by Ryan Tang
Frog Mask shook the sack, and then his torso emerged. It too had been cut off from the rest of his body, this time at the waist. Another shake and then his two legs plopped out, each of them sawn apart at the groin.
Pure Force giggled.
"Isn't that funny? I wanted to see the Surgeon's face. She didn't give a shit about him, but she would have been incensed to see someone hurt someone associated with her collection."
Reader screamed and screamed.
Pure Force ignored her. She lazily kicked Gale's head, causing it to roll across the floor. It hit Reader, and she screamed even louder.
Gallant just stared.
It didn't make any sense.
It was so pointlessly cruel.
Why would they do something like this?
It didn't make any sense.
"What about...what about the grace period?"
Pure Force laughed.
"Oh, I declared it. Sent it straight to the Namers. Wasn't my fault you guys weren't paying attention. I said it loud and clear – the Surgeon and all her allies."
Gallant's mind whirled. How did that make sense? Declaring a war that nobody knew about?
But then Pure Force stepped forward, and Gallant couldn't think anymore.
"Let's get rid of them before the Surgeon comes. If we thought Gale was funny, it'll be even funnier when she sees what we've done to these three. She actually cares about them, in her own weird little way."
Pure Force pulled the hammer off her back and charged. Her men drew their weapons and stormed into the room.
Gallant raised the gun, aimed, and fired. It was easy from so close. Pure Force was big and strong, but none of that made any difference when she had a gun.
There was a loud bang. The Eternium weapon was hot in her hand.
The big woman teetered backward, and then hit the floor with a thunderous crash. Her hammer dropped to the floor. She stared into the air as she rested on a thick pool of her own blood. The Eternium bullet had buried itself deep in her forehead, gazing back like a void in reality.
Her men screamed.
"Oh my god! What did she do?"
"Pure Force!"
"Oh my god, she's dead!"
At least half of them threw down their weapons and ran, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Gallant screamed with them. She'd never seen anything like this before. This was even worse than what the Namers had done.
____
It felt like Gallant was watching from very far away.
She and Lonely had killed The Tooth Man. She'd known that, but she hadn't had to see it. Lonely had cleaned off the entire hangar, even scouring all the poisoned Eternium. And she'd seen a dead body before when the Namer blew up the twins. But the twins had deserved it. The Namer had told her so. And it'd been easier to look away.
This time she'd done it herself, and the body was right in front of her. Gallant had blown a hole in her head! Pure Force deserved it for killing Reader's husband. But still! Gallant had squeezed the trigger and then blown a hole in the woman's head!
The Lords in the back stormed into the room, but they faltered once they saw what happened to their leader. Some of them screamed and ran too, causing a traffic jam that bordered up the entire corridor.
But others kept running forward.
"Who cares? Who cares?"
"He'll get mad at us if we stop!"
"Look, we knew people would die anyways!"
It felt like she saw everything from very far away. All Range and her hydra's head were holding the door, but then something happened, and the great serpent vanished into a puddle of blood. Reader was still sobbing and crying. The Lords that entered the room trampled the remains of her husband. She raised her head and blue fire built in her hands.
One moment later, it vanished.
That was strange. Why couldn't her friends protect themselves?
"Who cares about her? We have more than enough people."
"They have no weapons, and we have the Heretic! The time is now!"
"Numbers! It's all about the numbers! Remember what the No Familiar Freak showed us!"
Reader stumbled to her feet. The blue fire built again, but it vanished just as quickly as it had before.
"Just stab her! Stab her! We have the Heretic! Just stab her!"
"There's nothing she can do!"
Adrienne wailed.
"I can't freeze anybody! What's happening?"
Her Intuition leaned forward.
"I think...I think it has to be me."
Adrienne answered for her. Gallant still couldn't think.
"Yeah."
Her dead hand rose again, tearing straight out of her pocket. It flickered, and the gelatinous layer returned. This time, her other hand joined it.
