Doormaker really was too useful.
I stepped out of the portal onto a street lined with defaced buildings. Graffiti marked the walls, trashed cars sat abandoned along the curb, and crushed beer cans surrounded the only building that still looked active.
The harsh vocals of rock music dominated the air, and there wasn’t another soul in sight across the street.
How nice of them to clear things out for me.
A few people sat out front drinking and smoking. All of them were dressed as if they had crawled out of a Mad Max movie. Blades, spikes, and various desiccated body parts adorned each member.
I actually wasn’t sure if any of them were capes. That was how absurd they looked.
My approach obviously didn’t go unnoticed, because one of the biggest guys rose from his seat and strode toward me with a bat in hand.
I raised an eyebrow when I noticed an emaciated hand tied to the end of it.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
…Wow
At least try not to sound like the most cliché villain alive. They were really making this guilt-free.
The bat poked my shoulder, and the Teeth member sneered down at me.
“Do you know who you’re—”
Yeah… fuck these guys.
My right hand shot out and gripped his neck like a vise. Even in my base Nightkin form, my strength was superhuman, and the man’s sneer died the instant his boots left the ground.
I lifted him with one hand. “Where is the Butcher—”
“Cape!”
I simply raised an eyebrow as the other Teeth members jumped up and let loose a barrage of bullets without a second of hesitation. The sheer casual ruthlessness took me by surprise, even as I stood still and raised the captured Teeth member in front of me as a shield.
Honestly… what else should I have expected from people who dressed like this and followed the fucking Butcher of all people?
The big Teeth guy screamed as they emptied their clips into him, apparently not caring that their friend was the one taking most of the shots.
I let a few bullets hit my skin out of curiosity, and the best they could do was leave small bruises. Even the lucky shot that struck straight into my arm barely hurt, and I felt my flesh coil and rewind as it restored itself.
Lower-caliber weaponry was relatively useless against me then.
Good to know.
The clicking of empty chambers marked the end of the barrage. I dropped the very much dead gang member and eyed the remaining Teeth members standing in front of the bar.
A strange disquiet settled over the street, even with the rock music still screaming through the air.
I didn’t care.
Because another sensation filled my soul.
Hunger.
One of the Teeth members moved first.
He turned and ran, boots scraping against the cracked pavement as he bolted for the alley beside the bar.
I activated Devil Trigger and moved.
To my eyes, his frantic sprint looked almost pathetic. His shoulders pumped, his legs strained, and I could see the exact moment his eyes widened in terror as he realized I was already beside him.
My hand shot out again, catching his neck and yanking him back hard enough to choke off the scream building in his throat.
I didn’t hesitate as I ripped open his throat.
The taste of blood hit my tongue.
It was sweet, rich in a way that reminded me of chocolate, steak, and liquor all rolled into one impossible blend. It was a perfect blend that shouldn’t have worked at all, yet it tasted divine.
I needed more.
My teeth sank into his neck, and I drank without restraint.
Then, as quickly as it came, the taste disappeared.
The hollowed husk of a corpse slipped from my grip and dropped to the pavement.
Oh.
I could get used to this.
My gaze shifted back toward the remaining Teeth members, and the fear in their eyes made something hungry in me stir all over again.
They looked like prime cuts of meat.
A scream tore through the street.
The force slammed into me hard enough to send me sliding backward across the asphalt.
A strange four-legged beast growled at me.
Another man dressed in spiky bone armor glared at the thing, looking more pissed at the dog than at me.
“Animos, what the hell are you doing!? His power didn’t disappear—”
I leaped at him before he could finish.
His eyes widened, but before my fist could cave in his head, a dozen versions of him appeared between us. They came out in a rush, bodies spilling into the space like water.
I smashed my arms through the first wave.
Their bodies shattered like glass with every swing of my fists.
More bodies threw themselves into my path, hands clawing and voices screaming as the real one tried to bury me beneath a tide of clones.
It barely mattered.
My charge didn’t stop. Each clone that hit me broke. Each body that grabbed me lost fingers, arms, or was simply snapped in half. They piled up around my feet and burst apart beneath my hands, but there was always another version of him trying to buy one more second.
Another roar ripped through the air.
This time, I was ready.
The scream passed over me as I dug my feet into the ground.
I didn’t move an inch.
The cloner cape stared at me from behind his army, his face going pale beneath the grime and bone.
“Wait—”
My hand punched through his chest.
His words died in a wet gasp as my fingers closed around something warm. I ripped my arm back, and his heart came with it.
I grinned at the rest of the Teeth as blood ran down my fingers.
“Spree!” someone screamed.
A scream rang out behind me.
Something slammed into the back of my head hard enough to snap a normal man’s neck.
I simply glanced over my shoulder and found a woman standing there, red liquid flowing around her hands. Beside her stood another Teeth cape, a woman wrapped in strips of leather and jagged metal plates.
