I had been too busy controlling Clone!Bell to even move. The AI took control of the replica while I ran away as fast as I could give. But at the end of this street was it and the unit it was with.  

No, it was more. The soldiers that split up had reconvened and were one brigade, and they raced around the corner. Flaf had his arms outstretched, motioning for me to hasten my feet.   

“NOT SO FAST!!!!” clamored a distorted voice behind me. Behind me, in the dusty and misty destruction, approached the chimera, as monstrous as ever, with a dozen tentacles and vines grossly appearing from his back. They launched out faster than I could run, then pulled me to it. I was attached to it, the various squiggling appendages securing me to its body like a living shield.   

“You don’t want a precious High Elf to die, do you? The death of a High Blessing is a sad affair.”   

“Let her go, you disgusting piece of shit!” said a man with a scar down his left eye. He pulled a broadsword from his back.   

Everyone else equipped their weapons, but I just focused on the masks they had attached to their belts.   

“Get the fuck off me!” I continued to struggle. I could escape by turning into slime, but I’d be exposed. No one knew I was like my captor, and I wanted to keep it that way. Unfortunately, I needed to start weighing my options because the aspect of secrecy wasn't looking too bright. Maybe Clone!Bell could act and change this situation for the better.   

AI, don’t do anything until I tell you. 

Understood. 

“Don’t worry, miss! Everything’ll be alright!”   

“Bullshit, you crusty old fuck! You don’t think I don’t know what’s going to happen? I know the order you received from that bitch, Gloria. I know why you have those masks, and I know what you’re hiding behind your fucking back! Use that shit on me, and I won’t be the only causality. I’m trying to live my fucking life. That’s it!”   

“You’re a blasphemous abomination to nature, you sick bastard! You need to return to death!” yelled the man with the broadsword. Flaf held up a hand.    

“What the hell is it talking about?!” I demanded. Growing slightly more fearful by the moment. Clone!Bell gritted her teeth and touched a hand to her mask.  

“It’s nothing—”   

“SHUT UP! I’ve seen it happen a dozen times before. You must’ve been raised with a silver spoon up your ass, but Bellerophon fights by using gas designed to destroy anything organic. You, me, wood, berries, plants. Some variants also eat away at metal. Why do you think the barrier is here? It’s to ensure the gas doesn’t escape because they think Noelia’s killer is hiding here! Yeah, I know that’s the true reason! You’re just using me as a fucking excuse! I’m just a goddamn scapegoat to tie up any loose ends. Well guess what? If you kill me, you’re going to kill her!”  

“Well? Since the cat’s out of the bag... Guess I can get rid of this,” said the man holding the broadsword. He grabbed the flat edges of the blade with both hands and spoke, the sword transforming from a weapon of cutting to a metallic staff with a curly tip. His armor remained the same, but mana collected around his weapon. “Regrettably, a High Blessing must die, but if we can rid the world of a monster... Your sacrifice is necessary. But do not worry, you will be remembered in the Hall of Memories as a valiant ally to Bellerophon’s noble goal of chimera extermination.”  

Every instinct in my body screamed bloody murder at the same time.   

If I didn’t escape…  

…I was going to die.  

But I was scared…  

I was petrified…  

I hadn’t felt this scared since…  

“No! You can’t kill me! You wouldn’t dare remove a Vredi from this world, would you?!” I exclaimed, doing the last thing I could. If using the name of Sekh’s enemy would get me out of this, then I’d be a fool not to use it.    

“Vredi…? From the ancient Vredi Forest?! The one lost a thousand years ago?! Surely, you jest—”  

“It is no lie. Go and fetch a Scan Stone. You’ll see the truth that my name is Lyudmila Vredi. Are you prepared to face the consequences of killing someone like me?” I mentally ordered the AI to change my name.    

The man with the staff pulled a crystalline orb from a pouch and whispered. “She speaks the truth, but my determination has not changed. If anything, it has increased. Even if the life of a Vredi is at risk, we should still see the order Lord Gloria has given us. No matter the cost, the chimera must die. With you in its horrible grasp, your life is already forfeit. Sir Flaf, I understand the punishment of what we’re about to do, and I will accept the executioner’s axe with a smile if it means ridding the world of one more monster.”   

“If… If you go through with this, the rest of my people will NOT accept this! As the sister of Susize Vredi, Lord Amos’s most powerful Soul Warrior, I demand that you fight to free me this instant!” It was hard to keep my voice steady.    

“None of what you said will change my mind,” replied Flaf. “Be thankful you… won’t have to suffer at that monster’s hand.” There was just one more thing I could do… A final plan… I quickly ordered the AI to prepare.    

Taking a deep breath, I screamed for help. Right away, Clone!Bell produced four more bird-like clones that flew away as fast as they could while she took Reina’s gun and started firing, killing indiscriminately. “I CAN’T LET YOU KILL A VREDI!! I JUST CAN’T!!! SPIRITS, SPREAD THE WORD!!!” my clone howled at the top of her lungs.    