Someone screamed.
"No! No! No! Wait!"
"What is she doing? What's the Heretic doing?"
"How can she do that! She can't be doing that! Isn't the Heretic here?"
"He is! I can't bond!"
"Knock out the Heretic! We need to use Familiars too! What the hell is happening!"
Her Intuition growled.
"Too late."
The walls of the room heated and heated, burbling and bubbling and then vanishing completely.
The Vapor State Eternium shot forwards. The corridor crumbled.
All the attackers died.
CHAPTER 14: BIG BROTHER, PART 2
"Stop following me. You need to leave."
The plain-faced man twisted and turned, easily fitting his body between the narrow gaps in the Surgeon's enormous line of guests. Lonely didn't have Bringer's effortless grace. He just barged his way through, shouting out apologies as he continued his pursuit.
"You need to leave. Take your Paragon and leave. You risk everything by being here. The battle was registered hours ago. It might already be too late."
"I need to get my sister."
"The Surgeon took her to her chambers. She's dead. There's nothing you can do."
"Dead?"
The world stopped until Bringer sighed.
"Well, maybe not dead yet. I'll do my best to put in a good word for her if she's still alive. But there's nothing you can do. And the odds aren't good."
Lonely sprinted forward.
Bringer suddenly brought his fist around and sucker punched him. Lonely crashed to the floor. His nose felt awfully numb. He blinked out stars. The plain-faced man vanished into the crowd.
Lonely's tablet buzzed.
"Forget Gallant. Get out of here."
He shook his head.
At the end of the day, Bringer really was a fool. He'd seen the curse of the Constellation, but there were some things he just didn't understand. Asking him to leave without Gallant was just like asking him to bring down the Namers.
He whirled desperately around, trying to discern where the Surgeon might have taken his sister. The Surgeon's Castlecraft was massive, even larger than the enhanced Brightwalls. Just as soon as he saw a corridor that looked like it might have been promising, there was a tremendous explosion from directly behind him.
"What? What was that?"
"Oh my god!"
"What the hell just happened?"
"What were they thinking? They were supposed to kill her and get out!"
The entire corridor had crumbled to dust.
A massive line of Nobles flew backward on a roaring tide of shining Eternium mist. Their skin dissolved. The dust pierced holes in their bones and muscles. Blood spurted throughout the walls of the Castlecraft.
The man beside Lonely turned and screamed.
"What the hell? What happened? What happened?"
"They said there was a Heretic! Where's the Heretic? Why could she attack?"
"How did this happen! It was supposed to be safe!"
The man turned and ran. A roughshod Eternium mask clattered to the floor behind him, landing right between Lonely's feet. The carved dolphin stared back at him.
&
nbsp; Lonely sprinted toward the destroyed corridor. There was only one person who could summon Vapor State Eternium. He winced as he stomped over the enormous pile of desiccated corpses. Bits of blood and bone spurted into the air as he fought his way through. He stared diligently ahead forward, but there was only so much he could do. He couldn't ignore the loose bodies beneath his feet. He couldn't ignore the bits that caught against his face and hair. And there were other smells too, like freshly eaten food, that only compounded the horror.
What had Gallant done? It had to be her.
He'd been distracted lately, but not even he had realized that Gallant could command Eternium in its Vapor State. The last time he'd checked, she immediately lost control every time she summoned it. Had this just been a lucky outburst?
Lonely panted as he forced his way forward. Then he retched. Pushing his way past the blood and guts forced him to breathe heavily, but breathing heavily forced him to smell the endless death beneath him.
From somewhere across the room, Bringer was trying to rally his alliance.
"It's fine! It's fine! They said the Surgeon wasn't in the room! Just find her and kill her! It's all about the Surgeon!"
