Devastation

Life can always adapt to even the most ferocious conditions if it has the time.

Now I took the form of a raven and sat on a branch of a tree far from the Baroness's estate, but even from here I could see the terrifying fire and the lava sea that poured down from the mountain.

My body took the form of a giant tumor, covered with a basalt layer, which made it look more like a lava giant than a creature of flesh and blood.

Out of the lake of lava that was created by the man of light, outgrowths like giant tentacles and arms burst out, trying to destroy everything and everyone around them. They were also covered with basalt leather.

I wasn't completely sure who my body's opponent was, but he was definitely a member of the Confector Order. Considering that it all started because of the fool, I had no doubt.

Right now, the tumor is not consuming my energy and is acting on its own, but if I give it an order or try to take full control, then my reserves may not be enough.

The expansion order was in effect right now, so I decided to leave it as it is. Although chaos was not the basis for my escape, it was the result of these actions.

I flapped my wings, flying as far away from the city as possible.

***

At some point, tumorous roots and outgrowths had already extended beneath Flir and were beginning to make their way upward.

They attacked people and animals, popping out of the ground like spikes, piercing them.

Sometimes they acted covertly, sending out small parasitic worms that seized control of small animals, such as mice, and insects, and then multiplied in them and attacked larger animals to repeat the process again.

The man of light stopped acting as actively as he had acted before, not understanding how and whom to attack now.

The tumor network had already developed a resistance, it burrowed deep beneath the city's underground, captured many living beings, and was devoid of a single decision-making center, which made victory over it unattainable.

But there were many powerful mages in the city besides the man of light.

A man in a priestly robe was floating on the territory of the abbey – the Abbot himself. A zone of a couple of kilometers around him began to behave unnaturally.

Huge layers of earth, along with buildings and people standing on them, slowly soared into the air, being in an stable position, which allowed people to keep their balance, although not always.

The Abbot could sense who on the land he controlled was infected and who was not. He used his magic to get rid of the parasitized ones, throwing them away from the layers with the help of created stone hands.

The roots of the tumor, covered with mud, protruded from the torn pieces of earth themselves, burrowing deeper into the formation, trying to stay closer to its surface, but the Abbot felt their movements and squeezed them with the help of the earth inside the layers.

Thus, he gradually cleared the area raised into the air, but the work has not yet been completed.

If he let go of these pieces of earth, the tumor would get into them again, so he had to keep them in this state further, ignoring the rest of the city, but soon more priests came out of the church into the street, which helped the Abbot keep the earth high in the sky, allowing him to be distracted by the rest of the city.

***

The city was in a deplorable state. A river of lava flowed down from Arisland mount, in which living organisms bathed; the city center soared in the sky, sometimes people were thrown out, smashing into a pieces, but not dying. They quickly regained their vitality, although they began to resemble not people, but terrifying creatures from scary stories and fairy tales.

There was something under the city that caused serious tremors, spikes, tentacles and hands made of flesh and bones burst out of the ground, killing people, buildings collapsed, some residents of the city and animals began to behave very aggressively and attacked others.

In such a commotion, I lost sight of Anji, but I tried to find her.

"Anji! Anji!" I called out to my combat partner, barely navigating through the dust raised by another collapsed house.

"I'm here! This way!" she shouted.

I ran towards her voice, ignoring the dusty curtain.

"I'm here! Where are you!?" I shouted again.

I found myself in a one-story building that looked like a bar, but there were no customers here, and dust flew from the ceiling with every jolt, which made it difficult to breathe and hard to see.

"I'm here!" the girl shouted back, coming out to me from behind the bar counter.

"Thank the Great Ones, let's get out of here," I replied, taking her by the hand and leading her out.

When I was about to do it, I heard her voice again. Several times at once.

"I'm here!"

"This way, this way!"

"Hurry up! I'm here!"

I turned around, the dust had already settled a little, and the tremors had weakened.

