Chương 15: Stout Heart

Wherever Jeanne looked in the room, she saw nothing but a mass of threads floating in the air before dissolving like ash. A bluish glow was rapidly making its way through the perpetual swarm of shadows, constantly vomiting out the tangle of nets anchored to the ceiling. Roman was in the midst of it, trying to avoid in every way the brutal slashes coming from the gigantic, furious colossus before him.

The creature was full of cuts, but none of them were bleeding, as if the regeneration was only concerned with keeping him alive. No matter how much blood ran from his hands, the handle of his chainsaw remained tight between his fingers, continuing to be wielded frantically through the ranks. The hissing of the creatures was brutally subjugated to the force of the cries escaping from his throat, like a beast in the grip of its most primitive instincts.

They kept jumping on him, but Noel was crushing them to the floor. By now, his blade was no longer even being used that way. With the back of the hook, he was crushing the shadows' skulls while swinging the shotgun like a club around himself. The room was beginning to clear, under Roman's stunned gaze, now seated on a chair of black bones." Does he have unlimited stamina or what? Shouldn't he already be showing the symptoms of the overload?"" If I tried to get close, I would only take a useless risk."

He realised, resting his head on the knuckles covered by a thick layer of tendrils. The number of plants in the environment gave him almost unlimited use of his power, conferring a time advantage. Although satisfied with his apparently infallible plan, he felt a shadow begin to loom over him, drawing his attention back to the battle. An enormous moss-covered boulder was about to crush him under its enormous weight.

Roman kicked the chair aside, standing abruptly, hardening the bonds on his arm, which contracted like a muscle. His wrist moved with lightning speed, raising the mass of tendrils lashed to his fingers like a blade. The two halves of the boulder shattered behind him, severed by a clean cut. Roman slowly lowered his arm, keeping his eyes fixed on the beast to his right.

By now, the shotgun he was holding in one hand looked like a bent stick more than a weapon, but his chainsaw was still smoking, its teeth still vibrating and hungry.

"So you have a modicum of intellect… I will have to make an effort then." Roman smiled, extending the blade fused to his wrist, giving it a curved, sinister shape. He swept it at his side, cutting the air with an unsettling and spectral hiss. Noel was chewing the skull of one of the shadows, now torn to pieces by his slashes. The spiderweb had been unable to keep pace with Noel's rhythm, and now the entire room had been cleared before other creatures could even be born.

The cocoons on the ceiling were beginning to open, but a number so small would be only a nuisance to Noel.

"You... Are quite weak." He murmured, spitting threads from his mouth, smiling with all his teeth, his gaze still wrapped in intoxication.

"I was not expecting good manners… From a beast," Roman smiled in turn, stomping the floor. A long series of vine-like tendrils like arms crushed Noel's ankles, immobilising him on the spot while Roman advanced, ominous, swaying the blade in front of him. In a flash, the black blade and Sazerac clashed, dancing in a sea of blue sparks and remnants of sludgy filaments.

Roman did not expect to win a contest of strength, which was why he'd thought to immobilise him first, but Noel was impassive even in those conditions. Roman smiled, without losing for even an instant the force needed to resist the pressure and heat that each of those small dancing blades was inflicting on him. The black blade slid under the hook, slamming it to the ground with force.

From beneath his jacket, a large mass of bones and black threads shot out like a spring, driving its force onto Noel's chest, tearing him away from his chains. The boy's body flew until it collided with the tree behind him, snapping the trunk. A grunt escaped his mouth as he tore himself away from the plant, returning to the floor. The skin on his chest was bruised and almost violet, but the bones beneath were completely intact.

"All regeneration is reduced to a minimum to allow you to fight… Disgusting." Roman declared, while the grim skeletal arm retreated into the darkness smeared across his uniform. Noel continued to stare at him, panting through his teeth, his eyes burning with a reddish glow. The veins that erupted across his skin continued to pulse with every breath and movement.

