Chương 153: 66 - RIDE THE LIVEWIRE

"The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot, stinging air and covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain." Emil read from The Grapes of Wrath as it was read in his mind. He recounted every word as if it were he reading the book and not the disembodied voice of German Casas. Unlike Mauve, the words didn't bother him. His loot didn't require his command or even his mind to operate. They were beasts.

Beasts with relentless, bloodthirsty minds of their own. Acelin sped around the hulking figure of the Skull Eater. Its muscle-bound ape-like body was massively resilient. With his speed loot, the kid didn't have a hard time avoiding its attacks, but he couldn't do much damage to it either. He aimed the swing of his bat at the thing's legs and then its chest. But its skin was like armor. Whenever he hit it, he could feel it denting, but the beast never slowed down.

It attacked him with its massive, bulging arms that looked to be coursing green flame through its veins. Acelin ducked a wild swing that blew his hood off his head. He then used the thing's fist as a launch pad to propel himself at the head. The only thing that prevented his bat from hitting a home run was that the fire around its head ignited like a gas stove being turned to 10. Acelin retreated as the Skull Eater regarded him strangely.

The mist was still present, but large parts of it were disconnecting, meaning Acelin didn't have much trouble seeing. It still marred the city with pockets of thick cloud. Emil passively walked out of the burning house, completely unburned. He tightly held the adolescent boy who lived in the house by the wrist. The seven-year-old boy squirmed and cried to get free. Emil shushed him, putting his finger to his mouth.

"Calm. I know you're excited, but you'll have to settle for being dessert. Biscuit's busy at the moment."

"Biscuit!?" Acelin shouted.

"You're telling me this stupid monkey's name is Biscuit?"

"Don't say things like that. You've gone and hurt his feelings. He may look scary, but he's a sensitive guy on the inside, ya know." Emil said.

"Like I care." Acelin used his psychic to trample the Skull Eater with wreckage from the crumbling home. He packed on a small apartment's worth of wood and stone on top of it as Emil watched on. It just burst out of all the debris, sending it back to Acelin covered in its fire. Acelin halted it in the air before it could touch him. The brief respite gave the ape an opening to try to crush him with its fist. Acelin met it with his bat.

The Skull Eater pulled the punch away, only to cloak the fist in green flame and try again. Acelin ran to the side of it as he watched the spot where he stood literally explode from the punch.

"Jeez… how am I supposed to fight this thing?" he thought.

"Keep in mind, the beast is not the priority. Get rid of the host and his pets will go along with him." German said.

"Uhh... yeah. I know. That's obvious." Acelin lied.

"Then I suggest you refocus your attention and get that boy away from him while you're at it." Emil had his eyes closed, listening to the hums of the flames, but suddenly opened his dark eyes.

"Oh… the book stopped." Acelin flung his bat at the man as fast as his psychic could carry it. However, the attack was caught by a second beast. This one was nowhere near as big as the Skull yet somehow even more menacing. Acelin could hear the static radiating off of it like an old TV, but it was just a dark form with vibrant red eyes. An electrified shadow resembling a limb held his bat, filling it with sparks.

"Hello, Sparky. Good to see you." Emil said.

"You know, you really suck at naming things," Acelin mouthed off, annoyed that the thing had the Redeemer's bat.

"And what was your name again… was it Nerd or Turd?"

"Nrv… the protector of the weak. Knight of the Redeemer," Acelin posed with his fists on his hips.

"I used to play pretend too when I was younger… I still do in some ways. It's an escape from a pretty pointless reality. But like with all good things, you'll grow out of it one day."

"The heck are you talking ab—" Acelin was interrupted when his bat shot out of the electric specter like a cannon. It stabbed into the stone ground as if it were a blade. Acelin barely managed to move out of its way.

"Hey… there's no honor in a cheap shot." The creature was fast. Even though Acelin dodged the shot using his max speed, the specter met him in his path. He wasn't expecting it. It swiped its formless arm at him, winging him in the shoulder. It sent him sliding on the ground. The thing flashed above him. But he was able to summon his bat to his hand and block its strike. Thankfully, the bat had rubber grip tape to stop the stream of electricity from entering Acelin's arm.

That didn't mean the specter wasn't quickly overpowering his scrawny arms. It pushed the bat down closer to Acelin's chest before the boy mentally tossed a street sign at it. The sign just phased through the specter like the thing didn't even exist. Though at the same time it released the pressure on his bat, allowing Acelin to slip away.

"Is it a ghost or something? That's just like…" Before he could complete the thought, the Skull Eater was on him. He had lost track of it. Emil had let it disappear into the stamp on his neck only to resummon it right next to Acelin. So when it grabbed him out of his run, he didn't see it coming. It squeezed him as he struggled, feeling like his arms were about to break within its grip. It brought his body to its open jowls, ready to take his skull into its own. Acelin had no choice.

