Chapter-9: My kill

Thomas~

"Are you serious?", shouted Jess.

While Auden was bringing Thomas to safety, Jess and Jake found their way to him. To Thomas' dismay, she wasn't planning to shut up about how reckless Thomas had been, and how she could have died and....

Thomas forced himself to tune out her voice. The pain in his body was unbearable, and with that, a feeling of disappointment was also growing. He had failed. No amount of excuses could cover that up. He wished to pass out and disappear into the concrete pavement he was standing on.

"Are you even listening?!". Jess's voice found its way into his mind again. "Gosh damn it you could have be-"

"Alright that's enough." Jake said. Thomas was thankful for the interruption.

"Guys, I'll get him to the hospital, you guys get there first.", Auden said.

"We can get him there faster.", offered Jake.

"We can't, actually. My Power has reached its limit, I can't use it for another hour." said Jess.

" Fair enough, you go on ahead. Get to the hospital, tell them its an emergency. He is seriously wounded and if we don't get him to a hospital, he'll die."

'Well, that's reassuring.' Thomas thought to himself.

A few seconds later, Auden had given Jake the location and the pair had broken into a run towards the hospital.

Auden slowing elevated himself with his water jet, keeping Thomas steady. The movement hurt his ribs.

Thomas' mind was still in the battlefield. At that monstrous snake and Blast, and the battle waging between them.

Suddenly, a thought crossed him mind. A thought so stupid, ambitious, exhilarating and reckless that he couldn't believe it was a creation of his own mind. But he had sensed it coming the moment Auden had brought him down the building.

The Monster was his kill. It was his prey. There was no denying it that he was ready to risk his life yet again just to finish the job. He WANTED his kill.

"Auden."

"Yes?"

"Take me back to the battlefield. I want to assist Blast." It was a lie. He wanted the Monster all for himself.

Auden scoffed. " Very funny."

"I don't think it's funny Auden."

"You know what I think? You hit your head to hard."

"Just....take me there Auden. Just get me close enough to its mouth. I'll manage the rest."

"Not a chance. I just brought you out of the jaws of death. I'm not throwing you in their again. President is managing just fine."

" He's not. His explosions are barely damaging the snake."

"I'm not taking you there."

"Fine. I'll just throw myself in the jaws of death myself."

"Huh?"

Thomas smiled slightly. The message was clear. "You heard it right. Take me there or I'll slit my own throat right here."

"Suit yourself, I couldn't care less."

"You sure about that? A life you worked so hard to save. You'd let it go to waste that easily."

"I didn't work that hard."

"I'd say you worked pretty hard."

Thomas was cringing inside. He could just skip this and run away, but he couldn't get his kill without Auden's help.

"Also, you won't kill yourself over this."

This time Thomas laughed. A proper, unsuppressed laugh.

As if he needed a reason to kill himself.

He didn't hesitate even a second. With his left hand, he manifested Darkness, gave it the shape of a knife and aimed straight at his own jugular. He was barely an inch away, when a jet of water from Auden's hand struck the knife away. If he was late by even a second, Thomas would be lying in the pool of his own blood. The thought brought a peculiar sense of control to him.

"Are you crazy or just stupid?"

"Quite a bit of both." Thomas said with newfound confidence. Using his powers seemed to calm him down in a way he couldn't quite understand. As if it ate his emotions.

Auden did a facepalm and looked over to Jake and Jess, running to get help, turning a corner and going out of sight. Then he looked at Thomas, who was hell-bent on getting himself killed.

"You know what, you mad m******r. I might just let you get killed however the heck you want."

"Good enough." Said Thomas, as Auden hoisted him onto his own back.

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Thomas and Auden were now close to the beast. Auden was more steady while moving than while hovering with his water jets. Thomas could tell it was a tough skill to master.

Blast noticed the pair.

"What are you doing here lieutenant? I told you to evacuate the citizens!" he managed between his maneuvers.

The snake lunged at him again. He moved away with his explosions and hopped on its head, putting his feet down on something solid for the first time in the fight. He placed his hand on the snake's damaged eye and created a powerful explosion, sending blood and flesh flying everywhere. The snake released an ungodly roar and jerked its head around, hitting the same building Thomas crashed into earlier.

Blast jumped off before the movement could hurt him in the slightest and remained airborne with his explosions.

Thomas watched in awe once more ,but snapped out of it quickly.

"Auden, get me close to it."

Auden considered if he should really do it, still unsure. But now that they were here, there was no time for thinking. "Roger that."

As snake pulled its head back searching for its prey, or rather, its hunter.Thomas directed Auden get get behind its head. And then, without warning, Thomas pulled his arm back, and created a Dark arm larger than his own body, and smashed it down on the snake's head. It went down with force, and its head was just a few feet off the ground when it managed to recover. Blast landed on a destroyed building and watched with shock. How could a mere human body create enough force to almost knock out such a creature?

The snake moved upwards, its speed fueled by rage.

"Right!" Thomas shouted as the snake approached. Auden instead dodged left. Their coordination needed a lot of work.

The snake yanked its head to the left but because Auden overshot, they were saved. With the same Dark Arm, Thomas threw another punch, but this time the beast dodged. Auden moved upwards. Thomas could sense the panic settling in Auden. The uncertainity of whether he would make it out alive.

The snake jerked its head upwards, not backing down. And hit Auden's feet with the top of its head.

That was all it took.

Thomas was thrown off of Auden, and the two went flying in opposite direction. Auden managed to right himself in the air. But Thomas struck a broken building and landed yet again with his back against a wall.

"What the heck is with me and buildings?!" he shouted out of frustration.

This was all too irritating.

His own weakness was too irritating.

His luck was too irritating.

Auden and he unsteady movements were too irritating.

The pain that now shook his entire body was too irritating.

The pond of water in his mind that was refusing to freeze was too irritating.

They were like drops of water on a coin. There were way to many of them now. The water was gonna spill.

The snake headed for Thomas, the easier one to take.

Another drop.

He saw Blast jump off the building he was standing on, making a futile attempt to save Thomas. Futile and irritating.

Another drop.

From his position in the air, Auden shot two powerful jets of water at the snake, trying to draw its attention.

"Yeah your fricking water guns will definitely help!" he shouted, but not loud enough for Auden to hear.

Another drop.

The snake open its jaws wide. Meters away from him. Time slowed down yet again. He was face to face with death once more. He had tried to be the hunter, and ended up being hunted again. It was pathetic, pitiful.

Another drop fell on the coin.

The battle replayed in his head again. The time when he tried to turn his blade to obsidian and failed. The cold pond that refused to freeze. The hit he took that forced him to be saved by a stranger.

Scenes from his life followed. And every minor inconvenience was another drop on the coin. And then-----

---something snapped.

The water spilled. And it all came out like a flood.

Thomas released an ungodly howl. He threw his arm upwards. His eyes pulsated, and shined deep blue this time. The very color of the ocean.

And pillar of Darkness came out of the ground in front of him. He felt the presence of that pond again, closer than ever to freezing over. He reached inside. Embraced it. The pillar grew, and its top, shaped like a stake, grew hard. Crystalline. It turned to obsidian.

Thomas pushed harder. The frost that was growing slowly over the lake now moved fiercely and powerfully. The pillar of Darkness grew in an instant , its sharp top hit the roof of the snakes mouth and came of from the top of its head, tearing through flesh and bone. The next moment, the entire thing turned to obsidian.

The pond in Thomas' mind turned to solid ice. His power had finally answered. The snake's body went limp, but his mind didn't register anything. His felt blinding rage. And then, he felt nothing at all.