Punjo's fingertips shredded as the creature's razor-like bones inched deeper.
The grotesque being savored it.
Like a predator toying with prey, it delighted in the slow unraveling of its victim.
But its patience was finite.
With a burst of strength, it lunged --
A jagged limb plunged straight into Punjo's right shoulder.
Punjo: "ARGHHH -- !"
The scream tore through the halls.
It echoed -- raw, guttural -- carrying the undeniable sound of agony.
Tyssa: "Was that Punjo?!
Jargen froze.
His breath sharpened.
Then --
He stormed forward.
His thunderous footsteps rattled the very foundations of the mansion, causing chandeliers, vases, and paintings to quake in his wake.
The monster pressed deeper, its limb splitting Punjo's shoulder apart --
Tearing flesh, grinding bone.
Punjo's right hand was mangled, missing several fingers already.
... His left hand was next.
But he wasn't dead yet.
Punjo: "YE BIG FAT BASTARD -- !"
Desperate -- feral -- he lunged forward
And bit down on the advancing bone.
His jaw clenched like a vice, muscles locking as he threw every ounce of his fading strength into stopping its advance.
But the creature pressed forward.
The bone punched through his teeth, snapping incisors like dry twigs.
His jaw cracked.
Dislocated.
Blood gushed down his throat.
The monster reveled in his suffering.
Rel: "FUCK -- FUCK -- !"
He struggled but couldn't move.
The monster had fired another volley at him while occupied with Punjo.
Thick, black tar wrapped his ankles, knees, waist --
Trapped.
He could only watch.
Could only listen --
As Punjo's jaw shattered.
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A wet, sickening snap filled the room.
Blood trickled from his lips.
And then --
A voice.
A deep, growling voice.
Jargen: "COME BREAK ME INSTEAD."
The laboratory door exploded inward.
Not opened --
Ripped.
It shot forward like a cannonball, smashing directly into the monster's exposed skull.
CRACK.
The creature reeled, limbs flailing as it stumbled back in agony.
Tyssa stood frozen.
Rel: "Jargen?!"
The monster scurried to the ceiling.
It clung to the shadows, retreating -- but not fleeing.
Instead, it prepared another attack.
Rel: "Jargen, careful! It'll fire that tar at you -- !"
It did.
A barrage of pustules erupted, unleashing a swarm of blackened sludge.
The projectiles hurtled toward Jargen.
He did not move.
He did not flinch.
He caught them.
Bare-handed.
The thick, viscous tar coated his already-bloodied palms.
It wrapped around his fingers, attempting to trap him.
Jargen stared down at his hands.
His face twisted.
Jargen: "Disgusting."
Then --
A hiss filled the air.
Steam.
The tar sizzled against his skin, melting off in bubbling drips.
His veins bulged, skin turning red-hot as if his own blood were boiling.
His body was heating up.
His muscles swelled.
The tar peeled away.
Like it couldn't survive on him.
Jargen looked up.
His eyes burned with unfiltered rage.
Jargen: "You don't deserve to be alive."
Then -- he moved.
A blur of motion.
Jargen sprinted --
Vaulted over the table Rel had once used for cover --
And launched himself toward the creature clinging to the ceiling.
He grabbed its throat mid-air.
And he did not let go.
Monster: "SSSKKKRRR!!"
The creature thrashed, shrieked, spasmed in Jargen's iron grip.
Its tar-like flesh boiled under his hands, melting away as he squeezed down to bone.
Monster: "K-IL --"
It tried to speak.
Tried to declare its intent.
But Jargen's fingers dug deeper, crushing its vertebrae, inch by inch.
Then --
It let go.
A sudden, desperate plummet.
The creature flung itself downward, using Jargen's weight against him.
The two collided with the ground in a deafening CRASH --
The floor buckled.
Bones snapped.
The impact shook the room.
Tyssa: "JARGEN -- NO!"
Her foot lurched forward.
An instinct to act.
To help.
But then --
The monster turned.
Its attention snapped onto her.
Pustules bubbled along its twisted torso.
Rel: "Tyssa, don't! It'll get you too!"
She froze.
Her mind raced for a plan -- any plan.
And then --
A hiss.
A low, sinister hissing sound.
Steam.
Rising from beneath the monster.
A deep rumbling, like something was being forced to life.
Punjo: "N-no... Jhaghen..."
His voice was weak.
Broken.
But he understood what was happening to his friend...
... And he was afraid of it.
Punjo: "Shtop...!"
The creature twitched.
Then --
It rose.
Lifted.
Its massive, grotesque body was being hoisted upward.
By Jargen.
Jargen: "I TOLD YOU --"
His voice shook the walls.
His muscles swelled.
His hands gripped harder.
Tar sizzled off his skin as he forced the monster away.
Jargen: "TO GET THE FUCK --"
He clenched his fists --
And bones cracked.
A wet, sickening snap as his fingers broke through its spine.
Jargen: "OFF ME!"
The creature howled.
Its spindly legs kicked wildly, scrambling backward.
It was afraid.
For the first time.
Rel stared in horror.
Rel: "Jargen... what the hell are you doing to yourself?!"
Jargen's entire body was shredded.
Deep gashes covered his arms.
Blood dripped from fresh wounds.
Yet --
He kept moving.
Kept standing.
Like something inside him refused to let him stop.
Jargen: "Come here."
He stalked forward.
And the monster ran.
It scurried toward the corner, seeking cover...
Seeking safety.
Jargen tilted his head.
Jargen: "Running away...?"
His gaze followed its path.
And landed on --
Dmitri.
The scientist lay unconscious, his round glasses hanging crookedly on his face.
Jargen grinned.
Jargen: "Well... Just what I needed."
Jargen strode toward Dmitri.
His heavy boots crushed shards of glass and debris.
He reached down and plucked the glasses from Dmitri's face.
He placed them on.
The lenses were too strong.
Blurry. Disorienting.
Jargen: "Too clear."
He swiped his palm across the ground --
Scooped up thick, black tar.
And smeared it across the lenses.
A slow, deliberate movement.
The light vanished.
Everything went dark.
A blindfold made of shadow.
Jargen: "Perfect."
He turned back to the creature.
Rolled his shoulders.
Cracked his knuckles.
A wicked grin spread across his face.
Then—
He started bobbing.
Weaving.
A fighter's stance.
Jargen: "... There can be only one monster in this room."