"That's Roman…" Jeanne murmured, stunned by how easily he had pushed Noel into the wall." Did Lance seriously manage to do something against him?"" Does he have any openings?" She wondered, holding her still-trembling arm from the exertion. Her scythe was still embedded in the wood beside her. Her attention shifted to Noel, ready to charge at Roman. Every part of his body seemed to tremble, driven by the frenzy clouding his senses." If I jump in now... I will be torn to shreds."

She pulled out of her pocket a small syringe filled with violet liquid, tapping it with her index finger, making the substance tremble slightly.

"Just enough for one person…" Jeanne murmured, keeping the NOIR Compound syringe tight in her hand. The room was wrapped in silence, broken only by the disgusting sound of shadows slamming to the floor, bouncing like filamentous sludge.

"So… Is that all you can offer?" Roman laughed, thickening the blade, doubling its mass, now comparable to Noel's. The boy stood, driving the chainsaw into the ground and leaving it there while he stared at Roman. The smile was gone. Now, only a grimace of silent rage could be read from his intoxicated pupils. With force, he launched himself at Roman. The floor seemed almost to explode under his weight. He covered the space in an instant, finding himself face to face with the old man.

"So be it…" A thick row of long skeletal arms appeared from his back, wrapping around Noel's body, trying to stop his advance. With a bestial roar, he shrugged off the shadowy hands, tearing them into a cloud of black powder. Every muscle contracted with force to launch himself at Roman, grinning beneath his beard. The blood-wrapped fist and the black blade clashed, producing new sparks, this time a fierce reddish colour.

His blow was not enough to shatter the blade, yet Roman could not lacerate his fingers, covered in blood hardened like marble.

"So you are an Evolved one… Excellent!" He smiled, intensifying his assault. Every slash sent a cloud of flames and black threads into the air. Noel continued to move his entire body to attack, promptly meeting the edge of the sword. Every impact was such as to shake the leaves and mosses around the room, which were slowly losing their colour. Jeanne was stunned by the force of both, but was unable to join the battle." I would only hinder him..."

Suddenly, the sound of iron being chipped and the heavy detonations stopped, and even the shadows ceased hissing. Noel was motionless, wrapped in the grip of two enormous masses of tendrils like hands, coming from the darkness on Roman's back. Two enormous, muscular arms were holding him firm, preventing every movement. His body trembled desperately, trying to break free, grunting like a rabid dog held by a chain. Roman brought the blade behind his shoulders, ready to drive it into the heart of his opponent.

His beard, dirty with blood, concealed a grim smile of joy and satisfaction.

"You shouldn't have been holding yourself back." He said solemnly, driving the blade into Noel's chest, erupting blood everywhere." This room was reinforced beforehand. Breaking in and out is almost impossible. In this confined space, I have the upper hand."

"NOEL!!!" Jeanne shouted, preparing to come down from the plant, seizing her scythe's handle with fierce hands, but something stopped her. A terrible, ominous atmosphere invaded the room, and even the shadows in their cocoons shrank back in fear. Roman raised his gaze, forehead dripping with blood, toward the face of his opponent, apparently lifeless. The eyes were empty but still contracted in a mad, violent glow. His skin was still trembling, but he did not seem to be moving. CRASH.

Roman was hurled away violently by Noel, his armour completely dismembered, and one of his arms torn away by the blow. It had happened in a single instant. The man had thrown a punch so sudden that Roman had only had time to erect a layer on his armour. Now he lay on the floor, pressing his soft, aching abdomen." If… If I hadn't defended myself, I would be in a much worse position." He thought, pulling himself upright, grabbing at the plants on the wall, draining them of their sap.

The wound and the bones beneath healed immediately, allowing him to recompose his posture. The blade was still fresh with blood, yet it was darker and denser than expected.

"This… Isn't blood from the heart?" He exclaimed, looking toward Noel, with the wound open directly on the left side of his chest.

"Heart… Displaced…" He murmured, pointing his metal index finger close to the lacerated flesh, all while his muscles and tendons slowly recomposed themselves.

"You indeed are capable. I will have to revise my opinion!" He laughed, cleaning the blade, sending fresh blood spraying across the walls. Noel hardened his gaze: a mixture of beast and human being. He advanced slowly, leaving a furrow in the ground with every step. Roman was motionless, his arm retracted, ready to spring. Every fibre of the boy's body ignited, contracting to the limit, to perform an inhuman leap toward the old man, wrapped in the darkness of the sludge.

