Chapter 250: Brilliance

Waaaa!

The thing's high-pitched, repulsive, hideous scream echoed through the cave. It resonated and struck directly at the minds and souls of everyone present. 

A deadly sickle that strikes deep within the individual, wounding them in the worst possible way.

Horrible ravings pounded into the knight's mind, their intensity so great that the red-haired man felt his sanity slip from his grasp for an instant and fall into an abyss.

The Sunfire's armor cracked and shattered almost completely, the webbing of the threads breaking with a resounding, high-pitched "SAP!" along with all the surrounding threads. Horrible wounds appeared where the red-haired man's body had been left unprotected. Protruding wounds, muscles contracting and expanding in hideous and disgusting ways, like hearts growing out from under the skin.

Adryan's vision was almost completely stained a hideous crimson, his eyes filled with blood until they nearly exploded, the veins in them pulsing grotesquely like maggots. Thick tears of blood streamed not only from his eyes but also from his nose, ears, and mouth.

Black veins throbbed beneath his skin, ready to explode, and the skin itself took on a greenish-black hue, as if beneath Adryan's skin was a tree trying to pull up its roots but failing miserably.

"How are you holding up, Princess?! You can still move, can't you?!" Flora asked in alarm as she saw what was happening to the redhead's body. She was immensely relieved that the screams weren't getting through to her.

'He wasn't wrong when he said that nothing would happen to me as long as I was inside him...'

"Bit busy," Adryan growled, clutching his mind with all his might.

Waaaa!

The thing continued screaming as if to show its enormous frustration at being born prematurely. The scream was filled with hatred and resentment towards the culprit.

chiiiiiii

But a sound was drowned out underneath that loud and annoying scream. A soft chirping that struggled to overcome the screaming.

The golden armor was trying to regenerate itself, but the incessant wailing of the creature was making the process immensely difficult. 

Every time it did regenerate it would shortly break again, the previous wounds, which had regained their natural color, returned to their black-green colour.

Chiiiiiii

"haha...huff!...haha...huff!.... Hahahahaha!" A tired, excited laugh escaped his bloodied lips, accompanied by ragged, labored breaths. 

Despite the horrible mutations and injuries to his body, Adryan still held his right arm up, supported by his left. A ball of white fire with flashes of gold in his palm shrank rapidly as it let out a faint shriek.

His eyes, almost completely red with blood, struggled to see the fleshy hand emerging from the smoke. Bloodshot teeth showed in the maniacal grin on the red-haired man's bloody face.

'If you think that's enough to stop me, you don't know me!' the redhead thought madly as he quickly charged another plasma beam.

While his soul was at its most sensitive since he awoke in this body, after so many experiences with the ravings of the Greatest Rapper, and the most recent one just moments ago, his body was now that of Sequence 6, the Tauk Millenium Chant that strengthened him even more, and added that the armor had taken much of the damage...

He could still fight!

"Ha...ha..."

Huff! Huff! Huff!

But even with all the layers of protection he had, the proximity to the scream made the damage still severe.

'I can feel it... I can feel my mind slipping away every moment that little shit breathes... At this point, I will lose control soon - no... I am losing control now!' Not only could Adryan feel himself falling into an endless abyss, but he could also feel something inside him dying, being ripped out and brutally murdered slowly and painfully.

The intense emotions he had felt since the ambush of the five mockers began to die, replaced by a cold and cruel indifference. 

Soon, he would revert to the former Adryan, and this time, he wasn't sure he could come back from it. He would be no different from a devil, or even worse, for at least those bats took pleasure in tormenting humans.

The Adryan that came out would find no pleasure in anything; he would be an empty vessel. The very thought of what he would be capable of without a moral...

Huff... Huff...

''ha...haha...''

Huff! Huff! 

"Huff... Huff... Haha... AHAHAHAHAHA WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW?!!!" A mad cackle erupted from the depths of his damaged and battered soul, his smile sharpening to the point that it could cut through the hardest metal.

That he was not only losing control but his emotions as well?

That he would soon no longer be himself?

Why did it matter?

More than 30 million lives rest on his back right now! 

This was not the time to be a bitch!

"AS LONG AS I GIVE YOU A SCRATCH! I'LL GLADLY GIVE YOU EVERYTHING I AM!!" Adryan roared as the intensity of the screeching in his right palm increased.

He could feel the regeneration repairing the damage to his body caused by the screaming, he could deal with the out-of-control and lack of emotion later!!!!

The priority was to damage that thing, no matter what!!!!

A normal attack wouldn't work on this thing. He was sure of that! He could see that despite the seemingly soft red flesh that made up the arm, it was too hard!

Only another Plasma Beam could damage it!

"ADRYAN WATCH OUT!!!" Before the attack could be fully charged, Flora's alarmed voice howled in his mind, and the red-haired man's bloodshot eyes widened in surprise.

