C163: Burning away
Danz’s single eye moved, his gaze fixing on Roson.
“It’s you.”
“!”
Roson’s body jolted. That cold, heavy tone sent an electric current crawling up her spine.
In the same heartbeat, both figures vanished. Their movements blurred, leaving only violent afterimages tearing through the smoke-laden air of the ruined barn.
A split second later, sparks erupted in midair. The sharp, grating sound of daggers colliding with flesh harder than stone rang out.
*BANG!*
Roson was struck squarely in the chest.
“Uffg—”
The impact crushed the air from her lungs, almost fracturing her bones. Blood spilled from her mouth, and her eyes bulged bloodshot. Her body hurtled violently backward, uncontrollably flying toward the Trader.
“!”
Realizing she was about to collide with the Trader, her entire body exploded outward.
Dozens upon dozens of dark shapes burst forth from her dissolving form, scattering in every direction like the splinters.
[Bats transformation!]
A whole flock of bats, their leathery wings shrieking, scattered through the confines of the barn. Black silhouettes flooded the air, beating frantically against the walls, the rafters, and broken beams.
Seizing the opportunity presented by this chaos, Danz's massive body ignited, his skin glowing like iron fresh from the forge.
"RRAAAGGGHHHHHH!"
Five blazing spheres of fire materialized in a semicircle behind Danz, swirling with destructive energy.
Danz waved his hand. Instantly, the fiery projectiles curved and launched, screaming through the air.
Yet, this time, instead of flying toward the cowering Trader, they streaked directly toward the scattered flock of winged things that were spreading through the barn's confined space.
All of them hit!
A series of explosions ripped through the air, incinerating wings and tiny bodies in bursts of burning flesh and shrill, dying shrieks!
Smoke and ash spiraled upward as the scattered flock was forced to converge, smashing into the barn wall in a tangled, flaming mass.
"Ughf!"
From the billowing smoke and drifting embers, Roson's battered figure emerged.
She lay sprawled across the shattered floorboards, one hand feebly crawling at the splintered planks, her nails digging into the wood as she struggled to gain purchase.
Her vision swam and blurred. She tried turning her body around, attempting to rise, but blood poured from her mouth, splattering beneath her chin.
"..."
She looked down at herself.
Her white suit was ruined, charred and torn. Its fabric burned away to reveal the pale skin beneath, blistered and blackened where the flames had kissed her. The smell of scorched flesh clung to her.
She slowly craned her head upward and fixed her gaze upon Danz, who stood in front of her like a pillar of fire.
Her eyes flashed violet.
"[Sub... mit—]"
In that same instant, several men lunged at Danz from all sides!
“WAKE UP, YOU FOOLS!”
Danz roared, but it was no use!
The Tear Drop group was not made solely of Stagefarers. Among them were also ordinary men, hired muscle and thugs with no training whatsoever. Those ordinary thugs had no resistance against Roson’s ability, and they moved like puppets under her command.
Those at the Entry Stage found it incredibly difficult to resist. Those at the Apprentice Stage fared no better; already half-lost to the stimulant’s backlash, they could barely stand, let alone resist.
“...Agghhhhhh…”
The men threw themselves upon him, layering their bodies one atop another, striving to pin him in place through sheer mass.
Some punched him wildly. Some struck him with crude, rusted weapons that bent against his skin. Others simply clung to his limbs, grappling his arms, his legs, his shoulders, attempting to drag him down by accumulated weight.
Yet, it was all futile. Not a single blow pierced his flesh. His skin had grown harder than stone, burning so hot the men who grasped him shrieked as their palms blistered.
However, the persistent assault was infuriating. Veins popped out along his forehead, far more prominent than before, throbbing with each heartbeat.
At the same time, a dark red blob erupted from the ground, wrapping itself around his limbs, pinning him in place once more!
"DON'T MESS WITH ME!"
Danz slammed his fist into the ground!
The impact was catastrophic. A huge explosion erupted from the point of contact!
The warped wooden floor evaporated into dust. The barn detonated outward, its roof beams snapping apart, planks and crates blasted skyward, straw and splinters raining like shrapnel as a shockwave ripped through the structure. Dirt and smoke flew in every direction, blotting out the sky above.
Men were thrown in every direction, their bodies flung like rag dolls by the destructive wave.
“[RRAAAAGGGEEEEEEEE!]”
Danz’s roar tore through the ruins, hoarse yet deafening, reverberating across the collapsing barn!
“Ughhhh!”
The trio of Golden Land agents clutched their ears as pain stabbed through their skulls. The shout was too much; it set their ear drums ringing with a high-pitched whine that threatened to burst them.
