Inside a dimly lit room, McCree consolidated the security footage of a depot recently attacked by Seratov's men, including the mysterious cyberknight so feared by Ivanovich. As McCree clicked on play, he immediately noticed the side door to the depot burst open without an ounce of attempted discretion. With a level of confidence bolstered by a belief in their own invulnerability, groups of unarmed men began to rummage through the shelves. Soon, they began to fill their bags full of contraband drugs hidden inside pallets of products meant for wholesale.
Alerted by the intrusion, Ivanovich's men stormed into the depot from the front door with their weapons raised. However, the men transporting the goods weren't even bothered by the guards' presence as they carried on with their duty. That was when McCree overheard the clear and distinct voice of a woman among the shouts of the guards.
[Danica] - "Guilt Extension: Forgeworld's Hunger! "
There she was, Danica, a cyberknight of the order of guards from the Empire. Unlike the few known classes of cyberknights, such as your average knight or martial knight, the guardian knights are hand-picked to watch over important imperial installations. Though defensively oriented in training, it didn't mean they can't go on the offensive, as most of them are, in fact, selected for their ability to deal with a foe quickly to protect their assigned asset. Slamming her obsidian sledgehammer against the ground, she stared at her enemies with an unflinching expression hidden behind her helmet.
All of a sudden, the guards opened fire, only for the bullets to quickly lose their kinetic energy and fall to the ground right in front of the barrel. Meanwhile, the guards who fired their weapons received horrifying levels of physical damage as if an invisible force had boiled them from the inside. Each man's body began to swell up and burn before cooked skin peeled off their bodies. It was a horrifying sight which even made McCree recoil in shock for a moment.
The men were screaming in pain with a level of agony one could not imagine. To the outside view, the phenomenon can only be understood as divine wrath sanctioned by a higher power. McCree understood it was actually the work of a crystal's ability. However, he now felt a level of empathy for Ivanovich's madness. No man should witness or be subjected to this kind of abuse.
Then, without mercy, Danica approached the incapacitated men one by one before finishing each one of them off with a hammer strike to their bodies. However, even more terrifyingly, each strike didn't result in blunt force trauma, but instead in an even force which shattered their entire body uniformly like being crushed by a hydraulic press on all sides. That's when McCree decided that he had seen enough to understand what kind of foe he was facing.
Though McCree refused to acknowledge his own fear, his hands were clearly trembling with his pistol tightly gripped in a ready-to-fire position. That was the double-edged sword of a confrontation between two crystal users. Either you go in blind in a fight without the fear of knowledge, but risk your own life as the enemy executes its unknown attack. Or you can fight with the knowledge of your enemy's ability, but risk being handicapped by fear. At the end of the day, crystal users are humans too, and a bag of flesh is never a match in the face of an attack which disobeys the rules of this universe.
McCree paused as he reminisced about the old days when he was surrounded by his friends, as they fought together. His first fight against an actual cyberknight was only won because Oltevin intervened to save him. Then came regret. McCree regretted ever allowing his personal ambition and honour to get in the way of his logic. If only he had seen through Jagger's manipulation and lies, maybe things would've been different.
Meanwhile, as Dane began to work on the body inside the human-sized test tube, he began to notice the injuries on the subject's skin. There were indeed burn marks, but more disturbingly, he noticed scars that were impossible for a KD-series assassin. In normal circumstances, an assassin of this type possesses a healing factor, which is powerful enough to prevent scarring. However, after taking a biopsy of the assassin's flesh, he noticed that the genetic code was so eroded due to the constant cycle of repair that scar tissue was the only way the body could compensate for the damage.
Despite this, what sent shivers down Dane's spine was the amount of damage required to make this happen. In perspective, the subject had been subjected to 240 years' worth of cellular repair in just 9 years, meaning the subject was basically flayed of its skin daily. This realization sent Dane recoiling back. What was supposed to be the body of a 26-year-old woman looked like a skinny mummy buried for over a 1000 years.
However, at that moment, as Dane was about to scream in terror, he caught a glimpse of a red-lensed camera staring right at him. She was watching. Scream and you prove yourself unworthy of her trust. Standing firm against the screams clawing at his mouth to be out, Dane understood the challenge before his eyes. KD-554 knew what she was doing, she knew how much the horror of the scene before him would break a normal man. It was the same fate awaiting Kadyn if Dane had squandered the illusion then and there.
You have a mouth, but you must not scream.
Dane had already witnessed too much suffering already. With how Jagger had played him during the Lynching Games, Dane was already struck with guilt over his actions. His psyche was already weak from all the anguish he had experienced. However, he fought and fought not to scream. The sight of Kadyn flashed over the corpse's image as Dane bit down on his lips.
