Chương 39: Magere Vliegen Bijten Scherp

He threw himself into the room, into the midst of Malcolm's squad of soldiers. He studied them for a moment, then tore one apart to his right. All the others leapt toward him, snapping their jaws. Lance caught two of them and drove them straight into the wall. A violent jet of lubricant and violet ichor covered his face. The claws of one buried themselves in his neck, but Lance seemed merely inconvenienced.

"Move." He seized it by the skull, squeezing until it shattered. Once more, he was covered in that disgusting, viscous mixture. The gelatinous drops hovered in the air near Malcolm, evaporating slowly a few moments later.

"You know, those were people like you, once?" He asked, smiling with that instigator's air Lance remembered all too well. Lance fixed on him with a flat stare, no expression worth describing on his face, only a gleam in his eyes. One of the automata coiled around his leg, and he simply crushed it underfoot.

"I know… But right now, you are the only one who interests me." He kicked the creature's body away and walked toward him.

"I am the exorcist, and you are the demon. Nothing simpler than that." A faint light appeared in his hand, immediately taking the shape of a blade. He gripped Gladiolus firmly, studying the details of the edge in its reflection.

"You came all the way here just to kill me? That does not sound like something NOIR would do." He touched his greatcoat, and it simply vanished into nothing, as though erased. His jacket in shades of deep, terrible green blended perfectly with the black of his trousers. Numerous medals and bullet holes decorated its surface. From his neck, a cloak descended along one shoulder. Hearing those words, Lance shook his head, pointing the blade toward the scientist.

"I'm here to help him. You are just a bonus." He smiled, walking toward Grayson, left standing there pale and motionless. He let out a sigh at the sight of the wounds on the scientist's body, feeling a burn directly in his chest.

"Lamb, is it really you?" Grayson murmured, looking down at his own knees.

"Yes, though it was a nickname." He replied, crouching down to him. He gripped his shoulders and tried to rouse him.

"Grayson, do you remember why I told you I understood you? Because I am like you too." He smiled when he saw Dirac's head lift, with difficulty. As proof of his words, a globe of white light gathered in his hand.

"Why didn't you say so from the start?" He asked, tears in his eyes, pulling himself close to him.

"Does that not strike you as a stupid question?" Lance laughed, returning the embrace. He helped him to his feet, setting him upright on those fragile legs. He looked at him and smiled, and in that instant, Grayson recovered a fragment of comfort.

"Thank you… Lance." He extended his hand. The boy moved to take it. Bang Grayson fell to the ground, wrapped in a pool of blood. Lance stared at the body convulsing on the floor, pupils fully dilated. All that fragile joy washed away in an instant. He turned slowly, focusing on the weapon in Malcolm's hand. It was an old model, similar to those Maliard kept in their house. The tubes ejected a jet of reddish steam.

"He will not die… I simply wished to remove possible distractions." He smiled, dropping the pistol to the ground among the bodies of his soldiers.

"I see…" Lance said through barely parted lips, and the atmosphere around him began to boil. His arms were so rigid they trembled.

"You really do need to die." He shot toward him, seizing him by the throat and hurling him into the cemetery of snow-covered rubble. He crashed violently to the ground, shattering rock and earth. From the dust emerged the heel of a boot that lacerated his face. Lance pulled away immediately, sliding across the snow.

"At least this time you managed to touch me." He smiled, not a scratch on his face or his hands, and in truth, not even his clothes appeared damaged. While he spoke, Lance slid beneath him and drove his fist into his jaw. All of his muscles contracted, rotating his torso at an outstanding speed and cracking the terrain underneath.

"What the..." An unsettling sensation wrapped around his knuckles. Malcolm shifted slowly, smiling as usual." But why? I swear I touched him!" The blow had almost vanished, and he could no longer feel anything from the wrist upward. He withdrew, fixing his gaze on Malcolm.

"I imagine you are bewildered. Understandable. To put it simply, your punch struck me, but it did not transmit the information." Lance remained confused by those words for a moment, though Malcolm seemed entirely unconcerned.

"Perhaps it is only right that I lend you a hand, Lance." He smiled, stretching out his arms.

"The force of a blow, the movement of muscles, breathing, and even a pistol shot. All of these transmit information, and like everything else… They too have an end." Lance could see it now: the black veil permeating the air around him.

