Mad Man

Walking back, Juice continues firing while Ragnarok deflects the monster’s attacks. As spear and shield they face Kruger.

“A guy like Green… sort of.” — Juice thinks. — “Which means he’s some kind of mutant or had some VSS overdose. How did those two even beat Green?”

Kruger’s fists started to increase in speed, making Ragnarok use more force in her swings. By no chance she wanted to be hit or grabbed by those hands, especially when she still understand the enemies power.

“Must have been Evangelist’s scissors… but either way, that proves that these guys can be killed… If we subdue him, I could probably gun him down for good…”

Juice fires again, except his gun blasted spaghetti, that simply dripped on the floor. Ragnarok blocks another attack and then realizes that her mace became elongated and floppy. Kruger goes for an open palm smack but Ragnarok dodges under him. Swinging her floppy mace like a whip, she smacks him in the chin and then, spinning, swings the mace into his fat belly with great force.

— PRIMAL TACTICS FROM SUBHUMAN PROVIDERS, COMING TO AN END THIS FRIDAY NIGHT! A SPECTACLE PASTA EATING SHOW!!!

— Why do you talk like that?!

Ragnarok realized that after her great attack, that her mace sunk into his body, and that now she was being absorbed him.

— Ragnarok!

— HEY!

Juice shoots Kruger in the eyes and an actual bullet came out, stopping the absorption. But that made him angry. After creating a black hole in his hand, the woman is spaghettified and sinks completely into his red mass. Kruger stares at the frightened gunslinger. Like a frog, he shoots out his massive tongue and snatches the man, swallowing him whole.

— MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME.

Both Ragnarok and Juice scream, falling into an endless dimension with bubbles all over the place. They land in a hard surface of water but don’t suffer any damage. It was a wet liquid, but they could easily stand in it. The sky and horizon was pitch black and only the red water beneath, emanated light.

— Ragnarok?! — He yells, a little stunned.

— I’m alright… — She says, getting back up.

— What now… — Juice tries to stand.

But sees Kruger within the water floor, swimming his way up.

— There!! — Ragnarok points out.

In the distance, she spots Kruger rushing his way to them. But the odd thing is that he was dancing. The very definition of freestyle dancing. His movements were so wacky and random that it was entirely possible that he did not repeat a single pose.

— YOU ARE IN MY ROOM! WELCOME TO KRUGER WORLD!

Juice fires against the water but forgot he had no gun.

— DON’T WASTE A WACK WHEN YOU CAN WACK A WAIST YOU —

Kruger’s abnormally massive fist erupts from the water.

— BITCH!

Diagonally, sending both of them into another side of the endless dimension. But they land so hard, they puncture the surface floor and enter the water. They were now upside down, completely submerged in the strange water that seemed to be raspberry juice mixed with period blood. They hold their breathes, trying to break the surface under them to free themselves.

— YOU CRINGE PEOPLE! SO SMALL! SO SMALLER THAN US!!

The dancing Kruger comes over them, on the other side of the floor. Ragnarok hits the surface with her mace but only some cracks begin to appear, and their lungs were already at their limit.

— BROTHER EJO AND SISTER VITROLICA ARE SOON HERE TOO! AND YOUR FATE WILL RUMBLE CRUMBLE! AND THE BAD NATURE WILL RETURN!!

As both the searchers begin to drown, Kruger stops dancing and slams his hands through the surface, that cracks like ice. He grabs both of them by their legs and pulls them out. Given the strange properties of Kruger World, the red liquid erupts upwards like an upside-down waterfall, and fades into the infinite sky above. Not a single drop fell down.

— BUT YOU KILLERS OF COLOR GREEN DESERVE IMMINENT PAIN!

Holding both of them by their heads, 4-meter-tall Kruger turns his fingers into snakes, and they swarm the two. As the snakes bite them, he swings his hands left and right. Suddenly, Ragnarok and Juice were turned into marionettes in the puppet master hands and the snakes served as strings. Feeling the pain and venom spread, they were still trying to regain their breath from earlier. Growing to colossal proportions, Kruger activates a deafening noise. The high pitch came from withing their brains and trying to listen to Kruger’s weird screaming voice was somehow a better option than to focus on their own thoughts.

— SURELY MOST SURELY YOU CANNOT HANDLE MY FUNK!

All fingernails present now had his laughing face. Matter fact, everything seemed to be Kruger. The searchers desperate eyes try to find some sight of relief or some kind of answer, but Kruger’s face was everywhere. They couldn’t move because it was Kruger who controlled what they did. Kruger controlled what they saw and heard. Their hands were Kruger. Their eyes were Kruger. Everything was Kruger.

Kruger. Kruger. Kruger.

The crimson beast then pulls both dolls into his hands and swats them down with crossed arms. The force was so great that they crash into back into the water floor but continue flying upwards into that side. Until a reflection of the massive Kruger attacked them again. Ping-ponging them throught the water surface, he hits them back and forth, creating many of those upward waterfalls in the upside of the floor.

— THE PRESSURE OF MADNESS IS TOO GREAT FOR YOU HUMANBRAIN!

One hundred arms come from Kruger’s back but condense back into two when he claps both the searchers into one grip. Like he had just caught an annoying fly with two hands. Released, they drop limp into the floor. It was hard to tell just how many bones they broke and how they were still alive. Kruger’s Cortisol Room, also known as Kruger World, caused massive mental anguish while physically harming his targets. This overstimulation was deemed necessary by the crimson monster as to vanquish the target, fully and completely.

Ragnarok lifts herself a little. Panting, she was battered like never before.

— Juice…

Ahead of her was the gunslinger. Not responding.

Kruger’s heavy steps could be heard getting louder.

— Get up…

Juice. Real name: Finnegan Windsor, 37 years old. The one that knew Liver the longest and became a Searcher alongside his dear Captain. They always reminded one another of the dangers of the job. So, Juice had accepted Liver’s death years before it happened. And this experienced bastard was only pretending to be down. Granted, that if he wanted to get up, he would fail. His body felt like dying and that’s were his wits came into play.

Considering the invincible power Green displayed against his whole team, Juice knew that he was more than capable of being slaughtered. He only wasn’t because his opponent didn’t feel like it. Green’s fighting style was very reserved and low efforted. However, Kruger seemed fully engaged and ready to murder everything. So, with that in mind, how come, after everything Kruger had done, they were not dead?

— It’s a dream… — He whispered.

Ragnarok’s eyes widen. That was his conclusion. Either that or Kruger turned them immortal just so he could torment them longer. Which wasn’t impossible, but less likely. Juice thought that ever since the enemy talked about the Cortisol Room, they were casted into this illusionary realm. Some strange things were done to the Lapse, yet no one was there to respond and join the fight against Kruger.

Thinking back to the bridge, how strange was it that four whole squadrons, battled against this monster, but the result were only some blood spots? The highway, the vehicles and the nearby buildings were all the same amount of broken since Green. Kruger likely killed the squadrons minds, within the Cortisol Room and then returned to reality to ravage their corpses. The problem with this conclusion, was that it meant that Kruger could still kill them. And Juice knew that.

— Focus on something… — He whispered. — …greater.

Ragnarok heard him loud and clear. But her understanding diverged from his somewhat. In Juice’s mind, there was no point in making it a battle of imagination. To simply imagine yourself stronger than Kruger, the creator of the room, would be a strange weakness. But Kruger certainly had an objective with the use of this room and that is what Juice hinted at.