Chương 59: 58: Amalgation III

It struggled to rise. Its mouth opened and closed.

"How...?" Blue blood spilled from its lips.

"How...?" Its stitched eyes searched Katherine's face before drifting to the satchel at her side. It could feel it. The Nonagon. Something... That had never existed before. Understanding crashed into it.

"... No." Its voice trembled.

"No..." Dragging itself through its own blood, the creature crawled toward her. One stitched hand weakly wrapped around her ankle.

"... Please..." Katherine didn't move. Empty eyes stared down without blinking.

"You..." Her voice shook.

"You killed my best friend."

"I didn't!" the creature blurted desperately.

"I swear!" Katherine's jaw tightened.

"Liar."

"I'M NOT!" It coughed blue blood.

"The wolf..." Its breathing grew ragged.

"... The wolf from earlier..."

"It took her head..."

"... She was already dead when I arrived..." Silence settled over the corridor. For one impossible second, Katherine simply stared. The wolf. Not... This thing. Amalgation saw the hesitation and clung to it.

"You understand," it rasped.

"I am not your enemy. Remain here for a short while longer. Once I have recovered sufficiently, we may depart together. You should forgive. It is the kinder course." Katherine laughed. A hollow, exhausted laugh.

"Kind?" She looked at it as though it had said something absurd.

"What could've possibly given you the idea I was kind?" She crouched until they were eye level.

"I would've killed you for looking at Butter the wrong way." Harmony slid into her hand.

"Eating her body just made it personal." The creature stared.

"Do you know..." Her voice cracked.

"... how much she meant to me?" Blood dripped from her eyes.

"She was my best friend." A bitter smile crossed her lips.

"I thought we'd... be something more." She swallowed.

"Maybe..." Another crimson tear fell.

"You took that away from me." Amalgation's hope withered. Katherine slowly raised Harmony.

"What... do you think this is?" The creature blinked.

"A movie?"

"Where if I kill you... I'm somehow no better?" She smiled without warmth.

"I don't care about being better." Her grip tightened around Harmony.

"I care... about killing whatever ate my friend." Amalgation's grin suddenly returned. Without warning, it spat a glob of thick grey fluid. Katherine sidestepped. The glob struck the floor behind her. SSSSSSSS! Concrete dissolved almost instantly, hissing into a bubbling slurry. Acid. Katherine's head snapped back toward the creature. It was already standing. Its hollow eyes burned crimson. Then all four hands shot to its own face.

"AAARRRGHHHH!" Its claws dug into its eye sockets, raking through them as though trying to tear something buried deep inside free. Blood poured between its fingers. It screeched, the sound rising into a maddened, hate-filled wail as smoke curled from its ruined eyes.

"YOU...!" The crimson glow intensified. Its eye sockets began to burn from within.

"I SHALL ERASE YOU!" The claws tore free. Twin lances of scarlet annihilation erupted from its ruined eyes, so hot they scorched the sockets they passed through. The beams swept toward Katherine with murderous precision, guided not by sight...... but by hatred itself. Katherine felt it before she saw it. Energy. Gathering. She threw herself backward. SCREEEEEE!! The beams moved as fast as its loathing. In physics, the attack was instantaneous. In zero seconds, it was already passing through Katherine's heart.

Harmony didn't care about physics. It refused. Whirrrrrrr. The nunchaku snapped into motion before the beams could become wounds. It dissolved into an invisible blur, every rotation intercepting an impossible projectile the instant reality declared it had been fired. Crimson light exploded in every direction as Harmony met hatred head-on. Katherine screamed, boots gouging trenches through the floor as the relentless barrage drove her backward.

"AAAAAAAHHH!!" Amalgation advanced through the storm of scarlet light, its shattered body still knitting itself together with every step.

"... I am an Abomination!" Another barrage slammed into Harmony. SKREEEEEE!

"You are a foolish, rotten child!" Katherine's arms shook violently.

"You truly believed... you could defeat me?" The beams intensified.

"You will die!" She was driven back another metre.

"And I shall feast... to my heart's content!" Its smile widened into something monstrous.

"Now..." Another torrent of crimson hatred crashed against Harmony.

"Die." The beams split. The corridor became a storm of molten crimson and invisible arcs. Then she saw it. An opening. A path. It meant taking a hit. Fear tried to rise. She strangled it immediately. Butter would've taken the hit. She would've closed the distance. She would've landed the killing blow. Katherine could afford to be bitchy later. She lunged. SHRRRK! A crimson beam grazed her shoulder, tearing the flesh clean away. Pain eclipsed thought. For one terrible heartbeat, Katherine almost died.