"No matter how much you attack, the information will always be cancelled before it can alter my Frequency." Malcolm vanished from his sight. As he tried to follow him, Lance felt a sharp pain radiating through his leg. He looked down to find an old service knife driven into his flesh.

"You have to improvise. Time is short." Malcolm's voice grazed his ear. Lance launched himself back, putting distance between them. His opponent sent the blade's blood spraying across the snow before advancing toward him once more.

"The cut has already regenerated… Though it is old, that blade has a thin layer of Lambdite." Lance gripped Gladiolus, holding it with the blade angled downward.

"You are thinking of a strategy…" The snow beneath his feet vanished along with Malcolm. Lance caught a pale flash at the corner of his eye, to his right, the knife was about to pierce his temple." The Frequency has been distorted!" He realised, too late. A hiss preceded the pain.

"... Or perhaps a way to escape?" The boy's side was struck with such brutal violence that he was sent flying across to the far end of the ruins. He passed through several beams, reducing them to splinters. He tried to get up, coughing as his ability tried to reconstruct his organs, which had been reduced to a reddish puddle." Is this the power of a Verwirrend?" He spat blood onto the ground, staining the white mantle, and rose again. Malcolm stood atop one of the columns ahead of him, wrapped in falling snow.

Not a single flake managed to land on him directly.

"You can move instantaneously as well… Any other surprises?" He smiled, pressing a hand to his side. Malcolm cracked his neck slightly before looking at him.

"All information attempts to flee from catastrophe, so it disperses. In doing so, I simply create a channel through which I can transport myself and my calamity elsewhere. Think of it as a truncheon." He descended from his pedestal, almost sinking into the snow beneath.

"Didn't picture you to be so kind…" He murmured, breathing slowly. A series of white and black shafts of light permeated the air around them. All around, a flash of vapour rose. The two measured each other for an instant before hurling themselves at one another. The two blades met in the frozen air, cleaving through it. Lance let Malcolm's knife slide along his gloves, releasing a torrent of sparks. The soldier seized the boy's hand, gripping it with force.

"Caught you." Lance shot upward, driving the soles of his boots against the man's face. A violent impact dispersed the vapour, sending both flying.

"Not bad, but not functional." Malcolm wiped his face clean, brushing away the remnants of mud and snow. Lance caught his breath, gripping Gladiolus once more. They launched themselves at each other again, exchanging a torrent of slashes. Extremely fine iron shards settled into the snow, now filthy with mud and blood. Lance's face had been grazed by the knife more than once, while Malcolm still appeared entirely unscathed." This is not working… I cannot hit him."

His head was close to shattering from the effort of thinking and acting within so narrow a sliver of seconds. Another slash came, cutting into his flesh. Malcolm's face remained permanently set in that dark leer. After yet another deflected blow, Lance felt his stomach explode. Within the sea of cuts, his opponent had managed to land a savage right hook." I couldn't track him?!" Lance fell backward, rolling across the ground. His throat had filled with the taste of iron.

Malcolm shook out his hand and walked toward him.

"Compared to the cave… You have improved at an outstanding rate." He stopped a few paces from him. He looked down at him. The boy smiled while a reddish bubble slowly erupted from his lips." He is fast, strong, and almost unreachable... But why doesn't he use both that veil and that instantaneous movement to end me..." The boy got up with his arms relaxed at his sides. His breath became heavy as his expression turned into a grin.

"I understand it!" He announced, shouting at the top of his lungs. He spat the blood from his throat to the ground and began increasing his flow. Malcolm tilted his head, waiting." I need to overload him… He cannot prevent every piece of information from entering his cage." The energy discharges around him grew fiercer, heating the nearby iron beams. The snow became a muddy, watery slush instantly.

"Malcolm… Prepare to bleed." The moment he murmured the last syllable, he vanished from sight. Malcolm looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of him. He raised his blade and set himself on guard.

"He thinks he can evade with his speed? Decidedly the most inspired idea, but useless for penetrating my defences." He aimed the weapon to his right, cleaving the air. A series of distant flashes, accompanied by a roar, drove toward him. He extended his hand, and everything around was enveloped in a black fog. The shockwave swept away the mud and rocks, leaving only a crater before Malcolm.

"These are his projectiles… You disappoint me." He turned, catching a pale white flash at his side. Lance was below him, the knife gripped in his left hand. The light collided with the Calamity, illuminating everything, almost blinding him.

"Interesting." He replied calmly, lunging at Lance. Unexpectedly, the boy sent the blade spinning away. The tip of the small sword struck against his eye and rebounded.

