MEMELAND

"Kai!"

Andre sounded genuinely happy.

For about half a second.

Then his expression immediately changed.

"Took you long enough, dumbass!"

A cultist tried to stab him from behind.

Andre grabbed the man's wrist.

Headbutted him.

Then kicked him into the water.

An alligator immediately accepted the donation.

Kai decided not to look.

"You look terrible."

Andre glanced at his torn clothes.

His bleeding arms.

The bite mark on his shoulder.

Then shrugged.

"You should see the other guy."

The alligator beside him disagreed.

It was very much alive.

Kai sighed.

"Still talking nonsense."

"Still alive."

"Unfortunately."

Andre laughed.

A cultist rushed toward Kai.

Kai stepped forward.

The training he'd received from countless fights since arriving in this world finally showing.

The dagger flashed.

The cultist stumbled backward.

A punch followed.

Then another.

The man collapsed.

Nearby, Eric remained where he was.

Very far away from everything dangerous.

Which happened to be a reasonable survival strategy.

"I'm helping emotionally!"

Nobody listened.

The battle continued.

A cultist emerged from the shadows.

Kai barely avoided the blade.

The dagger cut across his sleeve.

Missing flesh by centimeters.

Kai retaliated immediately.

Driving his shoulder into the attacker's chest.

The man crashed into a wall.

Andre meanwhile had somehow acquired a wooden pipe.

No one knew where.

Not even Andre.

He swung it like a madman.

One cultist flew left.

Another flew right.

The pipe broke.

Andre looked offended.

Then threw the broken pipe.

It somehow worked.

The chamber descended into complete chaos.

Cultists.

Alligators.

Water.

Screaming.

Andre.

One of those things was significantly more dangerous than the others.

Suddenly a cultist shouted.

"Retreat!"

Kai looked up.

Most of the surviving cultists were already backing away.

Several had lost their strange pouches during the fighting.

The alligators quickly dealt with the consequences.

The remaining attackers wanted nothing to do with this anymore.

One hooded figure turned and ran.

Fast.

Faster than the others.

Kai noticed immediately.

"That one!"

Andre punched another cultist unconscious.

"What about him?"

"He's running!"

Andre looked.

"Oh."

"Get him."

Kai immediately sprinted after the fleeing figure.

The cultist moved quickly through the tunnel.

Leaping over debris.

Jumping across gaps.

Desperate.

Kai followed.

The distance slowly shrank.

The cultist glanced backward.

Saw Kai.

Panicked.

Ran even faster.

Then pulled a dagger.

Kai didn't slow down.

The figure suddenly turned.

The blade flashed.

Kai instinctively twisted.

The dagger grazed his neck.

A thin line of blood appeared.

The cultist used the moment to create distance.

Kai stumbled.

Touched his neck.

Looked at the blood.

Then looked at the escaping figure.

Something inside him snapped.

Not rage.

Determination.

His eyes landed on the fallen dagger.

Without thinking—

He grabbed it.

Pulled his arm back.

And threw.

The blade spun through the air.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then—

THUNK.

The cultist screamed.

The dagger buried itself in his shoulder.

The man crashed to the ground.

Rolling across the stone floor.

Kai stared.

"...No way."

Even he looked surprised.

Far behind him, Andre's voice echoed.

"YOU CAN DO THAT?!"

Kai ignored him.

Slowly approaching the fallen figure.

The cultist struggled.

Trying to crawl away.

Failing.

Kai reached him.

Pulled the dagger free.

The man screamed again.

Then froze.

Because Kai was standing over him.

Dagger in hand.

For a moment—

Nobody moved.

The sewer became strangely quiet.

Kai looked down.

The cultist looked up.

Terrified.

One strike.

That was all it would take.

Then—

A voice.

"Murderer."

Kai froze.

The dagger stopped.

The world seemed to disappear.

"Murderer."

The same voice.

The same nightmare.

The same accusation.

His grip tightened.

Then loosened.

The cultist stared.

Confused.

Kai slowly lowered the dagger.

Looked away.

Then stepped back.

The voice vanished.

The sewer returned.

Water.

Darkness.

Reality.

The cultist didn't wait.

He immediately crawled away.

Then ran.

Disappearing into the tunnels.

Andre finally caught up.

Out of breath.

Covered in blood.

Covered in sewer water.

Covered in things Kai didn't want identified.

"You had him."

Kai remained silent.

"You literally had him."

Still silent.

Andre looked at the dagger.

Then at Kai.

Then sighed.

"You've got a weird habit of not finishing things."

Kai stared at the dark tunnel where the cultist had escaped.

The voice still echoed in the back of his mind.

Murderer.

He looked down at the dagger.

Then quietly slid it into his belt.

"I know."

For once—

Andre didn't make a joke.

The two stood there in silence.

Until Eric finally arrived.

Panting.

Barely alive.

And immediately collapsed against a wall.

"I hate..."

Pant.

"...all of you."

Neither Kai nor Andre disagreed.

Because somehow—

That was completely fair.