Chapter 1013 – The mystery of the Death Zone 7 – The Incorruptible [Eliza POV]
“They got Aclysia.” John’s angry words reached Eliza despite the myriad of other sounds around them. Breaking buildings, mad laughter and the squelching, skittering steps of the Lorylim creatures chasing after the group. The blood pumped inside the insanely powerful woman’s ears. Her heart beat with the excitement of battle and rage.
Despite being among the fastest of their group, Eliza was the rear of the group. Leaping around, her crimson aura enveloping her like drops of blood in water, she formed her sanguine magic into various hardened, crystal projectiles. A mixture of will and raw physical ability sent them flying, skewered Lorylim, causing them to be, usually, incapacitated and rarely to outright die. The dents she made in their pursuers’ mass made only a minor difference, but every little bit helped. Salamander and Sylph bombarded the enemies with fire and lightning as well.
The problem was the Manifestation of Filth, slowly gaining on them all. All attacks Eliza or the other two threw at it, the mountain of misery and mud shrugged off. More direct methods would have to be taken and they would have to be taken fast. Every squelching stomp of the giant of corruption brought it closer to John. Even being carried by Metra, the centrepiece of their group was being threatened.
Eliza launched another lance of sanguine crystal at their pursuers, impaling the bare skull of a bear-like creature. The monstrosity didn’t die, but instead kept running on the spot, trying to break the blood lance. Several spheres of blood were sent out from Eliza’s hands to the lance, fusing with it.
“I really fucking hope this hurts,” Eliza growled, making an expanding gesture with her hand. The excess blood burst out as spikes from within the abomination’s skull. The monstrosity kept moving for several more seconds, before the Lorylim matter started sludging off its bones, leaving a warped and asymmetrical human skeleton behind. One of the over a hundred creatures following them dead, Eliza hurried to get back moving before the mass of enemies washed over them. She caught up with John, who was still getting pulled along by Metra. “Is Aclysia safe?!” she asked first, in a surge of paranoia. “Your life-saving bullshittery worked, yeah?!”
“Yes,” John told her. “Her core is in my inventory. We’ll get her the materials to rebuild herself after we get out of here.” Eliza could hear the upset in his voice and the concern about their current situation. Things were going far from smooth at the moment, but this wasn’t the time to discuss or dwell on this. His eyes directed at the Manifestation of Filth, the Gamer said, “Jane and Nia are still in trouble, but now we don’t know where exactly they are. Not that we should unify the enemy forces anyway...” The emotions were replaced with cold combat calculations. “It appears we’re far enough from the airport now that no additional high-power Lorylim are getting pulled into the mob. We’re going to face them soon. You need to take care of the big one.”
“Fucking obviously,” Eliza nodded.
“When you see me cast Arcana Strike, that’s when we turn.”
“That sounds like a bad fucking plan, you glass cannon.”
“I’ll use Arcane Ascension to cast it,” the Gamer told her. “Enough talking, get ready.”
“Alright,” Eliza dropped back to the rear of their formation and did as before, nailing their pursuers with the occasional attack. She was only about ten metres in front of the Manifestation now and it reached down to grab her. The houses of the suburbs were trampled under its gooey feet.
A silver light rose behind Eliza. She took the split second to confirm that it was the silver sphere rising from John, before launching herself at the Manifestation of Filth. The arm missed her, but tendrils sprouted out of the liquid limb to grasp her in mid-air. Instead, they served Eliza as steps. Closer and closer, she ascended to the sludge creature’s torso. ‘Do it fucking right,’ she told herself, while drawing her arm back. Ki gathered inside her shoulder and rushed out of her fist when it connected with the semi-liquid body.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Eliza screamed, anger mixing with panic. She felt the cold, her senses dull, her vision as if she was staring out through glass. She was all alone again, trapped inside that tank, faces all around her whispering to and screaming at her. ‘John, where is John?’ a spark of reason inside her reminded her who she could depend on to soothe this trauma. Focusing on her wrath, she charged at the bubble and clawed away at it. She was powerful, extremely powerful, and these things couldn’t hurt her. Any injuries she had sustained had already healed. She just had to see John. Claw her way out and see John. Then she could kill this blight on existence. A tiny favour for all of the things all of them did for her.
“It’s cold, so cold.” “Many things died for us. We all died for us.” “We’re like you, fundamentally, little survivor.” “So, so similar.” “We understand.” “Let it win, it’s not the end of humanity.” “Laugh, laugh at the dying of the heartbeat.”
“SHUT UP!” she screamed, slowly making progress through the liquid wall. She could see the outside, between punches, but the holes closed again and again. The red light of her wings was the only light source around. Her flesh was rent by teeth and claws, whipped to the bone by serrated tendrils, and none of it was pain she cared for.
‘Elizaaaaaaaaaa.’
Until the singing voice entered her head. Fury was finally overpowered by panic and she looked down at herself. The tentacles she had so single-mindedly ignored hadn’t just carved chunks out of her, they were actively replacing it. Black Lorylim matter oozed out of the wounds, steadily pumped into the open flesh. It was largely ineffective. Overpowering Eliza’s burning blood and healing factor was no easy task. Still, Eliza could see the teeth growing out of her own, rotting flesh around the wounds.
“No... nononononnonono,” she stammered, pulled between fright and fight, tearing at the tentacles, looking for a way to escape, slicing one into the wall, trying to do all of these things simultaneously and ultimately doing nothing. “No, I can’t... I can’t become something that hurts them. Stop, stop! Please... please!”
‘It will be alright,’ the male voice was sweet and devoid of conviction. Drums and the gnashing of teeth underlaid the words like a maddening song. ‘You and I are the same, Eliza. You will do well as a body of Izha. The truth is already writhing into your brain, my dear broken angel.’
What wrath Eliza wanted to feel was muted by the physical truth of these words. She could feel the tendrils wrapping around her spine, crawling under her skin and spreading over her bones. A knot formed in her stomach. “No...” her voice was weak now, she trembled and tears welled up in her eyes. “No... I’m not... Izha... I’m...” the burning wings withered away, as the blood was drawn inside. Her magic slipped from her control.
‘You’re Izha,’ the nihilistic mind whispered. ‘There is no purpose. All will end. Help me show the world this truth. Don’t worry, you will be united with those you care about. United in being truly nothing.’ The tendrils were inside her skull now, replacing blood with themself, gnawing at her brain like a delicious treat. Still her regenerative factor maintained her life and left her with enough understanding to know what was going on. The Lorylim tried to stimulate euphoria inside her mental faculties, make her more tolerant, eager even, to accept the foreign influence. ‘Let it go, it will be easier when you say your new name. You are Izha. You are Izha. You are...’
Eliza shivered. ‘John... I don’t... I’m so useless... I...’ There was a massive pressure in her stomach. It hurt. It hurt so much it bothered even her. The tendrils pressed against it. ‘I’m...’
‘You’re a useless parasite,’ a third voice rose up inside her mind, silencing Izha in an instance. ‘I let you be in charge and you pleasure addict can’t even keep our body intact?!’ Her consciousness was suddenly in the grasp of something that wasn’t foreign. ‘Fine, I’ll do it myself.’
Weakened, Eliza was unable to resist being dragged under.