"THIS ONE IS MINE!" He seized Gladiolus, rotating his torso with all his strength. The flashes condensed in his right arm. Malcolm smiled in that fraction of a second. A series of drops of black mire spread through the air around them." Verstoring." At the snap of fingers, all the Frequency was corrupted and destroyed. Lance felt his skin burn all the way to his elbow. The corruption spread until it grazed his black bracelet. A series of black sparks swallowed the mire.

"What?" For the first time, Malcolm lost his grip on the fight. His barrier had finally collapsed, and Lance had noticed. The white flashes fused again, shaping a white film across his skin." Vergehen, Einbrand!" The blow drove itself beneath Malcolm's armour, hurling him into the undergrowth like a projectile. Trees exploded at his passage, shattering and being dragged by the shockwave down one of Mount Argo's precipices.

Lance launched himself alongside him, paying no attention to his stripped, raw arm"The barrier has broken… Extraordinary." Malcolm tried to arrest his fall, but was denied every movement. Lance's arms coiled around his neck, dragging him down with him.

"What does it feel like to bleed?" The boy smiled. The red drops that had gathered across his body were now flying free. He rotated his entire body, striking Malcolm full in the face again. A wake of blood and black mire accompanied their fall. Lance seized him by the ankle, slamming him against the white rock face. His body began rolling down the mountain's flank, followed by Lance. Every step was fast and charged enough with energy to liquify stone.

"This ends now!" He concentrated all his remaining strength into one final lunge, striking Malcolm's jaw squarely. Liquefied rock sprayed through the entire forest at tremendous speed. The impact tore the rock face completely open, hurling the soldier into the forest below and releasing an enormous white cloud of snow and stone. Lance arrested his own fall with the sword, landing directly in the wake left by Malcolm." This had to incapacitate him..."

The little snow remaining on the ground had turned a reddish hue, mixed with blood and earth.

"I just need to finish him now." He sent Gladiolus rotating between his hands, trembling. He held his arm with his free hand and walked forward. A sharp pain in his head stopped him. He doubled over, clutching his stomach, and spat a torrent of blood to the ground.

"This rage will kill you. It does not belong to you, Lance." Eve appeared before him, wrapped in her familiar garments. Lance stared at her, trembling with fury.

"This murderous instinct is corrupting you… And yet it is a delight, watching you lose yourself, you disgusting amalgam." The veil parted to reveal her lips, twisted in a smile. He straightened up, levelling the blade at her, gasping painfully.

"I suggest you pay attention. That man does not die easily, trust me, I know." She dissolved into nothing, revealing the figure behind her. Leaning against a rock, a bloodied Malcom. His face was stained by a grin of pure madness.

"Lance… What a joy to see you." He laughed, the black pupils of his eyes seeming almost ready to burst free.

"How are you still standing?" He murmured, nearly losing his grip on the sword. His right arm was barely regenerated, still bleeding from the numerous furrows carved across his skin. Malcolm laughed all the more, tearing away part of his uniform down to the chest. His entire skin was scored with reddish threads, violet in places.

"When you broke the Verstoring barrier, you caught me off guard. I had not a second to raise it again, so I decided to cancel all the information in contact with my body." He pointed to every shattered capillary, the blood in his black eyes, the absence of breath." He is not a Stärken… How can he survive this?!" The longer Lance studied that figure, the more he understood that what stood before him was not a Meta, but a true monster.

"I imagine you are wondering how this is possible. My regenerative potential is not so vast if we account only for my ability." He pointed to his own heart, illuminated by an unsettling viscous shadow, branching through his entire body.

"Your core…Is dispersed." Malcolm nodded, sliding his blood-soaked fingers along the curves of his shadow.

"My entire body was modified before my Awakening. It channels all the Frequency in the surrounding environment and emanates its own version, granting me an absolute command of it within my immediate vicinity." Lance was overwhelmed by a sense of complete torment and fear. All the nature around them had gone silent, even the snowfall had grown almost vacant in the presence of this man.

"It has been some time since anyone forced me to do this… Congratulations." He applauded, his clapping the only sound in that snowy night. Lance swallowed, gripping the sword firmly again." Don't panic… I simply need to overload his barrier again." Malcolm fixed him with an expression empty of every trace of vital luminance until his lips moved.

