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Description

[Red vs Blue]

                Zeesa was hurled through the air and landed hard on a pile of treasure, a large cut gemstone jammed hard into her ribs and she rolled to the side, groaning in pain.

“Oh, did that hurt?” Noob snickered at her.

“Eat Shit!” she growled back.

“So…” Nob sighed, “We’re really not going to talk about this?”

“About what?” she complained, climbing back to her feet.

“I told you to call me dad.”

                Zeesa shrugged, and started throwing punches. Noob easily dodged every single one, then spun Zeesa around and kicked her in the spine. With a pained shout, Zeesa dropped to her knees, clutching at her back. He let out a sigh and started pacing around the room.

“You know…This was the whole reason I came here,” he explained, “You were the whole reason I came here.”

“Would you just…”

“She was a lot like you, your mother,” Noob continued on, “Not just fierce, but, restless, needing some excitement, a change of venue, a…a life that was her own.”

                Zeesa glared at him, not really listening, but choosing to use the time so that she could recover, and maybe come up with a plan for how to defeat him.

“She came to the island for the same reason you did, she wanted out of her royal responsibilities, an escape.”

                Zeesa rolled her eyes and started scanning the environment, searching for a weapon or something she could use against him. He turned his back to her continuing to reminisce and she started quietly creeping about.

“We met at the bar, late one night, sharing a few drinks and…a rather long…long roll in the sheets we started talking, we…that is to say…we wanted…I wanted…” he shook his head and stared at the floor, “Before she left, I was approached by…something, someone who made me an offer.”

                Zeesa grabbed one of the gemstones and rushed him from behind, bashing his head open and knocking Noob’s fedora onto the floor before he crumpled, landing on top of it. She looked down at the pink blood staining the gem, then shrugged, tossing it over her shoulder before turning away.

“You really think she didn’t tell me about you?” Zeesa muttered as she started to leave, “How do you think I found the pond, such were my bedtime stories…”

“…so…” he whispered, “She remembered me…”

                Glancing over her shoulder, Zeesa was driven to a sudden halt after seeing Noob impossibly rise from where she had left him.

“Clearly she left a few things out,” Zeesa muttered, dropping into a ready stance.

“Oh? This?” Noob wondered, turning to face her with a massive divot smashed into his skull, “She didn’t know about this.”

                He bit down on his thumb, puffing out his cheeks and inflating his head until the injury had reversed itself, but the changes didn’t stop there. His nose flattened, gills split themselves across his face, and a rusty-red coloration poured over his skin while he continued to stare at Zeesa with those impossibly black eyes.

“A red mermaid,” she observed.

“It’s why you’re so weak,” he shrugged, “Our species were never meant to co-mingle.”

                Without a word, Zeesa rushed him, and launched a kick to his abdomen that sent Noob flying backwards. He barely seemed to notice, easily picking himself up while she shook with rage.

“Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying,” he insisted, “I never forced myself upon her.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth!” she roared, and launched another attack.

                He easily parried the strike and sent her tumbling to the ground, still working on his little diatribe.

“It was a mutual thing, I truly believe,” he whispered, “That she loved me as much as I loved her, but it was never…we, were never meant to be, and…all she would ever have is a memory…”

“So…” Zeesa grumbled, rising to her feet, “You got my mother pregnant.”

“Well, I had the conception delayed, intentionally, so as not to raise suspicion, but there was always a part of me that hoped, that when she looked at you, she’d see my eyes, or my nose…and she would remember…”

                She threw out a kick, viciously striking him in the knee, then jumped onto his chest, wrapping her legs around his torso and violently pummeling him in the face. He eventually grabbed her wrists and managed to get her under control, but she wouldn’t stop, biting and thrashing, slamming her head into him until he expanded his chest to loosen her grip and then hurled her across the chamber. This time she landed on her feet, and leered at him hatefully.

“I know it must be shocking,” Noob told her, “But you have to understand what I’m trying to tell you here, that you…you were truly loved, so much so that someone was willing to sell their soul, just to bring you to life…”

“You Fucking Idiot!!” she screamed at him and tackled the larger mermaid to the floor where she started strangling him, “Do you have any idea what you put her through?!”

