Chapter 107 – Versus the Bloodfallen 2 – Getting Out

Chapter 107 – Versus the Bloodfallen 2 – Getting Out

They returned with the container about 3 minutes later. John had expected some kind of battlefield, his allies holding position in a desperate stand after Igor opened the Vault again. Instead, he found the rested companions that helped him get in. In a way that was even worse. What the hell was going on outside this door?

Only one way to find out. “Everyone ready?”

“As ready as we will be,” Grumbled one of the melee fighters with a smile. “This is everything I signed up for.”

“I know right?” Rave chirped.

John nodded at Aclysia and she opened the vault again. It slowly swung open completely and revealed several dozen Bloodfallen standing in a half circle between them and the exit. Igor stood next to Gent, the leader of the Bloodfallen leaning on his cane, an air of arrogant nonchalance around him. Even now, he believed himself superior. John quietly thanked every god that would listen for the self-delusions of egomaniac cult leaders.

Not that this egomania was entirely unjustified. Although Igor maintained his military-esque, white outfit, Gent was geared up to the teeth. A thick steel armour covered him and in his hands lay a massive axe, proper for his size.

“I must say,” Igor said with a smug grin, “I did not expect you to get this far. Only so much sadder that somebody of your talent decided to fight for the Communists.”

“I don’t fight for anybody Igor.” John shook his head at the accusation, “What even makes you think that?”

“There is no other motivation one could have to go against us!”

John almost burst out laughing, “You mean aside from the last wish of Travolta, common decency and the fact that you plotted the downfall of dozens of guilds to get their members to join you?” Not even a single turned head. The Blood of Thana evidently bound them into a tight collective.

“You spew comedic lies, John Newman.” Igor waved off.

“And you thoroughly underestimate us.” John countered, “But what should I expect from somebody who is idiotic enough to think torturing a girl for 60 years is justified.”

Igor had enough of the talk and pointed at them, “Kill them, be careful not to damage that container!”

“Aclysia, Rave, you take on Gent. I will keep Igor busy, the rest of you, try to get that container moving!” The orders were out on both sides and the fight began.

Gent, the massive wall of flesh that he was, trampled towards them. He and Aclysia clashed between the two forces. Axe met cleaver in a loud reverberance. The Artificial Guardian budged under the strike of the stronger Goliath but she did not collapse. With his Strength, Gent would overpower Aclysia eventually. Good thing that the brutish force came at the expense of his Intellect.

Not noticing Rave until it was already too late, Gent took a full unloading of light directly into the gap for his eyes. Blind, the man roared, and kept up the pressure. “Strength that Travolta could have had, had he only stayed on the proper path!” Igor shouted from the background. “Unconsumed by HER dark will!”

The cult leader’s monologue was cut there, as Sylph and Salamander threw attacks at him. Igor ignored both and suddenly charged forwards, straight towards John. Nothing was easier to hit than a target that was going straight forwards. Mana Ray suddenly burst from his hand and Igor took the attack on the shoulder. Even though his outfit was incinerated, he did not slow. A second later he was in front of John, cane transforming into a thin blade as he swung it down. Undine slowed the attack enough for John to dodge and preserve his mana instead of sacrificing it to Mana Shield.

“Your little elementals will not be able to protect you forever!” Igor threatened.

“T-try!” Gnome stuttered, then tried to tackle the guild master.

Igor nimbly sidestepped the attack, only to then trip over his shoelaces. “Really?!” the usually so charismatic man lost his composure for the first time.

“Whatever is effective,” John mocked, letting go of those Possessions. Another Mana Ray hit the enraged cult leader in the leg. Igor growled deeply, his seared shoulder and leg were both healing cleaner and slower than Travolta had. The satisfaction John got out of seeing this man angry was dangerously intoxicating.

Igor kicked his shoes off with quick movements. John found new targets for his Possession. The cane, for one, even if it only served as a minor annoyance. As long as Igor kept his grip tight John wouldn’t be able to change much. The same could not be said about the uniform. The stylish military garb began to constrict around Igor’s throat. With one firm tug, the cult leader tore the cloth wide open.

“Didn’t think you wanted to hatefuck me but here you are: undressing right in front of me,” John kept the mockery up.



It was like John’s third eye was suddenly forced open. He knew what he was seeing. It was her mana, it was what Rave had described to him whenever she had told him about how he had grown. Where everyone else in the room harboured in themselves a sphere, typically of a simple blue colour, Thana was like a drop of blood in a clean sea that refused to mingle with the water.

