Global Awakening: Monster Taming Necromancer

Mopi's head spun through the air, his face still etched in surprise. Jael wondered why he was surprised when he picked a sword fight with a swordsman.

His body followed and it hit the floor with a thud.

One of the paladins moved, but Jael wouldn't ever know what he was about to do because he used his hand like a long whip, that ended in a long fang that pierced his head like an overly big needle; half of the head broke with a wet crunch.

The other two moved backward far from Jael's reach, but isn't that an ignorant move? 'Since I can move myself!' Jael shot forward, his whip smashing into a tree near one of them and nearly taking his head.

Jael withdrew because he really couldn't use his hand like a whip when they hid between trees. "But I can do this!" He thrust forward as if his hand is a very long sword.

The paladin surprised Jael by running forward and stabbing himself on the fang at the end of his hand. But then the paladin gripped Jael's hand from retreating from his stomach.

He pulled but the man held on tightly. He jerked, but it was as if his hand was held by steel. The paladin looked up, and through his mask, Jael got the feeling as if he was laughing beneath it.

That was when the paladin's body started to bludge; from the chest up, it swelled rapidly, bones cracked, and muscles tore, bloating up like a misshapen balloon. As if something inside was coming out, and with a final wet splatter and the roar of raging fire the body busted.

The explosion sent fire reaching high and scorched the trees surrounding him. Jael let out a painful howl, mixed with a growl from Hermit as his hand tore, the fangs shattered. With nothing holding him, he quickly withdrew his shattered hand.

Fortunately, it was the Hermit who was wounded, and the monster was sending sharp pains through their link. But still, it felt as if it was Jael's real hand that was tore away. He looked at his hand, transformed now to normal and he grimaced. 'Hermit won't be transforming again today'

"Are you okay?" Temur called. He couldn't look at Jael because he was keeping an eye on the remaining paladin.

"I am." Jael groaned. "But what sick bastard blows himself up!"

"This one." The voice was raw and distorted as if the lungs weren't quite right. The paladin that blew himself up was regenerating. As they watched, flesh covered the remaining muscles and he was standing next to them again as if nothing happened.

He's naked from the waist up, and even his mask is gone; his smiled in glee. "I always like the look on people's faces when they realize I can blow myself up and come back. It hurts like hell, but I bet it hurt more to be blown up dead."

"What. In. The..."

"Fuck!" Jael finished for Temur, and he shuddered. Blowing yourself up so you can kill others? What the hell is going on in that cult? Are they all like this? Delusional murderers?

The other paladin, who hadn't moved since morning, finally did; he raised his hand where two threads of red light glowed and said in satisfaction. "Finally."

Jael traced the threads with a sick feeling in his gut. One led to him and the other to Temur. It coiled around their legs and made their way into their chest, disappearing into their flesh.

Jael grabbed hold of it, he tried, but it was like holding the light. "What the hell is this."

Temur used his sword to cut it and even ran backward, but the thread only followed. "What is this before I kill you." He said but his heart was drumming.

How had they let them place an attack on them without them noticing? Even now, it felt as if nothing was on them. Is that his ability? Jael covered his hand in Unholy magic and touched it but there was no reaction.

"There's nothing that can remove it, except I decided to and I have no reason to. Once my ability has been locked on you, then there's no going back."

Temur lifted his sword, still stained by blood. "Then we'll kill you. Will it be undone then?"

He tilted his head. "Maybe. I don't know because I've not died before, and I'd rather it remain that way. I can't say the same for you though." His other hand pointed at his fellow paladin, and another thread slithered from him and attached to the body of the paladin.

"What are you planning..." Jael demanded. Hermit might be out of it now, but he still had his second spell [Dance of the Bones]. He began to inch back towards the corpse of the dead monster, but he froze when the paladin started taking again.

"This thread lets me transfer pain from one person to another. It's a rather weak ability that I got from my Codex. It stopped me from climbing the Dungeon Tower but I've found glory with Chaos....."

Jael felt a chill. Transfer pain? 'Don't tell me...!!'

".....time to pay for your sins! Let my good friend demonstrate!"

Immediately the second paladin's head swelled and busted within seconds, sending brain and blood flying.

Jael sucked in a breath but nothing happened to him. He started to breathe in relief when he heard the clang of metal hitting the floor. He turned. "Temur?"

Temur was rigid, his two hands clutching his head, blood dripped from his nose and his mouth opened in a soundless scream where foam was pouring down. His muscles were rigid, and he fell with a heavy thump.

"Temur!" Jael ran frantically to him. He shook him, calling his name, but his eyes only rolled in his head. His body is still rigid, and his muscles stiffened. "Temur! Shit! Shit!

Shit!"

From his ring, he brought out a potion and dripped it into his mouth with trembling hands. "Die on me, you big bastard, and you'll know what I'm made of!"

The paladins watched him and the one with the thread chuckled. "How are you going to convince him his head hasn't blown up now?"