Not passed out. Died. Her heart stopped. Only sheer, all-consuming rage forced her body to keep moving. She planted one foot and, with every ounce of strength she had left, kicked one handle beneath her sole. Thwack. The nunchaku tore through the air and punched cleanly through Amalgation's forehead. The stitched creature froze. Its hollow eyes dimmed, and its body crumpled heavily onto the fractured floor, mouth hanging open. It never moved again. Its stitched flesh lay perfectly still.

No blue tendrils crawled across the wound. Only silence. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Katherine stood over it, chest heaving, blood dripping from her chin and eyes. She waited. Watched. One second. Then another. Nothing. It didn't move. Regeneration never came. It never drew another breath. Only then did she move. She ripped Harmony free and brought it down. WHAM! The strike caved in its skull. CRACK! Another shattered bone. BOOM! Again. Bones splintered.

Limbs caved in. She kept going. Flesh tore apart beneath the relentless barrage. She lowered the weapon and turned away, trying to remember the word she'd used before.

"... Real sound?" Behind her, every blow she'd landed erupted at once. The accumulated force imploded through the corpse. KRAAA - BOOOM! The stitched creature collapsed inward before detonating into a massive crater that shook the corridor. Katherine glanced over her shoulder, gave a single nod, and kept walking.

"Very good," she muttered. Her gaze drifted to Harmony. The dark wooden nunchaku looked almost ordinary. She frowned, then swung it into the floor. BOOM. Stone caved inward, a fresh crater blooming beneath the impact. She turned and swung again, this time into the wall. BOOM. Another crater. Katherine stared at the weapon.

"So that's it..." It didn't simply hit hard. It struck with all the force of the swing, then deposited twice that force inside the point of impact. Not spread across the target, but compressed into an impossibly tiny space, like detonating a bomb inside a grain of rice. Now she understood. Harmony buried each internal strike beneath the surface, compressing them until the command was spoken. It was an explosion waiting to happen.

Katherine suddenly doubled over, coughing violently as agony twisted through her chest. Every breath felt wrong.

"Hrk—!" Her shoulder pulsed with searing pain, the wound writhing as though it were alive beneath her skin. Haemoglobin. Without it... my ability Haemoglobin would've left you wonderfully misaligned. The memory hit her like another punch. Her hand instinctively clutched her ribs. Despite every impact having been weakened, they had accumulated after all. She shut her eyes and forced herself to think. Not everything changed meaning. Some things... Added conditions. Her eyes snapped open.

"Asterisk." A tiny cobalt * appeared above her head. Understanding arrived instinctively. If Katherine jumps three times beneath a light while spinning, all hidden injuries immediately leave her body.

"... That's ridiculous." She did it anyway. One. Two. Three. She spun beneath the flickering corridor light. Something lurched inside her. Blood burst from her mouth in a violent cough, splattering the floor in thick crimson ribbons as the wrongness buried beneath her ribs peeled away like invisible splinters being dragged free. She landed, breathing hard. The pain... Was gone. Katherine stared at her own hands.

"... It actually worked." Her face lit up.

"I..." A laugh escaped her.

"I have powers." Another followed.

"I have actual powers!" She threw both fists into the air.

"THIS IS REAL!" She jumped once, then again, then again, spinning through the corridor as laughter spilled from her louder than she ever had before.

"It wasn't a dream! I really have powers!" Tears streamed down her face as she laughed. She could bend language. Rewrite reality. The impossible had become ordinary. She wasn't trapped in a pod anymore. She wasn't hallucinating. This... This was her life now. Then her eyes found Butter. Everything shattered. The smile disappeared so completely it was as though it had never existed. Katherine walked back in silence and lowered herself into the widening pool of blood.

She didn't care that it soaked through her clothes. Under the corridor lights it shimmered strangely, tiny flecks sparkling through the crimson like glitter suspended inside liquid rubies. She wrapped both arms around Butter's body and pulled her close.

"... I'm sorry." Violent, uncontrollable sobs wracked her body as she pressed her forehead against Butter's shoulder, tears soaking into the bloodstained bandages.

"I killed an Abomination, Sugarbear..." she whispered, her voice breaking.

"A creepy one... a really ugly one." She laughed weakly through her tears before the sound dissolved into another sob.

"... Are you having fun in heaven without me?" Her fingers gently adjusted Butter's jacket.

"I hope you're in heaven... because if you're not..." Her lip trembled.

