As the lights of the stars locked in place, the mist closed around them.
Keith turned to Vince with a huge grin. "Well, Roe! It's been a good while! This is your battle with Estill, I hope we meet again, if not I'll be with the stars. Remember, the stars will always guide you!" His voice rang bright and high.
He's leaving already, Vince thought, rage flaring. I needed him to finish Estill. The dull pain at the back of his head kept pulsing, but Vince had grown strangely used to it.
When the mist finally thinned, Keith sighed, "Let me just help you out a little." The star on his necklace began to spin clockwise. One by one, the little protective stars sucked back into it, then the star settled and Keith stared down at Estill.
Estill's grin was unhinged, his body more broken than before. Arms shredded, legs stripped to bone and raw flesh, his face a mess of missing skin, white teeth exposed in ragged rows.
"R-R-Roe! Who is your n-n-new friend? Friends, I used to have friends, but accidents happen, and I ate them! I ATE THEM!" He laughed like he'd cracked open.
The mist around him thickened, he began to crawl toward them on all fours with terrifying speed.
"I regret eating them, but do I? Gluttony found me and fed my hunger, it wanted me! It told me to take everyone, let anyone in for free. But is it my fault? The gods, they got soft, they lost their ways, Roe! You should have been dead, but no, DIE! DIE! GLUTTONY IS RIGHT!" Foam flecked his mouth as he barreled forward.
Keith turned to Vince, suddenly serious, voice low, "Roe, forget what you heard." Vince, eyes closed, could only feel the battle sounds, the rush of air.
The star on Keith's necklace spun faster, then sparkled. With a flick of his arm, a small wave of star light shot toward Estill. The light struck, Estill's eyes rolled back into dark voids, stars reflected in the hollows.
BANG!
The wave slammed into him, sending Estill reeling. His chest tore open in glittering pain, ribs jutting as his body wrenched, he clawed at his eyes.
"I can't see! I can't see!" he wailed, panic slicing through the madness.
Keith let the star wind down, it turned counterclockwise, folding back into the necklace.
"Roe, finish the job, I'll be gone." His voice softened, charming again. Then, from the ground up, Keith began to fade, sparks peeling away from him until only flickers remained.
Vince opened his eyes. Keith was gone, vanished into light, and he was left alone with a wounded, gasping Estill.
Vince could only stare, trying to process what just happened. Estill talked about the gods. Keith wounded him and protected me. What the hell is going on?
He slowly rose to his feet, eyes scanning the chaos around him. Half the mansion was gone, the hallway ripped open from the front door to the back. The mist had eaten through the walls, leaving them jagged and hollow. When Vince looked back at Estill, his face hardened with distrust.
He's so weak, I could probably kill him with my bare hands, Vince thought, stepping closer. Estill's tattered body shook, his movements no longer human.
Estill staggered upright, lungs still showing through the open wounds on his chest. Mist poured off him, eating at his flesh. Then, in a burst of desperation, he charged again, using what was left of his arms to lunge forward.
"Di… di… id…" His voice broke apart, drowned in blood and pain.
He leapt high, coming down fast. Vince watched him fall, unafraid. He'd never been a fighter, but something in him knew, he could win.
The moment Estill came within reach, Vince stepped aside. As Estill passed, completely exposed, Vince swung.
BANG!
His fist crashed into Estill's back, sending him slamming into the floor. Blood sprayed across the ruined hall. Estill tried to rise, trembling, but Vince kicked his leg before he could move. The bone tore through the skin, and Estill fell back with a broken scream. Vince stood over him, his expression empty. His own body was barely holding together, skin torn, clothes shredded, hair uneven and burned away. His jaw showed through cracked flesh, his forearms nothing but meat and bone. But Vince didn't care anymore. Rage drowned everything else. Pity faded. All he wanted was rest.
He raised his arm.
BANG!
His fist came down, crushing Estill's skull in a single blow.
BANG! BANG!
He kept hitting, again and again, blood splattering across his hands and face. But even through the violence, something felt off. Is this really a win? Do I deserve it? he thought. All I did was land the final blow. It feels amazing, but it doesn't. If I didn't kill him, would I have survived either way?
Estill wasn't just a monster to Vince anymore. He was a wall.
Everything is a wall.
They stop me from leaving this place. They block me every time. The wall is always there. Always in my way. Wall. WALL. Is that why I'm stuck here? Is that why I can't escape? And the gods… did they really grow soft? If I was born in another era, would I already be dead?
He slammed Estill's skull again, but there was nothing left to crush. His hands were red to the wrist. The silence after each hit felt heavier than the last.
Then, from the corner of the broken mansion, came a sound he knew too well, the creak of a door opening.
A voice followed, one he hated more than anything.
It was Adam.