Chereads / Born&Torn (Old) / Chapter 24 - That thing

Chapter 24 - That thing

Everyone was just staring straight, with their mouths wide open. The shock could be seen on their faces. They were just witnessing things there never knew to be possible. Because what was happening in front of them went against everything they deemed logical. Life was sacred and it was due to the influence of the gods that the first superior species was born. Even before the Gods were actively influencing the world, mana particle shaped men and beast alike.

There was a translucent being, embedded in a membrane. It was pulsating in an ordinary rhythm. The being shared some similarities with the body a human newborn. It was around 50 centimetres in height but was looking malnourished. Despite being translucent, every spectator had an ominous feeling, it was as if every source of light was swallowed in its near perimeter. The whole body seemed to be in a stage of development and the razor-sharp teeth were hinting at a very scary and dangerous result.

Many people were left speechless and did not even dare to move in the presence of such a monstrosity. But as time slowly passed and despite the caution, nothing truly happened, some people began to muster some courage and backed off slowly. More and more people did the same. Still wary of that entity they kept track of it, but there was no kind of reaction, just the movement of the membrane slowly pulsating without any kind of worry in the world.

Their worry was reducing by the seconds and soon afterwards the mood turned cheerful. The young miss removed her veil and began to dust off her clothes. Her hair was violet and after the shock, the colour returned to her face. With a petite nose and mouth, everybody would deem her quite cute. Anger was slowly getting visible on her face and she began to consider what actions to take next.

" To think, that such a silly creature was all that came out. The craze around the cocoon was really unjustified. To think the developer would create such a prank. But trying to scare me? Pretty please, if you were expecting something out of me, it has to be some really scary. A scary looking baby is not enough for that"

Her subordinates did not dare to mention her squeal.

"When I came with the second wave of beta testers, I felt the dire need to prove myself to finally get to meet my dear father. So I began seeking every monster left and right. It is so frustrating that this endeavour only leads to such a whimsical result. They promised me a dire fight for my survival, don't make me laugh, they dare to call this a "dire fight for survival".

Swiftly moving towards the membrane she began to kick it with her little feet. Her feet were repelled time and time again. After doing this close to 1 minute, she climbed onto the membrane and began to jump on it. Smiling all over the place she began to do various tricks and the more force she put into her movements the higher she was repelled. Her subordinates were gazing at her with envious eyes but did not dare to do the same without her permission. Cheerful noises were filling the place.

"Don't just stand there that is just sullen and dull. Show me the result of your training." Saying so she continued jumping up and down without any worry in the world.

Many of her subordinates felt the dire need to prove themselves after their disastrous attempt at destroying the pitiful cocoon. So they began to put every ounce of their being into the spells. Every single one began to produce their mightiest spell. But nobody noticed that much of the remains of the spells moved to the membrane. Only a slight tint became visible on its forehead. But as soon as it appeared it disappeared again. Leaving no traces of its existence.

This procedure took place, without anything relevant happening time and time again. During which the young Miss never once turned tired of bouncing on top of it. Exhaustion was clearly visible on each and every face after their show ended. They were just staring at their young master, hoping for the best. After seeing a satisfied expression on her face everyone felt elated. The life-target practice was cancelled.

With a somersault, the young miss left the bouncing membrane and landed gracefully under the tosing applause of her faithful subordinates.

"Sadly all good things must come to an end, I can not effort to waste any more time here. It is a bit annoying that I am unable to take it back to the real world with me. But when even I am not allowed to have something fun like that, no one else is allowed to. Gentlemen I demand that you get rid of it."

Despite the exhaustion clearly visible on their face, they mustered their strength again and threw powerful spells onto the membrane. They continued to chat and did not anticipate anything else besides the complete annihilation of that creepy baby. After all the hardest part was already done by their young miss and that membrane was clearly not any kind of threat. After the bombardment ended, many people were left baffled. They kept asking themselves why this strange being refused to die. Under the critical gaze of their boss, they wanted to prevent the outcome of their previous failure from happening again. So they began a seemingly endless barrage of spells. The membrane was covered with hundreds of spells but having learned from their previous mistakes this time they only stopped after the strength has left their body.

The membrane was not visible to the naked eye. The creature inside of it was neither panicked nor did it show any kind of movement. The only changing aspect was the tint on top of his head, it began to glow. But as soon as the shroud that covered that membrane was lifted, the colour vanished as well.