The blade and the skin clashed, grinding harshly. Before the force of the impact had even dissipated, the skeletal limb and Noel collided with still more clamour. In the incessant exchange of slashes and blows, their bodies seemed to merge with the air. Despite his build, Noel continued to resist the unpredictable sabre-thrusts flying toward his face, while keeping the mass of viscous bones under control.

"EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!!" Roman exulted at every exchange, swinging the steel anchored to his wrist with renewed force. Noel's skin was like a tough rind, yet every one of those slashes managed to strip it away, like a razor. The blood ran briefly before stopping, leaving visible only the layer of fat beneath the skin. Roman's arm of darkness finally managed to connect with Noel's face, unbalancing him for a single instant.

"Got you!" Roman whispered, leaping upward on a tendril that came directly from beneath him, his heavy sword straight above his head, ready to fall on his opponent's face. The air was cut, and the sword arrested its course, yet it was unable to reach its target. Noel had stopped the blade, slamming his hands together furiously, trapping the sword between them, a short distance from his face. Roman tried to pull back, but the grip was so strong it made the blade tremble, even shaking the very wrist of its wielder."

I was presumptuous..." Roman reprimanded himself, making other spectral limbs emerge from behind him, ready to wrap around Noel. The boy rotated his wrists, shattering the blade as if it were crystal. Shards of black, gleaming metal flew across the room like luminous dust in the night. Roman was, this time, completely petrified by the force demonstrated by the boy, who, with his palms still joined, was rotating his body to its limit, like a spring.

Noel finally managed to strike Roman's flank full-on, clearly perceiving the bones fracturing into thousands of pieces beneath the enormous pressure. The old man spat blood as he flew to the other side of the room, wrapped in the remains of his armour, destroyed by the violent impact. Under his weight, the wall cracked, sending sheets of plaster and mould to the floor." Not now, I can't remove this limiter of mine here."

His regeneration could manage that wound, but his full attention was directed to the enormous presence looming a few paces away. Noel towered above the old man, his gaze covered by a film of blood. His eyes blazed with madness from beneath the thick layer. Roman sprang up, charging the boy with a long blade composed of all the bones and threads that had emerged from his back, like a spike. The blade shot toward him, ready to pierce his face.

Noel caught it with his robotic arm, sending further vapour from the various fissures present on the prosthesis. The blade shattered once more beneath his enormous grip, this time flattening as if it were viscous, greasy gelatine. Roman could only open his eyes wide, watching his offense be dismembered in this way. He tried to summon shadows, but it was useless. Noel grabbed him by the ankle, lifting with force. He began to rotate with his whole body, dragging Roman through the middle of his frenzy.

He stopped his fury by stomping his foot on the ground, then he slammed the old man with an immense crash. His spine, his ribs, and his legs were completely broken by the impact, yet Noel hadn't concluded his attack. He picked the old man up again, this time by the jaw, hurling him into the wall with fury. Roman was beginning to lose his sight, and every time he tried to peel himself from the stone of the wall, Noel's knuckles drove him back in with renewed ferocity." Damn… The plants are running out… I cannot…

Waste the Amalgama now." He thought, spitting blood and mucus with every blow to his stomach. He reopened his eyes, ready to see Noel's hand crush his face, but it did not come. The colossus before him was panting with exhaustion, while all the wounds were beginning to reopen, covering him in blood. The prosthesis had locked shut on his forearm, where the first violet scars had already appeared. A faint smell of alcohol started to circulate among them.

Roman slid from the wall, falling at the feet of the motionless and injured colossus. A dirty smile of satisfaction emerged from beneath his blood-soaked beard. He began to laugh, slowly raising himself, pressing his hand against the wall, leaving a trail of blood mixed with black sludge. From his shoulders, a tangle of black threads began to take shape, dripping with black sludge. The mass began forming the shape of a torso. In its chest, a sinister violet light blazed, pulsing like a heart.

