Chapter Text
1x cleaved Two Time’s head clean. With a pained yelp, the body slumped onto the grass and dissipated into wisps.
“That cultist must be on his second life.” He dug his fingers into his glowing eye, ripping it out with a strong pull. His vision blurred, then shifted, revealing the auras of the remaining survivors.
“I see you…—AGHHHH.”
A sharp jolt of pain pierced his back. A stab so lethal that the dagger protruded from his back, into the ribcage, revealing the tip of its blade through his chest. “Who the heck was that?!” As the blur unveiled from his sight, He caught a glimpse of the wide, bony wings of his attacker.
Two Time used all his might to extract the dagger from the flesh. Before he could make a run for it, 1x snatched him by his scarf, impaling the Dæmonshank right through his spine. Streaks of blood burst out from front and back with a splat, tainting his garments in dark red. Two Time’s sadistic glint instantly faded away. He let out a pained yelp before hanging limp on the sword. His dagger dropped onto the ground with a clatter before dissipating into pixels.
“What a pity, your second life wasted in a matter of seconds!” 1x pulled the Dæmonshank out from the corpse with one hand, the other wiping off the blood splattered on his face, “With your recklessness, next time try three lives!”
1x wiped the bloodied blade clean with his bare hand. His nose wrinkled at the pungent smell of rust and rot, but it didn’t dull his senses, least of all his madness. “As usual.” He glanced up, taking in the familiar sight of corpses and blood-stained grass. “It seems I ‘accidentally’ left him for last again.”
He must find him.
Hurried footsteps could be heard sprinting in his direction, before crunching to a stop a few feet behind him.
He has come to him instead.
For once.
How dubious.
“Shedletsky. What a BIG improvement from past rounds.” His tone came out mocking, laced with sarcasm.
“You could have saved him, this lowly cultist; you could have saved all your teammates. Yet you hid like a coward until the very last minute! Again and again. Trying to hide from me, your manifestation of hatred—you are nothing but a coward, Telamon”
“If I were truly a coward, why would I come before you now?” Shedletsky clenched his jaw, staring straight into 1x’s eyes. “Transferring all my hatred to you was my mistake. And I will be the one to end it.”
He gripped the Illumina, aiming it at 1x. “My ignorance has turned you into this abomination. I know you weren’t like this” His eyes diverged away. “I am sorry for the suffering I caused. I regret letting my ego get in the way, destroying moments like these, I regret—!”
“Sentimental, are we?” 1x sneered, his grip on the Dæmonshank tightened so much that his knuckles whitened. “Perhaps an apology’s a bit too late for that…answer me,” In a flash, he lunged at Shedletsky, his bright crimson eyes glowering brighter, “Where was your remorse during those past few years?!” Shedletsky whipped his head up, barely able to twist his grip in time to block the incoming blades.
1x whipped his swords sideways. The sheer force threw him off his balance, knocking him back onto the wall behind. His Illumina was flung out of his grip, landing onto the ground with a clatter.
“This is…!” chains rattled and wrapped around 1x’s limbs, “…MASS INFECTION.” The bonds severed in two with a strong slash — a sharp shockwave rippled throughout the air. Before Shedlestky could even recover, the shockwave rebounded onto his chest, and searing pain spread throughout him. “Gagh—!” Shedletsky slumped against the wall as blood spewed out of his mouth.
“How pathetic. To think that the almighty Telamon, now fallen, reduced to a helpless survivor.” 1x stomped onto Shedletsky’s chest, striking a Dæmonshank right into his lungs. A sickening squirt echoed, followed by a gasp of pain.
“What’s wrong, Shedletsky?” 1x’s twisted into a cruel smirk. “Now feeling the pain you have caused me?”
“1x…what…what are you doing to Mister Telamon.”
1x froze. “A child?” He whipped his head towards the voice.
There stood a small figure in a green sweater, with a black scarf around his neck. His hands clasped. Terrified, gawking at 1x.
…
“█████, we shall practise again, for you shall beat me in the near future.”
“Remember to wear your scarf,█████, the weather is turning cooler lately.”
“What’s wrong █████…another nightmare? Come. Just sit by the fire and drive the malice away.”
…
These memories…how naive
Just another hallucination to let my guard down.
“I am just ending his life.” He staked his other Dæmonshank into Shedletsky’s heart, blood splurted out, a patch of red pooling on the green grass. “With that ego of his, I doubt he even knows the concept of death.” Shedletsky’s eyes fluttered for a split second before shutting close. The round’s over. The killer won.
“All done?”
“Let’s go back, s̴̛̞͕̎̊ḣ̴̭̉̓͒̓͛͠á̷̡̪̘̳̯̼̃̏̽̈͜l̵͖͑͊̃̐̐͆͌̓̚ḽ̸̢̛̫̱̳͙̯̿̏̌̈́̕ͅ ̴̻̝̞̺̘̈́̾͐̉̐̈͗͘͝ẇ̷̢̙͕̞̹̮̫͗͑̍͂͂͜͝é̶̟͙͔̼̓̃͜?”
A wave of static hit 1x’s mind. His head was now throbbing from it. His vision blurred. The Spectre has his ways of sending his playthings back to the lobby. His form broke down into pixels, suffocating the life out of him. His last sight, was a small hand outstretched, as if it tried to grasp the binary codes, before his eyes were veiled in strings of bright red ones and zeros, before his vision was engulfed in pitch-black