Chapter 100: Oil To The Fire

Rook rushed in beside the feline Abomination and buried his scythe in the Pale creature’s damaged leg. The curved blade struck bone beneath the opened flesh, and he twisted the handle with both hands before bracing one boot against the limb and pulling until something cracked.

A black joint ruptured inside the wound, spilling fragments of memory that flashed between faces, rooms, and voices before sinking back into the creature. Rook tore the blade free and struck again as the other Reapers closed in around him.

A broad-shouldered man drove both fists into the Pale Abomination’s side. Every punch produced a second impact beneath the flesh, breaking bones too deep for his hands to reach. Nearby, a woman carrying two short swords ran beneath the creature and dragged both blades across its abdomen. The metal brightened with every cut, progressing from dull red to white until the exposed flesh melted around it.

Another Reaper exhaled a thick yellow gas that poured directly into the wounds opened by the feline creature. The edges of the pale plates blackened, and the human arms moving beneath them shriveled. Fresh limbs immediately pushed from deeper inside the Abomination, seized the poisoned flesh, and tore it away before the damage could spread.

Weapons transformed throughout the battle. A spearhead divided into six narrow points after entering a wound, spreading beneath the armor to tear through several layers at once. A hammer softened upon impact, flowed around one of the legs, and hardened into a metal restraint. Another Reaper pressed both hands against the ground and increased the Pale Abomination’s weight until all six limbs buckled beneath it and the street sank around its body.

The feline attacked the moment the creature dropped. It landed upon the Pale Abomination’s back, drove both front paws between the plates, and pulled in opposite directions. Its black claws sank farther than any Reaper’s weapon had managed, splitting the armor from the shoulder to the base of the body and exposing a mass of condensed memories writhing beneath the flesh.

The Pale Abomination screamed through dozens of voices as the Reapers struck the exposed section. Heat, frost, and blades entered together, bursting bones and peeling burned flesh from the creature. Translucent faces spilled across the street and whispered fragments of lives that had ended before anyone present entered the Underworld.

The damage looked enormous, but Rook knew how little it actually meant. The Manager knew it as well, and every experienced Reaper fighting beside them understood that they were still nowhere close to killing the creature.

High-Rank Abominations carried too much remembered flesh. A First Rank could be split open and Culled before its body reconstructed itself. A Second required more effort, though enough Reapers could still tear through one faster than it recovered. Thirds and Fourths possessed denser memories and bodies that no longer behaved like ordinary flesh and bone.

Beyond the Fifth Rank, ordinary violence became little more than a delaying tactic. A Reaper could hack through the same limb for hours and discover that the Abomination possessed enough memories to rebuild it a hundred times. They could burn away its skin, shatter every visible bone, and separate the head from the body, only to watch the pieces drag themselves together again.

Killing something of this level required a specialized Death Imprint powerful enough to reach the core through every layer of remembered flesh. That meant someone with the destructive ability of a true battle-oriented Manager.

The Manager of the Forty-Second was resourceful. She could move through stone, seal tunnels, and reshape an entire battlefield. Her abilities would overwhelm most Abominations, but she lacked the sheer destructive power of the Manager of the Eleventh.

Rook had seen the wake of that woman with hordes of dead Abominations and a dead Eighth Rank before most of the people around her understood that the battle had started. Only a handful of Reapers in the Underworld could reduce creatures like these to something vulnerable enough to Cull, and none of them were trapped inside the Seventy-Second.

The Reapers surrounding the Pale Abomination might as well have been digging at a mountain with spoons. Their purpose was to distract that mountain while something larger tore it apart.

The Pale Abomination turned toward the Reapers attacking its exposed side, granting the feline enough room to thrust its head into the opened wound. Its jaws closed around the mass beneath the plates, and it pulled backward with enough force to tear half the creature’s side loose.

The separated flesh struck the street and continued moving. Human hands extended from it and clawed toward the larger body while dark cords grew between the two pieces. Several Reapers attacked those connections before they could draw the severed mass back into place. Burning blades cut through the cords, and Frost spread across the detached flesh to trap it against the ground.

