Chương 72: CHAPTER 71 – Pictorial Divergence

Jeanne felt her leg grow weak until, at the umpteenth attempt to stand, she gave out completely. Her reflection began to merge with David's sneer, now fused with the ice. Despite all her strength, she only managed to get back on her feet holding the scythe.

"Miss Jeanne… What meaning do you give to the act of painting?" The voice scratched at her face, as if slowly frosting her skin. With every sigh, a pale mist escaped from her rosy lips.

"A passion? Perhaps talent? Or even better, a tool!" David kept refracting through the mirrors, slowly appearing and disappearing. His figure was elongated and at times broken, as if the ice itself was fracturing in the effort not to reflect him.

"Stop asking me…" On her pale rosy cheeks, a thin crystalline film began to gnaw at her skin, cracking it and making it drip red. The scythe rose above her head, crashing down against one of the mirrors. A deafening screech rose from every single shard of ice, so that all the silhouettes of David had to cover their ears with a smile.

"COME OUT, YOU DOG!" A trickle of blood broke free where her canine pressed against her lip. Jeanne's body was slowly starting to move again, rebuilt by the thin filaments of paint, busy closing the wounds.

"A rage red as fire, yet so clotted inside your heart…" A blade grazed her ear, slicing off a lock of hair. The strands piled up at her feet, while the wall behind her slowly froze. In front of her, David leaned against the mirror, smiling. He gave a nod to the girl, fracturing the ice with a single blow.

"I'll give you time to process and in the meantime… I'll tell you what I think about a couple of things." In an instant, David materialised before her, holding a sharp lance of clear frost between his fingers. Jeanne reacted quickly, blocking the blade with the edge of the scythe. He smiled, kicking her in the side and hurling her against the pale oaks.

"Shit…" She halted her flight by impaling the scythe into the ground, spitting the blood left in her throat. The ice pillars collapsed, wrapping the entire room in an icy fog. David's smile vanished in that bluish haze, leaving Jeanne alone.

"Physically, I might even beat him, but I don't understand anything about his ability. One single mistake and it'll be over…" With each breath, her chest seemed to fill with splinters, while her hands trembled faintly. Jeanne held the scythe horizontal to her abdomen, slowly watching the shadows move in the fog.

"He's coming." Every fibre of her body shot forward, swinging the scythe against a dart of ice. The two halves flew behind her, but all her attention was devoted to the man a few steps away. In his hands, a thick column of rock and frost. Baring all his teeth, he brought the weapon crashing to the ground. David kept smiling, watching the girl hover in the air.

"Ganz Gut!" David exclaimed as he raised the column toward her. The scythe spun around her body, slicing through the rock in a single moment. The disc fell to the ground as Jeanne lunged at him. More fog rose from David's lips, while the sinister gleam of her scythe drew ever closer. A dart of ice emerged from his throat, trying to impale the girl." Rood…" The blade lit up red, burning in the fog. His eyes widened as soon as his dart was severed.

Not even time to raise his hands, David found his wrists empty and seared. With force, the dart snapped in his mouth, closed forcefully by the girl's uppercut. Handless and with a fractured jaw, David allowed the flaming blade impale his throat.

"No blood?" David's body fell to the ground, breaking down into thin crystalline remains. A puddle of liquid where once there was flesh now wet the soles of her boots. Jeanne turned toward the sound of laughter and footsteps, watching David with disgust. He stopped in front of her, licking his lips clean with his tongue.

"Painting… For me, it's something humans are unworthy of." He took a step forward, as the fog seemed to thicken around his wrists.

"The epiphanies gifted to me cannot be used to depict small beings like us. On the canvas I spread a veil of pitiful truth. The truth is that we are but pawns in the game of life." Jeanne felt a shiver run down her nape, as if her body were demanding she move. She sprang aside, noticing how her scythe had stuck to the ground. Where she had been, a tomb of rock now rose.

"I paint for no reason other than to impose myself against the torrent of people who place themselves on a pedestal. I don't escape through it, nor do I satisfy others…" In barely an instant, another lock of hair fell to the ground, torn away by the blades at his wrists. Blood began to gush from Jeanne's cheek, off-balance on one side.

"Nature is at the pinnacle of genius, not a human being!" David grabbed her throat, slamming Jeanne to the ground with such force that the earth heaved. Her ankles began to freeze as a gigantic shadow started to form in the fog.

"But you don't think like me… You are wrapped in an opaque, unnatural aura." Jeanne wrapped her legs around his neck, leveraging with all her remaining strength. The frozen skin began to crackle as David was lifted off the ground. David quickly got back up, immediately face-to-face with her, bleeding and burned by the cold.

