"Not a bad score."
"Whatever man. Bask in all that glory now. I call dibs on the next lady we have to hunt."
I could hear faint voices in the distance.
I followed the set of footprints deeper into the alley where the artificial overhead lighting of the Middle Core failed to reach. This was a border gate, rather an elevator, that connected the Middle Core to the Lower Core. From the rust and dust that had collected in the area, it was fair to say that this had long since been abandoned.
Who could blame the people for leaving this behind? Metal can only last so long. There will be a time when the Middle Core will be abandoned as well.
The elevator itself was in poor condition, a large open platform hung up by steel cables. I ran my hands through the cables; they were solid, tension holding them tight, but my hands came back caked with orange dust. Taking advantage of the elevator's inability to move was a metal shack, fastened with metal sheets and scrap pipes.
I carefully moved around in the darkness, avoiding the light that came from the metal shack itself. There was a small door with no gaps, so I dashed behind it. Lucky for me, there was a peephole-like section cut out of the wall next to the door, so I peered inside.
Two men: one sitting at a table, the other in a corner. One of the men was well built, as if he were some kind of bodybuilder. In his hands were a wallet and a sheet of paper. He seemed to study both with a puzzled expression on his face.
Behind him, off in the corner, was a thinner man, dressed in light armor with a sword at his hip. It was rare to find anyone carrying swords, other than me, due to the restrictions in space where one could swing them. He was staring at a weird-looking box, fidgeting with it as if trying to open it.
A strange feeling tickled down my neck. Where have I seen that box before?
"Still," the thinner man said. Despite them being inside and me outside, I could hear their voices clearly. "That was a bold move to kill herself after a bold proclamation like that." He stomped his foot as he spoke. "Like seriously, to thrust a dagger into your heart just because a few guys had their way?"
"Ha!" the beefier man spoke in amusement. "You said that as if it were plural. You didn't do shit but let her steal your knife. I had all the fun."
The thinner man clicked his tongue in response.
I felt my blade groan in pain in my hand. But now was not the time to act. Even if their sins were worn on their sleeves, that box, it felt wrong.
"Even so," the larger man continued, "we were told to kill her at the end of the day. She killed herself instead, and we got paid. That keeps the law off our backs in the meantime. Well, that is what I want to say, anyway." He dropped the items on the desk.
"What are you talking about now, Beefcakes?" The thinner spoke without looking in his direction, keeping his attention solely on the box.
"Oi! You oughta stop calling me that, you damn twig. Don't get all pissy just because you suck at your job."
"Spare me the bullshit and just tell me what you are whining about."
I could hear the larger man let out a muffled growl before clearing his throat and facing the man in the corner. "We were told to kill whom again?"
The thinner man faced the other man and raised a brow. "You got beef up there too? Kelly Frost. That hot reporter who dug a little too deep earlier today with that case Golden Steam cracked down on. What about it?"
"I think we got the wrong chick."
"So what? We got paid. We can just find the real one tomorrow and off her—AH!" As the thinner man spoke, the lid to the box flew off, bathing the area in a blinding white light that slowly dimmed to purple.
I twisted away from the sudden flash, allowing my eyes to readjust.
That was when I heard a familiar sound.
Static?
Cracking?
Swooshing?
It was a sound too hard to describe, but whenever it was heard, nothing good followed.
"Whoa! Is this an artifact!? The boss paid us well for that woman!" The thinner man failed to contain his excitement.
I gripped my blade tighter, lowering myself.
"There is no way boss gave us—!"
An artifact. I could tell that was what the bigger man wanted to say. I suppose I could not blame him for having those words stuck in his throat.
Betrayal always hurts.
I kicked open the door to find the thinner man falling onto the ground. Blisters covered his body, growing to the size of basketballs before suddenly bursting. The bigger man failed to notice my presence as he watched black, slimy tentacles shoot out from the blisters that covered his friend's lifeless body. This kept going until the head popped off like a grape picked from a vine.
A second was all the curse needed to claim a life. A minute was all that was needed to hatch a baby void spawn.