Lonely cursed. Bringer had other pawns. It only took Lonely a moment to realize what was happening. Undoubtedly, Bringer wanted to kill the Surgeon because of her defense pacts. That wouldn't fit his image of a glorious Constellation. With the defense pact, people would have been freed, at least for a while. Nobody would have wanted to attack the combined forces of Lonely, the Surgeon, and All Range unless they somehow created an even bigger alliance, and it'd be difficult - if not impossible - to find the pretext to do so.
The ground was piled up with human remains over two feet high. Lonely peered down the corridor and saw that things were even worse outside the Surgeon's corridors. There, the mound of blood and bones was almost like a wall.
He shook his head. He remembered Bringer stating that the Namers were against the House battles, but now he wasn't so sure. They'd failed to stop this utter slaughter. It seemed absurd. What sort of world did they live in where you could just massacre guests at a party? Bringer said he'd submitted his request earlier, but clearly nobody had seen it. How could you declare a total war without people seeing it?
Lonely kept pushing forward. The world of Ransom battles had been just as ridiculous. How could someone like The Tooth Man legally starve and murder him and Gallant?
The screaming crowd repeatedly pushed him back away from the corridor.
He could barely tell who was one of Bringer's assassins and who was a terrified guest. The crowd fled together, screaming and howling and sprinting for the hangar. Some of them even tried summoning their Paragons. A few yanked out keys and shouted, but their machines simply slammed into the Eternium walls of the Surgeon's Castlecraft.
Someone, either an assassin or just another idiot, saw him and screamed.
"It's the No Familiar Freak! Heretic! Heretic! Turn off the Heretic! I can handle him with my Familiar!"
He dramatically pointed his finger.
"I declare a House battle!"
That was illegal of course, but Lonely had no time to tell this man the rules. The other Noble streaked toward him, hunger blazing in his eyes.
Lonely pulled a fist back and punched the man as hard as he could. His assailant stumbled on a stray bone and fell to the floor. Lonely kicked him hard in the head. The man groaned and then fainted.
Lonely frowned.
The unconscious man had shouted something interesting. Apparently, Bringer had recruited a Heretic for today's assault. Lonely had spent years trying to find one for his fights against The Tooth Man. Eventually, he'd given up after countless fruitless searches. Heretics were almost the opposite of Lonely himself. They were rare individuals who'd been born with a Familiar that they couldn't bond with, and they had the peculiar ability to instantly nullify the bond between a Familiar and a Noble. They were universally feared and disdained, but they lived exceptionally well. Most of them served under the patronage of mighty Nobles like the Singer or even as an aide to Namers.
He didn't know how Bringer had found one, but it meant he was at a tremendous advantage. The Heretic's range was large enough to cover the entire Castlecraft. For now, any Lord had to fight Lonely on equal footing. He knelt and searched the unconscious man's things. Lonely's defeated assailant had a sword at his waist, and two lumps of raw Eternium he'd meant to forge into further weapons.
Lonely took the sword and then forged the Eternium bits into a handgun. Without the protection of Familiars, ranged weapons reigned supreme.
The man stumbled back to his feet. His mouth twisted into a snarl.
Lonely looked away and shot him.
The hot blood splashed over his face. He fired a few more times, just to get the man's Familiar too. It sounded like he'd brought his with him, but there hadn't been a large tank.
"Oh my god!"
"What is that thing?"
"Gun! He's got a gun!"
Lonely whirled around, but nobody was trying to attack him. The Lords continued fleeing. The young Noble turned back to the bloody muck, thinking that he was finally free. Then there was an enormous crash, and the wall crumbled. Two Paragons loomed high above the room. The first was the Surgeon's machine, blue with a large school of orbiting fish. The other was black and white, with immensely thick armor and no head. Instead, the grinning face stared from the stomach. Lonely recognized it as once. The Tall Tale's machine was built for hand-to-hand combat.
The Surgeon stared at the room and screamed.
"My quarters! My quarters!"
The Tall Tale wailed.
"No! My sister! Reader! Reader!"
Bringer shouted again.
