Chapter 108 : The beast and the knights (Patreon)

Still hidden as a shadow on the ceiling, James carefully explored the fourth floor of Runar's building, jumping from dark spot to dark spot and fleeing from what little light was present, doing his best to find whatever creature had left those strange curved claw marks before it found him, all the while avoiding any possible trap the runemaster might have left.

The fourth floor was a confusing maze made of a single hallway that kept turning with locked doors on the walls occasionally. Since he was here to clear the floor of any possible threat, he had made sure to peek inside each room in search of any hidden opponent by slipping through the gaps to get a better view than what his omnidirectional vision could glance from outside. Every room had been empty so far bar for a single stone pillar covered in runes in the center of each, and James' rudimentary knowledge of the symbols he had to learn as quickly as possible told him it would be for the best not to dabble with those for now. It would be incredibly stupid to try and mess with one only to blow himself and the rest of the building up, doubly so since his employees were still inside. Still, the layout of the floor was confusing, to say the least, and although the stone pillars appeared to be what kept the shield protecting Runar's office active, he couldn't help but feel like there was something else to it. Surely this wasn't all the fourth floor had to offer, was it?

A growl broke him out of his reverie. He could sense it, right around the corner was the creature he knew resided here, and he now could hear the odd clicking of its claws on the floor, not the high pitch of a cat's hollow claws or a dog's more solid sound, but rather something oddly long, loud, heavy, and reverberated that echoed with each step. And as it walked closer, still out of James' sight, he began to hear something else. Muffled moans or shrieks, mournful noises that struggled to escape from whatever was holding them, with the loudest being eerily close to a dog's yawn or cry but still distinct enough to just feel wrong.

Then the thing's head finally appeared, a heavily deformed thing that looked more like two torsos next to one another than anything nature could ever conceive, and from the ribs and spines that lined the inside of each jaw that the beast revealed as it opened its maw and let his powerful tongue hang out, the overly muscled appendage seemingly formed of dozens of tongues put together and resulting in a spiky yet blunt appearance, saliva freely flowed onto the ground where a large puddle formed. The thing's short bony horns scrapped against the ceiling as it raised this monstrous head of bloated flesh and thin bone, and the two pairs of eyes on each side of this grotesque visage were fixed on where James, still shadow, stood on the ceiling.

Its jaws closed slowly, only for the tongue to go out as the thing licked its chops, the muscled appendage easily flipping the skin that could barely be called lips as it passed over the ribs-turned-fangs, all the while its head got closer and closer to James as he slowly backed away, and yet the only thing emerging from the corner was just more and more neck, with the body still behind hidden out of sight - something which, frankly, James was thankful for he didn't dare imagine what horrible vision he would soon have to face, the abominable creature's head already being the most disturbing thing he had seen in person in both his lives, easily surpassing the blob of tendrils and the wings of veins of the demon Sydakors.

James could only hope the thing wasn't as resilient as the demon, otherwise, he might very well have to bring down the entire building to stop it.

_____

Techlord, in his latest Techsuit, was carefully analyzing his opponent, Medraw, one of the two mysterious Runarian Knights no one in his employer's contacts knew about, a completely unknown element they hadn't been able to prepare for, and who so far had shown impressive speed and a knack for stealth, judging by her two attempts to kill someone during the raid Sam would say she was probably trained as an assassin, but on the flip side, it was very likely her speed and stealth came mainly from the runes on her leather armor, and thus her skills could be rather lacking. That seemed to be the trend for Runar's troops: average or incompetent people given equipment that let them rival Cored with basic yet impressive powers. Without the backing of Wicked Witchcraft, Runar couldn't tempt truly powerful people to work for him and do big jobs, and he couldn't produce the strongest runes in his catalog which could convince them since they required resources that were too rare for him to obtain or too expensive for his limited funds. It was a vicious cycle yet one the runemaster was on the verge of overcoming with his operation, at least until he crossed paths with Silhouette. It could be seen as a tragedy, really, one Sam could sympathize with in some ways since he too had to crawl from the bottom and work with insufficient materials for years, only for his progress to be ruined by an unfortunate encounter with a powerful Super.

Sadly for Runar and his lackey, Sam didn't care one bit about their life story.

As she leaped from place to place in the stairwell in hopes of confusing him before she struck, Techlord ignited his latest Techboosters, though he took care to angle them so he wouldn't move one bit. When he heard the sound of metal slashing through the air, he shifted one of his legs, allowing the power of his thrusters to turn him faster than the assassin could react before they deactivated and then punch the dagger she held out of her leather glove, though she managed to touch the ground with her foot and redirect her course before his electrified gauntlet could shock her - not that it had seemed effective the last time, her leather armor was already a better insulator than her fellows' metallic gear and he and his boss had already guessed that Runar would have upgraded his elite's armors to better resist the electricity which had decimated his underlings during Pierce Evil's attack.

