Chương 44: Chapter 42. The Prey

A soft hand brutally slapped Oscar awake. The delightful sight of Ariesa loomed over him, her fact etched with genuine concern.

"Oscar! Are you okay?" she asked and instantly grimaced at the stupid question.

"Of course you're not… Um... Gita threw her pants-gold-bomb and stunned Aurelia, buying me time to drag you away. Unfortunately, the gold coins failed to do much else as her skin is just too tough from that abominable skill of hers. Her and Bruno are fighting the beast still, but I need you to get up. I dragged you behind the [Bankers] work area, but I don't know how long they can hold on for!"

"M-My… arm…" Oscar rasped.

"The explosion knocked it nearby, but… It'll be okay—"" No! Grab it… I can… fix it!" Oscar croaked.

"What? No, Oscar… I don't think that healing potions can reattach limbs, I'm sorry."

"I think I can… P lease!" Ariesa froze before finally dropping him. A moment later she returned with the limb in hand.

"Oh, gods! This is so disgusting! I mean… here!" He let out a few quick breaths to pump himself up before finally slapping the dismembered limb against his stump. The man in the gambling hall had done this and he'd been far less corrupted than Oscar. Hopefully this worked the same for him. The initial contact of something hitting his open wound was almost enough to cause Oscar to black-out again, but he held on. He could feel something happen between his stump and arm…

but it wasn't knitting the flesh like it had for the man. It was almost as if his body was attempting to reforge the connection, but was missing the glue to make it really stick.

"What would happen if I were to drink a healing potion like this?"

"Uh… I don't know! Close off the stump completely if I had to guess? Is what you're doing… working?"

"Um… maybe? It's close to reattaching itself, but the tissue keeps breaking… How the fuck did that guy do this so easily?" What could he do to force the connection?

"Ah… right… that's always the answer for me, isn't it?"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, just be ready to hand me a healing potion."

"Oscar, I'm pretty confident that's not going to work!"

"Just fuckin' have it ready when I goddamn ask!" Oscar snapped and snaked his shadow up his legs and towards his injured arm. The shadow stopped its movement right above the wound. With a deep breath, he maneuvered his shadow into the stump and stabbed it through, piercing towards and inside his severed arm. He repeated the process dozens of time, creating layers of shadowy stitches.

It was a difficult process to describe, but using the connection, he pulled the limb closer and closer until he was positive the limb was essentially attached once more. The pain was, of course, ridiculous, but there was no other choice but to persevere.

"Potion… Now!" he barked and felt the cool glass touch his hand. Unsure of how to consume the potion for this unique issue, he drank half and poured the rest directly onto the wound. Flesh regrew and coiled itself around the shadow stitches. The process was quick, but agonizing. Oscar couldn't help himself from being giddy despite the pain. This time the flesh was stronger and was actually serving as a bridge to connect the two together. Once the regrowing had stopped, the moment of truth was here…

Oscar made a fist and opened it.

"It fuckin' worked! Holy-fucking-shit!" he gasped out in relief as he continued to flex his digits. Then he got a good look at his work and cursed. Similar to the dark spot on his shoulder, black veins emerged from the center of where his arm had been severed. They didn't reach to his hands or up to his shoulder, but from they reached mid-way through his forearm and ended just a pinch above his elbow. A thin layer of dark purple faintly glowed around the edges of his new shadowy veins.

Ariesa paled at the sight, but didn't say anything. He tried to recall the small amount of shadow he'd used as the stitches. Usually the process was instant and effortless with his shadow returning to its natural position or elsewhere on his body. This time, however, the shadow refused to budge.

"A problem for later. Assuming I can get out of this perilous situation, that is..." Oscar said.

"That's… Yeah, we can take a better look at… that … later…" Ariesa said. She took his left hand—most likely not wanting to touch his evil-looking right—and was about to help him up when his Dragonash ring buzzed. The moment the ring had buzzed, Ariesa had jumped out of surprise and let go of Oscar. Nothing had happened outside of the buzzing, so she apologized and helped him up.

He also didn't know what had happened, but wasn't able to spend the time to think about it further as he saw Aurelia was still fighting Bruno and Gita. Aurelia looked to be still going strong. She hadn't recovered her weapon yet from when she'd flung it at Bruno, and was using hand-to-hand combat instead. Bruno flicked the cane-turned-whip at Aurelia's wrist, ensnaring it in the whip's jagged segments. Aurelia didn't even hesitate as she used her other hand to grab the serrated whip and yanked Bruno towards her.

