"Look at me!"

  Caren’s grip loosened as he turned toward the voice.

  Air scraped into Vernisha’s lungs in shallow pulls, her ribs aching as if they might splinter with the next breath.

  She knew that voice.

  Ferzan.

  Small disc devices shot forward and embedded themselves into Caren’s face and elbow before detonating in sharp bursts that rocked his upper body.

  Caren howled, his arm dropping as though its strength had been cut away. His fingers opened, and Vernisha slipped from his grasp, hitting the ground hard.

  The impact jarred her, but it was nothing compared to the crushing pressure she had just escaped.

  Caren stomped and thrashed in fury, his movements wild and uncoordinated.

  Ferzan landed beside her with a glass vial of red liquid in hand. "Shit..." He yanked the pole from her stomach, tipped her head back, and poured the liquid into her mouth.

  He pulled it away after a few seconds. She managed to swallow only part of it before he stopped.

  He lifted her and ran.

  Behind them, Caren roared, “Come back here!”

  Warmth spread faintly through her body, dulling the worst of the blood loss, though weakness still weighed on her.

  In the distance, armored vlandos rode war falcons through the smoke-filled sky, trying to suppress the multiplying forms.

  Ferzan saw where she was looking. "Don’t worry. Those Knights will keep us safe."

  "He’s chasing us..." she managed to whisper.

  They ran past crowds of panicked civilians before Ferzan veered into a nearby shop, smashing through the glass doors with a kick and sprinting across the shattered floor without slowing.

  The building trembled as Caren slammed into the structure from outside.

  Ferzan hurled another explosive disc, and it embedded itself in the wall ahead before blowing a path open in a blast of dust and debris.

  Her bleeding had slowed, and when she flexed her hand, the movement came easier than before.

  They burst out through the hole and back into the street, where jeeps swerved through chaos, brushing past people without stopping.

  Ferzan’s breathing was heavy, sweat pouring down his face.

  “Up!” Vernisha shouted.

  He looked up just as Caren barreled toward them like a launched projectile.

  Ferzan pulled her tight against his chest and leapt sideways, landing hard and struggling to steady himself.

  Caren’s body compacted, and in an instant his arm shot outward, stretching unnaturally before snapping toward them.

  Ferzan shifted her position and turned his back toward the strike.

  The blow hit him full force.

  They were thrown through the air and slammed into the wall of a two story building. The structure cracked but held, and they dropped to the street below, landing beside a foul-smelling gutter.

  Ferzan pushed himself up almost immediately.

  Vernisha staggered to her feet and drew the black knife from her pocket.

  “Vernishaaaaaaaa!” Caren shrieked as his body split again.

  Ferzan swore. “Freaking hell. These are what you were worried about?”

  “It’s complicated. I’ll tell you later, but he’s my father. Help me kill him!”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Do you have any ether recovery items?”

  Caren’s face warped as new eyes bulged from his skin while he lunged.

  “But we can’t use monsters! Don’t you see that?” Ferzan snapped.

  "I know! Just give me anything if you have it!"

  Caren and his copies charged. Ferzan pulled a green pill from his pocket space and tossed it to her.

  She swallowed it instantly.

  Caren’s neck stretched as he lunged, lion-like fangs snapping toward her throat.

  Ferzan’s sword cut deep into the extended neck, slowing the strike just enough for Vernisha to twist away and drag her blade from his neck down toward his torso, though the dense muscle resisted every inch.

  The lower half of his body shifted, swelling into a massive hand that came crashing down toward her.

  She darted aside, but he caught a fistful of her hair and yanked upward, preparing to throw her.

  She bit down on his wrist and stabbed at him in the same motion, then sliced through a section of her own hair before he could hurl her.

  Her body skidded across the ground and slammed into a carriage chained to a pole. Pain exploded through her head and arm.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  She shoved her hand beneath her torn sleeve and pushed healing energy into the injury, dulling the pain enough to move.

