Chapter 165 - Choking Hazard

As Morrigan ran at the demon, the floor beneath her feet began to break away in chunks. She didn't imagine retreat was an option at this poi

As Morrigan ran at the demon, the floor beneath her feet began to break away in chunks. She didn't imagine retreat was an option at this point.

As the tail retracted back through the doorway, she extended her scythe, attempting to take a swipe at it. The very end of the tail pivoted up to hit the shaft off track and then hastily disappeared through the door, which slammed promptly shut.

Alright, going for the body then!

Morrigan ran at the snake woman, but after a few steps, her knee pitched as her foot tried to find purchase on a falling bit of floor. Luckily, her next step found solid ground, and she leapt forward, not sure if she'd get another chance as the floor around the demon itself was all but completely disintegrated. She raised her scythe, hoping to get one solid slash through its body that would hopefully hit the core. Then, hopefully, she'd be able to catch the baby.

It wasn't a good situation, but it was all she could do.

However, before reaching the apex of her lunge, the demon glided backwards and casually tossed the baby at her.

"Shit!" Morrigan cursed, trying to correct her course mid-air, dropping her scythe and holding her arms out to catch the screaming bundle.

As she fell through the floor, she managed to reach up, snagging the baby with one hand and pull it into herself...

but something was wrong.

It stopped crying and... it was heavy.

Falling into the infinite cosmic expanse beneath her, Morrigan pulled the blanket away to see that she was holding a stone statue. It roughly had the head shape of a baby, but its face was exaggeratedly ugly with a mocking smile, sticking out a long tongue.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Morrigan growled and tried to toss it away, but her arm that cradled it was stuck.

She tried again, only succeeding in causing her body to pivot and then turn unnaturally as she continued to fall. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" she cried, pulling her knees into herself and using her other hand to wretch at the statue.

It reminded her of her first meeting with Arietta, when the witch had cast a spell that put invisible bindings on her that prevented her from lifting her feet. This time, it was like it was wrapping her arm into a close position around the statue, like she was planning on running with a football, but she had no choice in the matter.

That's it, I'm dead, Morrigan realized regretfully, her heart sinking not just from the sensation of falling but the horror of what might be next for her. Was she just going to fall endlessly through that void of negative space now, holding onto this ugly statue?

She soon got her answer as she crashed down on something. First, her knee hit hard, but then the weighty baby statue she was forced to hold pulled her aggressively into the ground. Her forearm was crushed underneath it as if it were a thousand-pound boulder.

Morrigan opened her mouth to scream, not just feeling, but hearing the bones in her arm crunch. The pain was so sudden and so intense, the urge to cry out ended up trapped in her throat, and she couldn’t even force a breath past it.

When she finally did, she cried, “Fuuuuaaaaah! AAAAH DAMN IT! FUCK!” She was shaking, crying, trying to make sense of the incredible pain she was feeling. She had never had a bone broken before, and it wasn’t just the overwhelming sharpness that radiated through her; it also made her feel sick and her vision go black around the edges.

She tried to move her arm, still glued to the statue, but the little bit of movement flared up even more pain.

“Damn it,” she whimpered, very carefully now, touching around it with her other hand, tears welling up in her eyes. “Ahhhh… it hurts!”

She closed her eyes tightly, clenching her good hand, and tried to steel herself. If there was any way to get out of this, it wouldn’t be by lying here freaking out. Her arm was in intense pain, and it was going to stay that way. There was nothing she could do about it right now.

“Okay… okay…” she repeated in breathy words, gathering her strength. The demon would surely be on its way soon to finish the job, and she needed to get her arm free before that happened.

She opened her eyes and looked at the statue. It really was an ugly thing. It was the size and shape of a baby, but now that she looked at it closer, it wasn’t just that the face was ugly, it was the face of a hideous and cruel old man. Its eyes bore into her, and its tongue stuck out as if to say, “Haha, crushed your arm, huh? Well, that’s what you get, and I’ll happily do worse.” Overjoyed, as if it had just exacted some long-awaited revenge over some slight, perhaps stepping foot on its lawn, or playing music too loud, or daring to stop in front of his house for more than a minute.

“Damn it!” She growled again, pain still in her voice as she tried to pry it off of her, but once again, only accomplished bringing more pain to herself.

Realizing there wasn’t much she could do, she looked around to get a better idea of the nature of whatever it is she had landed on. She found it was some kind of floating platform, almost glasslike but with a soft swirl of colors just beneath its surface. It was quite similar to the one she had fought that stone-toothed demon on.

Looking up and around, she didn’t see the crumbling remains of the apartment building she had fallen through; there was just nothing but vast empty space around her in all directions. The snake demon, at least, hadn’t tried to attack her again yet. Maybe it was just saving her for later, like it had with the other residents of its fake apartment building. Or, maybe, it planned to finish Alice off first and then come back for her. Or, it was just going to leave her trapped here for all eternity. After all, immortal or no, if she stayed stuck here, it’s not like she would be a problem for that demon if she was out of reach.

She groaned, trying not to think about the idea of being trapped here for days, let alone years. She looked back to the creepy statue to try to assess her options and found that its eyes were now glowing softly red.

“What the…” she muttered.

Its tongue suddenly extended, lashing at her. She let out a surprised yelp, but it was cut short as the now pliable tongue wrapped around her neck and squeezed.

“Ah- g-get off!” she gagged, pulling at it. IT felt fleshy under her fingers for a moment, but then, it hardened. It was wrapped firmly around her neck now and it became as hard as stone once again. “Gaaah—”

She couldn’t get air past it; she pulled and punched at it. She couldn’t even tilt her head to look around, but she could feel the statue’s cruel gaze smiling even wider.