"... I'll come to hell and break you out myself." She swallowed hard.

"You don't deserve anything bad. You never did." Her breathing shook.

"The worst people don't even suffer this much."

"I hate this world." Another tear rolled down her face.

"If I could... I'd change everything." She looked down at Butter's limp form.

"I'd rebuild it in my own image."

"The bad people would finally get what they deserve."

"I'd execute every last one of them." A faint smile touched her lips.

"And you'd be happy..."

"With me."

"Us together." The smile fell apart.

"... It was a silly dream after all." She leaned closer. Butter still smelled the same. Warm pastries. Soft marshmallows. Even beneath the blood. Even after everything. She smelled...... precious. Katherine closed her eyes and breathed her in, lingering as though committing the scent to memory before the universe stole that too.

"I don't want to forget..." Her voice was barely audible.

"I don't ever want to forget how you smell." Another sob escaped her. She held Butter tighter.

"I wish I could resurrect that thing..." Her fingers tightened around the lifeless body.

"... just so I could kill it again." She stayed there for what felt like forever before finally pulling back, her eyes drifting toward the prosthetic lights. Still white. Still waiting. Katherine carefully laid Butter back down.

"... Resurrect." Nothing.

"Revive." Nothing.

"Retcon." Silence.

"Plot twist." Butter didn't move.

"Happy ending..." Nothing.

"Please." Her breathing grew ragged.

"Come on... Undo. Restore. Reverse. Wake up." Still nothing.

"WAKE UP!" Nothing.

"DAMN IT!" She ripped open the satchel and stared into the impossible cobalt light of the Nonagon.

"Please..." Her voice cracked.

"You brought me back. Bring her back too. Please." The Cobalt Nonagon remained perfectly still, dormant and silent. Katherine waited. It never answered. Something inside her finally broke. She rose to her feet, eyes bloodshot and hollow.

"... Fine." Her voice was almost calm.

"If I can't bring you back..." Her fingers slowly closed around Harmony.

"... then I'll destroy every last one of them." She looked down at Butter one last time.

"People who aren't even a millionth as good as you are... are still out there enjoying the gift of life." Her jaw tightened.

"I won't let that happen." Her gaze drifted toward the dark corridors ahead.

"I'll find that wolf. And when I do..." She stepped forward.

"Nothing in this place is going to survive." — Katherine remained where she was, standing over Butter's body with Harmony hanging loosely at her side. Footsteps echoed from somewhere deeper within the corridor. Two voices.

"…I'm telling you, if Coach catches us again, we're dead."

"Nah, you're overthinking it."

"You say that every time.""' Cause every time I'm right." They rounded the corner. The first was a tall girl of about eighteen or nineteen with sharp brown eyes, a beauty mark beneath her left eye, and black hair tied in a high ponytail. Tarnished silver hoops glinted at her ears. She wore baggy olive cargo pants beneath an oversized charcoal hoodie, its sleeves shoved to her elbows, and well-worn trainers with peeling rubber.

Chipped black nail polish clung to her fingers as she walked with easy confidence, hands in her pockets, looking as though she belonged wherever she went. Beside her walked a shorter, broad-shouldered young man with deep brown skin, close-cropped hair, a scar through one eyebrow, and restless dark eyes. A faded green jacket hung open over a grey T-shirt stretched across a solid frame. Calloused knuckles, rolled sleeves, a battered digital watch, and unevenly worn boots hinted at years of hard use.

Despite his height, he looked strong enough to bend steel with his bare hands. Their conversation died instantly. Both stared. First at the ruined corridor. Then at Butter. Then at Amalgation's corpse. Finally... At Katherine. Blood covered her from head to toe. Her clothes were torn, her face streaked with tears and gore, Harmony dangling loosely from one hand. To them... It looked as though she'd slaughtered both. Katherine took a single step forward. A bitter thought flashed through her mind. Perfect timing.

Maybe beating the hell out of these two would finally get some of this anger out. The broad-shouldered young man suddenly slammed a small black cylinder into the floor. BANG! Thick grey smoke erupted through the corridor, swallowing both figures almost instantly. Their silhouettes dissolved into the haze. Katherine narrowed her eyes. They dropped out of sight, rebounding off the floor before sprinting across the walls in a blur. A fist buried itself into Katherine's kidney.

"NGH!" Pain tore through her side. She stumbled forward, Harmony slipping from her grasp and clattering across the floor. She was human again. Herculean. Hyperbole. Everything had faded. These weren't monsters. Just humans. But they were stronger than she was. Katherine had never lifted a weight in her life. That opening blow would've knocked her unconscious.

