25. Mad Dog (IV)

Zane was pretty sure he was fucked.

At least he'd torched the Mad Dogs pretty badly. His people were probably safe. There was hardly anyone left to go after them. He did his job.

Was this how he went out? Hobbling on one leg, wrecked by a rabid gang boss?

Eh. Was it so bad? He was never overly concerned with his own mortality. 'It is not the length of life but the depth of it,' and all that. He just wanted to go out swinging.

Strange, though. As he saw the Mad Dog stalking toward him, his head knew it was over.

But somehow he didn't believe it. Not in his heart. Somehow he still thought his foe would burn out before he did.

He was simply having too much fun to stop. He wanted to keep going, keep burning, on and on, a flame in the endless night, and all he felt was a heady, breath-stealing rush. His body, his soul, ran far too hot.

The Mad Dog grinned a feral grin. Their smiles were mirror images.

"To the end?" He rasped.

"To the end."

And they tore into each other. They went blow for blow. The Mad Dog's body seethed gray essence. He must have tapped into his skill Overclock, since each punch thudded so heavy it rattled down Zane's whole skeleton. It felt like he was getting holes punched in him one by one. He returned fire, throwing with all he could, fists blazing, igniting, fizzling out on that loathsome metallic skin. He hit harder—it didn't matter. He couldn't break through. It wasn't enough—

He didn't care. They were both laughing now, laughing with utter abandon. They were free.

𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘: ℂ𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙

𝕊𝕒𝕧𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝔹𝕠𝕕𝕪 𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕

𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝟝𝟘%

𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝟝𝟘%

𝕍𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝟝𝟘%

The Mad Dog clocked him up the head, and he nearly went out. He felt the world wobbling.

No.

He spat out a bloody tooth. The next blast came, ripped him so hard to the midsection he felt it reached beyond, past the shattered ribs, vibrated into the bones of his back. Something cracked.

He lost all integrity in his stance. He couldn't feel his legs; his spine had shattered.

He was still laughing. No, no, no!

The Mad Dog hit him one more time, knocked out half his teeth. But all he did was show the man his checkered smile. All he did was throw back, blast him off his feet. Fire licked the Mad Dog's arms, tongues of flame flowed down his legs. But it couldn't hold.

Zane had nothing left.

His body had nothing left. But his soul burned brighter than it ever had; on the cusp of death, he felt so deeply alive. He had so much joy in him he didn't know what to do with it. His eyes were watery—was he seriously crying? He was crying, and laughing, all at once.

The Mad Dog giggled. "Holy fuck," he said. "You're madder than I am!"

This was the truth of the matter. You would never beat the fight out of him. So long as he lived, that fire would burn. His heart was still beating strong as ever, beating to the tune of one anthem—I will not go out!

And something cracked. Deep in him, at the heart of him. He stilled. He saw the last wisps of flame flickering out on the Mad Dog's skin, and he saw within them a tear. A tear in the fabric of the Universe.

He peered into the great beyond, and he saw the Truth. The Truth of the world. The Truth of himself. As One.

𝕃𝕒𝕨 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕!

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕌𝕟𝕕𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕖)

He blinked at it. Then he started choking, since his laughing brought up gobs of blood. If only like these comprehensions were like Level Ups! God knew he needed healing right now.

The Mad Dog flew at him, and Zane ripped an Inferno Lash. It caught on the Mad Dog's forearms yet again. But the man was wise to Zane's tricks now. He'd planted his feet deep and took the impact—it hardly moved him.

"I will remember you," whispered the Mad Dog. "Friend."

They weren't friends, of course. But it was pretty sad Zane knew exactly what the man meant.

Then the Mad Dog hissed. "Fuck!" He glared at his forearms. "…What?!"

His forearms misted with Law. Suddenly, they steamed with it. Laws of Hardening crashed against Laws of Ignition—and muted them.

But this fire had two Laws.

And the second took hold where the first could not. It took those Laws of hardening as its fuel, and ate through them, and flared ever brighter. The Mad Dog screamed.

"What did you do?!"

He slapped at it, brushed it against his leg, but it wouldn't go away. All he'd done was ignite his legs and his other arm.

He was beginning to drip. His skin melting off his body in real time.

The Mad Dog stopped. His head swerved to Zane; his eyes bulged bright.

He came in like a hurricane, fists flying, one after another. He tried biting, he tried kicking, he tried sneaking in elbows, spinning, lunging for Zane's legs. But Zane was no longer exchanging. He saw it now. All he had to do was hold!

His Chains wrapped him in a cage, blocked one after another after another. No offense, all defense. Slowly, they were getting thrown back. Slowly, the Mad Dog was shoving through.

But by the time he had forced an opening, his legs no longer listened to him. He frowned at them, disappointed. The muscles were sloughing off the bone.

Then the flames were up to his neck, up to his head. "You sly bastard!" He giggled. "You sly—"

Then he couldn't say anymore. The flames had taken his neck. For a while, he stood there shaking; Zane imagined he was laughing. Then the flaming body came down to the knees and toppled over. Then it was no longer recognizable as a body—just a lump. And then, not even that.

White flame still burned on the ashes.

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟞 -> 𝟜𝟟

Zane knelt there in numb silence, staring at the spot where a man had just been. The system wiped away all death. There was no evidence. The only sounds now were the crackling of the distant flames—flames still burning in the compound. Flames that might burn forever.