"Die…" The fog was sliced by the scythe, as ice blades appeared in David's palms. Another slash and a rivulet of blood slipped to their feet. David let out a laugh, deflecting the numerous slashes with the rocky blades on his arms.

"Come on, come on… Show me what hides behind that deep blue!" The scythe slipped to the ground, tearing up the earth and spawning a shower of sparks. Jeanne tried to turn, but her abdomen had already been struck. She clenched her teeth, trying to escape the cold that burrowed into her flesh. Immediately, David was yanked, forced to stare into those eyes, poisoned by blood. In a flash, the scythe grew heavy, turning into a maul. Jeanne kicked him square in the chest, making David slide across the floor.

"You forget that this whole hall… Is my canvas." The shadow from before darted through the fog, leaving behind a trail of frost and brown, rotten algae. Jeanne took a step forward, heedless of the hissing behind her. A boulder, as large as the ice columns, materialised beside her, under David's satisfied gaze. That smile turned to astonishment as the girl shattered it with a single gesture of her hand.

"Wirklich gut!!!!" Jeanne materialised before him, holding the maul with the hand free of rock splinters. David tried to raise a wall between his body and the hammer's head. Before rock could even manifest from the distorted air, his organs had already been shaken by the impact, forcing him to be launched into the air. His vision reddened quickly, but not enough to stop him from seeing the maul above him, almost suspended in midair. A shadow, like that of a fury, loomed near the long shaft." Sehn…"

A single snap in the air and he found himself on the ground, his arm crushed beneath the hammer. A gigantic crater now marred the platform, while a faint bluish rain stained the figure's outline. As soon as a single spark formed on his forehead, David realised with a smile." Hemelsblauw." Blue lightning snaked around the maul, coiling and channeling up the shaft in a fountain of thunderbolts. The smoke of burnt flesh mixed with the fog, thickening it with grey undertones.

Jeanne took a long breath, slowly approaching the gushing weapon. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I must say… That your sincerity can be terrifying." A whisper, accompanied by a grim stench of burning, made her skin crawl. Jeanne turned, catching his eyes, slightly covered by a carbonised film. She quickly threw herself away, feeling an icy caress graze her nose, followed by a warm spurt. Wiping the blood from her nose, Jeanne noticed the ice limbs massed upon what remained of the flesh of the previous ones.

"Yet you remain immature." David appeared before her, holding the points of his blades toward his back. In a mere blink, a cross opened on the girl's chest, scattering blood everywhere.

"Your technique is weak and contrived…" A second slash this time severed her hand, making it roll at her feet.

"You are fake and disgustingly veiled in mediocrity…" A third slash pierced through her stomach from side to side, freezing the blood and fluids on the crystalline tip of the blade. Jeanne's lips grew redder and then, at the same time, paler.

"And finally…" David swiftly drew out the sword, spraying the reddish frost behind him. An icy breath escaped the girl's lips as her reflection warped in the bloodied ice.

"YOU ARE DISGUSTING!" Both his shoulders poured force into the blades, making them snap shut like scissors toward the girl's neck. David's lips curled into a satisfied grin as soon as blood started to gush. Suddenly, he heard a faint crackling as grey liquid dripped from where once it bled.

"I… W-will kill you…" A film of iron encased the ice tips, shattering them. David took a step back, yet felt something sink into his shoulder. In surprise, he felt Jeanne's hair tickle his chin, as she violently tore away his flesh. David's arm slipped from his body, while he watched with a smile his blood being licked away by the girl's tongue.

"At last, the witch…" His reflexes brought the blade to his side, letting the golden maul fracture it. Jeanne stared at him being hurled through the air, wiggling the white slime on her new fingers, stretching the cords connected to the maul's shaft.

"She splattered the blood behind her to attack me? And the bite?" Earth and mud were already regenerating his tissues, yet something left him puzzled. He brought his gaze back to the woman, intent on shaking something between her lips. David saw for a single instant a reddish light shining from beyond the greyish slime and the full lips." Rood." A sphere of fire was born from her mouth. It fractured on her lips, violently erupting into a torrent of flames.

David was hit full-on, sliding to the ground with his skin slowly consumed by the liquid flames.

"It hurts like hell!" David smiled as his face plated over with rock and ice. A shadow darkened his sight before the ground detonated in a cloud of debris and splinters. Sliding on a trail of ice, David tried to scan the surroundings, now blurred by dust.

