Chương 83: CHAPTER 82 – Reaping

"Is this woman some kind of demon or something?" Hoku thought, deflecting one blow after another. The crystals that had begun to emerge from Laure's skin radiated energy, often exploding or searing his flesh. Laure didn't stop despite her wounds. She had lost limbs multiple times, but the smile on her face hadn't died. Blood and sweat slid down her flushed cheeks as she revelled in the fight.

"I knew you could do more!" Laure grabbed the blade. The flesh of her palm sizzled against the burning blade, but her expression didn't change. No matter how much strength he tried to pour into it, Hoku couldn't budge her. Laure kicked him square in the stomach, lifting him off the ground for a second. A second kick, this time aimed at his ribs, made him close his eyes.

"Did I black out?" He regained his sight, dodging sideways. With all the strength he could muster, he raised the blade, channelling every ounce of Frequency into that slash." KEZURE!" Laure's fingers fell to the ground the moment the white glow reached them, while the blade seemed to grow thinner. Hoku stamped the ground, hurling his entire body weight forward with the sword. A gash ripped in a straight line for several metres, and Hoku immediately rotated his torso to follow her step.

Laure's knees crashed to the ground as the iron lopped off a lock of her hair.

"Shit! I'm too slow!" Hoku spun the sword, angling it parallel to his side. Laure mirrored the motion, rotating her body with all her strength. He felt the weight of that blow pressing against his sword, scattering violet sparks. Another exchange of blows, drops of blood at their feet. With every impact, the ground seemed to lose pieces, almost as if they were being shaved away.

"Is this your limit, boy?" Laure smiled, heedless of the cuts on her face. Hoku smiled, driving the blade through her palm up to the elbow. Her forearm was split clean in two. The woman stared at her own flesh dangling from her limb, then kicked him violently away. She smiled, instantly regenerating the flesh and licking her lips.

"You've got potential! Give it everything you've got!" Hoku's skin split open as it was coated in that clear, shining film. His senses sharpened again. Now he could see the gigantic column of Frequency wrapping Laure's body. At that sight, his grip on the hilt tightened, and his smile grew wider.

"What are your values?" Hoku asked, and Laure stopped, watching the gleaming tip of his blade. The boy kept watching her, stroking the corner of his mouth.

"Nothing has value except my own freedom, if you can understand that." She answered, seating herself on a perfectly square rock. Laure crossed her legs and pointed her finger at him, waiting.

"The fight isn't over yet. Why accept a conversation with me so lightly?" Laure laughed, waving her hand in the air as if shooing something away.

"So you don't understand me either? I'm free to talk with my enemy. I don't follow orders that can chain myself. Besides, even if this were a strategic attempt to buy time, it doesn't matter. I don't have a heart so childish or brilliant as to find beauty in something wilted. In my hair I'd only want flowers plucked at their fullest beauty." Hoku lowered his blade, this time pointing it straight at her throat.

"For this freedom of yours, how many people have you trampled?" His pupils glinted as her cheeks flushed terribly. Smiling, she broke into a chuckle.

"Hundreds, maybe? Unfortunately, anyone who tries to cage me ends up dead. It's an instinct that yearns for life, mine. Life isn't life unless I can be free from everything and everyone. I've cradled the dead for this. After all, they're no different from a broken chain." Hoku smiled, nodding and picking up a tapered piece of iron from the ground.

"Where I come from, freedom is torn apart by war. Children don't play anymore, and death spreads everywhere, even into the houses of the rich. After the rain, the first thing you smell is the stench of rotting innards unburied by the mud. There are more bones than butterflies in the fields and the hills. Since I was born there, I've never had the freedom you speak of. My only form of freedom is chained to survival." The iron sharpened on its own, reflecting the reddish light above their heads.

"We're not so different, then. If we have to kill, we must both be free." Laure stood up, lifting her legs and launching herself into the air. She landed before him, stretching her arms with a grin. Hoku sighed, almost sorrowful.