The figure finally emerged complete from his back. A body composed of shadows and black tendrils was perched on Roman, wrapped in a scaled and tattered cloak. Its head was barely formed, reduced to a dripping nodule. A gigantic axe was brandished in its hands, ready to decapitate the boy before him.

"I'd say it's time." He smiled, raising his hand, followed by the shadow. He cast a final glance at Noel, trembling and shaken by the exertion. The axe blazed with its own light, and a dark and sinister glow spread through the room. Roman snapped his hand down, followed by the axe. The blade fell a few paces from Noel, with the shadow's hands still firm on the handle. Roman looked down, astonished, at his feet, where a long golden blade now lay, covered in liquid of a colour halfway between white and grey." Geel."

A flash of yellow light erupted from the substance, blinding Roman and the shadow, who promptly submerged into the wall. The liquid wrapped around Noel, this time like glue, dragging him toward the tree. With a hard yank, the boy was launched across the room, slamming into the trunk.

"I'M SORRY!" Jeanne exclaimed, running toward Noel with the cord's end attached to her wrist. From her fingers dripped the same substance that composed the cord. Noel was stunned, unable to react while the overload slowly eroded his skin. Jeanne promptly removed the cap from the syringe, pressing the needle delicately against her companion's neck. The moment she saw a drop of blood form, she pushed the plunger. An electrical shock passed through Noel, making him collapse to the floor with foam at the mouth.

In the grip of convulsions, he could not speak, but the violet glow was beginning to recede.

"Tha… nks." He murmured, panting painfully, still shaken by the pain. Jeanne smiled, relieved. She stood, turning her head toward their primary problem. Roman had emerged from the sludge, now wrapped in a thick black cape, dense as tar. On his shoulders, the shadow had reformed its axe, and from his flank a gigantic skeletal limb brandished a rudimentary pike. His face was covered by a mask resembling a mandible, extending down to the chest.

He had completely abandoned his formal, elegant appearance, becoming a mass of bones and black vines. On his wrist, a new blade had formed, resembling a rapier. Jeanne shifted her gaze to her weapon, thrown to the ground on the opposite side of the room. A thin trickle of grey liquid was still attached to her.

"Pick it up… Witch." Roman pointed the blade at her face, indicating her sword with a tilt of his head. A new cord extended from Jeanne's arm, wrapping around the sword's handle. She yanked with force, bringing the golden frame back into her hand. Without hesitation, she passed her finger along the blade's edge, coating it in a thin layer of blood, which quickly began to transform into the same substance covering her hands." Zonnebloem." All the liquid on her body became like grey paint, pooling along her arms.

Her skin was slick and gleaming, covered in that strange pigment." Donkergrijs!" The mass of liquid on her arm became like a block of sharp, grooved iron. On her nails, there were now razor-sharp talons. She whispered something further, and the blade caught fire, lighting the room with a bright red glow, with yellowish undertones. She licked her lips, keeping her gaze on Roman. The colour of one of her eyes had changed, becoming reddish, while the other retained its usual blue.

"You should work more on your manners…" She gazed at him, closing her fingers around her sword's handle. Her tone remained serious and measured as she prepared to charge. Their blades met an instant later, wrapping the room in a series of flames. While Noel had been incapacitated and Roman brought to the extreme, upstairs, the fight was still raging. Lance grabbed his own forearm, completely shredded and dripping with blood. With a brutal gesture, he tore it away, sending it flying to the other side of the room.

The bleeding carcass stained the debris-filled water before turning to ash and vanishing. A few instants later, his forearm had already been rebuilt as new. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation." I lost count of how many times this exact scenario happened during this fight... She really is a monster." Laure, now leaning against a large boulder that had fallen from the ceiling, was smiling. Her eye was wrapped in the violet scars, unlike the overload ones.

Resistance was keeping her alive through the innumerable wounds Lance had inflicted. The furrow he'd left in her chest was closing rapidly, rebuilding organs in the process. She was exhausted, and their fight was showing no signs of ending.

"Are you tired?" Laure murmured, turning to him, covered in blood, her arm eaten by scars.

"I can… Keep going." He replied, looking at her with contempt.

