"Faris! Will he be alright?!" Venka turned tearfully to Sona, who had walked out of the hospital room.
"You kids should head to class." Sona frowned, "The healers and I are working on him."
"Mom?" Katya frowned, "He's not healed yet?"
"No not yet, but you need to head to class soon."
Katya frowned; her mother was acting strange. "Why are you trying to kick us out? It's not even a mandatory period."
Sona sighed, "Look, leave the doctors to do the rest, you staying out here is distracting okay?" She forced them all out of the hall and closed the door. "When he's better we'll send for you!" She sighed in consternation. She walked back into the hospital room, Faris lay down, a contingency of mages worked over him, another group was resting. She looked down on Faris. "What in the world happened to you?" Faris was in bad shape, his chest and upper abdominal area were bloody and torn. "How is he?" She turned to one of her mages.
"His ribs are shattered, and every time we heal them, they re-shatter." He wiped sweat off his brow despite the coolness of his brow. Faris coughed violently and blood began to splash out of his open wounds, the mages hurriedly cast spells of healing and mending, forcing his blood back in and mending his wounds, no sooner had their magic been completed had Faris's wounds flair up again.
"Why must we keep him alive?! He's been confirmed to have killed 30 men!"
"25, and regardless, Commissioner Gaudier wants to interrogate him, and so we need to keep him alive!" She looked Faris with worry, the boy was mumbling something unintelligible now, as more and more injuries began to cover his body at one point a deep rout began to start from his hand and snake through, like someone dragged a dagger across his body. "What the-!" Sona began casting magic, the cut slowed, but still dragged along until it stopped just before Faris's chest. She had the fear that if it reached his heart he would die.
"What devilry is this?!" A mage yelled. "Their murmurs of exclamation ceased when the wound stopped just before the heart. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they began to heal again. "We can't keep this up Lady Sona! We can't keep using crystals, he's going to die!"
"Well we damn well have to keep it up!" She looked at Faris, "What have you been up too?!"
"Die!" A large clawed burning skeleton hand launched towards a boy, who barely dodged out of the way, even then the shrapnel from the impact launched burning bits of bones all over, the boy blocked the shrapnel with his arms and legs, and several lacerations appeared. Before he could land a skeletal foot kicked him and launched him down, he felt his ribs crack as it attempted to crush him. Faris pushed in vain as he felt his ribs crack, then screamed as a bony tail pierced him from behind, all of a sudden, as if by divine choice, he was filled with magical energy, it aimed to heal him, and using it, he pushed off the creature.
"Sorry." Faris coughed, blood appearing and dissipating into the darkness of the room. "I'd rather not." The beast in front of him was a terrifying thing, it was like a demonic centaur, but the head was that of a lion with antlers, it had 4 arms, two on the normal position, and another set directly above, giving him massive shoulders. His centaur half was made of rotting flesh and bone, its forward limbs looked like human arms, and the hind limbs matched the legs of a skeletal man. Its tail was lithe and corded, bony with deep ridges ending in a scythe-like stinger. "Holy shit..." Faris sighed as he sprinted away from the onrushing centaur, barely dodging out of the way.
"You can't escape us Faris!" The monster's voice reverberated into his head. "Surrender this body or we will kill it!"
"Brisingr!" Faris yelled, launching a blast of flame towards the beast, it screamed in pain, mirroring Faris's screams as burns appeared on his body as well. "That's unfair!" He growled as he charged the monster. He scrabbled up the creature as its blade struck towards him, he moved away and it struck itself, Faris felt like his body tore apart as the creature screamed in pain, it tried to dislodge its blade, but he kept it in, ignoring the white-hot pain as the blade ran deeper in. The creature turned to him, hate on its face as it began to drive its blade towards its chest, Faris groaned as he felt his body and organs begin to shift violently. He punched the creature in the face, and felt surprise when no bruise appeared on his face. "Brisingr!" The monster roared and knocked him off. Faris looked down as his body slowly began healing again, and looked in satisfaction as the monster's body not healing like his was. His smile turned to fear as the creature's tail whipped faster than he had remembered and pierced his stomach.
"I do not know who is healing you…" It rumbled. "But if I kill you quickly, then no amount of healing will save you." Faris began hacking up blood as it dragged him and its tail forward. "Come now Faris, isn't this painful?" Forming from a bubbling mound in the monster's forehead sprouted Anya. Like a demonic tumor she formed into a horrifying visage of her defeat before reforming into her form when they first met. "You should just surrender Faris…" She stuck a hand into his open wound, causing him to wince. "I mean, dying like this is foolish isn't it?"
"I've died before, and I'd rather not lose my body to you lot." Faris frowned, "Shit… can't we? Form a compromise or something?"
"Why?" Anya cocked her head, "You should have thought of compromise before, when you were still in charge." Faris had been weakened by the fight against the ten mages, and was suffering from backlash as a result, the fact he had kept himself so active was a detriment to his recovery, and his mental state may have led to this occurring. "I do have to thank you, you come from such an interesting world, so many different fictional and real monsters about, it was hard picking and choosing what we wanted, it's weird, this used to terrify you."
