need to find the gun, then!” Theo said as he quickly changed direction to avoid another incoming blow. “How fucking fast is this thing?!”

Theo grimaced somewhat as he ran, clearly still feeling the effects of the previous attacks. His eyes and head darted around as he looked for Daemon’s Bane, however this in itself turned out to be something of a difficult task as Theo had to constantly dodge and evade the punches thrown by this giant Roach. It didn’t take long for Theo to become frustrated with this method of searching, and much to the Fallen’s surprise, he suddenly stopped and turned around. No sooner had he turned around, had Theo been forced to evade a punch from his left, ducking beneath the massive fist that threatened to actually take his head off. The force of the punch was such that it caused dust and sand to whizz past Theo’s face.

‘Fuck me! I’ll surely die if I take more of these!’ Theo thought to himself.

He was quickly on the defensive once more, dodging a punch coming from his left this time, ducking to his right. Upon evading the swing, Theo quickly dug the Roach to the body – throwing a series of uppercuts and hooks to its side and lower abdomen. The Roach let out a noise akin to a groan, and tried to backhand Theo, who once again evaded. He once again unleashed an assault on the exposed stomach of the beast, which responded by throwing a straight right. Theo managed to evade it by a hair’s breadth, before grabbing its wrist and holding its elbow, and with a slight groan of exertion, Theo ended up throwing the Roach over his shoulder and slamming it into the ground in front of him with a loud, earth shaking slam. Theo took a few moments to catch his breath as he breathed through his mouth, before turning around and continuing his search for Daemon’s Bane. The Fallen watched on in silence, before mumbling to itself.

“His natural talent is superb… however; even that has its limits.”

“What was that?” Theo said as he continued to frantically look for the gun.

“Hmm? Nothing, really.”

“Well if you have time to mumble, then you have time to help me look for the fucking gun!” Theo barked. “We don’t have much time before that fat bastard is up and on my ass again. I barely did any damage.”

Theo was speaking the truth, as within less than a minute, the Roach was up on its feet and let out another roar. It took absolutely no time at all for the Roach to start chasing after Theo, who seemed to be breathing out of his mouth quite a bit. He stopped once more, and turned to face the giant. He quickly dashed towards it, taking the offensive initiative. He felt as though he was fast enough to evade the Roach’s attacks and retaliate in order to buy himself time. He was correct in this regard, as the second exchange went more or less the same way as the first; however Theo found himself sucking in even more air after round two, standing slightly hunched over with his hands on his knees. He was sweating quite a bit, and by the time he had recovered enough to stand up straight, the noticed that not only had a large group of Roaches gathered and formed something of a crowd, but also that the giant Roach was also on its feet, and was standing with its hands by it side. The giant then Roach let out a series of grunts and roars, prompting a section of the gathered crowd to split, and a group of Roaches came running through the gap, pulling a wheeled wagon carrying what looked like a massive, rectangular concrete block with great difficulty. Another group emerged from a split within a different section of the crowd, pulling a wagon which was carrying a large, gnarled pole which was about the size of a telephone pole. When they both reached the giant Roach, it reached down for and grabbed the pole, before lifting it up and holding it with one hand. It then jabbed one end of the pole into a hole in the block, and both suddenly lit up with the same green glow emanating from the giant Roach’s belly. The fluid appeared to be flowing through the pole via multiple veins, before collecting in a ball in the middle of the block. It lifted the now newly formed weapon, which looked like a giant sledge hammer, and suddenly brought it down with surprising speed, completely squishing a large portion of the group that had brought it the head. It let out something of a grim laugh while the other Roaches ran away and rejoined the crowd.

“Well… this can’t be good.” Theo remarked as he wiped his brow with his rather dirty sleeve. “I really need to find that fucking gun.”

Theo was still trying to formulate a strategy on how to take on the Roach from a distance, when it suddenly pointed the weapon towards him and within a matter of moments, there was a flare of green as an energy beam made of a highly condensed amount of the fluid suddenly shot out from the hammer in Theo’s direction. He barely had time to react as he just managed to jump out of the way of the attack, with it flying passed him. The entire field was illuminated by the Roach’s blast, and the grass beneath was scorched away by the blast. The sound it made was loud and grating, and said blast hit the remains of a building, completely melting and obliterating it with ease. There was an uneasy silence as everybody was eyeing the damage caused by the attack to the grass and what used to be a building. Well, almost everybody was looking at the damage as Theo was already on the move, running towards the giant Roach.

“This is bad!” He said. “I can’t even take one of those, can I?”

“I would prefer you do not try and find out, Othello.”

“Agreed!”

