Chapter 387

  Skullface was glued to the monitors displaying the feeds from the cameras installed in the mines.

  A massacre was going on down there. A swarm of enormous arachnids swept through one level after another, slaying all the guards in their path. They had already finished off the mechs on the bottom level, and tearing through personnel that wasn’t protected by any kind of powerful armor was a breeze for those monsters.

  Following closely behind the arachnids, the resistance fighters trailed. They occasionally exchanged fire with the guards, but mostly they let the arachnids do the heavy lifting while they freed enslaved survivors who then eagerly grabbed weapons dropped by the fallen guards and joined the fight.

  At some point, he lost sight of the morphus and wasn’t sure where the mutant was now. Instead, he focused on the swarm of arachnids moving steadily up the mines, with the resistance fighters close behind. Skullface clenched his fists, eyes locked on the chaos unfolding in the mines.

  He could barely believe it was happening for real. He had worked so hard to build it all, and now his empire was crumbling right before his eyes. He fought to control his emotions, trying not to let them overtake him, but it was harder and harder to do.

  “Dammit!” he suddenly yelled in frustration, punching one of the monitors.

  The screen shattered, and the feed from one of the cameras went dark. Skullface stared at the broken monitor, feeling the trickle of blood running down his hand where the shards of glass had cut him.

  His injured hand throbbed, but he welcomed the pain, as it helped him cool down a bit.

  Suddenly, he heard the hiss of the door sliding open and the sound of someone stepping into the room. Heart racing, Skullface grabbed his heavy-caliber pistol and wheeled around, expecting to see the morphus behind him. His finger hovered over the trigger as he took aim. He almost fired a shot when he realized the visitor wasn’t the morphus.

  Two steps into the room, Kato stopped, trying to catch his breath.

  “I… I… Geez. Gimme… a moment.”

  Kato bent over, placing his palms on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath and steady his racing heartbeat.

  “I thought you were a goner,” Skullface remarked, lowering his handgun.

  “For a moment, I believed I would be, too,” Kato said, finally regaining his breath and standing tall. “The morphus was after me. It was right on my heels as I sprinted toward the elevator. I honestly thought it was gonna get me, but somehow, I managed to beat it to the elevator. I have no idea how I pulled that off, but I’m just glad I did. I don’t know where that freak is right now, though.” Kato moved closer to the row of monitors against the wall. “Is he showing up on any of the screens?”

  “No,” Skullface replied, turning his attention back to the monitors. “The camera above the elevator entrance on the top level was damaged by Omar, so I lost track of you and the morphus after you made your way there.” A frown twisted his features as a realization hit him. He turned back to Kato. “How the hell did you even make it here?”

  Kato raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean? I took the elevator up to Level A and ran like crazy to your quarters. The morphus wasn’t following me. It must have stayed in the mines below. Still, I had no clue where it was exactly, so just to be on the safe side, I ran as fast as I could to get here.”

  “The elevator,” Skullface said. “I deactivated it a few minutes ago when you were still on one of the lower levels, running for your life.”

  Betrayal and anger flashed across Kato’s face. “Wait, what? You turned off the elevator before I could get to it? What about me? Were you really going to leave me trapped in the mines with that freak and his army of monsters? What the hell, man?”

  Kato had always known Skullface could do that, but it still stung.

  Skullface stepped closer to Kato, a menacing look flashing across the gang leader’s face. “Answer my question. How did you manage to get the elevator working if I turned it off?”

  Kato instinctively took a step back from his friend. He had known Skullface long enough to understand that when he was in this kind of mood, he could be very dangerous.

  “I have no idea, man,” Kato exclaimed. “Just chill, okay? I hit the button, and the elevator immediately went up. Everything was in order, man. I didn’t even have the slightest idea you’d deactivated it.”

  Unable to withstand the intensity of Skullface’s glare, Kato glanced over his shoulder at the bank of monitors behind him. Something on one of the screens caught his attention.

  “Look,” Kato said, pointing at one of the screens displaying the status of the elevator system. “It’s online, see? That’s why I had no trouble getting it to work.”

  Skullface shifted his gaze from Kato to the monitor and saw that the elevator system was indeed online.

  “What the hell?” he muttered, confused.

  “Maybe you just forgot to turn it off?” Kato suggested.

  Skullface remained silent, his gaze fixed on the screen. He vividly remembered planning to deactivate the elevator system, but had he actually done it? He couldn’t recall. He had the memory of thinking about deactivating the elevator but not of actually doing it.

