Yes Randidly said When he had broken up with her he had been brutally succinct before departing leaving her crying on the floor of her apartment For that callous treatment he owed her a bit of honesty
Snorting Tessa swore bitterly That fucking cunt I always knew she was a little slut Did Ace know That his best friend was fucking his fiancee
Randidly’s eyes narrowed It wasn’t like that we weren’t
What’s the point in lying now They both are already dead anyway Is a life with me really so bad I’m here right now
Barely containing his rage Randidly said I’m trying to say that we never
Do you think I’m an idiot Do you think ACE is an idiot Both of you kept disappearing together for those few weeks Did you think once we noticed we didn’t talk And how when we compared our notes the schedules fit so nicely together
Just fucking listen for a minute Randidly growled but Tessa was too far gone working up a head of steam for herself
Both of you would give a convenient excuse then slip away At least you were smart you stuck to during the day during the week No late nights studying’ no moving while the people you two were cheating on were out of town No you uhk
Let me stop you right there Randidly’s voice was cool but his eyes blazed with rage as he activated Agony
Ezzie only had a moment where his new danger instincts warned him powerfully to run away before a wave of vicious head wrenching pain knocked the wind out of him Whimpering the other bouncers in the hall collapsed leaning against the wall and sliding slowly downward Even Ezzie who had been undergoing special training to raise his skills and improve his stats staggered barely able to withstand the wave of pain that struck him
But what really brought a chill to his heart was that when he checked his health was decreasing moving rapidly towards 0
Although his instincts were screaming for him to run far away and hide Ezzie pushed through them rushing up to the door that the Ghosthound had entered Grunting Ezzie raised his leg and made use of his Kicking Mastery smashing the cheap wood of the door ripping through the deadbolt
Once inside the pain redoubled and Ezzie bit his lip struggling to stay conscious His vision swam as he stuttered slowly forward heading to the back room with the slightly ajar door where the powerful aura was emanating Ezzie wasn’t even able to see to make out the figure wrapped in air distortions but in his heart he knew there was only person who could cause this
Eyelids fluttering he leaned against the door barely aware enough to speak but he worked at his heavy and fat tongue struggling to say something anything
Sir But that was all that Ezzie was able to complete because The Ghosthound turned and looked at him really looked at him for the first time in their interactions The Ghosthound’s face was twisted into a scowl his eyes narrowed But the emerald pupils burned like a chemical fire bright and dangerous
In those eyes Ezzie was forced to confront a truth about himself he would never be a match for the man standing in front of him Perhaps a month ago this man had been human but no longer Now he was
You ll kill ll Ezzie blubbered his words more slobber than syllable and all at once the pain stopped gone as soon as it had came Gasping Ezzie fell to his knees
The Ghosthound pressed his eyes closed seeming to struggle inwardly Then he opened them and his eyes had faded to their usual innocuous forest green
I apologize I lost my temper Ezzie watched as the Ghosthound walked over to Tessa and put a hand against her neck A flash of relief crossed the Ghosthound’s face but then he turned back to Ezzie once more a stoic mask I suppose compensation is in order Take me to the roof
Chapter 86
Randidly felt the hot hungry buzz of anger still in his chest but flowing below that cooling him swiftly was a sharp sense of fear and a prickling of guilt The anger itself was exceedingly strange It was the hottest thing he had ever felt but it simultaneously was so numbing It was an animating energy that enraged him and made him heedless If Ezzie hadn’t staggered into the room distracting Randidly would he have continued until he killed Tessa
Shaking his head he forced his mind away from that topic but was confronted with an equally vicious one that hatred fueled focused episode of Agony had increased the skill Lvl by 3 and it only took a dozen or so seconds
Randidly had always known that mental state influences the speed at which levels were gained but still this seemed ridiculous Was it that it was used on humans then Or was it just that he truly desperately wanted to hurt Tessa in that moment for what she had implied about Sydney
Either answer was disturbing And it was one that he would need to answer clearly in order to continue to grow stronger He wanted to make use of the most efficient methods If fighting against humans was the most effective
If deeply truly wanting to hurt your enemies was the most effective method
If losing his morality was the most effective method
Following a still whitefaced Ezzie the two of them reached the roof The apartment building wasn’t the tallest building in the area but it was one of the highest and the higher buildings were generally clustered downtown which was a mile or so away to the South Therefore his current vantage point gave Randidly a very clear view of the surrounding area
From his observations Randidly could only come to one conclusion Franksburg as it was now was doomed It was simply too large to defend effectively It had been fine when they were only dealing with wandering monsters but the monster horde would change things and not for the better Last night’s casualties even with the help of the squad from Donnyton proved that
So Randidly took that violent lava anger filled with strange pricklings of ice still alive in his gut and used it He reached within himself felt the source of his mana the same source that he had so much trouble controlling with the grace of Lyra and prodded it gently
As he expected it stoically had no response
Grinning to himself Randidly lamented this fact If he could only figure out how to replicate Lyra’s skills
But that was not his path he knew His path lay elsewhere And he could only keep his eyes on the ground and move forward lest he lose his grip on the weapons that he did have
So this time he grabbed his mana source and pulled dragging every drop of mana he could out And then with eyes burning emerald he raised his hands
Lucifer watched the caravan for Donnyton leave his face serious
Derek Quinn rubbed the stump of his left arm and asked Did you also want to go
After a long time Lucifer nodded slowly It was a tempting offer Luckily most of the Freedom Fighters have family here or else
At least they recruited mostly from the the University and other odd jobs Derek Quinn commented but Lucifer’s reaction of chuckling confused him
What’s so
But before he could finish the question the earth beneath their feet rumbled dangerously the whole area quaking Before either of them could even respond the area to their immediate left and right erupted thorny vines surging upwards twisting and twining snaking amongst each other
Shuddering the earth in some places cracked and fell away revealing more thorny vines some as thick as an adult male’s torso with viciously sharp thorns that stuck outward like curved bayonets
As they watched aghast these thorn walls which were about 8 feet high began to spread to the left and right along the perimeter of their defenses As it continued on the height dropped only reaching around 5 and a half feet at its lowest but the wall of thorns ran immediately adjacent to their previous defenses bolstering them immensely
And at those locations where the Franksburg government had seen fit to put small gates the walls split allowing continued passage
Their view of the departing caravan through the main gate remained unchanged Barely a ripple of reaction could be seen from them as if they had been expecting this all along