Theo quickly closed the distance between himself and the Roach, which was standing in wait for Theo. The Roach then swung its weapon down at Theo, who managed to evade the swing, jumping just as the head made contact with the ground. As the ground shook, Theo extended both of his legs at the same time, driving them both deep into the glowing gut, twisting and spinning as he did before pulling his right foot out, and using his left foot as a pivot of sorts, swung his foot at the Roach’s face, making contact with the mask. Just as his foot completed its arc, Theo pulled his left foot out from the gut and did a sort of half somersault, his left foot extending as he did. His heel made contact with the Roach’s chin as he flipped over, and as he landed on the ground facing away from the Roach, Theo sprang off the grass, twisting his torso as he turned 180°, before thrusting his right fist, landing a ferocious straight right on the chin, once more. The punch actually threw the Roach’s head back, but it still wasn’t enough, as Theo suddenly felt every nerve in his body screaming at him to dodge. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to, and a boulder-like fist crashed into his body, slamming him side first into the ground with a brutal ‘wham’. He bounced off the ground, and immediately afterwards, that same fist caught him flush in the face, causing his head to snap to his right so quickly, his neck and then the rest of his body followed suit, resulting in Theo spinning in midair like a barber’s pole. A giant foot suddenly stomped down on Theo’s body, stomping him into the ground. The foot stomped down on him repeatedly, with each one driving him further into the ground. After close to ten stomps, the Roach stopped, and bent down, grabbed Theo by the wrist, raised him up and began to slam him repeatedly into ground – using his limp arm as some sort of handle. It came across like overkill, but the giant Roach didn’t seem to care as it chuckled in grim amusement all throughout the slamming. Once it had become bored with slamming Theo into the ground, the Roach held Theo up by his wrist, and just looked at him. His suit by now was red, white and brown – covered in so much sand that the white was barely coming through. Blood poured out from Theo’s mouth, nose and ears as if each orifice was a faucet or tap of some sort. The Roach laughed as it suddenly tossed Theo up into the air, and grabbed its weapon with the hand it had been attacking Theo with. As the he dropped, the Roach, which had been standing and waiting like some sort of foul smelling baseball batter, swung its weapon and smacked Theo like he was a baseball, the head of the hammer hitting him square in the torso, and sent Theo flying. He smashed into the dormitory, which was ironically his initial target, and crashed into a giant room, bouncing a few times before smacking into a wall. Theo was seated on the floor; his back partially leaned against the wall as he sat hunched over, his slightly heaving form the only hint of him still being alive. He remained in that position for a while, as if he was unconscious or unable to move. After close to a minute of silence and stillness, Theo’s body twitched, before he sat up, taking a deep and painful sounding breath. He opened his eyes and slowly looked around, his vision was hazy at first, but when it came into focus, he was able to see just what he had been smashed into. It was the size of an auditorium or basketball court, but it was lined with giant vats of the green liquid, and an untold number of pipes leading into the vats; transferring the liquid into all those Roaches Theo had come across in the classroom.

“Fuck… me.” Theo said with a grimace and a groan.

“I am surprised that you are still conscious, Othello.” The Fallen remarked.

Theo tried to force himself to stand, but the pain was such that he had to relax and remain in his current position for a bit longer, as his arms wrapped themselves around his abdomen.

“Any breaks?”

“Yeah… every-fucking-thing.” Theo said as he grimaced once more. His eyes looked around the room slowly. “So this… is where it all… happens, eh?”

“All of this is Skelem’Dor’s Life Essence, just in liquid form, Othello. That brute that just turned you into its plaything has been pumped full of it.”

“How did she produce so much of it?” Theo asked as he focused on his breathing.

“How do you think, Othello? From humans.”

Theo remained seated as he looked around at all of the vats once more, as well as all of the pipes. He then tried to stand once more, and after toiling for a bit, he got to his feet, at which point he retched, and blood poured from his mouth as if it were the spout of a kettle. Once he had concluded his expelling of blood, Theo started stumbling towards the direction of the hole he made in the wall when he smashed through.

“What are you doing, Othello?” The Fallen enquired.

“Going back to the battlefield.”

Theo said this as he suddenly jumped towards the hole, his wings materialising and flapping, boosting his jump enough that he actually reached the hole. He crouched down in the hole, before springing forth from it; the wings appearing once more and helping him glide gently back towards the field which wasn’t too far from the dorm, but still required the wings to reach. Theo’s unimpressive, slumped form descending towards the field was noticed first by one of the Roaches in the still present crowd, and it started hissing and chattering, drawing the attention of the giant one. They all watched as he slowly floated down, landing on the ground and threatening to crumble right there and then. The giant Roach then started laughing.

