Chapter 88: Second Death

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Second Death My, my, someone’s being overly generous today. Blaze thought, flexing his new arm. Everything about the arm was to his preference, except perhaps two things. First was the color of its veins. Blue didn’t suit his vibe, though it was manageable. Second were the random spikes on his knuckles and the side of his forearm. The Necrophage didn’t waste Blaze’s arm. Instead, it repurposed it, making additional changes to increase its lethality. There was a new version of the Onyx mutation in its right arm. While the left arm remained as it was. Blaze’s OCD kicked in for a moment. If he could, he’d sacrifice his other arm if the Collective gave him another Necrophage. But knowing them, he didn’t want to push their buttons, especially when they generously offered him an incredible reward. Now, how do I steal abilities? [The subject can stab a target with the spikes on Necrophage to absorb a random ability/trait/skill.] Wait... random? I thought I could choose— [Greed spells doom.] ...fair enough. Blaze didn’t mind the randomization. He more or less expected there’d be a catch, or else the Necrophage would be too overpowered. Much like him, the Collective also suffered from OCD. Their obsession with balancing both sides of apocalyptic participants was proof of that. Regardless, Blaze got what he wanted. No, he got more than he had in mind. Only one thing remained. Time to test this new hand of mine. Unlike the Thanatophage, his arm worked on both the living and the undead, only in different ways. Some abilities, like Eater and Feast, only worked on living targets. Meanwhile, abilities like Rot’s Branding and the charged abilities worked on all creatures. Blaze suspected the Collective had intentionally removed the part where it said the weapon would work only on a specific class of individuals, i.e., living or the undead. Either way, it worked in Blaze’s favor since he hunted both. Let’s see... who can I kill now? Blaze turned to the other side. He could still hear David’s roars, though they had gotten quieter since the last time. He rushed towards them, and he didn’t expect David to still be standing. The horde had done a number on him, but it wasn’t enough. He had torn almost three thousand sprinters in half. It was difficult to make out the exact numbers from the mountain of corpses. What surprised him more was that Raven was missing an arm. It was his left mauler arm, which David was now using as a club to hit the sprinters. Hm, I didn’t think they’d take this long to kill him. David was on the same level as him. At least before Blaze got Necrophage. It shouldn’t be a surprise that his less evolved horde was struggling against him, even with the numbers heavily in their favor. After all, Fester wasn’t cut out for head-on fights. Raven excelled at it but was too impulsive to do any drastic magic. As for Marrow, her golden wisp was her only offense against the zombies. However, it seemed to have some sort of restriction when it came to higher evolved beings. Like it did less damage to them. Still, Blaze was confident in their abilities. But testing out his new arm took precedence over their evolution. Alright, get back, all of you. On Blaze’s word, the sprinters ran back, while his horde turned towards him. Raven grunted, since it knew Blaze was there to take its prey away again. However, there was no hostility in its eyes. How could it object when its arm was taken from it? If anything, it showed Raven’s incompetence. Fester, as usual, screeched happily. While Marrow looked relieved when he saw Blaze. Happy that he was alive and unharmed, and also because he would take over the fight for them. As for David, he threw Raven’s arm at Blaze before charging at him. Perhaps he was angry after losing his Headless mother. He threw a punch at Blaze’s head, only for the latter to duck and sweep David’s legs, knocking him to the ground. Instead of capitalizing on the moment, Blaze turned to Marrow. Heal Raven and head back to the lair. See if Breaker and Saturn finished their job or not. Help them if they haven’t. "As you wish, master." Blaze wondered what he should do with the sprinters. The puppeteer mutation worked until a certain distance. After that, the link would break on its own. That’s why the headless had them trapped inside the crater. In other words, the sprinters couldn’t accompany his horde to the lair without him. Besides, it would be a hassle to have thousands of them in the lair. The place would become overcrowded. Also, leaving them was out of the question. He didn’t want the chosen to kill them and get stronger. Instead, it made more sense to convert them into resources for base building later. It’s a shame. He shook his head and instructed them to kill each other before disconnecting the mutation. While the sprinters destroyed themselves, David tried to grab Blaze from behind. Blaze stopped him with his tendrils before kicking him back. Let’s see if I can tame you now. He used Hivemind again. Unfortunately, despite killing the Headless, David remained untameable. Is it a bug or something? Blaze wondered before shrugging. If he couldn’t tame him, then there was no point in dragging things out anymore. David charged at him again, and this time, Blaze backhanded him with Necrophage. The spikes on the knuckles ripped David’s lower jaw off. As the arm connected to David, a thin crimson outline enveloped him. [Rot’s Branding activated.] So that’s how it looks. Blaze wanted to see how it’d look if David tried hiding. So, he threw a punch, hoping it would knock David into the pile of dead sprinter bodies. Unfortunately, not all plans work. Instead of tossing him aside, the Necrophage tore straight through David’s chest. David looked at his crushed chest, then at Blaze. His arm lodged inside the former. "Grrr?" My bad. I didn’t think you’d be this soft. David swung his arms, trying to crush Blaze’s head. The tendrils sprang to action, stopping his arms, while the third tendril lifted Blaze up. As it did, Necrophage slowly ripped through his flesh, until it got stuck around David’s neck. I’d miss your jokes, David. Blaze said and pulled Necrophage back. The spikes ripped through David’s head. His massive arms slumped to the side as his legs buckled. David hit the ground with a loud thud. He died... the second time.