She had three mouths, one in the right place, and the other two on each of her cheeks, arranged asymmetrically. Her eye sockets were empty, but the upper part of her cheeks was covered with a dried crust that had once been liquid.

All three of her mouths were smiling, and both her hands gently rested on mine.

"I'm here! Don't go away! Max!" three of her mouths shouted in a row.

She didn't show aggression and even behaved very friendly, but fear, quiet horror and a feeling that it wasn't her arose in my heart.

***

I was strolling through the lively city, watching what was happening with a slight smile. It was very dusty here, which was uncomfortable. Even just looking at the sky and seeing the sun there was a problem.

I continued walking along a relatively narrow street that would barely fit two people walking together.

"Help..." a hoarse cry rang out further down the street.

I continued my leisurely pace, ignoring the call.

"Help, please..." the man began to shout more actively, apparently noticing a figure in a fool mask walking towards him.

I looked at the victim of the earthquake, which has now weakened, with my spiritual vision, but found nothing interesting about him.

He was young, maybe 19 or 20 years old. Blood was dripping from his forehead, but even so I could see that the color of his eyes was a cloudy blue. The color of his hair and skin had changed due to soot and dust, but they were clearly light.

He was sprawled on the ground, lying on his stomach. His feet were under a pile of rubble and stones that had once been part of the building above us.

"Please... help..." he said, holding out one hand in the hope of getting at least some help.

I came closer, sitting down next to him and leaning back against the wall of the building, relaxing.

"What's your name?" I asked the boy.

"Christopher... Repsod..." He replied.

"And my name is Samuel," I said. "You know, Chris, I had a surprisingly bad day."

"At first I found two very interesting people and tried to make them my obedient dolls, but the first rebelled, and I missed the second," I said.

"Please, please," the man begged me, almost crying.

"Shut up," I said coldly.

To make sure he was silenced, I grabbed his right hand and forcefully tried to pull out his index finger.

He screamed in pain, but I only managed to peel off the skin, but the muscles and bones still held.

I began to twist the finger and pull it sharply, so that I was able to collect the skin first, and then tear off the muscles with a piece of bone, throwing them away. Instead of the index finger, there was now a piece of broken bone.

Chris screamed in pain at first, until he remembered my request. He put his left wrists in his mouth, clenching his jaws on the thin coat, attenuating the sound of the scream.

"Thank you," I replied, continuing my story. "Now everything that is happening to this city is a consequence of their actions. They are to blame for this."

"But even so, it seems to me that Father, the leader of our mission, will be furious."

"Who knows, maybe this is my last day enjoying the amazing views of our world, hehe."

My listener continued to chew on the sleeve of his coat, no longer interrupting me.

"You're a very good listener," I said with a smile. "I will reward you for that."

I materialized the scythe of darkness in my hands and then grabbed his right arm again, striking his forearm, chopping off his hand.

He screamed, freeing his left hand from the grip of the jaws. I grabbed it, too, depriving him of that arm as well.

"I could kill you, but look, now you can live a little longer, isn't that great, ha-ha-ha!" I scoffed, finally cheering up after the recent failure. "Goodbye, buddy."

I dematerialized the dark scythe, then took his hands and threw them towards one of the burning buildings that got in my way.

***

I watched the scene where the crazy bastard cut off both hands of a man lying under the rubble from the second floor of a neighboring building, through a small square window in which I could hardly fit my own head.

When the psychopath finished his atrocities and left, I waited a little, then went downstairs and went to the victim.

"I'm here! Help is already here!" I shouted, running up to the wounded man. "My name is Skell, I'll help you! What's your blood type!"

Having received the necessary answer from the dying man, I used the magic of the flesh to create stumps in place of the severed limbs.

After that, a bone appeared from my elbow joint on my right arm, more like a thin needle. I gently tugged on it, pulling it out. An artery began to stretch out after it, like a drip.

I injected this bone into a vein in one hand, starting a blood transfusion, and then did the same with the other hand.

"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay," I said, either to him or to myself.