Chapter 429 Final String

He looped a final string around Pepper’s jaw, then yanked down, forcing its mouth open. A bubbling, wet scream spilled out as Butcher wiggled his fingers, making the hatchling’s jaws clack open and shut in a mockery of speech.

"P-P-Pepe! Pepepepe!" Butcher mimicked in a high-pitched squeal, grinning as Hermit vomited between sobs.

"Ain’t dis nice? Jus’ like old times!"

He pulled the strings tighter, making Pepper’s body contort, its spine arching unnaturally as the hooks ripped free of their moorings.

The hatchling didn’t scream anymore. It just twitched, its eye glazing over, its breaths fewer and farther between.

Butcher pouted.

"Aw. Boring again. Show’s over."

He turned back to Hermit, his grin stretching impossibly wide.

"Now… let’s play a game."

He kicked Hermit onto his back, then planted a foot on his chest, pinning him down. He tied the other end of the fishing line around his own thick finger, letting the hatchling dangle just above Hermit’s face.

 His body trembled, but he didn’t dare move, his eyes locked on the hatchling’s twitching body.

"Ohhh, dis is good! Ya see dis, magic lady?!"

He glanced up at Suzuka, still standing motionless at the edge of the pit.

"Dis is art!"

She didn’t respond.

Butcher shrugged, then leaned down, his breath hot and rancid against Hermit’s face.

"Guess she don’t care about you. Guess it’s just you an’ me, slave."

He pulled on the line, just enough to make the fishing line twitch. The hatchling jerked, a fresh trickle of blood running down its neck.

What followed was a symphony of suffering, each note more agonizing than the last.

Butcher rocked back and forth on his heel, making hatchling swing like a pendulum over Hermit’s face. Every tiny movement sent fresh blood pattering onto Hermit’s cheeks, each drop a cruel reminder of his helplessness.

"Ya like dat, slave?" Butcher taunted, pressing down harder.

"Dis what ya wanted, right? Ta fight me yerself? Well, here ya go! Fight! You said you beat me with ya own hands! Maybe I should beat you with your hands."

Hermit squeezed his eyes shut, tears cutting through the grime on his face.

Butcher tutted.

"Aw, no! No cryin’! Dat’s cheatin’!"

With a sudden jerk, he yanked the line, making the hatchling drop several inches, the hook tearing through its ear. The hatchling screeched, its tiny claws scrabbling at the air, its voice breaking into wet, hiccupping sobs.

"PEPEPEPE! PEPEEEEEEEE!"

Hermit screamed, his hands flying up, Butcher let go of the line.

For one heart-stopping second, the hatchling plummeted, the hook ripping free in a spray of blood. Before Butcher caught it at the last possible moment, his fingers closing around its tail.

"OOPS!" he cackled, shaking the hatchling like a toy.

"Almost lost dere! HAH!"

Pepper lay on its belly in Butcher's hand, its broken body barely able to twitch, its one good eye wide with a terror too deep for understanding.

"Dis lil' worm still kickin'?" he sneered, poking at Pepper's side with a jagged nail.

The hatchling let out a weak, shuddering sound—"Pepe... pepe..."—its claws scraping uselessly against the skin as it tried to drag itself away.

"Nah, nah, none o' dat," he chuckled, his meaty fingers slamming down on Pepper's tiny tail, pinning it to his palm. The hatchling squealed, its voice cracking as it writhed, but Butcher just pressed in harder, his weight crushing the delicate bones.

"Ya know what dis needs? A lil'... trim."

Then, with a sudden, brutal yank, he ripped Pepper's tail clean off.

The sound was wet. Vicious.

Pepper screeched, a sound so shrill it bordered on inhuman, its tiny body convulsing as blood poured from the ragged stump. Butcher held the severed tail aloft, swinging it like a trophy, his laughter booming as the hatchling's cries turned into gasping, hiccupping sobs.

"Lookit dat! Wiggly lil' thing!"

He dangled the tail in front of Pepper's face, letting the blood drip onto its snout.

"Want it back? HAH!"

The hatchling's breaths came in panicked hitches, its remaining strength fading fast. Its claws scrabbled weakly against Butcher's palm, its voice reduced to a broken, mindless chant—"Pepe... pepe..."—as shock and pain broke it completely.