"SEVERE!" An inhuman voice, and what seemed to be more than one voice, roared from beside him as the Doctor stepped out of the shadows like a bolt of lightning, wielding a new crimson scythe, the blade emitting red sparks.

'He can still move?!!' Adryan stared in disbelief as the sickle struck the palm of his hand where the orb of light was.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

A huge explosion erupted as the sphere of light lost its balance. Two plumes of smoke emerged from the explosion, and two bodies hit the ground hard. The screaming stopped the moment the sphere exploded, distracting whatever was behind the smoke.

'Shit...' Adryan grunted, his face on the ground, a ringing in his ear, and a slight burning in his right arm. His right eye was closed - no, he could feel the emptiness in it! And his other eye was no better, he could see a white patch.

The corners of his remaining good eye were stained black, but clenching his teeth, he clung to consciousness with all his might.

'Not yet... Not yet!' Adryan tried to use his arm to get up, but his body did not respond. 

'Get up... get up!!!' Adryan grunted in enormous frustration as he tried to use his head for support, but even that cost him too much.

"Princess... Your bones..." Flora's heavy voice said wearily, "Every single one of them is broken."

The red-haired man's body was twisted and ruined, the armor completely gone, revealing the man's slightly burnt and stunted clothes. There were fractures and places where white bone protruded all over his back, arms, and legs.

By far, the worst wound was his right arm; his right hand was gone, replaced by a stump with a broken white bone protruding from it. Blood was gushing out in ridiculous quantities, already forming a large stain beneath him. Gritting his teeth, Adryan summoned some of the Fire Armor once more to cover him.

'I can't let them know that I can regenerate...' Refusing to lose his trump card, Adryan grunted as he felt the rib that had pierced his lung slowly return to its place.

His regeneration had slowed considerably, now the bones were returning to their place much more slowly than Adryan could afford.

The stump that was his hand began to twist and grow, slowly covering the exposed bone that was also recovering.

"You need to wait a few seconds for the regeneration to work-"

"I don't have a few seconds!" Adryan cut the demigoddess off as he tried to get up again with his injured arm, strands coming out of his body and wrapping around the bones coming out of it and all the others.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

With a resounding and sickly snap and snap, the threads forced the bones back into place, eliciting a grunt from the red-haired man. No longer having to worry about getting the bones back into place, the regeneration sped up a little and began to restore the damaged flesh and organs.

With both eyes regenerated, he looked down at the ground with blurred vision. He could barely make out his hands.

Huff Huff

A gasp left him, and swallowing some of his blood to soothe his dry throat, Adryan stood shakily. The feeling of broken bones being held violently in place by his strings made him grunt again, but he ignored the enormous pain it caused him and took a step.

"Not yet..." He murmured with cold but determined eyes as he looked at the spot where the Doctor had exploded his attack. Obeying his will, golden fire and more threads emerged from his body, enveloping him and forming his armor, only the process was much slower than before.

He looked around for Joseph and Tyre, but he couldn't see them anywhere. This only made him more anxious.

'Where are those bastards...'

Tap tap

A body that could not even be described as human appeared from the rubble where he was standing. It wobbled a little as it moved.

All the skin was gone, along with the white suit, which was reduced to rags. The blackish muscle was so thin that Adryan could see the bone. His face was gone, leaving only crooked teeth and extremely sunken and completely black eyes. One of his arms was completely gone, and the remaining one held the scythe, which now had a slight golden sheen on the tip.

The Doctor, now looking more like dried flesh, raised his bony hand with the scythe towards Adryan, whose face was covered by his golden helmet. To the knight's surprise, the bony hand brought the golden blade of the scythe close to the doctor's face.

A voice - no, a heavy, soft murmur - left his lipless mouth, spirituality speaking the words his ruined mouth could no longer utter.

"Harvest..."

Crack! Crack! Crack!!!

Suddenly, all the armor covering Adryan shattered like glass. He died as quickly as a sail falling into the sea.

A look of disbelief on his face as his eyebrows rose to touch his red hair. He immediately jumped back to gain more distance as he tried to summon his armour again but found himself unable!

His control over the fire had been severed!

'It doesn't matter! The separation will only last a few seconds. I just have to hold on-' Adryan could barely think of that as a huge cut appeared on his chest, quickly gushing out a large amount of blood.

His body staggered a little from the sudden cut before another appeared on his face, cutting an eye, then on his arm, leg, torso, and feet. From one second to the next, Adryan's entire body had been cut!

Behind the red-haired man, the shadows boiled slightly and grew, two blurs emerging from them and shooting towards him. Joseph and Tyre, the former having carried Tyre through the shadows, rushed towards him. Both with tears of blood and red eyes, the weeping had affected them too.

"Don't you know what one-on-one is?" the red-haired man growled in frustration.

His one eye burned with anger. Even though he was covered in severe cuts, he moved deftly, ignoring the pain of the cuts gushing a ridiculous amount of blood as stitches began to close them in an attempt to aid regeneration.