"I don't think so… When you kill, you free yourself. When I kill, I remain a slave to my own blade." Laure saw them: the dozens of bodies piled at his back. Their bones pressing on his shoulders, their heavy chins on his head and neck. Without realising it, she had taken a step back.

"Then let's dedicate ourselves to one last fight." A vial fell behind Hoku's back, traces of violet liquid still inside. Once again Hoku's eyes grew bright, and he began to lunge. Laure ducked sharply, avoiding the slash that had torn open the wall behind her. She tried to grab the second blade, but realised how futile it was.

"With his ability, he transferred all the properties of his sword to that piece of iron?" She threw herself sideways, feeling the air sharpen and shear a small strip of skin from her cheek. Hoku's movements had become much more agile, and his wounds were healing completely. Sparks and splinters fluttered around them as her knuckles desperately tried to break through the barricade of blades. Everything stopped for a moment, and their eyes met, and they began again.

Hoku tore open the ground with an upward slash, carving a gigantic gash in the wall. Laure's ear fell, then regenerated. The sword drove into the ground, acting as a barrier against her kick. Waves of multicoloured energy danced near the point of impact, scorching the earth and hurling Hoku away. Before he could crash against the debris, Hoku vanished. An instant later, the boy hurled small pebbles at her. They expanded rapidly, becoming heavy blocks three times the size of a cart.

"Now I'm really having fun!" Laure rose into the air, smashing through the colossal fragments one by one, sliding through the rubble and closing the distance fast. Her nails were coated in crystalline matter, sharpening and hardening at the same time. Their cries gave birth to a fresh assault. Her claws couldn't reach his throat without shattering, yet his blade wasn't fast enough to stop her from regenerating.

"Got you!" With a violent stomp, Laure shattered the floor, throwing Hoku off balance. In an instant, her palm was moments from crushing his face. The agent smiled, gripping his weapons even tighter. He spun on himself, tearing through the air with the smaller sword. The chunks of rock around him were ripped apart, along with her fingers. The second blade, meanwhile, crashed down from above his head. All his muscles exploded with energy for that slash." Furin!"

A ringing, a bell stirred by the wind, and suddenly a white flash. Laure's chest split open, pouring out a copious river of blood. Behind her, everything had been torn apart by a swarm of gashes. Without giving her a moment, Hoku sank his fist into her abdomen." What the hell was that blow? Does his ability allow this?" Laure struggled to regenerate. Her body could no longer convert pain into Frequency as before. Her core hadn't been damaged by that blow, but she was now at her limit.

Hoku panted, clutching his shoulder, which had taken on a macabre purplish hue.

"One last effort…" Their faces met, both panting and pale. Hoku took the first step, lunging with all the strength he had left. Laure raised her guard again. One step, a single step, and he vanished. The boy, drenched in his own blood, appeared before her. The dagger made from the piece of iron drove straight into her heart. Without loosening his grip, he grabbed the blade's edge and impaled her eye from side to side.

"Farewell…" Hoku tore it out swiftly, letting the pulped eye fall to the ground. Laure let out a few groans, disjointed words before falling silent. He tried to do the same with the blade trapped in her heart, but the flesh seemed to clutch it tight. Hoku quickly realised that her body wasn't disintegrating. A thread of coloured Frequency ran down his arm, melting the iron and charring his skin." Damn it…" Laure's hand grabbed Hoku's shoulder, squeezing hard despite the constant trembling.

The wound on her head began to stitch itself back together, slowly but without stopping. Exhausted, Hoku could do nothing but try to pull away, with little success.

"It really hurts a lot when it doesn't hit the brain!" Laure grinned, lifting the eye socket now filled with a shapeless white mass. Her nails sank into his flesh, making him flinch. Laure lifted him, tearing the fragments of iron from her heart.

"I really didn't think I'd go this far… Altering my own organs always leaves me disgusted." Laure smiled, striking him full in the chest. His bloody vomit stained her face, but she did nothing but smile. With a kick, she hurled him to the other side of the room, making him crash into the debris. He released his grip on his weapon, staining himself with his own reddish mucus.

