"I don't understand. Why waste your lives like that? All you had to do was say you weren't hungry or some shit, but now you've gone and pissed the bed."
There was a primordial hunger buried within every creature of my kind.
The village chief called it Voracity - and what an apt name it was.
Normally, it remained dormant. That was, until a living being displayed real fear - and then Voracity would whisper to me, taking the form of my inner voice.
Just like now.
Take what's rightfully yours. Look, how pure and delectable their essence is. You're hungry, are you not? Starving, even. So why hold back? Devour them already!
I tugged on my hair in an attempt to cool my head; a futile effort.
My voice of reason was taken over by Voracity's absolute, indisputable command.
My thoughts took a sharp turn against my will.
Wait, I've got it all wrong… Why should I resist? Everything would be solved if I just devoured them. If nobody lives to tell the tale, my peaceful hermit life would continue as always.
The answer's been so simple all along.
Content with my thoughts, I grinned at the adventures and allowed the cloak draped over my shoulders to slip off.
This thing will only get in the way of my movements.
A dozen wounds, all haphazardly patched up, littered my body, revealing skinless patches of flesh which had yet to recover.
"Let's end this charade. Come on at me, friends."
They still seemed unable to respond, as if frozen solid.
Right. My presence must be going wild now. No wonder they can't move.
"Fine, then. I'll do it myself."
*Fwoosh*
With those words, I lunged at the short sorceress in a gust of wind.
Finally, the panic induced through the imminent danger of my approach gave her enough of a push to spring into action.
She rapidly fell back, etching energy imbued lines into the floor with spiked stubs hidden within her soles as she moved.
I didn't have the presence of mind to register her actions.
Just as I was about to close in on the girl, Bill appeared in my way, blocking my approach.
I swung a fist at his stomach. He parried it with his enormous gauntlets, to which I growled aggressively.
"Get out of the way!"
"No can do."
Seeing as he wouldn't bulge, I struck at his gauntlets again, this time channeling essence into them.
But they held up against my attack without so much as a creak.
Enchanted gear? These guys' equipment is no joke.
Bill didn't waste the moment - realizing my stance faltered, he went in for a strike directly to my stomach.
I tried to leap backwards, only to realize my feet were immobilized - glued to the floor with tree roots which sprouted out from below.
Shit. Was that Kanna's doing?
Before I had the time to come up with a countermeasure, Bill's armor clad fist connected squarely with my gut, bending my back at an unnatural angle.
Blood sprayed out of my mouth. As I tried to regain my balance, another hit landed, this time on the head.
The world turned black for a split second, and by the time I could see again, I was on the floor.
I looked down, the visual static from the discombobulating hit obstructing my vision.
And yet, I could tell - my feet were torn clean off at the ankles, still rooted to the ground, leaving two long trails of blood behind.
And I was on the other side of the room, pressed against a wall.
I pushed my failing body up and looked around in a desperate attempt to somehow shift the dire situation in my favor.
And the solution, as it turned out, was right beneath me.
Hah! The world really doesn't want me going out just yet, does it?
It appeared that Bill's punch was strong enough to send me flying, and through sheer luck, I landed on top of my backup stash of metal threads, covered by a dusty cloth.
Realizing this was my last chance at surviving the ordeal, I expended more than eighty percent of my remaining essence to manipulate the threads:
They snaked up both of my arms, first merging with the stump to create a new bladed arm, and then combining with the fingers on my still functioning arm into a set of long claws.
I'd normally be crying out in pain by now, but the adrenaline from the brawl, combined with the severe concussion, dulled my senses too much to feel… Much of anything, really.
The metal threads also wrapped around my vitals, covering the most important of my organs in makeshift, skintight armor plates of mesmerizing patterns, like a silver tattoo.
And finally, I unfurled my legs into fleshy strings, fusing them into a a pair of crudely constructed, claw-tipped feet - a grotesque amalgamation of meat and steel.
Now we're talking.
All of that happened in less than two seconds, thanks to my expending an absurd amount of essence, taken from just shy of a hundred demonic beasts.
But it had to be done, as my enemies weren't some kind of poorly written, children's tale villains.
No way in hell they'd give me time to recover.
And, just as expected, Bill had already closed the gap between us.
But it was alright.
He swung his fist again; this time, I successfully deflect the strike with the sword arm, and before he could react, I pushed my claws deep into his thigh.
"Argh!!"
He let out an ear piercing roar, but still pushed on, using his second fist to land a devastating blow to my clawed arm.
It bent in a place where no joint should be, and shattered bone protruded from the skin.
But instead of panic, the only thing I felt was satisfaction.
Did he really think I'd be stupid enough to expose my arm like that without a plan? No matter; he won't live to regret this mistake anyways.
I gave Bill a wicked smile-
"You fool."