  She rolled aside just as Caren came down from above, only to realize he was not diving at her but charging straight forward.

  His hand reached for her throat.

  Instead of retreating, she drove her knife toward his neck.

  His grip closed around her throat at the same instant her blade struck.

  For a moment, his eyes widened.

  His arms swelled again, veins thickening.

  "Y…ou…" he rasped.

  She seized his arm and healed it.

  The swelling vanished, replaced by sagging flesh.

  "Wait..." he muttered, stumbling back.

  She struck again for his neck. He released her and leapt away.

  She had missed.

  So she rushed forward and slashed at him.

  "Don’t touch me!" Caren shrieked, his voice thick with fury and desperation.

  “Fuck you!” she snarled, throwing herself forward in a long leap and reaching for his neck again.

  He jerked his head back and narrowly avoided the strike, but that had not been her true aim.

  She was going for his foot.

  The instant she landed, she dropped low and lunged for his leg. Her hand burned with the brightest crimson glow she could summon, the energy straining for contact, pushing to heal and destroy at once.

  Caren tried to retreat, but his unstable weight threw him off balance. His footing failed him.

  She caught his ankle and released the healing aura into him.

  The red energy poured into his leg and stripped the abnormal growth away.

  His limb shortened unevenly, leaving him off balance, and he stumbled.

  He tried to run.

  He stumbled again.

  He tried once more, panic driving him like prey before a predator.

  He stumbled.

  Her knife drove into his back. His muscles resisted the blade, slowing its depth.

  She tore it free, refusing to heal that wound, and drove the blade toward his spine.

  Her body moved without hesitation, cutting and stabbing in quick, efficient motions, as though instinct had taken over and she was simply directing it.

  His screams, the warmth of his blood, and the crack of bone twisted her stomach with disgust.

  She did not stop.

  He mutated again, limbs swelling larger.

  It no longer mattered. His body was no longer responding properly.

  “You’re killing me…” he whispered, his voice shaking with fear.

  Blood coated her arms and soaked into her dress. Her hands trembled violently and her teeth rattled as if she stood in winter cold.

  She forced herself forward.

  She placed her hand against his neck and spoke in a flat voice. "I always hated you. But sometimes I respected you. And when I didn’t hate you, I hated myself for it. Did you know that?"

  "Get away from me…" he croaked.

  "I asked! Did you know that?!"

  He stared at her blankly.

  "Say something, you fucking rat! Are you scared now, knowing I’m doing to you what you would have done to me for no reason?"

  “No reason? You’re... you’re a freak.”

  “I’m not a freak!” she shouted. “What did I ever do to deserve that? Name one thing.”

  “You gave your life to the man who hates us all. You serve him. You're a Darsean cultist. I wish you were never born.”

  Cold settled in her stomach.

  His words weighed on her chest, a chill creeping along her spine. She had not expected this from him, not even now.

  She had thought that near death he might admit something different, something buried, some truth.

  "F–fuck… y–you…” she choked.

  Her hand tightened around his throat. She healed it, restoring it to a human neck, then drove her blade across it in one clean motion.

  His gurgling filled the air.

  Personal level: 17

  She lifted her head.

  Bodies covered the ground. Men, women, children. Some survivors stumbled away, bleeding.

  Ferzan finished the last clone with a heavy swing of his axe. The head fell and withered.

  He looked at her. “You’re okay… Oh.”

  She said nothing.

  He walked over and saw her shaking. “Hey, you did what you had to. He tried to kill you.”

  She wanted to say she did not care. That she had wished for his death. That he had never truly been her father.

  The words did not come.

  “I'm okay... I'm perfect even.. I—”

  He sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t think about it. Just don’t.”

  Ulah no longer felt hunger or thirst. Everything felt right, warm and perfect, like moving through sweetness.

  The woman-shaped figure melted as he squeezed it, red liquid filling his mouth as he consumed it.