To Bruno's credit, he also didn't hesitate as he dropped and rolled through her legs. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. From behind, Gita threw out an [Oaken Fists] enhanced punch directly into the center of her back. This attack revealed that Aurelia was wearing down as her mouth flew open in shock. She flung a wild elbow backwards and caught Gita in her chest, which the [Root Carapace] absorbed.

"Ariesa, grab Plank and get out while she's distracted. I'm going to see if I can help them out and find an opening for ourselves."

"Can you fight in your condition?"

"Yeah, I feel fine… despite how gross I look."

"Okay, as much as I want to protest, I think you're right. Plank and I are just a hindrance in a fight of this caliber," Ariesa reached into a pocket and handed Oscar another healing potion.

"Be wary about drinking another so shortly after taking such a large amount of the other."

"In other words… just don't get hit, right?" Oscar said and flashed a fake smile. Ariesa snorted and crept off towards where Plank was. Oscar anxiously rubbed at his ring, which was still faintly vibrating. As he rubbed the ring, he felt the buzzing start to dim. Finally, after he'd collected himself and stuffed away his fear, Oscar took one step towards the fight and… Found himself stuck on-top of Aurelia, both of them on the ground in the middle of Bruno and Gita.

Gita plucked him off of Aurelia with surprising strength." Oscar? What're you… your arm! How's it healed?" she asked. Bruno had taken advantage of the fallen Aurelia and was flicking his whip at him, ripping away skin.

"I'll tell you later!" Oscar said and looked down at his ring.

"Not gonna rub you for a while, I think…"

"What the fuck? Are you a pervert too?" Gita asked." Huh? Oh… goddammit, ignore that," Oscar said, his mind now thinking about what weapon to create. The amount of shadow that was stitched inside him was such a small amount that it wasn't likely to impede any of his creations.

"[Malleable Shadow: Essence of Shortbow]," he said and formed a shortbow alongside an arrow. He took aim and fired the shadowy arrow at Aurelia, who was back up again. The arrow landed in her shoulder. She plucked it out and hurled it at Bruno, but he recalled the arrow back into his natural shadow.

"None of you can beat me! Just fuckin' die already!" Aurelia roared.

"You can take a beating, I'll give you that. Killing people, though? You seem to be far less capable in that area compared to Vythe," Bruno remarked. Aurelia apparently did not like to be compared to Vythe.

"[Wolf Arts: Mooncrest Claw]." Aurelia pivoted to all fours, as if she were a wolf and leapt into the air, one hand outstretched, now morphed into a large and furry paw.

"[Black Out]," Oscar said and targeted her eyes, causing her to miss her prey.

"[Nobleman's Cane: Typhoon's Zenith]," Bruno said, his eyes hardened as he began to twirl the cane around in such a rapid motion that it defied a normal humans capabilities. The wind converged around the twirling, rapidly increasing in pressure and size. Debris from all over the room was sucked up and flew into the maw of the violent wind.

"Is he insane?" Gita muttered angrily as she grabbed Oscar and shuffled over to a nearby sturdy surface to hide behind.

"Why didn't he do that before I had my arm chomped off?" Oscar yelled over the increasing winds. Unable to peak at the ongoing destruction, Oscar and Gita huddled against one another and prayed this skill was the one that finally finished this fight. The windows in the room shattered. Glass flew about the room, crashing and breaking what other few objects weren't already in pieces. Bits of debris scraped across his body, cutting him.

Without warning the skill ceased, and whatever had been flying around in the room dropped to the ground. The bank was dead silent. Opening his eyes, he saw Gita with her root covered body hovering over his. He gently pushed himself away from Gita's embrace and peaked over their cover to where Bruno and Aurelia had been. Bruno stood in the same spot he had been in before. Aurelia was in a bloody mess on the ground.

Fragments of the ceiling had broken off and now laid around her alongside various scraps of furniture and the gold that'd exploded from Gita's pants. The whole room was in tatters, but he couldn't focus on that. His focus was locked onto the unmoving body of Aurelia.

"You've gotta be fucking me…" Bruno muttered. Shoving off the rubble that had fallen onto her, Aurelia stood up and shook off the dust that had coated her body. She couldn't wipe away the blood, but that made her look all the more terrifying as she grinned at them.