"An evolved Stärken? What a tragic situation…" Hoku murmured, groping the wall behind him. A faint breath gave him the strength to smile and return to the fight. He tried to stand, using the blade as support.

"You're strong… My body's exhausted now. I could keep going, but I really don't feel like going all out. I don't enjoy myself unless it's 'au naturel.'" The woman smiled with relish, tearing off pieces of her clothing, revealing bare skin almost completely regenerated but traced with faint, luminous scars.

"I thought you said I wasn't your type." Under the tower's light, that woman's face became a mixture of passion, voluptuousness, and at times pure disgust. Laure took the first step, drawing ever closer to him until she knelt. Despite everything, her body overshadowed the ruins and destruction behind her. A beauty sanctioned by the pure freedom of one who aspires to conquest. Hoku recognised it, and for an instant, brief and intense, he forgot his plan.

"I'd be mad to waste a night with you. I'd never want to share a bed with a man who has only the characteristics of a man. In a relationship, you share more than flesh, even if the people have only just met. It's not pity toward you, but a gift I want to give myself." Hoku looked up at the ceiling in that moment, smiling.

"You're not unlike a mantis, with those lovely arms that look like little scythes." Laure watched him, curious, taking another step and tearing off even more of her clothing. Her hair had lengthened, perhaps a result of regeneration, now embracing the nape of her neck.

"I've lost… I'd surrender if I weren't still working." In that moment, Laure took a step back, and Hoku hurled a handful of dark pebbles at her. The first two expanded rapidly, trapping her legs in a mound of cement. Another embedded itself in her arm, instantly weighing it down. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"My ability…" He straightened up fully, gripping the last squared pebble. Laure stared at him, almost disappointed, but within that negativity she managed to glimpse a trace of satisfaction.

"… Can compress living beings too." The cube crumbled halfway through the throw, revealing a gigantic mass of dark muscles wrapped in a thick silver harness. The piston of that man's mechanical arm erupted with energy, striking Laure full in the chest. The veins on his back and chest exploded with vigour the moment he saw the woman slam into the wall.

"Well rested… Noel?" The colossus smiled, raising a thumb. His face twisted into a hideous grimace the moment he saw his friend's wounds. He ran to him at once, helping him up. It was comical to see those calloused, thick fingers fumbling for the compound. Hoku stopped him with a smile, clinging to the harness.

"I already used the dose… I knew I couldn't win. After she hit you, I sensed something strange moving inside her. Despite everything, we made it." Noel laughed heartily, coughing a bit of blood in the process.

"Let's go, man… The situation's dangerous for all of us here. I'm worried about the others." Hoku nodded, pulling away and starting to walk with difficulty toward the exit. Noel followed immediately, reloading his mechanical arm with a reddish capsule. He crushed the metal and tossed it behind him.

"Appearances aside… I prefer intimacy, and I can't stand being interrupted." Both turned pale as Laure emerged from the wall debris, covered in blood." Resistance …" Immediately, a new wave of Frequency enveloped the room, making their nerves tremble. A coloured cloud wrapped her body as new crystalline protrusions pierced her skin. Her pupils shone with that unsettling tricolour as she advanced. She stretched out her hand, gathering that luminous haze.

"I'm sorry, but now I need to raze everything to the ground…" Laure smiled when suddenly a veil of darkness rose from the ground to wrap around her. Laure immediately recognised the substance, huffing with a click of her tongue.

"Change of plans… How annoying." She murmured before vanishing into the floor, blowing a kiss to Hoku, who promptly dodged to the side. Noel stared at him, pale, until the ceiling above their heads shattered completely. Along with the rain of rubble, a man in a tank top with a peculiar device on his back emerged. The man straightened his white hair with his hand, letting out a stream of curses in the process.

"Where the hell did I end up? Why did I think breaking the wall was a good idea, damn it?! I knew I should've downed a beer before coming here!" He scratched his head nervously until he noticed the people behind him. Both pretended not to notice, but the laughter behind their lips was clear. Lautre smiled, slapping them both and embracing them.