"Since I am a magnanimous person, I will forgive you. Seems like only true strength can kill such a being. And I am just the right person for this"

The blue flames surrounded her once more. Enjoying her limelight she currently basked in, she savoured the moment until she unloaded all magic onto the membrane without holding anything back. She kept on producing more and more flames until her whole face was covered in sweat. But yet she did not show any signs of stopping. But as the time continued, an uneasy feeling was slowly rising up within her. She pushed those feelings aside and deemed them irrational. With the slow passing of time, the feeling never truly left her. Growing more and more paranoid she began to curse and she began to gnash her teeth in frustration. She did not feel the usual sensation when she burned something to cinders. She began to sigh and stopped her flames.

" Maybe I am just getting crazy here, it is impossible for something to exist after that ordeal. There is no known being that can resist these flames without the help of mana. After all, it is just a game, maybe the usual sensation has not been implemented yet. Furthermore..."

The upcoming words were left stuck in her throat. Because the membrane was unharmed even after she had put her everything into it. But that was not the reason for her inability to speak.

She was greeted by a haunting smile. The grin was not something a human can produce. It was the smile of a predator, finally seeing his victim he was craving for. His forehead was shining in a deep red colour. There was something carved in it, resembling letters but it was not a language known to her.

The mouth began to open and unidentifiable sounds left it. Her knees began to grow weak and she just fell on her butt deeply rooted in fear. The sounds continued on and on but nobody dared to reply or even opening their mouths. The creature just waited and waited but nobody moved just waiting what would happen next.

A deep growl escaped from it and it began to rip the membrane open. It was still a humanoid creature but out of each, his arms grew 2 short blades resembling the legs of a mantis. He is skin was now covered in a thin but durable shell. On his back 2 wings spread out and contracted themselves over and over again. Even though his eyes were normal, it was his gaze that was truly abnormal. If an intent to hunt was beastlike, then its eyes were showing an intent to just destroy.

The abnormal beast is standing on 2 legs moves in front of her and slowly sized her up. Without any kind of emotion the beast just passed her by.

Without any chance of her nerves calming down, the creature began to run towards her exhausted and panting subordinates. They tried to rise up and show some resistance but it was all for nought. This entity just cut through skin with ease. On its path of destruction only detached limbs and spilt blood was left. A satisfied grin could be seen on its face. Arm after arm, leg after leg was cut off his previous owners. This process continued on and on until only slight wails could be heard. Despite all this carnage, the creature has not yet taken a single life.

Even after all that, the creature was continuously laughing in a mad manner. It opened his mouth wide and ripped out a piece of flesh of an arm. Afterwards, the arm was thrown away and a flood of little bugs escaped out of its mouth. These bugs kept on crawling to each and every person currently lying on the ground. After arriving at their specific goal, they began to gnaw on their targets and to slowly devour their prey. Screams of terror were terrorizing the mind of the little miss, leaving her traumatized and unable to move. She was forced to just spectate this cruel spectacle.

After each of her subordinates ceased to be, dying in pure agony. The creature was laughing madly as every little bug returned to him. After entering his wide-open mouth, a devious laugh escaped his lips. It turned around once more and looked straight up at her. A little chuckle escaped his lips but without any interruption, it opened its wings and began to fly into the sky. Leaving her alone with nothing but skeletons and a pool of blood.

She stayed there without moving for a very long time. Until all her subordinates came back to her side and began to search the surroundings for the creature. Tears began to pour down her face and she began crying. She was hugged by a firm and strong arms.

" B-Brother?" she stammered

" Don't worry sister, your dear brother will take care of all your struggles. It will all be over soon"

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The first thing I notice after waking up is this splitting headache, that makes me feel like ripping open my skull. And those people had the audacity to consciously bombard me with their weak spells. If you feel the need to kill me go ahead, but for god's sake, they clearly saw that it was not working why did they have to make me suffer like that. Those fuckers deserved their fate. For being the cause of all the suffering I had to endure there.

All I wanted to achieve was to create an image of a bloodthirsty creature. The only reason, I left that little girl alive was due to two factors. First of all, she was kinda cute and second of all. I don't want to get myself into trouble by killing a young miss of a big influential family that always leads to disaster. And I don't want to learn this fact the hard way.

Rethinking my actions, the only reason I won this fight with ease was due to them having exhausted themselves beforehand. After letting the bugs get their nourishment by consuming them, I noticed a slight improvement of my metabolism and an improvement of my body. Sadly this form is powered by magic and after flying for quite some time and landing on top of a tree. My form returned to normal. Weak and exhausted I just sad there with my back leaning on the tree.

Even though I am unable to move even a single muscle, for the first time I felt a sliver of hope going forward. Although I wouldn't consider myself to be human anymore. I was still myself and that is what matters to me. Gazing at the blue sky wondering what the next day would bring I began to slowly close my eyes. Thinking about the future a bright and deep smile etched itself onto my face. But these are thoughts for another time.