Chapter 218: The Pool of Blood (2/2)
He walked toward it like a drunken man, retrieving his dropped weapons, and when he was right under an intact portion of the bridge, he bent his knees and jumped on the edge of a cistern and used it to propel himself onto the bridge where he landed as if his center of gravity didn't exist.
”His body had ingested the blood. His muscles didn't know where to stop or how to hold back and his heart was pumping blood faster,” the present Rakna continued to narrate in the third person with an ever-increasing coldness and emptiness in his tone.
The memories resumed with him jumping off the cooling tower and using his knife to slow himself down by cutting into the tower. His eyes didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular but his legs marched toward the town without hesitation.
Ceres stood up when she understood what was happening; her dollish features changing in order to properly express the dismay she was feeling.
The town was wide awake due to the small earthquakes and explosions coming from the nuclear plant. Therefore, someone quickly spotted Rakna ambling in the streets.
”Hey, kid, are you alright?” A man asked worriedly and approached him. Ceres somehow had the urge to warn him even though she logically knew that it would do nothing. ”Is that bloo-!” The man couldn't finish his sentence as a blade sliced through his carotids.
Rakna didn't even spare a glance at the dead man's face and by the time someone noticed him, he had already slain two more people. On his rampage, a civilian even shot him but he didn't even bat an eye as the bullet got stuck in the Kevlar of his armor.
”He went on and on. To him, there was only one thing true; to drown in the pool of blood. And the pool demanded more blood. More victims. More voices,” Rakna recounted and his expression and voice worsened with each death presented.
Ceres held her hands together tightly and calmly walked in front of him. She stood there, blocking his view of the images, with her hands clasped in front of her stomach. Her face was unmoving to a certain extent but her eyes glowing like molten gold were fixated on him. She slowly untangled her fingers and kneeled in front of him, not even reacting to the screams from the dream.
”What are you-” Rakna swallowed his own words when her arms wrapped around him.
”You did this to comfort the Fox Heiress… does it work?”
He blinked and his countenance drastically softened. He smiled and hesitatingly placed one hand on her back and stroked her hair along with it. ”Look at you; they grow up so fast,” he kidded. ”But who is comforting who?”
”…I will not comment.”
Rakna huffed in amusement and tapped her head. ”All right, you can stop now.”
”…for some reason, I do not wish to. Is that human as well?” She said and if he had been looking at her face, he would have seen the utter honesty on it.
He sweatdropped. ”I guess it is…”
”Kid, we talked about this,” a gruff voice jolted the both of them.
Ceres managed to escape from the oddly magnetizing skinship and viewed the image of the elderly man she recognized as Eternal Night. He was garbed in a black leather outfit. Unlike Rakna, he had nothing akin to armor apart from his coat.
She watched as the past Rakna mumbled incomprehensible things as Arimane tried to talk sense into him. From behind her, her Host smiled bitterly. ”I don't remember it a lot… but when the old man arrived, I think I didn't attack him outright because my mind and instincts were screaming at me to not even dare. For even this scene to be so clear… I guess the dream dimension truly digs deep in my subconscious.”
Ceres looked at him with a tilt of her head.
”And well… everything has its limits.”
On cue to his words, his past self thrust one of his spears into Arimane's heart. For anyone else, it was too fast and powerful to dodge, block, or even survive. But to the one known as the Demon by all on Earth, it was naught.
Arimane clenched the spear tightly as the tip poked his clothes. He squinted his eyes and twisted the weapon by applying more force. ”So, be it, kid. I don't know what happened to you but I guess this is as far as we'll go,” he declared and kicked the boy away. The strength behind it was enough to be heard on impact.
Rakna flew and slid on the ground, more blood coming out of his mouth as his ribs started making holes into his lung. Arimane calmly walked to him and put a foot on his chest. He drew a revolver with a double barrel and pointed it at the boy's blank face.
”I'll give you one last chance,” the old man stated as Rakna struggled like a cornered beast under his foot. ”Are you really going to give up? Is this how you want to go? A murderer? Don't you have someone waiting for you? What do I say to that lass when I return? What about your duty? What about your revenge? Does your determination only amounts to this?”
It seemed those words had their effect and Rakna stopped moving. His empty eyes gazed at the sky with no light or emotion in them but they nonetheless started glistening as tears fell.
Ceres opened her mouth wide at the sight while Arimane grinned.
”Would you look at that? First time I see you cry, kiddo. Your head might not be entirely there but a man who can shed tears deserves to have his redemption,” he said and whirled his gun back into its holster.
He lifted his foot and this time, Rakna didn't move nor did he do anything other than stare at the stars. ”Good. Better stay put. I don't want you to lose too much blood,” the old man said and picked a syringe from his inner pockets and injected a green liquid inside the young boy, rendering him unconscious.
”Go to sleep for a while. I need to find out what did this to you so I can fix i-”
”▅▅▅▅▅▅!” A chilling human-like roar resounded in the dream and both Ceres and Rakna widened their eyes in shock.
”What…? I don't remember this. I wasn't even awake…” The latter muttered as he stood to look at the dream who went on despite himself being knocked out. ”Higure did say dreams can sometimes extend out of yourself… is this what she meant?”
”Hm?” Arimane, unlike his spectators, merely nailed the act of the annoyed uncle at the roar who interrupted him. He turned around to see a bulging mass of muscles with a charred bleeding face revealing a weirdly shaped skull and teeth. ”Oh? A bio-weapon? Hahaha! Did the kid give you that make-up? I might have to praise him for it when he wakes up,” he said with a light laugh.
Ceres was speechless. ”Is Eternal Night… really so carefree?”
”You have no idea. He never told me about this. I wonder how he dealt with it…” Rakna replied as he grew a bit excited to see his uncle's performance; even he barely got to see him at full strength.
The abomination of flesh growled threateningly and ran at the old man who calmly put a cigar in his mouth. His movements were slow and fast at the same time. He took out a silver zippo lighter and lit the cigar. He snapped the lighter closed and inhaled.
Immediately after, the creature got in range and threw a punch. Arimane smirked and exhaled a blue smoke. The punch landed and the ground under the old man's feet cracked.
”Hah! Quite beefy. But you don't quite know how to throw a punch, do you?”
”He can't be serious…” Rakna sighed while Ceres was gobsmacked.
The bio-engineered weapon made a noise of hesitance for the first time. Its gaze went from the man's grin to his chest glowing with a spider-web pattern, and to the sole hand that was blocking its fist from advancing further.
”I don't feel like playing with you. I have a kid to not let die and a place to explore,” Arimane uttered nonchalantly and shoved the monster's arm away. He drew his revolver again and shot the thing right in the eye. It roared in pain and stepped back. However, when the smoke of the gunshot went away, it showed that the bullets had not fully pierced its skull.
”Damn. Do you have lead for bones or what?” Arimane said without withdrawing his smile. He put his gun back in its holster and hummed. ”No wonder the kid got overwhelmed.”
The creature, even with its limited awareness of the world, felt offended and was about to charge again when the bullets in its skull blipped and exploded. Its head burst into bits and the body soon became acquainted with the ground.
”Alright. Let's bring this back home,” Arimane said unperturbedly and used a remote to call his jet to his location. He lifted the headless monster and threw it into the open trunk of the aircraft. ”And your turn now. Have a nice trip with your friend, kid,” he added and tossed Rakna's unconscious body on top of the dead creature. ”I'll use your jet to come back.”
The present Rakna's eye twitched several times at that and the last thing his dream showed them was the jet closing and Arimane grimly gazing into the distance where the nuclear plant was.