Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Violent, traumatic, sexual, and gore elements are prevalent in this chapter.

Chapter 29: Death, life’s greatest gift

“Fuck! That felt good!” Seeing its ajar eyes does nothing but reaffirm my euphoria. It’s a pity I haven’t killed it, but seeing it this enraged kind of makes up for it.

“Yours trickss won’t work.” I see his hands tightly pressed together, clearly maddened by my unexpected attack. “Ansswer me, why are you working with them?”

The question takes me by surprise, wasn’t something like that what that voice asked me in the cave? “They are my friends, my teammates, my own kin. Why wouldn’t I?” I gesticulate to show my confusion.

“They worsship the fake God.” It pauses, unsure if it should continue. “You, thiss power you are sshowing, iss your own.” It hasn’t said it, but its intentions are clear. Why would you go with those who have Jonas’ powers while you have your own?

“They are,” I confirm but hastily change the topic; I don’t want to reveal more of myself. “We don’t want to fight you. Why are you attacking us?”

“To rid the world of Jonassss.” Its usual lisp drags even more, with contempt, while it says the god’s name.

“Maybe we could talk about it? Killing inno-”

“NO!” Which more than a word sounds like a roar. Clearly tired of our short conversation, it shakes its head. “You sshall be punisshed for your inssolence.”

“Punished? You can’t do me any harm like this.”

“Bring them!” Them? All of my party is dead. And so should be the other groups. Who is the- Motherfucker! In front of me, a family of four is being pulled by the hair towards us. By their screams, they are perfectly alive and conscious. Their cries and sobs muffled by the kobold’s shrieks flood the air.

“Let them go! They have nothing to do with it!”

My complaints go nowhere as the King takes the father of the two kids and knocks him down. Right after that, it stomps its right pectoral and grabs his right arm. What follows is a disgusting and hurtful show of strength. It is not doing it to me, but I can still feel as if it were. It first dislocates his shoulder by twisting it into an unnatural angle. Then, it frees its leg and kicks the poor man’s elbow. I can see as his bone tears his flesh. The man struggles, turns, kicks, and screams, but nothing frees him from the King’s hold. Pressing his chest again, it pulls the arm.

“Honey! No! No, please! No! No!” The woman’s pleas and weepings find no other ears than mines. I can’t… I… “No! Kill him already! Give him the gift of death! ! No… no!” She doesn’t stop; she can’t stop.

And it pulls.

“Don’t look, kids!” She says while covering their eyes with her hands, body, arms, and anything she finds. But, like me, she isn’t capable of looking away.

More. The King’s brute force keeps pulling until the sounds of flesh tearing, blood spilling, the crying and hopelessness of the mother, and his screams of agony fill the space. With his arm held high, he throws it at the multitude.

And god forbid me to look at what they are doing. For the first time today, I’m forced to look another way. Chewing and crunching become the only sound I hear. No matter if I don’t look, it’s as clear as day what is happening.

“They don’t deserve this! Why are you doing it!?” I shout, taken by a sudden outburst of anger.

“Sso you don’t forget your place.”

Just after saying that, it tosses the still alive man with a strong kick, making him land near the famine public. Like hyenas that haven’t eaten for days, they pounce mouth first onto him. First come, first serve. They punch and push themselves to be the first and catch a bite. Grotesque. Soon I can’t see anything but a pile of rats feasting and celebrating. His screams slowly die.

“Bastard! Isn’t it enough to kill them? Why must you do this?”

“Assk your god. Why doessn’t he come ssave them?” Is it laughing? Those short bursts of air and high-pitched screams seem like it… The bastard still dares to laugh? Is this all a joke to it? “Now now…” Its hands rub together while its eyes sparkle. “Bring me the woman.” Its voice is imprinted with a sinister tone.

Not again, please. Please, let her die quickly and fast. I know I could just flee. I could run and forget about it all. But… something inside me tells me to stay. To not let them die alone. To share their despair.

As soon as the mother is brought, a quick swipe with its claws strips the poor woman of its upper-half robes. The slashes, not stopping at her clothes, make fresh blood pour on the ground. The King takes her by the back of the neck and makes her bend over.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I point a shaky finger to him. My face must be red with rage. “Don’t!” I feel as my stomach revolves. “Don’t touch her!”

