Chapter 80: Filth.
The Therizon slammed itself sideways into an ancient wall of ice.
The collision shattered the wall of ice into countless pieces, but Damien flattened himself against its back before the impact could throw him loose. Shards of ice whipped past his face while the Therizon continued charging without slowing down.
Unable to dislodge him, the Therizon became even more violent.
Space suddenly rippled around its body.
Damien’s expression stiffened.
"Oh, don’t you dare Birdy."
The surrounding world folded.
In the next instant, the Therizon vanished.
Damien felt his stomach lurch as though the entire world had been ripped out from beneath him. There was no sensation of movement, no wind, no passing scenery.
Then reality returned.
The Therizon burst back into existence, already travelling at terrifying speed, smashing through another wall of ancient ice the very instant it emerged. The impact echoed like thunder before space distorted once more.
Damien was holding on for dear life, as all his undead dissolved into black miasma and trailed behind them, it made for quite the spectacle.
The Therizon surfing through the ice, shattering everything in its path, a small human figure riding it like a bull, and thick black miasma following from behind.
... ...
Vincent grunted as he slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. Broken fragments of ice surrounded him where he’d crashed moments earlier, but his attention never left the figure lying several metres ahead.
Naomi hadn’t moved since the Therizon’s screech had brought both of them down. Her body lay motionless against the frozen ground, one arm stretched awkwardly across the ice while strands of wet black hair covered most of her face.
To anyone else, she would’ve looked unconscious.
Vincent knew better.
He brushed the frost from his suit before taking another step forward. His pitch-black eyes never left Naomi for a single moment as Deadlock quietly settled over the surrounding space, ready to suppress her soul.
The instant Vincent entered striking distance, Naomi’s eyes snapped open.
Her body dissolved before he could react.
A black arm shot out from the sludge, stretching out as it lunged towards Vincent’s chest. He instinctively twisted away, but not fast enough.
The sludge wrapped around his shoulder and part of his chest.
Ssssssss!
The corrosive sludge immediately began eating through his clothes and flesh.
Vincent roared in pain, while Naomi’s expression twisted into a savage smile.
"You can die now." She said spitefully.
The runes engraved into the base of Vincent’s cane suddenly flared to life. The cane slammed directly into Naomi’s shoulder.
The impact shattered her dissolved arm apart before the rest of the sludge was violently ripped away from Vincent’s body. Naomi staggered backwards, her human form rapidly reconstructing itself as she ran several metres across the frozen ground.
The sizzling on Vincent’s chest didn’t stop.
He looked down briefly.
The corrosive sludge had eaten through his shirt, leaving an ugly blackened wound beneath it. Thin wisps of smoke still rose from the scorched flesh.
Vincent frowned.
"It’s a twenty five thousand dollar suit."
Naomi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth before smiling coldly.
"Oh I’m so sorry". She exaggerated out of proportion. "You’ll get another one in your casket".
Her body broke apart into black sludge and surged across the ice like a living wave. The ice beneath Vincent suddenly melted into black sludge. His footing disappeared instantly, forcing him to shift his weight just as Naomi burst from the liquid at his feet. One arm remained dissolved while the other had already solidified into flesh, the black hand reaching for his face while the solid one surprisingly drove a knife-hand strike towards his ribs.
Vincent’s pitch-black eyes met hers.
Naomi’s movements barely faltered, it was like her soul was being protected by an unseen force whenever she dissolved her body.
The glowing base of his cane struck her hand before immediately reversing direction and smashing into her jaw. Bone cracked audibly as Naomi spun across the ice, but before she even landed, her entire body dissolved again.
The cane swept down with deadly intent, but the sludge actually separated into three different parts. The black liquid surged around Vincent’s legs from three different directions at once.
His eyes darted across the battlefield, but every puddle looked identical or were all the same, Vincent couldn’t tell.
Then Naomi suddenly emerged from directly beneath him.
Her dissolved arm shot through the ice and wrapped around Vincent’s ankle.
Ssssssss...
The flesh around his leg immediately blackened. Vincent drove the bottom of the cane straight down.
The glowing runes collided with the sludge gripping his leg. Naomi hissed as the dissolved arm burst apart once again, but instead of retreating, another arm immediately emerged behind Vincent and clawed across his back.
Blood sprayed across the frozen ground.
Vincent staggered forward.
Naomi materialised beside him almost instantly, driving a kick into his side before her body dissolved again, causing Vincent’s counterattack to slice through empty sludge.
She laughed.
"What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to kill me, not so tough now, are you? You know, when we first met. I imagined you to be this refined gentleman... but you couldn’t hide the filth that you are".
Vincent remained silent.
His breathing had become noticeably heavier now. Blackened burns covered his shoulder, chest and calf where Naomi’s sludge had touched him, while blood slowly ran down his back beneath what remained of his torn suit.
"I know what you did to those young innocent girls, you pretended to be a man of principle, but in truth, you were the snake in the dark... You waited for them to reveal their deepest darkest self to you, then you used that against them, and forced them to do unspeakable things".
Vincent couldn’t see where Naomi was speaking from, she was constantly moving through the ice in her dissolved state, but he knew she wasn’t in much better condition.
Half her face remained stained with blood where the cane had shattered her cheekbone, while deep bruises covered her ribs from repeated strikes. Even so, neither injury seemed capable of slowing her down.
Vincent’s eyes suddenly narrowed.