“I…gave her…nothing but…” he gagged, struggling to speak as she crushed his esophagus, “Please… you’re…choking me…”

                He tried to expand his throat, but her grip was just much to strong. With a sudden rush of anger, Zeesa shifted her head into that of a giant shark and tried to best to bite off his face. Noob managed to grab the ends of her mouth before she could close them around him, and then inflated his arms and upper body to finally gain enough leverage to throw her off. Once free, he engorged his foot and slammed it down on her, not wanting to kill her, but clearly needing some time to recover.

“You…” he coughed, massaging his neck, “As I was saying, All I ever gave her was…”

“YOU SENT HER TO PRISON ASSHOLE!!” Zeesa screamed, spitting her blood onto the ground and roughly wiping her mouth as she shoved herself onto her feet.

“I…never…”

“Did you really think they wouldn’t notice?!” she snapped, “Did you think that my father couldn’t tell?!!”

“But…I’m…”

“The ONLY Reason she wasn’t killed is because she came from the royal bloodline! The only reason ‘I’ am accepted as the princess is because…She DIED! In a Cage! You son of a bitch!!”

“…but she died, knowing she was loved.”

                A maddened roar ripped its way out of her chest and she ran, charging at him with reckless abandon, only to spin at the last moment, transforming into a shark and whipping her tail across his head. While he was still reeling, she grabbed him by the sides of his head and slammed her skull against his, with each blow eliciting a sickening, bloody crack.

“ENOUGH!!” Noob shouted at her and inflated his entire upper body before lifting her up and slamming her down on the floor, shattering her legs.

                Stunned by the pain, Zeesa crumpled to the floor and lay there whimpering miserably.

“Enough!” he shouted again, “No more of your pathetic tantrums, I didn’t come here for your ire my daughter…”

“DON’T!!” she snarled at him, “Don’t you Ever call me that!”

“…I suppose you’ve got a point…” he knelt down to look her in the eye, “I never put in the work, I don’t have the right…”

“Oh, you delusional…”

“But I could, I could be your father, you know,” he offered his hand, “If you’d, please, just give me the chance.”

                She was glaring at him with a mixture of utter confusion and hatred when a gunshot rang out through the chamber, a second later, Noob’s brain matter exploded out the front of his face. While his body toppled over, Belix stood behind the fallen beast holding a smoking gun.

“Sorry?” the Elfin girl joked, “Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

                Zeesa looked over to her savior, noticing the cuts and bruises all over her body, and the large iron staff swinging from her free hand.

“Had an eventful day?” the mermaid smirked.

“Not nearly as fun as yours,” Belix winced, holstering the pistol as she looked at Zeesa’s broken limbs, “Can you walk?”

“Stupid question,” Zeesa muttered, then took a deep breath and steadied herself, “Just give me a second.”

                Her legs made a disconcerting crackling sound while her body melted, shifting into a puddle before reforming. As her body solidified, in the standing up position, Zeesa took several wobbly steps and popped her knees, painfully, as she moved, readjusting to her healed muscles and bones.

“Gods,” Belix muttered, massaging the base of her skull, “I can feel that in the back of my neck.”

“You get used to it,” Zeesa grumbled.

“Really?”

“No…” she snapped, finally finishing stretching out her legs and turned back to the other woman, “What’s with the stick?”

“This?” Belix lifted the staff up and cringed staring at it, “Long story, but I can tell you on the way,” she started off towards a massive archway in the distance, “The others went through here, right?”

                Zeesa nodded and followed her out, neither of them seemed to notice Noob’s body slowly begin to move. The girls were halfway down the stairs when he caught back up with them, the gory in his head spraying bile and blood as he punched Zeesa right across the jaw, his inflated arm striking her with enough impact to send her flying. She collided with Belix on the way down the stairs and they both went tumbling down in a heap. Somehow, Belix managed to keep hold of the staff.

“…Dare you…” Noob growled at them as they struggled to untangle themselves, “How Dare You!”

“Go,” Zeesa hissed as she rose to her feet.

“Are you sure about…” Belix asked, worriedly.

“The others need you right now, and I can handle this, GO!”