Adryan leaped backward, dodging the missile that was the zombie that crashed and shattered the ground. A layer of ice began to spread from his feet, making it difficult for him to move. 

Turning, Adryan barely managed to dodge the slash of the devil's magma sword, which shattered the ground at his feet, incapacitating him but also destroying the layer of ice.

Not wanting to give himself another window to be attacked, the red-haired man opened his mouth.

Shiiiiiiiiiierrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Another Wraith shriek attacked Joseph's spirit body, whose eyes began to weep blood, and he froze. Not missing the opportunity, threads manifested around Adryan and wrapped around the demon, trapping him as a powerful fist connected with his stomach, knocking all the air out of the devil and making him spit blood. Adryan followed up with an uppercut to Joseph's chin, lifting the demon a few inches into the air along with some bloody sharp teeth.

Adryan tightened the threads around Joseph, strengthening them with his spirituality, and grabbed them with his right hand, throwing the devil at a still-staggering Tyre.

Both collided and fell to the ground, and Adryan reached out to them with his open palm and focused his spirituality on the Tauk Millenium in his stomach.

Even if he didn't have his fire, he still had other means of attack!

"SU-"

Slash! Plop!

Adryan coughed up blood and lowered his one good, stunned eye to the crimson blade shooting from the center of his chest. He could feel it piercing his heart.

"Shit!" Flora cursed loudly at the scene before her.

The Doctor, still half in Adryan's shadow, looked at the man he had sliced through with a dark gleam in his black eyes.

"Son of a bitch..." Adryan said haltingly, blood dripping from his mouth. His strength was quickly leaving him and the blackness at the corners of his eyes was growing.

"Without your golden armor in the way, the shadows can finally touch you~" The Doctor's voice repeated in a dark echo. A black tongue flicked out, and the 'man' licked his yellowed teeth.

With a wet sound, the scythe continued its slash and came out of the red-haired man's right hip, tearing everything in its path. A large amount of blood flowed from the wound but instead of falling to the ground, it was absorbed by the scythe and more of Adryan's strength went with it, now he could barely stand. A powerful kick sent him flying toward a smiling Tyre and Joseph.

An ice-covered fist connected with his knee, knocking him into one, followed by a punch to the side of his face, knocking out several teeth. Ice began to spread from the impact zones, along with a black smear.

After this brief assault, the zombie retreated, and the devil's claws grabbed and sank into the redhead's neck, choking him and nearly breaking his neck.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

With a scream of hatred, Joseph lifted Adryan's body and slammed it into the ground, shattering the stone and taking the air out of his lungs.

The devil lifted the magma sword in his hand and brought it down with great force!

Plam!

Molten, sharp rock pierced the red-haired man's chest, and Adryan coughed up a great deal of blood with his eyes wide open. The sword passed completely through him and sank deep into the rock beneath him.

Not satisfied with having destroyed the man's chest, Joseph, still holding the neck of a stiff Adryan, squeezed hard and sank his claws as deep as he could into the man's throat. Then, he pulled his claws out with great force, tearing the man's throat completely apart.

Adryan's lips opened and moved slightly, no sound escaping from them, just a bloody regurgitation. He tried to raise his head, but almost as soon as he did, it lost its strength and fell back to the ground.

Everything seemed to stop at that moment.

Joseph held the burning hilt of his sword for a few seconds before releasing it, staggering a little and straightening his back with great difficulty.

He stared with empty eyes at the fallen knight's body, who had a lost gaze staring blankly into the void. His throat was torn and spurting blood. Adryan lay limp on the ground with a melted magma sword through his chest and stuck in the rock.

"Ha...ha..."

"He..."

Unable to contain himself any longer, Joseph dropped the sword and backed up a few steps, completely out of breath. His skin turned pale, and his musculature shrank, returning to a normal human appearance.

Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff! 

Thud

As he fell to his knees with almost no strength left, Joseph could barely keep himself from passing out. His entire body was covered in severe burns, and he could feel several of his bones broken, with one piercing his lung.

But despite the pain, a huge, tetric smile graced his face, "He's dead..." the demon said with difficulty.

The zombie that staggered over to him froze for a moment, his expression showing surprise and disbelief. As if he didn't quite believe what the man had said.

Tyre looked down at the limp body a few feet away from Joseph, a mad grin growing on his face as he began to shake slightly.

"Hahaha! Finally! For a moment, I thought he was going to kill us!" Tyre laughed in relief as he fell to the ground, completely exhausted. 

The Doctor looked at all this and said nothing, his black eyes shining with satisfaction. The crimson scythe in his hands lost its shine and went limp, then turned liquid and began to enter the Doctor's body, whose black muscles gained a little more color but still retained their rotting appearance.

A childish giggle echoed through the cave, and despite their wounds, the three men rose and knelt before the fleshy arm, their backs to the body.

