IDWTBTHQ Chapter 120 - Don't Lose your Head

When Alya gave her ultimatum, Blueskin was still struggling to recover from having his arms cut off and most of his internal organs turned into mush. However, these physical wounds were still nothing compared to how much damage he had taken to his ego.

The oni's mind was a maelstrom of emotions. A kaleidoscope of fear, desperation, pain, anger, frustration and confusion flashed inside of his head, preventing him from thinking straight. Never before he had found himself so powerless. While the Vex, Yasen and even the dragon had overwhelmed him with either numbers, speed and technique or just sheer strength he had always been able to hold his own and even fight back to an extent.

However, against Alya Vilka he felt like a leaf caught in a tornado.

The wolfwoman seemed to have an answer for everything he tried, countering his every move while mockingly lecturing him about what he did wrong, seemingly just to humiliate him further. Worse still, judging by her words and casual attitude she wasn't even putting effort in the fight, and was still dominating him easily. But now, as she slowly and calmly walked towards him, Blue could tell that she was about to get serious and put an end to the duel. Her hands vibrated and craclked with sparks of lightning, while the cold bloodlust that she emitted was enough to send a chill down the oni’s spine. 

For a brief moment, the oni felt so desperate that he wanted to just lie down and let it all end. But then, his pride and will to live fought back, shaking him from his terror.

“Screw that!” He thought angrily. “I'm the fucking main character here! I can't die like this!”

He quickly finished regenerating his body and got up, trying to come up with a plan before Alya could launch her attack. However he still couldn't find any way of getting out of this situation, no matter how much he racked his brain.

“Goddammit! Why is nothing going the right way?” He silently ranted. “This should be a perfect occasion to unlock a power up or some bullshit like that, so why isn't that happening? In all the manga I read there would have been some kinda secret technique that would allow me to go berserk and defeat this bitch or something...”

Then he froze, as a faint memory popped in his mind. The Aura User he had eaten earlier had known about something called “Berserk state”, which was apparently rather easy to achieve for anyone with basic knowledge of Aura Arts and that would allow even the most hapless novice to instinctively use Aura Techniques in battle. While it had some drawbacks, like losing your mind and risking to strain your aura, it was also the only way that Blueskin could think of to defeat the wolfwoman.

The only problem was that the Royal Knight he had eaten had never actually entered a berserk state himself, so Blueskin had no clear instruction on how to do that. He didn’t have much time to experiment either since Alya was just about to kill him then and there. So, his only hope for survival was to buy some time using whatever means necessary and hope to find a way to trigger the berserk state in that span of time.

Luckily, from what he had seen of the Lycan’s proud-warrior-gal personality, he knew exactly what buttons to push to stall her.

“Wait a second!” He cried, putting his hands in a time out gesture. “If you only give me a moment, I have another technique to show you!”

The wolfwoman, who seemed just about to charge at him, stopped in her tracks, looking at him with a glint of interest in her eyes as her hands stopped vibrating and sending out sparks.

“Is that so?” She asked in a suspicious tone while raising an eyebrow. “Then why didn't you use it before?”

“It... it has some drawbacks.” Blue justified himself. “And I thought I could win without using it. But now it's clear that you're a worthy adversary, and I need to go all out to match you! I only need another minute to prepare!” He paused and then added with a forced smirk. “Unless, of course, you want to play it safe and kill me before I can unleash my full power. But that would be rather cowardly for a warrior like you.”

Alya remained silent, clearly considering Blue's words, and the oni took advantage of this moment of respite to try and access the berserk state. However, while he was trying to focus, he was suddenly distracted by a shrill and alien voice that suddenly echoed in the clearing.

“What a load of bullshit.”

This phrase took Blueskin by surprise because it had been spoken in Earth's English rather than this world's language. He turned and saw that the one who had spoken was the Vex Queen.

“He's clearly just stalling for time!” The monster girl kept complaining to Yasen, this time in Imperial. “Alya should kill him and be done with it already. She has dragged this pointless fight for far too long.”

“Patience, sir Marcus.” The knight replied. “I'm sure she will end the fight shortly, no matter what the oni will do.”

The Vex Queen didn't reply and she just kept staring emotionlessly at Blueskin, who was trying to process what had just happened and, more importantly, how to use it to his advantage. He still needed time to find out how to activate the Berserk state, so he decided to buy some more time by engaging in a conversation with the monster girl. And if he managed to turn her against the others or cause some confusion, that would be even better.