"Never been in a typhoon before… Scary stuff," Aurelia remarked as she fished out her greatsword of bone from a nearby pile of rubble.

"Were it not for the noble sacrifices of my men, I don't think I would've survived that."

"Just what were those men made out of?" Oscar asked to no one in particular.

"[Blade Rush!]" Aurelia screamed and blitzed forwards and clashed against Bruno's cane. She struck him repeatedly, each blow faster than the last. Oscar created a shadow spear and ran forwards to try and help Bruno. Aurelia's strength was close to overwhelming Bruno, evident by the deep scowl he wore and the sweat dripping off his brow. Right before he was upon the two, Bruno relented and dropped his block, allowing the greatsword to come down onto his shoulder.

"[Reroll]," Bruno said moments before being hit, the skill magically diverting the weapon to slice right past him and into the ground. Oscar could see why Bruno valued not wasting the skill so much. It was likely his core skill similar to his own [Malleable Shadow]. He didn't want to waste this moment, so he didn't break his stride and plunged the spear straight through Aurelia's side. Blood poured out of Aurelia's mouth as Oscar pulled his shadow spear out of her. This had to be it, right?

What kind of person could endure so much punishment and still fight? It turned out it was Aurelia Aldridge was more beast than she was human. Blood-soaked lips parted giving rise to beginnings of yet another skill. The first few syllables escaped their creator, inspiring fear, panic, and dread within her opposition even without being finished. Oscar prepared himself for the worst, but the truth was that he was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

Milliseconds before the skills completion, a flurry of vipers crashed through the front door. Some bit into flesh, while the majority wrapped themselves around her left arm. The skill ceased being spoke as Aurelia, for the first time, looked down at her arm in genuine shock and terror. With a violent yank, the vipers ripped off Aurelia's left arm. Oscar, Bruno, and Gita stared on in a stunned silence as Aurelia wailed in pain. But even a missing arm wasn't enough to stop her for long.

"[Maw of the Wolf!]" she cried and tried to snap down onto the tangled web of vipers that were lingering. The snakes recalled back through shattered door, revealing an Oz that looked to be consumed by raw rage." Where did you take them?" Oz hissed, malice and fury potent in his voice.

"Where. Did. You. Take. Them."

"Where did I take who?" Aurelia asked, not even bothering to pickup her fallen limb.

"Oh… the lowlife Shiftlings, right? What're you? Their adoptive father or… Wait! You're the escaped subject! How long has it been, Pitch? Ten, nine months?" More snakes jetted out of his hand, except this time, Aurelia was prepared and dodged.

"Return to me my children. Now." Oz demanded, but Aurelia just laughed.

"Shiftlings like yourself are valuable test-subjects, you know? If you want the brats so badly, how about you go and free them. I'm sure by now they've already been thrown into their new homes in the Heart and are being primed for the first dosage of Desire X. Just like their precious little daddy used to be."

"[Ensnare, Envenom, Eradicate]," Oz said and tried to engulf Aurelia in his snake-like appendages. Perhaps it was the cold rage that was messing with him, but Oz just couldn't seem to hit Aurelia anymore. Bruno continued to watch, likely too tired himself to move just like Oscar.

"Please, do come and visit me down in the Depths! I'm afraid I must be leaving now, as you have delivered quite the wound to me, but alas, this won't be enough," Aurelia said as she scooped up her severed arm and made her way to the far wall that had been weakened from Bruno's typhoon skill.

"Feel free to chase, but do be quick about it. I'm sure you already know how hard it is to get the right dosage for Shiftlings." She stopped and turned to address Oscar, Bruno, and Gita.

"And you three… I have a feeling I'll be seeing you all soon as well."

"Yeah… I think you will," Bruno said, his words cold. Aurelia waved her severed arm to say goodbye and dashed out of the bank, leaving the four alone to contemplate what had just happened.

"Oz… I'm sor—" A viper coiled itself around Oscar's throat, lifting him up in the air. He looked to his right and saw Bruno was in the same predicament. Most likely Gita was in the same situation behind them as well.

"Speak now, Oscar. It's only because of how you've treated me and mine that I'm not killing you and yours right now… but I've only known you a short amount of time," Oz said.

"Explain everything and give me a reason to not cull you three right here and now." And so, with little choice, Oscar gave Oz the whole truth about everything. Well, mostly everything.