Mythos: Last Stand

  Chapter 7 — Arachnophobia

  by Caide Fullerton

  ???: “Where is it, where is it, where is it is it is it is it IS IT!?”

  A chorus of distorted voices echoed across the ruin. Following the grating sound, a small white mouse scampered across the muddy ground and into a gap in a stone wall. From there, it got a clear view of the voices’ source—the Kumori.

  Its curly hair disheveled and bloodstained, the frame of a small child was bent over a decaying animal’s corpse. Looming over the child were eight skeletal arms, each several times the child’s height and protruding from its thin back.

  This was all quite standard as Kumori went. What stood out about this one was the large, lumpy cyst protruding from one side of its head, thick veins bulging from the reddened skin. The creature let out deep, hissing breaths as it moved around, shuffling back and forth with its boney fingers clattering against the debris strewn all across the ground.

  The lair was littered with a collection of bones, trash, and corpses, each violently disfigured. Most of them were torn into several pieces, scattered haphazardly around the area. The walls, ground, and the several mounds of trash each bore the wounds of savage tantrums.

  The ruins stood at one edge of the crimson forest. Two squarish stone towers stood side-by-side, a fair distance apart. The eastern tower was cleaved in half; the western tower bore a similar wound near its base, and it had fallen perfectly toward its partner. Resting at a 45-degree angle, it was held up precariously by the other tower. The top half of the eastern tower lay on the ground, nearly perpendicular to the leaning tower; it was between this and the base of the western tower that the Kumori made its lair, having assembled heaps of trash to compose the northern and southern walls.

  Kumori: “Not enough, not enough, NOT ENOUGH!”

  It slammed a skeletal hand down on the corpse beneath it; another hand seized the carrion by the leg and yanked upwards, tearing the limb free. It then held the severed limb above its head, opening its maw wide to catch the morsels that fell down.

  Kumori: “Need more, need more, need more need more need more need more more more MORE!” It swung its skeletal arm to the side, flinging the severed leg away into a pile of trash. “Can’t die, can’t die, can’t starve, can’t, can’t, can’t can’t CAN’T! Not yet, not yet, not yet..!”

  It punctuated its final words by slamming two fists down into the corpse beneath it, sending bone fragments scattering around the clearing. The little mouse watching its tantrum couldn’t help but let out a startled squeak.

  The small creature pressed its hands against its mouth in a rather un-mousely gesture, freezing for a moment. When it was clear the monster hadn’t noticed it, it sighed in relief, expressing a rather un-mousely emotion. With that, it turned and scampered its way back across the ruins.

  Not far behind the eastern tower was a small cluster of trees. Lying on the ground before them was a small fragment of a stone brick wall, likely once a part of the nearby tower. The mouse made its way behind the wall, where it found four Humans taking cover, awaiting its return.

  The mouse let out a squeak before it began to shift. Losing its color and texture, the mouse stretched out into an amorphous, fleshy goo, and that goo stretched out into a humanoid frame. Color, texture, and features returned, and in the blink of an eyes the mouse had become a girl with messy beige hair and a loose grey t-shirt.

  Jackie: “Welcome back, Lii. What’s it look like?”

  Lii: “Um, b-both of the towers seem surprisingly sturdy. They should hold a person’s weight, at least.”

  Helena: “And the Kumori?”

  Lii tapped her fingers together nervously. “Its arms are still out. It seems, um, r-really upset. And hungry.”

  Strade: “We could hear that much from over here.” He responded dryly, his remark punctuated by another chorus of wails echoing out of the ruin.

  Jackie rubbed their chin, their red eyes glistening with contemplation. “I was really hoping it would’ve put its arms away while it was alone. This makes things a lot harder. I’m not sure if it’ll fall for the rubble a second time.”

  Sam glanced past their cover as he heard the Kumori scream again, followed by a distant crash. “If it’s starving, could we wait it out? It might just…”

  He trailed off, doubting his own idea before he could even finish, but Jackie graced it with a response anyway.