"Those flashes… You're not a complete Stärken." She indicated, pointing at an enormous hole in the wall. Its edges appeared almost carbonised, and the centre was gleaming, almost molten. It had formed after Lance had managed to hit Laure. The energy of his blow had blown off his hand, but sent Laure into the wall along with a flood of whitish flashes.

"Really? Guess I have an ace up my sleeve then." He smiled, wiping a rivulet of blood beginning to run from his nose.

"They only count if you know how to use them!" Laure responded, breaking the boulder with the sheer force of her palm.

"Why not… Join me directly? You're strong! People like you have dreams and ambition, you have to desire the freedom to make them a reality, right?" She proposed, opening her arms as if ready to welcome him.

"My apologies again… I will have to refuse." He smiled again, closing his fists, letting a few drops of blood fall.

"Is it for some girl you've met?" Laure wiped a tear from her eye in an almost melodramatic manner.

"It's a long story, really, plus, I wouldn't even try to bear the disgusting methods you have shown!" He advanced slowly, maintaining his gaze locked to hers. Laure smiled, closing her arms, preparing to launch herself at him with force. A new discharge of white and black flashes wrapped Lance, from the legs up to the palms. His entire body blazed with that strange mixture of black and white. The water at his feet began to evaporate, covering him with a thin layer of steam.

He disappeared in front of Laure, leaving a detonation where his figure had been. She stayed motionless, waiting for the fateful moment.

"Ten centimetres to the right." She smiled, turning precisely where Lance had appeared. The boy maintained a serious expression, contracting his arm, ready to launch the blow toward Laure. The pool of water separated under the immense pressure that his blow had generated, cracking the walls even further. Even the waterfall behind them was shaken by the gust of wind. He retracted his arm; his muscles had been torn, but were already beginning to stitch themselves back together.

He wiped the blood from his face while looking at Laure, standing before him. Her hand had been carried away by the current of air, leaving only bleeding flesh in its place. She sighed, letting the tissue regenerate.

"You are getting faster, congratulations." She smiled, applauding him with her new hand. Lance tested his fingers, closing and releasing his grip. He was not in as bad a condition as with Roman, but his stamina could not keep pace with his own Frequency, and Laure had probably noticed.

"DAMN IT!" She exclaimed, stomping her foot in the water, huffing and grumbling.

"Why won't you come with me?! You're truly my ideal companion!" He said nothing, limiting himself to looking at her, confused. The same woman who had almost killed him a dozen times was complaining like a possessive child.

"Why am I locked away from snatching you?" The scars on her eyes expanded, covering her face. Her lips curled even further into an expression of pleasure, almost ethereal, wrapped in the red of her skin. Her Frequency was only increasing.

"I may have forgotten to mention… That my ability can be activated repeatedly." She smiled, appearing before Lance. Her fingers wrapped around his face, bringing her lips close to his. An instant later, a violent force brought him crashing to the floor. He covered his abdomen, and an unsettling heat pervaded his palm. The water at his feet turned red, parting to welcome the flow of blood running down from the hole slightly larger than a fist at his navel. Laure bent down, stroking his hair.

Her fingers passed quickly across his cheeks, pinching them.

"Does it hurt?" She asked, licking her fingers, dirty with the boy's blood. Her expression of joy was something aberrant to Lance. Supplicium's barrel was pointed directly at her nose, yet she remained smiling. Lance's hand fell to the ground, severed in an instant.

"Tsk! Don't point a weapon at someone… I already told you that it ruins your charm." She joked, holding Supplicium between her fingers, examining it like a toy.

"You know… Perhaps I've reconsidered." He said with a thread of voice, pressing the hole in his stomach, keeping his insides from falling out.

"WHAT JOY!" Laure exulted, raising her arms, almost as if holding an eagerly anticipated trophy.

"To show my gratitude… I also have a gift for you." He smiled, still immobilised.

"Tell me, tell me… What would that be?" Laure asked, leaning toward him with a smile of delight.