The remaining walls shuddered and cracked. The surviving crates exploded into kindling. Dust, straw, and fragmented debris were hurled away as spiraling currents of wind poured from Danz's body in howling streams.
Danz waved his hand, dismissing the choking dust and smoke with a single gesture, to reveal his transformed form.
The man, now with swelling muscles and veins popping across his scorched skin, stood amid the wreckage. The air around him distorted with heat. His single remaining eye flared brilliant crimson, and the empty socket where his other eye had once resided had already stopped bleeding.
No, "stopped bleeding" was not the correct description.
In truth, any blood that escaped simply evaporated the very instant it left his socket, leaving behind only a scorched, dark red scar.
Dust swirled around his boots.
His body had grown noticeably larger, his ragged clothes torn to shreds and barely clinging to his now-hulking muscular frame.
And if one looked closely, a deep crimson aura bled from his being, pulsing like a living thing.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"
Danz hurled himself forward, a crimson blur of raw power.
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he launched toward the Golden Trader, and at the same instant, five blazing spheres of fire materialized behind him.
They shot forward in tight formation, converging upon the Trader's position.
The explosions detonated just short of the Trader. Their concussive force slammed into the invisible shield around the Trader, blasting scorched air and straw outward.
Heat rippled across the space, and one of the contract pages hanging at the Trader’s hip slowly browned and burned away.
Yet the Golden Trader proudly stood his ground, pushing his chest forward, pride etched clearly across his composed face.
Calmly, he raised the pristine white, glowing sheet he had just finished writing and began to read aloud in a clear voice.
"Mr. Danz Johnson, having violated the covenant, did subsequently attempt to assault the Contractor directly. This constitutes a breach of Clause 4, Section 1, Clause 7, Section 1, and Clauses 9 and 10 of the Additional Section—"
Rosen, finally regaining his footing amid the rubble, forced himself upright.
Pain screamed through his fractured ribs, but he gritted his teeth and lunged forward, slamming his entire weight into Danz with everything his battered body could muster!
His fists struck again and again, each blow more powerful than the last, hammering at the one-eyed man's chest, ribs, and shoulder in a furious, ragged barrage.
Yet, the man did not budge a single inch from his place.
Snarling with annoyance, Danz seized Rosen by the forearm and yanked with brutal force.
Rosen flew backward like a discarded ragdoll. His body smashed through the barn wall with bone-shattering force, and a jagged plank pierced straight through his back, its blood-slicked tip bursting out the other side.
He hung there, his limbs going limp and lifeless.
This was the difference between an Apprentice and a Foundation Stage Warrior!
“DON’T YOU DARE!!!”
Danz slammed both hands against the cracked barrier protecting the Trader.
His fingers dug into the light itself, fractures spreading outward like shattered glass. His single remaining eye burned crimson; the empty socket beside it gushed blood, steam rising the moment it touched the scorching air.
His gaze was locked entirely upon the Trader, not even acknowledging the many men who now lunged toward him from all sides, clawing and grasping in their futile attempts to hold him down!
In the face of true power, everyone else was merely ants!
*Sizzzzzzzzle.*
The air distorted. Light rippled and bent, burning with metallic hum. The barrier began to glow a deep orange-red, the color of steel pushed beyond its limits within a roaring furnace.
"In addition," the Trader continued relentlessly, his voice never wavering, "attempting to obliterate the Contractor, absent the influence of any foreign substance, acting with a clear mind, rational intent, and deliberate homicidal will—"
"SHUT UP!!!"
Danz roared and tore his arms apart! Another contract page hanging at the Trader's hip browned and burned away to ash. The golden barrier shattered into a thousand luminous fragments, dissolving into sparkling light that scattered like dying fireflies.
In the same motion, Danz drove a punch straight toward the Trader’s face!
Yet—
"!"
His fist stopped dead, hanging mere inches before the Golden Trader's nose!
The blonde man's pince-nez glasses cracked from the extreme proximity of the blow. Sweat poured down the Trader’s face, his body trembling from head to foot, but a triumphant smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.
A pristine white page flared to life between them, hovering in the empty air.
[T-03-083 Cursed Artifact: The Golden Contract!]
The paper blazed with blinding radiance, emitting a brilliant golden light that washed out every shadow in the ruined barn!
Without a moment's delay, the Golden Trader shouted with urgency:
“The Golden Contract Verdict: DEATH PENALTY! EFFECT IMMEDIATELY!”
Danz's remaining eye flew wide. He strained forward with every fiber of his being, pushing his hand toward the Golden Trader's throat, but it was useless. Something kept interfering with his thoughts, a suffocating pressure that arrested his will and stopped his hand from advancing any further!
"..."
At one point, he felt something ignite inside him.