  So it was likely that he had just forgotten to do it. Geez. The swarm of monsters rampaging in the mines had him completely rattled, making it hard to think clearly. Fucking morphus! What he wouldn’t give to see that freak dead!

  Skullface forced himself to keep his cool. There was no point in losing his temper, especially in a situation like this. He stepped to the computer and entered a brief command, taking the elevator system offline.

  Kato noticed and said, “You know, that’s not going to stop those spiders. They can easily make their way through metal. Believe me, I saw with my own eyes how those spiders melted the armor of the mechs. So deactivating the elevator won’t do us any good. Those spiders can just use their acid to create another entrance and climb up the shaft to Level A. I’m sure they can scale vertical surfaces just as easily as they can pour acid from their mouths.”

  Skullface turned to Kato. “So what do you suggest we do then? Got any bright ideas?”

  “Those spiders will be here very soon, bro,” Kato replied. “This place is as good as gone. There’s nothing we can do to save it.”

  “I repeat, what do you suggest we do?”

  Kato paused for a second, fully aware of how Skullface would react to what he was about to say. Finally mustering the courage, he said, “We need to make a run for it. Let’s grab one of the helicopters and get the hell out of here while we can.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “And leave behind everything we’ve worked so hard to build?” Skullface growled. “Are you fucking serious?”

  “I get that you’re upset about losing it all, but what are our options?” Kato responded. “The morphus and his army of monsters will be here any minute. What are we going to do when they show up?”

  Skullface didn’t reply right away. He didn’t have an answer. He knew Kato was right. They needed to run while they still could. But the thought of abandoning everything was unbearable, and the idea of losing to the morphus gnawed at him.

  However, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t come up with a solution. Kato was right. Running seemed to be the only option available to them. As much as he hated the idea of turning tail and fleeing, there was nothing else they could do.

  “You know, we should’ve left the morphus alone when we had the chance,” Kato said, breaking the silence.

  Anger bubbled up inside Skullface. The very thought of running away from the morphus was intolerable, but Kato rubbing it in almost made him lose his temper.

  He wished Kato would shut the hell up, but his friend seemed oblivious to what was going on in Skullface’s head because he continued, “Do you remember when the morphus sent us a message through one of our people? He gave us a chance to leave him alone. He didn’t care about what we did at all. He just wanted to be left alone. But no, you insisted on tracking him down. Look where that got us. All this mess could easily have been avoided if we’d just left the morphus alone when we had the chance.”

  Skullface couldn’t believe Kato had the audacity to place the blame on him for the situation they were in. Was Kato intentionally trying to piss him off?

  “Shut the fuck up right now, you hear me?” Skullface said in a surprisingly calm voice, though it was clear he was just one step away from losing his temper. To his surprise, Kato didn’t seem to notice.

  “No,” he said. “I’m not gonna shut up. We need to get the hell out of this place right now, bro! We have to run as far away as possible and pray the morphus never finds us. But if you insist on staying here, be my guest. As for me, I’m not sticking around to die. I’m heading to the hangar right now. You can stay here and die for all I care. It was nice knowing you, bro.”

  After his defiant outburst, Kato attempted to step around Skullface to reach the computer behind him. However, Skullface blocked his path, refusing to let him near the console.

  “Bro, let me press that button,” Kato pleaded. “I need to get the elevator system back online so I can take it up to the hangar.” When Skullface didn’t budge, Kato added, “Or do it yourself, bro. Just be quick about it. I gotta get outta this doomed place right now.”

  Suddenly, Skullface grabbed his heavy-caliber pistol again and aimed it at Kato.

  “Bro, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kato shouted, instinctively taking a step back. “You’re not going to shoot me, are you?”

  Skullface was silent. He had had enough of Kato and was ready to squeeze the trigger.

  “You can’t do it, man,” Kato pleaded. “You can’t just kill me. Not after everything we’ve been through together. I’m your only true friend. You can’t do this to me, bro. You just can’t.”

  Kato was right. The two of them were the only survivors of the original Los Demonios. More than that, they were friends. They had been through a lot together, always having each other’s backs. Until now, the thought of losing Kato had been unpleasant for Skullface.

  However, that feeling now seemed distant. Kato could no longer be relied upon. He had grown too cowardly and whiny. Skullface didn’t need someone like that at his side.

  Kato stepped forward.

  “You ain’t gonna shoot me, are you?”