Medraw didn't bother to get back the dagger she had lost, instead, a new one appeared from out of her sleeve and dropped into her free hand, the other already occupied with holding the short sword covered in runes that she was currently trying to stab Techlord with, attacking his back now that his thrusters were inactive and thus he wouldn't be able to turn as fast as he did. Rather than try and block and deflect this attack too, Sam chose to let it come, the electroshield of his suit automatically coming to life and repulsing the metal as soon as it came close enough for the suit's sensors to detect it as a threat. The blade stopped for a second before suddenly breaking through the glorified magnetic field, but by that point, Sam had twisted his torso just enough for the sword to miss him by a hair's breadth, putting the still advancing Runarian Knight just in range of his own blades, the basic slab of sharp metal emerging from the top of the guard on his forearm emerging in a flash thanks to a small mechanism hidden behind it, and aimed straight at Medraw's head.

The assassin had caught on to Techlord's tactics though, and with her foot still on the ground flexed her muscles to divert her course, avoiding the small blade as she turned in the air to land feet first on the wall, her leather boots magically attaching themselves to the surface with no care for gravity and letting stand in parallel to the ground effortlessly as she threw her dagger at Sam's face before taking something out from the inside of her gambeson as the teen avoided the weapon and aimed at her with his arm, Medraw jumping onto the opposite wall just as the miniature electrogun beneath his wrist fired, the small bolt of dark energy harmlessly dissipating into the off-white wall of the stairwell, only a small growing patch of darkness the size of a grain of salt slowly spreading to the nearest runes inscribed on the walls being left as a sign of the attack.

Behind his black glass mask, Sam frowned. He hadn't been present at any of the fights against a Runarian Knight so far, but from what he'd been told, there was something odd going on with Medraw's runes - they should have been glowing. Pierce Evil and Speareau's armors and weapons always glowed with a distinct color whenever they activated their equipment's functions, and yet the woman in leather armor, despite her feats of speed and defying gravity, showed no sign of a similar tendency, aside from the red glow on her shortsword when she attacked him right after throwing a dagger at his throat.

"You don't look so confident now, boy."

Sam could admit he had a bit of an ego, but he wasn't stupid enough to fall into that sort of trap. His opponent didn't know that, however, and this could be a great opportunity to gain time while he pondered on the oddity and maybe gain some more information.

"Says the woman who can't land a single hit."

"The pot calling the kettle black. A classic."

She was right. His suit let him become fast enough to manage her attacks, but her speed and ability to bounce off walls like that let her avoid his ranged weaponry and keep some distance between them, denying him the chance to close in for close combat. As new and improved as he claimed his suit to be, it still lacked a few functions the last model he lost along with his mech had, and right now he dearly missed the sonic abilities of his former helmet. A good screech or kinetic burst might have been able to catch her off-guard, but for now, he would have to deal with her with the weapons at hand. Still, the fact her armor's runes didn't light up bothered him. Was everything so far her natural abilities? No, the assassin strikes him as the type to get the job done and not play with her targets, she would have already gone all out if she could do more unless it threatened her life or the building itself. There was something here, something he wasn't seeing...

Wait, where were the daggers she had abandoned earlier? He didn't see them anywhere. They were still roughly on the same level of the stairwell, they couldn't have fallen to the next floor, he would have heard them.

Sam narrowed his eyes as a theory began to form in his mind, and he decided to put it to the test.

"So, you're just going to jump around and void me until all your friends are dead? I'm not sure corpses pay well."

"You do not understand boy. It is you and your ilk that will fall today. Do you genuinely believe a team of failures like yours can take down someone like Runar who's had years of experience?"

Yes, now that he focused on it, he realized there were more odd things about Medraw. Her face bar her eyes might have been covered by leather, but he should still have been able to see her talk with the movement of her chin, and yet, nothing. Similarly, now that he took a good look at her chest as they both stayed still, he realized it didn't rise and fall as it should have, even in a fancy runic suit she would need to be breathing unless she was an undead of some kind, but then why would she have bothered evading his blade, slashing or stabbing damage on such a small scale wouldn't have been particularly harmful without the risk of bloodloss?