  Jackie: “If it goes out hunting for food, there’s a good chance it’ll find us here. We want to engage it on our terms, not its.”

  Helena nodded seriously. “If it’s thinking about leaving, that means we don’t have much time. Jackie, plan.”

  The corner of Jackie’s mouth rose in a slight smirk, pleased that Helena was deferring to them. Given their current time constraint, they elected not to tease her for it, instead delving straight into their strategy.

  Jackie: “Helena, we’ll have you sneak into the leaning tower with Lii.” They turned to the Mimic, “You made a big mallet before, right? Could you become something heavy like that for her to break off some stones with?”

  Sam: “Without hurting yourself,” he quickly added.

  Lii looked down in thought for a moment. “Y-yeah, I think so.”

  Jackie: “Perfect. I’ll be the one to get the Kumori’s attention this time. Similar to before, I’ll lure it beneath the tower. While it’s distracted, you break open a chunk of the tower so rubble falls on it. Then, while its arms are occupied, Sam goes for a shot.”

  Strade: “Hopefully one that actually kills it, this time.” He snorted at his own comment, lazily flipping a knife between his fingers. “What about me?”

  Jackie: “I’ll have you on standby somewhere nearby. If anything goes wrong, I trust you’ll get the plan back on track.” Seeing Strade about to reply, they preemptively answered his question, “Like, if it’s about to kill me, try and take its attention. If Sam misses his shot, or it gets blocked, throw a knife at it. If something happens to Helena and Lii, run up the tower and take their place.”

  Strade clicked his tongue. “That’s a lot of responsibilities.”

  Jackie let out a light chuckle. “Well, hopefully you won’t have to do anything. My only other concern is getting everyone in place. We’ll need to distract it for a bit.”

  Sam: “Ah, I think I can handle that.” He held up his bow, “I’ll fire an arrow outside of the lair. If it goes to investigate, you’ll all have a chance to run past safely.”

  Jackie thought this over for a few seconds before nodding. “That aside, we need a plan B in case it avoids the rubble, or something else goes so wrong we can’t salvage plan A.”

  They tapped their chin for a moment before turning to Lii and asking, “How big’s the inside of the fallen tower?”

  Lii: “Um, i-it seemed like it was partially buried, so it’s pretty cramped. I guess, um, the ceiling is around Helena’s height.”

  Jackie nodded. “That’ll work for plan B. I’ll lure it in there, hope the low ceiling slows it down, and we’ll try to drop rubble on it again. Hopefully it’s unstable enough that dropping part of the leaning tower onto it will break the roof.”

  Strade: “And if that doesn’t work?”

  Jackie: “Hmm… the three of us rush it and hope that gives Sam an opening?” They gestured to Strade and Helena with a shrug.

  Strade: “Truly, you’re an unprecedented genius for strategy.”

  Jackie: “Why thank you. I do my best with what I have.” They gave a bow, at which Strade snorted and clicked his tongue. Jackie then rose, putting on a serious face, “Well, I guess this is the best we’ve got. Everyone ready?”

  Everyone returned nods with varying levels of confidence. With that, the operation to kill the Kumori commenced.

  * ? *

  Kumori: “Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why can’t you think ahead!? Why can’t you be kinder!? Why can’t you give more!?”

  The child shouted at the top of its lungs, one human hand clutching at the pulsating cyst which had overtaken half of its face. Its fury was directed at one of the many lifeless skeletons scattered around its lair; unsurprisingly, the corpse did not respond.

  Kumori: “Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” It slammed one of its own skeletal fists down onto the corpse’s cracked skull, shattering it completely. It left its fist planted against the ground for a moment as it heaved, basking in its own rage until—

  Plink!

  The sound of metal striking against stone rang out, followed by the soft clatter of something rolling down a pile of trash. The Kumori completely froze for a moment before slowly turning its head in the direction of the sound.