"No! I'm not becoming an accomplice in another person's death anymore! I'm not your tool! I'M NOT YOUR TOOL! "
Thought Dane as he clenched his fists.
As the final itch of the screams faded down Dane's throat, he understood the level of malice inside KD-554's heart. She was not acting evil as a means, but she was malicious from the depths of her heart. This was the truth of what she was capable of, and even if she was enemy with KD-552, no sane person would take the time to inflict such suffering on a living being. With this understanding, Dane felt a sense of hatred burning inside his heart. Once again, she almost turned him into a tool of malice like Jagger did.
With fire in his eyes, Dane stared into the camera, teeth clenched in anger. He was ready to show his savage side to the devil of hate to save the ones he cares for. Though he could never naturally muster enough fury to drive his immoral side, the memories of what Jagger made him do and how KD-554 almost played him were enough to fuel his hatred. To beat a monster, you also need to unleash your monster.
[Dane] - "Very well! You want me to do what with her? "
Said Dane to the camera in a scornful voice.
On the other side, KD-554 smiled, interpreting Dane's anger as a sign of his progression toward the acceptance of his nature. There was a tense moment as Dane's face reflected off the crimson of KD-554's irises. Dane was being judged by a predator testing the authenticity of his rage.
[KD-554] - "Restore her to a conscious state. She had become a vegetable a year ago, and I'm not a fan of vegans like her. "
Said KD-554 over the intercom in a monotone voice.
Had she bought his act, or had she seen through him? Dane couldn't decipher her true mindset behind the veil of a monotone voice and anonymity behind the camera. All he could do now was to prove the authenticity of his savagery through action.
Inside the ominous gleam of a church-like place, McCree attended a ceremony hosted by Ivanovich in his name. Rows of chanting priests gathered in a circle around him and put his pistols on an altar. Not knowing how to react, McCree simply went with the flow, as he blindly partook in whatever crazy ritual Ivanovich was orchestrating. Together, the priests sprayed holy water onto him and his guns while Ivanovich himself arrived in a robe while holding a custom holy book with the cyberknight symbol on its cover.
[Ivanovich] - "In our divine faith to the Emperor, let us pray for his angel! "
Said Ivanovich before pausing with his hand raised.
"In the glow of your golden embrace, we chant:
Hail, the angels of your design, power divine!
In the mysteries of your wrath, the verdicts align.
By your messengers, we, the ignorant, understand.
In our prayers, our path we find. "
Uttered the priests as they all simultaneously touched McCree with their hands.
"Blessed be your bullets, like arcane thunder they strike.
Blessed be your crystals, in divine decree they speak:
Condemned are those who bask in my glow.
In your infinity, may the enemy's soul be smitten hollow. "
Said the priests in unison as they each touched McCree's guns.
"Hell, these son of bitches have lost their damn mind. Like what the actual fuck did I just witness these nutjobs do? "
Though McCree, as he watched Ivanovich's men staring at him.
[Ivanovich] - "Just a curious question, angel. Where is your insignia? All angels of the Divine Emperor have the cyberknight insignia. Where is yours so we can bless it? "
Said Ivanovich as he circled McCree.
In a panic, McCree quickly thought of an excuse to get himself out of his situation.
[McCree] - "How dare ya question me, ya old fool? I was a knight in exile after the death of his majesty. To avoid attention, I got rid of my symbols. "
Said McCree confidently.
However, McCree was already noticing the look of suspicion in the eyes of those who surrounded him.
[Ivanovich] - "Then why did no other cyberknight besides you get rid of their symbols? On top of that, the ritual could not be completed without a blessing on your symbol. "
Said Ivanovich with a curious stare.
At this point, McCree knew that if he were to be revealed not to be an actual cyberknight, he would be massacred by the dozen insane cultists who surrounded him.
[McCree] - "Ugh... "
There was a tense moment as the air tensed inside the room, with suspicion growing between both parties. After swallowing his saliva, McCree lowered his hat and put on a fake solemn attitude.
[McCree] - "The truth is... I have been exiled. In order to wash the shame that has been put on mah name, I need to bring down a fellow knight who has fallen astray from his or her duty. This is why I'm here. I heard about the damn knight workin' with Seratov, and she just happens to be workin' with an enemy of the truly faithful to our Emperor. "
For a moment, McCree didn't dare raise his eyes in fear of not being convincing enough with his made-up story. However, Ivanovich and his priests suddenly kneeled down before McCree without a hint of malice.
