New Novel
Chapter 35: Bloody Murder

Chapter 35: Bloody Murder

=============================

"What a beautiful stone."

The man turned the warm black fragment between his fingers. It resembled an uncut diamond, except for the faint purple light that appeared when he held it against the sun.

"Might be worth something. Might not."

He thought about his fiancée and smiled.

"Honestly, she might like this better than the diamond one."

He slipped it into his pocket and headed home.

The stone remained warm the entire way.

=============================

Mara moved behind the heavy wooden structure, and Rook ran forward. The white chain between them did not manifest. He had remained close enough for the contract to allow the movement, for the moment, the Brand appeared satisfied.

Rook kicked the coffin’s open compartment, sending weapons spilling into the air. Spears, battle axes, swords, daggers, and several smaller throwing weapons scattered across the field. A one-handed scythe struck the ground blade-first and remained standing. An axe slid through the grease, while two spears landed close to the struggling Abomination.

Without slowing, Rook pulled his falchion in one hand and a dagger in the other.

The Reaper who had caused the infection laughed when he saw the Fourth Rank swaying.

"Yo! I fucked it up!"

He hurried toward the creature, both hands already reaching for the infected shoulder. "It’s my kill!"

"Don’t get too close!" Rook shouted. "Keep your guard up!"

The man looked back at him. That moment of greed and distraction was all the Fourth Rank needed.

"You shouldn’t get close, Blunt Reaper," the Reaper snapped. "It’s mine!"

He slapped his hand against the swollen wound again, attempting to force the infection deeper into the creature’s body.

The Fourth Rank raised its uninfected arm and passed its blade through the opposite shoulder. The infected limb separated from the body and fell to the ground, taking the reddened flesh, swollen pustules, and spreading corruption with it.

The Reaper froze for a second and immediately backed away. He never expected it to discard its arm that mercilessly.

The Fourth Rank’s exposed shoulder convulsed. Bone burst from the empty socket, and flesh raced over it, stretching from the ribs and spine until a new arm formed within moments. The growth continued past the elbow before flattening and sharpening into another sword-like appendage.

The infection had disappeared with the severed limb.

The creature kicked its discarded arm, sending the detached blade shooting across the field. It struck the retreating Reaper directly in the chest. The point tore through him, continued until the entire weapon had entered nearly to the elbow, and carried his body backwards. He slammed into the eastern wall and remained pinned there, his feet hanging above the ground while blood ran down the severed limb and gathered beneath him.

Everything happened within seconds.

The worst part was that the Fourth Rank never looked at the man it had killed. Its eyes remained fixed upon Rook.

He entered its reach, and both sword arms moved. One swept toward his knees while the other passed toward his neck. The angles were too precise to be wild attacks. Together, they would divide him into three pieces: legs, torso, and head.

Rook twisted between them. The upper blade passed close enough to cut several strands from his hair, while the lower scraped across the front of his coat without reaching his body. Both arms crossed behind him, and Rook stepped into the narrow opening between the creature’s ribs.

He planted his boots and swung the falchion toward the middle of its spine.

The Fourth Rank had no stomach and almost no torso. Its ribs, shoulders, limbs, and head were all supported by the same long column of exposed bone. If that spine broke, the rest of the body should collapse with it.

The creature curved backwards. Its spine bent with the flexibility of a rope, carrying the intended target beyond the falchion’s reach. The movement brought its head down until it hung upside down before Rook.

For an instant, they stood face-to-face.

The Fourth Rank’s sideways mouth opened. Its jaws separated toward both ears, and several rows of teeth unfolded around Rook’s head.

He pulled back as they snapped shut. The teeth scraped across his cheek, opening several thin lines but failing to secure a bite. Rook drove the dagger sideways between the jaws before they could open again. The blade caught against both sides of the mouth and held them partially shut.

A scream vibrated through the creature’s skull as its arms tore free from behind Rook and swung back. He dropped flat against the ground, allowing both blades to pass over him and strike one another. Sparks scattered through the creature’s exposed ribs.

Rook rolled aside as one sword arm slammed into the space he had occupied. He rolled again, and the second struck beside his shoulder, carving a deep cut into the ground.

