Chapter 218: The Pool of Blood (1/2)
Rakna's face became serious and he quietly raised his hands. He squinted his eyes and looked at the man behind him through the reflection on the cylinder's glass; or at least, the silhouette.
”You're not the Demon, are you? Unless the guy found a way to regress,” he said. ”There is no way he would be caught like this anyway.”
”…”
”You're not going to talk?”
”What is Flood doing here?”
”Hah! As expected of a kid that decimated my men! Even when at gunpoint, you try to interrogate me. You have guts, I'll give you that.”
”Not so much,” Rakna replied. ”No need for guts when you're not scared in the first place.”
”Oh? What? You're gonna go martial artist on me and knock my gun away?”
The masked boy snickered. ”No need to fear a fate that'll leave me no room to regret. If I die, that's it. But I guess I will also die knowing you're dead.”
”What?”
”You asked if I was the Demon? What if I told you he's coming here soon?”
The man holding the gun flinched. ”You're bluffing.”
”You wish,” Rakna uttered and suddenly crouched. He heard the bullet go off and swiped the man's legs. As the criminal fell, he caught the handgun he had been holding midair and threw it away. He extended one of his knives and pointed the blade at the man with a white coat lying on the floor.
”Haha! Holy shit; never thought it was actually possible,” he said with a laugh whilst staring at the spear threatening his throat. ”Guess movies aren't just bullshit...”
”Answer my question.”
”What we're doing?” He smirked. ”You're going to find out soon and you won't live long to tell the tale afterward.”
”What are you…” Rakna trailed and his eyes widened as he heard glass crack. A shiver ran down his spine and he looked over his shoulder just in time to see a shadow erupt out of the cylinder that the bullet pierced and hit him on the entirety of his upper half.
His mind barely caught to the fact that he had been flung away less than a second later. He crashed through several chemical pieces of equipment, even breaking an empty glass container. He felt his bones breaking as he hit the wall. It was like he had been run over by a truck.
He rolled over on the floor and vomited blood. He gripped the left side of his abdomen and leaned his shoulder against the wall to somewhat stand. He shook his head trying to get rid of his blurry vision and looked back at 'what' had just done this to him.
It was a giant. No, it was a massive hunk of flesh. Sutures all over its body, muscles that seemed to be bigger than others, and a disproportionated head with a metal helmet covering it. Its body was only covered by mismatching bandages and metal straps.
”Hahaha!” The Flood member laughed. ”Let's see how long you get to regret before you die, kid.”
Rakna didn't even humor him. He fished out two Eion knives and threw them at the abomination in his sight. The Flood scientist didn't even get the time to react before he was engulfed in the cyan flames.
As for the perpetrator of the attack, he couldn't be bothered to check the results. He had no idea what that thing was and he didn't believe the explosion would do anything to it. He ran out of the room as fast as he could in his current state.
He retracted his path and soon heard a loud crash coming from behind him. That creature had smashed through inches of armored concrete. It looked at him and started running in his direction at a slow but heavy pace.
”Fuck,” Rakna cursed and pulled out one more Eion knife. He set it on a timer and planted it in the wall before turning at the intersection. The explosion went off and the footsteps stopped briefly before starting again.
As he was dreading that he would be targeted, he heard shouts and gunshots. ”Survivors… well, don't die too fast,” he muttered and accelerated since he had recovered a bit more. He also took out an injector from his vest and poured the content into his veins.
The serum worked instantly and he sprinted toward the cistern room. Ten seconds later, he could hear the heavy steps of the monster again. ”Are you serious?” He grumbled as he entered the room full of blood cisterns. He grunted and started heading toward the stairs to the bridge but in a stroke of bad luck, the abomination entered by breaking through the wall.
The force shot a boulder that collapsed the whole staircase as well as a part of the bridge. Rakna's expression darkened and he ran to cover when the thing's helmet turned toward him.
Whilst running, he used one of his knives to create leaks on the liquid Eion pipes. After sabotaging three of them, he left a ticking Eion knife behind. As he hoped, the monster passed by the danger area, and nearly four cisterns exploded right then and there.
The shockwave almost made Rakna fly and he was in fact thrown against the wall. The blast tore several support poles out of their hinges and from outside, the ground and the fake cooling towers shook.
Rakna gritted his teeth as he tried to stand up from his stooped position after falling and cursed in his mind as he saw a scorched but alive figure walk out of the blue flames ravaging the place.
”What the fuck are you made of, you Frankenstein bastard…” He spat as his legs refused to respond to his will. The creature ultimately grabbed him and it was at that point that Ceres couldn't hold back her gasp.
She frantically alternated between the images and Rakna to convince herself that he was still alive and well next to her. She looked at her hands that were trembling and with a frantic mind, drew a conclusion. 'So, this is… worry… and fear…' She thought to herself and forced herself to watch as the creature slammed Rakna on the ground; his mask falling off.
The young boy let out a voiceless scream and was lifted again for the next blow, or the last. But in a show of great fortitude, he took control over his arm back and shoved an Eion knife into the gap of the thing's helmet.
The creature roared and hurled him away instead of killing him. He flew to a cistern and his body made a hole in it right as he heard his knife go off. Then… red.
Ceres shuddered as everything around her became red. In the middle of it, the past version of her Host began to scream in agony. He swallowed some of the blood and he grasped his own head as voices… or rather noises began to make themselves known.
Ceres almost had the same reflex to hold her head as well. All kinds of animals growling, roaring, barking, snarling… all of it at the same time. But it wasn't just noise, it was maddening. It was like something was destroying your mind from the inside. If she felt this from a memory, she had no idea of what Rakna must have felt.
He thrashed around stronger and stronger and she began to hear words mixed in with the noises of beasts. ”The… the blood… drowning… drowning… DROWNING ME!”
Ceres was terrified as the last shout overpowered everything else. The Rakna in the memories opened his eyes that were now bloodshot. Even his irises were different as if his actual DNA was being affected by the blood. He drew his last Eion knife and triggered it inside the blood, with him a few inches away.
The explosion made the blood fly out like a volcanic eruption while he was freed as the cistern collapsed under the strain. Rakna landed on all four and stayed still whilst looking at the ground blankly. The monster was on the ground, showing no signs of movement, its helmet turned into scrap and its head shrouded by smoke.
”Later,” the present Rakna spoke up coldly and Ceres shivered. ”I learned that the blood inside of those things was meant to be a new kind of enhancing antitoxin for humans by going back to the sources; merging our DNA with animals'. But with the addition of Eion liquid, gray matter, as well as human blood, the result was a mixture with extra sensorial properties.”
”If you touched it, it would be like momentarily welcoming inside your head every living being of which the blood was present in the cistern. After this incident, the old man said my IQ shot up and at the same time, I gained unbelievable instincts and a brain condition we called Obsidian Blood.”
Ceres' eyes widened in realization. ”This incident… was the cause behind the uniqueness of your Trait and its ability to re-allocate your attributes and transform your magic affinity…”
Rakna nodded. ”Probably. As for the 'me' who came out…” He trailed and his past self began to yell and scream at seemingly nothing. ”He got stuck in the blood pool. His mind, filled with animalistic instincts, was overwhelmed. His human and animal instincts mixed together and gave birth to one and only urge; seek more blood.”
The Rakna in the memories abruptly closed his mouth. He raised his head and his eyes who had been full of hatred before were now bloodied and hollow. He slowly stood up and his empty stare turned to the destroyed staircase.