  Kumori: “You…” Its voice was almost a whisper, but one laced with vitriol. “You, you, you, what do you think you’re doing..? Don’t you know I’m hungry..?”

  Four of the creature’s skeletal hands pressed their palms against the mud, carrying the child along like the legs of a spider. It made its way towards the northern wall of the lair as its mumbling intensified,

  Kumori: “Come out, come out, come out come out come out come out comeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeoutcomeout COME OUT!!!” Finally it roared, leaping over a small stone partition to inspect the trash heaped up against the opposite side. “Where, where, where, where are you..!? Come back, come back..!”

  Its free arms—the skeletal ones—began rabidly digging through the trash, sending it flying past it in either direction. It was at this moment the Humans made their move.

  Helena dashed past the southern border of the lair, a white mouse clinging to her shoulder. She cut into the lair itself only at the last second, ducking into an empty doorway at the base of the western tower. She was accompanied by Strade, who stopped at the tower’s base, pressing his back against the stone wall.

  As they moved, Jackie crept into the lair, slinking through a gap in the fallen tower. They waited beside a larger, Kumori-sized gap, gripping their sword in one hand. Finally, Sam crouched behind one of the trash piles that made up the southern “wall” of the lair, bow and arrow at the ready.

  All waited with bated breath until the sounds of the Kumori’s digging stopped. There was complete silence for a moment. Then, several boney fingers clutched a stone wall, and the Kumori flung itself back into the center of its lair with a hoarse scream,

  Kumori: “WHERE!? WHERE ARE YOU!?” It shouted, pounding the ground around it with skeletal fists. “It isn’t nice, you know! Isn’t nice, isn’t nice, isn’t nice! You can’t show up and run away—you’re supposed to feed me! Don’t you get it!?”

  Its words echoed off the towers; its own voices only seemed to make the Kumori more upset. Its core body knelt down on the ground, curling up in a ball with several skeletal hands clutching its head.

  Kumori: “Not fair, not fair, not fair..!”

  The monster sobbed. Jackie stole a glance out at it, then glanced up at the leaning tower. Its tantrum had let it right beneath the tower without even needing to be lured. They just hoped Helena would take the initiative on her own. At that thought, they grit their teeth; they should’ve established some sort of signal beforehand.

  From above, Helena balanced on the uneven ground of the leaning tower, having climbed partway up its inner wall. She peered down through a scattering of holes in the wall formed by missing or chipped bricks, watching the Kumori’s movements carefully.

  As the monster knelt down, she glanced at the fallen tower, where she knew Jackie lay in wait. They weren’t emerging from cover; did they want her to act first? The Kumori had placed itself in a perfect position, but things would go poorly if she was misinterpreting Jackie’s inaction. She waited a few more moments in silence, listening to the Kumori’s distorted murmurs, before finally tigthening her grip on the wooden handle in her hands.

  Helena: “We’re going now,” she whispered to the object before raising it over her head.

  It was just that, a wooden handle with nothing attached, but as she raised it up, its end ballooned out and took form, becoming a large stone mallet. She grunted with exertion, feeling a slight shift beneath her as the added weight took its toll on the uneven floor. Then, mustering her full strength, she swung the mallet down.

  There was a crash, and the impact cleanly broke several bricks free from the leaning tower wall. They careened straight down, and their absence quickly resulted in a chain reaction, more and more bricks breaking free from the confines of the wall until a large hole had formed. A landslide of loosened debris surged downward, and—

  Directly beneath it all, the Kumori’s many voices all cut out at once, its head snapping upwards to glare at the falling stones with a bloodshot eye.

  The great spider in a child’s body became a blur of movement, rising in a spiral as its skeletal arms stretched out and whipped around. Three arms planted their palms firmly against the mud, and the rest shot upward. The sound of bone striking stone rang out like a series of rapid shotgun blasts as a barrage of bony fists met the falling rocks, sending showers of stone shrapnel up into the air.

