Chapter 2444

Chapter 2444

She could hear its breathing. Only that wet noise echoed out.

The room that had previously seemed so vast seemed like such a small place as cloudy grey distortions gathered at the periphery. Laplace looked around with his bloody and gouged eyes and Devick shivered.

After a few moments of consideration, the bloated serpent used its two arms to drag its body slightly forward. Each movement sent a shudder through its flesh. Each shudder dislodged a few more fresh drops of blood, which hit the ground and echoed strangely out through this perfect Pinnacle environment. The weird glassy quality swirled out from Laplace’s body. The air felt sticky as Devick breathed, her heartbeat becoming alarmingly rapid.

She could feel its sweat against her skin, suffocating her. Its image clogged her airways and constricted her muscles.

“Flee, girl. I have taught you all I can,” The monkey bounced forward and hopped up to stand on Devick’s shoulder. It had continued to grow over the last few minutes, so it was almost half as large as Devick was. It looked at her with blank eyes. “I appreciate you would give so much for me... but I have my pride. And have been alone for a long time. Heh, laboring without any appreciation is just my existence. I do not need your help with this foe- oof!”

The monkey, toward the end of its speech, made to leap off Devick’s shoulder and go face the monster. But as it jumped, Devick’s hand snapped up and grabbed its tail; the unexpected tug halted the monkey’s progress and its face planted into the ground.

“You think we should face this?” Devick snorted while she gathered the monkey up in her arms. Then she pivoted on her heel, condensed Malice around her body, and began sprinting away across the vast, featureless plain. Each step was a supreme effort, forcing her way through the pressure released by the Eternity. Even through her shoes, she could feel the thump of those massive drops of blood hitting the ground behind her. “I’m unreasonable, not stupid. We should not fight-”

This time, it was Devick who was cut off. The breath seemed to freeze in her lungs. Her movements turned sluggish. A horrific intention spun around her. Soon her movements ceased. Then, inexorably, her trembling legs began to reverse. She ran backward, her stride bringing her back to stand in front of the invading Eternity.

As her traitorous body pivoted on her heel, she bit her lip until she drew blood. Malice lashed back and forth inside of her body. Yet she could not escape the grasp of the Eternity.

“Hmph, you tried to simply run from Eternity and claim not to be stupid...” The monkey sniffed.

Devick’s pupils dilated. She felt the fullness of her resentment and unwillingness forming a tight core in her chest. The muscles of her body bulged. I would rather boil the blood in my veins than let you control me...!

Her left hand twitched. Then those grey fingers, which had helped slay a god, grasped upon that horrible filminess in the surrounding air and tore away the power used against her. With a gasp, Devick staggered out of the restriction. Blood gushed out of her mouth from where she had been gnawing on her cheek, but she had her autonomy back.

Instinctively, she glanced directly up in front of her, almost intending to spit some of this blood in the Eternity’s direction. Her scalp itched; she knew she shouldn’t but Devick couldn’t help her own curiosity. She met the gaze of the Eternity. It’s long tongue flopped back and forth in its mouth as it considered her.

Just as she was about to whip around and resume her fleeing, it jabbed a finger at her. Her hand flashed up-

She lost the next few seconds to tumbling dizziness. The pain had suffused her entire body; she had no idea what had been the point of impact. When her perspective ceased spinning, her skull ached and her mouth tasted like blood. Her gaze was unfocused, aimed up toward the vast openness of the ceiling.

Fuck... Devick blinked slowly. She could feel a spot above her right eye beginning to swell. Her heart fluttered against her ribcage. Is this... really the best I can do...?

The monkey stood over her, shaking its head. “You say you are not stupid, yet you dare look at Eternity? Girl, remain here. I... Let us consider the reality of the situation. I have already been abandoned by all. My family, my origins... But that’s okay. I am... I am different from others. What I am is unusual. I would go so far as to say there is a part of me that is unlovable. It’s no one’s fault. It just means that for something like me, there is no better end than this. I will resist this Eternity. Perhaps such a struggle will have meaning.”

The monkey turned away. Devick looked at his back. She felt a new fury ravaging its way along her veins, one softened by the lonely silhouette of the monkey. She forced back her fear and cursed the veritable blood mine that she had drilled into her own cheek, still pumping out the metallic liquid.

You... aren’t...!

If I’m not, then you, definitely...

Devick spat some blood out to the side, but that triggered the tiniest bit of vomiting. Her body shuddered as her physical form made its discomfort known. Wiping her mouth, she ignored the pain and straightened. She pressed her palms against the ground.

Malice whispered a warning in her ear. Her heart clenched— Without thinking, Devick squeezed as much strength as she could out of her weary form, scrambling forward and tackling the monkey from behind just as Laplace unleashed another blast that would have smashed the monkey’s nose. The powerful projectile zipped overhead.