He had to summon his third loot. Suddenly the grip of the Skull Eater began to loosen, as it was slowly being pulled apart by a small apparition beneath it, and the clawed hands of the Fury dug into its arms. The Skull Eater roared in pain, in an ugly, ghoulish voice. Acelin was freed, and the Fury summoned its dark violet energy to blast a beam right into the beast's Skull. The specter came to its aid, attacking the wraith, only for it to pass right through the Fury as Acelin's attack did to it.

Acelin and the Fury retreated. Emil was awestruck. Eyes wide, jaw dropped to his knees. The sight made him lose his grip on the otherwise helpless child, who ran away at German's instruction. Emil hadn't the mind to pay it any mind. For he was fascinated by this new creature in front of him.

"What is that?" Acelin stood triumphantly, resting his bat on his shoulder.

"See, when I became a knight. My king granted me a special wish: to choose whatever loot I wanted. But everyone underestimates me. I've seen the Redeemer's tome, and I know which ones are the stronger. That's why I chose the legendary Fury. I'd tell you what it does, but all you need to know is that you're about to get owned, scrub." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Emil crawled on his knees, unable to take his eyes off the Fury with its ghastly body, long, sharp hair, and white, fading dress.

"The Fury… It's beautiful. The perfect beast that I've been looking for. I want it… I don't care if it overloads me. I need to have it. I need it to hold me…" Acelin took a step back, legitimately disgusted.

"This guy's a freaking weirdo."

"Get it for me…" Emil commanded his beasts, and they would do as he said. The specter struck first, slicing through the air with its chaotic light. The Fury met it, and they seemed to clash. Seemed because, despite the sharp violence with which they seemed to collide, none of it translated to the world. It was like the two creatures were meeting on a separate plane of existence, somewhere only reachable by things that transcended reality. They clashed over and over and over.

Only occasionally would they slip into reality, and the sound of static and screaming rang in the air.

"BZZZT!"

"CRACK!"

"CHHHH!" The Fury managed to hurt it when it stabbed into its shadowy form. The specter and Fury then burst backward like two like-poles of a magnet being propelled away from each other. Now that the battle was more even, that the battle was effectively two-on-two, Acelin could focus his attention back on the Skull Eater, who was standing between him and Emil. He tried to remember that he didn't need to kill it. He just needed to get it out of his way long enough for him to get to that gothic weirdo.

The good news was that the child was out of the way, which meant Acelin didn't have any reason to hold back. He darted at it, and the Skull Eater slammed his flame-cloaked fist at the ground, causing the stone below to erupt like a volcano. Acelin swerved around it to get to Emil. A green fireball got in the way, forcing Acelin to reroute. He ran inside a house. Shortly after, he emerged with a blanket trailing behind him for a cape over the small black one he already had.

The beast tried to attack him again, but he ran circles around it. Literally. Ten times, as the thing confused itself trying to keep up with him. It didn't even realize it was being wrapped up in that large blanket. It was typically tough to use his psychic abilities on a living creature. Most of the time it didn't work, for some cosmic reason. But he could move a platform underneath it.

The blankety lifted the large creature into the air, and with a mighty heft of mental energy, Acelin flung the Skull Eater right over the city wall and into the ocean below. He heard a splash on the other side and felt satisfied. The Skull Eater slowly sank in the ocean, the fire on its head having been extinguished. While it was too large to swim, it was still alive, and its skull turned to the strange fish man staring at it underwater…

"Uhh.. hello?" Emil crossed his arms, deep in thought.

"Just as I suspected. That creature of yours is a better specimen than even my own. Survival of the fittest has never let me down." The Fury and the specter continued their fight all around them. Crashing and writhing.

"Will you shut up, already?" Acelin reared his bat and launched himself at Emil, now helpless and unprotected by his two beasts. But Acelin did not consider his third. This entire time it had been locked in combat with Cannon Valkyr in the middle of the island. Cannon threw a punch at its fifty-foot frame and was astonished to hit nothing but empty air. The Glacier Bear appeared right in front of Emil, shaking the island as its feet hit the ground.

It threw Acelin off balance, causing him to run into a mountain of icy white fur. It appeared to pick Emil up with its massive paws and give him a ride to its shoulder.

"You've got some damage on you, Gladus. You'll heal in time. But see that boy down there. I need you to kill him and take his loot. I'm kinda done with the whole non-lethal thing, so just do your thing." That bear roared. It roared like a grand titan in a manner that stopped the entire island in its tracks. It stomped on the ground, trying to crush Acelin under its feet. Acelin was able to speed around to dodge, but every time it stepped, it left a footprint of ice, coating the ground.

Running started to become tricky as Acelin was just in a pair of tennis shoes, nothing meant to keep him steady on ice. One attempt left him slipping right into the side of the building. That's when he noticed the young boy, hiding behind a trash can in the alley, scared, alone, clutching a small stuffed toy to his chest. A large shadow enveloped them as the foot of the Glacier Bear came down on them. Acelin reacted, grabbing the boy and running far away from the bear.

