Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 417; || Hi Ren ||

I ceased my steps until I stood still.

I took a deep breath before I let go of it.

AAAAAAH.

I FUCKING MISSED THIS!

With the second-guessing gone, with the doubts, the humanity lost, all that was left was a GOD, AND THIS GOD WAS ME, AND ONLY ME!

TAP

Now I was able to protect, I was able to survive, and I was able to do EVERYTHING I DESIRED!

Knock.

Chip

Tap

I moved my neck to the left and right, hearing a satisfying crack.

The hands covering me and chaining me to the human realm had been removed, letting me HEAR, letting me SEE, and letting me KNOW how to deal with the upcoming enemies.

But I wasn’t really interested as long as my survival was secured.

CHIP

The small body clinging to me trembled, but he didn’t let go.

And that was although I had let go of him.

"KENNY!" Henry also had stopped in his tracks and turned to run to us.

"KID! COME HERE!" He yelled, anxiety and alarm visible on his face.

I looked at my beautiful toy, thinking, ’Awfully concerned, aren’t we?’

Why turn your eyes to the kid and not to me?

KNOCK

"REN! LET GO OF HIM, COME HERE! NOW!" The desperation in him thickened amidst the sirens turning louder, ringing in my ears.

Foreshadowing a disastrous event.

I smiled.

I moved my hand, planning to rip the body stuck to me off and throw it into the zombie horde a few hundred meters away, when Henry again hollered.

"I AM JEALOUS! WHY AREN’T YOU HOLDING ME??" This time I was addressed, and my hand froze.

I chuckled.

Grabbing the kid’s collar, I flung him away like a wet tissue.

KNOCK

Then two things happened simultaneously: Henry let go of his sister, letting her unfeelingly fall to the ground to then disappear from my sight—teleporting away—while the tiger lunged at me, attacking me.

The big animal threw himself at me, but this was only child’s play.

I punched the tiger’s skull, making a dent in it, and he instantly turned limp.

I threw him away as well.

Then I turned around and took a look at the mess ahead.

Half of the thousands of zombies had gathered at the spot where I had thrown the kid; half of them still ran to me and would soon reach me.

The thousands of ways to deal with them and the EASE with which they were presented to me made me really regret not letting loose sooner.

Why had I been so damn stubborn when only now could I protect, could I survive, and could I eat?

Knock.

Chip

Tap

DID I REALLY FORGET?

DID I REALLY NOT REMEMBER?

ONLY NOW WAS IT THAT I WAS TRULY FREE!

I snapped my fingers, choosing one of the many, of the endless ways I foresaw.

And then everything froze.

The sound of the sirens stopped completely.

The air became still.

Everything halted.

CHIP

The zombie horde in front of me stood still, together with the figure who was the first to arrive and was in the midst of reaching out to me, his pinkish hand only half a meter away from my face.

I tilted my head and watched a completely still landscape containing hundreds, thousands of still statues.

Just... that outside the range of this scape, where no zombies had been found, the land abruptly ended.

CHIP

And beyond the end, there was darkness surrounding us, a darkness that would come continuously closer.

Not only from each side, but also from above as the blue sky turned darker with time passing.

CHIP

I grabbed the zombie in front of me, and with one hand, I crushed his skull, watching as he fell like a puppet.

The little unmoving worms were still visible amidst the still blood he left behind.

Heh.

I ignored them to walk amidst the completed worm-forms to the spot my toy had gone to—toward the spot the zombies had gathered and where a small hill had formed.

A pile of monstrosities—each hungry, each eager.

I was too.

So eager, that is.

CHIP

So hungry, that is.

TAP

So monstrous, that is.

KNOCK.

The earth under my feet, not far from the cornfield the zombies had chased us across, turned darker by the second, just like the black walls closing in.

What came from the sides and above also came from beneath.

When I arrived at the zombie hill, I reached for one of the unmoving zombies and flung it away.

I continued to remove the zombies, one after another, to uncover what was buried underneath.

In the end, I stood in front of a pitifully small shield with my unmoving, pale, and bleeding toy inside.

I pursed my lips unhappily when I spotted the little body under him, protected in his arms.

The shield was pulverized with just one thought, and the two static figures came to light.

Hmmm... not fully unmoving, because reddish-brown eyes snapped open.

Opening to look at me dazedly.

"How is that possible?" I hadn’t foreseen it.