The Fourth Rank pursued him with alternating blows. Each impact shattered stone and sent sparks leaping across the lantern-lit field. Rook continued rolling until he reached one of the scattered packs, then forced himself onto one knee as the creature raised both arms.

Rook pulled a thunder charge from the pack and threw it at the creature’s face.

The Fourth Rank cut it apart.

The instant its blade touched the iron casing, the charge detonated. Heat and electricity burst across the creature’s upper body. Blue-white light swallowed its head and shoulders, casting the shape of its ribs across the ground. The force snapped its spine upright and threw both sword arms wide.

Rook covered his face and turned away from the blast. When he looked again, smoke rolled from the Fourth Rank’s body. Parts of its owl-like face had blackened, and one eye had ruptured beneath the discharge. Its thin skin clung to the ribs in burned strips.

It remained standing.

The Reapers surrounding the field hesitated. Everyone had seen the creature’s speed. They had watched it cut through stone, regenerate an entire arm, and kill two of their people without losing sight of Rook. The thunder charge had stunned it, but the damage was already disappearing.

The ruptured eye swelled back into shape. Burned flesh loosened and fell away as new skin stretched beneath it. Cracks closed along its skull, and the blackened portions of its face regained their pale color.

Within moments, little evidence of the explosion remained.

The Fourth Rank slowly raised one bladed arm and pointed directly at Rook.

Several voices forced their way from its throat at once. Some were deep, while others were thin and broken. A woman sobbed somewhere beneath them. A man shouted. Another voice sounded too damaged to form anything beyond a rasp.

Together, they shaped the same words.

"You killed us."

Rook frowned as the field became strangely quiet. Even Voss stopped issuing orders.

"What?" Rook asked.

The Fourth Rank’s body trembled. Its eyes widened until the circular folds of flesh around them split. Rage distorted the strange mixture of owl and wolf features, twisting them into something that appeared almost human for half a second.

"You killed us!"

The words emerged louder this time. The overlapping voices broke apart as they spoke. Some screamed the accusation while others wept through it. More voices tried to say something else but collapsed into noise.

Rook tightened his grip upon the falchion. He searched the monster’s face for anything familiar and found nothing. The owl eyes, the sideways jaws, and the starved wolf’s snout belonged to no creature he remembered.

That meant little. He never killed an abomination in his death.

After all, he was a Blunt Bladed Reaper.

There were centuries he barely recalled and entire sections of his life before the Underworld that no longer existed inside his mind. If he had known the voices trapped inside this thing, their names had disappeared long ago.

"If it weren’t for you!" the Fourth Rank howled.

Its spine bent. Both feet dug into the ground, and the spikes beneath them cracked the stone.

One voice separated from the others. "Your greed!"

Another screamed over it. "We despise you!"

A third dissolved into frantic laughter before shrieking the accusation again. "You killed them!"

The Fourth Rank’s body convulsed as the voices fought through the same mouth. "All of them!"

Rook stood motionless as something cold settled beneath his ribs.

He had been accused of murder before. The Brand covering his arm made the truth impossible to deny. He knew he had killed, even if the names and faces had been taken from him.

This was different.

The Fourth Rank did not hate him because he was a Condemned Reaper.

It recognized him.

"IF ONLY IT WASN’T FOR YOUR GREED!"

The creature vanished.

Rook barely raised his falchion in time. The Fourth Rank struck him with both arms, and the collision of steel launched him backwards across the field. He struck the ground upon one shoulder, rolled twice, and drove the falchion into the stone to stop himself.

The weapon cracked. It can’t survive more blows.

The creature appeared where he had fallen, its jaws opening sideways.

"We wouldn’t have died!"

"Greedy."

Rook’s weapon slowed.

The creature’s body began trembling.

"Always...greedy."

Its expression twisted as recognition became rage.

"One life."

"One miserable life against all of ours!"

It surged against whatever restrained it.

"You could have stayed!"

"You could have let them finish!"

"But you... caused it."

"Your greed killed us!"

"You killed them!"

"You killed all of them!"