Kapitel 167: Necromastery!

The next morning, Yuruko was stitching his father's wounds in the living room. Mia had impaled him on the roof yesterday and allowed the others to torture him, so long as 1) he did not die and 2) it was very loud.

Serena suddenly put her hand to her mouth and the four paused. They heard footsteps in another spot in the house, and Samuel grabbed Edgar's father as the four huddled up. Mia planted one scarab on the wall, and in the next instant -

- an icy prison surrounded them just as the walls burst in to purple flames, and acidic explosions burst out in the next instant, shockwaves blasting through the entire house with the walls melting and the four laughing inside as they heard someone screaming outside, entire house reduced to rubble and collapsing all around them -

" - Worldwide." laughed Mia as the explosions cleared, and their frozen walls went down -

- to find themselves standing on top of the ruins of the home, torn lawn up ahead with the road beyond -

- and Edgar staggering back only a hundred feet away, his decapitated left arm shielding his eyes as the explosions still erupted; his father started thrashing in Samuel's armored arms -

" - guess he really didn't know." muttered Samuel -

" - time for Techies, dipshit!" shouted Yuruko, relevantly, and in the next instant -

- an explosion underneath Edgar blasted his right arm in to the sky, blood raining out of the grisly limb as it flew above, shrieking as he stumbled back.

"Don't do Blast Off." winced Serena, relevantly.

"Uh, I'm not gonna risk suicide vests -"

" - stay focused." winced Mia, blood raining up above from a lacerated sky, then growing spikes as they fell -

" - Outcast!" shouted Samuel; ghastly hands redirected the blood away -

- but in to a thousand droplets they burst then splattered all over the four, growing spikes as they hit Mia's left arm and dug inside; beside, Yuruko's revolver dumped six shots towards Edgar 100ft away -

" - Necromaster!"

- and a ball of blood burst up ahead of him to block it; in to the liquid went the bullets, bursting in to a thousand drops and flying towards Mia -

- but a swift wall of purple flames disintegrated it & the bullets still inside, Mia muttering to Yuruko as the four stepped back - " - don't use your xenocyclin shots until -"

" - sorry, yeah." she winced, free hand scrunching as she reloaded, Edgar shouting ahead -

" - I DID MY FUCKING RESEARCH, YOU KNOW! WORLDWIDE - BLACKBURN - FOR MEDICINAL USE ONLY, OUTCAST! I'VE BEEN WAITING THREE FUCKING YEARS FOR -"

- Mia's left arm shot for Serena's neck -

- but a swift set of internal scarabs disintegrated Edgar's blood in her possessed left arm, and streams of fog refilled her limb anew, Mia relaying quick his blood could possess limbs. Father's head on Samuel's chest, he started thrashing against his armor -

" - Samuel, make it bloody." said Mia.

Samuel held him up by his legs, hung him upsidedown, and as a man might snap a wishbone tore him in two. They saw Edgar's face full of rage ahead as he picked up his decapitated right arm, screwing it back on his stump as Yuruko dumped another ten shots towards him -

- but the next scene was instant. His skin & bones ripped open and peeled away -

- dodging the first ten as he started stomping forward.

Mia reminded the others what his student information had said: [NECROMASTER: Extreme bodily control.]

"Should get closer." said Samuel, but Mia's head shook.

"Not yet - he knows our Revenants better than we know his."

"Cheater." muttered Yuruko as Edgar dodged another twenty shots ahead; she reloaded and dumped one shot behind his mangled body -

- and the explosion staggered him forward; another explosion staggered him back -

"Blackburn!" "Outcast!"

- and the next scene was instant. A stream of fog flew in to the road and corroded a hole, ghastly hands guiding it for its underground trek, and in the next instant -

- a jet of acid shot through Edgar's body from below -

- but he swept with the speed of light back, stomping in to the hole that'd been left behind; a skeletal limb burst up ahead of Serena and bashed her right leg -

- snapping it backwards & out of her skin; she hit the ground screeching, fog focused on healing her wound as Samuel stomped the bone back down in to the ground, grunting with his weight keeping it down -

" - it's - pretty fucking strong -"

- Mia saw Edgar's skeleton drop out of his skin ahead, realizing it first, she shouted - " - BACK!" as she dragged Serena up & the three rushed back, and in the next instant -

- a cage of bones burst up around Samuel, and a geyser of blood claimed his armor from below, spikes growing & starting to fight through the unnatural metal -

- but the next scene was instant. A pillar of purple flame claimed his body -

- but Mia sighed as the heat only dissolved the blood but barely melted the bones, and in the next instant -

- a pillar of ice burst up below her feet, then a cage of bones burst up where she'd just been, narrowly dodging it with her new height. A puff of purple disintegrated the ground beneath Samuel; in to the sudden burrow he fell, Yuruko warning him to watch out for mines as he started his own burrowing underground, and Mia leaped back to the ground and stepped back with Serena & Yuruko -