He stopped in a house, untouched by the fighting, breathing heavily.

"Don't worry. You hide in here while I deal with those ugly monsters."

"No… please don't go." There was so much fear and trepidation in the child's voice.

"I want my momma." Seeing that strange, familiar fear made Acelin think of his own mother.

"That's right. Parents are supposed to protect their kids. Families are supposed to look out for each other." He didn't know why his had gone so wrong.

"But they can't always do that. So sometimes you gotta rely on yourself… until someone else comes in to save the day. Don't worry, kid. Nothing's gonna happen to you as long as I'm around." He gave him a gentle smile and, in the same breath, sped back out to the battlefield where Emil and his beasts waited for him. Acelin summoned the Fury to his side, looking up and around to the three beasts surrounding him. The Glacier Bear. The Electric Specter. Even the Skull Eater had been summoned back from the water.

Though its flames had been extinguished temporarily, it seemed more eager to fight than ever. Emil sent them all to attack at the same time. The Fury covered Acelin's body, shielding him with its soul and bloodied hands. He felt a warmth in himself. The Fury was a strange thing, so violent, and yet tender when it wanted to be. Right then, it looked at him with the soft, pale face of Acelin's own mother. And he wondered if she would be proud of him, wherever she was.

Protecting those weaker than himself felt like something she'd want him to do. It's what she tried to do for him, the job that T'balt took in her place.

"I promise to protect the weak and the innocent. I promise to be brave and when needed, to be bold. To stand in the face of tyranny to deliver justice to the wicked for the purpose of protecting the good… this time… I'm gonna protect my family." The Fury blocked the charge of the specter. The glacier bear summoned a wave of frosted air, trying to freeze them in place. Acelin outran the blast as it phased through the two spectral beasts.

The gorilla hopped with its massive strength and blasted a wave of flame down at the ground. The Fury appeared above Acelin, taking the brunt of the blast. But in that same second, it was attacked by the Specter, who had sent a shock right into its chest. Sparks continued to fly as the Fury blasted its dark energy at it. The Specter sped away, Acelin meeting it with his own speed. He swung his bat right through it, only for Fury to strike at the same time.

It sent its dark energy right into the thing, blasting it back. The other beasts struggled to keep up with the speed, the bear not managing to move much with Emil on its shoulder. The skull eater sent more flames at them, only for the Fury to deflect it with its claws. Acelin used those same claws to launch himself into the air at the monster. That's when the Glacier Bear tried to take him out of the sky with an ice shard shaped like a spear. Acelin threw his bat ahead of him, stopping it in mid-air.

He then leaped off of it to change his direction and dodge the spear. The speed of his movement allowed him to land comfortably on the shoulder of the Skull Eater. There, he brought his bat to his hand and prepared to bat a hundred right on the side of its cranium. This swing was powered by the speed of his arms and all the psychic energy he could put into the swing of the bat. When he hit its skull, it shattered, even flying off the body that held it. The Skull Eater then disappeared, turning into smoke.

"Homer!" Emil grimaced. The specter tried to avenge its fallen comrade. But Acelin strategically dodged it, not bothering to call the Fury to defend him. German would occasionally speak into his mind, filling him with mischievous ideas. He leaped right into the soft fur of the Glacier Bear. The next of the specter's attacks was sent right into its chest, drawing blood and shocking the giant to fall to its back. Emil fell with the thing, narrowly avoiding death by landing in its fur.

But the specter seemed to be stuck in its body. That was until the Fury appeared above both creatures and blasted them with dark energy. Acelin then put on the finishing touch, pulling the giant ice spear out of the ground with his mental energy and throwing it right into the Glacier Bear's heart. Both creatures disappeared then, leaving Emil squirming on the ground.

"What… Why? My… My…" Acelin tightened his grip around his bat, his lucky bat. And walked towards the man, Fury, expanding his shadow.

"It's cuz I'm better. GG." Emil stopped then, realizing his resistance was futile. Instead, he laid his head on the ground and closed his eyes, as if he were already dying.

"Of course, I get the bad ending. That's what I get for being alive, I guess. Brought down by a fucking kid." He proceeded to be smacked in the side of his noggin by a metal bat, immediately turning his lights out.

"Oh crap," Acelin said suddenly.

"I shouldn't have done that. Is he dead? Miss Brazer will kill me if I murdered a guy." He went down to check and saw a light huff of misty air still coming out of Emil's mouth.

"Phew."

"Hey… weird guy in my head, you there? The monster guy is officially KO'd."

"Seems he's still alive. I'll send someone to tie him up. You should get yourself to safety," German said. Acelin watched the Fury turn into smoke above him.

"Yeah, whatever." He found the young boy in the house where he left him. He was still scared, but something changed on his face when Acelin reappeared to him. Something like hope.

"Alright, let's get you back to your mom."