Chapter Eighty-Five - I'm fed up!

The claw moved with extreme agility as it gouged the air with a sharp sound, hitting the golden armor, the claw cut through with little resistance, making a sickening sound of metal breaking and flesh tearing, creating a red spray of blood that spread, staining the black scales with red.

The deep cut caused the cultist's body to open up like a broken paper wrapper, the torn flesh and muscles were unable to keep the organs inside the body, and soon the guts came to the fore, spreading a sickly smell into the air.

But despite the intense damage, the cultist did not fall, in fact he even tried to attack.

Locke cursed in his mind and kicked the destroyed body in front of him, launching it like a furious soccer ball and making it bounce against the other enemies, the twisted and battered body hit the others, knocking them down and Locke finished them off with a ball of black fire, the unearthly black flames spread with violence and consumed the bodies like a ferocious beast.

As soon as he confirmed that his enemies were no longer getting up, Locke took a deep breath, his body absorbing the surrounding mana in an attempt to get back to the peak condition, Locke couldn't help but scowl.

The natural mana nearby was that same disgusting and putrid mana that leaked from the building, now in several times the concentration, Locke felt like he was walking along the riverbed of a sewage and couldn't help but keep a thin layer of his own mana all over his skin, a measure to avoid touching the rot that surrounded him, he felt like if his entire nature despised that environment, even if his natural mana managed to devour and purify that putrid mana, if he had another form, he would prefer not to do that, after all it was still disgusting. Unfortunately, Locke had no time to waste and couldn't afford to waste his potions for nothing, after all he still had no idea what else he was up against.

Locke took a moment to look at one of the pieces of armor from one of the cultists, the chest plate showing a deep and violent diagonal tear, he turned the plate over, and just as he suspected, he could see once more the mass of alien flesh moving inside it, without thinking twice, he threw the object into the black flames and let it burn.

Locke turned to the stone tunnel and continued on his way, unfortunately the diameter of the tunnel did not allow him to spread his wings so he had no choice but to run or walk.

The point is that at every corner Locke was faced with another group of cultists, small groups every time, but their arrival was constant and Locke seriously wondered how many people were part of this group after all.

The cultists also no longer tried to face him head-on, everyone who showed up had already activated their final trump cards, they had been fused to the parasites in their armor and had their bodies on that bizarre effect, turning into killing machines without brains.

Locke couldn't help but feel mixed feelings, due to his principles he abhorred the cultists with all his heart, Locke thought them a stupid bunch of people blinded by their own desires, willing to sacrifice the lives of others to achieve their goals and crazy enough to trust the first extraplanar abomination that paid attention to them. But at the same time, Locke felt sorry for they.

The truth is that many of the cultists were people who once had good intentions, they just wished that other races didn't need to hide and wanted a better tomorrow for everyone, they were people who wanted equality for all and fought for the oppressed people with ideals that Locke admired.

Unfortunately, even with their good intentions they failed to see how they were being used, they failed to see the indoctrination and brainwashing they were going through, they became people so far removed from their original dreams that they were now unable to grasp they mistakes themselves, they who once fought for the oppressed were now on their way to becoming the oppressors, they had become those willing to commit the most heinous acts for what they thought was the greatest good.

Locke continued down the path, defeating and burning all the groups of cultists that came to meet him, he traced his killing path, descending deeper and deeper into the smooth stone tunnels, finally he reached another huge open room.

At first glance the room looked empty, but Locke sighed in apparent disgust.

"You again? Don't you know it's useless to hide? Even with all that rotten mana around this place you still stick out like a swollen toe!" Locke commented loudly.

The floor in the center of the room began to rise and Matthias appeared, his elderly face still twisted into an oddly gentle smile that contrasted with his cruel eyes.

"Young man, you really are unstoppable… Don't you regret a bit for all the killing you caused here? All those people had their own lives, they all had dreams and hopes, now they've all been reduced to dust…" Matthias commented in a wounded tone. "All those who have fallen are martyrs to our fight, they all fought bravely to save this world! I will pray for their souls, that they find the peace they deserve!"

"No more jokes, enough of all this stupidity, I'm fed up with all, I don't care about your distorted morals or your ideals of salvation, I'm tired of it all!" Locke spoke with apparent anger, his mana responded to his feelings, circling his body and making the air crackle, he crossed his arms angrily. "So, are you going to try to stop me? Will you call more demons for me to slaughter? Or are you going to show a little courage and face me head on?"

"Ah, ah, young man, I see that it will be impossible to dialogue with you... I don't think anything I say can change your mind, this is a shame, really a shame... Unfortunately I've exhausted almost all of the ways I had to put up some resistance, I have no choices left but the one I would never want to use... I have no other choice, I can't let you stop our plans... we are so close, to the salvation for all..."

After saying these words Matthias's body began to lift, his legs, before fused with the soil, finally separated from the ground and the old man fell on his knees, he got up with some difficulty and his bones started to crack violently, his mouth opened in a huge, malevolent grin and he began to remove his red cloak.

The old man's mana began to increase as his body began to shift at a visible speed, his eyes began to glow the same sickly pale green color as the sky, and drool trickled from the corner of his lips. His limbs began to crack and stretch as he shifted, his spine bursting and thorns popping out from behind his back as his body assumed a hunched position.

Muscles began to swell as his skin took on a dirty bluish tinge, tentacles came out of his mouth as his eyes swelled, it was clear the old man was going through some evil and unholy transformation, becoming some kind of strange beast, but right now something happened.

Before the old man could complete his evil transformation a huge spear made of black flames pierced his chest, the old man looked down in disbelief and then looked at Locke, Locke was standing in the same place, still with his arms crossed, plus another two spears of black fire floated around him.

"Y-You…" Matthias spoke, his distorted voice escaping through the tentacles that filled his mouth.

"What? Do I have to wait for you to complete your transformation? What is this, a cartoon?" Locke scoffed. "I already told you, I'm fed up! No more games!"

The other two spears flew towards Matthias and hit him, enveloping his entire half-transformed body with violent black flames, the ex-priest began to thrash and scream violently as the flames crackled and consumed him, he tried to use the alien mana that permeated his body to try to force the fire out, but the flames consumed everything voraciously.

Matthias dropped to the ground and rolled over in a futile attempt to save himself, but the flames just spread farther and farther through his body, as long as Locke controlled them there was no way for him to escape, his fate was sealed.

Matthias raised a hand to the heavens and shouted, "Father! Oh Father! Save your servant!".

"God won't save you, not after everything you've done!" Locke responded by inserting more mana and he doubled the power of the flames, which made the ex-priest scream even more violently.

"No! No!" Matthias yelled, he managed to crawl to Locke and grabbed his feet "You don't understand! You don't understand! We are so close! So close!"

Locke kicked the priest away and turned around, he could feel the ex-priest's mana decreasing in his back and he knew there was no longer any chance of the ex-priest surviving, whatever was feeding the ex-priest with that mana had cut off the supply as soon as the ex-priest was enveloped in Locke's magic, even if he didn't burn to death it was already the end of him. Locke entered another tunnel and hoped it was the last.

Matthias watched Locke's back with despair, he could no longer speak and his life was on the line, his eyes darkened as his consciousness was devoured by the flames, his last thought was.

'It doesn't matter, it's too late... too... late...'