"Do you truly believe you can break it again? I will tear every limb from your body before that bracelet can touch me again." He pointed directly at Lachesi, anchored to Lance's flesh. The boy fixed his gaze on the relic, grazing it with his finger." It is warm and cold at once… Like that sensation." His entire body remembered the first time he had felt the Frequency and the presence in Tux's dream.

"That relic… Is steeped in something beyond evil. It has no beginning and no end. It is a paradox made manifest." Malcom pulled away from the rock, tearing his jacket off completely. His muscular, scar-covered body seemed wrapped in shadow. The tattoo on his neck appeared to move, spreading across his pale skin.

"This time… I will bring you back with me, even if you were only a torso." The dark mire with its red glints began flowing from his wounds, releasing itself into the air and draping him like a cloak.

"Do you know how my ability works? In any case, I will provide a practical explanation." The substance began flowing along the ground, saturating it entirely." Verstoring … Allows me to manipulate and generate the end of Frequency itself, a condition superior to death." He raised two fingers, concentrating all the mire at their tips.

"It is not simple death. The end strikes everything. Rock, human beings, events... All must have an end, and my ability is what allows me to bring it." The mass began to concentrate on his fingertips, growing smaller and smaller.

"I am about to show you… What true Calamity is." The sphere became a trembling vortex before his face, accelerating exponentially until it thinned into a disc." Verstoring…" The disc exploded, expanding around them. Lance felt the oxygen stripped away, as though he had been submerged in a prison of water and mud. The black canopy enveloped the entire mountainside. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version." This sensation… Is my body terrified?"

He restrained his muscles from dissolving into a dance of tremors. Every instinct he possessed begged him to leave that dome. Malcolm clenched his fingers, and the entire zone darkened further." Slachting." Everything inside the dome began to corrode. Some trees shattered, others were reduced to ash, still others simply decomposed. The ground filled with the bodies of birds and rodents: some bled dry, others simply shrivelled.

Lance tried to move, but his movements grew heavier with every step, until his heart began to burn. From his lips came a mixture of blood and bile, followed by another jet, this time from his eyes. He sank to his knees, feeling his organs slowly collapsing." This place is destroying my Frequency…" Even thinking became painful inside that miasma. Malcolm walked toward him, followed by the mire"This is total organic termination. Within this canopy generated by Verstoring, every life present reaches its conclusion."

He pointed to his forearm, which was beginning to corrode along with everything else. Lance gasped desperately, and this made Malcolm smile.

"Frequency varies in aspect for various things, including the manner in which it flows. However, all living beings share a single common aspect. The segment of birth and life. Once that is understood, Verstoring devours only that aspect." A wound opened on his shoulder, releasing thin drops"If you regenerate continuously, you might survive, but the overload will incapacitate you regardless." He stood before Lance, kneeling and covered in blood.

The vomiting and nausea had stopped, but the constant flow of Frequency between his organs and his blood was bringing him to collapse.

"Thanks for the suggestion, but... That is not my idea…" He specified, levelling the barrel of his beloved revolver against his face. He pulled the trigger several times, blowing apart the entire zone. Malcolm wiped the dust from his face.

"Did you imagine the barrier was not raised during the expansion of Verstoring?" He asked the empty air, noticing that Lance had vanished from before him. Then, without warning, he was pulled out of the canopy. In midair, Malcom caught sight of the crimson cord binding his ankle. He looked down toward the bloodied figure." He used the recoil to launch himself out. Ingenious." He was suddenly dragged to the ground, slamming against the rock face and then into the earth. Lance gasped, releasing the cord of blood.

"I have an emergency injection… I need to wear him down." He murmured, concentrating all his remaining strength on regenerating his tissues. Malcolm rose, entirely unscathed.

"Flowing Frequency both through your body and through your blood… Well done." He smiled, but the darkness in his eyes made it difficult to imagine any genuine sentiment behind it.

"That zone… I imagine you cannot summon it here a second time." Lance recovered his normal breathing, returning Supplicium to his pocket. Malcolm nodded, cracking his neck.

"No difficulty there. I shall see to finishing this quickly." He raised his hands into a guard, fixing Lance with a lightning stare. He shot toward him, cleaving the air. The blow drove itself directly into his chest." He is faster… Tremendously faster!" Lance coiled around his arm, driving his elbow toward the man's face. Again, that hollow, extinguished sensation accompanied the blow. Malcolm struck him again, this time full in the face. The boy flew back, sliding across what little snow remained.