“Hey! You!” He cried to the Vex Queen. “I heard you speak in english. Are you perhaps a reincarnated human?”

“What if I am?” The monster girl replied.

“Well, I am one too. I was reincarnated here from Earth.” The oni said, waiting to see her reaction to this revelation.

“I already knew that.” She simply replied without any particular emotion her voice.

Blue waited a few seconds for her to add something, but she remained silent instead, her face completely blank. She felt so cold and alien that the oni would have believed her incapable of emotions if not for her earlier outburst. So, since trying to sway or confuse her didn’t work, the oni settled for trying to cause some outrage instead.

“If you know that, then why aren't you helping me?” He asked in a sly, provocative tone.

“Why the hell should I help you?” The monster girl asked. She still sounded emotionless but somehow it was clear that she was getting angry, or at least annoyed, just like Blue wanted.

“We both come from Earth, so we should stick together.” He kept talking, pulling this explanation out of his ass. “Meanwhile, these people you are with are basically aliens. You can't trust them. Especially because you're not a human anymore either... you are a monster to them. And they'll turn against you as soon as you stop being useful.”

“Oh, because you treat your fellow reincarnators so much better, don't you?” The Vex Queen replied sarcastically. “You captured them, abused them and forced them to work for you. Not to mention, you actually ate one of them just a few minutes ago.” She shook her head. “Sorry, but I think I'll take my chances with my friends over here.”

“How do you know I ever did any of those things?” Blueskin asked, trying to take refuge in audacity to provoke the monster girl even further. “Did your so-called allies tell you? They could be lying. Do you have any proof?”

Much to Blue's surprise however, these words seemed to actually calm down the Vex Queen, to the point that she actually smiled… or at least tried to, as the result looked far too uncanny and unnatural to be called a smile.

“Actually, it was one of your so-called allies that told me that. Remember your lieutenant, Tiny-Sneaky? The one you sent to kill me?” The monster girl asked. “You could say that she shared her thoughts with me, and I learned a lot of things about you as a result.”

“What... Tiny?” Blueskin asked, in a bewildered tone. “How... What do you mean? You talked to her?”

However, the Vex Queen ignored the oni's question and instead turned towards Alya.

“Oh right. That reminds me... Alya, we should probably stop talking to him. He can infect other people's minds somehow, and maybe he can do that by talking.”

“Oh, so that's what he was trying to do.” The Lycan nodded. “Thanks for the tip. I doubt that would work on me, but better safe than sorry.” She turned towards Blue. “Well, if that was your secret technique, then sorry but I'm not going to fall for it.” She raised her right hand, which started vibrating and crackling with energy once again. “Time for you to die, blueboy.”

“No... that wasn't it! I do have a special technique to fight you with! I just need more time to activate it!” Blueskin cried in panic.

“Sorry, but I've had enough of waiting.” The wolfwoman coldly dismissed his request. “The last nicety I can spare for you is giving you a few seconds to say your prayers, and then kill you as quickly as possible.” She raised both of her hands. “Try not to move around too much though, or this might still hurt.”

The oni desperately tried to activate his berserk state, but at this point he was too confused and frustrated to properly focus. Instead of unsettling his enemies, he had been the one who had been confused by the conversation, especially the bit about Tiny and the insinuation that he could corrupt minds —something which, as far as he knew, he couldn't actually do.

Then, all of a sudden, he managed to put together these pieces of information and he reached a very unpleasant conclusion.

“Could it be that Tiny betrayed me!?!” He thought in disbelief. “Maybe after failing to kill the Vex Queen she made up some sob story about how she was being mind controlled to justify her actions, and then she sold me over to them in order to save her own skin!”

The more he thought about it, the more this theory made sense, and he got more and more angry as a result.

“How dare she?” He silently screamed inside of his mind. “After all I did for that bitch, she repays me with treason! I'll fucking kill her if it is the last thing I do! I will skin her alive and... uh?”

He stopped, as he realized that something weird was happening. Even as he was ranting inside of his head he had still been trying to focus his aura and now he felt it somehow resonating with his anger.

A sudden, desperate hope flashed in his mind, and he concentrated all of his aura through this emotion, feeling it swell and surge inside of his chest like a tidal wave.

“Ah... I see.” He thought with grim satisfaction. “Of course, it makes sense that anger is the trigger to enter a berserk state.”

Those were his last rational thoughts before a red mist covered his mind, leaving only a blind fury inside of his head.