Blades of shimmering forcefields formed around my body.
They pressed in from every angle, grinding against my skin with a shrill, glassy scrape. Small cuts opened along my arms and shoulders, thin red lines that vanished almost as soon as they appeared.
Another roar hit me, deepening the cuts as I was shoved harder against the forcefields. They closed just as quickly as they opened, but that didn’t mean it felt great.
I slotted in Petal Burst.
My body scattered into a storm of red petals. I slipped through the blades, past the woman’s widening eyes, and reformed in front of Animos.
He tried to swipe at me with one clawed hand.
I caught him by the wrist.
Then I pulled.
It was like ripping paper. A bestial scream filled the air as his body came apart in two halves, blood spilling across the street while more Teeth members poured out of the bar with their faces going pale.
“I’ll let you live if you tell me where the Butcher is.” I dropped Animos’ corpse to the ground.
The two remaining Teeth capes flinched back and shot each other terrified looks.
“I’m right here, bitch!”
An arrow flew straight for the center of my chest.
I dodged left, but the arrow followed.
Reality just seemed to agree that the shot had never missed in the first place.
I activated Infinity for a brief moment, halting it inches from my ribs, then snatched it out of the air.
A deafening roar filled the air.
On top of the bar roof, a woman in samurai-looking armor appeared out of thin air, a massive bow already raised in her hands.
Finally.
More arrows fired toward me.
I moved to dodge again, but something wriggled under my skin before I could shift. It crawled through my nerves, a foreign sensation trying to seep into my brain.
Butcher had some sort of pain ability, didn’t she?
Maybe because of the demonic body, it didn’t translate well.
I just grinned at the Butcher as the sensation failed to make me pause.
Then I charged forward, slapping arrows out of the air as they tried to correct their paths toward my chest, throat, and eyes. Each one twisted at the last second, refusing to miss, but there was only so much her power could do when I simply broke the arrows.
Butcher teleported again with the sound of a boom.
Too bad I’d never been aiming for her.
The blood-wielding Teeth member screamed and hurled another condensed spear of blood at me. It spun through the air, but I didn’t care enough to dodge.
My fist punched through the spear and kept going.
Her scream cut off as the blow bisected her.
“You fucking bastard!”
An explosion went off right behind me, heat washing over my back as the world briefly turned orange. The blast shoved me forward half a step, but it hadn’t even scorched my skin.
Then rage slammed into my head.
I could feel it trying to fill the gaps in my thoughts, pushing me to lash out at anything nearby.
So I let it.
My feet shattered the ground as I leaped for the last Teeth cape.
Her eyes widened as shard-like force fields tried to bar my way. They cut into my skin, but I couldn’t care less as my fist slammed into her skull.
Butcher reappeared above me with another arrow already drawn, but I was moving before she released. Petal Burst carried me through the space between us, red petals scattering around her as I reformed close enough to grab her by the armor.
I slammed her into the ground hard enough to crater the floor.
She puked blood, but I made sure to hold back enough that the blow didn’t kill her.
“Prelati!”
He appeared from his invisible form with one hand already reaching down. His fingers brushed against Butcher’s face, and her body went rigid as he used his magecraft.
“You got her?” I kept my grip tight, making sure Butcher couldn’t move.
“The hypnotism went through.” He hummed, interest sharpening his smile. “I’ve never felt a mind quite like it. May I experiment on her as I wish?”
The mad magus had a dangerous-looking smile on his face.
“No.” I gave him a hard look, even as he put on a sad face. “The whole point of this was to capture the Butcher, so another one isn’t born. I don’t want your experiments fucking something up.”
“Do you have so little trust in my restraint, Master?” Prelati pressed a hand over his chest and mimed wiping a tear from his eye.
“Yes.”
“So cruel.” He staggered back as if I’d wounded him.
I rolled my eyes and ignored his little performance.
[Feat Achieved! Shattered Teeth!]
[+1 Gold Gacha Ticket]
[Rolling Gold Gacha Ticket]
[Iron Mind]
|Rare Trait|
Your mind is made of iron, and your body will obey. Even if you are exhausted and starving, the effect it has on your performance is minimal. Regardless of your suffering, your performance will be optimal. Does not extend to physical limitations or wounds. Also increases resistance against all Negative Mental Ailments.
Fuck yeah.
If this let me use the Frenzied Flame longer, then I was all for it.
Prelati tilted his head, the dangerous smile never fully leaving his face. “What shall we do now?”
“Get a good grip on the Butcher,” I said, looking past him toward the remaining Teeth members.
Most had been frozen in shock, but a few canny ones had already booked it.
“I’m going to clean out the rest.”
My grin widened as the hunger stirred again.
I was still famished.
***
No updates next week. Going for a wedding. Chps begin again the week after.
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters lookup daisyberry if you wanna read ahead.