How could my power fail me?

HOW COULD A GOD BE MISTAKEN?

The kid wriggled himself out of Henry’s unmoving arms and slowly stood up.

Then he positioned himself in front of Henry, as if he was protecting him, as if he was returning the favor he had received a few moments ago.

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows before I punched the kid, aiming at his head.

However, the kid’s hand caught my fist, stopping me from killing him at once.

Reddish-brown eyes slowly turned red and stared at me unmovingly, yet for a second, he glanced at our hands—as if he was surprised as well.

I ripped my fist away, getting a bit pissed.

"LEAVE THIS PLACE! I want what is MINE." I snarled.

KNOCK

KNOCK

KNOCK

The kid didn’t move, so I stepped back, feigning cordiality with a light smile, before I kicked him in the temple as violently as I could.

This time, I struck him, and he flew away a few hundred meters, maybe even into the endless darkness that would soon devour this land.

Finally getting a look at my unmoving prey, I felt my mouth wetten.

I forgot about the irritating incident just now, just by looking at what was mine and mine alone.

My possession.

Knock.

My nourishment.

Chip

My meal.

Tap.

I crouched down and grabbed his hair, moving him so that he would look at me, before I stared into his still, open eyes that resembled the color the sky had displayed not long ago.

With my fingers, I wiped away the still blood that had flowed from his nose before I placed my lips against his, rubbing them against each other and getting a hot feeling in my stomach.

My pulse accelerated when thinking about what I was about to do, how I would satisfy myself, how I would take him in, and how we would become one.

Forever.

KNOCK

I pulled his shirt away and sank my teeth in his shoulder to rip out a chunk of flesh and satiate myself, to SWALLOW HIM WHOLE.

TAP

Yet the surprises never ended; something hit me on the head.

Falling forward and letting go of my toy, I turned around and found the crying child holding a stone in his hand.

There was no injury visible from the kick he had received, although it should have completely shattered his head.

I lunged at the kid, now really agitated.

He fell back with me on top of him when I brought my fist down on his face, but he caught it YET AGAIN.

A dagger appeared in my other hand, and I was in the midst of stabbing one of his little red eyes—shining in a color that should remain reserved only for gods.

The kid punched me in the solar plexus before I could do him ANY harm; I again fell back, enraged at the sudden strength of his.

The kid, still tear-streaked, walked to me when I threw the dagger at him.

He evaded it with ease, making my irritation overwhelm me at the anomaly invading this space.

CHIP

So I snapped my fingers, and the zombies moved.

As if they had never stopped running and preying.

As if they had never stopped hunting, except that they ignored me and lunged towards the kid.

I turned back to my toy, my little puppet that had its strings cut and was now bound by them into immobility.

Sitting on the ground, I watched the still blood that was covering the wound on his shoulder.

I dipped my finger into it before bringing it to my mouth, sucking on it to sample the mesmerizing taste.

Tap

I took him into my arms and bent over him like a lover mourning his fallen companion.

Knock.

And then I again sank my teeth into the wound, into the mark I had left before.

Finally undisturbed and ready to take him in.

Not minding the figures around us, preying on what I had instructed them to hunt.

My teeth slid into his flesh with absolute ease, and I thought I was tasting velvet, feeling fully engulfed in bliss.

And I didn’t notice what had happened around me, not noticing how a hand had wandered to the back of my head.

Not the anomaly’s, but a bigger warm one—the hand of my own special prey, who had buried his hand inside my hair as if to encourage me to eat.

It was so impossible for two anomalies to have appeared inside here that I didn’t notice.

Maybe I also didn’t notice because the touch was so... tender.

Like a good-natured human taking the pain from the feral beast just for the opportunity to touch its fur.

I didn’t notice until my shirt was grabbed, and I was thrown away.

Because the moment I snapped my eyes open, while I was in free fall backwards, I saw the most beautiful blue eyes looking at me in shock, growing oppressive when turning to the little anomaly that had sneaked upon me.

"DON’T TOUCH HIM!" Henry growled at the kid but couldn’t move any more than that, so he was still lying down the moment I crashed onto the ground far away—yet not even near the dark wall that was still closing in.

I could still see him through the zombies that had turned motionless again, although I had never told them to stop attacking.

They had been stopped by someone other than me.

"What a fucking joke." I laughed.