“What is he doing now?” Marcus wondered out loud as he watched the oni crouching down and starting trembling while letting out feral growls.

In any other situation, he would have thought that the Blue Terror just had lost his mind because of fear, but it was clear that this wasn't the case this time. The humanoid didn’t look scared at all, and instead radiated pure, unadulterated fury, so powerful that the Vex Queen could perfectly feel it even through his proxy-body. Moreover, while the oni's size hadn't actually increased, he seemed to be getting bigger and more threatening with every passing second.

Meanwhile, Alya just stood still, refraining from attacking for the moment and just looking at her opponent with a rather disappointed expression on her lupine face.

“I think he's trying to go berserk.” Yasen replied after studying the oni for a few seconds.

“And what does that mean?” Marcus asked.

“It's an Aura technique that allows the user to enter a frenzied state in which they are capable of using some Aura techniques instinctively, without actually having to train or practice them beforehand.” The captain explained, as calm as if discussing the weather.

“That sounds really bad.” The Vex Queen said, a bit taken aback by the captain’s unconcerned tone. “I mean, the oni is already really strong on his own, and if he's going to use aura techniques...”

“Don't worry.” Yasen reassured him. “Going berserk has a lot of downsides. Apart from the fact that it's all but guaranteed to result in severe Aura straining, it also makes the user lose their mind and go on a rampage, attacking everything and everyone around them without a care for their own safety.” He smirked. “That could still be enough to win against most opponents, but it isn't going to work against experienced fighters like me or Alya.”

Just as the knight finished talking, the oni suddenly stood up and let out a terribly powerful roar, so loud that it created a small shockwave that flattened the grass all around him. An aura of power and pure, undiluted rage surrounded him like a miasma, and despite Yasen's words Marcus actually started to feel a tad nervous.

Alya, however, didn't seem to be even remotely worried. If anything, she looked bored and disappointed as she took a guard position to face the frenzied humanoid.

Then the Blue Terror attacked.

Without any warning, the oni sprinted towards Alya, moving so fast that the soil behind him was shredded, and lifted one of his right hands to deliver a mighty hammering blow to the wolfwoman.

However, as fast as the humanoid was, his opponent was still faster. Moving with ethereal grace, Alya jumped to the side, neatly avoiding the oni's arm which instead impacted on the ground, causing an explosion that sent pieces of dirt flying everywhere.

“Woah!” Marcus thought. “That punch must have been stronger than a cannonball.”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” The oni screamed, throwing a flurry of wild punches against her opponents, each so powerful that it created a gale of wind that rustled the leaves of the nearby trees. Once again, however, Alya easily dodged every blow with contemptuous ease, dancing through the attacks like a feather in the wind.

“See?” Yasen said, using his glaive to point at the fight. “I told you there was nothing to worry about. His attacks may have gotten faster and more powerful, but they are also much more predictable now. Not to mention that he's leaving himself full of openings.” He sneered. “In these conditions, even I could finish him off instantly if I wanted to.”

The Vex Queen nodded and kept watching the fight, which seemed to be heading towards its conclusion since Alya seemed to be losing patience. Her expression became more and more sour, until, all of a sudden, she sighed and uttered some words in a rather pissed tone.

“Okay, that's enough.”

After dodging yet another punch, the Lycan quickly circled around the oni and jumped. Then she swung her arm so fast that even to the Destroyers' enhanced reflexes it still looked like a blur, and the humanoid's head was sent flying away from his body.

“Finally.” Marcus sighed in relief. “I was getting tired of wai-”

But before he could even finish this thought, something unexpected happened.

Tendrils of meat shot out of the Blue Terror's wound, instantly reconnecting the head with the rest of the body. And then, before Alya could land back on the ground, the oni punched her with all of his might.

The wolfwoman managed to guard herself using her arms and legs as a shield, but the impact was so strong it sent her flying away from the clearing, smashing through the trees and the Vex drones in her way like a cannonball and disappearing inside of the forest.

The oni, now alone in the middle of the clearing, raised his head high and let out a ferocious roar of victory, while both Marcus and Yasen watched him completely appalled.

“Damn it!” The knight cursed, dropping his relaxed stance and instead assuming a guard position. “Careful sir Marcus! It seems that going berserk has made his regeneration stronger!”

“Don't worry about me.” The Vex Queen replied, as he also gave a mental command to his drones to get ready to fight. “My actual body is far away from here. Anyway, how are we gonna deal with him now?”

“Just use your minions to restrict his movements and I'll chop him to pieces.” The Aura Master said.