"You rotten bastards… I'm glad you're alright!" Both returned the gesture, until Lautre quickly pulled back, feeling something falling from above him. Suddenly, a group of three individuals crashed onto the rubble. Without blinking, he caught one of the three. In his arms was now a girl with greasy hair, covered in filth and clotted blood. Her skin was pale, her temperature cold, but thankfully her breathing and heartbeat remained normal. Startled, she looked up, meeting Lautre's pale face.

"I'm grateful you're well, Jeanne." He smiled, setting her gently on her feet without a pause. A cough roused him, forcing him to focus on the woman in the suit behind her and the limping man with greenish tufts of hair.

"Hello, Maliard. Hello, Monica…" Lautre immediately found her finger pointed at his face, trembling with anger. Her eyes settled on his face like torches.

"CAN I KNOW WHY YOU DODGED?!" Her nail slowly dug into his face as he babbled various disjointed, incoherent excuses. Monica grew tired quickly, punching him hard on the shoulder.

"You're shaken too, aren't you? It's not an easy night for anyone." Lautre nodded, instantly returning to a serious, mature tone. He looked around, fixing his gaze on Maliard in search of information. Between the two, there was no need for words.

"The tower shifts when on alert. When you fall, you get transported elsewhere. Ascan's explosives were an excuse to apply pressure, but the tower can't easily detonate. Honestly, it's almost like a self-repairing organism. The entry floor, however, doesn't change, and that's where their objective is... Or at least one of them. Both Dirac and the plant's core are there." Lautre nodded, tapping the ground and gesturing with his index finger for silence.

"I understand... So that's why the whole building didn't collapse after that blow. Good! I thought I was getting rusty!" Lautre's laughter stopped when Monica slapped him to the ground.

"So that's why the whole tower was trembling! It was you!"

"I hear rock and iron colliding. The inner parts of the tower are probably already repairing themselves. Down here seems to be a path leading lower. Should we split up?" Monica looked at Maliard and Jeanne, then wrapped a blonde lock around her finger.

"How many members have you faced so far, Lautre?" The man stared at Maliard, raising two fingers.

"Roman Dostoj and Maica Bomberg. I killed the second, but the other managed to escape… It wasn't a pretty sight." Maliard nodded, almost as if apologising for the question, but Lautre's severe look made him reconsider.

"We faced the same woman Lance mentioned… Laure, I think. She fled, but she's in no condition to sustain a prolonged fight." Noel spoke, while Hoku supported him with nods.

"Weren't you together initially? Where's Lance now?" Lautre asked, watching their faces drain completely. Even Monica and Maliard lost their severity upon hearing that question.

"Lance and I faced David until… until…" Jeanne pinched the flesh of her abdomen at first, then gripped it tightly to still her heartbeat and breath. Monica stroked her head, holding her close with the same pale expression. Lautre understood. He clenched his hands and tried to push away that reality, but the whispers wouldn't stop.

"Lautre… Klint is…" Maliard silenced her with a wave of his hand, clearing his throat and trying to stop the spasms wracking his body.

"If he were dead, his body would have disintegrated as happens to Meta, but a substantial mutation occurred. Probably to keep him alive, the Frequency must have awakened something traumatic and assumed its form to defend him. Lance Klint is currently a horrific and strange case of Korrupt." Lautre was surprised, yet a partial veil of satisfaction showed on his face.

"In any case, that thing is the worst problem in the entire complex. Lance Klint is the strongest active Meta right now. I'd dare say he's or she has already reached the Herrscher rank, which gives me hope…" A malicious smile appeared on his face as an idea silently formed in his mind.

"That's the same face as someone thinking about how to rob a bank, you know?" Monica murmured, detaching herself from Jeanne only to tap Maliard's forehead, who was lost in his planning.

"Great… We don't know where Maverick and Edvard are, and we're caged in with those three insane demons… WHO ACCEPTED THE INVITATION?!" Hoku shouted, while Noel already pointed at Monica and Maliard. The former, immediately indignant, turned crimson; the latter was too busy thinking.