Panting, Devick scooped up the monkey. “You... are not a thing. And maybe you are a little unlovable, but that’s just because you try and do bullshit like this and martyr yourself. There is nothing inherently wrong with you.”

It’s all in the arrogant way you act, Devick’s lip twitched, but she managed to keep the last part inside.

In the end... the most unreasonable expectation... was just for us to have a happy ending... right, Randidly Ghosthound?

Without hesitation, Devick tossed three unsaid words into the pyre of her image.

The tome which promised death fluttered its pages and glided forward. Using the manipulation of maroon chains, Devick raised her hand. She felt two-dimensional, all ill-will and a roaring conflagration. She would be unreasonable, right up until the end. Malice rolled its shoulders. She was the Merry Consort of Perdition, and she would smile and carve a pound of flesh from existence until she had been completely annihilated.

If I can reach it, I can harm it. With eyes filled with madness, Devick slashed out with her grey, withered, god-slaying hand. She wrung out every ounce of frustration she had felt growing up, every tremor in her heart called to the surface when the monkey had talked about being unlovable. For all those who found her ‘too-much’, Devick scratched.

Those three words she wanted to say to Randidly Ghosthound sat at the core of her being. As the layers of those words burned away, novas of pure emotion washed outward, reversing the corrupting effects of the chains of madness and suffusing her body with power.

Grey fingertip and advancing book met.

The pages of the tome fluttered more quickly. Several pages began to yellow and rot away, corrupted by the powerful viciousness than Devick. One page deteriorated so quickly it had vanished entirely before the process of fluttering had been completed. The tome’s advance briefly stalled out.

A corner of the tome turned maroon and then crumbled to black.

Laplace unleashed a burp. Devick’s sharpened image wavered and vanished. The tome continued forward, aimed straight at Devick’s chest. Those three words pulsed and pulsed, over and over again. Yet each wave was annihilated by the inexorable waves of time. She felt her awareness narrow to this single book.

I am yours, Randidly Ghosthound. If this universe is worth so many of your sacrifices, it is worth just as many of mine.

The chains in her body trembling, offering her one last chance as her flesh began to wither and age. She ignored it.

Devick did not close her eyes. She would not look away.

Yet abruptly, she felt an easing in her heart. Devick sucked in a breath, filled with shock; the restrictions around her had faded. She found the source of the experience and her smile widened. “Actually, little monkey... I think I’ll be okay. Tsk tsk, you certainly took your sweet time.”

A strange sense of tranquility filled Devick as Randidly Ghosthound appeared in front of her. He stood tall, clothed in tattered rags after a day’s worth of intense fighting. She could see wounds and burns all across his flesh. His black hair was messy. Malice whispered that there seemed to be something wrong with him and his eyes had shifted, but he offered her the same crooked smile. “Really, the issue is you refuse to wait for me before throwing yourself in harm’s way.”

With a single hand, he swallowed the tome that had so threatened her.

“If I wait around during all of your strange little meanderings, even I might not be able to keep up with you, Randidly Ghosthound. Reflect seriously on your wild and unpredictable improvements.” Even as Devick spoke, she was already swaying, her mind and spirit overtaxed. Randidly’s arm snaked around her waist and kept her standing.

She gave him a frank look, not missing his own tattered body, the subtle lines of exhaustion around his eyes. “I know you are obsessed with ravaging me right now, but we have a bigger problem here. Besides, the monkey has no knowledge of carnal congress between man and woman-”

Randidly interrupted her with a wicked grin. “Surely we have time for at least a chaste kiss?”

Devick blinked, genuinely surprised that no-nonsense Randidly Ghosthound had gone along with her joke. And before she could formulate a response, that arm around her waist tightened and she was pressed against him. His lips were warm.

Tingles radiated out from their multiple point of contact, setting off firecrackers in her body. She could feel small tremors in his body, not from weakness, but from control; maybe they had been closer to a ravaging than Devick had expected.

Then he pulled away and turned to face Laplace. As Randidly’s eyes narrowed, the monkey hopped to stand next to them. “Randidly Ghosthound. I know you. No matter how powerful you have become, you cannot yet rival an Eternity. I shall buy the two of you time-”

“Pine, I know you too. And I know that even after I defeat this foe, you are the one who really needs attention,” Randidly said, but his eyes were surprisingly soft as he looked over at the growing monkey. He reached out and touched the being’s shoulder— there was a stinging sensation of static, as he felt a familiar energy in the monkey’s body. “...the arrangements that Elhume made, cycling and funneling all the significance back through you, so you wouldn’t deteriorate further... you’ll soon collapse under that weight. The entirety of the Nexus will be implicated. But don’t worry.

“Today...” Randidly unleashed a beaming grin as he pivoted to face Laplace. “I’ve got one last miracle up my sleeve. It’s time to finish this.”