“BELLEROPHON IS GOING TO KILL A HIGH ELF FROM VREDI FOREST!!!!” The bird clones shouted in unison and sped away, repeating their message non-stop. In three seconds, they were out of range of arrow and spell. Soon? Those remaining in Ria would know what was about to happen. With so many witnesses, they wouldn’t dare continue. Flaf and the others would be forced to kill everyone in Ria—down to the last child-- to keep the murder of a Vredi a secret. And then this city would have to be destroyed. Gloria wouldn’t stand for that, right? She fucked the city by closing the dungeon, but this was different… She would come down on Bellerophon with an iron fist and destroy their organization if they acted without regard for her citizens’ safety…  

Right? 

In the chaos that moment of havoc brought, the clone the AI controlled managed to kill four soldiers before turning the gun on Flaf. An invisible forcefield prevented the bullets from actually connecting. After the failed assassination, Clone!Bell was skewered through the stomach by four swords before a dagger-wielding dwarf slit the clone’s neck, leaving her to die. The gun in her hand faded. The ones she killed and injured were attended to by a few medics with heart patches on their uniforms.  

The man with the shimmering staff locked eyes with me, and the tip of his weapon pulsed a frightening purple. “[Gravity Crush],” he uttered with a menacing hatred locked behind his angered eyes.   

Immediately, the weight of what must have been a house slammed on my captor and me, forcing us to the ground with broken bones and shattered limbs. “What are you doing?! You can’t kill me now!”  

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU’VE DONE?!” cursed the man with the staff. “NOW WE HAVE TO—FUCK!!!!! Because of your actions, this entire city will have to be destroyed. The good people of Ria will—”  

“That’s enough, son. We don’t have any words to spare. Everyone, put your masks on and make sure they’re secured. It’s time to begin!” shouted Flaf. “I will take the blame for this mission’s failure! The sin will be on my hands! Just do as you’re told and begin the cleansing when I give the signal!”  

A nervous sweat dripped down my face as the soldiers equipped their masks.   

More than half of them trembled. They turned their heads away in shame when I asked--demanded-- them to save me. It sounded like the mage with the staff thought everyone shared their determinism, but that definitely wasn’t the case.   

“FIGHT FOR ME!!! FIGHT TO STOP THIS INJUSTICE!!!! FREE ME!!"

Instantly, transparent, light blue bubbles covered their bodies. The AI told me they were enchanted with an effect that created an air barrier around them, which prevented gas-based attacks from affecting them...    

Simultaneously, the clones were…spreading the word that…a Vredi was about to perish…  

All of this...was because of me... Because I had to kill Noelia... Because Gloria had to investigate... Because I had to be a dumb bitch and lead my enemies to their enemy…   

Ria was going to be destroyed...because of me... My…family…was going to die…  

This was…all my fault… 

Flaf retrieved a small, cylindrical object from his pouch with a wrinkled hand. In a fluid motion, he pulled the tab, raised an arm, and threw it at us. The moment it left his hand, it spewed noxious, orange gas. The mage also looked like he was channeling some wind spell. 

But I didn’t focus on that.  

My senses were on the weapon that would end in my death... My eyes tracked the arc it took, and my ears heard the clang as it rolled across the hard pavement.   

The hissing continued.  

The chimera roared, a torrent of nasty curses flowing from its mouth. Before I knew it, I had joined in with him—every single instinct in my body telling me this was really the end. Parts of my body tried to struggle, but the force pressing down was too great to fight against. 

But... My revenge?  

What happened to stabbing Meruria’s head on a pike? Or lining up Tokko and those other traitors, forcing them to watch as I kill them all one by one? Or hanging Will up by his fucking ankles while I have Sekh strip his flesh off one inch at a time with her nails?  

But...  

What was going to happen with Sekh? To Irisa? To mom and dad? To Erin and Niva and even Primrose?  

No! I didn’t want this...  

I DIDN’T!!!!! 

I screamed and cried, and all sounds coming from me halted that canister of death reached us. Those with weaker stomachs turned away before… 

It happened.   

The gas quickly engulfed us both, and my sight was the first to go. The eyeballs in my head began to melt, catching fire afterwards as the goo drifted down my cheeks. The mucus in my nasal passage was next to liquefy, then my nose fell off. The blood inside me started to heat up, then it boiled, cooking me alive from the insides as it burned through my watery skin.  

I couldn’t even scream anymore because I had no throat. I barely had a head. I was a melting pile of goop that bubbly boiled, combining with the grossness of that other chimera.  

But I didn’t want to die!   

Instead of speaking, I thought it... 

HELP ME!!!! 

HELP ME!!!! 

HELP ME!!!! 

HELP ME!!!! 

HELP ME!!!! 

HELP ME! 

I HAVE PEOPLE TO KILL!!!! 

I HAVE CITIES TO DESTROY!!!! 