"It used to terrify Damien."
She nodded, "dully noted." She grabbed him by the head. Faris felt his mind begin to wander despite the pain.
"Something's wrong, his breathing is slowing down." Sona glared at it angrily, Faris's body temperature continued to drop alongside. "It's like, his body is taking the magic? But…"
"So… the meddlers are trying to heal you, that must be why you haven't succumbed, though you are only at half capacity at best." Anya laughed.
"Fu-fudge you." Faris's head was feeling fuzzy, it was as if his memories of Damien were being rubbed away. It was all he could do to keep Anya from winning.
"Too tired to curse? Or did you think you'd be able to defeat the combined might of us all?" Appearing from the monster's skin was the face of everyone Faris killed, "We won't let you rest easy Faris… give us your body!" Faris fought back with all his might, they attacked him in a disjointed wild way, and he subdued each mental attack, weaving through each unforgiving and cold tendril of hate, for each one he destroyed, another struck at him, with the defeated enemy rising like a revenant and attacking him. He was losing, and even the magic he was taking in did little more than keep him from being defeated outright. Eventually, the minds began to attack in more coordinated strikes, in groups of two, then groups of three, then four, then dozens at a time. Much like a bundle of sticks, each stick added on made it harder and harder to snap the entire bunch. "Don't you see Faris?!" Anya called out as Faris leapt away from the monster, the mental struggle all the while raging as his tried to keep from being smothered. "We are a part of you, we know everything you know! It doesn't matter that you are more skilled! We have those same skills now; we are thirty versus one!"
"Make that verses two." A second identical mental force to Faris's struck at the mob of souls. "Sorry… I was being a bit of a coward."
Faris turned in surprise to see, Damien. "But… I'm you…"
"She…" He turned to Anya, "Basically tried to do to you what we've done to the people we killed, took in their memories and identities and partitioned that as a separate entity, she wanted to recruit me." He laughed. "Too bad." His clothing was different, it wasn't the uniform Faris wore, nor the clothing he wore when he died, it was a blue one-piece suit, coupled with a bright red cape and a symbol on his chest. "You know, you're being really uncreative, these monster tendril stuff? Yeah that's how people fight, but you can imagine your attacks and defenses as anything, so I'm gonna be the strongest superhero I know. Faris fell on his butt as laser beams launched from Damien's eyes into the monster, who roared in pain. He charged towards the monster, smashing into it, as it broke into pieces each piece momentarily began reforming into writhing human bodies before losing their form and coming back together, now in the shape of a giant snake. Faris was surprised.
"Why don't I feel…"
"Faris, this is our mind, we can do whatever the hell we want here, why are you relying on magic?" Damien was knocked back by a massive tail swing, and laughed flying back towards the beast, which had now formed into a minotaur.
"That's the issue!" Faris yelled, looking as a green light formed from the minotaur's arm. Damien stopped too late only to be struck in the face, both he and Faris whipped around in pain. Damien looked in shock.
"She took your imagination?!" He asked, eying the green glowing rock.
"No, she, she blocked it, I've been trying to break through it, but I can't break down her walls." They both sensed that the different egos formed a mental barrier now, and chose not to attack. Even their combined effort wasn't enough to break through the defense. The monster reformed again, into a skeleton in a hooded cloak, holding a scythe.
"Oh, come on!" Damien groaned. "So, what's the plan?"
Faris shrugged, "Every time I get injured to the point of life threatening, someone or something kept healing me, I siphoned off that magical energy to help me fight her, I've got a sizeable chunk, but it's 50-50 as to whether it would work."
"Huh, alright." Damien got up, and his clothing transformed again into an orange and blue martial arts Gi. He took a karate stance. "So, we need to hit her with enough magic to break her concentration, got it." Faris held out his hand, Damien chuckled, "…You've been the dude with the magic. I'm just the brains and good looks of the operations."
"Shut up man." Faris laughed, punching a large amount of magic into him. The two of them turned to face the monster.
"Why only Venka?" Katya asked her mother worried.
"Because we need her." Sona blocked her daughter and her friends from coming in. "This is a matter of life and death. Faris's body keeps hurting itself. His injuries are being inflicted by his own body."
"Why?" Morgan asked in worry.
"We don't know, but we can't spare the mana crystals anymore." She turned to the door, "She should be able to help."
Venka looked at the mages surrounding her nervously. "So, you just want me to provide magical energy?"
"Yes." The Mages nodded. Venka turned and grabbed Faris's hand and closed her eyes.
"What no!" A mage yelled. Startled, Venka opened her eyes, "Don't connect your minds! The injuries he forms!" A line appeared in Venka's arm and she winced, she quickly cast a spell of healing, turning to glare at the mages.
"Don't distract me."
"But! You don't know what's going on in a mental basis, you'll suffer the physical and mental backlash!" Venka ignored them as she grabbed Faris's hand.
