Jonathan was struggling to process what he had just heard. Genuinely straining, it was that unbelievable. At the same time, he couldn't say he'd misheard. He knew it wasn't true. He knew he had heard every word.
But how could it be? He couldn't be serious.
But he couldn't be joking either.
The haze of confusion was cleared away by anger, he could always count on that, at least. Jonathan gritted his teeth.
"So what, you expect me to just say yes?"
"Why not? I am the most powerful being in this world. If you join me, you'll have the same power, the same riches and privileges. Why wouldn't you want that?"
It would seem like a good offer, yes. If not for the kind of person that thing was. And if not for what it had done.
Jonathan could understand that he wouldn't realize that he was too crazy for anyone to want to cooperate with him, to put their trust in him.
But what he had done to his family?
Even though he was a monster, he should be able to understand that there was no point in asking such a thing of him, after that.
He wouldn't even mention the assassins he had sent after him. Because that was the least of it.
It could be that...
He swallowed, suddenly feeling like vomiting.
"You don't even remember?"
"What is it? If we've met before, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, but I wouldn't have before you became a human being."
You became... What? What the fuck was he saying?
A human being?
People who aren't like him aren't human. Is he saying that? It made sense, that's why he was able to do the things he did. And now that Jonathan was Undead like him, he had "become a human being".
But it was too late now. He had missed the chance for him to join him a long time ago.
Rather, if he hadn't done that, he would never have ended up on that island.
"You don't remember?"
"What about?"
Jonathan took a step forward. Toward the boat. While Elizabeth did the opposite, tense. Prepared for what was coming, but very tense. The end is near. One way or another the end is near. Mine or hers.
"You tortured my... my...!"
Did he even have the right to call them family? He judged that he didn't.
"My wife and my daughter, and then you threw them into the fire! There's nothing left but ashes in the wind. I don't even have a grave to visit."
"Oh, yeah?"
Adam blinked.
The son of a bitch blinked. Genuinely confused.
"I'm sorry," he continued. "I guess it makes sense. You're young enough to still care about such things."
He hadn't meant "things" like the murder of a loved one.
No, he had meant his wife and daughter as things. Because they weren't even human beings in his eyes.
"In time you'll come to realize it. But I'm sorry. If I could give them back to you I would."
He seemed honest, even.
But what did it matter?
"Yeah, well, it's too late now!" Jonathan spat.
"I know. That's what I just said." Was he making fun of him on top of it? No. He had the feeling he wasn't, that this bastard had been honest with him from the beginning.
He doesn't get it.
He doesn't understand, that's all.
Jonathan already knew he was crazy, but this....
"And, for starters, I'm supposed to trust your sincerity when you don't come down from there? That's how you talk to an equal? By looking at him from above, instead of into his eyes?"
Adam nodded his head.
"Good point, I'll admit."
And he descended. Incredibly, Adam listened to him, stepping into his grasp. It took a lot of self-control not to immediately dive for his throat. Even if his men filled him with bullets in the next instant, he could slit his throat, he could kill him!
But somehow he wanted to end this conversation so he held back, even if it was just a little he had to restrain himself.
He would do it. He would do it.
"Why did you do it?" Maybe that's why those were the first words out of his mouth. He knew he wasn't going to like the answer, one way or the other. He knew he probably already knew the answer.
"It helps me focus and.... hold on to what I can," Adam said, slowly, as if he was trying to choose his words carefully. Or trying hard to remember. "It's hard to live like this."
What the hell does that mean, did Adam himself even know?
"What do you mean?"
Adam blinked.
"About what?"
"Focusing and holding on to? What the fuck are you talking about? You've been torturing people for so many years for such a cheap reason?"
"I told you, they're not human beings."
Stop it. Stop it.
He'd heard enough.
Jonathan went for Adam. To kill him, to cut his throat open, in one blow. It would take just one blow. And then it would all be over and he'd...
He didn't reach Adam.