- then realized they'd lost sight of Edgar ahead; the ground rumbled at their left, and in the next instant -

- bits of skin & blood oozed out of the ground at their right, and three geysers of peach-colored liquid shot towards them -

- but Mia & Serena swept back to dodge it, peach-liquid solidifying as soon as it hit Yuruko and trapping her to the ground. Setting her hand to it, she started thrashing -

- and to her left, Edgar's full flesh & blood burst out of the ground, fully reforming with a monstrous hand that shot right for her eyes -

- but a blue beam ripped his arm clear off as Samuel burst out of the ground behind him. Edgar turned and swept underneath one Outcast-punch, body peeling open again -

- and the next scene was instant.

Skin & bones & organs melted in to liquid as he hit the ground, and the wave of gore started swimming away; behind, Yuruko snapped the geyser like a twig -

" - glucosepane." she winced- " - there's crosslink breakers, at least-"

"-mines?" said Mia quick, seeing Edgar slither in to another house's lawn ahead -

" - MEDICINAL QUEEN HAS ALREADY TOUCHED THAT LAWN!" shouted Serena, relevantly; Yuruko hit her detonator -

- and one scarab-mine froze half of his liquid body solid in an instant, other half breaking away from the pack and slithering in to the house, body reforming to a top half with Edgar crawling like a zombie through the front door.

Mia's scarabs already replenished, the four rushed in pursuit. As they passed by the frozen lower half, Mia threw another swarm of ice in to it to keep it at absolute zero, and as they went past the house's side -

" - wait, shit -" panted Yuruko, pointing left; Mia realized it first, and the two ran together along the house's left wall, coming in to the backyard -

- with an outdoor pool only 50ft away, Edgar's top half just about to hit the water; but the next scene was instant. A cloud of ice scarabs flew ahead and Yuruko dumped buckshot in to it, projectiles freezing in to flying icicles and hit the pool -

- and froze the pool solid just as Edgar's face smashed right in to it; he kept crawling desperately as Mia rushed up 30ft away, sweeping her palms forward -

" - Solar Beam!"

- but the next scene was instant. His body melted to liquid and dripped in to the ice -

- and Mia laughed as her quintillion-volt ray entered the pool; she heard him shrieking as it entered his mangled body, and she leaped in to the pool as she disintegrated the ice without a single ash left -

- and turned back to see his gore plastered all over the walls, still shaking & twitching, separating to try to disperse the electricity; above, the other three rushed up to the pool as all the gore solidified and shot towards Mia -

- but streams of fog filled them with gasoline; in to purple flames she burst -

- and the entrails retreated like a kid's hand over a hot stove, shooting to the northern wall, top half of Edgar reforming as he climbed out of the pool, still-beating heart attached out of the grisly aperture.

'...It scars the heart, too?' thought Mia. 'I never knew.'

- and a sniper's Xenocyclin round shot right through it in a burst of blood & arteries -

" - N-Necroman-cer -" he panted as he hit the ground bleeding, and the next scene was instant; two women appeared ahead of him -

- and a set of red tendrils threw him with the strength of a million right and through the house; the second one sung her lungs dry -

- and Mia climbed out of the pool just in time to disintegrate them both without a single ash left, glancing right as her & her three saw the hole Edgar's flight had left through the house, fully healed body hitting the pavement 200ft away, blood scraping and coating the road as he rolled & rolled. The four spoke as they ran.

"Don't - don't touch that, the blood." said Mia, and a path of ice formed ahead, four rushing on to it. "Yuruko, er, just - just be careful with Xenocyclin."

Yuruko nodded, and they saw Edgar back in to another home's yard 100ft away -

" - next time, wear safety goggles!" she shouted, relevantly, and in the next instant -

- a cloud of fluoroantiamonic gas claimed his body -

- but Yuruko sighed as she knew it didn't kill, his skin adjusting & morphing within the poison cloud even as it burnt holes through him -

" - Solar Beam!" shouted Mia, sweeping her palms forward -

- and his body reformed wildly just in time to dodge the blue beam as he slipped out of the poison cloud, shouting once she'd snuffed it - " - you have - FOUR HUNDRED FUCKING REVENANTS - I'VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR FOUR YEARS LONGER THAN YOU!"

- just in time for another cloud of poison to claim his body, blood leaked out of his ears as he staggered, liquid trying to absorb the acid, then shooting towards the four -

- but ghastly hands threw it right back to him, and one bullet entered the cloud -

- for an explosion blasted him clear through one house and another, Serena shouting " - goodbye, shithead!" as they rushed in pursuit again, ice path underneath their step as before.

"Nearly out of mines." muttered Yuruko. "Gonna have to rebuild all this shit."

