Yan stared in horror as Asher coughed on the ground, writhing in pain.
"Asher, are you alright? I-I'll save you!"
One of the Proselytes scoffed beside her.
"You went back for a stranger? This is unlike you. Come, let us leave."
The twins would have none of Yan's 'overreactions'. Messengers were supposed to be emotionless, not like the mess in front of them.
Yan twisted her head back, glaring at the Proselyte with an icy stare.
"Go. Leave. This has nothing to do with you two."
The twins didn't question her; they simply turned and left, closing the door behind them.
Alpha laughed as Yan's gaze snapped back to Asher. Its curiosity was satisfied: it turns out Messengers weren't all that different from normal people.
It roughly kicked the boy's left arm into Yan's view to see Yan's reaction.
"-! What happened? Why is your arm like that!" She screamed in shock.
Not because of the gore, or the blood gushing from his arm, but because the person who the Carnival tortured was her only friend.
Maybe more than just a friend, she finally realized.
Asher tried to shoo her away with his other arm, but that only revealed the burnt stump that had replaced his right hand.
"Don't worry about me... Leave me here, it's fine..." Asher blacked out, his feeble arm falling to the ground.
"Fine? FINE?! Carnival... I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Yan snarled as the surrounding air turned suffocating, filled with rage.
Yan clasped her hands together in a prayer. A blue hologram shimmered beside her, before materializing into an obsidian broadsword the length of her body.
Its blade was wrapped with shiny gold chains, which clinked ominously as Yan lifted it to her shoulder.
She let out a prolonged, audible exhale. Then, her eyelids fluttered open.
"Prepare to die." Her eyes turned midnight blue as she sliced through the air, pointing her sword directly at them.
Gamma and Beta peered down at the short Messenger from above, their teeth chattering in anticipation. Alpha watched from behind; Yan's stone cold glare did not pressure it at all.
"I look forward to your attempt. Gamma, Beta, try your best to survive. Well, if you can." It whispered the last part under its breath.
At Alpha's mark, Beta shot toward Yan with arrowlike precision, while Gamma stayed further back, waiting for an opportunity.
Beta closed the twenty feet of distance in a fraction of a second, the mouth on its stomach opening wide to bite Yan.
She grunted as she blocked the charge with her sword. The impact caused her to slide to the far end of the warehouse.
Beta's teeth rattled as it pulled away from her.
Yan smirked as Beta chittered in irritation.
"Is that the best you-!" She suddenly rolled to the side as Gamma dropped from above, its maw agape.
She instantly shot back up, but froze as Beta's clawed hands sliced toward her eyes, only inches away.
"Hiss..." Yan pulled her head down in the nick of time, causing Beta's fingers to smash against her forehead. Beta looked at its hands apathetically, its fingers completely shattered.
Promptly wiping the blood from her eyes, Yan looked up to find her surroundings empty. She could see Alpha far away, still standing over Asher's body, but no one else.
She looked up as a drop of acid splashed onto her cloak.
Gamma stared at her, hanging by its feet from the ceiling.
A presence suddenly appeared behind her.
"Forgetting about me?"
Beta's hand clenched Yan's shoulder from behind, bending its body to peer down at the Messenger with its expressionless mask.
Yan winced as she felt her bones creak unnaturally. She grabbed Beta's arm, tossing the creature over her shoulder. The concrete cracked as she slammed Beta into the floor.
Yan panted slightly, massaging her dislocated shoulder.
"What about me?"
She screamed as she felt thousands of razor-sharp teeth tearing her arm apart. Gamma had fallen onto her arm when she wasn't paying attention.
By the time she tore the thing's maw off her arm, it was already too late. She could barely move her left arm amidst the pain. From a cursory inspection of the wound, she could tell that the serrated edges of Gamma's teeth tore apart her brachial artery. If she didn't do anything about it, she would lose consciousness in fifteen seconds, and die in ninety more.
Nearly unharmed, Beta and Gamma stared at their fatally wounded prey.
Yan produced a syringe filled with grey liquid from inside her cloak, injecting the fluid inside her arm. The cuts on her arm healed in front of their eyes.
She clenched the hilt of her sword, whispering a prayer beneath her breath.
She twirled the blade between her fingers before slashing through the air again.
"Now it's your turn. Angel."
Her sword turned searing white, bathed in a golden glow.
Beta flinched as Yan blinked behind it, faster than it could react. The Messenger gripped her sword with both hands, using all her strength to swing horizontally.
"Purification!" The broadsword caught on holy fire as it sliced Beta in half in a single swing.
The two halves fell to the ground as the white flames began to consume them hungrily.
Beta looked down at its burning body. The smoldering flesh fell off, dissolving into piles of rot, separating the flames from its actual body as the two halves reconnected with a pop.
It stood up again, this time noticeably shorter than before. The straightjacket it wore mended itself, made from the same bio-fabric they were famous for producing.
Beta looked no worse for wear as it patted the dust off its body.