Instead he fell forward. At his feet.
His body hadn't failed him.
Adam hadn't used any special skills, either. Simply one of his men had reacted in time. Now he had a hole in his leg. Now he had to look up at Adam... from the ground. He gritted his teeth.
Adam wasn't looking at him, though.
He had turned his head away. Completely unconcerned.
Well, not worried about what he should be.
"What have you done? Did I give the order? Did I give the goddamn order?" he shouted. His attempt to assassinate him didn't worry him at all. Humiliating.
"But, sir..."
"But nothing. You've only complicated things. You bastard, if you've come between me and...."
Jonathan gathered his strength and lunged forward. Like a panther. But what he took wasn't his neck. His attack swerved a bit and ended up stabbing the bastard in the shoulder. But he forgot he'd blown what might well be his best chance when he saw Adam's blood flowing.
What a joy.
As if hypnotized by the blood, he licked his lips. I have wounded him. With these hands, with this sword, I can win!
"I cannot take back what you have stolen from me. But I will kill you. I swear I will kill you.
Adam put a hand on the edge of the sword, pushing out. He beat him in the struggle, pulling the sword out, with unsurprising ease.
After all, the existence of a level cap was only known thanks to this man. The only one who had lived long enough to reach it. In front of him, he was like a newborn baby. People didn't prostrate themselves before him because they wanted to, but because there was no other choice. He couldn't be removed from the world and he couldn't be ignored.
Jonathan had known that from the beginning. But...
All he needed was a single blow. If he severed an artery, or his neck, if he crushed his head, nothing and no one in the world could save him. Jonathan was the only one who could do it. So it was surprising that he wanted to keep him by his side instead of exterminating a threat.
One blow. Just one.
"You don't have the necessary perspective..."
Jonathan went flying.
Adam threw him back about ten meters and he fell hard to the ground, his lungs draining of air. But at least he hadn't lost the sword. Somehow he had managed to hold on to it still.
Elizabeth wasn't talking, wasn't doing anything. Except backing away. That was the only thing she had done since it all started.
"But I can teach you a lesson. Until it sticks," Adam said. Then, to his soldiers: "Don't even think about shooting to kill. You can't kill him, but it doesn't matter. This is between me and him."
It wasn't.
The sea beast emerged from the waters again, roaring as if it still harbored a shred of life, of consciousness. A wild, unbridled roar.
As it extended its tentacles.
As it grew bigger and bigger, overshadowing everything. The panic was instantaneous, of course, but Jonathan would soon silence those screams.
He clenched one fist, the one that was marked, and brandished it as if his hands could reach the ship.
Then the sea beast launched itself at Adam's boat, smashing it against the rocky wall, blowing it into a thousand pieces. The masts snapped and buckled. Cannons rolled down the sloping ground, taking the occasional motherfucker with them.
Some fell to the floor below as the ground broke beneath their feet.
Others, like pieces of wood, flew over the railings and straight into the sea, or onto the rocks. There was little chance of surviving such an impact against the rocks.
But falling into the water was also a death sentence.
For that was the domain of the sea creature.
They had nowhere to hide, nowhere to avoid the tentacles. It began to slaughter them, to devour them and tear them apart with its tentacles as if they were toys, while they tried to reach the shore. And forcibly some of them would make it, yes. But only a few.
Watching this spectacle, Jonathan felt...
Nothing at all.
He only had eyes for Adam.
"Fuck you," Jonathan said, struggling to get to his feet. In the end he had to help himself with the sword.
"Someday you'll thank me."
What a patronizing bastard.
"I told you... Jonathan," the pause was as if he was struggling to remember the name. "You lack perspective. You're not even aware of the battle you're fighting yet. I don't care if they're dead or alive."
Adam raised his hands.
On his right hand glowed a mark identical to his own. It wasn't that it had been there all along, but it suddenly revealed itself, burning with a different color. A violet light.