"Uffgh—!"
Danz coughed up a spray of blood, his massive frame collapsing to one knee.
His immense strength waned by the second, draining from his body like water from a cracked vessel. The heat within him surged wildly out of control, burning far hotter than before. His skin flushed a deep, angry red from head to foot, steam rolling off his body in suffocating waves.
His breathing became ragged and shallow, every inhale scorching his lungs as though he were drawing fire directly into his chest.
"Whh... what have you done to me..."
At that same moment, Roson staggered to her feet, moving with a labored gait. She walked over and dragged the Golden Trader backward by the arm, away from the kneeling Gladiator.
She barely managed to remain upright. Her movements were sluggish and graceless, every step sending pain rippling through her body.
Rosen followed, wrenching the splintered plank free from his pierced abdomen. He limped after the retreating pair, blood soaking through his ruined clothes.
They were both grievously injured, their bodies torn and battered by the fight.
Roson’s white suit was charred black in several places, the fabric fused to her skin beneath. Blood streaked down the side of her face. Her ears still rang from the explosion, the world around her reduced to muffled noise that she could barely parse.
Rosen’s breathing was ragged. One bone jutted unnaturally beneath his skin, his stomach wound still bleeding. His hearing had dulled as if he were submerged underwater.
Yet despite all of that, the two bodyguards took up their positions in front of Danz, facing him directly, eye to eye.
They swallowed hard, their throats dry. Sweat poured from their bodies under the extreme heat emanating from Danz. Their postures sagged from pain and exhaustion, trembling slightly, but their eyes never left Danz for even a second.
"Killing a Foundation Stage Warrior is indeed a difficult proposition," the Golden Trader sighed from behind them, pushing up his now-cracked pince-nez glasses.
“Y… YOU!!! UGGAHHH!!”
Danz roared, clawing at his own body as the heat inside him spiraled completely out of control.
It was no longer something he could suppress. His flesh glowed red-hot, veins bulging grotesquely beneath skin that was beginning to blister and split, weeping molten fluid.
He fell forward. His fingers dug into his own skull, his back arching.
He was burning, literally burning from the inside out!
His body grew hotter and hotter, as though he himself had become a living funeral pyre!
Fire ripped through his organs, scorched his heart, boiled his blood, seared his brain, and consumed everything from within!
“AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!”
His scream shook the barn, rattling loose planks from what remained of the walls.
Gradually, his skin began to melt like wax from a burning candle. Flames burst outward from his body, and smoke billowed from his shoulders and spine.
The barn itself caught fire, wooden beams blackening and cracking as the temperature skyrocketed.
“RRAWWGHHHHHH!”
Danz, or rather, what had once been Danz, threw himself forward in a final lunge toward the Golden Trader!
The man who had once stood proud and massive, a towering, muscular figure whose every scar told a story of battles survived and hardships endured, was now reduced to a monstrous being.
A creature with skin sloughing off in molten sheets, crawling on all fours, teeth elongated into jagged points. Its muscles lay exposed and twitching, bones jutting outward through ruined flesh.
With every movement, droplets of red-hot liquid flesh splashed onto the ground, sizzling on contact, leaving small, smoking craters in their wake.
And yet... his single remaining eyeball never left the Golden Trader. Even now, reduced to this melting horror, that one crimson eye remained locked upon its target with an unquenchable, undying fury that transcended death itself!
Immediately, the two bodyguards seized the Golden Trader by both arms and ran!
They no longer possessed the strength to stop this monstrous thing's advance.
"GRR... I... I'm—"
Missing his target, the creature collapsed to the ground, its body no longer able to sustain even the most basic locomotion.
Its ruined form struck the floor with a wet, burning thud that sent up a small spray of molten droplets and ash.
The remaining eye loosened in its melting socket, slowly drooping downward as the surrounding flesh gave way... yet even as it slipped free, tumbling down the ruined landscape of what had been his cheek, it stayed fixed in the Trader's direction, refusing to look away from its nemesis until the very end.
The remaining skin began to melt.
Then the muscle beneath.
Then the bone.
"Th–not—I—" His vocal cords burned away, leaving only a hissing wheeze where words had been.
'I... I...'
"Grr–" The sound slowly died as his body consumed itself from within, the flames licking away everything that had once been Danz Johnson.
'If only... I did not run away.'
'If only I... If only I could–I could...'
'My friends... forgive me.'
Images flooded his fading mind.
'Ahh–' His companions reached out to him, hands extended, their faces bright with the hope of better days.
"Grr–"
A melted, unrecognizable limb lifted weakly toward them.
Yet, it could never reach them.
Slowly, his body burned… until there was nothing left but ash.