“Enjoy this moment, you piece of shit… it will be your last.” Theo said with a sneer on his face.

The Roach suddenly stopped laughing and pointed its weapon at Theo once more, and the head started glowing as if was preparing to unleash another blast. Just then, everything went completely dark, and just as when he was still in his house, the white humanoid figure of the Fallen formed before him. It looked down at Theo in silence for a while, before speaking.

“You are in quite the sorry state, Othello.”

“What the fuck, Fallen? I’m in the middle of something.”

“Be silent for a moment, Othello. Be silent, and listen. The physical state that you are currently in is all because you refuse to acknowledge what you have become, and in turn, refuse to do things the way we must. You are no longer a regular human, Othello; you are a Contracted one, and thus must live by our rules. We all operate on Life Essence, and while many entities get it through other means, we acquire it through consumption. Your stubborn refusal to consume more than just human brains means you barely scrape by with the bare minimum. You will surely die if things continue in this vein, and your loved ones will not be avenged. I have a way to assist… I have brought –”

“Shut the fuck up!” Theo roared as his fatigued body began shaking. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, Fallen? Saying that I’m going to die here? Me? ME? That’s not going to happen! Not while the souls of my family have yet to receive the vengeance their deaths warrant! You clearly don’t know who I am! I am the Bringer of Death! The Harbinger of Despair! The Bastard of Barausse!!”

As Theo roared his respective titles, his eyes began to glow. By the time he had said the third one, his entire body had begun to glow, and suddenly became engulfed in white flames which burned brightly. The burning flames only lasted for a second or two, and when they subsided, Theo was suddenly standing at his full height, a wrath filled scowl dominating his facial features. The Fallen looked down at Theo with its eyes balking slightly.

“Othello… he deepened our Bond, at this moment in time?”

A line suddenly appeared across the face of the humanoid figure, and it split open into the shape of a giant smile, revealing a mouth full of jagged, black teeth. Theo activated his aura for the first time since arriving at the school, and as it generated the usual gusts of wind, the Fallen watched as Daemon’s Bane started to form in his left hand.

“Out of the way, Fallen! We don’t have time for this right now!”

Theo boomed this, and without even waiting for the Fallen to respond, his aura generated a gale force wind that blew the Fallen’s figure away, and brought everything back to real time. He raised Daemon’s Bane with his left hand, before holding it with both, and aimed it at the giant Roach. In less than a second, the Roach fired a beam towards Theo that seemed to be even more powerful than the previous one, as it not only scorched the earth below, but also tore and split it as the blast powered its way towards Theo. Theo let out a roar as he pulled the trigger of his own weapon, and for a moment, the four pictures appeared in his eyes once more. Within an instant, all four images were focused on the same point on the Roach’s body, and as Theo pulled the trigger, symbols akin to those that were written on the tablet which served as the contract between Theo and the Fallen suddenly started glowing on all four of the barrels. They only glowed for the briefest of moments, before four thin beams shot out of the barrels, with each one seemingly going in its direction way. That said however, every few moments they would all suddenly change direction, leaving a trail of zigzagging, often intersecting beams behind them. They all quickly seemed to converge towards a single point, which was the incoming blast from the Roach. When they all met, they did so as they clashed with the single blast. For the briefest of moments, bright, luminescent lights clashed and illuminated the entire field once more, producing a shockwave so powerful, it knocked more than a few Roaches off their feet. The two blasts appeared to be jostling for supremacy, but this was a short-lived battle, as Theo’s beam suddenly forced its way into the giant Roach’s, and blasted its way all the way through, destroying it en route to the head of the hammer. It ate away at the green blast, and once it reached the hammer, Theo’s attack melted it as if it were nothing, and with a loud ‘boom’ hit the giant Roach clean on its belly. There was a large flash of light, and white completely drowned out and destroyed green. The sound of the screaming Roach could be heard for only a few seconds as the light became almost blindingly bright, resulting in most of the Roaches having to cover their eyes. It took a while for the light to completely die down, but when it did, the sight that greeted those present was that of destruction. All that remained of the giant Roach was its lower torso, with a slight amount of its lower abdomen remaining. Copious amount of the green fluid cascaded over the fleshy precipices, as well as portions of glowing and pulsing entrails and organs. There was absolutely nothing else left, and smoke rose from the remains, which somehow remained upright. Theo stood with Daemon’s Bane still pointed in the direction of the remains, still in a state of shock.

“Holy shit…” He said, as his voice no longer had traces of intense fatigue in it.

