The World is On Fire

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jackson immediately jumped out of the giant Ego's arms.

The undead were falling all around them but dying on impact with the ground. Gwen and Norman slowly got out of the Ego's grip in pain and looked around, especially at Auclair and the Ego.

"What the hell is that thing? What the hell is he?" Gwen turned and asked Norman as she grabbed his neck. At the same time, Jackson desperately began searching for something on the ground.

"I don't know!" Norman yelled back in response.

Connie emerged from behind Norman and glared at Gwen.

"And what the hell is she?!" She asked not letting go of Norman. Connie began stepping out from behind Norman in response, her glare not leaving her face for a moment.

That's when Jackson found what he was looking for. He quickly bent over and lifted it from a human corpse before turning around with a sharp whistle.

Gwen turned back to see Jackson aiming a rifle directly at her skull.

"Cauterize its wounds now!" He yelled referring to the multiple gunshots that struck the Ego.

He had asked about the two's beef before, and with the answer he was given he was sure that Gwen might've left without doing anything to help.

More undead began falling around them to the point where even the rain itself seemed insignificant.

Gwen slowly put Norman down and turned towards Jackson. Norman fell back coughing while Connie quickly checked on him.

"Am I the only one having trouble understanding this? This guy's a literal monster and you two are okay with that?!" She yelled hard enough for the veins in her neck to stick out.

"I've got my reasons, now do it!" Jackson replied without taking his finger off the trigger for a single moment.

Gwen narrowed her eyes and turned away. She began walking towards the Ego and inspected one of its wounds. She summoned a fire dagger and twirled it a bit from the chain.

The she whipped it towards Jackson with frightening speed.

However Jackson shot it out of the air without batting an eye. He pulled the bolt back to eject the casing before slamming it back to bring another round to the chamber. He fired the next round and grazed her cheek, causing blood to trickle down the side of her face.

"Try me again, I fucking dare you." He snapped.

Gwen's hand went to her cheek. She touched it and looked at her bloody hand; her teeth gritted together and she turned back to the Ego.

She extended her fire dagger and pressed it against the Ego's wound, causing the smell of burnt flesh to emit in the air.

At the sudden pain, Auclair's eyes snapped open as his subconscious took over. He jumped out of his Ego's embrace and bolted forward, slamming his fist against Gwen's face sending her flying to the ground. She quickly got up and shot her fire dagger towards Auclair's head.

He narrowly avoided the blade and grabbed the chain which began searing his flesh. He ignored it as his body continued on autopilot, fueled by an instinct to protect his real body no matter what. He twisted the chain around his arm and yanked her forward.

He drew his arm back and flatted his palm, intending to drive his fingers through her head. Before he did so however Connie jumped in between the two with arms spread wide open.

Auclair looked at the child for a moment and his arm began trembling. He closed his eyes and let his arm fall. He unwrapped the chain from his burnt flesh with a sigh.

Auclair opened his eyes again and pushed Connie's head to the side after his rationality returned.

"Ack!" Connie stumbled but ultimately stopped herself before she fell over.

Gwen saw this and just let herself slump against the ground in the streets slick with rainwater.

"Am I really so useless?" She muttered to herself so quietly that even she couldn't hear it. The rain continued falling from the sky but the undead bodies stopped.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Jackson said as he stepped over Gwen and aimed the rifle at her.

"Just kill me."

"Stop wallowing in self-pity. Get up and do what I'm asking you, you can die later for all I care." Jackson replied.

"It's alright." Auclair cut in after looking at his Ego's wounds. "I won't die from this, I just need to eat and it should heal."

"Eat what exactly?" Gwen asked quietly.

"Exactly what you saw me eat earlier." Auclair replied as he saw the same human body from which Jackson found the gun. He walked over to it and grabbed their body.

What happened next was obvious and Gwen had to look away. His Ego's eyes slowly opened and Auclair let it enter his false body to rest. He then began to rummage through the bodies looking for any more humans who fell to their death.

'Who knows the next time I'll get to feast like this?'

[Auclair]

[Rank: Bronze]

[Species: God]

[HP: 92]

[Core Repaired! Hearts Ingested! Your core has risen to level 1!]

[Mana Level: 1]

[MP: 10]

After he ate the last of the humans who jumped from the wall and prison out of desperation, his system alerted him that his core finally leveled up and he could use magic.

The result was a massive grin that began stretching across his face. He quickly wiped the blood from his mouth and placed his gas mask on.

'I won't be able to bring out my fire hound, my black knight, or my abomination with this amount of mana… Who could I bring out instead… Ah!'

He suddenly knew exactly who to summon the next time he fought. They were low in mana summoning cost, yet were oddly strong. They were perfect for turning the tide in smaller scale fights with less people.

Jackson lowered his gun and held it by his side. Norman walked over to the two who were standing by Gwen. She looked at them through her gas mask and eventually got up.

'Never mind whatever that creature was that crawled out of him, I couldn't even defeat him normally.'

She reflected on the fight and in the heat of the moment she even forgot to use the giant mace version of her fire daggers.

The group started walking through the city which was eerily quiet and she walked behind them with a blank expression. They all stumbled on a large vista granting them a view of the city.

"Holy shit."

And everything was on fire.