Chapter 98: Nega-Sully.

  POV: Cassandra.

  I landed in an odd way. Twisting my ankle slightly and almost falling over.

  Thankfully, Henry was there and I leaned on him. Feeling his warmth through my fingers as I clung on to his shirt.

  I felt the sun shining down on both of us. Warming us together.

  Then I felt my skin flush as I stumbled. Pressing myself against him once more.

  He didn’t say anything. His body merely standing there like a statue.

  I looked around in confusion and saw the town. Not the one from our Tutorial, but a vibrant seaside dockyard filled with diverging thoughts and emotions and impressions.

  ‘I’m late for work!’ One would think.

  ‘I hope the factory burns down.’ Another would contemplate.

  ‘Oh, why can’t someone kill my boss already?’ A third one pleaded to no one in particular.

  I felt my mind reeling from all the sudden noise and willfully blocked any more signals from them. As I did so, I was overwhelmed by Henry’s own mind. His trepidation and the way that simple emotion transformed into spine-tingling terror.

  I turned my head once more to see what had caused the reaction.

  “Henry? Who is that? And why does he look so upset?” I asked softly. My mind more than a little unnerved that I couldn’t read the hulking brute in front of me.

  Then the screen popped out in front of me.

  I read over it once. Then twice. Then three and four times.

  Then I mashed my lips together and brought up my eyes to meet those of the Tyrant. Of the monster I had foreseen all those months ago.

  “Hello gnomes.” He said in an ecstatic voice. “What is the difference between a Lamborghini and a pile of dead bodies?”

  Henry gulped.

  “What is it?”

  He smiled a smile full of perfect white teeth. Containing all the malice in the universe.

  “I’m not about to get my hands on a Lamborghini.”

  Henry bolted in the opposite direction. His hands reaching out and grabbing my own as he went from standing still to a full sprint.

  I felt myself being yanked, despite trying to follow along with all my might. Henry was just too fast as an Enhancer. Too strong.

  So, he paused just long enough to pick me up and swing me over his shoulder like a bag of apples.

  All while I kept trying to throw a [Mental Bolt].

  I gathered and gathered and gathered my Psy. The world slowing to a crawl as I focused entirely on the Tyrant’s figure.

  But I couldn’t. Couldn’t even think of hurting him. Every time I tried to target the monster my mind would shift and churn and turn into itself.

  He was there, but I couldn’t put myself in a mindset to hurt him. It wasn’t that the idea was repulsive, it was that I couldn’t form the idea at all. It made no logical sense. And that only served to frighten me more.

  “Hold up!” Henry’s friend Luigi called from the back. “Stop! Take me with you!”

  Henry didn’t stop. Henry didn’t even slow down.

  If anything, he sped up even more. Pushing Psy into all his active boosts to get as far away from the scene as he possibly could.

  I felt a shiver run through me then. Like a bolt of lighting striking my spine.

  A voice like no other. Sweeter and more seductive.

  I heard it from the air and from the ground. In my head and in my heart. Echoing through my bones and all my muscles and organs.

  As if the universe itself were speaking. Allowing its will to be known.

  “Don’t scream so loudly, little gnomes.” It said to Luigi, Vince and Thunder Fist. “Come with me. Over to this dark alleyway. I want to tell you a secret.”

  POV: Luigi.

  “Wow! Vince didn’t know Sully hated gnomes as much as Vince! Vince really appreciates this!”

  The ghoul wearing Vince’s face said.

  “Gra…! Hagla….!!!! GU….!!!! ACK……!” I answered in turn.

  My throat burning as steroid-fiend Sully (Mittens)ing strangled the life out of me.

  I was waving my arms. Trying to grab onto him or Thunder Fist. Begging for help.

  Neither seemed in any hurry though.

  “Interesting.” Thunder Fist said. “I can’t hurt him.”

  ‘You’re not even trying you (Mittens)!’ I thought with disgust.

  “No no. I am trying.” He rebutted. Reading my mind without any effort. “I just can’t even think of hurting this Sully person. The idea won’t stick to my head. It just evaporates faster the more I try to grasp it.”

  “Vince thinks so too. It is so odd.”

  “Ha…..! He…..l…p..!”