"Loss of fifteen percent biomass... Carefully proceed."
*Cough Cough*
Yan scowled as blood dribbled from her mouth. She spat onto the ground. The crimson puddle immediately sizzled with heat, before bursting into dirty white flames and dissolving into ash.
"Still up for round two, huh? Have to make this quick." Yan winced in pain as she struggled to hold the huge blade on her shoulders. She felt like her blood was boiling inside her.
Yan's eyes widened as Beta appeared in front of her without warning. She desperately swung her blade to intercept Beta's attack, but Gamma caught the sword in its teeth mid-swing, pinning it in place.
Just before Beta bit down on her head, she whispered another prayer.
"You asked for this! Devil!" A malevolent eye opened in the center of the sword, observing its surroundings with its bloodshot gaze.
Gamma let go of the weapon as it felt its body becoming filled with pulsating blood vessels.
She blocked Beta's assault in the nick of time.
"Corruption!"
Beta's body became brittle. Yan tore the sword out of its mouth, the creature's teeth exploding in a shower of blood and pus.
Thrusting the blade hilt deep into its body, Yan watched as the corner of Beta's eyeholes oozed out putrid liquid.
Pulling the blade out, Beta staggered backward, letting out its first cry of pain, before collapsing at the floor, twitching.
Alpha whistled. What a sight, the full capability of a Messenger. She would be delicious. Maybe.
"Krgh... One... down..." Yan wasn't in much better shape. She clutched onto her sword, the liquid in her eyes transforming into pus.
Maybe not so delicious.
Opening her clouded eyes, she found herself completely blind.
She muttered incomprehensibly as she staggered toward Gamma using her other senses.
Gamma tried to flee, but one glare from Alpha and it turned back to Yan.
"Avenge Beta. Will kill Messenger."
But it couldn't move a single step before Yan mumbled another prayer, almost inaudible.
Barely conscious, she dragged the sword along the ground, driven only by bitter determination. The terrifying scene caused Gamma to freeze unconsciously.
"Life..."
Gamma couldn't stand it anymore, turning away to flee. But it a burst of strength, Yan held it by its shoulder, raising her sword high above her head.
"Cre...ation." Gamma screeched as the blade neared its head, but it couldn't escape.
The blade fell, slicing it in half.
The two halves of Gamma's body howled as they felt wooden roots pin them to the ground before slowly moving upward. Shards of wood grew inside their flesh.
Soon, all that was left was only a crude tree sculpture. Yan forever memorialized the terror in its form with wood.
"...Nnngh..." A tree branch dug through Yan's brain, piercing from her jaw to the top of her skull. Fragmented splinters tore away at her mind. She couldn't think straight, but her determination was still there.
Unfortunately, her mind was impaired in such a way that she couldn't tell where Alpha was anymore.
A pair of footsteps echoed behind her. Her hand twitched, but she didn't have the strength to lift her sword.
Her mouth opened and shut. Alpha had to lean in to hear what she said.
"D-Dea...th" The sword fell from her right hand as her fingers rotted off, but she didn't notice.
Alpha was curious about what would happen next.
"...S-Salvat...t..." Her mouth moved in silence; she couldn't finish the last word.
Nothing happened. The sword melted into void, disappearing into the ground. Alpha chittered in amusement.
"You know, Messenger, Asher's body is ten steps in front of you. He's still alive. You. Did. It!" Its voice was gentle and sickeningly sweet.
She looked behind her with a hopeful expression, her mind too broken to realize Alpha's malicious nature.
"...llygh?"
Alpha patted her back lightly.
"Yes, really... I'll just leave you to him, alright? Don't worry about me now~"
It erased its presence, quietly observing Yan as she staggered ten steps forward. She stopped as her foot touched a human leg.
She collapsed beside the corpse, weeping in relief.
"Ash... rrr..." She buried her head into his chest, clumsily moving his arms so he embraced her with gentle, artificial care.
Her hands moved upward to feel his face. She caressed his cheek with her remaining fingers.
Then she froze in horror.
She felt a wet, gaping hole in Asher's skull. Her fingers became stained with brain matter.
His body was cold. Long dead.
Alpha killed him before the fight even began.
She wailed mournfully, slapping his freezing cold skin, as if he would suddenly revive for her.
Not even Alpha's terrifying cackles behind her could break her from her misery.
Alpha walked up to Yan, kicking her corrupted flesh to the side as she gripped onto to Asher's body with all her strength. One stomp through her skull silenced her sobs forever.
"Ah, what a feast. Too bad the Messenger is unsafe for consumption."
Unconcerned with the bodies of its companions around it, Alpha's mask fell to the ground, shattering into shards of ivory porcelain.
Something eldritch, something unnatural pulsed in the musty air. Alpha was human once, many, many years ago.
Then Mother changed him. Gave him the body he truly desired. Alpha was happy now. Mother loved him the most, the first son of the family.
It bent forward, briskly ripping off Asher's head with a single bite, before slowly moving downward.