No Longer Human
Chapter 14: No Longer Human
As soon as Klein finished speaking, a fist-sized ball of fire flew toward them. Dunn Smith had already drawn the revolver from him upon hearing Klein's words.
Bang!
The fireball passed through the bullet as if it had never been. He continued his original path toward the center of the pack. William prepared to jump and dodge.
"It is an illusion." Debris quickly warned him.
William mentally thanked him, and while everyone else dodged, he focused on seeing where the fireball was coming from. He saw a shadow jumping across the rooftops at high speed and erratically.
'Shit, it's too dark for me to follow him from that far.' William cursed in his head.
Sure enough, the fireball hit the ground and disappeared as if it didn't exist.
"He's on the rooftops! He's moving too fast." William instantly reported what he had seen.
Aiur Harson threw the chest with 2-049, and Leonard and Borgia stood 7 meters away from it to prevent the others from getting too close.
This was something William had worried about, having to fight by doing the elbow exercise to avoid being turned into a puppet. Luckily, there were quite a few people.
Aiur Harson had heard William's warning and stopped instantly. His expression became serene and peaceful, and he began to recite a poem.
Listening to him, William felt as if he relaxed entirely and lost the tension of the moment. It was the first time something like this had happened to him, so he almost lost consciousness.
"Wake up!" Debris again warned him and returned to the same state as before.
'I owe you two, now.' William thanked his sword again but didn't pause to listen to its proud snort.
As Aiur recited his poem, next to some large stacked boxes that were close to him a man appeared out of nowhere.
He was wearing a black tuxedo and a demi-top hat. His face was painted like a clown's, with an exaggerated smile. William was struck by the resemblance he bore to 2-049.
The clown staggered, affected by Aiur's poem. Lorotta walked up to him and delivered a trained boxing punch to his face.
As if it were made of glass, the clown shattered and the pieces instantly disappeared.
'It's an illusion again.' This time William didn't need Debris's help, instead, he charged in the direction the enemy had just reappeared.
The clown had raised a finger, and the sound of a gun came from it. Lorotta rolled on the ground to avoid the attack, but there was actually none.
Dunn and Aiur raised their weapons and fired, forcing the clown to dodge. However, William appeared next to him and landed a direct blow to his face.
The clown managed to deflect the blow but was slightly affected by the power behind it. Dunn took advantage of the slight daze to shoot into his back, hitting him.
"We did it?" William questioned himself quietly.
These thoughts disappeared when the clown began to shrink and suddenly turned into a small paper figure. He reappeared a few meters from where he was before, completely intact.
Bang!
Another shot was heard from the clown's finger. William's instincts screamed at him that this time it was not an illusion. He didn't have time to stop and admire his newfound mystical instincts, and he had to roll on the ground to avoid the invisible shot.
It was hard to tell what was real and what was an illusion. Also, William couldn't think of any way to defeat this clown in a suit.
"Up there, Darling!" Debris's voice distracted him from the fight, and he looked up at the roof.
Sure enough, a man dressed exactly like the person he was fighting, wearing a gray tuxedo instead of black, was running across the roof.
Klein had also seen him and shot him. The person stumbled, and blood came out of his shoulder. He looked at Klein in shock and continued towards the warehouse, enduring the pain.
Leonard and Borgia also fired from his position, but every bullet missed.
Suddenly, Klein stopped shooting, and William looked at him in surprise before remembering something. If there was danger inside the warehouse, maybe they could use it to their advantage. The other two who were shooting also seemed to have had the same idea.
At that moment, Lorotta started to move her hand as if she was pulling something, and her eyes turned black. The clown they were fighting suddenly stopped when his ankle seemed to be grabbed by something.
Dunn opened his mouth and began to recite a poem. It was strange, and he didn't seem to be using his vocal cords to speak, almost as if the sound came from the Captain's spirituality.
The clown went limp, having lost the will to live. Aiur raised his pistol and fired.
At the same time, a tragic and abnormal wail came from within the warehouse. William unconsciously brought his hand to Debris's hilt, and a shiver ran down his spine.
The scream seemed to contain the panic of someone who found something extremely terrifying, something he probably shouldn't have seen.
Everything went silent again. It was a tense, chilling silence.
Aiur's shot only managed to hit the clown's belly due to the scream.
Then, the silence was broken again.
Haa... haa... haa...
It started as soft gasps that they somehow managed to hear all too clearly, considering the distance. The sound began to grow at breakneck speed.
In the chest, 2-049 started hitting the walls of it much harder than before.
Everyone became very nervous. An evil aura came from inside the warehouse. The injured clown took the opportunity and suddenly transformed into a paper figure.
Dunn, Aiur, and Lorotta tried to shoot him to stop him from escaping, but it was too fast for them. William wasn't confident that he could catch him, even if he was faster.
Also, they needed to prepare for whatever was coming out of the warehouse. Just as he was out of sight, the warehouse door flew open.
Something wrapped in torn cloth went flying. In midair, William realized it was an arm. An arm that had been chewed off.
Following the arm came several more parts of a body. An eye flew out, then an ear, all followed by an incredible amount of blood.
William winced at the sight. He had never seen anything so disgusting, and it took a good deal of willpower from him not to vomit.
Dunn fired his revolver into the warehouse but didn't hit anything.
A completely white figure came out the door. It was a humanoid creature over two meters tall. The joints of his limbs were unnaturally crooked. It was as if someone had forcefully broken them.
White bones protruded from under its skin while the entire grayish-white surface was furrowed, like a human brain with its shell removed.
The monster had gooey, putrid, grayish-white liquid flowing everywhere. His head appeared relatively normal, with deep wrinkles and pale skin.
A thought crossed everyone's mind:
'Ray Bieber is no longer human.'
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I've finished planning a good part of the fic already. The entire Tingen arc will be very similar, only that it will be narrated from William's point of view and with some very important parts that will be changed. I was asked about Adam somewhere, and I just have to tell you not to worry. Adam fits into my plans.