                She shouted the last part and transformed into a puddle once more, then used the sudden shape change to launch herself into the air, bouncing off of walls and railings, building up speed as she drew closer and then solidifying to deliver a devastating kick to what remained of Noob’s teeth. He easily deflected the strike and punched her in the face again. Belix shuddered a bit, feeling the impact in the back of her head, but looked down at the staff in her hands and begrudgingly ran down the stairs like she was told. Zeesa spat some of her blood onto the floor and stood back up, snarling at Noob who shook his damaged head in disgust.

“Do you know what you did to me?” he demanded, slurring his words as the blood dripped down his face.

                Zeesa rushed him and threw a wild punch that he easily deflected, grabbing her wrist, but she used it as leverage to slam her feet into his jaw. He barely flinched, pushing back against her strike and growling.

“Do you know what I sacrificed?!” he demanded, bouncing her off of the stairs and kicking Zeesa when she bounced into the air, “Do you have any idea what I gave?!”

                Zeesa reduced herself to a puddle as she landed and slid up the wall to the roof, then changed directly into a shark, trying to drop and crush him with her bulk. Noob swung his fist upwards and beat his fist into her spine, eliciting another sickening crack, but, this time, he didn’t let her drop. With his bare hands he ripped open her shark flesh, flaying her to the bone, and striking the exposed muscle and creating a geyser that rained down upon him.

“Don’t you understand?” he shook his head with disappointment, “This…this was supposed to be magical, you were supposed to know me.”

                Above him, Zeesa slowly returned to her base form, arms and legs hanging limply from her torso as ragged breath struggled to fill her lungs.

“Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt me?” Noob demanded, throwing her down and stomping on her gut, “This was supposed to be MY Happy Ending!!”

                Zeesa did her best to move, but barely got her hands under her when Noob kicked her in the face. She landed on her back and writhed in agony, but the pain brought her back to her senses, and she flopped onto her side, watching him, and planning.

“What?” Noob demanded, “What Now!? More insults? More disrespect?”

“…Daddy?” she whimpered instead.

                Noob stopped cold, blinking in surprise.

“What…” he whispered, not believing his ears, but desperately wanting to, “What did you just say?”

“Daddy…” she tearfully reached out for him, “Please…It…It hurts…so much…”

                Shakily, Noob reached out and took her hand, pulling her closer while her legs dragged uselessly behind her.

“My baby,” he whined, pulling her into a tight hug and crying onto her head, “Oh, my poor sweet child, I never meant to hurt you…”

                Zeesa shifted her mouth into row after row of razor sharp teeth and bit down hard into his throat. At first he seemed to shocked to respond, and, when he finally understood what was happening, Noob didn’t even have the strength to push her away, so she bit down harder and tore open his neck. She slid out from under him and spat the gory hunk of flesh onto his cheek as Noob slumped over on the stairs. She pulled away, pressing her wounded back against the wall, as far away from him as she could without standing up and walking away, and she looked him in th eye as he slowly choked on his own blood.

“Do you know what you are to me?” she hissed as the desperate fear slowly left his eyes, “The death of my childhood…” she slumped over on her side and continued to glare at him, “The last fairy tale I had to hold onto, the last story…my mother…ever told…”

                As pain and bloodloss claimed her senses, Zeesa remembered sitting upon the cold dungeon floor, watching her mother stare wistfully up at the moon.

“I wish you could meet him,” her mother had told her with a smile, “My Evening Star…”

                She let out a sigh and turned to her daughter, a knowing look on her face.

“Love…it’s a scary thing,” she mused, “It makes you feel vulnerable, and afraid, but, don’t ever run from it my darling, embrace it, because, no matter what else you might hear, it’s the only thing that lets you know you’re alive.”

                Down below, in the depths of the castle, Clyde sat in a divot in the wall, a crater made by his body being hurled with enough force to shatter stone.

“HEY!” Del’Moth shouted down at him, “Meatsack! You dead yet?”

                A spray of blood escaped his lips as he tried to answer, and the demon chuckled.

“Guess not,” it joked, welling up a pair of fireballs and aiming them in his direction.