Another claw strips her of her pants and leaves her completely exposed. The echoes of what I yet again think is laughter come haunting me, King and audience mocking me.

“DON’T! If you dare touch a single hair of that woman, if you-”

My futile shouts reach no ears. I hear her scream; I can feel her heart breaking, her resolve and last strength being extinguished. Even the will to protect her children leaves her. My knees yield, and I fall to the ground. Even after covering my ears with both arms, her pained outcries stab on my mind like sharpened daggers. I hear as both my tears and hers bounce on the ground. The cruelty, which I thought was already reaching its limits, takes a sudden turn when two more rats take the rest of the family.

“MONSTERS! I SWEAR I WILL EXTINGUISH YOUR RACE!”

As more and more rats gather into the center, I take my eyes off the scene. I can’t be a witness to any of this. I can’t. “Mother… Alina…” I hear the boy sob and tremble not far from them. I rest my head on the ground, right next to my knees. My hands nervously rub the back of my head.

“No…. this can’t be… this is no war….” I violently shake my body. My arms wrap themselves around my torso and press tightly. I empty the contents of my stomach on the ground.

Abnormal mental activity detected. DreamZ recommends you take a bre-

“FUCK OFF!” I shout both to the female voice impersonating the machine and the so-called King. “FUCK THE HELL OFF!”

I swing my head a bit, just enough to open one eye and see the boy. Run! I don’t know what they’ll do to you. Please. Don’t stay. Please. Don’t watch. My silent prayers to a fake god take no effect. More rats come and fill my entire field of view. Soon all human sounds except for mine fade off.

“Are you done yet murdering and raping all these innocent people!?” A strange voice, one too calm for what just happened, one that seems to come from somewhere else, one that definitely is not mine, comes out from my mouth.

“Indeed, I am.” It pulls its armor back on. “But none of them are innocent to me eyess. They adore a fake god.”

“That is no justification for your brutalism!” The voice speaks again. Is it me?

“Oh, but it iss.”

Fuck it. I should have gone. I shouldn’t have seen it. Nor listened. The scenes still repeat in a loop inside my mind. The rat, what it was doing to that wo- stop! don’t think about it. That poor girl- FUCK! Flashes of all the scenes appear and disappear in quick succession inside my mind.

Abnormal mental activity detected. If it continues, you will be logged out as a precaution.

“NO, I FUCKING WON’T!” I speak again, me. This is not about the game! Even after logging out, it will all come haunting me. “STOP!” I shout to myself in an attempt to make them fade away.

The, by now for sure, hysterical laughter of the King wakes me up from my trance. “Have I broken you? Ssso ssaaad. I wanted to play a bit moore.”

“Play?” The neutral voice emerges again. “You will regret showing me all of this. I will make sure to kill you. I will imprison your spirit. You shall never be free, not even in death!”

[Invoke Spirit has evolved into Dominate Soul]

You can now claim a soul in addition to controlling a spirit. Souls claimed can be bound to a body and directed at will. Shall you grant it, souls can acquire their own agency and free will. A soul will not vanish until you command it to.

Spirits: 0/1

Souls: 0/1

[You have met the requirements for a Class Evolution]

“Ha, ha ha, hahaha!” Have I gone mad? Why am I laughing so uncontrollably? Stress? Panic? Trauma? Is it my subconscious talking? “No… all of them…” I whisper in a frighteningly calm and soft voice.

“Iss thiss your limi-”

“Ah… when I get you I’ll imprison you in a worm... “

“What are you ssa-”

“I’ll feed you to the pigs. Bring you back. Feed you to them again…”

“Are you lisste-”

“And when I’m happy I’ll make you my meatshield. I’ll make you my target practice dummy. You will know no rest.”

“Sshut up alre-”

“You will die, die, die, die, die, die more! Your crimes can’t be atoned. You will be my bitch, my horse, condemned to serve me for all eternity. I will tear your every limb and feed them to you. You will eat your own dick.”

“Kill hiim!”

“Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. You will know pain. I will break you. I will make you suffer what this family has gone through. I will make yo-”

[You have unlocked the Madness stat]

You have been logged out. High mental instability during prolonged time is not encouraged. Please, take a rest. You are locked out for 4 hours. Shall you need assistance, call our assistance number at nine-two-o-

I take the headset off and sit on the edge of the bed. Madness.