That was the only difference.
Under the sway of his power, the corpses, in pieces or not, came back to life and resumed their journey to dry land. Red eyes, he thought. And he felt a chill, for some reason.
Maybe because he had realized they were regenerating.
Adam's soldiers.
Unlike his own, they were regaining the arms, legs or body parts they had lost when they died. At a considerable speed.
They had never had numerical superiority. But even if they were, it clearly wouldn't have mattered. Adam's soldiers could get up as many times as it took, it seemed, not even tearing them to pieces worked to make them stop. Whereas his own couldn't regenerate, so they were limited.
"There's no way you can defeat me. You're too... young. You should face reality."
Jonathan sent his soldiers forward.
The sea beast was still hunting anyone who tried to escape to shore with complete impunity. It approached the boat and struck it with all its tentacles, each one moving in a different direction, finishing tearing it apart. It no longer even resembled a boat. Not many had made it to shore. But enough. Besides, if he was right about Adam's power, they would eventually regenerate. Sooner or later.
Elizabeth shot.
Once, twice, three times. She didn't miss a single shot. She spent three guns, but.... But what? Adam just stood there, not even bothering to dodge the shots.
Jonathan jumped into the fray with his soldiers.
A single blow. As desperate as the battle seemed, he had to keep in mind that one hit would be enough. A severed artery would make him leave this world. That was all it took. And if he died in the process, well, he had nothing to lose, he was content to die here and now if he could take it with him.
But the same goes for you.
Jonathan stopped suddenly, allowing his soldiers to step forward. One hit and it would all be over. Aren't you being too reckless?
The level limit. Nine hundred and ninety"nine in all stats.
Someone like that could break him in half.
So what? He shook his head. What exactly was the point of being afraid? He charged again, slipping between his soldiers and the enemy soldiers. It could be that Adam's men would come back to life again and again, but that was only as long as Adam was alive. So he just had to focus on killing him. In reality, he was fighting against only one enemy.
Adam was watching him. Silently, arms at his sides. Unconcerned.
As before. Just watching him.
Everything about this situation was getting on his nerves, making him go crazy. Jonathan stopped again, but this time it wasn't because he was wavering or anything like that. He planted his feet firmly on the ground. He adopted a different posture, gripping the sword with both hands, and swung it with all his might.
Then...
A faint sound.
Sparks flying.
The realization that the blade of his sword had collided with the blade of another.
Adam unsheathed his own sword so fast he hadn't even seen it, intercepting her attack. His expression seemed to be telling him: Don't you see? You're like a leaf trying to fight the air currents.
Jonathan kept attacking, not backing down, not hesitating.
Ten blows.
Ten exchanges, only not really. Adam wasn't even bothering to attack him, just smashing his sword against his own. Otherwise, with the speed he had shown in drawing, the sword would already be buried in his neck.
It's a bluff. A way to intimidate me.
Perhaps he possesses an ability to draw especially fast, one of many. But you can't move like that normally. You can still win this. Focus. Focus.
Between the useless exchanges of blows, Adam leapt upwards. Over his sword, even, though he came close to cutting off a foot. This confused him, at first, because he had no tactical advantage. Rather the other way around.
Adam proved him wrong.
Perhaps it would be a stupid move in most circumstances, but not in this one. He grabbed hold of the frame where some motel sign had hung before.
And swung, kicking him in the teeth.
A good kick, with everything that bastard had.
Jonathan lost his balance. He reacted fast, stabbing the ground, otherwise he would have ended up sprawled in front of him. Easy prey, to do whatever he wanted. So he managed to get up before Adam landed on the ground again.
Adam confused him, managed to fool him once again. Because even then he didn't swing the sword in his hands, but threw a kick. Fortunately, this time he was able to react better, blocking it with his sword. But it had been close. Did Adam want to prove something, suddenly just kicking him?
Prove to him how inferior he really was?
And he was. He was.
