No More

Chapter 69: Damnation Part 4

Lisa just shook her head. "I'll just slow you down," She shouted as she bisected another zombie, not wanting to explain how her being a Templar would make things worse. "GO!"

"But we can't just abandon you," Shouted Petra, ready to get off again but was stopped by Lisa's stare.

"You're not abandoning me." Lisa stated while fighting. "We're simply regrouping-!" She then threw her black longsword at the group, flying pass them and killing a zombie that was about to munch on Bailey's flesh.

"Just go already!" Lisa shouted, looking at the monsters that blocked her friends' path to the north. "Head into town, and circle around the monsters and then head north!"

Lisa used her Templar energy to gather into her hands, launching white fire at the zombies. On contact, like a parasite, it siphoned the Mana off of the monsters, and formed chains around their necks before expanding so thick it separated the heads from their bodies.

"Olivia," Lisa reminded as the group, reluctantly, went into the town. "Remember, use the gem I gave you to get into the fortress! I'll meet you there!"

And so they rode on top of Olivia's golem as Lisa's fighting form became smaller in the distance. They continued through the empty streets of the destroyed town.

"Wait, something is not right." Axel shouted, above the groaning and roaring of the undead monsters that are roaming the empty streets.

"Yeah, there are undead monsters everywhere!" shouted Petra. "Where are they coming from?!"

Olivia looked around, noticing that all of the monsters are heading in the same direction, just not directly at the group. "They all seem to be heading deeper into town," She concluded. "But why?"

"No, that's not it." Denied Axel. "It's not the monsters, but something else."

'But what could it be?' Thought Axel.

While Axel pondered this question, Petra explained what happened to the town to Olivia and Bailey, as she woke up thanks to Lisa applying a Potion of Healing earlier.

"So... is he dead?" asked Bailey, her head still on Petra's lap, her skin a sickly pale, and yet horrified of Petra's explanation of the cloaked man, and how he caused so much disturbing destruction.

"He blew himself up, and the rest of the intact part of town with him." Confirmed Petra as they rode through the empty streets. "Before that, a soldier named Collin gave us a gem that can get us inside the fortress to the north of this empty town."

"Do you know the name of the place?" asked Olivia, focusing on operating her golem to turn north on an empty street as they found an opening in the surrounding horde of undead.

"Collin died before he could tell us," Said Petra, as she let out a sad sigh. "He said to take any survivors we find to that outpost. But we didn't find any."

"Well, I guess that would be Axel's fault." Casually said Olivia as she let out a disappointed sigh before Petra could mention Jesse actually found survivors. "I shouldn't have given him a task that was too complicated for his low intelligence."

"Okay, that's it," Seethed a frustrated Petra, making Bailey flinch from her hostile tone. She didn't care if she's going to yell at the only person who could operate their transportation. "Olivia, you need to stop-!"

"Wait, that's it!" Interrupted Axel. Tolerating his soon-to-be wife's insult of his intelligence. "That's why this doesn't fell right: the streets, the town itself, are empty!"

"So what?" Sassed Olivia. "There's more room for us to run away from the monsters. Don't think about it too hard, or you could end up hurting yourself."

"But what happened to all of the dead people who became frozen, black statues?" Asked Axel, much to their shock. "They're gone!"

Then there was silence. No one talked as everyone realized Axel is right! They looked around as they traveled through them empty, destroyed town. The very streets that Petra, Axel, Lisa, and Jesse passed through had hundreds of frozen-in-black corpses, a mix of soldiers and civilians, are now gone.

What happened to them?

----------

The grey-cloaked man watched at the mechanical spider-like contraption continued to copy and download Jesse's memories. He let out a sigh, black dust polluting the air as he did.

Soon, he'll have his revenge. But is avenging more accurate? He is doing this for another person who got screwed over by the Kingdom of the Forest. To be more specific: the soldiers under the command of the Clockwork Fortress, north from this town as the soldiers from there spread out to the surrounding villages.

He didn't bother finding out the name of the village he just destroyed, just like the other twenty-one villages he slaughtered in the past few days.

Sleep didn't matter. Hunger didn't matter. Life didn't matter. Names didn't matter, neither his nor his victims. Nothing did. Not even him. His own existence, as Jess described it, was nothing more than a mistake. A fluke even.

A motherless abomination is an accurate description for him, unable to die as the constant agony makes it so much worse. The days of constant pain... it reminds him of what Jess asked him.

... How many seconds are in eternity...?She asked him. Because you will be able to count a part of it as you live every second of eternity walking in agony, you freak...

'My life is nothing more than a joke.' Thought the man, but Jess promised him one thing, something that will make it all go away. 'I just want to die... is that too much to ask?'

So the one thing that actually does matter was fulfilling the requirements Jess assigned to him as he continued with his rampage. He was fulfilling them right now: granting PAMA access to Jesse's memories.

And soon, after destroying two more villages, and then the Clockwork Fortress along with the female leader who runs it, he will hunt down the one woman who did this to him. The very female responsible for his body in this agonizing state.

The man snapped out of his thoughts when Jesse rose from the ground. He gripped his scythe, preparing for a fight, only to let the weapon be gripped loosely in his right hand as he saw Jesse's eye turn red.

"Hey, PAMA." The abomination greeted, black dust pouring out as he did, making sure none of it went near Jesse. "Does Jess know you are controlling her brother?"

"My master gave me permission just this once," PAMA informed, using Jesse's body to communicate as Jesse's normal voice sounded slightly higher in a static tone. "Only to help you in your quest of vengeance and avenging, freak."

He didn't care that PAMA called him a freak, it's right. That's all he is, nothing more. "So how can you help me?"

"One of the meatbags who you are trying to kill is nearby." Reported PAMA, controlling Jesse's body to tap Jesse's head. "This meatbag's memories confirmed it."

"Is it the leader of the Clockwork Fortress? Is she nearby." He asked hopefully. He wouldn't kill that woman in charge... yet. He may not know her name, but he needs to download her memories into PAMA, and ultimately delivering them to Jess.

"Even better." Revealed PAMA. "The meatbag called Bailey: the woman who is responsible for your current agonizing existence."

A/N: Oh no, Bailey, what did you do?! If only there was someone to give an answer! Oh, wait, that would be me! Hahahahahaha~!

Who is the cloaked man? And what will he do now that one of the people he's after is so close?!

Also, what happened to all of the people who died, frozen as black statues as they silently scream in agony? Care to take a guess?

But seriously, keep up the discussion in the comments! I love hearing people's theories and ideas and it makes me feel... good. More than good. Proud even.