  He took another step.

  “Lower the gun, bro.”

  He moved closer again.

  “Let’s get out of here together. You and me, we’re survivors. The two of us can’t be killed. We always survive, no matter what. We’ll get through this, too. Together. Just like we always do.”

  Kato took another step forward and paused for a second before moving again. Skullface realized that once Kato made that next step, he would be close enough to try for the gun.

  But Skullface wasn’t going to let that happen. So, just as Kato was about to take another step, Skullface squeezed the trigger, shooting his friend in the head. The bullet struck Kato in the middle of his forehead.

  However, his head didn’t snap back as Skullface had expected. There was no blood either. The bullet failed to penetrate. Instead, it flattened on impact and dropped to the floor. All it did was create a small pockmark in the center of Kato’s forehead.

  “What the fuck?” Skullface muttered, completely puzzled. Was it some kind of protective spell?

  “Surprise, motherfucker,” Kato said, a wide demonic grin slowly spreading across his face.

  Seeing that, Skullface squeezed the trigger again. This time, Kato dodged with impossible speed, turning into a blur of motion.

  Skullface fired again, and this time the bullet nicked the side of Kato’s face. But once more, there was no blood. The scratch left by the round was shallow and looked very strange. For some reason, the damaged skin turned completely black.

  In the next instant, Kato began to transform into something else. The change took only a second, and now, before Skullface, stood a pitch-black mutant with large, emotionless blue eyes.

  It was the morphus!

  For a moment, Skullface was so shocked that he seemed paralyzed, unable to move a finger. He struggled to process it all.

  Then everything fell into place. The morphus could apparently disguise himself as a human, and not just any human, but a specific one. He now realized that the pilot named Omar was actually the morphus.

  But how the morphus could speak while disguised as Kato was a mystery. Up until now, the morphus could only communicate using a special device. Also, after returning to the base, Omar hadn’t uttered a single word, pretending to be mute. If the morphus could speak while in a human form, why had he pretended to be mute when posing as Omar?

  There was no time to think about that, though. Skullface readjusted his aim and put pressure on the trigger. But before the pistol fired, the morphus lunged at him with impossible speed, wrenching the gun from his hand, breaking his finger in the process. Skullface screamed in sudden pain.

  Before he could react, the morphus struck him with his right hand, sending him flying across the room. He crashed into the wall with a solid thud and collapsed to the floor. He could tell some of his ribs were broken.

  Slowly, he pushed himself up to his knees, feeling blood trickle from his mouth. When he looked up, he saw the morphus staring at him from the same spot. The mutant seemed in no rush to finish him off.

  Wasting no time, Skullface concentrated on the spells at his disposal. He had many of them, and not just regular spells, but very powerful ones. Randomly, he picked one and focused on the morphus, who was moving toward him in an unhurried, relaxed manner.

  The spell he had just selected was extremely powerful, capable of tearing apart an armored mech with eerie ease. He mentally commanded the spell to take effect on the morphus, but to his surprise, nothing happened. He tried again, only to get the same result.

  That’s when Skullface became truly scared. He picked another spell at random and tried to cast it, but again, nothing happened. What the fuck was going on?!

  The morphus continued to approach him in a casual way. Just a few more steps, and the mutant would be upon him! One by one, Skullface tried a few more spells, but none worked. Then it hit him. He realized what was happening.

  He had no mana at all! He felt his internal mana reserves completely depleted. He had always kept them filled to the brim, but now they were completely empty. That was why he couldn’t cast any spells.

  He had so many extremely powerful spells at his disposal, but to use them, he needed mana. Without that magical energy, the spells were completely useless. Where had all his mana gone?

  Suddenly, the answer struck him. The morphus had to possess some ability that allowed him to absorb mana from human beings. While he had been distracting Skullface with conversation, pretending to be Kato, he must have been siphoning off his mana, draining every last drop and leaving Skullface with absolutely none, not even enough to cast a single spell!

  That was it. Without magic, there was no way he could stop the mutant. Just then, the morphus finally reached him. When he looked up at the pitch-black figure looming over him, bone-chilling terror surged through him.

  As the morphus placed his hands on the sides of his head, he began to babble, “Wait, wait, wait! Just hold on a goddamn second and listen…”

  Before he could finish his sentence, the morphus applied pressure, and almost without any resistance, Skullface’s head burst apart in an explosion of blood, bone, and brain matter.

  Just like that, the leader of Los Demonios was no more.