"Get her! Get her!"
But he might as well have been telling Lonely to attack the Namers. Nobody wanted to strike at the Surgeon's Paragon, especially while they were out of their machines. An enormous tide of fleeing bodies spirited for the hangar.
Lonely frowned. Bringer's difficulties with the Conquest would go deeper than merely the lack of House battles. The only reason Lonely had joined with the plain-faced man was that he'd needed to survive. Even united, the Lords only served their own self-interest. They'd probably thought this had been an easy opportunity to kill the Surgeon and take her spoils, but now that the plan had failed, they'd broken completely.
The Surgeon roared again.
"What is the meaning of this? Why did you attack my room! Why did you attack my collection of extraordinary women?"
A few idiots screamed and tore off their masks. They kneeled on the floor.
"Surrender! Surrender! I surrender!"
The Surgeon splattered them with a massive outstretched hand. Lonely instinctively winced, but there were no rules in House battles. You could refuse to accept surrenders. The laws were clear that the Surgeon's behavior was legal, and the Namers had written the laws themselves. Even Bringer's ambush attack had somehow been legal. Despite what Bringer insisted, it seemed like the Namers had no problems with House battles, at least not in this instance.
The Nobles continued streaming through the hangar.
The Surgeon screamed.
"Oh no, you don't! No escapes! Not until you tell me what has happened."
But of course, nobody listened to her. They ran and ran. Only Bringer tried to kill her.
A massive launcher with an Eternium spear poked out of the surging crowd. There was a tremendous thump, and it soared toward the Surgeon's machine. The blue and white Eternium rippled, but it couldn't liquidate, not with the Heretic in the room. The Heretic cut off all bonds, which included summoning Liquid State Eternium. It was why Lonely had been so desperate to find one. He still didn't know how Bringer had found his.
There was a tremendous explosion. The blue machine rocked and jerked back. The cockpit was completely broken open. The Surgeon's eyes were wide with terror.
Bringer whooped.
"Get her! Get her
! Look! She's vulnerable!"
Bringer angled for another shot, but the rest of the crowd hadn't noticed the Surgeon's vulnerability. The plain-faced man was swept out with the rest of them. Moments later, Lonely saw his strange masked machine soaring away. His tablet buzzed.
"Did you get out?"
He thought for a moment before answering. He thought about ignoring him, but Bringer had seemed terribly anxious for Lonely to leave. Perhaps the plain-faced man could offer some assistance or give Lonely some knowledge about the remaining assassins.
"No."
There was a long pause.
"Ah. Well, that's bad for you, but good for the Conquest. Sorry for what will happen. Trust me when I say you would have been a key piece under my original plans. If Clear (the Heretic) is there, let her know I'm sorry too. But I don't need to beat the Namers if I can bring everyone together."
Lonely just shook his head and continued wading through to the corridor. He had no idea what Bringer was talking about, but if Bringer wouldn't help save Gallant, then he and Lonely were through.
He'd always be grateful to Bringer for saving him from The Tooth Man, but his plain-faced mentor was a madman. Lonely didn't even know how useful bringing everyone together would be. From the looks of it, every single member of Bringer's alliance was either already died or soon to be slaughtered. They might have a chance if they banded together, but they were trampling each other in their desperation to flee.
Lonely pressed through the muck again. The sphere pressed against his pocket, but it was useless. He didn't have anyone's Eternium shards other than The Tooth Man's. Besides, there was nobody for him to attack.
By then, the Surgeon's fish had blocked out the path to the hangar. Eternium sang as they swam back and forth through the docked Paragons, savaging and crippling them so that nobody could escape.
"How dare you invade my home?"
"How dare you destroy my party with this nonsense about House battles?"
The Tall Tale was still screaming for her sister, but she didn't dare move forward. The Surgeon had no such qualms. Her Paragon stomped through the crowd, crushing everyone who stood in her way.
"I'm declaring a House battle on everyone here!"