Grand Ascension-Chapter 47: Beserk Warrior

Makun darted, toward the mom and her daughter, limbs moving in jagged, broken motions like a marionette controlled by something that did not understand how bodies worked.

Most entities of the outermost layer of the deep were blood thirsty. Mostly because they vibrated at the lowest frequency and fed on what could be known as negativity.

They fed on fear. Fed on despair and violence.

That is how most of them ended up as blood thirsty beings.

After taking control of Makun, and locking eyes with their prey, they would take time to dissect and enjoy the prey, from their emotions to their blood.

On the other side of the park,

Mary froze.

Her small hand, still reaching for Ruffy’s leash, went limp. The dog barked once, then whimpered and bolted in the opposite direction.

She did not scream.

She could not.

Her brain could not process what she was seeing. The thing crawled toward her, twisted and wrong, with black eyes and a mouth full of blood.

Her mother saw it a second later.

And she screamed.

A raw, primal sound that tore from her throat. The kind of scream that came when every instinct in your body understood you were about to die.

She grabbed Mary by the arm and yanked her backward, stumbling, her legs weak with terror.

"Run, baby. Run."

But Mary did not move. Her legs would not obey. She stood there, trembling, staring at the thing that used to be a man.

Makun’s possessed body scuttled closer. Five meters. Four. Three.

His head lolled to the side, neck bones grinding audibly. His fingers scraped the pavement, nails peeling back, leaving streaks of blood.

The entities inside him shrieked in triumph.

BLOOD. BLOOD. FLESH. TEAR. FEED.

Mary’s mother pulled harder, dragging her daughter backward. Her shoe slipped. She fell.

Mary fell with her.

They landed hard on the pavement. The mother scrambled to shield her daughter, wrapping her arms around the small body, turning her back to the thing approaching them.

She was sobbing now. Shaking.

"Please, I beg please... Please don’t. She’s just a baby. Please. My Baby"

Makun’s body was two meters away.

One meter.

His reached out, fingers twitching, black veins crawling up his arm like roots.

Inside, buried beneath the screaming chorus of demons, Makun awoke, he was still there.

Barely

He could feel his hand moving. He could feel the hunger. The bloodlust. The need to tear, to rip, to consume.

But he could also see them.

The mother. The daughter. The terror in their eyes.

He thought of his own mother. The one he never knew. The one who left him in a system that chewed him up and spit him out.

He thought of every foster home. Every beating. Every night he went to bed hungry.

He thought of how no one saved him.

And he thought: NOT HER!! NOT THIS KID!

Makun screamed.

Not with his mouth. With his soul.

But nothing he could do. He could only watch as his body, controlled by entities, lunged, pouncing toward the mom and daughter.

His limbs moved in that horrible, spider-like crawl, fingers scraping pavement, spine arched backward, head hanging beneath his chest.

Mary’s mother pulled her daughter close, backing away, her voice cracking.

"Stay back! STAY BACK. d....don’t come, don’t come near us!!"

Just as Makun’s possessed form was about to reach them, a blur of brown fur shot forward.

Ruffy.

Mary’s terrier, small and scruffy, with a pink collar that had her name stitched on it, jumped.

Jumped on Makun, hoping to protect his owner.

CRUNCH.

Ruffy’s teeth sank hard into Makun’s forearm.

Splurt!

Blood splurted as the dog bit down with everything he had, his small body trembling with effort, growling through clenched jaws.

He was trying to stop him.

But Makun’s possessed body felt nothing. Even if the flesh tore, even if the bone cracked, the entities only wanted blood. They were not physical beings, they could not feel pain.

Makun’s second hand slowly reached out.

Lurched.

It lashed onto Ruffy’s neck, fingers pressing hard. The dog let out small, choked noises.

Ough. Ough.

Ruffy cried in pain, but no one, no one was there to help him.

Makun pressed hard, Licking his lips, as he saw despair in the dog’s eyes, fear. He saw pleading and that provided him with joy

His second hand, the one that had been bitten, released from the dog’s jaw and joined the first. Both hands wrapped around Ruffy’s small neck.

Slowly tightening, emptying Ruffy’s stomach of air.

The cute dog was letting out final whimpers within Makun’s grasp, under the view of the terrified Mary and her crying mother.

Even under Makun’s watch, who would have cried by now if he could.

"Ruffy."

Mary’s voice broke.

Small. Trembling. The voice of a child who did not understand why her best friend was dying.

She tried to move forward, her small hands reaching out, tears streaming down her freckled cheeks.

"Waah waah!, Whyyyy? ...sob..whyyy?"

"Ruffy, no. Pleeease...hic..Ruffy."

Her mother grabbed her, pulling her back hard, wrapping both arms around her daughter’s chest.

"Don’t look, baby. Don’t look."

But Mary could not stop looking.

She watched as Ruffy’s small body went limp in Makun’s hands. Watched as the light in his brown eyes flickered, then faded. Watched as his tongue lolled out, pink and still.

Ruffy whimpered his final barks.

Mmmrrr...

Then his eyes closed forever.

WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH~

Mary screamed.

A sound that should never come from a child. High, Broken. The kind of scream that stays with you.

Her mother, using the seconds Makun was occupied with Ruffy, managed to pull Mary backward. She turned and ran, dragging her sobbing daughter with her.

Makun’s possessed body looked up from Ruffy’s limp form. His black eyes tracked the fleeing mother and daughter.

His head snapped to the side. His limbs jerked.

And he darted in their direction.

MORE. MOOOORE. BLOOOOD.

The entities screamed inside him, their voices layered into a single, maddening roar.

Makun, buried deep inside his own body, stopped lamenting.

He could not save the dog.

But he could still save them.

He exerted his mental fortitude. Every ounce of will he had left. He focused on his legs. On his hands. On the grain of his Route Core, fragile and glowing in the center of his soul.

STOP.

His right foot, mid-step, froze.

For a single moment, his body stopped moving.

The entities shrieked in fury, clawing at his will, tearing at the edges of his consciousness.

But Makun held.

One foot. Frozen. Trembling.

However, the influx of entities still entering his body made it impossible for him to regain full control.

His left foot moved.

Then his right.

His body lurched forward again, faster this time, the entities pushing harder, punishing him for resisting.

He darted toward the mother.

Closer. Closer.

Ten meters. Five. Three.

Mary’s mother ran as fast as she could, but she was tired, and Mary was small and slow. They were not going to make it.

Makun’s hand reached out, claws extended, black smoke pouring from his fingertips.

Just a few inches away from them.

His fingers were about to close around the mother’s shoulder when

FWOOOM.

A translucent barrier appeared between him and the mother. Golden. Shimmering. Like molten light.

Makun’s hand touched it.

SSSSSSS.

The sound of flesh burning.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Makun screamed

Flames erupted from the barrier, crawling up Makun’s arm, searing his skin black. His possessed body jolted backward, convulsing, the entities inside him shrieking in agony.

The barrier expanded, covering the entire park in a dome of golden light.

The mother and daughter stumbled forward, then stopped, panting, safe on the other side. They could not see what was happening with makun anymore.

Makun’s body writhed on the ground, smoke pouring from his burns, the entities inside him thrashing.

Then a voice sounded out in the open.

Stern, Calm and Absolute.

"Berserk Warrior."