"O Divine Vessel! Please forgive us for not being able to protect you! We will do anything to be forgiven for our terrible sin!" The doctor begged, his forehead touching the ground. Tears of sadness fell from his eyes as he failed to achieve his goal.

...

As 'She' hovered over the Blood Tree, watching what was happening within its deep roots, a single tear trickled down 'Her' cheek.

A soft sigh escaped 'Her' lips. Her crimson eyes shone with a slight disappointment, drowned out by a great sadness. 

"Another failure..." She whispered and closed her eyes in resignation. The worst-case scenario had happened.

Backlund has fallen.

Even with 'Her' eyes closed, a delicate hand slid over the soft, cold metal of the box in 'Her' arms.

She opened 'Her' eyes again, which were now pure ice. Her mouth opened.

"In the- !"

A small exclamation of surprise left 'Her' beautiful lips, crimson eyes glowing with emotion, melting the coldness of before.

The battle at the roots wasn't over yet!

...

Seeing that the guard of the trio in front of them had completely disappeared, Flora roared, "NOW ADRYAN!!!"

The scarlet eye that had stared into the lost nothingness suddenly regained its edge.

Gritting his teeth as he felt the fiery blade buried in his chest, several threads began to wrap around his arms and legs. Strengthening these threads and concentrating, Adryan focused on this one action.

No other thoughts in his mind, just one. 

To get up.

He couldn't feel anything from his neck down; the magma sword had destroyed his spine. But being paralyzed didn't mean he couldn't move in other ways!

Using his strings and strengthening them with more spirituality, his fingers trembled one moment, and his feet planted on the ground the next.

 As if his body were a puppet, he rose from the ground without using his arms. The magma sword continued its path, sinking deeper and deeper into his chest until it pierced him completely, leaving Adryan completely bent over. A huge fiery hole burned and smoked in his chest, but it was already closing.

Without waiting for his spine to regenerate, he controlled his body to lunge at his nearest enemy!

Joseph's closed eyes snapped open. His expression bathed in fear from the sense of danger that screamed so loudly it left a slight ringing in his ears.

Before he could react to the impending danger, a weight fell onto his back. Legs wrapped around his waist and arms locked around his neck, nails digging deep into his face and scalp.

With one of his lungs largely regenerated and the hole in his throat closed, Adryan let out a hollow laugh.

"Thanks for warming me up, Joseph... I was getting a bit cold~"

 The familiar but rather hoarse voice whispered in his ear, and the demon paled.

"No..." The man whispered in complete shock.

<DEATH DEATH>

"You don't mind... If I return the favor?" Adryan asked with a bloody smile, blood dripping from his mouth.

Hearing the new voice, Tyre, and the Doctor turned to watch the scene in shock. 

Adryan just winked at them with a single tired eye.

The next second, his and Joseph's bodies burst into golden flames. Turning them both into a holy bonfire that burned away all that was unclean and sinful.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." The intensity of the flames muffled Joseph's terrible howl of agony. The devil slammed his elbow desperately into the redhead's stomach as he tried to free his neck.

The Doctor and Tyre reacted immediately. The former summoned a massive amount of ivy and his blood scythe, while the latter took several steps back in utter horror.

"He wasn't dead?!!! He had a huge hole in his chest! How can he still be alive?!!!" The zombie screamed in horror, earning an extremely annoyed look from the Doctor, who was about to reprimand him.

Waaaaaaa! Waaaaaaa!

Black blood poured from his eyes and the fleshman fell to his knees, his scythe breaking as he fell to the ground without support as Tyre lay sprawled on the ground and began to convulse.

The child's cry sounded annoyed and extremely frustrated, the current development causing it great discomfort.

Waaaaa! Waaaaaa!

The golden bonfire trembled and shrank, fluttering like a candle in a storm, but unlike the candle, the bonfire did not go out.

Blood dripped from his eyes, but the smile on Adryan's face remained exultant. "If I keep a thick layer of fire around me, no matter how much you cry, you won't be able to hurt me as much as you did before; you Failed Abortion!"

Adryan laughed very pleasedly as he increased the flames around him, at the same time the baby cried louder, "Don't worry little one. You're next~"

Joseph fell to his knees and continued to scream in pain, trying to whip his back against the floor in an attempt to free himself from the red head on his back, but he couldn't even do that as he was almost completely immobilized by the threads wrapped around him. 

No matter how desperate his attempts or how deep his nails dug into the flesh of the arm at his neck, Adryan would not let go.

He had become the fly that fell prey to the spider and was being devoured!

"What's the matter? Don't you want to get some sun?!" Adryan laughed with extreme malice.

Joseph's only reaction was to howl even louder. His skin melted, and the tears of blood that fell from his face were turned to ashes by the holy fire.

The desire to transform and try to escape was great, but Joseph knew it was a terrible idea. The transformation would turn him into a complete devil, a being of filth and sin. 

A being that was incredibly weak to the flames of the sun!