The feline drove its front paws deeper. Its claws passed through layers that stopped every weapon carried by the Reapers, tearing directly through the condensed memories beneath them. The lives packed inside the Pale Abomination ruptured with every strike, and its regeneration finally began to slow.

Rook saw the difference immediately. "Soften the joints and stop wasting attacks on the torso! Leave the main body to the black one, it can reach deeper than any of us!"

The Reapers shifted their formation. Those carrying heated weapons concentrated upon the legs while the gas-producing Reaper flooded the wounds again. The man capable of breaking internal bones moved from joint to joint, striking each damaged area in rapid succession.

Rook remained close to the creature and drove his scythe wherever its pale plates separated. He used the curved blade to catch the armor and pull it aside, creating openings for the feline before withdrawing whenever the Abomination tried to trap him beneath its limbs.

Mara watched from the edge of the destroyed square with an oversized bow in her hands. The weapon lacked the curve and careful construction expected from the equipment of an experienced Reaper, but she held it steadily enough. Several arrows rested inside the cracks beside her boots.

The anchor-wielding Reaper remained half a step ahead of Mara, gripping the shaft of her weapon with both hands. The anchor’s lower point rested against the street, ready to intercept anything that reached them. Vanessa waited farther behind, one hand wrapped around her injured palm while her eyes continued following the disturbances spreading through the surrounding stone.

Mara selected an arrow and drew the bow. She watched the pale plates covering the Abomination’s shoulder shift as the feline tore at them, then waited until Rook moved aside before activating her Death Imprint.

The arrowhead became indistinct and passed through the outer plate without losing speed. It buried itself in the flesh beneath, causing the Pale Abomination to jerk before Mara reached for another shaft.

Her next shot passed close enough to Rook’s face for the fletching to brush the loose strands of his hair. The arrow entered the creature’s chest and disappeared beneath its armor.

Rook flinched and looked back at her. "What the hell are you doing? That arrow passed less than a finger from my eye."

"I’m helping you damage it, and the arrow struck exactly where I intended."

"It reached the Abomination after nearly blinding me. That is not the same thing as aiming well."

"The fact that it missed you and hit the creature means I aimed perfectly well."

Rook pointed away from the battle. "The best way you can help right now is by moving farther back before your next perfect shot enters my skull."

Mara lowered the bow but held her position. "You said the same thing before I found the blood trail, and you would still be searching without me."

"We were tracking an injured man then. We’re currently fighting something large enough to swallow a house, which makes the situation slightly different."

The Pale Abomination slammed one limb into the street between them. Stone erupted beneath the impact, forcing Rook to throw himself aside while Mara retreated several paces.

"Move farther than that!" Rook shouted as he regained his footing. "If you can still argue with me comfortably, you’re standing too close."

Mara reluctantly followed the anchor wielder behind the remains of a barricade. Rook turned back toward the creature and immediately ducked beneath a hooked hand sweeping toward his head.

A roar passed through the cavern before he could counterattack. The sound came from somewhere beyond both creatures fighting near the Beacon, and Vanessa immediately looked upward.

The hole in the ceiling had widened. The Pale Abomination’s descent had carved an open shaft through the rock separating the Seventy-Second from the tunnels above. The passage remained steep and unstable, but it was no longer sealed.

Something crawled through it.

A pale body struck the edge of the opening, found purchase, and pulled itself into the cavern. Several more shapes moved through the dust behind it as hooked limbs, swollen torsos, and twisted human faces crowded into the breach.

The first Abomination dropped onto a roof, and the second landed in the street. More bodies filled the opening before either creature had finished moving.

Some Abominations broke apart upon landing and immediately began rebuilding themselves. Others caught the cavern walls and crawled downward. First and Second Ranks struck the settlement in rapid succession, followed by larger bodies that crushed roofs and barricades beneath them.

The Pale Abomination had torn a direct path through the Seventh Rank’s territory. Every creature above could now sense the Reapers gathered beneath the Beacon, and they poured through the opening toward them.