“Twenty meters…urgh…” he managed to groan, barely escaping the blast of flame before it struck his position and rolling more than landing from the other side of the portal.

                With an unexplainable strength, he pulled a belt sword from around his waist and held it at the ready. Del’Moth continued to snicker.

“Tell me, meatsack, how many bones have you broken already?”

“I wasn’t keeping track.”

“Well,” the demon shrugged and lazily started to stroll around, “Neither was I, but you do know that I’m just fucking with you, right?”

                He threw himself at it and whipped his weapon around, aiming for Del’Moth’s head. With barely a change in stance, the demon waved its hand and exploded the ground under his feet.

“You see, not even trying.”

“Good for you!” Clyde snapped, appearing behind her and slicing the flexable belt sword into Del’Moth’s shoulder, the weight at the other end acted as an anchor and allowed him to pull the monster off of its feet.

                As it flew through the air, Clyde pulled back his fist and struck it hard, throwing the demon in the other direction and pulling the weapon, roughly, from its pilfered body. Del’Moth hit the ground and Clyde fell over, his body starting to give out.

“Like I said,” the devil mentioned in a bored tone, “Not even trying.”

                It rose from the ground, levitating from the dirt even as flame burst from its wounds, searing them shut. It hanged there in the air, glaring down with confusion as the pitiful mortal struggled to stand once more.

“You’re quite stupid, you do know that right?” it mused, “You didn’t even have to fight me, you could have just hid in the shadows, waited for back-up.”

“…I know…” Clyde grunted, pulling himself to his feet, limply holding the weapon at his side.

“Do you? Then why?”

“Because… it’s what the Silk Merchant would do…”

“Ah, I see then…I get it now…you’re broken.”

“You’re not wrong,” Clyde admitted, and started to walk towards the demon.

                Raising its hand, the demon sent out a pulse of energy that pushed him back, but couldn’t manage to knock him down as he endeavored to continue forward. He managed to take a step and the glowered at him.

“Let me be more clear,” it snarled to him as it increased the pressure and forced him to stop again, “You are damaged, mentally, psychologically ruined, INSANE!”

“Yeah?” he growled back at her, still, somehow managing to edge forward against the incoming torrent, “And what’s your excuse?”

“My excuse?” it scoffed at him, adding fire to its energy, scorching his clothes as he tried to approach, “I don’t Need an ‘excuse’!”

                When Clyde still refused to back down, it increased the power of its pressure wave and sent Clyde flying like a dust-mote caught in a hurricane. He landed painfully on his side and the demon sneered at him mirthlessly.

“Are you expecting me to diatribe now?” it mocked him, “Tell you that I am ‘God’ and you just the meager ants under my boot heel?” it demanded, then shrugged, “Well, you’re not far off, but, the truth of the matter, is that I’m, just bigger than you, all of you worthless mortals, always have been, always will be, and when I get hungry…”

“Anyone ever tell you the definition of irony?” Clyde groaned, forcing himself to get up one more time.

“So,” it raised a hand in his direction, “I’m guessing this means you want to die on your feet?”

“No,” he retorted, “Frankly I’d much prefer a warm bed, surrounded by relatives and loved ones, but, I’ll take what I can get.”

                It waved its hand and sent Clyde flying again, only for him to pick himself up once again.

“Fall down you idiot!” Del’Moth screamed.

“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?” he joked.

                In response, the demon slammed down a wall of force, pressing it onto his head and shoulders, trying to crush him into the dirt.

“STAY DOWN!” it roared.

                Yet, somehow, someway, Clyde managed to stay on his feet.

“You…don’t …get it!” he snarled at her through gritted teeth, “I’m not fighting you because I think I can win, I’m doing it, because I swore, a long time ago that I would stand against evil, that I would protect the weak, from everything which YOU represent,” he managed to lift his arm and point an accusing finger in her direction, “THAT is who the Silk Merchant is, and every day, with every breath, until there is nothing left in me, THAT IS WHO I WILL BE!”

“Nice speech,” Sylvester commented as he stepped off of the magical elevator, the glowing platform evaporating beneath him, “Now take a break,” he stepped forward brandishing an ice sword, “We’ve got things to discuss.”