"Four… Four demons." Maliard smiled, raising one hand with satisfaction and pointing the other downward, right beneath his feet. Monica instantly understood what he meant and shook her head, clinging to him in the hope of dissuading him.

"Ask for help… From our dearest researcher." A glint of mischief flashed on his face as Monica seemed almost to faint. Meanwhile, Laure slid through the tunnels into which she'd been vomited by Angel's darkness. Her body was slow to regenerate, and at times, due to the strong friction, her wounds reopened, leaving a streak of blood on the iron. The darkness was torn open by a reddish light as the tunnel grew steeper and steeper.

"I'm sorry I couldn't finish them both…" Laure thought before landing gracefully on the floor. She bent low to cushion the impact and rose with disappointment plain on her face. Before her, all her companions, except for Malcom and David, were reduced to tatters of themselves. Angel was pale as snow, coughing tar from his mouth and eyes. Ascan was limping and bloodied. Ed was skeletal and desperately trying to stop Roman from charging at the shadow controller.

The room was decidedly spacious, with a large upper balcony laden with frames. She raised her gaze, seeing that the ceiling featured a cylindrical opening with many overlapping blades. A great door stood at the end of the half-moon room, perhaps one of several entrances. The temperature was colder than the upper halls, and at the far end, a simple sliding door opened diagonally. Something warned her not to go near it.

"Where's Maica?" Laure asked, making her presence known. Roman turned, with his face ruined and furrowed with rage and despair. He let out a sigh, never ceasing to grind his teeth, slick with blood.

"She's dead." Angel answered without blinking, suppressing increasingly violent coughing fits. Laure stared at the scene, and for a moment she felt a chill run down her spine. A hideous anguish gripped her heart. For some reason, that scene no longer seemed to belong to her, yet now she was forced to stay. She bit off her thumbnail, then looked intently at Ascan.

"Did David and Malcom recover him?" Ascan nodded, pointing at the same diagonal door.

"I've already sent some of my creations to check the quarters, but there's still no sign of the architect." He replied, leaving a sense of bitterness and unease on Laure's skin. For some dark reason, her heart was pounding and nothing else, never slowing down.

"You released those things?" She asked mechanically, looking around and trying to determine whether the metallic screech she heard was the gears or those disgusting lab aberrations.

"About fifty of them. I released the cages as soon as we escaped from that beast." Laure was good at reading emotions, and at that moment, though nothing had changed in the scientist's face, she had understood that he was terrified.

"What beast? Monica or Maverick?" Ascan shook his head, and Angel followed suit quickly; both wore the anguish of having narrowly escaped death.

"From what David told us, that thing would be Lance Klint, and yet it isn't him. It's a woman with the features of a vampire, cruel and terribly dangerous. If she shows up, we could really die." As he spoke, an explosion ripped through the balcony, releasing a fiery rain of iron and rock. Among the rubble, Ascan noticed the robotic fragments of his own machines, along with pools of violet fluid.

"These aren't even appetizers…" They all saw her, the light reflecting off the cannon anchored by black veins to her arm. Her eyes, now red, now yellow, accompanied that grim smile. From her red, full lips, a trickle of violet blood slid. In her hands, a head from one of Ascan's creatures. She was eating it with relish, tearing off small pieces with her canines. She let herself drop, tossing the head aside and appearing before Angel.

"Ascan... You should shut the fuck up sometimes." Laure sighed, manifesting the crystal thorns on her forearms.

"You're…" Before Ascan could open his mouth, she grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. The artillery barrels aimed directly at his chest, ready to fire a salvo of incendiary fragments.

"It's rude not to have the others introduce themselves properly, elusive insect." All the members threw themselves at her, but she vanished, appearing before the great door. She laughed, with that silvery, unsettling voice: a laughter born of madness.

"Perhaps you'll sate me more." Eve charged again, grabbing Laure by the chest and hurling her against the wall. From the weapon, red and black tendrils emerged, coiling around Roman's neck. With brutality and laughter, she lifted him into the air and slammed him violently to the ground. The battle for the end of Machinamentum was finally nearing its epilogue.