  Seeing this, the Humans each sprang into improvised action. Jackie slid out of cover, one of their javelins already reared back, and flung it at the monster. Strade dashed out from behind the tower, flicking a knife from his belt at the Kumori. Sam, too, stepped out into the open, bow drawn, and loosed an arrow.

  Falling rocks were obliterated, and the Kumori’s arms snapped away to block the incoming projectiles. The javelin was deflected by a swung forearm, crashing into the tower behind the Kumori with a loud clang. The knife and arrow were each caught in swatting hands.

  The child at the monster’s center rose with a loud, shaky breath, tears streaming down its face, the cyst growing out of its head pulsating. It hurled the caught projectiles into the mud at its feet and opened its mouth wide, unleashing a scream in many distorted voices. It stamped its skeletal hands against the ground in frustration, then began to speak,

  Kumori: “NOOOO! That isn’t—you can’t—it’s not—that doesn’t—that isn’t how it works!” Its voices spoke at the same time, interrupting each other in a mangled jumble until they gradually combined into a single, furious voice. “You aren’t allowed to do that! It isn’t how it works, it isn’t, it isn’t..!”

  The Humans stood, stunned by the monster’s outburst as it heaved deep breaths. Jackie took a wary step forward,

  Jackie: “Well, what exactly did we—”

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  Kumori: “IT’S ALL WRONG!!!” The Kumori snapped, turning to face Jackie. Its face grew red with rage, the cyst now beating faster such that it emitted an audible thumping sound. “It doesn’t work this way, don’t you get it!? No, no, you don’t, you don’t, because nobody gets it!”

  The monster slammed two fists into the dirt before continuing, “You’re supposed to come! You did that right, but then, then, then..! No running. No hiding. No fighting, no attacking, no hurting. You aren’t supposed to hurt me! You aren’t, you can’t, are you stupid!?” Its teeth gnashed, blood beginning to trickle out of its mouth as it bit itself in its fury,

  Kumori: “Do you get it!? Do you understand!? Fighting is against the rules! Running is against the rules! Hurting me is against! The! RULES!”

  It surged forward, swinging a skeletal fist, but Jackie ducked away and back through the hole into the fallen tower. The Kumori snarled, its entire body shaking in anger as its distorted voice once again split into many distinct voices, each sobbing out the same words,

  Kumori: “There! You’re doing it again! Everyone keeps breaking the rules, every time, every time, every time every time every time EVERY TIME!”

  Two skeletal hands landed on the edges of the opening into the tower, and they tore the gap open wider, the child’s head peaking inside as its limbs snaked in ahead of it.

  Kumori: “And now, look at me! Look at what you did! You’re so stupid, don’t you know that!? You hurt me, and now you run, and you try to hurt me again, and I’m still so hungry!”

  Jackie carefully backed away, grabbing their second—and last—javelin as the Kumori crawled towards them, its skeletal hands pressed against the walls, ceiling, and floor as it pulled itself through the cramped corridor. They glanced between the monster and the ceiling, carefully watching the small holes that peppered what was once a tower wall.

  Through one of the holes came no light. It was there that the fallen tower overlapped with the leaning tower above it. The Kumori continued forward, all the while complaining about its hunger, until its body moved beneath the gap in question, and—

  Jackie: “HELENA! NOW!”

  They shouted at the top of their lungs, their harsh voice echoing off the cramped stone walls. Even the Kumori seemed to flinch, the child covering its ears with its human hands.

  A moment passed, the echo dissipated, and nothing else happened.

  Helena had not collapsed the leaning tower.

  Was she unable to hear them from here? Did something else stop her? Whatever the case, it didn’t matter right now; plan B had failed.