Becoming a devil now would mean certain death! At least if he kept his human form, he would have a chance to escape!

Gritting his teeth, Joseph tried to raise his hands to the red-haired man's face, but the movement was too slow. Threads covered his arm, making it difficult to move and causing the man to fall further into the abyss.

His skin not only began to melt but to crack, releasing a black liquid that was removed by the holy fire. His eyes sharpened like a snake's, and blood began to drip from them. He had fallen into the abyss and was about to lose control!

'I don't understand! How is he still alive?! I destroyed his heart, his lungs, and his spine! Even if he survives the first two, he shouldn't be able to move!' Joseph completely lost his composure, his heart was beating incredibly fast and he felt his mind overwhelmed and clumsy.

Why didn't he kill him when he destroyed his chest?!!

No human could survive that!

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made! How could this have happened? Was it necessary to really kill him to cut off his head?!!

'Why didn't I cut off his head?!! Why did I settle for destroying his chest when I could have crushed his skull?! How could I have been so careless?'

<What do you want me to say? You should have ripped my heart out make sure I wouldn't come back for yours~>

The words spoken before the battle began were recalled to the Devil's mind, the man's nearly melted eyes widening in shock as the realization hit him.

His stomach sank, along with any sense or desire to fight.

The man had somehow planted the idea of going for the heart and ignoring the head!

That's why his master went for the heart instead of the head when he attacked the bastard from behind!

'From the beginning of the battle, we were in the palm of his hand...' The feeling in his body left him at the same time as his vision was lost as his eyes melted completely.

"Monster..." Joseph muttered, drawing an insanely pleased chuckle from the redhead.

"Coming from you, that's a compliment"

"Princess, I know you want to make him pay, but we don't have that luxury now! You need to kill him quickly!" Flora reminded the redhead, who let out a grunt before nodding slightly.

No matter how much he wanted to make Joseph suffer, Adryan knew he couldn't waste time with his revenge.

So he quickly moved his hands to the demon's head. And with all his strength, enhanced by Tauk Millenium, he twisted it around.

 CRACK!

Joseph's neck snapped with a resounding crack, but not content with that, Adryan formed fiery claws and plunged them into Joseph's skull, injecting a large amount of holy fire directly into his brain, causing tongues of flame to shoot out of the empty sockets and his head to shatter.

PLOP!

Blood and gray matter covered Adryan's face, but it was reduced to ashes by the fire that engulfed him the next moment. His scarlet eyes glowed coldly as he watched the headless corpse fall to the ground with a thud.

A few seconds later, the demon's body was reduced to black ashes, with only a few scraps of clothing remaining.

 A foot stepped on the remains of the clothes, which burned and turned to ash. The black ash did not disperse but began to collect and after a few moments, a jet stone was formed from the ash.

The man's empty scarlet eyes pierced the souls of the duo before him as he grasped the Jet Stone. Adryan immediately felt his emotions fading further, but he ignored it.

Considerable ravings assaulted his mind but Adryan ignored them, he was used to worse. He imbued the stone with his spirituality and it quickly turned a fiery red. In the next instant, a magma blade formed in Adryan's hand as his musculature swelled slightly, but just as quickly returned to normal, black smoke billowing from his body. His fire gloves, along with the mesh of his threads, kept him from being burned by the lava's touch.

"Princess, I don't recommend it. Using the characteristics directly is very dangerous; the negative effects could be fatal." Flora commented, but the man just shook his head gently.

"It's alright. I can handle it. At this point, everything is useful. Even this junk..." Adryan muttered as he clenched the sword tightly in his hand. The mere touch of it gave him both disgust and enormous satisfaction—disgust at who it belonged to and satisfaction that this monster was already dead. 

"Flora... Do you think you can steal a second power?" his lips twitched slightly, but no sound came out.

"I'm not sure... I think so? What do you want to do with..." Quickly realizing what the man was about to do, Flora grunted uncomfortably, "I can try. But success will depend on what you know about this thing. And if it works, I'll undoubtedly pass out.

"It could easily take me several months to recover. Do you think you can survive that long without me?" 

Nodding inwardly, Adryan squeezed the hilt tightly, "I'm counting on you, Miss Worm."

"If this works, try to stay out of trouble until I come back, alright? I'm tired of waking up to find you role-playing weird sexual games with your enemies."

"Heh... No promises." Adryan let out a small chuckle and nodded slightly.

Flora snorted, "I saw that coming."

The campfire around him faded as his armor re-formed. He was finally visible to the two men, who tensed at the sight. He raised the magma sword in his hand and pointed it at them with a mocking laugh. Blood dripped from his eyes at the sound of the baby's cry.

"Well? Who will be my new dance partner?" His voice sounded much darker than usual, with a sinister and malevolent edge to it as he used Joseph's characteristics directly. He grinned wickedly, his face covered by the golden helmet, scarlet eyes burning into it.

Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!

Crack... At the baby's cries, half of his helmet shattered, revealing half of his face. Tears of blood streamed from his eyes and nose, his face extremely pale from the loss of blood and black circles under his eyes...

Despite the obvious weariness and exhaustion on his face, the predatory grin that showed his sharp teeth chilled Tyre's blood.

"I promise I won't be gentle~" Adryan said with a sideways grin that the eye in his helmet replied to. His helmet fully regenerated, but it showed some cracks, as did the rest of his armor.

Now that the smoke no longer covered it, Adryan could get a good look at the owner of that grotesque arm.

Like the others, its entire body was skinless, and he could see the red muscle beneath it. Deformed, throbbing muscles with black hairs growing out of them, like weeds eating away at the walls over time. Its other arm was ridiculously small, clearly a deformity from being born prematurely.

Its torso was swollen, with black veins throbbing and pumping pure filth. Its legs were fused into some sort of fleshy, abnormal fishtail, but where the fin should have been, a tube of flesh connected it to the tree, and it seemed to be pumping food into it.

Worst of all was the poor imitation head it had, which was ridiculously large and badly deformed in comparison to the body. Its eyes were too small and clouded with a sickly, disgusting purple. Its nose was non-existent, with only a tiny hole where it should be. Its mouth was ridiculously large and ran down its neck to the middle of its chest. This mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth and a long thin tongue. 

What disgusted Adryan the most was not the brutal and disgusting appearance of the baby, who appeared to be the bastard child that Resident Evil and Silent Hill had made on a moonless night, heavily intoxicated and on various drugs, and whose mother had spent the 9 months injecting horse urine into her veins before giving birth in a sewer, abandoning the little abomination there, later rescued by mutant rats who raised it as one of their own...

No, what disgusted the redhead most was that half of its body was covered in reproductive organs, all female. To add to the bizarre image before him, each one was contracting and making its own sounds as it spat out something resembling nectar.

His eyes were drawn away from the creature and onto the last of the enemies in front of him; Doctor was standing but staggering slightly, while the zombie looked frozen, with a great deal of blood pouring from its eyes and mouth.

'At this rate, he'll lose control soon... Ohoho~ I have an ideaaa~' Adryan smiled mischievously as he licked his lips, his helmet coming off to reveal his face. Turning his attention back to the mutant baby, he let out a snort and shook his head with a clear expression of disgust.

"Tch. So you're a girl, huh?" The baby's crying stopped for a moment. His hideous face crinkled in confusion.

Quickly raising his magma sword, Adryan swung it aside, blocking the crimson energy sickle.

He then raised it high and blocked the slash of an enraged Doctor, "What do you think you're doing, Kenway?!!"

Ignoring the clearly angry man, Adryan let out a chuckle, and his armor blinked. The Doctor's eyes flashed with alarm.

BOOM!

Adryan used his threads to put his bones back together, shouting at the baby as he dodged the attack of the hideous-looking zombie Tyre.

"You certainly got the looks out of your bitch of a mother! I can see from here how cheap and easy it is. That whore must be really proud of you. Look at the party she threw! Quite the baby shower!" Adryan sneered as he clicked his tongue, a spear forming in his free hand.

A spear that left his hand the next second. Tyre could barely form a weak dome of ice that could not withstand the impact and explosion of the spear.

The baby let out a few grunts, and reddish slime dripped from its bizarre mouth. The black veins in its body swelled and throbbed.

Swinging his arm to the side, the flat of the magma sword blocked the lunge of the crimson scythe. Raising his elbow, he blocked the Doctor's furious blow, which, despite being more bone than flesh, had lost little of its power and shook the red-haired man's tired body.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE DIVINE VESSEL LIKE THAT! HERALD"

Boom! Boom!

An explosive fist connected with his face, knocking him a few feet away from Adryan, who ignored him and smiled at the clearly annoyed baby.

"I'm glad to say it, but I'm going to have to cut this party short. When you die, could you tell your mummies to f**k off for me?"

Waaaaaaaa!

His mind clouded slightly, and he staggered a little, but shaking his head, Adryan snorted in delight. Flora, for her part, could only let out a heavy, long sigh, trying to keep herself from screaming in frustration. After all, she had said she had already resigned herself.

"Yes! You also brought out the bitch from both of them. Screaming and crying like newborn rats, just as horrible~" the redhead continued with a chuckle as the baby's crying intensified. 

Then, Adryan took a step aside, dodging the crimson sickle that had left a deep gash in the ground. His gaze fell momentarily on the angry Doctor, who stepped out of the shadows nearby.

"Oh? The stepfather comes to defend his daughter? How honourable~"

"Damn you, Kenway..." The Doctor gritted his teeth in pure hatred, black liquid dripping from his rotting muscles and the scythe in his hand glowing a deep crimson with sparks from its blade.

"How dare you... How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!!" Spittle and black liquid poured from his mouth, pure rage in his tone. The sparks on the scythe became crimson flashes.