Meanwhile the Blue Terror turned towards them and stared at them with a mad glow in his eyes. It was clear that he would attack at any moment, and so both the Vex Queen and the captain prepared to take on him. Yasen gripped his glaive with both hands and started levitating a few centimeters off the ground, while Marcus made all of his drones advance towards the clearing, ready to swarm the enemy with their sheer numbers.

However, before either side could make a move, a loud and eerie howl echoed in the air, coming from the direction Alya had flown towards. Everyone turned towards the source of that noise and, after a few seconds, a white figure entered the clearing as the Vex drones opened a passage for it.

“Is that... Alya?” Marcus asked.

That was a legitimate question, because the creature that had appeared only bore a passing resemblance to the wolfwoman. For starters it was much bigger, at least two and a half meters tall, and it looked far less human. Whereas the Lycan usually looked like a humanoid with some wolfish features, this creature was just a full blown anthropomorphic animal, and a very wild and threatening looking one at that. It reminded Marcus of the werewolves from the movies and comics he had seen in his previous life.

“That's her alright.” Yasen replied, with a hint of relief in his voice. “I guess she finally got serious.”

“You!” The werewolf creature cried in a voice that was similar to Alya's but also much deeper and more guttural, while pointing a clawed finger at the oni. “We're not finished yet! I won't let you go now that things have finally gotten interesting.” She smiled, revealing a set of much sharper teeth than before. “Come here and face me! Give me everything you have!”

As she spoke, she radiated a threatening aura so strong that it almost matched that of the Blue Terror. However, while the oni's presence was one of burning hot anger, the Lycan's was much colder, icy even, like the winter wind during a snowstorm.

The oni turned towards her, letting out some low, threatening growls. Then, without any warning, both he and the wolfwoman darted towards each other at incredible speed, meeting at the center of the clearing with an impact so powerful it made the ground shake.

The Blue Terror threw dozens of punches but as it happened before Alya still either dodged or deflected each blow with ease while countering with incredibly quick slashes of her claws which tore apart the oni's flesh. However, this time the oni simply ignored the wounds he received —which regenerated instantly no matter how grievous they were— and kept attacking without pause, pressuring his opponent with an endless assault.

As this stalemate went on, Marcus, who was still looking in awe at the show of strength from both fighters, leaned towards Yasen and asked:

“Uhm... Yasen, could you explain to me what happened to Alya? Why does she look like this?”

“Oh, that's because of her condition.” The knight replied without taking his eyes away from the fight. “It's called the Werebeast Curse. It's some sort of innate condition that some Thulians suffer from, and that gradually turns them into powerful but unthinking and dangerous beasts. However, Alya has somehow managed to gain control over her curse, and she can transform into that form at will.” He paused and then added: “She only uses this power when she's serious though, which doesn't happen very often. But when she does, she's easily the strongest warrior I've ever seen.”

Meanwhile, Alya had changed her strategy. Since counter attacking with surgical slashes didn't work, the Lycan had decided to try and overpower the oni’s regeneration with sheer damage. Her hands started vibrating again, generating small sparks of lightning, and she started exchanging punches with the Blue Terror, though she was much better at it than he was. Whenever their fist met the oni's arms exploded into offal up to their elbow, and when the wolfwoman's blows connected to his body the humanoid spat out blood and pieces of his internal organs. However the Blue Terror still kept fighting, refusing to going down despite the monumental amount of damage he was taking, stubbornly regenerating and keeping the Lycan woman on her toes with lightning quick attacks.

Then, seeing as this strategy wasn't that effective either, Alya just tried another.

As the oni threw yet another punch, instead of dodging or meeting it with one of her own, the wolfwoman grabbed the humanoid's wrist and threw him in the air. Then, as he was airborne, she jumped to follow him and performed a series of incredibly fast slashes using her vibrating claws, so fast that Marcus was barely able to see her afterimage. These attacks somehow traveled through the air, creating countless wind blades that shredded the oni's body to many small pieces and scattered them all over the clearing.

However, even this wasn’t enough to put the oni down for good.

Tendrils of meat immediately shot out of the scattered body parts of the oni even before they touched the ground, connecting with each other and pulling themselves together to literally rebuild the Blue Terror like a living puzzle, while Alya stood still and watched this happen with a pensive expression on her bestial face.

“What a stubborn son of a bitch.” Marcus thought, a bit impressed despite himself. “He really refuses to die no matter what.”

