Chapter 28: Demon’s True End

Mortem blocked both Laura and Berus’s attacks, pushing them away. He let out another roar, flapping his wings and taking to the sky. Berus leaped after Mortem, but the clone smacked him away with his tail. Berus came crashing down onto the ground, the impact slightly tearing open the wound on his stomach. Berus winced at the pain, but bit his tongue and got back up, bleeding down his stomach and the bandages over his missing eye. Laura grabbed whatever was left of her metal wire, wrapping some of it around her palm, turning it into a makeshift whip. She brought her arm back and swung the wire at Mortem’s wings. Laura used enough force for the thin wire to slice through them like butter. Mortem fell out of the sky and into the lake. He burst out of the water and started climbing up back onto the remaining surface. Berus charged at Mortem, but the clone raised his left arm and shot out tendrils from his wrist. Berus dodged them; however, two of them curved and impaled his right shoulder and left leg. Laura used her wire whip and sliced the tendrils that struck Berus. Mortem burst toward Laura, grabbing her by the throat and smashing her into a remaining building. The entire ground beneath crumbled below, the building falling sideways into the lake. As it sank, Laura and Mortem burst out of the windows. Laura had the wire wrapped around Mortem’s throat and both his hands. The wire started slicing through both of their flesh, as Mortem thrashed around. Mortem used his tail, sprouting spines and slamming them into Laura’s back. She cried in pain under the water, releasing her grip. Mortem broke loose, spinning around and socking Laura across the face before heading back up to the surface.

He broke his head through, gasping for air. “Need…food…” Mortem panted as he climbed back up.

“Laura!” Berus shouted at the water, his eyes darting around to see where she would resurface.

All the while, Ferral was ripping out the remaining spine from his body. He tore the final one that was close to his heart as he got back up. Ferral took a look around the destroyed battlefield, his sights were first placed on Armin and the others, carefully getting the remaining survivors to safety. There was a large gap between the exit and where the survivors were. Ferral turned his head, seeing Berus call out for Laura and Mortem, slowly dragging himself up. He was about to go and help Berus when his left arm suddenly went limp.

“What the hell?” Ferral said. He picked up his left arm, but it wasn’t able to move properly anymore. Then, his right leg buckled, and he fell to his left knee. Ferral had a feeling of what was happening and shoved his right hand into his chest near his heart and felt around. He touched the small canister that was pumping the revival fluid into his heart and ran his fingers along the cylinder. Sure enough, right by where that last spine was, there was a crack in the canister that was leaking the fluid.

“Shit,” Ferral muttered, placing his index and middle fingers over the crack, stopping the leak.

Laura finally resurfaced, coughing up water and a small amount of blood. Mortem stood atop the piece of stone floor, his hair matted from the water. He heaved heavy breaths while shifting his gaze from Berus and Laura. Laura got back up to the surface, standing on a wobbly piece of ground, but managed to stay balanced. Blood ran all the way down her back.

“Laura! Berus!” Ferral called out. “I won’t be able to keep fighting, I’m sorry! You can still win, I believe in you!”

“Right!” Laura said with a smile. “Thank you, Papa!”

“.....” Berus stayed silent.

Mortem sneered, moving his gaze toward the survivors slowly getting to the exit. His mouth started to water, and saliva ran down the sides of his lips. He quickly bolted in their direction. Mortem shot out multiple tendrils from his mouth, each of them wrapping around a human or experiment. They started getting dragged toward him, the sides of his lips curling into a smile. The people cried in panic as they were being dragged closer. Laura and Berus wouldn’t be able to make it in time. Mortem’s mouth opened wide, saliva dripping from his chin. However, someone swooped in, quick as a flash, and sliced off the tendrils. It was Ferral!

Ferral had come just in the nick of time, still plugging the crack with his right hand. He looked back at Mortem with a smirk and said, “Just because I can’t fight you, don’t think for a second I’m useless.” Ferral jumped in front of the group of survivors; the experiments gasped and smiled with joy, while the humans were dumbfounded and nervous.

Mortem growled and hissed, “Saving humans? You killed them. Why be a hero now?”

Ferral snorted. “I am no hero,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t carry out the will of others. Leona, Clare, Amber…I will carry out their will to protect everything and everyone!”

Mortem roared at Ferral before lunging at him. Ferral put up his guard, ready for Mortem’s attack, but someone leaped over Ferral’s right shoulder and kicked Mortem away. Mortem was sent flying back, crashing into the floor. Cello stood in front of Ferral after her attack, surprising the late emperor.

Cello turned her head and said, “Don’t worry, Emperor. Let me fend him off on your behalf; you seem a bit held up by something in your heart.”

Ferral smiled and nodded. “Very well,” he replied. “Don’t die, Cello.”

The young woman smiled back before turning her head back toward Mortem, then ran toward the clone. Laura and Berus also started charging toward the clone as he struggled to get back up. Mortem’s bulky body started to shrink, going back to what it was before. His blood red eyes and white pupils also reappeared. He was too tired, and without food, there’d be no way the clone could last much longer.

Mortem let out a desperate cry, using whatever strength he had left, and bolted toward Laura and Berus. They stopped once they saw him coming, putting up their guard. Mortem used his tail to grab a large rock and sling it at Laura. She smacked it away, but was punched in the gut and sent flying back. Berus and Mortem had a small back-and-forth before the clone managed to sweep Berus’s feet from under him. They both fell to the ground. Mortem pinned Berus down and grabbed his neck, stabbing his claws into the sides. Small tendrils stuck inside Berus’s neck and started sucking up his blood. Berus thrashed around, trying to break free, but Mortem’s grip was too strong. Cello came leaping from piece to piece of the destroyed ground toward the two. Mortem opened his mouth and shot out several tendrils toward Cello. She blocked them all with her arms; they were too weak to pierce all the way through, and she used her right arm to wrap the tendrils around and pull Mortem forward. His head jerked toward her, but he stayed put, biting the tendrils off before she could try again. Laura came running from behind, then kicked Mortem in the side of the head. The grip on his right hand loosened, letting Berus be able to break his left hand free and slice off the hand that was around his neck.

Mortem cried out in pain, getting up and stumbling back. Laura swiftly pulled out one of her remaining flame strips and the ignitor, slapping the strip against Mortem’s chest and striking it before kicking him away. His body was set ablaze before he crashed through the wall of another building. Mortem screamed, writhing in agony as his body burned to ashes. Laura quickly grabbed the severed hand off of Berus, placed her last flame strip on it, lit the strip, then threw the hand onto another piece of the ground. Both Mortem and the severed hand were burned until nothing was left. The entire building, Mortem's charred remains, started to catch the black and pink flames before the ground beneath crumbled, sending the building into the lake. 

The trio sighed with overwhelming relief. Cello and Laura’s bodies collapsed from exhaustion. Laura started to laugh; it started small but grew louder.

“We…we did it!” She declared to the sky, still laughing. “Whoo!”

Cello and Berus started laughing too, joining in on the cheers. All of the survivors watched, stunned as the trio laughed and shouted like lunatics. Some sighed with relief while others started crying. Ferral watched with a proud smile, chuckling to himself.

“Great job, you two,” he whispered. “I’m so proud of you.”