With the sound of Lia's spine snapping echoing inside Alex's mind everything else seemed to fade away, all of a sudden the world completely lost its colour as something broke inside Alex, a mental restriction he had put in place after getting a second chance at life, a solemn promise not to return to being 'that' person.
That promise just shattered.
"Patient identified, subject appears to be a middle aged male around the age of 45, completely organic."
Muttering out a report to no one in particular Alex started moving towards Claus and his knight core which steadily surrounded him with smiles plastered all over their faces.
"Secondaries identified, no salvageable contents identified, please disregard and capture primary patient for the operation. Preliminary value estimated at 400 with pristine capture and extraction."
While Alex had been rendered completely blind with rage the knights around him looked confident at their latest prey, the knight leader which had the name of Claus commanded his subordinates with years of experience behind every order.
"Surround it! Once we remove that cloak the holy light of our saint will take care of the rest!"
Forming a circle around the spectre they had tracked for a few weeks some of the knights were quite restless, but their experience showed as they didn't rush in and patiently surrounded their target.
"Formation! Jax, Adam!"
With the order given by their commander, two knights slowly started approaching the spectre hidden by rags with their shields raised.
"Fuck off!"
Noticing their intent the twisted creature of chaos shouted as black spikes shot out from the figure, stopping short of their target as the knights had expected such an attack coming. Being exposed to sunlight, the black mass which made up the spectre's body started evaporating in the bright sunlight, seeing that, the citizens the knights were protecting finally realized that the knight's cause was just.
"It's a monster!"
"Kill it!"
Although the populace was a bit fickle in their opinions, thinking the knights were friends at one second and requesting their aid at the next, the knights were still motivated to heed their requests.
Such a thing was their obligation.
"Is that?…"
While most of the town now held outright hostility against Alex there was one person who found herself looking at him in awe. As a mage and a wielder of chaos, Venessa who hid her face beneath a mask should be worried about her own safety, it was clear that when the knights were done with the creature which called itself Alex they would turn their blades against her. If she was in a right state of mind as a mage she would have used the distraction that strange creature offered to escape, so that she could continue her research, so she could make full use of her atonement which had already started eating away at her body. But even despite that, Venessa found herself drawn towards the one she had just a few hours earlier condemned as an impostor, sure, even now he didn't really appear to know what he was doing, but the absolutely brilliant way he weaved together chaos was something she couldn't afford to ignore, even the thought of losing someone so talented in waving chaos could not come to pass.
(I need to do something…)
Looking at how the imposter was acting it was clear to Venessa that he had completely lost himself to rage, something she could relate to as the woman the knights had killed seemed to have been his companion. Looking at the copse lying at the feet of the knight commander with pity, Venessa realized something no one else seemed to have noticed.
(She's still alive!?)
Although it was faint, the woman's chest appeared to be still moving, signifying that she was still breathing, although not for much longer.
"Mister Imposter! Your companion is still alive!"
"!!!"
Immediately snapping out of his kill rage Alex realized that other things were more worthy of his attention as he switched his top priority from killing the knight captain in the most brutal and painful way imaginable to saving Lia, then slaughtering the knight captain afterwards while allowing a few of the knights to get away alive.
(This might be problematic in the future, but time is of the essence right now!)
Stopping in his tracks Alex allowed the surrounding knights to close in on him, Alex started fighting in a manner fitting for his new body. Tossing away his cloak Alex rushed forward into a group of knights with a speed they couldn't react to, reaching the first knight after a fraction of a second Alex's arms morphed into claws, one hand pricing through the knight's eye, the other one digging into his exposed neck, then he simply ripped the head apart before kicking away the copse. Transforming his right arm into a long thin blade Alex kept his left one as a claw while red eyes emerged all over his body, keeping track of everything around him as he rushed his next target.
"M-monster!"
With approximately 30 eyeballs all locking onto the knight as the otherwise completely black creature closed in on him with, Alex's next victim understandably panicked as he threw out a half assed and panicked attack.
"I DON'T FEEL PAIN DUMBASS!"
Allowing the knight's sword to strike him, Alex laughed maniacally as the sword dug into his chest without any resistance, stopping in the middle of his chest where it simply remained after Alex liberated its user's head from his body.
"UWAA! It isn't affected by sunlight!?"
"I didn't sign up for this shit!"
"R-run away!"
With Alex suddenly going all out on the offensive the knight's quickly lost faith in their holy purpose and started running away, leaving only those who were too scared to move and a small group of elite knights which surrounded the knight captain.
"What kind of monster are you!?"
Having never seen anything like the formless creature with numerous mouths and eyes all over its glossy black body before, the knight captain Claus couldn't help but ask as he drew his sword while slowly backing away from his subordinates, it was clear to Alex that he planned to run the moment an opportunity presented itself.