The anomaly, crying heartbreakingly yet confronting the furious god—wasn’t this novel material?

I again cracked my neck left and right while licking the remaining blood from my lips.

It seemed the mostly paralyzed prey had to wait, as someone else wanted to play with me.

"Come here." I motioned for the kid, who ran to me.

Yet instead of speeding to fight me, he opened his mouth.

The moment he did so, my body froze; something grew inside of me, fighting to overtake and find its own voice within me.

I opened my mouth as if controlled, and a scream escaped my lips—in the voice of a child.

The moment the motionlessness struck me, I saw the pulverized crystals putting themselves together, crawling up the table.

They want to protect me.

KNOCK

They want to hinder me.

CHIP

THEY WANT TO CHAIN ME!

TAP

Yet the moment my thoughts turned dark in refusal of the chains, the crystals fell again back to the ground inside the little space in my mind.

"STOP IT, KID! DON’T FUCKING TOUCH HIM!" Henry’s voice echoed through this silent little world, and I smiled.

The kid jumped up upon coming near me, bringing the side of his palm down to my shoulder, as if he intended to render me unconscious.

I caught his wrist to throw him over my back, but he held onto it, not letting go and twisting my arm before he turned and kicked me from behind, against my spine.

I let go of him and fell forward, a stone appearing in my hand, and I threw it at the kid’s head in petty reciprocation before I would kill him once and for all.

"STOP IT! KENNY! I AM FUCKING HURT!" Henry roared, and my head instantly snapped in his direction.

Kknock.

"FUCK, KENNY, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME! I AM DYING!"

Kknnock.

My body froze in the midst of pushing myself up.

"WHERE ARE YOU, MY LOVE?"

Kknnoock.

Henry slowly fought himself to stand up, staring at me across the grassy landscape that had meanwhile turned completely black.

I saw him looking directly at me, yet he still had the audacity to ask where I was.

Kknnoocck.

"KENNY! COME HERE TO ME!" He took unsteady steps on half-paralyzed legs while I was still frozen by the sound thrumming through my body.

Kknnoocckk.

"IF YOU DARE TO TOUCH HIM, I WILL KILL YOU!" Henry screamed deafeningly over the landscape while limping toward us, and when I turned my head, I saw the kid standing behind me with his hand raised.

But the kid stopped this time, maybe because he noticed the murderous intent coming from Henry’s voice.

I heard a sound and turned back to Henry, seeing that he had crashed on the ground after stumbling against a motionless zombie.

Kkknnnnoooccckkk.

He groaned loudly.

"KENNY! WHERE ARE YOU WHEN YOUR DOG HAS GONE DOWN?"

"A GOOD MASTER WOULDN’T LEAVE HIS DOG RUNNING AROUND WITHOUT A LEASH!"

"WHERE IS MY OWNER?" He again stood up with difficulty, and my body moved up with him, imitating his actions.

"WHERE ARE YOU, MY LOVE?" He stumbled towards me, and I ran.

I ran to him, unsure if I wanted to kill him, to protect him, to eat him, to fuck him, to treasure him, or to END US BOTH.

TOGETHER.

The constant knocking against my mind made the crystals on the ground vibrate.

They continued to jump up and down, more violently with each passing moment, and soon they clutched onto the sole table leg in the middle.

I ran to Henry, my eyes fixated on him, as he opened his arms, showing the most breathtaking smile.

The crystals crawled up the table leg, my mind turning still, the sounds, the chipping, the tapping, and the knocking ceasing.

I crashed into Henry’s arms, and he caught me, falling back with me on top of him and holding me in a death grip pressed against his body.

As if the intense emotions and the violent thoughts were stirred up one last time in fear that they would be sealed again, I brought my mouth to his throat.

Ready to rip out his artery.

End it once and for all, as it was unbearable, EVEN FOR A GOD LIKE ME—the constant conflict between DEVOURING and PRESERVING being the most agonizing.

But before I could hurt him, my body again froze, and the feeling from before resurfaced.

A voice evaded me, finding its way through my insides out to the world.

A childish voice spoke through me, and while doing so, implored the crystals to complete their repair, to put me together once more, and to HEAL me from the crippling chipping and tormenting tapping.

A sad, lonely, and choked-up voice left my mouth, escaping the same weapon with which I had nearly ripped the life out of my love.

"Kenny...Ren..."

"Home...together...?"