The Fallen’s vessel was hovering above Theo’s head, looking absolutely shocked itself.

“O… Omega Blast.” It said to itself more than anybody else. “I cannot believe that Othello was able to use it… he virtually has no Life Essence available to call on.” The Fallen looked down at Theo who by now had lowered the gun, and was just focused on his breathing. “…natural talent.”

Theo looked down at the smoking gun in his left hand which was suddenly a lot lighter than it had been when he was using it before.

“That was… awesome.” Theo said before looking up, noticing that the gathered crowd had was all staring at the smoking remains of the giant Roach.

“Fuck, what if these assholes all decide to attack me right now? That declaration I made just now will be thrown out the window as they rip me to shreds.”

There was a moment of stillness as they all stared, as if they didn’t know what to do now that this Roach that seemed to have been in charge was now dead. There came a sudden shriek and hiss from the direction of one of the dormitories. Everybody present on the field – including Theo and the Fallen – all looked in the direction the noises came from, and they all saw Mike D standing on the roof. He let out another hiss before leaping off the roof, soaring through the sky and landed in the field, to Theo’s right. The landing didn’t go as smoothly as Mike D hoped it would, as he appeared to cry out in pain, and spent a few moments rubbing his ankle while rolling around. Theo and the Fallen watched this with slightly bulging eyes. Mike D suddenly stood up sharply, acting as if nothing happened, and walked over to Theo, whose grip on Daemon’s Bane suddenly tightened.

“How is it all looking, Othello?” The Fallen enquired without taking its eyes off of Mike D.

“I’m still just as fucked as I was before, but for some reason… I can’t quite feel it.”

“You are still operating on the boost brought about by the deepening of our Bond, Othello.”

“What? The Bond became stronger again?” Theo said in slight surprise.

“I too was surprised, Othello. Anyway, take advantage of this and dispatch of this Mike D before the boost disappears, and you are hit with crippling pain once more.”

“Understood. Let’s do this.” Theo said with a nod.

Theo’s eyes began glowing as his aura was activated once more. Mike D suddenly stopped, looking at Theo from behind his hood. He slowly raised his hands and flipped the hood back, revealing a face so surprisingly human looking, Theo and the Fallen did a double take at the same time.

“What the… Mike D isn’t a Roach?” Theo said as he looked up at the Fallen.

Mike D suddenly raised his hand in a greeting of sorts, smiling as he did. He then looked as though he was about to speak, which he did.

“Mike… Mike D, Mike D. Mike, Mike Mike. Mike D, Mike D Mike D, Mike D Mike D!”

Both Theo and the Fallen’s jaws slowly dropped as Mike D was communicating using only his name, as if it was a genuinely language. His face was extremely emotive, but neither Theo nor the Fallen could glean a single thing from the continuing conversation, all coming from Mike D’s end.

“W-What… what is he saying, Fallen?” Theo asked while still staring.

“Why are you asking me, Othello?” The Fallen asked; its eyes also glued on Mike D.

“Isn’t he speaking some sort of weird demonic dialect? I refuse to believe that he believes repeating his name over and over again constitutes a language that can be understood!”

The Fallen remained silent as they both listened to the seemingly never ending speech. Theo suddenly remembered that he was virtually on borrowed time with regards to his being able to move pain free.

“Fuck, shut up!” He boomed. “If you aren’t going to tell me where that fucking Phantom is, then I have no reason to listen to your long winded speech!”

Theo suddenly raised his gun and fired off a few shots that Mike D managed to anticipate and evade. Theo continued shooting, but the bullets would either zip past Mike D, or hit the ground in front or next to him. He was either surprisingly nimble, or Theo was a bit off with his aim, as the fight continued in this vein for a period, with Theo himself actually starting to move around, trying to follow Mike D’s movements and pressurise him into making a mistake. To his credit, Mike D was completely avoiding the attacks, and after a few minutes of the cat and mouse game, he raised his hands, and after a second or two of his palms glowing green, he fired two large skull shaped things like he did back in the house. They looked incredibly impressive as they moved towards Theo, but they were moving so unbelievably slowly that he was able to actually walk out of their path and watch them waft past. Theo stood with his shoulders slightly slumped over and slowly turned his neck to look at Mike D, who had a sheepish sort of look on his face. As he was looking at Mike, Theo’s attention was suddenly drawn behind him as the two skulls had come into contact with a building, completely blowing it to smithereens with a massive explosion. Theo looked at the explosion for just a few moments, before looking back at Mike D, who was rummaging around inside his robes, appearing to be searching for something.

“…if this guy is searching for a weapon that will harness that insane destructive power, things are going to get complicated.”