"This!" He replied, pointing at the gun in the woman's own hands. Supplicium rotated violently between Laure's fingers, detonating a bullet from its chamber. Her shoulder was completely lacerated, severing the arm, while Lance fell backwards, rolling in the dirty water, until he reached the steps. The revolver fell with a dull thud in the water, right beside him. The blood on the gun was still connected to his Frequency for a single instant, long enough to move it.

Laure looked down at her wound, where clothes and flesh had once been; there was now only a bloody pulp. Even the regeneration was slowing at those points. Her expression shifted dramatically, dripping with hatred toward Lance, back on his feet, wounds almost completely healed. A satisfied smile was stamped on his face, veiled by exhaustion.

"It worked..."

"You'll regret it… You liar." She murmured, pressing her face, trying to hold back tears.

"I will make you understand… Not to play with other people's feelings…"

"I'LL MAKE YOU CRY, LANCE KLINT!!" She leapt at him. This time, he managed to react for an instant, blocking the blow with the revolver's barrel. His body was hurled away, falling near the entrance portal. As he stood, he noticed an enormous boulder ready to fall from the ceiling, along with all the cracks woven into the rock." So not all the floors have been reinforced…" He opened Supplicium's chamber. Four bullets remained in the weapon, with a fifth in the process of forming.

Laure advanced furiously toward him, tearing at her own nails to the point of bleeding. Her footsteps echoed between the splashes of water and the weak trickle of the waterfall." A few more steps… I need to survive this." The Frequency in the environment coated his arm, hardening bones, muscles, and tendons for one final attack. Laure, before him, a few paces away. She hadn't bothered regenerating her bitten and torn fingers, letting the blood run.

Her smile had finally gone out, leaving a face contracted by hatred and rage, more akin to a savage beast. She launched herself toward him, extending her open hand, ready to lacerate his throat. Lance threw himself directly toward her, closing the fingers coated in white lightning. Their fists were moments from clashing; the immense concentration of energy was beginning to distort the surrounding air, making it agitate frantically.

The colour of the water was becoming greyish, and even to their eyes, the other was losing colour. Suddenly, however, he veered to the side, letting the punch graze him while aiming low, toward the ground. His blow struck the floor, evaporating the water and disorienting Laure, wrapped in the debris and steam. The cloud dissipated quickly, revealing Lance kneeling with his hand still driven into the floor, about to collapse.

His other hand gripped a heavy block of metal with a long barrel, its mouth pointed at Laure. Three shots, followed by three reports, shook the room, filling it with the smell of gunpowder and burnt Lambdite. The bullets destroyed the ceiling, decorating it with a gigantic series of craters. Wrapped in the smoke was Laure, unharmed, with only a cut on the face from the bullets.

"You really thought that would work a second time?" She asked, seizing him by the throat and lifting him. Lance, however, was smiling with satisfaction, pointing a finger over her shoulder. Laure turned without releasing her grip, glimpsing the enormous boulder about to fall from the ceiling. It took an instant for the mass to shatter the weak iron bolts holding it. Laure brought her gaze back to him, his hands joined above his head, wrapped in blood and bone shards, hardened in one final effort.

The moment Lance drove his hammer-blow onto Laure's face, the boulder hit the floor, destroying the room and sending them both crashing down below.

"Really?! Not bad!" Laure smiled while both fell into the laboratory's pits. Roman had his armour completely carbonised, and the arms he had built had been reduced to burning embers. His tendrils could barely keep his arm together, sliced at multiple points with maniacal precision. One of his eyes had been taken by a slash, leaving his face covered in blood and ash. Before him, pinned to the wall, was the author of his injuries. Jeanne was immobilised against the surface, covered by spectral and viscous chains.

The reddish colour of her eye was beginning to fade, while the violet scars spread across her skin. Her sword had been knocked away by one of the old man's blows, who now observed her, tired but satisfied. Her suit was completely soaked in grey liquid.

"You know… The title Witch suits you more than adequately," Roman murmured, breaking the blade on his wrist, now reduced to a bruised mass of tendrils.

"You would have been more bothersome than that man... If you hadn't held yourself back." From his arm extended a series of vines, wrapping around her neck, bringing her directly into Roman's grip. His fingers closed around her, leaving her inert and suffocating. She had no strength left to resist his grip, only enough to avoid losing consciousness rapidly." Just... One more time... I need..." She thought, feeling her body become weak and silent.