Description

[Red vs Blue]

                Zeesa was hurled through the air and landed hard on a pile of treasure, a large cut gemstone jammed hard into her ribs and she rolled to the side, groaning in pain.

“Oh, did that hurt?” Noob snickered at her.

“Eat Shit!” she growled back.

“So…” Nob sighed, “We’re really not going to talk about this?”

“About what?” she complained, climbing back to her feet.

“I told you to call me dad.”

                Zeesa shrugged, and started throwing punches. Noob easily dodged every single one, then spun Zeesa around and kicked her in the spine. With a pained shout, Zeesa dropped to her knees, clutching at her back. He let out a sigh and started pacing around the room.

“You know…This was the whole reason I came here,” he explained, “You were the whole reason I came here.”

“Would you just…”

“She was a lot like you, your mother,” Noob continued on, “Not just fierce, but, restless, needing some excitement, a change of venue, a…a life that was her own.”

                Zeesa glared at him, not really listening, but choosing to use the time so that she could recover, and maybe come up with a plan for how to defeat him.

“She came to the island for the same reason you did, she wanted out of her royal responsibilities, an escape.”

                Zeesa rolled her eyes and started scanning the environment, searching for a weapon or something she could use against him. He turned his back to her continuing to reminisce and she started quietly creeping about.

“We met at the bar, late one night, sharing a few drinks and…a rather long…long roll in the sheets we started talking, we…that is to say…we wanted…I wanted…” he shook his head and stared at the floor, “Before she left, I was approached by…something, someone who made me an offer.”

                Zeesa grabbed one of the gemstones and rushed him from behind, bashing his head open and knocking Noob’s fedora onto the floor before he crumpled, landing on top of it. She looked down at the pink blood staining the gem, then shrugged, tossing it over her shoulder before turning away.

“You really think she didn’t tell me about you?” Zeesa muttered as she started to leave, “How do you think I found the pond, such were my bedtime stories…”

“…so…” he whispered, “She remembered me…”

                Glancing over her shoulder, Zeesa was driven to a sudden halt after seeing Noob impossibly rise from where she had left him.

“Clearly she left a few things out,” Zeesa muttered, dropping into a ready stance.

“Oh? This?” Noob wondered, turning to face her with a massive divot smashed into his skull, “She didn’t know about this.”

                He bit down on his thumb, puffing out his cheeks and inflating his head until the injury had reversed itself, but the changes didn’t stop there. His nose flattened, gills split themselves across his face, and a rusty-red coloration poured over his skin while he continued to stare at Zeesa with those impossibly black eyes.

“A red mermaid,” she observed.

“It’s why you’re so weak,” he shrugged, “Our species were never meant to co-mingle.”

                Without a word, Zeesa rushed him, and launched a kick to his abdomen that sent Noob flying backwards. He barely seemed to notice, easily picking himself up while she shook with rage.

“Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying,” he insisted, “I never forced myself upon her.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth!” she roared, and launched another attack.

                He easily parried the strike and sent her tumbling to the ground, still working on his little diatribe.

“It was a mutual thing, I truly believe,” he whispered, “That she loved me as much as I loved her, but it was never…we, were never meant to be, and…all she would ever have is a memory…”

“So…” Zeesa grumbled, rising to her feet, “You got my mother pregnant.”

“Well, I had the conception delayed, intentionally, so as not to raise suspicion, but there was always a part of me that hoped, that when she looked at you, she’d see my eyes, or my nose…and she would remember…”

                She threw out a kick, viciously striking him in the knee, then jumped onto his chest, wrapping her legs around his torso and violently pummeling him in the face. He eventually grabbed her wrists and managed to get her under control, but she wouldn’t stop, biting and thrashing, slamming her head into him until he expanded his chest to loosen her grip and then hurled her across the chamber. This time she landed on her feet, and leered at him hatefully.

“I know it must be shocking,” Noob told her, “But you have to understand what I’m trying to tell you here, that you…you were truly loved, so much so that someone was willing to sell their soul, just to bring you to life…”

“You Fucking Idiot!!” she screamed at him and tackled the larger mermaid to the floor where she started strangling him, “Do you have any idea what you put her through?!”

