Mopi’s head spun through the air, his face still etched in surprise.
I wondered why he was surprised when he picked a sword fight with a swordsman.
His body followed a heartbeat later, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
One of the paladins moved, but I’d never know what he was about to do. I snapped my hand out like a long whip, the motion ending in sharp fangs that pierced his skull like a oversized needles. Half his head burst apart with a wet crunch.
The other two jumped back, retreating beyond my reach. I shook mu head.....Idiots, I can also move myself! I shot forward, my whip hand smashing into a nearby tree and nearly taking one of their heads off.
I pulled back. Using my hand like a whip was useless with them weaving between the trees.
"But I can do this instead!"
I thrust forward, treating my arm like a long sword.
But the paladin surprised by charging straight at , by impaling himself on the fang at the end of my hand. Then his grip clamped down around my wrist, stopping from pulling free.
I yanked. He didn’t budge. I jerked harder, but it felt like my arm was locked in steel.
He looked up at . Through his mask, I felt his laughter.
Then his body began to bulge.
From the chest up, he swelled grotesquely, bones cracking, muscles tearing, his torso ballooning as if sothing inside him was forcing its way out. With a final wet splatter and the roar of raging shockwave, his body exploded.
I scread, pain tearing through . Mixed with a growl from Hermit as my hand ripped apart, the fangs breaking and shattering. The mont the pressure vanished, I tore my ruined hand free.
Fortunately, it was Hermit that took the damage, but the pain flooded through our link anyway. It felt like my own hand had been ripped off. I stared at it as it reverted to normal and grimaced.
Hermit won’t be transforming again today.
"Are you okay?" Temur called. He didn’t look at , his eyes were locked on the remaining paladin.
"I am," I groaned. "But what kind of sick bastard blows himself up?"
"This one."
The voice was raw and distorted, like lungs that didn’t quite work right.
The paladin who’d exploded was regenerating.
We watched in stunned silence as flesh crawled back over exposed muscle. Bone reford. Skin sealed. A mont later, he stood there again as if nothing had happened.
He was naked from the waist up, his mask gone, his grin wide and ecstatic.
"I always love the look on people’s faces when they realize I can blow myself up and co back," he said cheerfully. "Hurts like hell, but I bet it hurts more to die from it."
"What. In. The... "
"Fuck," I finished for Temur, shuddering. Blowing yourself up just to kill others? What kind of insanity are bred in that cult? Were they all like this? Delusional murderers?
The last paladin who hadn’t moved at all since, finally acted. He raised his hand. Two threads of red light glowed between his fingers.
"Finally," he said with satisfaction.
My stomach dropped as I followed the threads. One latched onto . The other wrapped around Temur. They coiled around our legs, slid into our chests, and vanished into our chest.
I grabbed at it, and tried to tear it away but it was like grabbing light itself.
"What the hell is this?"
Temur slashed at it with his sword and even leapt backward, but the thread followed him effortlessly. His voice was tense. "Explain this before I kill you."
How had we let this happen without noticing? Even now, it felt like nothing was there. Was this his ability?
I coated my hand in Unholy magic and pressed it against my chest but there was no reaction.
"There’s nothing that can remove it," the paladin said calmly. "Except . And I see no reason to do so, once my ability locks onto you, there’s no going back."
Temur lifted his blood-stained blade. "Then we’ll kill you. Will it end then?"
The paladin tilted his head. "Maybe. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never died. And I’d like to keep it that way. Can’t say the sa for you."
He pointed at his fellow paladin. Another red thread slithered out and latched onto the other man’s body.
"What are you planning?" I demanded.
Hermit was down, but I still had my second spell [Dance of the Bones]. I edged back toward the corpse of the fallen monster...
.....and froze when the paladin started talking again.
"This thread lets transfer pain from one person to another. A weak ability I pulled with my weak Grimoire. It stopped from climbing the Dungeon Tower, but Chaos gave sothing better..."
A chill crawled up my spine.
Transfer pain...
"No....don’t tell ....!"
"Ti to pay for your sins!" he shouted. "Let my good friend demonstrate!"
The second paladin’s head swelled...
....and busted!
Blood and brain matter sprayed outward.
I sucked in a sharp breath but nothing happened to .
Relief started to flood in and I nearly sagged.
Clang.
tal hit the ground.
I turned and blinked. "Temur?"
He was rigid, both hands clutching his head. Blood poured from his nose. His mouth opened in a silent scream, bloody foam spilling out. His muscles locked, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.
"Temur!"
I rushed to him, shaking him, shouting his na. His eyes rolled uselessly, his body still stiffening.
"Temur! Shit!"
My hands trembled as I pulled a potion from my ring and poured it into his mouth.
"Don’t you die on , you big bastard," I snarled.
The paladins watched.
The one with the threads chuckled.
"And how," he asked softly, "are you going to convince him his head hasn’talready been blown up?"
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