Just as Theo raised his gun to shoot, Mike D pulled out what looked like a strange looking contraption, loaded with four doctor’s needles, filled with the green stuff. He quickly jabbed it into his neck, and dispensed the contents of the needles directly into it. The contraption quickly dropped to the ground, and Mike began making a serious of noises as parts of his body jerked and twitched. His hands started shaking violently as a strange growth covered them, causing them to grow in size. His fingers were pursed together and pointed straight as the growth covered them completely. The funny thing about the finger growths was that despite completely covering Mike D’s fingers, there was a hole at the tip of each one. The growth also made its way up Mike’s neck and the side of his face, going all the way up to his eyes, and the two growths met in the middle, covering both of his eyes and molding into a visor of sorts. Both the visor and hand coverings suddenly started glowing and pulsing with the luminescent green light as Mike D suddenly became still and fell silent. He looked at Theo with a slightly tilted head and blank expression, before suddenly grinning and exposing his jagged, no longer human like teeth. Immediately after opening his mouth, the pincer like growths made their way out of Mike D’s mouth, much like with all the other roaches, bar the giant one. He hissed as they poked out of his mouth, and the thick substance started to drip out from his open mouth.

“…aaaaaand there it is!” Theo said with a grossed out look on his face.

He pulled the trigger and started shooting at Mike D once more, who suddenly sprouted cockroach like wings from his back, which not only immediately ripped out from his back, but also started flapping frantically and lifted him off the ground. Mike D zipped around the air as Theo shot at him, his wings making a buzzing sound that was clearly getting on Theo’s nerves. He raised and pointed both hands towards Theo and suddenly let fly, shooting tiny bullet sized skulls at Theo in rapid succession. It sounded like he was dual wielding machine guns, with the speed of the shots now infinitely quicker than those big skulls from before. It was now Theo’s turn to use his wings, however instead of using them to fly, he used them to boost the speed of his dash; a new ability he gained post Bond increase. It was an instinctive thing as well, as the Fallen had not suggested it to him. Mike D’s bullets were pelting the ground below, as they followed Theo, who left the field and was making a beeline for the maze like buildings in order to get behind some cover. Bits of dust, sand and eventually stones and pavement flew up from behind Theo as he ran, before he turned around and jumped backwards, pointing Daemon’s Bane towards Mike D and letting off a series of shots himself, causing Mike D to take evasive action. Theo slid on his butt as he tried to shoot Mike down, but that was made impossible when the flying Roach suddenly flew behind cover. Theo flapped his wings once to lift him off of the ground and as he did, his right hand reached out to grab the top of a broken wall, using it to flip himself over the wall backwards, before landing and pressing his back against it.

“What is the matter, Othello?” The Fallen asked.

“Huh? Why do you ask, Fallen?”

“You have been displaying superb marksmanship the entire time, yet now, all of a sudden, your aim is off. Why is that?”

“It’s just that, I’ve suddenly become very aware… of what you have been harping on about.”

“What do you mean, Othello?”

“I… ever since end of the fight with that giant, I’ve been able to see a sort of… status bar, indicating how much Life Essence I have left and… I really don’t have a whole lot to use. The reason I've been missing so much is because the bullets themselves are extremely weak. They are there for the sake of being there, and if even one of them hits, that bastard will know I’m bluffing, and probably come at me with everything he has.”

“I see… if you were to shoot seriously, how many times would you be able to shoot?”

“Once.”

“Oh.” The Fallen simply responded.

The mid-battle strategy meeting that had become so popular between the two was suddenly interrupted as Mike D started shooting once more, his finger bullets blowing Theo’s cover to bits, ten bullets at a time. Theo looked to the side that was being chewed up and sighed.

“This is going to be annoying, Fallen.”

“How do you mean, Othello?”

“I mean that in order to win this, I’m going to have to experience some more pain.”

The Fallen’s vessel looked down at Theo and grinned broadly.

“Are you saying you have a plan?” It asked.

“Of course I do.” Theo said as the look on his face suddenly intensified. “My babies went through an ordeal no child should ever experience. The pain I’m about to feel is NOTHING in comparison!!” Theo roared as he psyched himself up.

He suddenly burst out from behind the rapidly disintegrating wall and returned fire, once again missing the buzzing Mike D, who had started squawking like a bird for some reason.

“You fucking spaz!” Theo shouted at Mike D.

Theo dashed towards a wall opposite the one he was recently behind and leapt up onto it, placing his right foot onto it as he turned his torso around and pushed off of it, flapping his wings and boosting his jump as he intended to land on the roof of a nearby building. As it turned out, Theo was going fall rather short and flapped once more, boosting his jump a second time, and ensuring that he actually reached the roof, landing harshly.