“What otherworldly resilience.” Yasen commented, also looking appalled by the oni's sheer toughness. “I've never seen something like that.”

“Me neither.” The Vex Queen replied. “But maybe I know how we can deal with it. My drones could drench those pieces of meat in acid, to keep them from regenerating.”

“That could work.” The captain nodded. “And if I also join Alya in cutting the oni to pieces, we should be able to do that quickly enough.” He paused and then sighed. “The only problem is that she will never agree to this.”

“Let's try to convince her at least.” Marcus said. “After all, she all but won this fight. It's just that the oni doesn't stay down.”

“Well, it's certainly worth a shot.” Yasen agreed, and then he cried: “Alya! How about we help you clean up? It's clear that you won, anyway.”

“Shut up!” The Lycan replied with a growl. “This is my fight, and I'll be damned if I let you interfere now that it's got somewhat interesting. Besides, I'm going to bring this to an end with my next move, so I don't need your help!”

The Lycan woman then turned to face the oni, who was still regenerating, took a deep breath and adopted a seemingly more relaxed stance. She then closed her eyes while she kept focusing on her breathing and put her hands together, in a prayer-like gesture.

As she stood in that position, a feeling of deep calmness slowly started radiating from her. At first it was almost soothing and rather pleasant, but with every passing second it grew more and more intense, until it became almost unbearable. A sense of absolute peace, cold and inhuman and yet still strangely alluring, which set all of the drones, and consequently Marcus, on edge.

“What!?!” Yasen muttered, his eyes growing wide with surprise. “She is using that technique now? Has she lost her mind?”

“Why? What technique is that?” The Vex Queen asked, feeling more and more uncomfortable.

“Death Door.” The captain replied. “It's considered the ultimate attack of Aura Arts. Nothing can resist it, and wounds dealt with it can’t be healed.” He grimaced. “But the downside is that the user also forgoes all defenses! It's a really dangerous gambit and I can't believe that Alya is actually going through with it when there are other options available!”

In his real body, Marcus grimaced. Unlike the knight, he could easily believe that the wolfwoman would do anything to satisfy her thirst for a challenge. She had clearly shown to not give a damn about the consequences as long as she could have what she wanted, as this whole duel nonsense had demonstrated.

The Blue Terror finally finished getting back in one piece, and roared with anger. But Alya remained completely silent, simply breathing as the air around her seemingly got darker, as if the light was being sucked out of it. At her feet, a large patch of grass withered and died, turning to a dull yellow color that badly contrasted with the luscious green of the rest of the clearing. Then, a dark aura started forming around her hands, and the Lycan finally reopened her eyes, which were now completely black.

Heedless of the aura of absolute danger that the wolfwoman was radiating, the oni charged at her, raising his fists high to smash her into a pulp. But as he brought them down, Alya also moved, counter attacking with two slash of her claws that severed two of the humanoid's arms, just as he had done many times before.This time, however, the limbs didn't regenerate, and the flesh around the wounds blackened, as if affected by necrosis.

Despite this, the Blue Terror didn't slow down, and instead used his two remaining arms to try and grab Alya into some sort of bear hug, clearly intending to squish her to death. But once again, the Lycan used her claws to sever the limbs before they could close on her.

Armless but still not harmless, the oni didn't give up his attack and brought down his head, opening his maw to try and bite his opponent to death. But before he could close his teeth on the wolfwoman, she swung her claws with a graceful and almost gentle movement and decapitated him.

The humanoid's head flew in the air, before landing on the grass several meters away, where it contorted and grimaced. Meanwhile, his mangled body still stood up for a few more seconds, refusing to go down and even taking another step towards Alya, almost as if guided by a will of its own, but then it tripped and fell on the ground, twitching for a while before finally going limp and immobile.

Alya remained on guard, looking at her felled enemy until she was sure that he wouldn't get up again. Then, as it was clear that the oni was done for good, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She then began shrinking, losing most of her more animalistic traits and returning to her usual appearance. She also lost her eerie aura, and when she reopened her eyes they had also gone back to normal instead of pitch black. Then, with a long, tired sigh, she relaxed and sat down on the gras.

“Phew! I'm beat!” She said merrily. “I haven't had a workout like that in years!”

Marcus and Yasen exchanged a look and then they both shook their heads in frustration —though the Vex Queen did so with her real body, not the proxy one. Despite the fact that the oni had finally been vanquished, putting up with Alya had emotionally drained them, and as a result their reactions were very much somber.

