The boy and the man stood motionless, staring at each other as blood dripped onto the snow between them.
Koda’s chest rose and fell in deep breaths.
His entire body ached, his arms were still wounded and dried blood coated his face and neck.
But thankfully, Old Bram looked worse.
Half of his face had been mutilated beyond recognition, burned flesh hung from his ruined jaw.
One eye was missing.
Deep wounds covered his body.
He looked monstrous, even more so than before thanks to the bloody fleshy tendrils protruding from his back and shoulders, writhing through the air behind him.
They emerged from his wounds, the parasites that once infected him now relying on him to feed them since their source was destroyed.
Bram’s remaining eye stared at Koda.
Koda stared back.
A tendril suddenly flashed forward, Koda dodged it with relative ease.
The fleshy appendage whipped past his head and shattered a wall behind him.
Koda exploded forward with strength he didn’t even know he had.
The butcher’s cleaver swept toward him immediately.
Koda ducked underneath and drove a fist into Bram’s ribs.
The instant his fist connected, Riley’s ridiculous aspect came to life.
KAPLOW!
A violent explosion ignited the air between them, launching them apart.
Koda rolled across the ground while Bram crashed through a frozen cart.
The butcher spat blood, confused.
Koda grinned, he figured the memory’s singular ability relied on luck because it didn’t activate when he had punched the rubble, so he must’ve gotten really lucky.
Bram growled and charged forward, slower than before thanks to the parasites, but still too fast for Koda.
Koda barely raised his arms to block before Bram’s shoulder slammed into him.
Pain exploded through his body and he was launched through the air, smashing through a wooden wall.
The world spun.
Before he could recover, a tendril wrapped around his ankle.
Koda’s gut screamed danger, so he quickly rolled away.
Then another tendril came.
And another.
Koda ducked beneath one and punched the second, causing a minor explosion to destroy the tendril in a spray of bloody flesh.
Bram roared and burst through the collapsing building like an enraged beast.
Koda retreated, narrowly dodging a swing from Bram’s cleaver before he was caught by a follow up blow.
Agony erupted through his arm.
He stumbled.
Bram immediately capitalised, wrapping a tendril around Koda’s wrist and leg.
Koda punched furiously at the tendril on his wrist but it seemed like he had used all of his luck.
Until a third tendril flew at his face, swiping at it with his hand, he got lucky and the tendril detonated.
BOOM!
The grip weakened, giving Koda a window to escape.
But Bram flew forward and punched him directly into his stomach.
Koda flew backward, the impact stole all the air from his lungs.
He crashed through the building and landed on the frozen ground, skidding across the snow.
Bram followed relentlessly, Koda forced himself upright.
He needed to move, he needed to go.
Now!
A shockwave of force exploded outward from Bram’s cleaver, Koda narrowly side stepping out of its way.
He threw a punch at Bram’s shoulder, no detonation.
He threw a punch at Bram’s exposed chest, Denotation.
KA—BOOM!
The explosion swallowed the butcher, flames erupted and smoke billowed.
Koda backed up quickly, his breathing growing heavier.
His body was reaching its limits again, the brief nourishment brought by Riley wasn’t enough.
When the smoke cleared, Old Bram was still standing.
Burned, Bleeding, Shattered and Tired.
But standing.
The butcher grinned, blood running from his mouth.
“Not sure where you got those gloves, did the other brat make them?
Interesting…” New tendrils emerged every minute, like the parasites were consuming him.
“You can’t kill me.” He said, laughing hollowly.
Koda grit his teeth.
He knew that was true, he wasn’t even a sleeper yet, he had no aspect ability.
He was no different than an average person.
But there was a way he could win.
He wasn’t starving anymore, he was quite thin and frail.
Not a good source of nourishment, he knew that from how the parasites chose Bram over him and Riley.
Every second Koda spent fighting old Bram was another second closer to exhaustion, Koda needed to make his move now.
He didn’t need to win in this direct confrontation, not yet.
He could still weaken the man further or even have something else kill him.
He just needed to stay alive, there wasn’t a direct time limit for this nightmare.
Right?
If Koda could just stay alive and let the old bastard die of natural causes, he could win.
Right?
A tendril lashed out.
Koda avoided it and immediately began retreating.
Bram noticed and grinned further.
“Running away?” Koda didn’t answer, he turned and started running.
The butcher laughed loudly, then followed behind him.
Good!
That’s exactly what Koda wanted.
The ruined village disappeared behind them as Koda sprinted into the forest supposedly filled with monstrous creatures.
Snow crunched beneath Koda’s boots as he ran, moving faster as he heard the heavy footsteps ominously following from behind.
Bram was following.
Just as expected.
The butcher wanted him dead.
He didn’t want to wait any longer, he wanted Koda gone.
Now.
Koda raced between trees while his instincts constantly guided his path.
He used the same strange intuition that had helped him survive before.
Behind him, Bram tore through the forest with animalistic growls and grunts.
Trees shattered, branches exploded.
The butcher had no concern about stealth, he desperately craved murder.
The distance between them slowly narrowed.
Koda had expected that Bram was stronger than him after all.
His breathing grew heavier as the man got closer.
His muscles burned, but he continued deep into the forest.
The snow thickened and the darkness deepened before eventually… Koda saw it.
He saw massive tracks.
Fresh, massive tracks in the snow.
His pulse quickened.
He had found it, another Nightmare Creature.
He didn’t stop.
Instead, he followed the tracks and sped up.
Behind him, Bram continued the chase without hesitation.
The butcher didn’t seem to care about the tracks.
Koda smiled softly, remembering Riley.
The boy would’ve called him crazy for this.
In the distance, he saw it.
He saw something huge, far larger than both him and Bram.
His instincts screamed danger, but he kept running.
Behind him, Old Bram followed.