She tried picking the whole thing up—it was too heavy—it kept her glued to the floor. Hitting the tongue did nothing either.

Finally, she reached for her scythe, pulling it into existence. If this thing were alive, then maybe it could be killed, and stone or no, her blade wasn’t exactly physical itself.

It was an awkward movement; she let the poll slide through her grip until she was holding just below the blade and gave a messy jab at the statue.

Sure enough, the red blade passed right through, just like it did with any living thing she had reaped before. A black whisp of a spirit rose from the stone where a face was visible within the smoke for just a moment as it groaned, “wwwrrroooooowwrrr,” and then it dissipated.

So was this statue thing a demon? And did I just kill it?

Whatever the case, the spirit inhabiting the statue may have been gone, but its tongue was still wrapped around her neck. 

She tried hitting it with her scythe again, but this time the stone repelled the blade, perhaps because it was no longer alive and with no spirit that could be reaped.

She dropped the scythe and pulled at the tongue, her vision beginning to fade as she had now gone over a minute without drawing in a breath.

Then, the changeling gave a few quick taps against the seal. Surprisingly casual considering the situation. It is almost as if it were meant as a soft reminder, saying, “Hey, did you forget about someone? I mean, I don’t want to interrupt or anything… but…”

With a forced effort, she channeled some magic towards the seal on her back, unlocking it, and the tendrils instantly came shooting out of her back.

They made a whipping sound as they slapped against the statue’s body, then a few of them wrapped around the tongue. One poked around Morrigan’s neck, trying to slip between the stone and her flesh, but had no luck.

The blackness around her vision grew overpowering, over taking her.

One of the tendrils morphed into more of a solid shape. Like a meat cleaver, almost, which she found strange as she didn’t tell it to do that. She wasn’t telling it to do anything at the moment, yet it wasn’t just wildly lashing out in response to her emotions or trying to adhere to a specific intent as it normally did…

It seemed to be thinking on its own.

The black cleaver came down on the center of the tongue, slicing it free from the statue as other tendrils shoved the rest of the thing off her arm. But the coil around her neck remained, unyielding. The changeling made a few careful, probing motions to dig at it, yet seemed at a loss.

Morrigan lay on her side, her shattered arm sprawled in front of her, blood pooling around it. Under the black sleeve of her hoodie, it looked—if she had to compare it to something—like a smashed piece of fruit. She barely felt the pain anymore, only a distant throb as her oxygen-starved brain began to shut down.

She couldn’t die… at least not technically, but as long as she kept her flesh, she had to treat it like any living body. Did the same rules apply to her brain? If she were to be starved of oxygen for too long, would she go brain-dead?

Maybe not…

Death technically didn’t have a brain, so maybe the contract separated a reaper’s conscious soul from the needs of their physical body. So in that case, it wouldn’t really matter if you got a head injury or…

With those wandering thoughts, everything slipped away.

Everything turned black.

She didn’t feel any pain anymore until—

Morrigan sat up, gagging, clawing at her neck. Something just hit her, and hit her hard. It felt like she had been punched square in the throat. She forgot how damaged her other arm was until her attempts to move it brought the pain front and center in her mind again.

There were bits of shattered stone around her, and the changeling was whipping at the air violently.

Someone jumped backwards away from her, wearing all black, and tittered in a playful voice. It was a male voice.

Her blurry vision swam as she forced eyes on him. Something was hanging over his shoulder, and he was wearing all black. A… reaper?

Yeah, it was. In fact, it was one she had met before. The black jeans with the chain dangling from a pocket and the coat with grey fur around the hood gave him away.

“Sorry, rookie,” Fenris said with a playful chuckle. “Didn’t really see a better way to deal with it, so gave ya’ a nice stomp.” He pounded his booted foot on the ground a couple of times as if to demonstrate.

“F-Fenris?” Morrigan asked in a croaky voice as air came back to her. The changeling tendrils were very unhappy, as they kept swatting at the air.

“Yup, yup. We’ll have to catch up another time, though.” He lifted his scythe off his shoulder and pointed. “You’re probably not going to be much good in your condition…” He let out a long sigh as if it was all so annoying. “But try to at least stay out of the way, will ya?”

Morrigan looked over her shoulder and froze.

There was a giant spider below her. For a split second, she thought it was right on her and ready to attack. Panic jolted her upright. She ignored the screaming pain in her arm as she scrambled backward.

Only then did she realize it was actually beneath them, on the underside of the translucent platform. The spider crawled inverted beneath them until it reached the edge of the platform. Two of its long hairy legs grabbed the edge and pulled itself up until it was facing them. Its mandibles spread wide with a wet hiss, spraying green saliva.

“W-What the hell is that thing?” Morrigan gasped, now realizing she’d scooted herself all the way back to sit beside Fenris’s feet. He jumped backwards as her changeling tried to slash at his legs.

“It’s a demon. Guess we’re getting a two-for-one on this little emergency order, eh?” His jaw parted as he laughed. “Maybe three or more, I dunno. Four, counting that little friend on your back. Hope this isn’t some kind of conspiracy. Either way, today’s getting pretty interesting, don’t you think?” He nodded down to her in such a way, she got the impression if his eye sockets were capable of winking, that’s exactly what they would have done. “We’ll chat later, though. Be right back, princess.”

With that, he charged ahead, scythe raised and glowing red.

Chapter 166 - Terminal Velocity