Noel could barely stand, leaning on the tree roots near the two women they had rescued. As she resigned herself, the spiderweb above their heads was torn apart by the enormous mass of debris and water coming from the gigantic crater in the ceiling. The boulders, dirty with black remains, shattered on the floor, distracting Roman for an instant, who did not notice the whitish glow in the middle of the dust cloud.

A reddish flash blazed from the thick of the dense grey cloud, tearing through it with a report, followed by a column of smoke. The arm holding Jeanne had been severed at the elbow; not even the dense layer of tendrils had been able to deflect the bullet, which had now left a wide hole in the wall beside her." So you do have one more in you..." Roman wrapped the wound with more vines, stemming the river of blood running down his trousers.

A sharp metallic sound reached his ears, drawing his attention toward the silhouette standing in the middle of the rubble. On his skin was stuck a layer of blood and partially dissolved dust. On his chest, there was a thick cut, still bleeding. His arms were wrapped in the overload marks, and between his pupils, a golden glow could be glimpsed. Four smoking casings fell to the floor, ringing in harmony with the rubble fallen from above. The figure finally emerged from the smoke, heavy revolver in hand.

"Sorry for being late… I had some unexpected business to take care of." He smiled, pointing the revolver at Roman, still stunned by the boy before him.

"Roman… We're leaving, the Amalgama is ready." A woman looked out from above the enormous fallen boulder. She was also covered in blood and violet scars.

"Laure… You—" He shook his head, indicating the wall briefly while channelling a passage with the sludge.

"I just played a bit more than usual, not a big deal." She smiled, pushing him inside.

"OH, NOT AGAIN!" Lance exclaimed, detonating two more bullets toward the pair. Laure stepped into their trajectory, catching them with her hand. The wall behind cracked by the sheer pressure, while she remained completely unharmed. Lance's attack broke completely apart, along with his satisfied expression. Laure opened her fist, letting the bullets fall to the floor along with a few drops of blood.

"You have to get stronger, Mr Klint." She followed Roman into the passage and slowly submerged herself after him. She turned a final glance toward Lance, this time smiling amicably. Laure said nothing, limiting herself to waving her hand, throwing him a kiss, followed by a wink. Her body disappeared into the darkness, which closed itself immediately, leaving the ruined wall empty. Even the shadows had gone. Jeanne pulled herself up, rolled onto her side, and coughed.

At the corners of her lips, drops of blood and paint were trickling, but it did not appear serious. Lance ran immediately toward her, helping her, holding her head up.

"Are you all right?!" He asked, panicked, gasping badly and with the wound on his chest barely beginning to regenerate, but paying it no attention whatsoever. He tore a piece of his suit from his ankle, still damp, and passed it across her face, trying to wash away the blood." You are bleeding... Why are you helping me now?" Her eyes were tired, but she still could feel the pungent smell of blood on him. Jeanne tried to slap him away, but was betrayed by her strength.

He helped her to her feet, running toward Noel, still kneeling on the floor. The boy slid beside him, removing the thick harness to help him breathe.

"You're… Amazing." Noel murmured, resting a hand on Lance's shoulder, smiling through blood-stained teeth. Since Lance could not see her, Jeanne formed a smile, drying a tear with the soaked cloth. She touched her own throat, where Roman had been gripping it hard enough to kill her until moments ago." I will thank him… As soon as we get back." She thought, brightening, yet a strange shock forced her body back to alertness. The ground beneath the roots was trembling unnaturally, as if something were agitating below.

Something fell at the foot of the tree, wetting Lance's cheeks. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the severed human arm that had just fallen. The wound was completely unlike a cut or a tear: it looked almost as if it had been crushed to the point of flying off the body. A rustling sound forced him to look up, finding his eyes covered in a thick downpour of blood and black sludge. The bodies hanging in chains were slowly being assimilated into the plant, crushed and chewed by the branches.

The wood was beginning to contort, turning pale as if covered in a layer of ash.

