As Koda fell from the Butcher’s grasp, he landed flat on his backside and rubbed his face.
The old man turned around, staring at the distant plume of smoke.
Then, another one followed.
KA—BOOM!
And another.
BOOM!
And another.
BOOOOOM!
Koda stared in awe as building after building turned into a fiery mess of debris and smoke.
One of the villagers, who was already completely zombified with multiple vulgar parasites protruding through their eyes, ran out from an alleyway opposing Koda and Bram.
It wasn’t dragging its feet.
It was running.
Its bare feet slipped against the frozen ground while its ruined lungs dragged in frantic breaths.
Another villager followed behind it, then another, all of them sprinting blindly through the snow and smoke like terrified animals.
Koda frowned.
He didn’t know they could run, what were they running from?
Then a hand appeared from the smoke, reaching for the head of the fallen one.
The pale hand briefly touched the head of the crawling zombie before retreating back into the darkness.
The zombie crawled forward another few meters, getting closer to the other zombies before… BOOM!
Its entire torso suddenly burst apart in a violent explosion of flesh and blinding orange fire.
The blast lit the alley.
Chunks of burning meat splattered across nearby walls, any flesh or blood that landed also ignited.
Another villager exploded seconds later after a splash of blood landed on them.
Then another.
The detonations came one after another with deafening force, each blast reducing bodies into torn fragments that rained across the snow while the remaining zombies screamed and ran in panic.
Old Bram’s expression darkened immediately.
“No… this can’t be!
The creature… it needs them to live as vessels… they can’t die!” He said with desperation and anger in his voice.
A final explosion thundered through the street, smoke slowly rolling outward.
Then a figure stepped out from the smoke.
A thin, pale boy of average height wearing ragged winter clothing stained black with blood and ash stepped out with a smile.
Parasites writhed visibly beneath the skin of his neck, tiny movements crawling under the flesh as blood trickled from his eyes, nose and mouth.
Despite his terrible condition Koda could recognise him immediately.
Riley had finally arrived.
Koda stared in disbelief.
“Riley… you… why?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
But Riley heard him clearly.
The boy glanced around.
“Scorched Earth.” He said, a tired smile appearing on his thin face.
The distant inferno crackled behind his silhouette, making the boy look like a harbinger of destruction.
Entire sections of the village still burned violently from whatever Riley had done.
The air itself felt like it was scorched.
“There’s nothing left to save, everyone is beyond my help, there’s no going back.
It’s not like sitting around and becoming a zombie is any better than going out fighting.” He said, shifting his gaze to the old butcher.
Old Bram reached behind himself and all Koda could hear was the scraping of metal.
The butcher drew a massive meat cleaver from his belt, its thick blade blackened with age and stained darker than dried blood.
Strange veins pulsed faintly along the metal.
The moment the weapon was drawn, Koda’s gut twisted.
Danger.
Real danger.
Bram’s gaze stayed fixed on Riley.
“You stupid little bastard,” the butcher growled.
“You should’ve stayed hidden and rotted away like everyone else.” Riley shrugged weakly.
“I wanted to and I did try… in the beginning at least.” Then he stepped forward with a grin.
Bram moved instantly, crossing the alley in a blur and swung the cleaver sideways with enough force to split a building in half.
Riley barely ducked beneath it, the blade whistling over his head… …before the wall behind him exploded apart.
Not from impact, but from the weapon.
A violent burst of force erupted from the cleaver, shredding stone and snow apart in a cone behind the swing.
Koda’s eyes widened.
‘A memory?
But why didn’t he summon it?’ Riley immediately slammed his palm against Bram’s chest.
Nothing happened.
Until it did.
BOOM!
Bram’s entire torso detonated outward in a thunderous explosion.
The blast swallowed both of them, Koda barely shielding his face from the smoke and debris.
But Old Bram came roaring out of the smoke immediately, bleeding and burning.