He rose quickly, clashing against him. Their flesh shuddered at the contact of their fists. Malcolm seized him by the shoulders, striking him savagely with a headbutt. While he was still staggering, he grabbed him by the neck and hurled him into the wall. Lance swung his neck aside just before the impact, avoiding the hammer that was Malcolm's fist. The entire wall cracked for several metres, sending dust and debris cascading down.

"Compared to the cave… You're starting to adapt." He tore his arm from the rock with force. Not a wound was visible on his pale skin. Lance caught his breath again, raising his guard.

"I am curious about one thing, however… Are you certain you understand yourself?" Lance felt a wave of nausea as soon as the meaning entered his head. His heartbeat began hammering inside his chest.

"Have you ever wondered why Verwirrend is such a separate category?" He studied his own arm for a moment before continuing to address him. The entire atmosphere around him grew heavy. Lance shook his head, sending snowflakes sliding down from his hair.

"Because we are free. We are not bound by pain or by any condition. We are absolute! The true incarnation of the Frequency. You could be like this." He picked up a stone from the ground, pointing it at the boy's heart.

"You believe yourself to be a Stärken, and yet your control of the flow is exceptional. Your perception is extraordinarily precise, and your amplification operates both internally and externally. In all my life, I have never encountered anyone like you." The fragment shattered between his hands, spraying in every direction. Lance remained staring at him.

"That is impossible… Verwirrend are born from madness. I am not like them…" He tried to shake the thought free, but the harder he tried, the more it hurt. He raised his fists against him once more, bracing himself. Malcolm lowered his head, then vanished. The two blows met, shattering the ground at their feet. An uppercut grazed Lance's face, scraping the skin on his chin. Malcolm, with full speed, drove an elbow into his nose, sending him staggering. He seized him by the neck and lifted him.

Every muscle, joint, and blood vessel strained to hurl him away. Even in that grip, Lance could perceive nothing coming from Malcolm. Then the soldier's figure receded from his sight as he was sent disappearing into the undergrowth. Numerous trunks were shattered by Lance's body, and just as many rocks were chipped." All my techniques are useless. I cannot touch him." He murmured, rising with tremendous effort.

Slowly, the bone in his shoulder was beginning to reseat itself, closing the hole it had left in his skin. His gaze fell on Lachesi. The black bracelet trembled like the very substance Malcolm had been emitting.

"I don't know how to wield it in the slightest… But I can force Malcolm to come into contact with it." He put all the remaining strength in his legs to use, targeting the trees in the vicinity. The area was vast, and visibility was minimal thanks to the snow. Finding any way to identify him was nearly impossible. He smiled, sliding the relic onto his wrist. Malcolm appeared a few paces from where Lance had landed. He fixed the indentation, once occupied by his opponent.

A branch fell into the vast expanse of green and white, forcing him to turn. His eyes were struck by a white flash, lifting all the surrounding earth. Before he could cancel the cloud, a second impact came from behind, followed by a third at his flank. Malcolm smiled, pressing his palms together. A viscous halo of blood and mire began to swallow his skin. In the narrow space between them, a sphere of white light." He wants to cut off my vision to strike with that relic…"

The light between his hands began to darken and lose drops, as though bleeding"I need only destroy the entire surrounding environment to draw him out!" A faint smile wrapped his face, followed by that dark vermilion halo. Another blow struck his shoulders, but by now Malcolm had reached the apex of his ability." By coating an environment with Verstoring, all information attempts to flee. At that point, I make them collapse into a common point."

The bubble of impurity and darkness seemed almost to disappear from his hands. He rotated his body. Yet another blow grazed him, disappearing into nothingness." Verstoring: Ruïne." The black light enveloped the surroundings, expanding like pollen across the entire zone. The ground divided into countless segments: some began to rise, others collapsed down the mountain in a vast landslide. Lance found himself clinging to a tree, launched into the air. At the centre of the devastation, a reddish gleam.

Malcolm drew his arm back as though to unleash a slash. A thread of mire concentrated on his index finger.

"A single sequence of cataclysm, released at extreme velocity. Absolute severance." His entire body seemed to contract as he sent the blade flying." Hakmes!" Lance saw only the light approaching before feeling his arm disappear from his body. The entire wall at his back was severed with disarming ease. A clean black scar coloured its surface before one of the sections began to slide away. From outside, it felt like Mount Argo was just cut cleanly in half. Even the dark sky got split, opening to reveal the stars.