“I…gave her…nothing but…” he gagged, struggling to speak as she crushed his esophagus, “Please… you’re…choking me…”

                He tried to expand his throat, but her grip was just much to strong. With a sudden rush of anger, Zeesa shifted her head into that of a giant shark and tried to best to bite off his face. Noob managed to grab the ends of her mouth before she could close them around him, and then inflated his arms and upper body to finally gain enough leverage to throw her off. Once free, he engorged his foot and slammed it down on her, not wanting to kill her, but clearly needing some time to recover.

“You…” he coughed, massaging his neck, “As I was saying, All I ever gave her was…”

“YOU SENT HER TO PRISON ASSHOLE!!” Zeesa screamed, spitting her blood onto the ground and roughly wiping her mouth as she shoved herself onto her feet.

“I…never…”

“Did you really think they wouldn’t notice?!” she snapped, “Did you think that my father couldn’t tell?!!”

“But…I’m…”

“The ONLY Reason she wasn’t killed is because she came from the royal bloodline! The only reason ‘I’ am accepted as the princess is because…She DIED! In a Cage! You son of a bitch!!”

“…but she died, knowing she was loved.”

                A maddened roar ripped its way out of her chest and she ran, charging at him with reckless abandon, only to spin at the last moment, transforming into a shark and whipping her tail across his head. While he was still reeling, she grabbed him by the sides of his head and slammed her skull against his, with each blow eliciting a sickening, bloody crack.

“ENOUGH!!” Noob shouted at her and inflated his entire upper body before lifting her up and slamming her down on the floor, shattering her legs.

                Stunned by the pain, Zeesa crumpled to the floor and lay there whimpering miserably.

“Enough!” he shouted again, “No more of your pathetic tantrums, I didn’t come here for your ire my daughter…”

“DON’T!!” she snarled at him, “Don’t you Ever call me that!”

“…I suppose you’ve got a point…” he knelt down to look her in the eye, “I never put in the work, I don’t have the right…”

“Oh, you delusional…”

“But I could, I could be your father, you know,” he offered his hand, “If you’d, please, just give me the chance.”

                She was glaring at him with a mixture of utter confusion and hatred when a gunshot rang out through the chamber, a second later, Noob’s brain matter exploded out the front of his face. While his body toppled over, Belix stood behind the fallen beast holding a smoking gun.

“Sorry?” the Elfin girl joked, “Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

                Zeesa looked over to her savior, noticing the cuts and bruises all over her body, and the large iron staff swinging from her free hand.

“Had an eventful day?” the mermaid smirked.

“Not nearly as fun as yours,” Belix winced, holstering the pistol as she looked at Zeesa’s broken limbs, “Can you walk?”

“Stupid question,” Zeesa muttered, then took a deep breath and steadied herself, “Just give me a second.”

                Her legs made a disconcerting crackling sound while her body melted, shifting into a puddle before reforming. As her body solidified, in the standing up position, Zeesa took several wobbly steps and popped her knees, painfully, as she moved, readjusting to her healed muscles and bones.

“Gods,” Belix muttered, massaging the base of her skull, “I can feel that in the back of my neck.”

“You get used to it,” Zeesa grumbled.

“Really?”

“No…” she snapped, finally finishing stretching out her legs and turned back to the other woman, “What’s with the stick?”

“This?” Belix lifted the staff up and cringed staring at it, “Long story, but I can tell you on the way,” she started off towards a massive archway in the distance, “The others went through here, right?”

                Zeesa nodded and followed her out, neither of them seemed to notice Noob’s body slowly begin to move. The girls were halfway down the stairs when he caught back up with them, the gory in his head spraying bile and blood as he punched Zeesa right across the jaw, his inflated arm striking her with enough impact to send her flying. She collided with Belix on the way down the stairs and they both went tumbling down in a heap. Somehow, Belix managed to keep hold of the staff.

“…Dare you…” Noob growled at them as they struggled to untangle themselves, “How Dare You!”

“Go,” Zeesa hissed as she rose to her feet.

“Are you sure about…” Belix asked, worriedly.

“The others need you right now, and I can handle this, GO!”