  Sully’s fingers tightened. Even further. His smile never fading. Never leaving his face.

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  I felt my body loosening up. Felt my mind begin to wander and drift. Felt the strength leaving my arms and legs. Felt my eyes rolling back into my skull.

  “Vince thinks these rewards are really good!”

  “Yep. Especially the store one. I wonder if we can get our hands on one of those storage rings I’ve heard so much about.”

  “Or some food!”

  “Yes. That too.”

  ‘Help me.’ I thought softly. ‘Somebody help me. Please. Please. Please.’

  Vince waved me off dismissively.

  “Read the prompt Luigi. This is a non-lethal instance. Vince has been killed many times in these places. They’re all over in Vince’s Tutorial difficulty. They’re a great place to train. Vince can cut himself and smash his limbs on monsters without worrying about death. Great practice to toughen body for gnomes.”

  “Quite so. Quite so. I suggest we make the best of things.” Thunder Fist said calmly. “Let’s get to running and see if we can’t figure something out.

  Then they left.

  Those two mother(Sully)ers actually left.

  They left me.

  “Shhhhhh. Do not cry, little gnome.” Sully whispered in my ear. His mouth opening to reveal five fanged serpents where his tongue should have been.

  “There will be time for crying. Later.”

  Then he laughed and I felt his flesh sinking even deeper into mine. My organs wriggling like eels inside my belly.

  I tried to scream, but I didn’t even have the energy to gurgle anymore.

  So, I closed my eyes and hoped against hope that it would all be over soon.

  When I next awoke, Sully was there. Choking out a couple of people I didn’t recognize. His figure darkened by the setting sun and the shade of nearby buildings.

  He was… singing?

  “Making my way downtown! Walking fast! Faces Pass and I’m homebound! pew! Pew! Duh! Duh!”

  “Tururu!”

  He was swinging his hips in concert with the rhythm of the song. His lower half swaying merrily along as he almost vibrated with glee.

  “But I need you! Tururu! And I miss you! Tururu! And now I wooondeeeer! If I could fall! Into the sky! Do you think time!? Would pass me by!?”

  He rolled his head so as to roar out loud. Like a lion.

  “Did you know I walked a thousand miles to just. Seeeee youuuuu!”

  He swung his hips again. Still gripping them.

  “TONIGHT!!”

  One of them, the woman from the interview, looked absolutely horrified. The other one looked, happy?

  “Harder daddy! Ack….. Harder!”

  ‘What the (Sully)!? What the (Sully) is wrong with you woman!?’

  I tried to reach out. To grab them. To run.

  But my hand felt awkward and wrong. Like I didn’t have any bones.

  Then I looked down and realized that I didn’t have any bones. My arms having turned to long, slithering tentacles ending in suction cups and scorpion stingers.

  Then I screamed and my screams came from my torso and arms instead of my face. Long slits opening along my limbs. Revealing more eyes. More teeth. More drooling mouths slobbering all over the place.

  Then I felt calm. So very calm and tranquil and happy and relieved.

  “Hmn? How odd. Did you wake up, little gnome?” Sully whispered maliciously. His head turning 180 degrees like an owl before his neck elongated and moved closer towards me. Like a mix between a giraffe and a snake.

  And like a snake, his tongue, a human tongue this time, tasted the air.

  “How did you wake up? How did you come to your senses? That shouldn’t be. You are much too weak. Far, far too weak.”

  He lengthened his tongue and ran it over his teeth. His fangs.

  Blinking mechanically like a robot pretending to be a person.

  “Ah. I see. You’ve unlocked a new Type. Telepath, it seems. But how? I didn’t use my powers on you. Not those powers at least. You shouldn’t have grown like this. What happened?”

  ‘Kill me!’ I thought. ‘Please kill me!’

  He smiled.

  “No.”

  Then his fingers left the women and wrapped themselves around my throat once more.

  “This is a new development, little gnome. It calls for some experimenting.”

  He squeezed.

  “Suffer me now.”

  POV: Prudence.

  The sky had turned dark as twilight finished giving way to evening. The streets now lit by the glare of cheap oil lamps.

  The lack of illumination gave the town an eerie feeling. As if the world had been sent to the stomach of some feral beast.

