In the beginning, all was chaos. It is assumed that this is the natural state of the universe, but I call bullshit. Chaos doesn’t exist without Order. If one manages to destroy the other, then existence collapses into the primordial.

~Balor, The Primordial God of Chaos

The dark apparition scratched at the barrier. Its creepy factor wasn’t something that Hooligan could get over. It was only the second time she’d seen these Shadowmen, and this pervasive wrongness to them made her uncomfortable.

Hooligan approached the barrier to get closer to it; she was using it to temper her mind. A way to get over her revulsion and fear, but every step closer made her feel like her reality was falling apart.

“Why do I feel sick in its presence?” Hooligan asked. Crow knew more about the Scath than anyone she’d met. It was strange because it didn’t seem like he had much experience fighting against them. She fought them for years, so she could see his inexperience. Where she came from, they weren’t rare, and her people were more united because they didn’t have time to form petty grievances or plot against each other. Every time the sun rose, it was like heaven; every time it sank, it brought them into hell.

“Primordial Chaos—Scath-Draoi infused their bodies with it. Its very presence disrupts the universal Truths. The Scath’s discordant energy is disrupting the laws that created you—that is why you feel nauseous. No matter how chaotic we are as a people, we are beings of order.”

“So… am I affecting it in the same way?”

“You are affecting it, but not in the same way. It remains here because our presence attracts and repels it like a magnet. Can you feel the pull? We, too, are attracted to chaos, just as it is drawn toward us. When we are close, we feel the revulsion, confusion, and fear—the Scath feel it too,” Crow tried to explain, but even the books he read stated this was theoretical. “Because we represent the Truths, we are a counterbalance to their base instincts and give these things logical thought. Logical thought is why it fears us. What would happen if a feral animal suddenly could think logically, overriding its survival instincts?”

“I don’t know?” Hooligan thought about it, and she knew how to hunt these things, so after a few seconds, she thought she understood. “It’d panic and become irrational like a drowning child.”

“Not bad. Although the drowning child was a bit dark,” Crow muttered the last part.

Hooligan raised her hand toward it. When her hand was within a meter, the Shadowman finally showed signs of agitation.

“So it benefits while I suffer?” Hooligan finally asked.

“You can’t put it that way. While it gains logical thought, it’s as disruptive as its discordance is to you.”

“Can it communicate?”

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“I don’t think so, at least not these ones. Maybe the knights can, but I don’t know for sure. Nothing I’ve read talked about the capabilities of the higher order Scath. These minion types are more like puppets or constructs which operate by their creator’s will, but beyond that, they are mostly empty shells.”

“If I’m a disruptive factor and it can’t hurt me, why doesn’t it leave? It should have some directive to move on, right?”

“Its desire to destroy order is greater than its fear. From what I’ve read, the only thing it hates more than order is specific types of light—such as the sun. It can sense when it approaches; shortly after the false dawn, they’ll flee back into their rift.”

Hooligan nodded, and then a glove appeared on her hand that he hadn’t seen before. It gave off a warm glow that comforted Crow, like being held in his mother’s arms all those years ago.

Before he could stop her, Hooligan jumped forward, her fist smashing toward the top of its head. Crow could sense the increased pressure from the heaviness of her fist. The more she increased the gravity, the brighter the light until—Boom!

Hooligan’s fist pulverized the Shadowman’s head. The black, shadow-like humanoid collapsed to the ground like a pile of tar, and light danced through it, disintegrating the substance even after it died. Crow had seen nothing like it. Even the ones he killed previously didn’t react this way.

“The eyes aren’t two separate entities, but it appears that way because its soul fills the head’s cavity. So through the eye holes, you see its soul, which gives their eyes that weird glow. Destroying their soul is the only way to kill them permanently. Otherwise, it can regrow its body. Now that I know that tar stuff is old blood, I’m guessing they can reform their body by killing and absorbing blood,” Hooligan explained. While she didn’t have the theoretical knowledge he did, she knew how to kill the bastards.

Crow noticed tears on her face as she stepped back inside the barrier. Unsure of what was going through her head, he hugged her.

“My aunt was only a few years older than me,” Hooligan mumbled. “One day, we were traveling to go see my grandparents in a nearby town when the Scath came. She sacrificed herself to save me. She was stronger, and better, and-and-and…”

“Even if she knew death was waiting, her actions wouldn’t have changed,” Crow tried to console her. “She probably even knew she was going to die.”

“I know!” Hooligan growled. “But in this life, I will never tolerate their existence. If one comes, I’ll destroy one. If a million come, I’ll destroy a million. I cannot allow them to continue existing.”

“Then they’ve already won.”

“What!? Bastard! Say it again,” Hooligan put her face right into his.

“Listen to me, you damned hooligan. If you let them own and control your thoughts, no matter how many you kill, your aunt’s sacrifice meant nothing. She didn’t save you, so you could exist as a slave to your own vengeance. We will kill them because that’s what we should do. If you die because of your irrational behavior, do you believe I’ll raise you from the dead and kill you myself? You are my wife, and your pain is my pain. Don’t you dare think about leaving this life before me! I won’t allow it.”

Hooligan pulled her head back and looked at Crow’s indignant face. “Pfft, and you call me the hooligan?” She laughed because his words released a knot in her heart.

“So what if I’m unreasonable,” Crow snorted and shamelessly grabbed her tit. Hooligan was so shocked she didn’t even lose her temper, just stared at Crow as if he’d grown a third eye. “Now you know,” he smirked at her.

“I’m the hooligan, not you!” She finally yelled and grabbed his cock. He flinched back, but she already had her hand on his little man. “Hmph.”

Gulp.

“You win,” Crow said hoarsely. “Please let go.”

Hooligan burst out laughing, and instead of letting go, she gently rubbed and elicited a reaction. Crow placed his forehead against hers, and his breathing grew ragged as her hand moved faster.

“You sure you aren’t a succubus?” Crow gasped as he released, but the only answer he got was her sinister laughter.