  Kumori: “You, you, you’re not supposed to shout, either!” Glaring at Jackie, the Kumori resumed its advance. “You have to be quiet! No screaming or crying or yelling or shouting! You stop, and I kill you, and I eat! That’s it!? Don’t you get it!? Are you really that—”

  Jackie: “Stupid, right!?” They raised their voice to speak over the monster’s ramblings, and its eyes opened wide, as if the mere idea of someone talking back to it was mortifying. “You keep calling me stupid, but aren’t you the dumb one?”

  Kumori: “…what?” It spoke unusually softly, looking down at its hands. Then, its voices rose again, “What, what, what, what what what what whatwhatwhatwhatwhat WHAT!? Me, stupid!? No, no, no, that isn’t true! That isn’t how it works! That isn’t—”

  Jackie: “Really? Then why’d you follow me in here?” They asked with the best smirk they could muster, rearing back their javelin. “Have a taste of plan C!”

  They flung it forward, aiming right for the monster’s head. Its eyes widening, it instantly snapped an arm downward, a clamor ringing out as it struck the metal javelin. The sound was shortly followed by a bloodcurdling shriek—no, not one, but many shrieks, all echoing through the corridor together.

  Just as Lii reported before, the cramped tower was partly buried. The Kumori’s skeletal arms nearly covered the full length from floor to ceiling with just the distance between each joint; even with its projectile-blocking instincts, its movements were limited in such a small space. In trying to deflect the javelin, it sent the projectile shooting right through one of its legs.

  Jackie forced a grin through the Kumori’s wailing, and they turned to run, swiftly slipping out of another sizeable gap in the wall a ways back. They quickly ascertained the situation, catching Strade and Sam standing near the fallen tower. Alongside them,

  Jackie: “Helena!” They ran over, gesturing for the others to back away form the tower. “I landed a hit, but it’ll only slow it down. What happened?”

  Helena was gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, her brow wrinkled furiously. “Lii ran.”

  Jackie: “Shit.” They looked back to the fallen tower, “It’ll be back out in a second. We might have to rely on our last resort.” They took a deep breath, “Sam, get back in position. Helena, Strade, focus on staying alive.”

  The others had not even a moment to nod in reply before a series of violent cracks could be heard. The wall of the fallen tower burst open, skeletal arms skittering their way out into the sunlight, carrying a furiously sobbing monster behind them.

  Kumori: “It hurts, it hurts, it hurts it hurts it hurts ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts IT HURTS!!!” It screamed, planting its arms against the ground to lift its body up high. “That wasn’t fair, it’s not fair, you aren’t fair..! You need to make up for it! Yes, you—apologize to me, okay? Apologize, apologize, apologize apologize apologize apologizeapologizeapologizeapologize APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE APOLOGIZE!!!”

  * ? *

  Lii was a coward. She was not ashamed to admit this.

  ???: “You don’t need to be scared anymore!”

  A small white bird fluttered down to the ground beyond the western tower, flanked on either side by small mounds of trash. The bird became formless, flesh stretching out, and then it was a girl kneeling in the dirt.

  ???: “I won’t let you hurt anyone, alright? Not me. Not yourself. Nobody.”

  The memory placed its hand against her cheek, and she raised a hand of her own, pressing it gently against the same spot. For a moment, she almost seemed to be able to feel the warmth of the palm that wasn’t there.

  Lii: “Liar…”

  She remained there in silence for a moment, until a wail echoed from the other side of the tower. She jumped, her gaze snapping to face the sound. Then she shook her head and crawled over to the nearest mound of trash. She brushed debris aside until she found a square of rusted sheet metal, then gingerly pulled it free of the pile.

  ???: “It doesn’t look that way to me. You’re too kind. You couldn’t be a coward if you tried.”

  Mimics were monsters. Carnivores. They survived by hunting and eating not just animals, not just other monsters, but people as well. Such solitary creatures could not afford the luxury of compassion.

  Even so, Lii loved people. She selfishly sought others’ company even though she knew she was a danger to them. She fought alongside them despite her cowardice.

  She already knew exactly what would happen if she got too close, too attached, too selfish.