"Something truly magnificent is coming out…" Suddenly he felt his leg slip, caught by a single iron stake emerging from the ground, still wrapped in that greyish slime." Rood en Grijs." Jeanne appeared before him, holding between her knuckles a mass of semi-molten metal, still wrapped in a veil of sparks. With violence, she pierced him through, making the blaze explode. The trail of flames engulfed the gears beyond the bulkhead, causing them to collapse one atop another.

The landslide of iron took part of the platform with it, creating a twisted skeleton of hot iron and cement remnants. Jeanne panted, coughing slime and using it to stitch the tears in her uniform. Blood slid down her legs, visible through the holes in the suit. The support device jutted from her shoulders, still firmly anchored directly to her skin. A cloud of purplish vapour started to spray out, as her breathing grew increasingly agonised.

"I… will…" Jeanne fell to her knees, coughing blood and paint. Her skin was turning opaque, and the blue in her eyes was beginning to darken into a gloomy violet. Her legs started to tremble, as an electric shiver made its way from her back to her nape. She clutched her abdomen with such force that she tore her skin with her nails.

"This is your way of painting…" From the smoke, an eye began to gleam, immediately followed by a skeletal silhouette missing the right arm. With one step, it regained shape and with another, human features.

"Terrifying but blocked by bonds as petty as they are tight…" David emerged from the haze, his chest completely bare and covered in rock where once there was a charred hole.

"You try to flee. You create something to escape from your sad condition…" Jeanne tried to get up, but immediately felt his sole crush her hand with such force that the floor creaked.

"... But the truth is one, and you know it all too well…" David grabbed her hair before kicking her in the face, making her roll like a rag. Parts of her device skidded to the floor, screeching violently. David stopped her, lifting her by the nape as his fingers squeezed her throat tightly.

"You are a monster… An aberration kept quiet by a façade." Without warning, he slammed her to the ground, throwing her right onto the edge of the precipice. Jeanne tried to rise, but her sight was turning dark, almost violet.

"You cannot wash away regret, that I know well, but you can't keep burying it either." David smiled, as frost and rock slithered between his hands, condensing into who knows what tool.

"It's no different from painting over a dirty canvas. The thickness of the previous will continue to give the next work something unpleasant and fake." He stopped, holding his new blade of rock and ice aimed at her shoulder blades. The blood at his feet was red, and the hammer was far, where it had impacted earlier.

"Now… Show me what you've hiding." His eyes lit up just before he pounced on the girl's back. The blade hissed through the air before shattering almost instantly. A sigh reached his ears, and his leg was pierced by a long iron nail. He tried to grab it, but was slammed to the ground. As soon as he reopened his eyes, he was seared by a crimson light. Jeanne stared at him, as condensation and blood slid from her lips. Her gaze had turned a burning red, while the other eye was a mass of violet and blue.

The device on her shoulders continued to flash faintly until a distorted, metallic voice began to echo.

"MAXIMUM RISK REACHED – UNABLE TO ADMINISTER DOSE – EMERGENCY PROCEDURE STARTING IN SIX MINUTES." After that, the voice died, and a single indicator began to blink. Her blood swelled, changing colour and at times turning to flame, then ice, then smoke, and sometimes taking the shape of strange trees of grey metal. David smiled, slowly stitching his leg back together.

"Good… NOW I CAN TRULY ENJOY THIS EVENING!!!!" The air distorted, erupting ice, algae, plants, and gigantic rocks onto the battered platform. The two stared at each other before the impact of the last boulder marked the resumption of the clash. Far away, in the offices of the outer tower, Lance Klint lay bleeding, his shoulder torn and the fingers of his left hand missing. A shadow hooked him to the wall, dragging him until his feet were just slightly lifted off the ground.

From the darkness, Angel slowly approached him, holding his tired and pierced side. The shadows rose with each of his breaths, trying to synchronise without success.

"This much investment was completely unexpected…" Angel murmured, drying his tears with what was left of his shirt.

"An…gel… I… you…" The hook kept sinking into Lance's flesh, causing thick, dark blood to flow incessantly. On his face, the purplish scars devoured his skin, clustering around his pupils. Lance tried to raise his arm, but as soon as Angel noticed the black bracelet pressed against his bicep, he reflexively blocked it with a new tentacle.

"Why?" That question stirred what little energy remained in the young man, making him move his lips.

"Because… I… promised… that I would help her…" His head slid forward, unable to be supported. Angel tightened his grip further, beginning to tear up from his dark eyes. The whole floor was enveloped by that veil of darkness, as the last flame breathed its final breath.