[Ivanovich] - "So this is the truth. The Emperor's fallen angel is looking to redeem himself by answering to his followers. Of course, how could I have doubted him? "
Upon seeing the scene before him, McCree felt relief, but also exasperation as he pinched his nose at the sight of the men kneeling before him. He was bullshitting his way through this whole time, but never expected the fever dream in front of his eyes. However, looking at his guns, McCree knew time was running out as he still had a long way ahead, even if he were to defeat the enemy cyberknight.
During this time, inside the underground facility, Doctor Deltazar verified Kadyn's vitals as she was still in a deep sleep. Beside him, groups of men, almost naked in shorts, stood excitedly with a bestial desire in their eyes.
On the other hand, Kadyn was still deep in her dreams, unaware of the outside world. However, due to the partial exfoliation in her crystal, Mike's ghost was once again able to manifest in her mind, though not as directly as he previously could. In her head, things were in a mess as her trauma and pain haunted her.
As Kadyn strolled through a forest made of shadows, she couldn't distinguish a bush from a tree as they were all blended together in their shared darkness. Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching her in a hurry. In a split second, Kadyn reacted violently to the shadow as she stabbed the figure in the heart with a clean strike of her wrist blade.
As the red fluid flowed onto her arm, the figure suddenly gripped Kadyn by the throat, with its blood forming an unbreakable glove around Kadyn's hand. As the figure revealed itself, Kadyn was shocked to find a fused monstrosity made of Mike and Ari's faces and bodies.
[Monster] - "You are a liar! You betrayed us all! You lied to us and killed us! "
Yelled the monster as it tightened its grip around Kadyn's neck.
[Kadyn] - "No! I didn't! I loved you both! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! "
Said Kadyn as she burst into tears.
The background quickly shifted with the sight of the burning wreck of the Imperial carrier behind Ari, while the scene of the hangar appeared behind Mike. These were the spots where each of the two died.
[Monster] - "We used to love you, but you can only kill! "
Yelled the monster as it stared into Kadyn's soul.
[Kadyn] - "Please stop! I beg of you two! I truly never had any other feeling for you two than love. Please stop! I beg of you... Please... "
Cried Kadyn while feeling knives in her heart.
[Monster] - "Stop what? Stop because of what we are? We are not the monster here, YOU ARE! From the start, you were just a monster who brought us our doom! "
Yelled the monster in an increasingly distorted voice.
The beast's head slowly separated as Ari's face morphed into the beast Kadyn had slain.
[Monster Ari] - "You stole my empathy, you left me to this fate because you never cared! All my pain, only to defend the same monster as KD-554! "
The monster's other head also morphed to reassemble Jagger's face with visible signs of rot.
[Monster Mike] - "And you tricked me to die for you! I sacrificed my humanity only to defend the very monster I would've killed on sight! I would kill you if I had the chance! "
At that moment, Kadyn could only cry as she was too overcome with guilt and grief to even care about the monster choking her to death. Meanwhile, outside of Kadyn's nightmare, the first man stepped forward following Deltazar's order and removed his clothes. As he stood ready, the light cast his shadow on the wall, revealing his massive, erect member.
Inside the nightmare, as Kadyn was still being tormented by the monster, a different figure suddenly emerged from the shadows. Suddenly, a strange shadow man cast his fist down upon the monster, knocking it off Kadyn. The ensuing beatdown was beyond savage as the shadow man brutalized the monster, pummeling it with such strength that it was reduced to nothing but a puddle of mush within five punches.
Though Kadyn was still teary-eyed on the ground, the shadow man approached her with a sense of urgency, knowing what was about to happen outside of Kadyn's dream. Without even waiting for Kadyn to calm down, the shadow man yelled at her with such power that it instantly snapped her out of her grief.
[Mike] - "Listen to me! Don't be such a bloody dumb girl! If I truly fucking hated your guts, would I still be here protecting you? Think, Kadyn, think with your bloody head, not your tear glands! All this nonsense coming from the poisoned mouth of ya bleedin' cunt of a sister! Be reasonable for fuck's sake! "
Yelled Mike without leaving Kadyn the opportunity to respond.
Suddenly, Kadyn was jolted awake by the shock of Mike's rant, just in time to see what was about to happen in front of her. A few minutes later, KD-554 arrived inside the laboratory with a furious look in her eyes. As she arrived in front of Kadyn, she was welcomed by the sight of six men bleeding to their deaths with their genitals obliterated. Kadyn, meanwhile, was covered in red with blood, particularly between her legs and mouth.
However, instead of being angry toward Kadyn, KD-554 morphed her arm into a blade before violently striking Deltazar on the face, the blow exposing the insides of his mouth, nose and eye socket.
[KD-554] - "You fucking ugly PIG! Do you take me for the dirty whore she is? SPEAK, YA ACCURSED BASTARD, FILTH OF THE HUMAN RACE! "
Yelled KD-554 before grabbing Deltazar by the hair and lifting him to meet her eyes.