“Well, congratulations on your victory, lady Alya.” Yasen said. “Though I must question your decision to use Death Door. Surely you could have won even without it.”

“Of course I could have.” The wolfwoman replied. “But it has been far too long since I've used Death Door, and this was the perfect occasion to do some practice. Being in a berserk state the oni wasn't able to take advantage of the weaknesses of Death Door, and the fact that wounds from that technique can't be healed or regenerated was exactly what I needed to take him down.”

The captain looked at her for a moment, and then shook his head in resignation.

“Well, I can't argue with the results. And it wasn't as if I expected you to behave sensibly to begin with.”

“You'd have been quite the fool if you had.” The Lycan replied with a smirk. “Anyway, thanks for calling me here. In the end, it was worth coming all the way here from Thule. I'll make sure to repay you with a round of drinks when we get back to town.”

“As much as I’d like a drink right now, I fear it will have to wait.” Yasen said regretfully. “As the commander in chief of this region, I’m going to have a lot of work to do once we get back to Treval. Not only is it my responsibility to clean up this mess, but I also have to make a report to his majesty about what happened here.”

“That's what you get for accepting official titles and things like those.” Alya said derisively. “You should have just stayed a champion like me. You'd have much more free time and autonomy.”

“Sometimes I wish I did.” The Captain replied jokingly. “But sadly it's too late for that. And besides, I work better as an officer than I did as a simple champion.” He paused and then added in a rather mischievous tone: “But I guess that I deserve at least one drink, after the day I had. Especially if you pay for it.”

“Ah! Now you're speaking my language!” The Lycan said, getting back on her feet. She then looked at Marcus and asked: “So, what about you, Marcus? Are you coming with us?”

“I'll take care of the remains of the oni first.” The Vex Queen replied, pointing at the body parts scattered around the clearing. “I don't want to risk him resurrecting or something like that. Besides, in case you've forgotten, this is not my real body. I'm actually near Treval right now.”

“Oh, that's right.” The wolfwoman nodded. “We’ll catch up with you then. And I don't think that the oni would come back to life, since I killed him with Death Door, but I guess it never hurts to be cautious.” She turned to Yasen. “Shall we be on our way?”

“Of course.” The captain said, and the two Aura Masters left the clearing, heading towards Treval.

When they got out of sight, Marcus finally got to work. He made the Warrior drones rip apart and devour the Blue Terror's body, saving only a few chunks of meat that the Flyers would bring to his real body, so that he could eat them and acquire the humanoid's DNA. He didn't actually have high hopes to gain useful traits for his drones, since most of the oni's abilities seemed to be magic based, but it was still worth a try. If he managed to get even a tiny percentage of the humanoid's strength for his drones, then his Hive would get much, much stronger —a thought that made him feel really excited, to the point that his mouth started watering.

As he was thinking this, however, he was suddenly alarmed when he noticed that the oni's head was still twitching.

“Damn!” He thought. “Is that damn thing immortal or something!?!”

He immediately made his Destroyers carefully approach the head, ready to douse it in acid should it start regenerating or do something weird. However, upon further inspection, it became clear that while the oni was still moving, it was on his last leg: the wound around the neck had gone completely black and the necrosis was quickly expanding while its movements were weak and erratic, without any sign of getting better.

Still not entirely convinced, the Vex Queen made her copy-drone approach the head and pick it up to give it an even better look.

Much to Marcus's surprise and horror, the oni conscious. Not only that, but he had somehow slipped out of its berserk state, and now it was apparently completely lucid. His eyes were wide with fear and pain, with tears flowing down his cheeks, and he was desperately trying to say something, though he lacked the lungs to actually emit any sound. But by reading his lips, the Vex Queen still managed to understand his words.

Help me. Please, help me.

In his real body, Marcus shivered. As much as he loathed the oni, he still felt uncomfortable watching him suffer like that. So, after only a moment, he decided to be merciful and help the unfortunate humanoid the only way he could: by ending his pain.

He made the copy-drone gently lay the head on the ground and take a step back while Destroyers advanced, with their chitin blades raised high. They quickly chopped the head to bits, and then, as a final touch to make sure the Blue Terror was really dead, they spit acid on the remaining chunks.

“What a pitiful end.” Marcus thought somberly. “Maybe he deserved it, but it's still pitiful nonetheless.” He sighed. “Well, at least it's over now. Time to move on.”

And then he made all of his drones walk away from the clearing without looking back, leaving behind a puddle of melted flesh as the only proof of Blueskin's existence.