A little girl with purple-blue hair leaned against the wall of an alley in front of him, hidden in the shadows; If Sunny could not see in the dark he would have surely missed her.
As he passed, he decided to stop and warn the child.
"Hey, girl."
"...huh? are you talking to me?"
"Yeah you. There's a crazy bitch running around gutti—i-I mean, she's...hurting people bad. Look kid, point is: There's a very dangerous woman around here, I'd hide if I were you."
Realizing that he probably should not describe the brutality of being gutted to a small child, he fumbled his words a bit. But he got his point across, now it's time to follow his own advice.
"ohhh. but then, why aren't you hiding?"
Almost imperceptibly, the little girls' words had grown colder. Picking up on the subtle shift, Sunny focused his attention on the girl.
Her reaction did not seem typical of a little girl, even one weathered by poverty. Her face never expressed any emotion at the news, and her words felt empty. Most damning of all, her eyes were cold and calculating.
'It can't be...'
"...Well, I was just leaving—so bye."
'I hope I'm wrong.'
"but wait. you said something reaaallllly rude earlier, shouldn't you apologize?"
'Damnit, I'm right.'
Meili never got a response; That's because Sunny kicked her square in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards before he bolted down the street.
He didn't kick the kid to get back at Elsa or anything; He was taking no chances. Elsa is a monster, so her little sister is probably also a monster. Plus, her last words felt like a hidden threat; she likely had a way to kill him right then and there.
Even if he was wrong and had just kicked a random child, it was a justifiable decision. The girl was too suspicious, and everything added up. If he was wrong, so be it; his paranoid nature had kept him alive most of his life.
But no, he was soon proven correct.
Noticing a small shadow cast from above, Sunny instinctively threw himself sideways. A small object flew past his face, leaving a long gash from the side of his head to his left eye. The wound wasn't lethal, but it was deep enough to cut into his eyeball, blinding him partially.
"—DAMN!"
Clutching his left eye to stem the bleeding, he looked at the ground and saw a small rat-like creature with wings; decisively naming it a 'Rat Bat'. The creature appeared to be in a daze; after missing its target, it had slammed into the cobblestone street.
Looking at the sky, his jaw dropped. A swarm of the rat bats was approaching from Meilis' direction, at least a hundred of them; They were high overhead.
Turning back just in time, he reacted to a flickering shadow and caught something aimed at his face. It was the rat bat from earlier, but catching it was the wrong reaction. Its wings were blades—he should have dodged.
The creature struggled in his grip for a moment, and before he could let go, it spread its wings in a burst of strength, cutting all five fingers off his right hand.
"—!!!"
The rat bat falls to the ground. Holding in a scream, he stomps on the creature's head without hesitation, killing it instantly.
[You have slain a dormant witchbeast, Winged Rat]
Ignoring the voice in his head, he looked back at the swarm to see them all flapping above him; he had failed to escape in time. But that didn't mean he wouldn't scramble for his life.
Scooping up his severed fingers, he bolts through the alleyways; he needed a confined space to slow them down. The swarm descended upon him as he fled, following close behind.
When the path would split, he always chose the narrowest path, regardless of direction. There was no safety he could run towards, it was all he could do to run away half blind.
The wretched symphony of beating wings and screeches that chased him was all the motivation he needed, and more.
The narrow walls forced the rat bats to compete for space, meaning they'd cut each other in pursuit of him. Many creatures fell to the ground in a mess of flesh, but none paid any attention to this fact. They were all hellbent on killing him.
'Damnation! I should've killed that little devil—'
The momentary chaos didn't save him for long, however, because the more bats that fell, the less space they competed for, allowing them to pick up speed.
*thunk*
*slash*
"—GAH!!"
Searing pain shot through his back and leg. One rat bat had impaled itself into his back, and the other had cut his calf. He stumbled and fell, his right foot going out from under him. He pushed through the pain—he can deal with it later—because right now he needs to move!