                She shouted the last part and transformed into a puddle once more, then used the sudden shape change to launch herself into the air, bouncing off of walls and railings, building up speed as she drew closer and then solidifying to deliver a devastating kick to what remained of Noob’s teeth. He easily deflected the strike and punched her in the face again. Belix shuddered a bit, feeling the impact in the back of her head, but looked down at the staff in her hands and begrudgingly ran down the stairs like she was told. Zeesa spat some of her blood onto the floor and stood back up, snarling at Noob who shook his damaged head in disgust.

“Do you know what you did to me?” he demanded, slurring his words as the blood dripped down his face.

                Zeesa rushed him and threw a wild punch that he easily deflected, grabbing her wrist, but she used it as leverage to slam her feet into his jaw. He barely flinched, pushing back against her strike and growling.

“Do you know what I sacrificed?!” he demanded, bouncing her off of the stairs and kicking Zeesa when she bounced into the air, “Do you have any idea what I gave?!”

                Zeesa reduced herself to a puddle as she landed and slid up the wall to the roof, then changed directly into a shark, trying to drop and crush him with her bulk. Noob swung his fist upwards and beat his fist into her spine, eliciting another sickening crack, but, this time, he didn’t let her drop. With his bare hands he ripped open her shark flesh, flaying her to the bone, and striking the exposed muscle and creating a geyser that rained down upon him.

“Don’t you understand?” he shook his head with disappointment, “This…this was supposed to be magical, you were supposed to know me.”

                Above him, Zeesa slowly returned to her base form, arms and legs hanging limply from her torso as ragged breath struggled to fill her lungs.

“Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt me?” Noob demanded, throwing her down and stomping on her gut, “This was supposed to be MY Happy Ending!!”

                Zeesa did her best to move, but barely got her hands under her when Noob kicked her in the face. She landed on her back and writhed in agony, but the pain brought her back to her senses, and she flopped onto her side, watching him, and planning.

“What?” Noob demanded, “What Now!? More insults? More disrespect?”

“…Daddy?” she whimpered instead.

                Noob stopped cold, blinking in surprise.

“What…” he whispered, not believing his ears, but desperately wanting to, “What did you just say?”

“Daddy…” she tearfully reached out for him, “Please…It…It hurts…so much…”

                Shakily, Noob reached out and took her hand, pulling her closer while her legs dragged uselessly behind her.

“My baby,” he whined, pulling her into a tight hug and crying onto her head, “Oh, my poor sweet child, I never meant to hurt you…”

                Zeesa shifted her mouth into row after row of razor sharp teeth and bit down hard into his throat. At first he seemed to shocked to respond, and, when he finally understood what was happening, Noob didn’t even have the strength to push her away, so she bit down harder and tore open his neck. She slid out from under him and spat the gory hunk of flesh onto his cheek as Noob slumped over on the stairs. She pulled away, pressing her wounded back against the wall, as far away from him as she could without standing up and walking away, and she looked him in th eye as he slowly choked on his own blood.

“Do you know what you are to me?” she hissed as the desperate fear slowly left his eyes, “The death of my childhood…” she slumped over on her side and continued to glare at him, “The last fairy tale I had to hold onto, the last story…my mother…ever told…”

                As pain and bloodloss claimed her senses, Zeesa remembered sitting upon the cold dungeon floor, watching her mother stare wistfully up at the moon.

“I wish you could meet him,” her mother had told her with a smile, “My Evening Star…”

                She let out a sigh and turned to her daughter, a knowing look on her face.

“Love…it’s a scary thing,” she mused, “It makes you feel vulnerable, and afraid, but, don’t ever run from it my darling, embrace it, because, no matter what else you might hear, it’s the only thing that lets you know you’re alive.”

                Down below, in the depths of the castle, Clyde sat in a divot in the wall, a crater made by his body being hurled with enough force to shatter stone.

“HEY!” Del’Moth shouted down at him, “Meatsack! You dead yet?”

                A spray of blood escaped his lips as he tried to answer, and the demon chuckled.

“Guess not,” it joked, welling up a pair of fireballs and aiming them in his direction.