"Aaaagh!" Damien was in a black cloak; he held a green lightsaber in hand as the other hand disintegrated on the floor. Faris was exhausted as well, his arm slowly began to heal from were Anya had tried to lop his head off. Damien had blocked it but lost his hand in the process.
"You won't win! The two of you aren't enough!" The grim reaper figure slashed at them and Faris had to block with a barrier of magic. Lasers shot from Damien's eyes hitting the skeleton on the cloak, it drifted away, reforming at a further distance.
"I'm completely spent." Faris sighed as he sat down. Damien clutched his stump arm.
"Me too… Darn it!" He paused a bit, then smiled. "Geez talk about awkward timing." He turned to Faris, "Hey, do you have any regrets?"
Faris frowned, "Yeah, I should have told Venka about me, you, us…"
Damien nodded, he charged towards Anya at full force. "Thringa iet drjugr vanyalí kveykva brisingr" (Compress my strong magic lightning-fire!) A huge ball of electricity and flames gathered from his fingertips and compressed into a bright white orb of flames and electricity, it began to spiral rapidly. Damien sported a headband with a strip of steel on the forehead area with a stylized leaf. He dodged another slash from the scythe.
"You know you can't win!" She screamed angrily.
"Oh, but we will! It's my ninja way!" Damien roared has he launched the orb in the grim reaper's chest. She screamed as the orb seemed to grind away at her body! "Believe it!" The magic keeping the blast conserved exploded, knocking Damien back, who was now missing both forearms.
"That! That was stupid!" Faris yelled at him.
Damien merely winked, "I needed to buy us a little time, attack her mind now!" He paused for a bit, "Wow, I feel unloved, you were already attacking her mentally…"
"Wait, what's going on?" Faris turned to Damien, who shrugged painfully.
Faris began to feel his body flood with magic and energy, he also felt a new, familiar presence in his mind, trying to reach the deepest crevice of his mind, his inner core that he hid from her all this time. "…Venka…"
"Faris!" Venka's mind was distraught and confused, but also determined and angry and concerned.
Relief began to flood him, he still felt hesitant to reveal Damien and everything going on, that hesitation was somewhat dispelled when Damien called out.
"Heya cutie! How's life?"
Venka's mind seemed to stutter in its transfer, giving Anya the respite to try and strike, she instead chose to retreat and try to strike at a different time. Venka materialized next to Faris and Damien, her mind could not hold back the combination of emotions going through her as she looked at Faris and Damien, confusion, followed by recognition, revulsion, fear, acceptance, then compassion and warmth. She smiled at Faris. "Dammit Faris, I'm mad you didn't talk to me about all of this."
"I…" Faris paused a bit, embarrassed.
"We were scared we'd freak you out." Damien chuckled. "Hi by the way, I'm Faris 0.501 I'm the alpha test. Call me Damien."
"Okay Faris 0.501" Venka stuck her tongue at him playfully. "So, what now"
They turned to look at Anya, who had reformed into a human form. "This isn't over, we aren't done."
"So," Venka began, "Is that…"
"A culmination of my crimes." Damien sighed, he and Faris began to shimmer, and fuse. "Sorry I had to drag you in here V…"
"Oh? Using the nickname? You really are feeling emotional." Venka chuckled, "Yes then, Anya!"
The entity looked at Venka, her eyes grinning. "7 of us here were tasked with capturing you, we failed, but we will have great pleasure killing you now." Venka laughed as she knocked the amalgamation down instantaneously. It struggled to put itself together only to be dashed apart, again, and again, and again. "How!?" The amalgamation screamed.
"Well, magic can enhance mental ability, and I'm not the best mentalist, but I have a lot of magic. A veritable, gold mind." She extended her fist and blasted Anya down. "Okay!" She turned to Faris, "You need to subdue them, right?"
Faris nodded, "But I've got to make sure it's complete, and…"
"You don't know whether you'll win? But you have to do it alone…" She frowned, "I'll give you five minutes."
Faris smiled, he kissed Venka on the cheek, "Thanks!" She merely sighed in annoyance, but he smiled at the warmth radiating from her mind. He turned to Anya. "okay, things are a bit more even, mono a mono."
She merely growled angrily as he walked forward. "So! You're going to kill us finally?"
"No…" Faris grimly shook his head, "we're going to go at each other, full force, whoever wins takes over, you lot versus me. And this time, no cheating."
"That isn't fair." One of the ego's cried out, Faris recognized it as Nog.
"That's funny coming from a child murdering psychopath." He opened his arms in an inviting stance as the different egos surged into him, he turned to Venka, who nodded as she was ejected from the inner recess of his mind. Smiling he donned a red cape and blue suit, sitting cross legged as the battle continued to rage within.
The mages held their breaths as Venka let out a deep sigh, as if waking from a dream. "Are you alright?"
Venka was breathless and appeared exhausted, she had used more of her magic than normal, all to keep Faris from being destroyed either mentally or physically. He appeared as if he was resting, peaceful even, but she could imagine the mental duel occurring. Venka turned to the mages. "I am well, we just have to wait."