And leaned into him, to take a bite out his exposed neck.
But something stopped my approach.
It was only then that I remembered about the two other members of his party.
Kanna's staff was planted firmly into the floor, hair fluttering in the air, and even more tree roots sprouted from behind me.
Those very same roots wrapped around my neck, restraining my movements just long enough for Bill to disengage.
"Stop being such a nuisance, motherfucker!"
I barked at Kanna, and after tearing the roots holding me in place to shreds, leaped at her instead.
My clawed feet dug into the flimsy wooden floor with ease, allowing me to accelerate at breakneck speed.
Driven to the brink of madness by Voracity, I'd already forgotten all about Bill.
And just as well - with his thigh severely injured, he couldn't move fast enough to get in my way again.
God, I hate magicians with my whole heart. It's time for you to meet your maker, bitch.
By now, I was directly in front of her. In a wide arc, I swung my bladed arm diagonally-
*Squelch!*
And lodged it into her shoulder.
However, for some reason it didn't cleave her in half like I'd hoped.
Without a second thought, I applied even more pressure, only to realize my muscles wouldn't budge.
"Huh?"
The situation left me so dumbfounded that I finally regained some presence of mind, and then it hit me.
When did she-? No, it's no wonder I didn't notice, with my brain operating on pure instinct.
Simply put, I was held in place - but not by Kanna's roots.
No, what locked me down was an enormous wave of pressure, emitted solely by hands of the sorceress whom I'd completely disregarded amidst the bloody fight.
And now, I was paying the price for my negligence.
Though bound, I at least had enough control over my eyes to look around.
The floor was scratched up with seemingly no rhyme or reason, and yet, upon closer inspection, a pattern emerged.
Huh. She did all that in just a couple of minutes?
I was, of course, thinking of Rennie.
Using the chaos of battle, she carved a massive formation atop the now-ruined hut's floor, and activated it just on time to save her friend.
It was my complete and utter defeat. A checkmate.
I strained my voice to speak. Blood gushed out along with the words - a result of the myriad injuries accumulated throughout the fight.
"Heh, *Cough* wow. Here… Here I was, thinking you guys were a bunch of fools. And *Khah!* look… Haah… And look at me now. What a… mess."
At this point, I could barely speak, and the pressure from Rennie's sorcery only intensified as time passed.
I eyed the adventurers. All three seemed exhausted, probably from pushing their essence reserves to the brink of depletion. And yet, they stood tall, while I…
Technically still standing, aren't I? Hah, good enough for me. Can I call it a draw, then?
Eventually, having caught their breaths, the three walked up to me.
I eyed them with a defeated smile and spoke, vomiting blood intermittently.
"What… is it? Come on now, finish me off already. You won fair and… *Urgh!* …Fair and square."
Along with those words, I closed my eyes, ready to see my head roll.
Wait, would I even be able to see that? If the blood flow to the brain were cut off?
It was a silly thought, for someone on the verge of death…
Death.
It didn't scare me as much as I expected it to.
If anything, it feels like just the right kind of ending for me.
Ever since childhood, it's been drilled into me by the elders that an early death was inevitable for a spawn of the oh-so-scary Threadrippers.
We had long lives, innately. Some survived well into the hundreds, even - but most never lived past their forties, meeting an untimely demise to the hands of humanity's greatest powerhouses.
Uhh, but they sure are taking their sweet time with this.
As I waited patiently, receiving only silence from the adventurers, a thought suddenly crossed my mind, and my eyes darted open.
By now - courtesy of Kanna's and Bill's essence - I had mended my internal organs enough to at least speak uninhibited.
"One more thing before I go. Do I get a 'last words' type of deal? Surely, that much is fair to honor the last Threadripper's death?"
The three shared glances in response.
Ah, so that's why they've been silent. Must be speaking telepathically again.
After a pretty long stretch of silence, Kanna stepped up.
"Fine. State your final words. We'll hear you out, but don't waste your breath asking to be freed; not happening."
"Of course. Naturally. So, I have this pet - he's a sweet guy, though a little mischievous at times. A Sepulcher. My final request is that you take care of him in my stead; you see, he's an outcast, just like myself. Uhh, my point is, he won't survive without a pack to support him. Might be a tad intimidating, but I promise he don't bite."
And that was it. Now, I truly had nothing left to say.
Can't wait to see you in hell after all this time, my dearest little brother. I've a lot to tell you once we meet… Ahh, but you'd probably still hate me after what I did to you. I really am the worst piece of shit, huh?
With those thoughts, I waited. And waited. And then waited some more…
Hello? I've already said my goodbyes and everything. Now's the perfect moment, guys!
But in the end, I didn't even get a chance to complain - the liters of lost blood finally let themselves be known, and I limply crumpled over, cold out.