  The howling winds certainly didn’t do anything to help that impression. The gusts coming and going like the bellows of a forge whose embers were dying in the cold.

  “They’re coming!” Kaito yelled. Throwing [Mental Bolts] behind us as we ran.

  “I know! Keep moving! Keep going!” I answered. Not wasting the few precious seconds it would have taken to turn back.

  The things… or rather… the people turned into things, were coming closer. Leaping across rooftops like monkeys swinging from vines. Never faltering or losing their stride as they kept chasing up.

  I picked up a loose brick on the way and decided to chance a turn just as I felt one of them leaping through my fog.

  The stone struck the mutant in its face. Sending shards of broken teeth flying everywhere.

  The thing barely seemed to notice.

  It reeled its head back with a series of brutal snapping and crunching sounds. Its bones popping like popcorn in a microwave as it fixed itself.

  ‘Kill me!’ It pleaded in its own mind. ‘Please kill me!’

  The others were pleading as well. Drowning our minds with their begging.

  ‘I would if I could.’ I thought bitterly.

  It was the truth.

  I would have liked nothing more than to put these people out of their misery. To finally end their struggles.

  But I knew better.

  He wouldn’t be far behind and every second counted.

  Kaito stopped then. Activating [Hide] and going somewhere else.

  “Don’t get separated!” I called out. Just in time to feel two of the signals vanishing from my mind.

  Kaito stood there. Stoically holding a couple of knives Jacob had made for him. Two more lodged into the creatures’ skulls.

  He started running after us but then stopped suddenly. We all stopped with him.

  I felt my legs turning into stones. Unwilling to move or budge an inch.

  Then I felt them turning around so that my body was facing the opposite direction.

  And there he was. Still wearing that malicious, childlike grin.

  “As I thought. Those who are allowed to think for themselves are less effective than those I [Dominate] normally. The control I have through my Shifter abilities seems very shaky nowadays. Which is odd because I could have sworn I had just finished practicing with it.”

  He paused. His body turning into a statue for a few more seconds.

  Then he shrugged. In a way that made it seem like he was pretending to be human. Carrying out the motions so as to keep fooling others, as well as himself.

  I tried to shout. To tell him he wouldn’t be getting away with this.

  But my words died in my throat.

  Then I felt my mind start to tingle, before all thought and all individuality gave way.

  I saw him.

  Truly saw him. As if for the first time.

  He was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

  From his face to his chest to his arms to his legs. All of him was perfect and lovely and divine.

  The pleasure, the presence, was intoxicating. Suffocating.

  ‘I was a fool.’ I thought suddenly. ‘How come it took me this long to see it? How come it took me this long to love him? What was wrong with me?’

  I approached. So did Kaito and Olga.

  All of us enraptured by his presence. By his majesty.

  I wanted to be closer to him. To be loved by him. To be his and his alone.

  I imagined a life at his side. I wouldn’t need much. Wouldn’t ask for much. All I needed was a glance, a touch a gentle caress and I would be happy.

  I came closer, closer, closer.

  Feeling my heart flutter as if a thousand butterflies were trapped inside.

  ‘Is this what all those boys felt when they saw me? Is this what they saw when they looked at me?'

  It made me feel a little guilty, but that only lasted for a second.

  This was my place. At his side. Only at his side. Forever.

  Sully wrapped his fingers around Kaito at that moment. Squeezing tightly.

  Then he did me the honor of looking my way.

  “Good. My Telepath abilities still seem to be in order. Now then, what do you say we go on to that dark secluded alley over there?”

  His smile widened.

  “I have a secret to tell you.”

  POV: Charlie.

  “Are you deaf you stupid cow? I said kill me!”

  The woman was babbling some nonsense about murder or whatnot, when I reached over and slapped some sense into her.

  “Look at them! Look! All my friends already knew what was coming! This won’t end until Sully is either dead or he kills us. And it will be a long time before he kills us if he thinks we’re a bunch of gnomes. See that hulking brute there? That big ogre with the red hair? He had his sister kill him and she had me and Monique kill her! And it was damn hard by the way! Now I killed Monique and I need somebody to kill me! Just take this knife here and slash it over my throat!”

  She kept wailing like a useless simpleton.