John tried Observe but it didn’t reveal anything new. He was frozen, waiting, like everyone else, for the long tortured woman, for the acclaimed weapon of the Soviet Union, to do something – anything.

Thana did not. She stood there, eyes unfocused, expression vacant. Then, her entire body tilted back.

The gunshot echoed through the room a moment later. Everyone looked over to Victoria. The sniper stared from the entrance and grinned at John. John grit his teeth. He already knew what his mistake had been. Someone in her troop could have been equipped with emergency blood capsules in their teeth. A quick way to get out, when John wasn’t looking.

Igor was laughing, he thought they had won and John did not know if he could disagree. “If I had known it was this easy, then... I would... have.” His words petered out, as he and everyone else looked back to Thana.

The small woman was bent backwards at the hip, but she hadn’t fallen. Gradually, she straightened back up. The bullet was stuck between two rows of flawlessly white, flawlessly gapless, flawlessly shaped human teeth. Thana spat out the bullet, coughed up water, slowly, quiveringly stepping forwards. “D...z...” Individual letters and syllables left her mouth. Ongoing coughs made it impossible to understand whatever that was. “...je...”

Victoria pulled the trigger. Again and again. John was shocked, mostly by himself. For the first time, he felt utterly frozen in the face of a situation he did not comprehend. All he could do was stand and stare. It was the same for everyone else. Only Victoria had the brazenness, perhaps the ignorance, to keep unloading her magazine.

The bullets hit Thana’s chest, arms and legs, many missing completely. Victoria’s hands must have been shaking at this point. The bullets uselessly penetrated Thana’s body before being pushed out again by the regenerating flesh. Not a single drop of blood leaked from her.

There was only a single drop that fell. It gathered at the tip of Thana’s index finger, then fell into the pool of water that had once filled her tank. What had begun to soak into the carpet rippled unnaturally from the single drop. Red separated from translucent water. All the blood the container had stolen from her began to rise. Small spheres hovered upwards, defying gravity.

A last click indicated the emptiness of Victoria’s magazine. As the noise faded away Thana vanished. John barely managed to notice her squatting upside down in the dome. She pulled together like a screw, then launched herself across the room. Next time everyone saw her, she stood in front of Victoria. Both movements had been too fast for anyone around to follow.

“Dz....” Thana grabbed Victoria’s neck with both hands. She coughed again, while her small hands constricted the gunslinger’s windpipe. “...je... Dz...”

Victoria uselessly beat the smaller woman’s arms, kicked and let out ragged screams. Her face turned red, then purple, then blue. The terrible strength choked the life out of Victoria. A slow, agonizing death, her neck getting ever narrower as the fingers pressed ever deeper into yielding muscle.

John wanted to shout. To tell Thana that she could just go. Nobody could stop her, clearly. Before he could get out a single word, before Thana could finish what she wanted to say, there was a crunch. Victoria’s head tilted off to the side, rolling without any resistance.

“Ah....” A disappointed noise, followed by the corpse of Victoria dropping to the floor. Thana turned around, eyes moving at immense speed between everyone. Then she stopped at John.

‘No, not at me,’ John thought.

One leap and Thana was next to Igor.

So close again, John could see her eyes. The golden dots inside were spinning, turning at such a rapid pace they created a second solid ring within. Black pupils were dilated to different degrees. She blinked a couple of times, until they both focused properly. Then, she grinned at Igor and smiled like a joke had been told. It grew wider, the purplish lips drawing back until her gums were visible. It was just as tinged towards blue as the rest of her.

Igor was as pale as a man could be. Thana grabbed him by the foot and ripped him out of the grasp of the two elementals. For a moment, he was just held like this, a tall man dangling from a single arm of a short, somewhat athletic woman. A faint remainder of John’s mundane senses told him that nothing bad would happen.

“See what you have done,” Igor spoke grave, last words.

In a furious motion, Thana pulled him overhead like a human flail. The guild master slammed into the floor, blood splattering everywhere, only for Thana to swing him back the other way. Rage and wild ecstasy guided the motions, as she whipped the man around, slamming him into the ground again and again. Bones shattered, gore scattered, and by the end of Thana’s rage the only part of Igor that wasn’t broken was the very leg she held him by. The cult leader was little more than a fleshy paste.

Thana let go. She stood there for a moment. Her shoulders quivered.

And then she started laughing.