[Deltazar] - "Aaaah! I'm zorry... My queeeen! "
Said Deltazar in broken words due to his destroyed nose and mouth.
[KD-554] - "You think I'm fit to torture her while smelling the semen of these lowly bastards? You want to defile her so early on to violate my senses with the filthy smell of these men later on? Is that your intention, you worthless stain? "
Yelled KD-554 as she began to smash Deltazar's body against the wall.
With her strength and fury, KD-554 brutally massacred Deltazar's body until he was but a puddle of red chunks on the floor.
[KD-554] - "Heh! I guess you were a worthless stain after all. "
Said KD-554 with satisfaction as she dropped the doctor's corpse.
Turning her attention toward Kadyn, KD-554 approached her sister before smelling her body thoroughly. After finding no other significant odour than blood, KD-554 breathed a sigh of relief.
[KD-554] - "I'm glad... Hehehe... I'm glad you preserved yourself for me. If you had allowed them to have their way, I would've had to skin you to remove the stench. "
Said KD-554 with a smug grin.
Suddenly, Kadyn spat a mouthful of blood and dismembered flesh onto KD-554's face.
[Kadyn] - "Eat a dick, you filthy sack of shit! "
Said Kadyn in a hateful tone.
As she realized what Kadyn had spat on her face by the smell and appearance of the flesh stuck on her face, KD-554 immediately gagged in disgust. With an unhinged fury, KD-554 scratched her face with her metallic claws until she had reduced her face to an uncoherent metallic mess. Then, KD-554 tried to vomit, but nothing came out of her mouth due to her robotic physiology. It was simply a remnant reflex from her brain, as she still kept trying to throw up using her metallic coffin.
Suddenly, in a fit of rage, KD-554 jumped at Kadyn before digging her thumbs into her eyes. As blood rolled down Kadyn's cheeks from her injuries, KD-554 abruptly stopped herself and backed away. Slowly, KD-554's face reformed back to normal before she exchanged a look with Kadyn, whose eyes were staring back at her with primal rage despite swimming in a pool of blood.
[KD-554] - "Not yet... Hehehe... Not yet! I almost granted you the sweet release of death, but I'm not that dumb. Haha... Oh... Believe me, you just ignited a passion in me. You just made me more horny for the violence I will inflict on you! "
Said KD-554 in an unhinged voice.
Suddenly, KD-554 grabbed a syringe from a table and stabbed it into Kadyn's ribcage. Upon injecting the grey mixture into Kadyn's body, a sudden sharp ache hit her like a bolt of lightning. The pain was so agonizing, it felt as if someone was actively breaking her ribs at the site of the injection. While Kadyn struggled, with sweat soon coating her entire forehead, KD-554 smiled and approached her ear.
[KD-554] - "Have you ever heard of the infamous Aluminum-Mercury amalgam? It's like a type of bone cancer for someone who can't have cancer. Ironic, right? Your bones, made of the exotic metal of mercury-titanium alloy, will be broken down by the corrosive contaminant, and while your body tries to repair the damage, it can't expel the toxin, causing a cycle of permanent suffering as you feel the betrayal of your flesh. "
Whispered KD-554 with a sadistic smirk.
With a pat against the site of injection on her victim's chest, KD-554 smiled silently as she watched Kadyn jerk her body in pain.
[KD-554] - "For arousing my passion, I reward you with my pain as I gradually inject you with this divine venom fit for daughters of Judas such as yourself. Eventually, you'll be begging to be freed from your own iron maiden. And the nectar of it all? The fact that you'll willingly want my reality as yours. "
Driven by rage, Kadyn leaned in and bit hard down on KD-554's fox ear until she eventually ripped a chunk of her sister's metallic flesh off her head. Unphased, KD-554 punched Kadyn in the face, caught the chunk of her ear falling out of her mouth before reattaching it back onto her head.
[KD-554] - "Rage all you want against the dying of the light, you feral little bitch! I've broken you once, thus meaning you have your limits. I have all the time in the world to reach that limit of yours, so bite and bark all you want. Cogitas, ergo non es! I'm the only eventuality behind all facades, and that includes yours! "
Said KD-554 in a thrilled voice.
As KD-554 left the laboratory, Kadyn's exhaustion finally caught up to her, as it extinguished her rage. Though the shock provided by Mike allowed her soul to burn temporarily, her eyes slowly fell shut once again, now that the dust had settled. With his ghostly hands, Mike tried to caress Kadyn's head despite knowing she won't feel a thing. KD-554 was right about Kadyn's limits, as Mike could feel that she won't last long this way.
To be continued...