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1018. Loco Mortis
🕑 Added 2025-06-10 12:25:24 +0000 UTCThump
An array of footsteps clopped with a hideous squelch. Obsidian-black boots took Frost down a bloody path. The red veins along her apparel pulsated with the frequency of the heartbeat deeper within the bowels of the Leviathan.
Following Frost was Alcina. She introduced herself as a self-declared lover of Cer before she announced her namesake as a Blood Angel. Her expertise, as with all ancient Witches, were in mechanical constructs and soul-transferal.
“A lot of corridors just to get to the Soul Anchor.” Frost commented after having walked through a maze of hallways for nearly half an hour.
The surfaces became increasingly bloody, and the mechanical churning gradually changed from a hum to a throb.
“Spatial Distortions don’t make it easier. The Leviathan is layered over multiple spatial planes. It’s designed to go on forever, as per the requirements for ‘Acedia’. Take this avenue for instance.”
Alcina kicked open a rusty door. It blasted off its hinges, thanks to a pneumatic boot that did the kicking for her. One could imagine her boots to be a jackhammer. This meant that if she happened to step on a target’s head…
The picture was painted as clearly to Frost as the interior of the side room.
“Perfect for a permanent nap for the nihilists. But nihilists will also believe wandering forever is a perfect alternative. Figuratively, because no one wanders here. But, in case something does happen, this option is open.”
Sawblades churned in the center of a pit. It was the same room where bodies and carcasses were deposited into lumps, like a pile of coal reserves.
“Acedia falls into the Despair Affinity. Its Sins tend to look like trees. Attribute, Nihilism.” Alcina guided Frost down the corridor.
It was impossible to see more than a meter ahead due to the immense concentration of Qliphoth. Eventually, they reached the heart of the Leviathan where a red pool resided. Jutting from the center was a pale tablet that wept with blood.
This was a Replication Anchor, and the blood came from a Blood Reservoir – two of which were Frost’s very own creations. The blood ran deeper than one might expect. In fact, one could drop an anchor into its surface, and it would not reach the bottom even after hours.
The pale obelisk was a cross between a large-scale Isolation Sphere and an Unlying Tablet. It was through these two that Repenters could revive so long as they had enough Reconstituting Fluids.
“May I assist you, Head? It would be my honor to.”
Alcina’s request was simple enough. But there was a sly undertone that Frost couldn’t shake off. She knew right away that Alcina was trying to get on her good side. Normal enough, as virtually everyone in the Nexus was.
“Please. I don’t want to risk destroying this one’s soul.”
“Brother-in-law has caused so many headaches. I can understand why you’re on the verge of wanting to crush what’s left of him in prolonged agony. Mo… Ahem. May I?”
Alcina coughed, stopping herself from uttering the rest.
Instead of wanting to get along with the ‘Head’, she wants to get along with Cer’s…
< Mama >
Indeed. Alcina wanted to get on Frost’s good side, like how a girlfriend would with their partner’s mother. The groomed her hair with a bloody comb, ensuring she looked a presentable as possible as she took Raoul’s cube.
Then, like cracking a can of carbonated soft drink, Raoul’s innards came foaming out from a small opening.
“His morsal of a Soul will be transferred into the Soul Anchor. The rest is being delivered to the Requiem as we speak. It shouldn’t take more than an hour for his body to start taking shape. Horus ordered his resurrection, though that will eventually be the task of another Repenter later. Chunky tomato soup. Hehe. Cer would appreciate this…”
“Enough, let’s not perverse ourselves over another’s suffering.”
The command startled Alcina. She dumped the rest of Raoul into the pool. Where Raoul began and where the Reconstituting Fluids ended became impossible to tell. He simply merged with it, and the pool’s surface remained eerily still.
“M-Merciful Amalgam! Even though he is a traitor of the Nexus, will you still spare him!?”
“You misunderstand. He has already been sentenced. If we torture him, then it will classify as gross and unlawful mistreatment under the Nexus’ Code of Conduct. We are not vying for information. Nor can we when he’s in this state.”
It was hypocritical of Frost to cite the Code of Conduct given her ventures with the Impuritas, but as with most laws of the Nexus, there were exceptions.
She had only tortured enemies on the battlefield and on prisoners awaiting a sentence. Those who had already had their punishments delivered were – in theory – spared from her wrath.
“Your wisdom exceeds mine! His punishment in the future will be immeasurable! Of course. True misery is born through time alone. How could I have been so blind? My centuries of confinement have made me believe I was still wise and venerable. I have much to learn.”
“… Precisely.”
Stars, Moons and now Blood Angels have delusions of me. It makes it infinitely easier. I kinda wanna say something outrageous and see how they rationalize it. Ah! Wrong time to let my mind slip away.
Frost didn’t have much else to go off Raoul. She knew she should despise him with all her heart, but he was already defeated. If anything, she pitied him.
There was nothing more to it. But her background made her think holistically about the bigger picture.
She’d rather prevent herself from going overboard when the twins were nearby.
“We have other means of communication aside from violence and subjugation. Remember this well. Violence is not the universal language.”
“I’ll do well to remember that. Such venerated teachings from my Cer’s mo –!”
BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP
BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP
//////// < WARNING > ////////
< Entering SA | 9 03 – 15 >
The train rocked as an alarm blared. Something had struck the train. Alcina pressed her ear against the pipework, and her eyes suddenly became slitted like that of a snake.
“Crimson Hunger. The Leviathan… may not be able to withstand this presence. Its gurgles and the biomass scraped off the rails – Ah! Ho ho hooo! Those belong to Complex Hearts! Or maybe not? Sounds like something’s moving alongside us.”
“Frost. Get up here. We’re in the backwaters of the City of Spades. Crimson Hunger. Lots of them.” Res alerted, and at once, Frost began marching down the way she came.
Jury messaged next:
“Hey, Frost. Remember when you said you saw those giant fleshy boats?”
Yeah. What’s up?
“Did you know they had train versions as well?”
Once she reached the ground floor, she rushed up the staircase and followed the lights. Taking the next left, she found a door that led her to the top of the Leviathan. Standing there was Jury, Cer and Res.
Horus, Acedia, Abigail and the twins were up there as well, with Abigail firing off her Talon at trains made of meat.
“What… the fuck…?”
Frost was flabbergasted at the sight of five heaping mountains of meat. What moved along the rails could only be called trains on the virtue that they used the railroads as a pathway. Because without it, it would be nothing more than an abomination with eyes that served as portholes, and meatballs that spun like wheels.
Carnage Carriage
Crimson Hunger
< Delivery >
Soul Rank: Black | Impuritas: Crimson Hunger
LEVEL : 100 ORIGIN : Impuritas HP : 41,000 ATT : 910 MAG ATT : 200
ATT DEF : 650 MAG DEF : 650 MP : 2,000 RESIST : 450 AGI : 90
Carnage Carriage
< Basic Observation >
< An amoeba lived along the river, next to a railroad. The amoeba was upset that its family was taken aboard a passing train. In its endless hunger, it dreamed of eating everyone aboard that train. Like the rocks the machine’s wheels split, the amoeba promised to send its passengers flying out. Only then could they understand its pain >
The front part of the vessel was a gaping maw with many teeth. Slits ran along the length of the train, allowing the upper half to separate.