"Is that what they were talking about? The Amalgama?!" The tremors only intensified as the roots seemed almost to move the earth of their own accord. Noel managed to stand, pushed up by Lance. The abominable amalgam of bodies and wood formed before their very eyes. An enormous wooden body with dozens of arms attached to its sides was slowly taking shape. A long tail composed of leaves and bones struck the ground, raising dust and soiling the earth with an unsettling sap.

The creature opened its jaws, revealing its throat. The wood inside looked like the flesh of a vague greyish colour, but in place of teeth were wooden busts of vague human shape, busy agitating their branch-like arms. The body began to narrow, becoming in every way similar to a female figure. The jaws had shifted to the chest, and at the summit, submerged in foliage, a woman had appeared, her legs locked inside the wooden structure.

Her face was contracted in an aberrant grimace, oscillating continuously between pleasure and pain. Her body was white and bark-scaled, presenting even three arms. The beast roared, tearing appendages similar to tentacles from its flanks. The trio watched with trembling eyes the monstrosity, feeling their very organs convulse just by nearing it.

"DOWN!" Noel shouted, pushing Lance to the floor. The tentacle swept over their heads, slamming against the wall, shattering it with violence. Another tentacle crashed down on the duo at the creature's feet. The wood grazed Lance's face, destroying the ground beneath them, hurling both him and Noel toward Jeanne.

"If… That thing… Escapes from here… It's over." Noel was panting; it was a miracle he was even managing to stay on his feet. In his hand was still gripped the heavy harness armed with a vast assortment of explosives. Jeanne and Lance nodded, rising from the floor. A trail of whitish paint ran across the ground and attached itself to the sword. The weapon flew straight into its owner's palm. The metal shone, shaken by the tremors of Jeanne's hand. Lance looked at Supplicium and opened it to inspect the chamber.

Three unexploded casings remained, yet the revolver generated no new ammunition." Is it because it senses I am at my limit?" He thought, casting a glance at the scars on his fingers, which were slowly excavating deeper into his skin. The amalgam of wooden bodies freed itself from the vines, sliding across the ground like a snail, leaving behind a dark and foul-smelling sludge. A laboured breath escaped the enormous mouth set in the trunk, followed by the rapid, darting movements of the figure at the summit.

Like a bolt, one of the tentacles sent Noel into the wall, sending the grenades attached to the harness clattering to the floor.

"Damn it…" He murmured, picking up a pair of explosives that had rolled to his feet. The woman was looking them over without moving her body, simply watching, agitating her tentacles. Suddenly, the beast's jaws extended, bursting out of the trunk with inhuman speed, the enormous mass of bodies arranged to form a mouth. Without warning, the jaws were already swallowing the ground beneath them, a few metres away. The arms inside were collecting the debris, sending it down the long, dark tunnel wrapped in sludge.

The two were unable to move from there. They would soon be swallowed by the beast, vanishing into the darkness. Then Jeanne fell out of the trajectory. The last thing she saw before falling was Lance, arm extended toward her, being engulfed by the swarm of arms in the jaws. The creature's jaws snapped shut like a spring, severing his arm, which fell at Jeanne's feet. The girl looked in horror as the beast retracted its mouth into its own trunk.

The woman at the summit seemed almost to rejoice, flashing with violet light. Another tentacle launched itself toward her, only to be brutally crushed in her grip and set on fire immediately after. The mass of charcoal fell to the floor, reducing to black and suffocating ash. All the paint on her arms had become a deep reddish colour, beginning to heat up, this time appearing closer to molten iron than flames. Burning drops slid between her fingers, consuming themselves on the ground.

The crimson colour in her eyes was slowly displacing their blue.

"She wants the boy back." She murmured, her voice distorted, grabbing another tentacle and this time tearing it away. The wound vomited a thick layer of brown sap, which began corroding the ground. The flow stopped as the tentacle slowly recomposed itself. Jeanne paid attention to the wound on the other limb, noting that it hadn't regenerated where it had been burned. She limited herself to smiling at the woman on the plant's head.

The smile, combined with the crimson glow of her eyes, filled the room with an air of perversion and malice.