"After we all say goodbye to this shithead." nodded Samuel, and the three tried not to laugh as they rushed through the second house, clear hole that'd been left by Edgar's flight ahead and Edgar staggering one arm down & 50ft away, and as the four rushed outside -

- the next scene was instant. A decapitated arm grabbed Yuruko by her labcoat from behind, hair extending around her neck and slitting her throat -

- but streams of fog filled her wound with steel, blood unable to permeate through as Samuel ripped its grip off of her; ahead, Mia saw Edgar rushing towards them, and in the next instant -

- his decapitated arm burst in to a cloud of blood, blinding the four -

- and Mia felt his monstrous hand burst through her stomach and out her back; her eyes burned purple and cleared her vision as the infection writhed towards her heart -

- just in time to see an Outcast-punch smash his skull in half 10ft away; she gagged as she disintegrated the foreign liquid, Edgar's skull reforming and another decapitated arm shooting for her behind -

- and a full dose of Xenocyclin buckshot blasted his chest just as its monstrous fingers dug in to Mia's neck, trying to snap her spine -

- but streams of fog filled the hand with liquid nitrogen, and a swift ice scarab froze it solid; it was still thrashing even as its temperature dropped, Mia's vision darkening as more blood claimed her eyes -

- and feeling his forward punch go through the previous wound -

- right in to a cloud of ice scarabs that froze his hand solid and slowed it instantly, temperature rapidly dropping as more fog filled him with nitrogen, another Xenocyclin buckshot that blasted his right leg clear off -

- and a final electrical swarm dug in to the grisly wound and knocked him unconscious.

++++++

Edgar awoke bound in an underground room. Purple liquid was dripping down his chest and the four were standing over him. A construct appeared behind Mia, and it folded to dust as she laughed.

"You might as well not have a Revenant."

"Yep." said Yuruko. "I covered your heart in Xenocyclin. Didn't even have to get your Revenant removed."

Mia stomped on Edgar's knee. "Why the fuck did you try to assassinate me? Answer me."

Edgar was shaking. "I-I-I found out what you did to Laura. I-I f-found out what you did, a-and-"

"Who the hell is Laura?"

"J-Jakuze told me what you d-did, h-how you covered it u-up, ALL OF IT! You m-made him take the blame after y-you killed L-Laura, and-"

"-I've killed over four hundred hosts. Excuse me if I want something more fucking specific."

"AUCTIONEER!" he shouted and Mia frowned. "S-See? N-Now you get it, you fucking c-cunt-"

"-Worldwide."

A scarab froze his mouth shut, three glancing at their leader.

"Who's Auctioneer?" said Samuel.

Mia pinched her temples and closed her eyes. "…Auctioneer, Auctioneer... obviously, a hero name... there was that professional hero who I murdered... some federal agent... could it be her?"

"Wait, what?" said Serena. "You never-"

"Of course I didn't, Serena, I barely even... she was trying to blackmail Aimee. And I murdered her. To be honest, I barely recall anything else about her. I'm not even sure her name was Auctioneer. But, there was another student who took the blame for it. Jakuze."

Her eyes fell on Edgar.

"As far as I recall, I murdered Auctioneer in my first year, which means you've been trying to avenge her death for … what, two or three years? A stranger kills your friend, and you flee Urasaria, obviously knowing you would never be a non-rogue host again. You search for Jakuze for years, and not once does it enter your skull how willingly you fucked your own life up in pursuit of me. No doubt, you envisioned a moment just like the one we had -- that you would mention Laura to me and I would suddenly remember her in detail, because you assume that I am a host much like yourself: a melodramatic idiot who fights out of a need to prove herself or avenge others.

I find you interesting, Edgar, because while you are obviously despicable, and not nearly a good a host as myself or anyone in my squadron, you seem rather sentimental as well. I tortured your father, yet you never approached mine. My mother was able to hide her identity once I became president, but my father is still at his same prison; I asked multiple students to guard him, yet I wondered why they hadn't fought any Revenants until I listened to you speak. Now I know why.

And I do not remember Laura, nor do I care to recall anymore of her in the blathering your lips would obviously summon were I to unfreeze them. I've murdered hundreds of hosts over the years. It's nothing to me. It's precisely that brute thoroughness as a host that has summed me up into the woman who I am today; and your sick sense of sentimentality that has you."

She looked to her three.

"Time to go."

Serena stepped out with Yuruko. Mia nodded to Samuel, and he followed them out.

"You're a thousand feet underground, Edgar, and you have one week before you die of dehydration. You know where to find me."

She went past the doorway and turned when she heard his restraints snap. He tried to get up so fast he fell flat on his face, but that didn't stop him. He came up running, and was just a few seconds away from her when a cloud of fog blocked him in with a steel wall, and she laughed when his nose crunched against the barrier and a muffled scream of agony came from the other side.

[END OF ARC: RAISE THE DEAD]