It was still the dead of night, but somehow, when he looked up, he expected to see the sun rising. He felt an immense gratefulness in his heart.

Sighing, he stood. He found he was still smiling. He stood there for a long while, letting the feeling soak through him, head held high, watching the burning of the stars. He let the feeling run its course. He might have stood there ten minutes, or an hour. He wasn't sure.

He breathed out.

Well. That was neat. Time to go break out the prisoners.

***

They were scared at first when he came up to the bars. Even when he melted them. Even when he told them they could go free. Only when he coaxed them, told them to identify him, see his Faction, did they slowly start to trust him.

They couldn't have been in here for longer a few weeks. Still so many of them looked broken, listless. The mad dogs had chosen to give the men's rags; the women were hardly dressed in scraps. Zane wished he had something to give then.

It turned out that wasn't the only prison he found three more. In total there were nearly four hundred people. Most were grimy. Some were barely lucid. A fair few started weeping as soon as he broke them free.

He promised them shelter, food, clothes and safety if they came with him. Nearly all did. Together they took the long march back to camp.

Reina was oddly emotional when she saw him returning. She ran to him as soon as he popped up and hugged him silently, the way a drowning person might hug a rescue tube.

It was funny comparing the reactions. Cale just smiled and waved. "Hey, congrats, man! Woah. Who are all these people?"

***

ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇᴇᴋ...

ʙᴇʟʟᴇᴠᴜᴇ, ᴡᴀꜱʜɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ

Avery Lively, Signature Title Joker Savant, lay on her favorite park bench, humming cheerfully to herself, reading a book by Seneca. This was Grover Park, her favorite park. Well—before the terraforming, that was. That had changed the trees and the grasses and the fountain, but it kept the benches mostly the same—they were just wood now instead of metal. She liked wood better anyways.

It was such a beautiful day. She smiled. If you closed her eyes, felt the sunlight on her face, she could almost imagine this was the before-times—

The Beacon Stone in her pocket ran hot. She sighed, blinking, and sat upright. She looked up. Dark puffs of storm cloud loomed on the horizon… drat.

She picked up the Beacon Stone. "Hey, what's up?" she said. She listened.

"... Really? No way!" She paused. "And he's Signed?"

"…"

"Ah—"

She felt something. Someone was there. A trembling hand holding a trembling string, slowly drawing.

"Sorry, one sec."

She puffed out a cheek, listening. Not to the Stone this time. To her senses.

"Yeah," she said to the Stone. "The guy's just... taking a while to let go. I think it's nerves. He's shaking a lot. Maybe it's his first time? Or maybe he heard what I did to the last guy."

Another pause.

"Wait, wait, I think he's going for it! Yes, there you go. Come on buddy, you've got it—"

Thirty yards away, atop the transformed skyscraper behind Avery, the Level 43 Iron Legion Sharpshooter let go of the arrow.

At the exact same moment, Avery casually tilted her head an inch to the left. The arrow whistled by her, struck the ground about a dozen feet ahead, and exploded, showering mud everywhere. Avery shielded the book with her body. She wrinkled her nose. "Yuck."

When she checked up on it again, she found a mud splatter had somehow gotten through. "Aww..." she sighed.

"Sorry," she said to the stone. "Assassination attempt. I think the Legion's still mad at me. One sec. Let's see if he tries again... Nah. He's gone."

Avery thought about going after the guy, but it was her off day. Besides, it was such a nice day. It'd be a shame to dirty it with murder. She un-scrunched her face.

It lit up in a playful grin. "Okay. So tell me more about this Zane guy. He seems fun."

***

ꜱᴇᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ, ᴡᴀꜱʜɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ

ɪʀᴏɴ ʟᴇɢɪᴏɴ ꜰᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ʜᴇᴀᴅQᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀꜱ

A man sat in his throne room overlooking the rest of the city, watching the stormclouds roll in.

He ruled from a fortress called The Bastion, which had once been known as the Seattle Center. Towering black tombstone walls caged in the premises. Sentry towers popped up here and there. His throne room lay at the top floor of what had once been the Space Needle.

It still looked much like it had—only more so. Its sleek lines were drawn outward, made more angular and imposing. It was encased in an alloy of steel and obsidian, giving it a faintly volcanic air. Glowing red glyphs ran up and down its sides, powering the wards. Its peak was now a crown of spectral spires. A ghostly light poured out from it which could be seen for miles.

It had been a D-ranked dungeon at first, stacked with four bosses. With his Faction, the man on the throne had cleared them one by one. His name was Marcus Blackwell. His Signature Title: Soldier of God.

He had a man-sized map of the state pinned to the wall with a dagger. It covered all the factions of Washington State. Every day, it shifted a little.

Today, the bottom quarter had to be totally replaced. A pin marked 'Mad Dog,' was plucked out. The pin 'Savage Sage' was put in.

Blackwell gazed at it in silence.

There was him, a black pin in Seattle. Red arrows drew out from it. First east, then south. Faction by Faction, dungeon by dungeon…

Soon.

***

The news rippled around all of Washington State. The Canadians up near Vancouver heard of it too. The ruling Factions of San Francisco and Portland took notice.

There was a new power in southern Washington, and his name was Zane Walker.