31. Meatcake (2)

A towering idol of sinful meat. A Babylonian monstrosity. Gren sat atop the bleeding throne, twitching all its twenty eyes down at Axel's party.

Nyeander fell to her knees. Her mouth trembled open. Barely did she mutter a word before a screaming fit took hold of her.

"You have been very bad guests," said Gren with an eerily calm smile, "Guess I was expecting too much from outsiders, yet again. Bad people. Always, bad people. Bad people need to be erased."

Axel grabbed Nyeander's arm. Were Gren to attack, he was ready to burst through what remained of the front door and flee as quickly as possible.

There was only one problem with this plan, and that was it would have him leave Heidl behind.

"I don't care if she's just as NPC," he thought, "I was tasked to escort her into safety, so I must. But will she follow me when I run?"

In Ancient Blades, you could order NPCs to follow you without attacking any hostiles nearby. However, to do so required one to talk to them and tell them, "Follow me, closely".

Heidl stood not too far, however, Emma blocked the path between Axel and her.

"She's been acting unusually violent. Furthermore, she was able to attack me on her own, something that no follower in the game should be capable of. Is there a unique rule to this realm that allows such behavior?"

It was not an unreasonable thought, but Axel had a feeling there might be something else at play. Emma was an unfinished follower from the infamous modder, Weeboy's anime-inspired mod. He was notorious for many reasons, one of them being his plagiarising of others' codes to create a horny, buggy mess.

Emma was a case of a such buggy mess. Her life-stealing ability was stolen from a modpack featuring blood-powered monsters like Vampires. While her ability to heal by drawing others' blood was well implemented, but in doing so, Weeboy made a fatal mistake.

Be it an example of amateurishness or sloth, he forgot to delete a certain line of code. A line that assigned Emma her entity state. That tiny, yet fatal mistake made it so that she is not considered a human by code, but a Vampire.

Vampires in Ancient Blades were hostile against humans, which begged the question:

Is Emma a foe or an ally?

The truth was yet to reveal itself, as Emma stomped forward, shouting at Gren.

"Wicked monster! How dare you suggest WE are evil and not you? What excuse do you have for torturing innocent people?"

"Innocent?" Gren chuckled. "What makes you think any of those people were innocent? Let's assume you're right and they have never hurt a single being in their lives; not a soul, not a bug. They feasted on our meat when they were invited to dinner at our house. They did not know it was the meat of sinners, but assumed it belonged to an animal, like pork or cattle. Why would they suddenly turn around to consume other innocent beings without a hint of guilt? That's right! Because they are hypocrites! Liars who deceive others to achieve their selfish dreams!"

Gren stopped to breathe. She was wheezing, her heart pounding with rage. Even her smile began to slip.

"What I'm saying is," she continued, "That our dinner-time feast is not just a simple get-together. It is the ultimate test to decide one's value. Those who fail do not possess the right to object to it!"

Emma was left speechless, her stomach turning at the realization. She consumed human meat. Another person's blood, veins, and meat were inside of her. Nauseous overcome her. She wanted to throw up, but it was too late.

Gren laughed at the sight. "Do you understand? You are no better than me! You are just like those sinners you consumed! No better, not at all!"

In the face of her laugh, all fell silent but one. Someone with a realization. Someone, who was an exception to her rule.

Axel raised his head. "Yes, I am!"

"Oh my!" Gren smirked. "And please, do tell, what makes you so delusional?"

"I did not eat from your meat!"

They fell silent, leaving sound for the pouring and crackling fire on the house's ruins. By now, even Gren's father had noticed the ruckus and rushed out of the barn. Seeing her little daughter atop the grotesque throne of flesh, the wound of her missing arm connecting her to that pulsing mix of corpses, he could only feel one thing: proudness for her little princess.

He laughed, quietly at first, rolling into an uncontrolled craze. This is what it was all about. He rushed closer to hear their conversation, dodging the burning remains of their home and entering the ruins.

But he expected to be her domination was something more complex.

Gren stood frozen in place. She tried to remember the events of the night, and indeed, Axel had never touched the meat they offered.

"Tsh!" Gren hissed. "Whatever! You ate meat before, so--"

"I'm a vegan." Axel stopped her.

Gren's recoiled. She felt shocked at first, then angry, then dark joy as she smirked again.

"Nonsense! Even then, you must have eaten meat before you became vegan!"

"Nah. My parents were vegans too. They never fed me meat."

Axel's words hit Gren like a lightning strike. Worse than the implication, Gren could not see whether he was lying or not.

Axel kept a straight face. It infuriated her.

"You..." Gren shouted, "You're lying! No such person exists! You must have eaten meat at least once in your lifetime!"

"Nope, never. Besides, if you say no person exists who has never eaten meat before, what's the basis of your test? It's impossible to pass. Does that not make this test just an execution?"

"An execution! That's right! An execution of sinners! I don't care if they ever ate meat, what matters is whom it belonged to! I never consumed the meat of an innocent animal, only that of sinners!"

"Okay. Still, you intended to kill me, when clearly, I haven't done anything wrong, not even by your definition. I think I should be let go."

A shocking turn of events! Everyone, even Gren was left utterly shocked!

"Excuse me?" Emma gritted her teeth. At that moment, if there was not a much larger threat in front of them, she would have grabbed her flail and shot it through Axel's skull, killing the cowardly male.

Gren would have done something similar, if only that would not have made her a hypocrite, much like the people she was ranting about. "Fine," she spoke, "I'll let you go. But only you."

Nyeander's eyes widened. "W-What?" She turned to Axel, hoping that he would argue and try to get them out of danger.

But he did not. The offer left him with a smile of relief.

"Y-You..." Nyeander staggered to Axel and tightly hugged his leg. "You can't do this... You can't leave us behind! Please! Don't leave me behind!"

"I'm sorry, Nyeander. You cannot leave with me."

Two sentences. That was all it took for Nyeander to spiral.

The tides and waves of despair pushed her underwater, suffocating her in the miasma of anguish. She fell further and further, descending into the dark depths below.

However...

In that void, she saw a light. A single glimmer of hope, barely shining, yet eradicating all the dark.

A smirk sat on Axel's face. It was not one of a man leaving his comrades behind, but one that belonged to a rabbit, appearing harmless on the outside, but secretly waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Previously, he wanted to run. But at that moment, he was ashamed of that idea. Not because of newfound bravery or a realization of chivalry, no.

It was something else. An awakening. He knew not what it was, but he felt it. A rabbit. As if it was standing next to him, mimicking Axel's every move, following the outlines of aura.

He felt the rabbit's power and embraced it.

He was ready to take down Gren.