Clemens was feeling scared for the first time.
Not because of that bastard that was attacking him and his friends.
But because of the future that awaited him and everyone of his 'kind'. Through this battle he had realised there was no conquering the world for them, no being the only supreme kind till the end of the world.
Maybe the bastard was scary because he had made them realise how bleak it all was.
He wasn't a master swordsman that could cut down mountains or split oceans, but his sword skills were made to let him live.
It was made to sacrifice anything just so only he could survive.
The realisation of his kind's bleak future dawned on him when he saw what had happened to Carrie after he got butchered over and over and over and over.That bastard was targeting only Carrie from beginning to the end, Oh and Rodol too, but it looked more like he was just tormenting Rodol most of the times.
The more they fought with him, the worse the itch in his skin became .
Still, Carrie was the first victim that night. Watching him turn into that disgusting, shriveled husk truly made him understand what his own and everyone similar to him would become.
Their gaze listless, their appearance hideous, their sanity crumbled.
It won't be long before everyone turns that way, so how will their kind rule over anything?
Atleast the mortals will die, but what about their kind? Will they continue forever as that hollowed out husk? Till the end of the world...? Will even the end of the world give them peace atleast.....?
The next to fall was of course, Rodol, the ratkin lost all his fur from the body. His already hideous appearance turning even worse, his fangs falling down from the mouth.
The bastard had changed from the sword to that weird rope weapon, that hurt like hell.
His moves turned even weirder, earlier he was just trying to survive with the sword, but now it seemed as if he was hunting them down one by one.
Adren seeing the fate of his brother, tried to run, but the man dragged the poor angran back with his rope weapon thing.
Gunri, the Taurian hadn't gone hollow, yet he had lost all sanity from pure unadultered wrath, he was skewering anything that caught his sight and was essentially being used to hunt us by that cur.
As night fell, so did Clemens' sanity, yet he continued challenging that bastard. For some reason, he didn't want to run, maybe it was to prove that he wouldn't give up, maybe it was to say that he wasn't scared, maybe it was something else?
Whatever it was, he continued giving his all, he even tried to use some of the fallen trash to use as makeshift weapon, yet that rope weapon would drag it all and use it against them.
It hurt too much, Clemens was in pain, and not just that the itch was slowly growing worse, several times he tried to remove his own skin, yet the bastard wouldn't let him, so when he could do nothing ,he'd grow enraged and charge at his foe, continuing the cycle.
Several times he felt like running away, but somethng caused him to not even think of turning back, atleast he would live his last moments of sanity with pride?
And it wasn't like he could run, that bastard wouldn't let him anyway.
Hence giving it his all again, he continued.
Sometime later, even Ynes lost it, she was the only one whom he considered worthy enough to talk, but even she was gone now.
Now it was just Clemens himself, the Taurian Gunri and that bastard with their sanity intact. Maybe it wasn't wise to consider Gunri with sanity, he was moving purely on rage at that point, Clemens wasn't sure why he himself was still standing?
It didn't matter at that point, all that mattered was to somehow kill that Human, try to avenge his friends...
Somehow lost in thoughts, Clemens didn't see that a heavy dart was approaching his head at high speed, but when he noticed it, it was already too late to dodge.
Looking at the approaching weapon, aimed directly at his head, Clemens only had one thought,'Will this finally give me some peace..?'
But just then, a loud clanking noise was heard and Clemens momentarily dazed, found that he had survived and a new person was standing in front of him.
Looking properly, he realized he wasn't as new as he thought him, Indeed, it was the Ascended working with the Church of Rot.
***
Archie saw that a person just appeared out of nowhere in front of his weapon, shielding the Rotting one from probably the final blow.
The new guest was wearing a trench coat, covering everything from till below his knee and a hat covering his head. It was the vanishing man from that day, appearing as a saviour angel for the poor decayed.