Butcher tossed the tail aside, watching with delight as Pepper's struggles grew slower, weaker. Hermit vomited, his body convulsing with sobs. Butcher watched, enthralled.

Then—

"Yer boring me. Time ta end dis."

He dropped the hatchling onto Hermit’s chest, then reared back and kicked them both, sending them skidding across the pit in a tangle of limbs and blood.

The hatchling landed on its back, its tiny chest heaving, its breaths coming in wet, gurgling gasps.

Hermit crawled toward it, his arms shaking, his vision swimming.

"P-Pepper…"

"Dis is it, slave! Dis is where ya die."

He raised his fist—

—and the hatchling, with the last of its strength, lunged, its tiny teeth sinking into the Butcher’s ankle.

Butcher roared, more surprised than hurt, and brought the fist down—

—straight at the hatchling’s skull.

Hermit screamed, a sound beyond grief, beyond rage—a sound that came from the very core of his being.

And then—

Butcher’s laughter died in a choked gurgle, his eyes bulging, his feet kicking uselessly as he was lifted off the ground.

Suzuka's hand was around Butcher’s skull, her fingers sinking into his flesh like hot knives into butter.

"I did promise not to interfere. But then again…"

Her grip tightened, her nails piercing his skull.

"...I lie sometimes."

And with that, she crushed his head like some fruit. Then, finally, she turned to Hermit.

"Happy now? You piece of shit. You made me break a promise."

Hermit didn’t answer. He was already crawling toward the hatchling’s body, his sobs the only sound left in the world.

Suzuka let out a long sigh, rubbing her temple. She stepped forward, her hand coming down lightly on Hermit's shoulder, halting his pathetic, trembling crawl toward the hatchling.

"Oh, for the love of—stop. You're embarrassing yourself. Look at you—dragging your broken ribs through the dirt like some kind of half-dead worm. Do you honestly think you're helping anyone like this?"

She crouched down, grabbing the back of his neck and yanking him up to face her, her golden eyes burning with irritation. Hermit's face was a mess of snot, tears, and blood, his breaths coming in wet, hiccupping gasps.

"P-Pepper still—I have to. I have to—I have to save—" he choked out, his swollen eyes darting past her to where the tiny hatchling lay twitching.

Suzuka rolled her eyes. 

"You have to what? Bleed on it? Die next to it? Very heroic. Ugh. Yes, your stupid hatchling is still alive. Barely. But if you keep wallowing like this, neither of you are going to make it."

With her free hand, she pulled out a potion from her magical item storage then shoved it against Hermit's chest hard enough to make him wheeze.

"Drink. All of it. It's the usual stuff to get you back on feet. I didn't waste so much of my blood on you just to watch you die. So, you better keep it that way. And listen carefully, because I'm only saying this once—you owe me now. Not just for this. But for breaking my promise. And I always collect."

She released him, letting him collapse into the dirt as she straightened, dusting off her hands with a look of disgust.

"Now hurry up and heal. That hatchling isn't going to cuddle itself."

As the healing potion took effect, knitting shattered bones and sealing torn flesh, Suzuka stalked over to the hatchling. She lifted it by the scruff, examining its shuddering breaths and glazed eyes.

"It'll live," she announced, dropping it unceremoniously onto Hermit's newly healed chest.

  "Unlike your dignity. Next time you pick a fight with something ten times your size, do me a favor—lose quietly."

With a sharp sigh, Suzuka knelt in the bloodstained snow, her coat splaying around her like spilled ink. She yanked more vials of luminescent green liquid. Hermit's brew. Silvia's recipe.

She grabbed Pepper's tiny, twitching head and forced the first vial between its teeth, tilting its chin up until it gulped reflexively. The hatchling convulsed once—then went still, its breathing deepening as the healing potion eased his pain. Without ceremony, she shoved the remaining vials into Hermit's hands, her fingers lingering just long enough to ensure his grip was steady.

"You recovered enough, get up already, how long will you sleep? Don't forget the other hatchlings, they are also badly beaten."

Hermit stared at her, his eyes wide—not with fear, but with something else. Gratitude. He opened his mouth—

"Don't. Don't say a damn word." Suzuka cut him off with a glare. 

"Just move."

He scrambled up, clutching Pepper to his chest, and stumbled toward the caves where the other broken hatchlings lay waiting. Suzuka watched until his silhouette vanished.

Then, she was alone.