  Food surrounded him everywhere.

  He believed Vernisha and his mother must have saved him, but this feeling was beyond what he expected. Happiness flooded him, even as something inside him felt like it was slowly breaking apart.

  He saw a small figure running and chased it down, crushing and eating it.

  “Ulah.”

  He turned.

  The black cat stood there.

  He waved. “Hey! You want some ice cream too?”

  “I thought you liked bread,” it said.

  “Hmm? Maybe. But ice cream is better.”

  “Too much ice cream is dangerous. You should stop.”

  He dismissed it and looked for more food.

  Pain struck his neck as something cut into him, but his flesh regenerated and his body split further.

  “You should stop, or you’ll die,” the cat said.

  “I told you, leave me alone!”

  “You will be killed.”

  “No! Leave me alone, or I’ll eat you!”

  The cat stared. “I see. You just want to do whatever you want.”

  “Obviously!”

  “I’m annoyed. I’m bothered that I don’t want you to die, even though I no longer care how your death might affect Vernisha.”

  “Wait… you know her?”

  The cat dissolved like smoke and vanished.

  Ulah stared, and then he heard a song.

  “Balash würde fallen. Sie würden schreien, sie würden weinen, aber ich würde ihre Tr?nen genie?en. Ich würde ihr Leid auskosten, denn sie hatten mich verraten.”

  Mom.

  He tried to find her, but she was nowhere in sight, though the voice sounded close. He chased the sound, moving over buildings and around obstacles as the voice kept drifting farther ahead no matter how close he felt.

  “Sowohl Balash als auch diese Welt würden füreinander bü?en.”

  He was sure he was close.

  “Mom!” he shouted.

  He ran until a wall blocked his path. He punched it, but instead of breaking, the force tore his arm away, and electricity scorched across his neck.

  “Ich hasse sie mehr als alles andere. Sie sind das B?se selbst, sie sind Monster.”

  Gates stood ahead. A Knight stationed there kicked them open and stepped aside, not retreating but repositioning to strike.

  Ulah ran past him.

  He needed to shrink.

  His body split into fragments that scattered and moved with him. A longsword flashed toward his neck, but the Knight suddenly froze, and Ulah passed him.

  “Dies ist meine Stimme. Das ist der Wunsch, den ich an euch weitergebe, meine Kinder. Meine wundersch?nen T?chter. Bitte, tut also, wie ich euch bitte. Denn ich liebe euch alle über alles und würde euch niemals verraten. Niemals. Selbst wenn eine von euch mich verr?t, werde ich euch alle weiterhin mit Liebe überschütten.”

  He ran into the forest until he saw her.

  Natasha.

  Her clothes were torn and stained, blood running from deep cuts. She sat on a rock with her hand pressed to her forehead.

  “Mom?”

  She did not look up at first. “Ignore the blood. Ignore the wounds. They aren’t your fault.”

  “Who hurt you?” His voice shook.

  “It doesn’t matter. What do you see me as?”

  “My mother.”

  She looked at him for a long moment. “So I’m not food to you?”

  “Ha...? That’s not funny.”

  His stomach suddenly twisted with emptiness, his throat dry.

  She stood slowly. “That song you sing so beautifully. You have such a pure voice. I wish my own mother could have loved you the way I’ve come to admire you.”

  He saw pain in her eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to have to kill you. I’m sorry. But I’m glad you were born into this world.”

  She pointed at him.

  Her skin split like dry earth and fell away in layers of dust. Beneath it was only darkness.

  Fear tightened in his chest.

  Then everything below his neck vanished.

  He did not fall. He remained suspended as she drifted toward him, hands reaching for his head.

  Her dark hair spread around her. Then her familiar face returned, her gentle smile the same one she always gave Vernisha.

  She was smiling at him that way.

  He felt warmth fill him, tears spilling from his eyes.

  This was the happiest he had ever felt.

  “I love you, my child,” she said.