Chapter 26
Rain and Fire [2]
The officer barely turned his head to the right. The rain insistently beat against his face, but he did not look away.
The charred body from which that thing had emerged. Its mouth was still hanging open.
Amid that blackened mess, his gaze fixed on something: one of the monster's two right arms,
hanging at an unnatural angle, but still solid. Each drop of water made the cracks sizzle as if they still held hidden embers.
The officer tensed his jaw. He pressed his feet harder against the back and head of the fiend struggling beneath him, making sure it had no escape.
The creature thrashed, its fingers furiously clawing at the deck, and every shake vibrated through the man's leg muscles as he had to balance his weight to avoid being thrown off.
Then, with a calculated movement, he slid his right hand toward his side. His fingers brushed the wet ground before stretching out toward the blackened arm.
Every centimeter of that gesture was a gamble: if he lost pressure on the monster, it could break free.
His breathing accelerated.
He kept his other hand pressed on his knee, reinforcing the pressure on the body writhing beneath him, and cautiously extended his fingers.
The sound was dry, almost metallic, when his fingers closed around the limb.
Crrack!
The surface of the charred arm gave a little under the pressure, releasing dark fragments that mixed with the rain.
The officer squeezed firmly, making sure it wouldn't slip. The fiend beneath him shook upon feeling the movement, emitting a wet shriek that resonated through his back. The man doubled the pressure of his legs, keeping it pinned against the deck.
With a firm pull, he dragged the scorched limb toward himself. The ship's wood creaked as the dead weight scraped against it, leaving a trail of ashes and splinters. The smell of charred meat mingled with that of the storm.
Once he had it close enough, he decisively lifted the charred arm. The limb swung clumsily, stiff in some parts, brittle in others. But what caught his attention the most shone under the running water: the claws.
Even though the rest of the body was reduced to charcoal and fractures, those black, long, curved nails seemed intact. They shone like freshly polished obsidian, relentless.
The officer looked down at the creature trapped under his feet. The monster squirmed, desperate, unaware of what was being prepared.
A flash of resolve crossed the man's face.
—This'll work… — he thought, as his eyes settled back on the claw, as if he had just found the weapon he needed.
With his left hand, he sought out one of the charred fingers. The surface was rough, fragile, but the claw crowning that bone remained firm, shiny despite the rain. He closed his fingers around it and pulled.
Crack!
The sound was harsh, like dry wood splitting. The claw came off more easily than he expected, ripped out by the root and leaving a dark hollow in the scorched flesh.
The officer immediately released the rest of the arm, which he had been holding with his right hand until then. The dead weight fell against the deck like a sack of wet sand, and upon impact, it shattered into pieces. Black, brittle fragments scattered around, spread by the rain like scattered ashes.
For a moment, the officer stared at the ripped-off claw. Water ran down its black surface, sliding off without dulling it. Unlike the shattered body it came from, this thing seemed incorruptible.
He slowly turned it, testing its balance, and then gripped it with both hands. The curved shape fit perfectly in his grasp, rough but firm, as if it had been forged to be used as a weapon.
A different glint ignited in his eyes.
The claw was huge, larger than he had estimated when ripping it off. With a single well-placed slash, it could sever a neck or pierce a torso. His mind measured it silently, and the conclusion was drawn on his face like a shadow:
—Let's see… — he thought, his eyes darkened by resolve.
He moved with the claw toward the monster's right side, right at the height where a human would have a waist. But that thing was not human: the gelatinous, scorched flesh twisted beneath him, a mess that barely maintained recognizable proportions.
The officer did not hesitate. He adjusted his posture, lowered his center of gravity, and held the claw with his right hand, driving its tip into the soaked deck. He kept it vertical, firm as a stake, with the curved edge oriented toward the fiend's side.
With his left hand, extended, he traced a wide arc. The movement was slow at first, calculated, like an executioner preparing the blow before delivering it. Every centimeter of the trajectory tensed his muscles more, and the monster perceived it: its convulsions became frantic, trying to break free from the pressure pinning it to the ground.
Lightning tore the sky, illuminating the deck for a blink. The roar shook the air, and at that very instant, the officer unleashed his strength.
His left arm accelerated violently, closing the arc he had prepared. The open palm suddenly shone, covered by a translucent green cube that crackled upon contact with the rain.
The movement was direct: the hand slammed against the base of the claw, right at the end that was stuck in the planks.
KRRAAASH!
The impact thundered like a cannon shot. The wooden deck split under the combined force of the green energy and the claw's edge. Splinters flew in all directions as the improvised stake tore free from the floor, ripped from its socket.
The claw rose in a brutal impulse, dragged by the blow from the left hand. And before it, mere centimeters away, was flesh.
The edge went in without resistance. A piercing shriek tore through the air as the monster was split from its side. The claw tore through muscle, tendons, viscera, not stopping even as the creature twisted like a fish out of water.
The officer clenched his teeth and did not stop the movement. He kept pushing, his arm extended like a moving guillotine, while the claw traced a relentless straight line. The resistance was minimal: everything it encountered was opened, cut, dismembered.