But alive.
His apron had been shredded apart, revealing thick muscle blackened from the explosion beneath it.
Riley staggered backward, breathing heavily.
More and more parasites pushed beneath the skin around his jaw now, the effects of his flaw becoming more and more noticeable.
Bram noticed too.
“You’re rotting pretty quick there, what a mess.
Such an extreme price for power and I haven’t even used my own yet.” Riley smiled faintly.
“I guess it is pretty extreme.” The butcher roared and attacked again.
Not holding back.
The cleaver tore through the alley in massive arcs that released explosive shockwaves with every swing, forcing Riley backward again and again while walls burst apart around them.
Riley touched the ground, turning it into an explosive.
KABOOM!!
Bram was forced sideways.
Riley touched a collapsing wall.
BOOM!!
Wooden fragments blasted through the air like shrapnel.
The awakened boy fought like a cornered animal now, constantly retreating while turning everything he touched into a bomb.
Buildings erupted around them.
Frozen carts detonated into splinters and even the snow itself blasted upward whenever Riley’s fingers brushed against it.
But Bram continued advancing relentlessly.
The butcher tanked through explosions that would’ve killed any ordinary awakened, his huge body augmented by his unusual aspect tearing through smoke while his enchanted cleaver split the world apart around him.
Koda watched desperately from the edge of the alley, trying to think of a strategy.
Riley could hurt Bram, but not enough, not fast enough to kill him before succumbing to the infection.
Riley swiped his hand against the air itself.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the very space between them exploded.
Koda’s ears rang as compressed air detonated with extreme force, blasting Bram backward through the side of a ruined building.
The alley vanished beneath smoke and Riley dropped to one knee, coughing violently.
Blood spilled from his mouth onto the snow.
The parasites were everywhere now.
One burst out from his wrist, then wriggled back inside.
Koda felt sick just looking at him.
“You idiot.” Bram’s voice rumbled through the smoke.
A massive figure emerged from the rubble, burned, bleeding and somehow still walking.
The butcher’s left eye was nowhere to be seen, but his grip on the cleaver remained firm.
Riley forced himself upright again and spat, “you just don’t die.” Old Bram smiled coldly.
“Neither do you.” Then he flew forward and swung his cleaver down.
Riley barely avoided the strike, but Bram immediately slammed his shoulder into him hard enough to launch him across the alley.
Riley hit the ground rolling before trying to rise… But Bram grabbed him by the throat.
Koda’s stomach dropped.
The butcher lifted Riley effortlessly off the ground while the boy clawed violently, causing many minor explosions to run across the man’s arm.
“Look at you…” Old Bram growled.
“You’re already dead.” Riley’s hand grabbed Bram’s arm.
BOOM!
The blast tore flesh apart from Bram’s forearm, but failed to break the grip.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Bram snarled through the pain and slammed Riley against the wall hard enough to collapse the building.
The parasites beneath Riley’s flesh writhed violently, spreading across his neck and jaw like living veins.
His eyes were beginning to glaze over, he was losing his humanity.
Koda looked around frantically.
He could see smoke.
Fire.
Debris.
Then, his eyes landed on a shattered lantern nearby, spilling flaming oil across the snow.
A plan formed in his head instantly, a very stupid and painful plan, but a plan.
Koda grabbed the burning lantern, flames immediately burning his forearm.
It nearly made him scream, but he ran anyway.
Old Bram was too focused on Riley to notice him, so Koda lunged forward and slammed the molten lantern into the butcher’s face.
Fire exploded across his skin, he roared in shock as Koda drove his thumb violently into the damaged eye Riley had destroyed earlier.
The giant staggered back.
The butcher bellowed in rage as blood and burning skin splattered across the snow.
Then Riley smiled weakly in Bram’s grip.
And that weak smile turned into a savage grin as he placed both hands against the butcher’s wide, bare chest.
KAAA—BOOOOOOM!!