  ???: “I-it’s not your fault, Lii…”

  But it was her fault. The blood was on her hands, nobody else’s.

  ???: “I love you.”

  She grit her teeth and squeezed the jagged metal in her hands, feeling a sharp edge dig into each palm. She’d sworn to herself she would never let that happen again, yet here she was.

  Her self-imposed exile ended the very first opportunity she got. She found new people to get attached to. New people to let down. New people to watch die.

  She lifted up the metal square and closed her eyes, opening her mouth wide.

  Lii was a coward. She was not ashamed to admit this.

  However, what scared her most wasn’t a monster, or the dark, or spiders—or, she realized, even herself.

  What she feared was what she would become if such a tragedy played out a second time.

  ???: “Your best skill?” Turning to Lii with a puzzled face, she cocked her head. Her platinum hair fell down one shoulder as she did, hiding one of her pointed ears. “Where’d that come from?”

  Lii looked away, her eyes downcast. “Yeah. I was thinking… well, I wanted to try and do more for you. You’re always the one saving me, so…”

  The elven woman smiled and walked over before patting Lii on the head. “You already do plenty for me. But, if you want a real answer… well, that’s a tough one.”

  Lii deflated. “So I really am useless…”

  ???: “No, no, not like that! You have plenty of useful skills—actually, that’s the issue. You’re good at way too many things for me to just pick one.” She lifted Lii’s head with a smile, “You’re like a jack of all trades on steroids.”

  Lii: “…First, that’s a terrible compliment. Second, I think you’re really overestimating my abilities…”

  ???: “I’m not!” She knelt down, looking into Lii’s eyes, “You’re the type of person that can do anything. Well, if it’s for my sake, anyway.”

  A clamor from beyond the tower shattered the memory. Lii paid it no heed; instead, her jaw closed around the metal sheet in her hands.

  Such an act should have shattered all her teeth and sliced open her mouth, tongue, and lips. Instead, her teeth sank into the metal. She ripped a chunk of iron free from the rest like meat off a bone.

  Metallic crunches filled the air as she chewed. Then, she swallowed the crushed metal. Its jagged edges did not cut her throat as they went down. She hardly waited a full second before biting into the metal sheet again.

  Lii knew her kind, the Mimics, were blessed with the abilities to “eat any material” and to “become objects”. They could only construct objects using materials they had digested before, though the digested materials were not physically stored in their bodies, Earlier, Lii had used the latter ability to create her sword from iron she’d eaten in the past.

  The sword had chipped after a single swing. Never before had something she’d made come out so weak; she’d been wracking her brain all day as to why.

  Ultimately, the conclusion she reached was that her body somehow used up some of her iron reserve during her hibernation. If that was the case, creating a sturdier weapon would be as simple as replenishing that stock.

  That being said, having the ability to eat anything did not make eating rusty trash metal any more pleasant than it seemed. Her powers would shift reality to allow her teeth to tear through a material tougher than them, and to prevent the rust and jagged edges from harming her as she ate it, and to negate the thousands of diseases she could only imagine the scrap might carry; the metal, however, still felt and tasted like a sheet of rusty metal fished out of a pile of trash.

  Either way, that wasn’t important right now. Lii took another bite.

  * ? *

  A great rumble shook the surrounding ruins as the Kumori sprang up into the air. It spun upside-down, its skeletal hands crashing against the bottom of the leaning tower, their fingers digging into the stone. The structure heaved under the Kumori’s weight as its arms pulled its body upward, entering a low crouch like a jumping spider. Then, it launched itself off the tower, the sudden force causing the stone to collapse behind it.

  The Kumori careened towards the trio of Humans, who scattered in different directions. It slammed down into the mud, several hands clawing at the mud as it slid across the clearing.

  Kumori: “Stop it, stop it, STOP IT! You’re doing it again, you’re running, you’re hiding, you’re fighting! You have. To. STOP!”