And finally, with a last pull, the claw was held high, gripped in his left hand. It dripped dark liquid that mixed with the rain.
Beneath him, the creature was no longer one.
It was two.
Two grotesque halves of the same being.
The officer remained seated on what was left of the monster. Despite the clean cut that had split it in two, beneath him he could still feel spasms.
The two halves pulsed, contracted, breathed with an irregular rhythm that seemed to mock logic.
He frowned.
— Seriously… it's still alive? — he muttered through clenched teeth, incredulous.
The thought turned acidic: "This thing's survivability is ridiculous."
The irony of such a monster still fighting death twisted his face into a bitter grimace.
The officer raised his left arm. He still held the black claw, heavy, firm in his hand. He lifted it until it was positioned right above the convulsing head of the being, pointing like a spear about to finish off its prey.
A new lightning bolt tore the sky, and for that instant, the claw shone under the white light, casting a fleeting glint on the soaked deck.
With a contained cry, he put all his weight and strength into a single movement. The claw descended with fury, its edge whistling through the air like a guillotine.
His concentration was absolute. The trajectory was perfect. There was no way to miss… but… despite that fact… something interrupted him.
A memory… no… several memories.
[An unconscious and terribly wounded Körper being carried on Hanz's back, entering through the door]
[When Laios took the full blow from the six-limbed fish monster]
[When Hanz was disfigured into that nightmarish mass… and how he ended up embedded in the wall]
The claw trembled in his hands. The black edge, which a second before was heading straight for the creature's skull, stopped centimeters short of reaching it.
The officer remained motionless, breathing heavily, his shoulders shaking with the effort of holding back the assault he himself had initiated.
Then, he looked up.
The glow of the burning hall was still there, devouring everything with an insatiable roar. The heat reached his face, dry even under the rain. He stared at it, the edge still held high, while a solemn expression, laden with sadness, formed in his reddened eyes.
The officer looked down at the creature under his boots. Still alive. Still resisting, albeit with only weak convulsions running through its severed remains.
He furrowed his brow.
— It would be a waste of material… — he thought, raising his head for a moment, as if that reflection distanced him from the rain and the fire burning behind him.
His jaw tensed. As a former adventurer, this would be a mistake. It would be squandering an opportunity.
But as he looked back at the thing beneath him, another, more visceral idea, pierced through him: I wouldn't be satisfied just killing it.
With a brusque movement, he removed his feet from the monster's split back and stood up. The being tried to thrash, but could barely manage, reduced to brittle convulsions.
Standing on the deck, the officer watched it fixedly. Then he flexed both arms, bending his elbows at ninety-degree angles, his posture firm like a ritual learned to perfection.
Then the light returned.
The green crackled in the air and ran along his arms. Rectangles of translucent energy began to appear, overlapping each other like pieces of carved crystal. First they were isolated slabs, then more complex structures, until the accumulation took shape.
In seconds, the officer's arms were wrapped up to the elbows in translucent green gauntlets, solid, compact, radiating a threatening glow under the storm.
The officer adjusted his grip on the black claw. He held it firmly, the edge gleaming under the rain.
Without hesitation, he took a step toward one half of the creature. It stirred weakly, barely aware of what was happening, but unable to defend itself.
In a rapid sequence, precise as an executioner, he brought the edge down.
Slish! Slish!
The first slash severed one arm, which fell to the ground with a dull thud. The second was equally relentless: the other arm flew off, spinning on itself before crashing against the wet deck.
The two limbs lay to one side, useless, like burnt branches torn from a trunk.
The officer remained upright, breathing heavily, the claw still held high. The glow of the green gauntlets illuminated his clenched fists, and in his gaze there was no hesitation: only cold determination. As he stored the claw inside his shirt.
Now…
With the left gauntlet glowing, he bent down and grabbed the half-monster by what remained of its torso. The creature shuddered weakly, its flaccid arms hanging like wet rags, unable to resist. The officer lifted it with a single hand, as if it were a broken doll, and began walking toward the hall door.
Each step echoed on the soaked deck. The rain beat against the green gauntlets, which crackled as if absorbing energy from the surroundings.
He stopped a few meters from the threshold. There, the memory pierced him: the eight-limbed monster, lurking like a latent threat.
— Good thing it hasn't come out yet… — he muttered through his teeth, and took a deep breath before letting it out in a long exhalation that merged with the roar of the storm.
He changed his stance. His left foot stepped forward, planting itself firmly in the wet wood. The arm holding the creature pulled back along with half his body, tensing all the muscles in his back and shoulders.
A contained grunt escaped his throat as he suddenly pivoted, reversing his position. And with a dry roar, he threw the half-monster forward with all the strength of his left arm.
The destroyed body described a clumsy arc in the air and plunged back into the interior of the hall, where the sea of flames and smoke devoured everything it touched.
The impact rumbled. The flames closed over the creature like a hungry mouth, and an agonized groan erupted from within before being extinguished in the fire's vortex.
The officer did not look away until that half had completely disappeared, consumed by the incandescent flames of the hall.