Awakening of the Weakest Slayer

Sezel's stopped immediately at the impossible sight, his mind racing.

The two beasts that had been missing weren't hiding. They had been in the back, waiting, to catch Mari. Something Sezel hoped would not happen.

But the impossible sight before him painted his very fear into a stark, horrifying reality. They stood there now, on either side of her small, trembling, crying body. Their gleaming scythes were a clear, unambiguous warning.

"You fucking coward," Sezel yelled. But no answer came. Behind him, the puppet, a blur of purple and black energy, sliced through another one of the beasts.

The beast on the right brought its scythe's blade nearer to Mari's small, fragile neck. Sezel's heart beat fastened. "Stop," he shouted, his voice a sharp, commanding bark that cut through the chaos of the battle.

The spectral Flesh Reaper, the puppet that was an extension of his own will, fell silent the moment it heard his command. And the three remaining beasts around it stopped, too. It was clear that the Lord, whatever it was, was not yet willing to give up and kill Sezel.

"Mister…" Mari tried to speak, her voice breaking with every sob. But the beast's scythe stirred, a small, almost imperceptible movement, and the fear, made her silent. She wouldn't dare speak.

Suddenly, Sezel felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked back. Vesta was standing there, her face pale and drawn, her sword clenched tightly in her other hand.

Sezel's eyes once more looked at Mari, at the streams of tears that were running down her cheeks. And for some reason, the sight of her silent, helpless suffering, made him furious.

His gaze flickered to the curtained stage behind the beasts, his eyes squinted in a cold, murderous anger. 'Just you wait, I will carve you up to the very last bone, whatever you are.' he vowed.

"So, how do you like my gift." A voice startled everyone. Sezel and Vesta, especially. Their eyes widened in a dawning, incredulous disbelief.

They both turned around and saw Shiki, his battered, broken body pushing itself to its feet.

"Wait, what are you doing? You are injured," Vesta spoke, her voice laced with maternal concern. She started moving towards him, but Sezel's hand, stopped her.

"He is not Shiki," he cleared, his voice a grim whisper.

"You are a clever boy," Shiki spoke, as he moved forward. "You have destroyed my precious machines," he said, his hand slowly, almost lovingly, brushing over the surface of one of the machines that was half-buried under the rubble from the collapse.

"How… How are you controlling him?" Sezel asked, his mind a chaotic, swirling vortex of shock and confusion. Shiki was injured, very badly.

"That is just your assumption," it explained through Shiki's body, its voice a cold, emotionless, almost mocking sound. "The whole thing about pain… Who said i can't control when you feel pain."

"And you didn't speak up until now. Why?" Sezel asked, his words carefully chosen, a reckless attempt to glean some information, from this strange, terrifying entity.

"You ask a lot, boy," it said, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on Shiki's lips. "But, I will tell you. Earlier, I had too many brains to command. But now, you have reduced that number."

"Now, put that sword down and surrender. Or the little girl is dead."

Sezel took a few long, deep breaths, his mind a whirlwind of calculation, as he tried to calm himself down, to find some way, any way, to turn the tables on this strange, terrifying foe.

"If we surrender, will you let her go?" Vesta spoke before him, her voice filled with a mixture of concern and righteous anger.

"Who knows?" it stated, its voice a casual, almost bored sound that was more terrifying than any threat. "But if you won't surrender, the consequences are clear."

'This piece of shit.' Sezel screamed in his mind. He slowly, deliberately, bent down and put the sword down. Vesta, too, did the same.

Sezel raised his hand, and the spectral Flesh Reaper, the powerful, and now utterly useless puppet, broke into a swirling mist of purple and dark energy and went inside Sezel's Spirit Meridian.

"You think I haven't noticed that you have been slowly moving towards the wall?" Shiki spoke, his voice a sudden, jarring intrusion that startled Sezel, who had, in fact, been slowly, moving towards the wall.

'Shit he saw. Does he have the same kind of perception i have with my puppet?' Sezel questioned because that was the only possible way he could be observing them, because it was not possible to see through the curtain.

"So, let's come down to business," Shiki started, "The reason why i have kept you alive is because I need your powers." he explained, his eyes, those strange, hollow, possessed eyes, fixed on Sezel.

"I don't even know how my Fable works," Sezel quoted, which was, in fact, the absolute truth.

"Your powers are exactly what I want," it spoke, its voice a strange mixture of anger and a deep, unsettling frustration. "I can't let the opportunity of getting your power slide from my hands."

'This thing... what is it?' Sezel was not sure now. It was far more intelligent than even an Elite beast, and the chances of them stumbling upon a higher category were very low. Another part was that their devices hadn't announced that they were in the presence of any other beast than the Flesh Reapers. His mind was a storm of confusion and calculations, trying to make sense of the incomprehensible.

"I have a question—"

"No, you don't," Shiki interrupted, his voice a sharp, cutting sound that silenced Sezel's reckless attempt to buy more time. "You have asked enough."

"Sorry," Sezel declared, a grin spreading across his face. "But I am not interested in helping you."

THUD!

The heads of the two Flesh Reapers that had been keeping tabs on Mari, that had been holding her life in their chitinous hands, rolled down with a sickening thud, and their headless corpses fell to the ground in a pool of black, viscous ichor.

Everyone's gaze, including Shiki's, shifted there, their minds struggling to process the sudden, impossible sight.

Sezel's puppet stood behind Mari, its menacing form towering over everything, its scythes gleaming ominously in the dim light of the Sanctuary.

Shiki was stunned, his face a mask of disbelief. "What? How did you do that?"