“Twenty meters…urgh…” he managed to groan, barely escaping the blast of flame before it struck his position and rolling more than landing from the other side of the portal.

                With an unexplainable strength, he pulled a belt sword from around his waist and held it at the ready. Del’Moth continued to snicker.

“Tell me, meatsack, how many bones have you broken already?”

“I wasn’t keeping track.”

“Well,” the demon shrugged and lazily started to stroll around, “Neither was I, but you do know that I’m just fucking with you, right?”

                He threw himself at it and whipped his weapon around, aiming for Del’Moth’s head. With barely a change in stance, the demon waved its hand and exploded the ground under his feet.

“You see, not even trying.”

“Good for you!” Clyde snapped, appearing behind her and slicing the flexable belt sword into Del’Moth’s shoulder, the weight at the other end acted as an anchor and allowed him to pull the monster off of its feet.

                As it flew through the air, Clyde pulled back his fist and struck it hard, throwing the demon in the other direction and pulling the weapon, roughly, from its pilfered body. Del’Moth hit the ground and Clyde fell over, his body starting to give out.

“Like I said,” the devil mentioned in a bored tone, “Not even trying.”

                It rose from the ground, levitating from the dirt even as flame burst from its wounds, searing them shut. It hanged there in the air, glaring down with confusion as the pitiful mortal struggled to stand once more.

“You’re quite stupid, you do know that right?” it mused, “You didn’t even have to fight me, you could have just hid in the shadows, waited for back-up.”

“…I know…” Clyde grunted, pulling himself to his feet, limply holding the weapon at his side.

“Do you? Then why?”

“Because… it’s what the Silk Merchant would do…”

“Ah, I see then…I get it now…you’re broken.”

“You’re not wrong,” Clyde admitted, and started to walk towards the demon.

                Raising its hand, the demon sent out a pulse of energy that pushed him back, but couldn’t manage to knock him down as he endeavored to continue forward. He managed to take a step and the glowered at him.

“Let me be more clear,” it snarled to him as it increased the pressure and forced him to stop again, “You are damaged, mentally, psychologically ruined, INSANE!”

“Yeah?” he growled back at her, still, somehow managing to edge forward against the incoming torrent, “And what’s your excuse?”

“My excuse?” it scoffed at him, adding fire to its energy, scorching his clothes as he tried to approach, “I don’t Need an ‘excuse’!”

                When Clyde still refused to back down, it increased the power of its pressure wave and sent Clyde flying like a dust-mote caught in a hurricane. He landed painfully on his side and the demon sneered at him mirthlessly.

“Are you expecting me to diatribe now?” it mocked him, “Tell you that I am ‘God’ and you just the meager ants under my boot heel?” it demanded, then shrugged, “Well, you’re not far off, but, the truth of the matter, is that I’m, just bigger than you, all of you worthless mortals, always have been, always will be, and when I get hungry…”

“Anyone ever tell you the definition of irony?” Clyde groaned, forcing himself to get up one more time.

“So,” it raised a hand in his direction, “I’m guessing this means you want to die on your feet?”

“No,” he retorted, “Frankly I’d much prefer a warm bed, surrounded by relatives and loved ones, but, I’ll take what I can get.”

                It waved its hand and sent Clyde flying again, only for him to pick himself up once again.

“Fall down you idiot!” Del’Moth screamed.

“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?” he joked.

                In response, the demon slammed down a wall of force, pressing it onto his head and shoulders, trying to crush him into the dirt.

“STAY DOWN!” it roared.

                Yet, somehow, someway, Clyde managed to stay on his feet.

“You…don’t …get it!” he snarled at her through gritted teeth, “I’m not fighting you because I think I can win, I’m doing it, because I swore, a long time ago that I would stand against evil, that I would protect the weak, from everything which YOU represent,” he managed to lift his arm and point an accusing finger in her direction, “THAT is who the Silk Merchant is, and every day, with every breath, until there is nothing left in me, THAT IS WHO I WILL BE!”

“Nice speech,” Sylvester commented as he stepped off of the magical elevator, the glowing platform evaporating beneath him, “Now take a break,” he stepped forward brandishing an ice sword, “We’ve got things to discuss.”