Previously, Archie couldn't see the face of the fellow, but now it was fully visible, it was a red skinned being, with two long horns growing out of them. The horns weren't like Taurians that seemed to show their majestic glory, but they appeared as if they would look good on someone who ruled all over Hell.
It was a Daemon, one of the several species living on this planet. Known for their red skin,horns and their pride and honor.
The moment had finally came for Archie, he used to be scared to even approach these people with strange powers, yet now he was facing not just one alone, but he even had two allies who didn't had supernatural powers like him,if you didn't count their so called 'immortality'.
And it looked like the daemon had countered his weapon, with just a shortsword.
Even though Archie was wounded all over his body, his stamina already low, the skill required to stop his rope-dart was very high and the daemon didn't look like it was lacking in that.
The Daemon took two steps forward, glanced at everything around and spoke to Archie with an even voice,"Your display of skill is quite admirable, even for a mortal human, there aren't many who can take care of Six Rotted without any lethal wounds."
Archie didn't feel any glad from the opponent's praise, because Daemons wouldn't just compliment anyone, if they did, 80% chances they were going to challenge the person in front of them and Archie wasn't in any shape to duel anyone, let alone someone he wasn't confident in beating even at his peak. Their so called duels lasting till death most of the times.
Dragging the dart back to himself, He replied,"Thank you for the praise, although do you feel so mystified by my beautiful techniques that you feel like killing yourself through your own weapon or something? because I really feel like you should do just that!"
Chuckling at the enemy's humor, the Daemon declared,"One that dies without even a proper battle isn't worthy to be a Daemon, wouldn't I-"
Just as the man was trying to complete his sentence, the Taurian that had gone insane from wrath, bellowed and attacked anyone that was in his sight, and that anyone just so happened to be the Daemon standing in the middle.
The Human Rotted seeing his friend attacking the Ascended screamed trying to stop him,"Gunri! Don't attack him, he's with us!!"
Yet the Taurian gave no heed and charged forward, but just as he took one step, the Daemon disappeared,in the second step, Gunri had lost one of his arms, in the third step, he had lost both of his legs.
And finally his head was no more either. The Daemon reappeared where he had moved from with no wounds on his body, yet still some blood stuck to his clothes, although the blood was already dripping away.
In the silent night at the town square, three sane beings remained, 1 Human, 1 Rotted and 1 Daemon. The Taurian had hollowed.
Clemens, the last of the decayed, finally fell to his knees, his willpower gone, his last bit of sanity may have remained but he no more had any wish to keep it any longer.
The Daemon, surprised by the hollowing looked at the Human with even more astonishment and commended once again in his deep voice,"You really caused the Taurian to go Hollow too, that skill is nothing but praiseworthy, if we were in another occasion, we'd be the best of companions, challenging each other to a battle of skills daily."
Archie with cold sweat dripping down his back retorted,"YOU are the one who killed the poor dude, you could've just you know, make him sleep with your magical powers or something? And I have no interest in challenging you or your skills."
The Daemon only chuckled and shook his head,"The Taurian had really all lost it anyway, what was the difference between him and a wild beast anymore? and don't worry about the challenge, we'll be doing it whether you want it or not."
As Archie was cursing his luck and cursing the Angran that had caused him to be in this state, the Daemon turned his head and looked down at the Rotting Human behind him with pity.
Sighing once, he asked,"So little rotling? Are you still there or you have lost it too?"
The answer came some heartbeats later with a stutter in the small voice,"W-will that be the fate of all of us...?"
The prideful daemon stared at all the hollows around him and back at the hollow in front of him,"That is so, did you not understand why all the mortals were making a mockery of your kind? Even after all these years of being a rotten, if you couldn't understand such a simple truth, then it was always just your own stupidity. So let me tell you, there is no future for your kind, only darkness and insanity, there'll never come a world where you could rule, no place where you'll find peace."
That was the last thing, the Rotting Human heard and all that was left was the Hollow, with no mind, his sanity crumbled because of the truth he learned.
He had finally achieved his 'peace'.