"What do you want me to say?! I hate all filth, especially these pieces of shit!" Laughing, Adryan took a leap, propelled by Sky Walk, and spun around, tossing the white spear in his hand, "And that includes you! Damned cockroach!"

The spear flew with power, hissing from the speed, and the Doctor was forced to grab the still-dazed Tyre and leap into the shadows to dodge the attack.

Boom!

He leaped out of the shadows and looked at the area where the spear had struck, leaving a huge bonfire of golden fire.

The Doctor released Tyre and looked around furiously. 

"Where are you?!! Where are you, Kenway?!!" the man roared as the scythe released more sparks. "SHOW YOURSELF, HERALD!!!"

Tyre stared at the golden bonfire from his position on the ground in horror, to see one of his strong comrades die in such a brutal manner was a brutal blow to his weak psyche, and the baby's continued crying only made it worse.

The skin on his cheek began to rot, and the pale skin took on a bluish hue.

"This isn't human. It's a monster." The zombie whispered, half-awake. The mutations in his body continued to grow, and one of his irises had turned white.

Unaware of his changes, Tyre turned to face the Doctor, tears of blood falling from his eyes. The baby's cries had become white noise to him. "My Lord... What shall we do now?"

"You can die for me! That's a good idea!" Adryan roared, leaping from the flames of the campfire as he thrust a white spear at them with his left hand.

Gritting his teeth, the Doctor leaped backward to get away from where the spear would land. 

Tyre just stared at the spear. Both his eyes were white now, and an animal snarl came from his mouth. His skin was completely blue and rotting. At his feet, ice began to spread across the stones like a disease. The veins in his neck swelled, and his eyes bulged slightly from their sockets.

Seeing that only one more blow was needed to close the coffin, Adryan decided that it was finally time to finish them.

His voice was extremely condescending and mocking, completely focused on the baby. "What's the matter, little monster? Are you frustrated because you can't kill me? Do you want to cry? Go ahead and cry! Cry to your mommies and ask them to save you! Maybe if you scream loud enough, they can hear you over all the dicks in their heads! Or maybe not, being the great supreme whores they are, I doubt they give a damn what happens to you!"

The veins in the big little body swelled grotesquely, the reproductive organs began to gush blood, and the thing's huge fist struck the stone, shattering it with ease. Its cloudy purple eyes swelled and glowed bloody as its chest swallowed a huge amount of air.

WAAAAA!

The scream pierced through. The very spirituality that contained such a terrible cry, ripping and destroying the very depths of the beings present. Zombie Tyre's eyes quickly swelled like balloons and exploded in black blood, followed closely by his head and body.

The Doctor and Adryan fell to the ground, their bodies convulsing almost uncontrollably. 

The redhead felt his mind being ripped away and treated like a simple rag, he felt it trying to leave his body. His already difficult vision was tinged with red and part of it turned black. His mind was falling into the abyss and he was moments away from losing control.

But just before that happened, all the noise was silenced.

An enormous calm washed over him, and Adryan felt extremely relaxed. It was as if he could now sleep peacefully and rest in peace.

Lowering his gaze to his torso, a hollow chuckle left his lips. 

Covering it and almost completely invisible, as if it were an illusion or a trick of the mind, was an almost completely transparent black tunic.

'Just in time, Hunters Hallow...' With an inner thank you and not wanting to miss the opportunity he had just created, Adryan reached for the grotesque baby with great effort.

His helmet cracked back into his euphoric bloody grin and quickly reformed. Adryan shouted at the top of his lungs, "STEAL!"

WAAAA... ga?

The baby's heart-wrenching, soul-shattering scream was abruptly cut off, a supremely confused expression on his hideous face that would look cute if you were drunk and drugged enough.

This expression only lasted a few seconds before it turned angry. Looking around, the baby's expression went from angry to slightly dazed.

Its protectors were lying on the ground, all dead and almost none of them intact. They had all been torn apart by the man of golden flames, who was slowly rising to his feet.

The baby's expression quickly turned to terror as the one remaining eye on the man's face glowed with enormous intensity. Enormous hatred and anger burned deep within him, fuelled by an enormous bloodlust.

Unprotected and with fear quickly consuming it, the baby crawled into the remains of the womb, using the remains as a sheet.

In the next instant, the fleshy tree trunks that had been sunk into the ground began to move, quickly raising the platform with the baby on it and sending it flying upwards with ridiculous speed!

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The earth cracked and began to shake, and gritting his teeth, Adryan forced his armor back up and took a huge leap. He was ready to go after the baby as it fled into the storm above.

"You piece of shit! I won't let you..."

Badum*

His vision blurred, and a terrible, sharp pain struck deep inside him.

As he fell to the ground with a thud, blood spurted from his eyes, and his armor vanished. Horrible black cracks appeared on his right hand and began to spread rapidly up it, reaching his shoulder. 