  The monster snarled in a chorus of voices, tears streaming down its face. As its sliding momentum came to an end, one of its hands firmly gripped the ground. With a multitude of grunts it lifted the rest of its body into the air on just that one arm, whipping around 180 degrees before flinging itself towards Jackie.

  The plum-haired Human had fled towards the fallen tower, while their companions, Strade and Helena, had ran towards either side of the base of the western tower. Jackie dove across the mud as the Kumori barreled towards them, rolling to their feet a ways away. They just barely got a glimpse of the monster with its eight skeletal arms curled around it to form a jagged sphere.

  The beast bounced off of the ruin and rolled back a few feet before springing back into the shape of a spider with a violent sob. Glaring sharply at Jackie, it dug several hands into the mud around it before slinging them each at the Human in rapid succession.

  Their red eyes opening wide, Jackie broke into a sprint along the perimeter of the clearing, globs of mud crashing against the ground and trash piles around them with the force of flung boulders. They turned sharply as the final glob shot right at them, holding out their makeshift shield. The mud splattered against the metal sheet with a damp sound, the impact sending Jackie tumbling backwards into a mound of trash.

  The Kumori stilled for a moment as it watched this, then began to creep forward once more. Before it could get too far, however, it swung its body around—a large chunk of stone debris had been lobbed at it, which it shattered with a skeletal fist.

  The monstrous child turned its ire to Helena, who took a careful step back. She cast a glance in Strade’s direction as it began to creep towards her, mumbling to itself.

  Kumori: “You don’t get it, either… you don’t, do you? It’s supposed to be easy. All you have to do is die. Die, die, die, die die die die DIE—!”

  It shrieked out that final syllable as it lunged forward, raising its arms in preparation for an attack. Then, just as suddenly as it had sprang into motion, four of its arms clutched the ground beneath it, yanking its own body to a stop. Its gaze snapped upward as it crossed two skeletal forearms above it.

  An anchor fell from the sky. Its surface forged of jet-black iron, the rounded end of the anchor swung down like an axe blade; the Kumori caught the falling strike with its raised arms, its body sliding back from the impact. Its arms creaked under the weight of the anchor, faltering until it raised its two remaining skeletal arms, pressing its palms against the anchor’s end and using all four arms to send it flying back with all its might.

  The anchor flipped through the air, its form melting away into a whip of flesh that then became the hands of the girl that was just holding it. Lii did not even make landfall before two more things happened, however.

  First, as the Kumori pressed four arms against the falling anchor, a boy had stepped out of cover and loosed an arrow. The projectile glanced against one of the arms protruding from the monster’s back, changing its trajectory ever-so-slightly, and it pierced through the side of its head, tearing open its ear and cheek. This caused the Kumori great distress, clutching at its head with its human arms as it staggered. Between that and the anchor it had just deflected, the monster was just distracted enough to allow the second thing to happen.

  A man dashed between its outstretched arms, a knife in hand, and plunged it into the Kumori’s chest.

  Strade made to leap backwards as the Kumori let out many roars and wails of pain, its arms now swinging about wildly as it writhed. One of its forearms caught Strade in his retreat, clotheslining him and sending him tumbling away, but he swiftly rolled up to his feet, keeping a close watch on the monster’s movements.

  The Kumori’s small body was thrown to and fro by the erratic movements of its own skeletal arms, staggering back and forth as it sobbed and wailed. It managed to focus its eyes on Strade and right its stumbling body for a moment, taking a few uneasy steps towards him.

  Kumori: “You… that isn’t… fair… you can’t..!”

  Muttering so, it finally collapsed face-first into the mud, its skeletal arms splaying out around it. Those surrounding the creature watched it with held breath, as if expecting it to return to life a second time—except for one, that was.

  Splat!

  A stone brick was flung down onto the Kumori’s head, reducing it to a red paste. The culprit was Jackie, their body caked in mud; satisfied with their work, they fell backwards into the dirt, staring up at the darkening sky as they caught their breath.