"Is this his true potential?!" He murmured before being eclipsed by the shadow of an enormous boulder. The collapse struck him full on. The remains of the forest below transformed into a field of stone blocks and sharp outcroppings. He dragged himself out of the rubble, bleeding heavily. It was then that he realised his arm was not regenerating. Where his flesh should have been, a mass of mire and blood in constant motion." It is devouring my being…" He pulled himself upright, anchoring himself to a tree trunk.

He slid Lachesis into his hand, bringing it ever closer to his arm. A black flash, and the mire began to burn along with his flesh. He clenched his teeth until they bled. The pain was excruciating, and the need to scream grew stronger with every passing second. In the crater wrapped in miasma, Malcolm began staring at a distant point in the undergrowth, pointing at it with his finger as though it were a pistol.

"He is using it to remove the Cataclysm from his own body…" He snapped his finger, closing his hand into a fist. All the crimson darkness began to condense around him.

"At a five per cent output, I should be able to finish him. Yes, this will be the final blow." He murmured, opening his palms. All his Frequency flowed onto their surface, channelling itself in the form of two black drops with red glints. Slowly, Malcolm began to make them collide.

"It has been some time since I used this technique… I find myself somewhat nostalgic for Maverick." He smiled with malice. His face was scored by extremely fine black flashes.

"The collision of two possible endings. There is not a single thing on these islands capable of stopping it. The cataclysm of catastrophe." The drops fused, beginning to rotate in a vortex. Light was almost absorbed into it, leaving only Malcolm in that space, watching the phenomenon." Uitroeiing!" In that single instant, everything seemed to collapse upon itself. The last thing Lance managed to glimpse was an encroaching darkness.

"What…" He murmured, unaware of the blood filtering through his teeth.

"Was I..." He touched his abdomen, finding only a jet of glacial air. The arm he had been trying to regenerate fell at his feet, pierced through. His sane arm tried to navigate through his flesh, resulting in a shower of gore and black guts. He slid to the ground. Through the hole in his abdomen, the results of that attack were visible. Everything behind him had been corrupted and then eliminated, even the peak and the clouds at his back.

Another jet of blood, and he lost the strength to hold himself on his knees, falling face-first into the snow painted red. The sound of footsteps, muffled by the snow, drew steadily closer. Malcolm made his appearance, fingers corroded and numerous wounds across his body. He adjusted his long black hair and smiled, studying Lance's body.

"Congratulations on making me waste that attack. I have not enjoyed myself like this in some time." His voice grew increasingly distant to the poor boy, who was no longer even capable of feeling pain.

"Even if you were to die, that patchwork of pieces that is your body might still be of use." Malcolm took a cigarette from one of his many pockets, sealed shut during the fight.

"Perhaps you might meet your sister. It would be a foolish family reunion… But perhaps that suits you well enough." His voice faded as Lance drowned in his own unconsciousness." I am cold. So cold. I cannot move." He slipped deeper with every syllable he managed to form in his mind. The void received him with a glacial welcome. He stared at his palm in silence, covered in blood.

"I have lost. I tried everything, and it is never enough." His tears mingled with the icy blue of that imagined sea. He closed his eyes, beginning to faint." I am sorry that Jude had me as her last hope…" With those words, he chose to put an end to himself, surrendering to the darkness.

"If you wish to continue… Surrender your body to me." He was lifted beyond the surface, a slender white-skinned hand clinging to his arm. Before he could even register what was happening, he felt a sudden warmth spread through his body. That was the only sensation in that murky and sticky darkness.

"Eve…" He murmured, feeling her lips graze his neck. The wet sensation in his throat made him immediately weak.

"Not so disagreeable… Though the taste is not particularly defined." She murmured, releasing her grip. Her veil dripped with his blood. Lance tried to pull away, but noticed that his legs had somehow been drawn inside her, at the level of her abdomen.

"I shall see to repaying our debts." He closed his eyes, slowly sliding inside that apparition. Malcolm prepared to discard his cigarette and moved toward him to collect it. He extended his hand and closed it around him, lifting him like a hunting trophy.

"Perhaps David will not appreciate something so ghastly." He smiled, letting the boy's body bleed out. Then the flow of blood stopped, followed by a series of tremors along the body.

"Is it time for a surprise now?" Malcolm attempted to release his grip, but Lance's hand coiled around his wrist.