"Understatement." The word settled over them. Their speed dulled. Their strength diminished in relation to her. Katherine resisted the urge to stack more words on top of it. Every invocation turned a little more of her into dream-stuff, and she was convinced that, sooner or later, there'd be nothing human left to come back from. If she was going to die, she intended to make every word count. Besides... She wanted to enjoy this. These people had chosen the wrong day to cross her.

She was going to kill every last one of them before language finally consumed what remained of Katherine. Katherine's cobalt perception remained untouched. The instant a punch began, she saw it. Every shift of weight, every tightening muscle, every twitch telegraphed the attack before it arrived. That alone was an advantage. The next punch cracked against her cheekbone, but she bullied through it, closing the distance and spitting straight into the girl's eyes.

"Ew-" The unexpected move made her flinch. Katherine swung a punch. The girl instinctively slipped outside it... Right into Katherine's rising knee. THOOM! The impact snapped her head back. Katherine followed immediately, dropping a vicious elbow onto the crown of her head. The girl staggered. Katherine rushed her, unleashing a wild, uncoordinated barrage of punches and elbows. The Stepper grimaced through the pain, parrying, slipping, and deflecting most of them with practiced precision. Katherine didn't care.

She suddenly switched levels, sweeping the girl's legs out from under her. Before she could hit the ground, Katherine seized her by the head and slammed it sideways into the wall. BOOM! She did it again. KRAASH! The girl growled, firing a sharp punch straight into Katherine's mouth.

"Ugh!" Her head snapped back as she stumbled several steps away, blood running from the corner of her lip. The boy was already on her. His fist shot toward her face. Katherine slipped beneath it, letting herself fall to the ground as the punch sliced through empty air. She came back up with a jagged chunk of debris she'd scooped up in the fall and flung it into his eyes.

"AGH!" He flinched. Katherine rushed in. Two fingers jabbed toward his eyes. He jerked his head aside and swung wildly. She ducked beneath the punch, drove her knuckles into his throat, then whipped an elbow into his jaw. He grunted, staggered... Then answered with a brutal liver shot.

"GHH!" Katherine folded, stumbling to one knee as a kick whipped toward her head. She caught the leg, yanked hard, then sprang upward and buried an elbow into his kneecap. He stumbled back. For a brief moment, neither of them moved. They stood several paces apart, breathing hard. The boy rubbed his bruised throat with a wince. Katherine clutched her abdomen where the liver shot had landed, forcing herself to breathe through the pain. Then they moved again.... She feinted a straight punch.

Instead, her foot shot upward. THUD! The kick landed squarely between his legs. His jaw clenched, refusing to cry out as he swept her supporting leg from beneath her. While she was still falling, the girl drove a shove kick into Katherine's chest. BOOM! She tumbled nearly ten meters, rolling through shattered stone.

"RAAAH!" Katherine exploded back to her feet and launched herself into a double flying knee. The girl saw it coming. Both palms caught Katherine's knees before the impact could land. Katherine immediately swung both fists toward either side of the girl's head. The girl whipped her head backward. Katherine's hands slammed together with a painful CLAP!

"…Dammit!" The girl recovered instantly, shoving Katherine's knees downward to stall her in midair before grabbing her by the shoulders and slamming her into the floor. BOOM! Before she could rise, Katherine's hand shot into her ponytail. She yanked.

"AH!" The girl was dragged back down. Katherine drove a savage kick between her legs. THUD! She doubled over with a pained grunt, instinctively swinging a punch. Katherine slipped outside it...... and sank her teeth into the girl's forearm.

"AAH! What the-" The girl tried to wrench free. Katherine refused to let go, jaw clenched as she tore at the arm like a cornered animal. The boy was already moving, flipping through the air with both feet descending toward Katherine's skull. Harmony snapped back into her hand. The chain whipped upward. KLANG! His heels crashed into the steel links instead. Katherine swung the nunchaku toward the girl, but she had already rolled away.

The duo regrouped on the far side of the corridor while Katherine slowly climbed back to her feet, swaying slightly as she steadied herself, Harmony hanging ready in her hand as all three measured one another in tense silence. Harmony sprang out. FWIP! The chain exploded outward before either one could react, elongating impossibly as it wrapped around both of them from shoulders to ankles.

"WHOA!"

"HEY!" They hit the floor together. The boy blinked.

"…Okay." The girl sighed.

"…Well, this is new." Katherine didn't answer. Bloodshot eyes stared at them without emotion.

"Who are you?"