He chose not to answer her question and rather went on the offensive, his thrusters giving him a boost to leap at her as he readied his fists for an attack, blades emerging from his guards and ready to slash. As expected she jumped away from her spot and took advantage of the situation to throw a dagger at him, hoping that now that he was in the air he wouldn't be able to dodge it. Instead, the small thrusters of his armor lit up once more as they drove him away from the sharp metal, but instead of pursuing his opponent Techlord chose to try and catch the dagger, and though he failed and the weapon landed out of his sight he still managed to catch how Medraw's eyes had widened at his manoeuver. There was definitely something he didn't know at play here, but now he knew he was on the right track to figuring out how to take out the assassin to let him rejoin Silhouette.

He wasn't even aware of the smirk that appeared on his face as he realized this was now a duel of intellects, and that she had no hope of winning.

_____

James slithered as fast as he could away from the monstrous creature's head as it suddenly opened its jaws and bit the ceiling where he had just been on, and somehow he got even faster as the head continued to follow with its maw exposed and guttural howls escaped from the depths of its gullet while straps of James' shadowy flesh clung to its terrible fangs, and the thing's legs and torso finally appeared from around the corner they had been hidden behind as the abomination ran after him. The legs that ripped through the walls and the floor as they propelled the beast as fast they could were as red and raw as the flesh of the head, and they had to twist in disturbing positions to give enough space for the rest of the body and its oversized neck to fit in the hallway, forcing the creature to crawl, yet for all the discomfort such a position should be bringing the thing was still fast enough to keep up with him. Each leg of the creature was thin yet overly muscled and ended in strange claws, long sharp things made of segments that let them bend - segments that looked eerily simal to vertebrae.

Along with the legs, the creature's body also entered James' senses, and the sight of those countless eyes and mouths and holes littered on the abomination's side managed to surpass the ignominy of its head, especially when he realized that the muffled moans and cries and yelps all came from deep within this cluster of misplaced facial features.

Realizing that the monster was as fast as he was, James decided to try and outsmart the creature rather than thoughtlessly retreat while attempting to outrun it. He let himself fall from the ceiling just in time to avoid the powerful clapping of its jaws and slithered on the ground to hide in the thing's shadow while he readied his magical attacks. The head at the end of the unnervingly long and prehensile neck looked confused for an instant until one of the eyes on its flank looked right at James and the head turned around and bit, the ribs it used as teeth snapping on nothing as James resumed his flight, this time toward the end of the hallway rather than where he had come from. He hadn't escaped the thing's notice as he had hoped, but he still got what he wanted in the end.

James continued to prepare a powerful shadow sphere inside of himself, trusting his memory and exploration of the fourth floor to know there was no runic stone pillar he could accidentally destroy behind the creature, meaning he didn't have to worry about them exploding and damaging the building while his employees were still inside if he attacked, and as dexterous as the abomination had proven itself to be he was confident that with its size it would take a while to turn around and face him again, leaving him enough time to fire his attack before the creature was ready and could try to avoid it.

At least that was the plan until the thing's neck bent over its back and hang upside down over its short stubby tail and it suddenly began to run backward with no issue, catching James by surprise and letting the thing get another taste of his shadowy flesh before he turned into his rapid spider-like Skitter form and ran away as fast as possible, the beast following him with no issue. James fired his charged shadow bolt at the thing's open maw, only for the magical attack to bounce back and go through a wall.

This was going to be a problem.

_____

Back outside, in the small court in front of the building's entrance, the battle between James' infused and Runar's basic forces was still going. Although the number of thugs with runic equipment was quickly dropping, the mundane knights and the runic mages managed to cover each other, the enchanted metal shields and the magical runic barriers working together to protect them from the various corruptive projectiles the infused fired at them, be they bullets, electricity, or spells. Still, protecting themselves only delayed the inevitable for James' forces began to advance to put an end to the fight, at least they tried to until a wall of magical water rose from the ground and blocked their way.

Speareau grunted as he did his best to ignore the pain from the punch Loedycan had just landed on his torso, taking advantage of the opening in the white knight's guard as he protected his subordinates from the onslaught of shadows. Still, the Runarian Knight managed to focus back on the fight and twirl his spear just in time to block a claw strike and angled his weapon once more to pierce the incoming ball of dark green flames with its ivory tip, nullifying Fluorine's shamanistic spell. Though he managed to hold his own against the two warehouse managers, it was obvious Speareau was the most winded of the three, his once pristine white armor was now covered in black cuts, thankfully none of them managed to damage his runes, but it and the many bruises beneath on his skin still infuriated him since his two opponents barely were in much better condition, the wolfman completely ignored the couple of small wounds leaking black blood from his fur and the goblin only a few scratches.