  “I don’t… I can’t… I just want to see my brother again. I just want to see Ryan again! He’ll know what to do!”

  I smacked my own forehead.

  “Listen you stupid bird! Ryan was the first to kill himself! Jumped into the running machines at the factory! Lucky, clever (Gnome). Now they’re jammed because of his corpse and I can’t do the same! Which means someone is going to have to kill me!”

  She kept sobbing uncontrollably. Not realizing that Sully would really give her a reason to cry if he caught her.

  The things he did to gnomes…

  I felt a shudder overtaking me at the mere thought and kept pressing her.

  “Okay. Okay listen. It won’t be so hard. Just take the hilt like this and press it against….”

  She broke down in tears. Right as I started to hear movement on the roofs above.

  “Oh (Gnome).”

  Then I turned and ran. Leaving her to fend for herself.

  The usual me would have tried to save her. To pick her up and carry her.

  Not this time. Not right now.

  I knew what was at stake.

  Every second counted.

  Besides, the least she could do is distract him for a few seconds now that her delay had caused us to get caught.

  “Wait! It’s me!” Boris called from above.

  I stopped and ran back.

  Hugging tight like a long-lost brother.

  “Boris. Thank goodness. I thought he caught you too.” Then I separated from him. “Quick, let me kill you. Its going to be much harder because of how many points you have in [Regeneration].”

  “Forget about that! I found a great spot to die and I’ve been throwing people there all day!”

  “Really! Where!?”

  “Top of the hill overlooking the ocean. See there? It’s blocked off by a mansion, but if you go past it you get to a sheer cliff leading to a bunch of sharp pointy rocks.”

  I nodded. Getting ready to make a break for it with him in tow.

  Though I did pick up the crying woman before I started running. No sense in leaving her here if I could help it.

  POV: Gus.

  “Quit crying son! I’m trying to aim.” I told Reggie for the umpteenth time.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” He bellowed in response.

  “I said stop! I’m doing you a favor!”

  “You killed my wife!”

  “Yes I did! And I’ll kill you as soon as you stop wriggling all over the place! Stay still already!”

  I steadied the gun I took with me once more. Pointing it directly at his head.

  I pulled the trigger and ended his suffering. Which then led to my adoptive granddaughter redoubling her screaming.

  “You killed them! You killed them!”

  “(Gnome) right I did. And I’ll (Gnome)ing do it again!”

  I turned the gun on her, but staggered as she tackled me.

  “I won’t let you! I won’t let you get away with this! They loved you!”

  “And I love them! I’m doing this for them! Quit holding on to me!”

  “Why!? Why would you do this!? What did they ever do to you!?”

  “Have you not been paying attention Puffin? Sully thinks we’re gnomes! I’m giving us all the easy way out!”

  Park came over from behind and got her off of me. Throwing her aside thanks to his higher levelled abilities.

  “Forget her. Kill me! Now!”

  “I can’t forget about her. She’s family!”

  “She’s dead weight! Kill me! Or kill yourself and leave me the gun!”

  “Where’s your own gun?”

  “I didn’t think I’d need it! I can turn my arm into a massive sniper rifle!”

  Well that was too bad for him.

  I turned the gun on Puffin. Quick as lightning. Relying on all the old instincts to take the perfect shot.

  She dodged me. Turning her head at the last moment so that the bullet ricocheted off the nearby wall.

  I pulled the trigger again and felt the gun click in my hand.

  “Gus. Please tell me you still have ammunition.”

  I looked up at him and shrugged.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of shooting.”

  “Dammit Gus! Your grandson is going to pull our spines out through our (Gnome)holes!”

  “You’re both crazy!” Puffin cried out. Running for a nearby alleyway.

  I threw out a [Mental Bolt] but it wasn’t enough to kill her.

  She left my range. Speeding down the cobbled streets like an earth-born cat.

  I cursed under my breath.

  “I saw that.” Park commented under the lamplight. His figure looming tall and menacing in the surrounding darkness.

  “I’ve seen it enough times to know it. Kill me with it. You can just throw yourself off a rooftop whenever you want but I’ll keep regenerating. Make it end for me. Please.”

  I looked up at him and gave him his wish. Charging the power until I couldn’t push it anymore and letting it go.