Chapter 11

Bad recovered, however, he felt something was terribly wrong.

What was that?

What just happened that made his body tremble in such a state?

He didn't know, but he realized something was up as his shadow suddenly grew bigger. Bad turned as Snek somehow came out of it! He was on the ground until he turned up and saw Bad, then, he bowed to him, groveling. "Snek?"

"Bad… Shadow King… Please… help me!" he pleaded.

"Snek, get up, what's wrong?" Bad was about to crouch down to help him up, when he saw the tears falling from his eyes. "Snek?"

"My father… my father is dead." He wept.

Bad felt his heart break a little. He only met Snek's father once and even so, he was understanding enough to allow him to keep Snek as an advisor than to keep a 'tradition' going. "Dude… what happened?"

Snek was inconsolable, his words nearly incoherent until he was able to say. "I just got an emergency message from my brother. There was something happening in a naga village, my father went to see with his best men to the commotion… he never came back… a search party went in, they found his body along with the men who escorted him… they were shot and killed…"

Bad froze. Bloodbore himself was taken aback. "Shot? There are no guns in the land of Others!" Bloodbore protested.

"No, they were brought in…" Bad peered up, Snek froze as Bloodbore bowed deeply to Death that appeared.

But his radiant smile was gone, his face stained with blood tears as his clothing too ruined by this odd secretion. "Bad… you need to fix this…"

"Whoa, wait, ME?!" he demanded. "I… I don't even know what's happening really? What to do, where to go!"

"Bad… please…" Snek begged. "They are killing my people… my brother could be next… he's all I have left now…"

Bad felt his heart tearing apart. "This… this is what I needed the Shadow King for." Death explained. "I cannot interfere, Death cannot favor one race or person over another, there are rules I must follow. The Shadow King… despite being made from part of my power, is not bounded to these rules as I am."

Bad shook his head to it all. "What do you want me to do? Thrash them? I have never killed a person before…" His voice trailed off, that wasn't entirely true. When he first came across Garou back when he was the hero hunter, had Zenko not shown up, he would have smashed his head in. But still, he shook the idea from his head. "You want me to kill them, don't you?"

Death nodded. "Yes," he whispered gently. "I assure you, this will not weigh on your soul, it cannot. I needed the Shadow King to do what I cannot do. That is to bring swift justice to those who are denied it. Bad, please… if they are not stopped, more will die. They are slaughtering innocent creatures, some younger than your sister and your own son…"

Something in him broke.

Bad's moral compass began to spin in his mind, his heart started to race as he began to think darker thoughts.

They were killing those as young as his own sister and his son…

A darkened look came over Bad, his Shadow King persona began to ooze and escape out of him until he was flooded with its power. "Tell me… where to go." He said in a dark, commanding tone.

Death nodded. He approached Bad but placed a single hand on to his head. Bad then began to see a distant land, various creatures and then… he saw the massive boat full of thugs covered in blood and skinning the corpses of the fallen.

His heart began to race once more.

Rage filled every fiber of his body, the black mist began to grow thicker, darker than before. Death released him. "Please, hurry." He begged.

"Bloodbore…" Bad said.

"My King, what is your command?"

"Get me Sonic, and any other ninjas we have available."

#

Garou was getting worried.

It was two in the morning, Bad has been gone for some time now and there hasn't been a call or text from him. Even a telepathic message would have been sufficient! But nothing.

He sighed aloud and decided to go to bed, when a knock came to the door.

"Who the hell could that be?" yet as he went to answer, they already stood in the room.

Snek and Death looked to him oddly. "Snek… Death…"

"Bad won't be coming back for a while…" Snek explained as he tried to keep his composure. "Garou… something's happened on the other side of this world. Others are being slaughtered by the hundreds and that was a single day's worth… one of them was my father."

He froze to the news. "Damn… I'm sorry…"

"I have sent Bad to deal with it, however, I think you need to go as well." Death explained as bloody tears continued to cascade down his cheek.

"Me? Why? I have a young child and a baby to look after! You think a war zone is a place to bring them?!" he demanded.

"Garou?"

He froze to the voice of Zenko, he turned and yet saw her with welded tears in her eyes. "Something bad has happened… something really, really…"

"I know kid, your big brother has gone to deal with it…"

"Without us?" she demanded. Zenko stood rather tall as she stamped her foot down. "No, we're going too!"

"It's a war zone!" he protested. "He's going to kill me if I bring you and Botan there!"

"He needs us!" Zenko protested. "I'm going to pack now!" She rushed to her room before Garou could argue. He turned and glared at Death who nodded in agreement with her.

"Bad will need all three of you, please, make preparations. I can bring you to the Naga estate but that is all." Death stated. "Even that is overstepping my boundaries."

There was no choice now. Garou worried what Bad would do if he isn't there. Also, if he needs help with something…

With a defeated sigh, he retreated to the bedroom and began to pack up clothing for Bad and himself. He then went and prepared a massive baby bag and got Botan out from his crib. Thankfully the kid was still out like a light.

With his things ready, Garou went back to the living room and found Zenko already waiting with a backpack the size of her! Snek stepped forward and gave Garou and Zenko a grateful bow. "Please hurry. I will watch your home and tend to your pets."

Garou nodded. Zenko reached up and took hold of his hand, with a nod to Death, black smoke began to gather at their feet, yet when it cleared. They stood in the courtroom of the Nagas, however, everywhere they looked, there were those wounded and dying of their injuries…