The white knight stepped forward and stabbed at Loedycan and the bipedal canine sidestepped the attack before stepping closer with his metal claws ready to tear away at the white metal and flesh beneath before he was pushed back by a wave of water formed by another twirl of the enchanted spear, more magical water still emanating from the weapon and coalescing to form a shield to block more fireballs from Fluorine before it shifted once more to block the goblin itself as the shaman used green flames on its feet like skates to quickly approach and attack Speareau with a fist glowing with power that only solid water before Fluorine turned its torso to the side just in time to avoid being impaled by the ivory tip of the knight's weapon, the spear only cutting through the dark grey flesh of the shaman's side.

The three traded more blows for a short while before they were suddenly interrupted by a powerful explosion somewhere above them, and though Silhouette's forces ignored the detonation Speareau quickly formed a bubble of water to protect him as he looked up to the sky, his eyes widening in horror at the sight of unnaturally black smoke escaping from a hole in the wall of the fourth floor. His fears had been confirmed, Silhouette or one or more of his powerful associates were already inside.

Speareau The Flow spared one last glance at knights and mages behind him as well as at the unmoving bodies of underlings on the ground and let out a sigh. Those men might as well be lost, the casualties brought by unleashing the full power of his runes would be worth it so long as he put an end to this fight and could join Karadok and the creature they had commissioned from the Patcher on the fourth floor as fast as possible.

The white knight twirled his spear once more from within his bubble, the water shifting to put him out of the path of yet another ball of green flames as most of the runes on his armor shined with a bright blue light, so powerful its color was visible through his liquid shield, and the water morphed into a headless serpent with Spereau at its top which began to wildly fly through the air in curves as a torrential current, and as Speareau still encased in the water, rushed at the duo of opponents facing him the torrent followed and tore apart the ground in its way, the goblin and the wolfman were forced to throw themselves to the side to avoid the crushing liquid, and as they were getting up the serpent turned and aimed for them once more, Loedycan simply began to run on all fours and put Fluorine on his back with his jaws as passed the shaman by.

The goblin looked back at the magical construct as it chased the impromptu lupine ride, and the shaman began to do what could only be described as a slow dance on the furry black platform it was standing on as Loedycan made sure to turn and run through Runar's forces while staying as far away from the infused as possible, taking advantage of the destructive rampaging current to get rid of their enemies while protecting their allies, and wordlessly the two reaper-looking mages led the rest of the infused into the building, where they would be hidden away from the wrath of the knight and they would be able to continue their task.

The wolfman ran as fast as he could as he began to circle the building, the floating current following him growing closer and closer, Speareau's form clearly visible through the particularly blue magical water as the white knight twirled his spear faster than ever before. Loedycan pushed his muscles to the limit as they flexed beneath his black fur to try and outrun the incoming threat before he sharply turned and pounced onto the building's wall and began to climb the structure, piercing the solid material with his metal claws to force himself higher and higher. Fluorine, still dancing, simply jumped at the perfect time to go from standing on the wolfman's back to his shoulders.

The torrential serpent turned to follow after them, and though it partially ripped through the wall as it rose it quickly adjusted itself to prevent the damage while still pursuing the infused elite duo. As they reached the second floor, Loedycan suddenly jumped to the side, letting himself and his passenger who adjusted its posture once more fall to the ground, Speareau's construct turned to follow, and without the strength of the wolfman but only gravity to keep their flight going, the knight was guaranteed to reach the duo before they could land and find a way to run away again.

Before it could do so, an aura of dark green energy erupted around Fluorine, the energy looking sticky and goopy closer to the goblin's body and yet turning into phantom flames as it grew farther away, and the shaman jumped from the wolfman's back into the body of the serpent right next to them before Speareau reached them, and suddenly the water around the goblin turned sickly green, the color quickly spreading through the rest of the serpent. Once the white knight realized what was happening he tried to separate himself from his construct but it was too late, green reached the water surrounding him as he madly tried to cleave the torrent with his spear, his panic throwing the current off-course and letting Loedycan escape the attack as he reached for the wall and pierced it with his claws to slow his fall.

As the green touched Speareau and reached into his armor, he began to scream though no sound escaped from the wall of liquid surrounding him, the once furious torrent slowing as it became a thicker thing still falling to the ground where it landed in a goopy splash. Fluorine crawled out of the goop as it slowly turned into dust that disappeared in the air before casually walking to rejoin Loedycan who was just finishing sliding down the wall, the wolfman put some force to tear his metal claws away from it before taking a good look at his colleague, ensuring they were both in a good enough condition to keep going.

As the now crusty acid finished disappearing, the only other thing left on the ground was a white runic armor covered in black cuts and a white spear, the once red staff now without the leather that covered it, and rolling a little further way was a helmet without its iconic ridiculously large red feather.

A bleached-white skull fell out of the piece of white metal.