I HAVE COUNTRIES TO BURN!!!!! 

I was... I was about to die... my HP, MP, and biomass bars in the upper left were very close to becoming zero... My last hope was the AI, but it was thinking itself into a feedback loop trying to develop a plan...   

Calculating... 

Calculating... 

Calculating.... 

Calculating.......... 

[Wrath, Flames of Inexhaustible Indignation] is your only option! Use it! My lord, be quick with it! 

 Its voice sounded different, still robotic and monotone, but with what seemed like emotion. But that was my last hope... I grasped the dial with the last vestiges of what little consciousness I had...but the fortitude to turn it required more than I had. 

I had failed... 

To do what I promised... 

Sekh... 

---

What’s that... Huh? What’s going on? 

In the blink of an instant, I found myself free of pain. The darkness guiding me to death had been replaced by a large cavern full of flames. They towered high above me, shrinking and growing like they were alive. They started to approach. Yet when I went to move, I was…nothing.  

It almost felt like I was back in the void. As much as the flames threatened to swallow me, they never once came close enough to do so.   

“Aaaahhhhh... It’s been a while since we last talked? Not since you were almost killed by those pathetic monsters? Yes, I remember. You tried to use my strength to kill those weaklings? I did not grant you my power because you were useless and undeserving of it,” said a voice I recognized as once being syrupy. Only this time, the tone had grown deeper while still being feminine. Eventually, I saw it.   

Staring at me through the flames sat the face of a terrifying dragon. A second later, I was thrown high in the air-- the brutal, fearsome sea of red fire acting like a barrier. But from this height? The dragon was snared by the raging inferno, yet I saw a dark outline of its entire body—It put the Ancient Elder Dragon Sekh once rode to shame—with it being almost thrice as big. That meant this hell-like cavern with eternal flames had to be miles in size to support this creature. 

I’m dead, aren’t I? I asked the dragon. 

“No, you still cling to life’s thread by a frayed piece. Do you wish to survive?” 

Before I could answer, various images were displayed on the flames as if it was a TV. 

It was...my past... All of it. All the beatings I took, all the times I was abandoned and left for dead, all the times I was kicked and thrown and broken and battered... Everything I felt at those moments flooded into me. I cried out, then hunched over as if I had a body to try to endure the agony. Then it showed me the time I was raped by that disgusting beastfolk... The anguish of almost dying thrice joined with the rest of the agony.  

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!! I screamed and thrashed, but the dragon continued. The next image it displayed? 

It was Sekh’s headless corpse... Tokko and Mia were beside her, their bodies covered from head to toe in crimson as the latter tauntingly displayed her head. Beside her sat Niva, her body nearly melting from the acid pouring over her. Then Irisa was... Why was Irisa strapped naked to a bed and covered in white? Why were Damon and Will licking their lips and jerking off? Why?!!! WHY?!?!!?! WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

“Hmmm... If you die, then this future will come to pass. You do not want that, do you?” 

I was too shaken by every emotion at once to formulate a response. 

“Your silence says it all... Give yourself to the wrath desperately wanting to come out. These flames that surround us? They belong to you... This power could be yours. You could use it to survive this ordeal. Use it to prevent that future from coming to fruition.” 

I... I could save them? A black metal platform ascended from the ground, climbing high until it sat below me. 

“That’s correct.” 

I could kill them? I felt my senses come back. 

“As many as you please.” 

I could...burn it all? My body materialized later, and I landed on the platform below me. It should have been swelteringly hot, but it felt...comfortable. 

“These divine flames would scorch all you desire.”  

“I could...destroy the world?” I said, hearing my voice again. This platform I stood on materialized a black iron gate—a barrier to separate me from the roaring fire and dark dragon. A single valve rested on it.  

“With this power? All would be incinerated. Let me in, and you will have the power to achieve all you want.” The dragon moved its large head to the gate and stared—one of its eyes was a thousand times larger than me.   

I walked to the valve. Just grabbing onto it filled me with determination. It made my heart boil and burn, the strive to live igniting like a rocket in my soul. 

“I WON’T DIE HERE!!!! I REFUSE TO FALL!!!!! GIVE ME THE POWER I DESIRE TO IMMOLATE MY ENEMIES!!!! TO DROWN THEM IN THE DEEPEST, DARKEST CONFLAGRATION! OF YOUR DIVINE POWER!! OF MY DIVINE WRATH!!!!!!” This valve was probably what the dial in my vision was based on, but I took a deep breath and turned it as hard and fast as possible. The gate squeaked and cried. The valve broke, bursting into flames as it spread to the obstacle preventing me from conquering my wrath and obtaining the power I desired. 

But I didn’t stop.  A replacement valve was created of divine flames, and I continued to turn it even more until the fires of wrath had flooded this nearly infinite cavern. The more I barred my heart and opened the channels of my soul to this powerful entity, the more strength I’d have to slaughter all that stood in my way.