"What…" He had no time to form the word before he was driven into the ground. His barrier had collapsed for the second time. Lance had risen, completely reinvigorated. Numerous were the wounds of the overload, but the most unsettling detail was the colour of his pupils, turned entirely golden and slightly deeper than before.

"His flow is increasing, and yet it is more corrupted than before." He tried to rise, but a new blow from him drove him deeper into the earth. The ground beneath them heaved with every impact. On the boy's face was an unnatural smile, a leer of atrocious joy. He concentrated all his energy in the palm of his hand, grazing Lance's chest." Slachting." The light began to decorate his flesh, followed by a violent haemorrhage. Malcolm smiled, covering himself in his opponent's blood.

Amid the cries, a new impact shook the forest, sending the soldier flying further. He collided with one of the collapsed rock faces.

"His regeneration is outpacing Verstoring … Even at a reduced version, it remains extraordinary." He smiled, rising quickly. He rotated his hips and reset his stance. A hiss forced him to turn sharply. At his flank, Lance Klint, wrapped in a cloud of black lightning, crouched in something resembling a beast's posture.

"I hope it will hurt." Malcolm smiled before being brutally hurled out of the forest. The impact sent the entire surrounding environment exploding into a colossal column of debris.

"I expected worse…" The soldier slid from his crater, embedded in the rock face. He landed on one of the trunks, swept away by the gust of air. He wiped the blood from his lips and focused on the figure that had just emerged from the ruins of the forest. His skin was covered in violet cicatrices, his eyes flashing with a deranged brilliance. His uniform had been completely torn through, leaving his arm and his abdomen exposed.

The expression on his face was no different from a beast's: foam at the lips, drenched in blood.

"The same look as nine years ago…" He smiled, brushing the dust from his shoulders. Lance stopped before him, at a few paces' distance. Malcolm laughed through his lips.

"This is better than anything I could have asked for… You have assumed the worst manifestation of ruin!" He opened his arms wide, almost inviting him to come closer. Lance trembled, hissing and spraying saliva at his feet. Then, without warning, the boy struck himself full in the face. He began trembling and hissing, yet kept striking himself. He spat all the blood remaining in his throat to the ground, and the normal colour returned to his eyes. Malcolm seemed almost disappointed and lowered his arms.

"You came back…" He murmured, watching the intelligence return to his pupils, having driven out the bestiality of before. Lance fell to his knees, clutching his throat.

"Damn it… I burned everything to regain control." A briny taste had mingled with that of blood, joined by the grim, ferrous smell of Eve. Malcolm let the mire slide along his finger, hardening it instantly into a blade.

"And so the end arrives..." He murmured without expression, preparing to launch himself forward. Rocks fell behind him, followed by a gust of wind." Schafft: Feuer." A violent jet of flame struck Malcolm, separating him from Lance. Behind the boy, a second figure landed, dressed in a greenish cloak reaching to the hip.

"We need to have a word afterward… And be certain I'm gonna be harsh." The boy opened, pulling off the cloak to reveal a black armoured garment decorated with an N.

"Maliard?!" Lance struggled to rise, supported by him. Malcolm stood from the flames, scattering them with a gesture of his hand.

"I was not expecting anyone else. I had hoped to speak with the boy there a little longer." That man's smile transported a sense of complete nausea. Maliard set Lance down on a boulder.

"Forgive the interruption, but I have no intention of granting you the privilege of good manners." He snapped his fingers, swinging his hand through the night air.

"Interruption?" Malcolm asked, tilting his head toward one shoulder. Then, without warning, a barrage of ice shards struck the ground below like an avalanche. A glacial breeze was released, shaking the two boys. A new figure, dressed in a suit similar to Maliard's, made her entrance. Her hair was left to drift in the wind. Her eyes a deep blue.

"Jeanne!" Lance smiled, seeing the girl. He reached his hand toward her from the distance, tears on the verge of falling from his face.

"Are you not happy to see me?!" Maliard struck him with the back of his hand, veiling his smile.

"LANCE!" She returned the greeting, running toward him. She tried to reach his hand, but the ice behind her back exploded violently. Malcolm rose from the sea of snowflakes and shards, smiling.

"It seems the end has yet to arrive for this evening…" He fixed the trio, leering with a perverse form of joy.

"Jeanne… Keep your guard, he is a monster." Maliard turned to her, and Jeanne nodded. The frame at her back cracked, becoming a golden scythe. The gauntlet on Maliard's arm opened, expelling one of the cylinders along with a cloud of smoke.