“Shit, these things can be used twice in one go?” Theo asked as the wings disappeared.

“I am as surprised as you are, Othello.”

Theo quickly pointed his gun at Mike D once more and started shooting. His wings were a permanent fixture, and while they didn’t allow him to fly indefinitely, they allowed him to fly in bursts; loud, annoying bursts that grated on Theo’s very soul. Coupled with the strange noises that Mike D was making, Theo found him to be a far more exasperating opponent than either Black Widow and her guards, or the giant Roach before him. The two of them continued with their battle and cat and mouse game, with the role of cat being one that was regularly exchanged between the two; with Theo bluffing his way through his stints as the cat. Mike D’s bullets were absolutely tearing the school buildings and ruins to shreds, and as the two of them jumped, buzzed and glided their way around the rooftops, the Roaches below were enthralled, following the pair as best they could. Theo had started to lower the amount of bullets he was firing, and was mostly trying to cut the gap between him and Mike D, as if he was banking on getting a hold of him and beating him up close and personal. Mike seemed to notice this, and was trying to maintain his distance from Theo. As the chase continued, Theo started timing his dashes and double jumps with Mike D’s landings and the ends of his bursts. He seemed to have gotten the measure of timing his approaches after a few failed attempts, and Theo started putting more effort and energy into speed and agility. While he was nowhere near the level of speed he displayed in his battle with Black Widow due to fatigue and injuries, he was still fast enough to be a real concern. He had Mike D actually back pedaling as he applied pressure, predicting Mike’s attack patterns and evading the attacks moments before they started. It was similar to his initiating attacks earlier when fighting with Ygg’Rael earlier in the club. As Theo progressively got closer and closer, his shot output lowered more and more. Mike D was also shooting less, and it became blatantly obvious that the both of them were up to something. The growths on Mike D’s body were starting to glow for longer periods at a time, and the time between each glowing period was steadily decreasing as well. It seemed as though both combatants were zipping around and heading towards the church tower. By the time they reached it, neither man was even attempting to shoot, and when they began their ascent, the loud buzzing of Mike D’s wings was almost louder than it usually was. He flew up while circling the tower, while Theo went straight up along one side of the building. Mike D reached the top first, and moments later, Theo emerged at the top as well. As Theo popped up at the top, Mike D appeared with both arms pointed at him. There was a massive grin on Mike’s face as a giant ball of sparking green energy had formed right in front of his fingertips. The ball continued to grow until it took the shape of a massive, green and black skull. Theo’s eyes grew in size, and within an instant, Mike let out a shriek and fired the skull at Theo from point blank range. There was literally no time for Theo to even attempt to dodge the attack, and it hit him flush, and sent him flying towards the ground below at high speed. He crashed through a building on his way down, and the moment he hit the ground, there was a MASSIVE explosion, coupled with another bright flash of light. There was no way that somebody who wasn’t even looking in the general direction of the school didn’t see the explosion, or even hear it. The thunderous sound, coupled with the wind generated by the blast caused the Roaches that were close enough to have to cover their ears, while some of them were blown off of their feet once again.

“Caww cawwww!!” Mike D boomed as he started to laugh.

He buzzed around the roof as he continued to laugh. Mike was even twirling as if he was attempting some strange Netherworld ballet or something, celebrating what he thought was a victory. His victory dance was cut short however, as within the smoke and dust that shrouded the area in which Theo had crashed into; four white lights were visible, before they broke out from the cloud. Four luminescent white beams danced through the air towards Mike D as they had earlier towards the giant Roach, and before Mike could buzz away, they all hit their respective targets. Unlike the previous instance when they converged towards the same point, these ones all had specific targets – namely each of Mike D’s limbs. As they hit their targets, there was a bright flash and Mike’s loud and shrill screams of pain were so loud, they were almost ear piercing. His arms and legs were vaporized in an instant as four mini explosions melted them away. Mike D then fell to the ground, as his sole remaining wing flapped haplessly in an attempt to keep him up, but failed. He hit the ground with a thump and a squelch, as the green blood sputtered out all over the place from his body. A few moments later, Theo emerged from the smoke and dust, walking gingerly, his face absolutely wracked with pain. There was some blood flowing from his mouth and nose, but other than that, he looked exactly the same as he did before the blast. He reached Mike D, who was squirming and wriggling about like a giant grub of sorts. There were no stumps or any hints of him having previously had any limbs to begin with.

“Holy fuck… that hurt so much.” Theo groaned as he hugged himself while walking.