He had a single skill and his stats were a joke, but....
But what?
I can still win this. Focus. Stay focused.
If the fight is one-sided, play dirty. It's that simple.
And no one does it better than a pirate.
"Elizabeth!"
"I've got it!"
Thanks to this, Adam would see it coming. But could he stop it? That was the question.
Elizabeth carried a barrel in her hands. A barrel that emptied over at least a dozen of her soldiers. After that, one spark was enough… To set them on fire. Of course. It was something he had done by accident when he had stormed Elizabeth's mansion, but he had taken note. If it had worked once, why not twice?
And it didn't matter how many soldiers he lost in this battle. Because if he lost, there wouldn't be a second, no matter how much Adam said he didn't want to kill him. He sent the burning undead soldiers toward Adam. They advanced quickly, on all fours, like wild beasts. And like that they were upon him. Only he alone could kill Adam. But it was enough for Jonathan to deliver the coup de grace, he didn't have to do all the work.
Fall, you bastard!
In the blink of an eye, almost a dozen soldiers were cut in half.
Adam really could move so fast, he really had been holding back. Damn it. But at least one of the flaming undead had managed to reach him.
Its torso, having been split in half, had been propelled forward. So now he was clinging to the Count.... Adam, by the lapels of his coat.
He couldn't throw him to the ground alone. Overwhelm him. But he wasn't.
He had said halved, not killed.
The others, naturally, kept trying to follow his one command. Even as they burned alive. He wondered, distantly, if they would still feel pain... No. No way.
And if they did feel such a thing, it's none of my business. None at all.
Adam shook himself, tried to shake off the undead, but they were persistent and he felt no pain. It wouldn't be that easy. Meanwhile, another one climbed on top of him, clinging to his leg.
Soon after a third joined them on the other side.
Fire, of course, spread. And not slowly. Still, Adam didn't utter the slightest groan. Could it be possible that he didn't feel pain? How could he not scream, even if only a small part of him was burning?
He was inhuman in too many ways.
Fall already. Fall already and do the world a favor.
Adam did fall.
To the ground, not defeated, not yet. But he did fall. And his soldiers, burning from head to the hole where their lower bodies had once been, swarmed over him like ants devouring a corpse.
The fire was spreading, higher and higher, flames crackling, sparks flying.
Now's my chance. Don't stop!
Jonathan rushed forward. Holding the sword in both hands, more for fear of losing him than anything else. They were shaking. They were shaking too hard.
Jonathan reached Adam, still lying on the floor.
He looked at him briefly and there was no hatred or anger there, nor did he seem to feel betrayed, ridiculous as it was. He was completely detached.
Monster.
And Jonathan stabbed him. Gave him the coup de grâce...
Or at least tried to.
He couldn't believe it. His eyes were practically popping out of their sockets. Adam had stopped the blade destined to stab through his heart...
With his teeth. He had used his teeth to grab his sword.
"Damn monster, just fucking die!"
Adam really couldn't be allowed to exist anymore. Not a second longer. Not a single second. He had to die here and now.
With his teeth...
Holding the sword with only his teeth, he spun, bearing the pain and the weight of the flaming undead. He spun just enough to throw him aside.
This time Jonathan did lose the sword. It landed not far from him, but he lost the sword.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
He crawled to catch it. He made it in time.
He made it in time, but Adam was already getting up, as if he didn't care that he was burning alive, as if he didn't care about the weight of the corpses clinging to him.
Once on his feet, he shook them off with ease.
He didn't understand how he hadn't died from it... or at least lost consciousness. The fire... Shit.
Adam's burns were already regenerating. The bullet holes from the shots Elizabeth had fired had already disappeared without him noticing, at some point.
"Are you starting to get it?" Adam asked, staring into his eyes.
His gaze was like a physical weight. But Jonathan stood up again, prepared to face him. Somehow. He would find a way because he had no other choice.
It was win or die.
And there was no chance of backing down now.