Rolling sideways, he dodged three more creatures that slammed into the cobblestone with a bloody splatter.
He had to stand up; he had to keep running. Pushing himself into a kneel, coughing blood violently—it seemed his lung had been pierced by the rat bat that was stuck in his back.
When he tried to stand, his right foot ...missed the ground? When he looked down—
!!!
His right foot was gone! A few feet away, it lay in a pool of blood that trailed back to his stump, which was bleeding profusely. The sensation of shock threatened his consciousness, but he held on.
??: "sheeeesh, you didn't have to kick me. at least you're not boorring."
From behind, a voice called out. He didn't need to see them to know who it was; and so, Sunny put all his remaining strength into his left leg, turned, and lept at Meili.
He reached for her neck—he didn't care if she was a kid; she was murdering him, so he would kill her first.
Yet, Sunny never reached Meili. She simply jumped backwards and uttered one comment after he fell to the ground.
"you will regret insulting big sis."
As if on command, the remaining creatures swallowed him in their swarm. Their wings tore into Sunny with ease, mutilating him where he lay.
The creatures did not have the momentum of flying to rely on, so their flapping wings were less effective. Regardless, it felt like a hundred small knives were slicing and stabbing into him.
Some of the creatures on the ground began biting at his extremities; many of the rats found this more effective and abandoned using their wings, in favor of eating him alive.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurtsit hurts-it hurts-
it hurts'ithurts'ithurts'ithurts'ithurts'hurts'hurts'hurtshurtshurtshurtshurts."
Sunny was drowning in the pain; Desperately, he swatted at the creatures, but that only gave them easy flesh to shred. His skin and muscles were easily torn into, nerves and ligaments were exposed and eaten, but his bones proved difficult for the creatures—not that it stopped them from feasting on his bone marrow.
Seconds felt like hours, and he never stopped fighting for his life. At least, that's what he was trying to do. In reality, Sunny was merely thrashing about on the ground, gurgling in pain, trapped underneath the mass of wings and teeth.
snipsnipslicesnipsnipcrunchbitesnipslicemunchsnipcrunchclickchewsnipsnipcrunchsnip
His stomach had been dug into by the bat's wings, carving an entrance for the rats to devour his intestines from inside. He could feel every visceral detail as the creatures wormed their way through his stomach.
Even his brain and genitals were not spared, but the worst was the eyes. With no vision, it pushed him past a breaking point, and his being was fully consumed by the pain.
SnipSnipSliceChewSnipCrunchBiteSnipSnipSliceMunchCrunchSnipChewSnipClickSnipSliceMunchSnipCrunchChewMunchChewChewChewCrunchBiteSnipSnipSnipChewCrunch
By all means, he should be dead already. Had he not forced himself through the shock, he would have succumbed and lost consciousness long ago. But his stubbornness only brought suffering; The pain refused to let him go.
Barely holding on to consciousness—His mind cracked. Every cut and bite from the monsters frayed the thinning thread of life he had clung to so desperately in the beginning.
SNIPSNIPCHEWCRUNCHSLICEBITECLICKSNIPSNIPCRUNCHMUNCHSLICESLICECLICKCRUNCHCHEWSNIPMUNCHCLICKCRUNCHBITESLICECHEWCHEWCHEWCHEWCHEWCHEWSNIPSNIPCHEWCRUNCHSLICEBITECLICKSNIPSNIPCRUNCHMUNCHSLICESLICECLICKCRUNCHCHEWSNIPMUNCHCLICKCRUNCHBITESLICECHEWCHEWCHEWCHEWCHEWCHEW
His entire body—what little that remained—was on fire. A majority of him had been ripped into or devoured, and equal parts of crushed bone were visible through the mess of his gory flesh.
It was agony.
Only once he had been thoroughly pulped into a heap of gore, Meili called back her beasts.
"hmm. i'm surprised you still live, but...you're going to die now."
And he did.
For the third time, Sunless lost his life.