Blood continued to flow from the four giant wounds, and Theo stood perfectly still as he watched the visor like growth crumble and fall off of Mike D’s eyes, revealing his human face once more. Even his teeth had gone back to normal, and he looked up into Theo’s eyes as if he had something he wanted to say. Theo reluctantly and slowly crouched down, with Daemon’s Bane at the ready in case the rapidly bleeding Roach had the intention of a last ditch attack before dying. Mike D raised his head as high as his neck would allow, and spoke.

“…M… M… Miiiiike, Deeeeeeeeeee….” Mike D said in a whisper, before slumping lifelessly to the ground.

Theo looked down at the now dead Roach, and suddenly pointed Daemon’s Bane at his head, as if he was about to blow it to bits.

“No, Othello! Calm down!” The Fallen quickly shouted. “Do not ruin things after executing your plan so brilliantly. Just consume him!”

Theo’s hands were shaking as he fought the urge to shoot, before he slowly stood up and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, the tentacle serpent creatures burst out from his shoulders, going through their usual routine of screeching, stretching, and slithering around in the air, as if looking to see where they were now.

“You were magnificent, Othello. Using the cape at the very last instant as a shield to block the skull and explosion was an inspired move.”

“It was also extremely lucky on my part that it all worked.” Theo said with a tired sounding sigh, seemingly starting to overcome the pain.

The serpents quickly got to work, ripping Mike D’s head open and consuming the brain within. Theo stood upright, looking as if he was defiantly resisting the urge to vomit as he had done before. He failed, and after a few moments, he was spraying vomit like some kind of disgusting sprinkler system, which was odd considering how he technically hadn’t eaten anything since the entire ordeal began. As he vomited, Theo’s mind was suddenly flooded with images, much like it had been before. Unlike last time however, the images of Mike’s memories were far lengthier, vivid and more detailed. He saw a bunch of school children, all dressed in their uniforms walking from the dorms. Everything was being shown from Mike D’s perspective. There were a bunch of conversations happening between the adolescents, and it appeared to be early in the morning.

“My back hurts!” A large headed child said.

“Shut up and go fix your edge up!” A familiar sounding voice that Theo identified as Mike’s replied.

“Someday, I’m gonna buy this entire school. I’m gonna earn six figures!” A somewhat geeky kid said.

“Go fight Larry, first!” Responded a kid with a beer bottle in one hand, and a burned grilled cheese sandwich in the other.

“How the hell did you get that beer? And why are you drinking it out in the open?!” Mike boomed.

“Do you guys get the runs when you eat too many blueberries? Do you also have sensitive skin? Do you get nervous in crowds? When in the shower, how do you clean your—”

“You ask too many questions, motherfucker!” Mike D boomed as he interrupted the kid asking all the questions. “Damn! Shut the fuck up, already! Old Bitch ass hoe!”

Everybody else in the group started laughing, and they continued to walk and talk, just behaving like a group of friends and looking fairly happy. All of a sudden, the sound of the bell in the church tower started to echo, causing all the boys to suddenly tense up and look at each other. The conversations stopped, and they all started walking in a different direction, shoulders visibly slumped and their demeanors considerably less happy. After a while, they reached a building, and they all filed into the open door of a classroom, similar to the one Theo was in earlier. They all sat down in their seats, waiting in silence and fear. Moments after the last student was seated, a tall, slender middle-aged man dressed immaculately in a pinstripe suit walked into the class, followed by a large, pot-bellied man who looked like a farmer, dressed in his checkered shirt, tucked into his trousers, and suspenders. The slim man had a stern, cold looking face, while the man behind had that sort of ‘jolly fat man’ thing about him.

“Good morning, pupils.” The slim man said as he reached the front of the class.

“Good morning, Principal.” The kids all replied.

“This morning, we will be trying something new and increasing the dosage…”

As the Principal spoke, the fat man who came in with him began to secure the kids in their seats with the bindings attached to them. The Principal spoke the entire time the fat guy was doing his thing, and when half of them had been bound, he made his way towards the door. He stopped just short of it, and turned to look at Mike D.

“Michael, I expect to see you in my office after class… as per usual.”

He then gave Mike a look, before turning around to leave. The images and memories suddenly stopped, and Theo was back in the present. He wiped the combination of spit and vomit from his mouth with his filthy sleeve, and slowly stood up with a somewhat perplexed expression on his face.

“What is it, Othello? What have you seen?”

“…I can’t be sure. I think they were… memories. They were so much more vivid than Chelsea’s – so much more real. I saw a date on the black board… these Roaches, they’ve been like this for decades, Fallen.”