BLUGHRRRRRR!

A stream of blood poured from his mouth, accompanied by black and burgundy splatters. His vision blurred, and Adryan could almost feel himself passing out. His soul cried out in pain.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Knowing that he had reached his limit and that going beyond it would kill him. Adryan stopped burning his insides and let the already very slow regeneration repair what was left of his body so that it and his soul could become one again.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring the bile on the roof of his mouth, Adryan began to stand shakily. His movements were labored and somewhat awkward.

HUFF! HUFFF! HUFFF!

The red-haired man struggled to his feet, breathing heavily. His body was completely covered in large wounds, dripping blood onto the rest of his clothes. The black gashes on his arm were still there, and although the rest of his wounds were healing slowly, they didn't seem to be healing at all.

HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!

"Huff! This... Huff! .... That was incredibly stupid!" Adryan scoffed at his own stupidity. His threads drew the characteristics of Joseph he'd dropped towards him, but he didn't grab them, instead hovering them beside him.

He had provoked Experiment 839 to raise his scream, eliminating Tyre and leaving the rest of them extremely damaged, but he had managed to save himself because there was a chance that Hunter Hallow would act?

Dying so many times had to take a lot out of his mind to think this was a good idea.

He expected some kind of mental retaliation from a certain worm but to his disappointment, there was only silence. 

With an inward sigh, Adryan's eyes glowed with determination. Fighting his body's pleas, he took a step. The armor began to envelop him again.

Before he began to run after the baby, his spirituality flared and his tired eye twitched to the side.

In a similar state to the already-dead zombie Tyre. Half of the Doctor's body was already lying there, a large black puddle growing beneath his body.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood, Adryan snorted ungracefully and reached out his hand to where the man lay.

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for my own trick? "Adryan said, extremely tired but with some amusement in his voice. A great torrent of golden fire shot out, eager to devour the man's unconscious body.

Like a bull, the torrent continued on its way, devouring everything in its path. Its flames quickly consumed the place where the Doctor's body once lay.

The Doctor's torso-less legs emerged from the shadows a few dozen meters from where he had originally stood, Adryan's cold scarlet eyes followed it.

'Who do you think you are? Cell?' Unable to avoid the comparison to the perfect life form, Adryan swallowed his frustration.

Raising an eyebrow at the torso-less legs, he asked, 'Really? That's the best you could come up with?" 

"This is... A most curious development."

His eyes widened in surprise.

He hadn't expected the legs to talk!

Gritting his teeth, Adryan shook off his surprise and held out his hands. A bow of fire and an arrow formed.

"Are you talking out of your ass? I always knew shit came out of your mouth, but this is another level!" The conspirator snarled and released the arrow.

The arrow hit the legs squarely and exploded in a shower of golden fire. Narrowing his eyes, Adryan looked at the remains of the legs.

"I admit it, Mr Kenway. I shouldn't have underestimated you as I did. That was a big mistake on my part..."

Without thinking. The flames that covered Adryan spread, creating a huge sacred fire.

He turned with cold eyes. Adryan watched as, a few meters away, a being of shadows and some sort of reddish-black liquid melted into black dust. Its form grew smaller and smaller as it was revealed before him.

Crimson eyes in what looked like a 'face' watched him coldly.

"I put a lot of energy into this avatar. It's really disappointing that this is the best it could do..."

Knowing what this meant, Adryan let out a long, guttural growl, "You were never here."

It was already becoming extremely strange to him how the new path worked. In some places, his abilities exceeded those of a normal Sequence 5, but he also noticed that in other places, he acted normal or failed badly. Something was wrong.

The golden bonfire and the crimson light danced a little. Debris and rocks from the roof collapsed and were about to fall.

 'I don't have time for this!' Adryan grunted and took a deep, powerful step. Skywalk propelled him upwards towards the storm on the horizon.

It took him a few seconds to realize that the shadow could no longer hurt him; it had only managed to take precious seconds away from him. Gritting his teeth, Adryan watched as the platform receded and the roof of the cave began to fall.

He would not make it in time before he was buried!

Thinking quickly, a hook formed in his hand. His threads quickly attached themselves to it. He threw it hard towards the throne that was quickly emerging and hooked onto one of the many fleshy lumps coming out of it.

Immediately, his body was violently pulled upwards. Adryan strengthened his armor as his body was slammed into the tree.

Using his threads, he tied himself to other protrusions to avoid further blows, while creating a web of threads in front of him to block the rocks falling towards him.

The wind hit him hard in the face and rattled his armor.

As he watched the red-haired man fly away, the 'Doctor' let out a graceful chuckle and bowed deeply. "If you survive this, I'm sure we'll meet again, Mr Kenway~"

His body finally crumbled to dust. His dark, elegant laugh drifted on the wind and reached the ears of Adryan, who gritted his teeth and clung with all his might to the trunk as it rose into the storm.