A creature manifested itself from the corpse of the man. One made from a strange, misty shadow with slime oozing all over it. It was humanoid in appearance, yet the most inhuman-looking thing to ever exist.
It took the form of the thinner man, wearing his clothes and armor. In place of arms were long tentacles that reached the floor. Where the head should have been was a black mass with purple, otherworldly eyes.
It used its tentacles to feel around the ground. It was searching for something. Once its tentacles touched the head of the man it killed, its head split, revealing another tentacle that was its tongue. The tongue felt around the head, looking for the throat. Once it was found, it dug deep, sucking out the brains of the man.
"Y-y-you!" It seemed like the bigger man finally noticed that I was standing here. "H-h-help me! That's a v-v-void spawn, right?"
"Yeah. What of it?" I said coldly.
"P-p-please kill it! I-I-I'll p-p-pay you!"
Your death will be all the payment I need.
A large smile swept across my face as I dropped my weapon onto the ground with a clank. The creature had finally finished sucking out the man's brain, and its mouth grew some teeth. It turned to face me with a gluttonous look.
One.
It moved towards me slowly, slimy liquid pooling from its mouth.
"H-hey!" The larger man behind me shouted. The fear in his voice was clear. "W-why!? You wanna d-die?"
Two.
The void spawn moved past me.
"Hey! W-w-wait—!" The man's cry was interrupted by the creature's tentacle arm grabbing his leg. "AHHHH!!!" A cruel, bone-snapping sound filled the room as the man screamed in pain. The creature hung the man by his leg and slowly brought him towards its mouth.
The man stared at me with a pitiful expression. What was he thinking? Could he really have been expecting me to save him after what he did to that woman? Well, I suppose I could. After all, I am a hero.
Three.
Once the larger man's head reached the teeth of the creature, I rushed to pick up my blade. I squeezed the trigger tightly, spinning the gears to life, swinging at the void spawn's abdomen.
Purple chunks of flesh and slime flew, painting my face and the room. Once the creature was cut in two, the larger man fell hard onto the ground with an astonished look on his face. He sat there, staring at me with that stupid expression for a while before finally opening his mouth.
"W-who are you?" He asked.
Who am I? I can't just say I am Golden Steam, not when I was about to commit an act that would soil that name forever. So, what name should I use?
Then I remembered something that Muller said to me: Ludicium Dei. That was the name of the weapon the Goddess of Steam used to defend herself from her brother's void creatures.
"Ludicium Dei," I said, flipping my blade from the gear side to the blade side.
"T-thank you, Ludicium. H-here!" The man stood up and looked for something at the table he had once been sitting at. He limped pathetically. He reached for the wallet he had been looking at earlier. I moved my arm with a simple yet quick motion; a thump followed. "Th-this is my appreciation."
He reached out his arm—or rather, tried to. "Huh?" The man said, unaware of why he failed to extend his arm. He seemed to have tried to move his arm once again. "Sorry." He said. "I might still be afraid."
Then he finally looked down. There was an arm. A bulky arm that looked like it had belonged to a bodybuilder. The color drained from his face. His eyes looked at my blade in disbelief. The blade that was dripping with crimson blood. His eyes widened. He turned to look at his right arm. But there was no arm there, only a stump pouring blood.
"A-a-a-ahhh!!!" He held the stump of his arm and tried to run out of the shack before falling face-first into the ground. His leg was bent in an abnormal direction.
As I watched the man scream in pain on the ground. I saw a black mist dance around his body. It collected and manifested into that thing that constantly haunted me. Its white eyes and smile stared at me with a mocking jeer.
Why stop? Look at the wallet.
The voice spoke to me in a tone that was my own.
I reached for the severed arm, grabbing the wallet. Inside was a wad of cash, along with a photo of a woman in her late twenties holding a little girl in her arms. They wore enormous smiles.
"Scum like you deserve nothing more than to rot in hell."
"W-wait! S-stop—!"
My arm moved on its own, and his head rolled.