Theo stood in silent contemplation for a short while, looking at what was left of Mike D’s body. His body glowed slightly as his body used the Life Essence received from the brain to heal. As he stood there, Theo’s eyes suddenly darted from side to side, looking around as though he was trying to find something. He swore that he could hear strange sounds that almost sounded like the pained cries of an untold number of people.

“What the fuck?” Theo said as he started to look around with his head, before tapping both ears.

“Hitting your ears will not drown out the sound, Othello?”

“What do you mean? You can hear this too?” Theo asked as he looked up at the Fallen.

“I have been hearing them the entire time. It is about time that you heard them as well, Othello – the cries of the tortured souls of these Roaches.”

“Why can I suddenly hear them, Fallen?!” Theo barked in annoyance.

“Perhaps this is something borne of our deepening Bond, Othello.”

Theo grimaced as the voices seemed to get louder and louder. He tried by all means to block them out, and possibly even ignore them, but that wasn’t happening. He pressed both hands against his ears as he tried to figure out what to do, and after a few minutes, he let out a roar of anger. Just then, something in his eyes changed, and he suddenly started running towards the chapel, bursting into it and then into the tower. He hastily looked around, as if impatiently searching for something. When he realised that it wasn’t there, he let out a groan of frustration, before looking straight up. He suddenly crouched down, and immediately after his wings appeared, Theo jumped, flapping in as he did and shot straight up like a bullet. The ground cracked beneath him as he shot up forcefully, and just as his momentum slowed, Theo flapped again. A second or two later, he smashed through the wooden platform that served as a ceiling, and fell onto a portion that wasn’t broken, rolling a few times before quickly standing up. In front of him hung a massive bell that was covered in dust, cobwebs and other nasty stuff. The rope that would have been used to ring the bell in decades gone by had been ripped off or something, because it was missing. Theo looked around, while the Fallen and two serpents remained silent all throughout; not even daring to make a peep. After a few more seconds, Theo once again let out a roar of frustration, as he suddenly drove the bottom of his shoe into the side of the bell, causing it to ring loudly. He kicked it again and again, continuing in this vein and making the bell ring – much like he had witnessed in Mike D’s memories.

“What are you doing, Othello?” The Fallen asked as Theo continued to kick the bell.

He didn’t respond to the question and continued kicking the bell for a few minutes, before jumping and breaking through the ceiling and roof. Theo had seemingly lost it, not particularly caring about the condition of the tower. He quickly stood on the edge, and looked down intently at the ground below, as the continued ringing echoed throughout the entire school. It took some time, but Theo finally saw what he was looking for – the Roaches all moving towards and then going into their respective class buildings; as if on autopilot. As they all went in, Theo’s eyes starting glowing as he activated his aura – by choice. He then summoned the wings provided by the cape the Fallen had given him earlier, and he jumped up into the air. The wings spread as wide as they could, however instead of gliding, Theo actually remained afloat. He lowered his hands to his waist and opened them, as he pressed his legs and feet together. All of a sudden, the two serpent creatures started screeching and roaring as they slithered around frantically. Their eyes then started glowing pure white, and moments later, they opened their mouths. Just as they did when Theo was bound by the demonic rope, they started spewing the pure white flames from their mouths. This time however, the flames were not aimed at Othello, but rather, at the buildings below; with the path of the flames focusing mainly on the dorms, and then the classroom buildings. Such was the potency of the flames, they required very little time to absolutely consume a building, and in less than five minutes, the entire school was ablaze with white, seething hot flames.

“This is your chance at peace.” Theo said in a virtual whisper, yet there was nobody on the school premises who didn’t hear him.

Theo then flapped the wings once, and began gliding in the direction he had come from. As he glided across slowly, he looked down and saw that nothing and nobody was even attempting to break out of windows, jump off of ledges, or even walk out of doors. There wasn’t a single physical scream or anything, and the anguished wails of all their souls slowly started to die down. As Theo was halfway across, there was a sudden explosion from the dorms, as all the vats of tainted Life Essence exploded one by one. Theo didn’t even take the time to look back, as he continued to make his way towards the cab. The creatures were the ones that looked back at the explosions that went off like evil fireworks, flaming green residue lighting up the sky. As more and more explosions went off, the wails and cries died down more and more, slowly being replaced by contented sighs. Theo continued his descent, and just as he was about to land, he suddenly heard the familiar sounding voice of the Roach that first laughed at him speak.

“Thank you.” It said in a grateful whisper.

“You're welcome.” Theo said as he landed deftly on the tar close to the cab. “Now shut the fuck up.”