"The name is Alex, although where I come from they simply call me 'the butcher of residential sector 15' or 'boss' depending on what side of my wrath they find themselves on."
Forming extra sets of arms while he casually answered the knight captain's question, Alex's cold rage was apparent to every single person present, making the formerly vocal and supportive spectators quickly flee from the area in panic.
"Death to all corruption!"
As if to calm his nerves one of the knights charged forward, hitting Alex in the chest with his sword, repeating the same mistake one of the knight's dead comrades had already committed. As the knight's sword harmlessly sank into Alex's body it was quickly covered in a black goo which quickly spread from the sword onto the knight before wrapping around his head, letting only a single muffled short scream escape before the goo completely crushed the knights head along with his metal helmet. Allowing the rest of the 'elite' knights to flee after witnessing that, Alex sent out a part of his body in the form of a sticky black tar like goo which wrapped around the knight captain's body, snaring him before he could run away.
"You just wait there like a good little patient, I'll be with you shortly."
Ignoring the screaming knight captain for the moment, Alex turned his attention to Lia, crouching down next to her as he carefully inspected her condition while he returned to his normal form void of any features with only a pair of red eyes.
(... Her nerves are severely damaged and there's a good chance some of her vertebrae have cracked. It's a miracle she's still alive.)
"Don't worry Lia, your master will fix up real quick."
Gently caressing Lia's cheek, unsure if she could even hear or feel him anymore, Alex then turned his attention to the sole remaining spectator.
"What do you want? I'm busy."
Not even glancing at the masked mage that had been standing right behind him for some time, Alex was able to detect her just from the sweet 'smell' the chaos in the air around her let off.
"I want to help you and your companion, in exchange for a small favour of course."
"... Okay, that's fine. So what can you do for her?"
Figuring that his only concern at the moment should be healing Lia, Alex instantly agreed to the masked mage's help, something which seemed to come as a surprise for her.
"Stop spacing out and help her already."
"Ah, r-right."
Kneeling down next to Lia, the masked mage pulled down her hood, making her long raven black hair spill out as she examined Lia.
"This child is blessed by chaos…"
"Meaning?"
"That's why her ears look like that of an animal. It means that she should be able to heal this kind of injury just by absorbing chaos, although it seems she has lost that ability when she was injured."
"I see, then I should be able to do something about that."
Figuring out a way to heal Lia from the mage's words, Alex carefully stuck his hand into Lia's mouth, dissolving it into long tentacles which reached down into her throat to the area where she had been injured.
(Now I just need to release some of this so called chaos… Is it fine to think of it as my blood? Then as I am a creature made of chaos, I simply need to 'bleed'.)
Completely absorbed in trying to heal Lia, Alex failed to notice the mage's surprise when he suddenly started leaking chaos out from his body, at that moment she saw him doing that, Venessa decided what she wanted in return for her help. As Alex continued to 'bleed' the ground around him started to turn strange, the brown dirt turned completely black with a strange rainbow like hue before a purple grey moss started growing at a visible pace around him. At the same time changes started happening to Lia, although it seemed like she was in a bit of pain her broken neck started healing as her eyes turned completely black while her wolf like ears started growing longer and her teeth turned into sharp fangs while she started growing a large bushy tail while her black hair and brand new tail suddenly gained a purple hue.
"... That should do it, now for you miss mage, what do you want in return for your help?"
With Lia's situation stabilized Alex immediately turned to the mage who had been completely mute while he had treated Lia, believing that he might as well pay her back as fast as possible.
"Please allow me to follow you for the rest of my life, dear benevolent emissary of chaos."
Feeling like he had misheard what the mage said Alex turned to her, only to find that she was bowing down on the ground in front of him.
(... Not another one….)
Feeling a mounting headache at his newly gained ability to attract religious nutcases which believed him to be some kind of holy emissary, Alex sighed deeply.
"Fine… So, can I hear your name now?"
Figuring that he might as well make the most of the situation, Alex accepted the second religious follower he had gained in only a week.
"My name is Venessa, dear-"
Okay Venessa, firstly, don't call me that. Secondly, pick up Lia, we're leaving this town after I've had a 'talk' with our dear knight captain here."
Having finally dealt with everything else, Alex turned his attention to the knight captain which had been desperately trying to crawl away while he had treated Lia.
"So, mister Claus was it? Sorry for the wait~"
"Wait, stop! Don't come closer!"
"Did you know dear knight captain, where I come from every part of the human body has a value associated with it. There is the heart of course, but everything from your skin to spinal fluid has value, my expertise is removing all that from people without killing them, although I won't be so kind to you after what you did to Lia. Now, let's see how many things I can take from you before you die~"
Completely ignoring Claus' pleas for mercy, Alex slowly closed in on his next uneager patient, transforming his hands into blades as a large 'smile' formed on his face.
"Now it has been some time since my last operation so I might be a bit rusty, I hope you forgive me for that."