The Hunted Regressor: Rise of the Heretic Saint-Chapter 129: Round Two

Woooooof!

The dog howled out loud and proud, announcing its new name to the entire world.

"Alba!"

Ignotus held it up even higher.

"Good enthusiasm."

And then they just… stayed like that.

One man and one Goddess-hearing-mutt standing before a war of chaos.

Because indeed, it'd become a field of torn bodies, black ichor, and twitching limbs.

Malevolent Undead were everywhere, most terminated, but some still managed to move.

Letum was somewhere in the middle of it all, covered in their dark blood, still killing them.

The Demon, only a few Malevolent Undead away from the death machine, kept summoning more while it held its head on its neck, trying to put it back, bone and sinew reaching out.

It looked miserable, but it didn't stop.

Neither did Letum, who, for some reason, didn't just end the Demon directly.

Perhaps somewhere deep, a few rules remained untwisted, domineering over his enraged mind. They kept him from overstepping, one of those rules likely being not to kill this thing.

He really wouldn't want to; after all, it was one of his tools.

"Hm..."

Ignotus lowered Alba onto the ground.

"We're a bit out of place, aren't we?"

The dog nodded, its fur bristling from all the noise, while Eris giggled softly in his head.

'Pretty much.'

For him, this was normal.

Most of their shenanigans were just as insane. Facing certain death and then relaxing right after was a tradition at this point.

Rather, this moment, in the middle of carnage, just made sense for him.

"Alright, so what—"

But he wasn't alone in that.

Before he could finish, Letum arrived.

The hulking man stood right in front of him.

They locked eyes, staring at each other even as the ground shook, the next wave of Malevolent Undead lunging towards them.

"Ignotus... you've succeeded today."

Letum didn't bother to look at the incoming monsters; instead, he lazily waved one hand behind him, and boom, the air pressure alone vaporized them.

"I was sure I'd have you killed here..."

He went on, blood dripping from his chin.

"But perhaps I underestimated you. I won't ask how you know so much about me—perhaps Calamity informed you of us four, building you up to kill us—but no matter."

Ignotus said nothing, keeping his sword ready while Alba growled beside him, crouched low, prepared to join in if need be.

"You and your Irregularity, in whatever form it may be, threaten the balance. You are an existence that could break the realm as we know it. And I—"

His eyes glowed a brighter red.

"—can't allow that."

Ignotus tilted his head.

"Because you're Death's dog now? What? Do you like the benefits? I'd have stayed their dog too, but unfortunately—"

He mimicked a collar around his neck.

"I like freedom."

Letum's expression darkened.

"No, Ignotus. You prefer chaos. Only a chaos-craving Heretic would willingly kneel to Calamity."

"Oh? So you didn't kneel to Her willingly?"

Letum turned around and punched out once more.

Everything that was once behind him turned into mush.

He stood there for a few moments, looking up.

"If you survive this..."

His knees bent, and the ground beneath him cracked.

"Our next clash will be your end."

And then, just like that, he was gone.

That left only Ignotus, Alba, the Demon, its many Malevolent Undead, and a few hundred twitching corpses.

The battlefield finally quieted...

For about three seconds.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Alba whimpered, its whole body trembling.

"Hm."

Ignotus glanced down.

"You're struggling to keep its attention away from us, huh?"

The dog nodded, its fur standing on end.

"Wait…"

He blinked and asked something he already knew:

"You're a Mind Element, right? I'm sure of it, so don't lie."

Another nod was given, though an angry one. Even though Ignotus clearly could see the dog struggling, he acted as if nothing was happening.

"Does that mean you used your powers on me back then? To influence me to free you?"

He looked directly at Alba's cute, now strained face.

"It'd be funny if that's how we met again... even though you were in a different form."

Alba barked, very much offended, while Eris laughed in his mind, both ignoring his somewhat cryptic words once more.

'It doesn't matter if it tried or not; it couldn't. You have me, remember?'

Ignotus laughed alongside Her.

"Right, right. So this time I really did save you just because you're soft and pettable."

Humans really did have a problem with fluffy things, and it seemed that he wasn't immune.

They'd pet the sun itself if it were fluffy.

...was that what Icarus was trying to do?

"Oh, by the way..."

He squinted at Alba.

"How old are you now?"

It barked louder, its tail whipping in irritation.

"Hm? What? Not the right time for that?"

Another bark.

"No, it's exactly the time. I want to know if you're a kid or not."

Groaning from both him and the pain, the dog pointed its tail at him, like an angry arrow.

"Ah. So about my age, huh? As I expected."

Ignotus nodded seriously.

"Welcome to the team... but I have to say, this is pretty funny. I think I've got a natural charm for dogs, even the ones who aren't what they seem."

Alba barked even louder, and Eris sighed.

'Don't torture the poor boy so much.'

Ignotus laughed, waving it off.

"Alright, alright."

He straightened up, his eyes shifting to the battlefield again.

The Demon was twitching, its head now fully reattached, while screeching Malevolent Undead circled around it.

"Alba!"

Ignotus shouted.

"Keep them off me while I kill that thing!"

The dog let out a confirming bark as Ignotus crouched low and launched himself straight at the Demon, seeing it up close in its entirety for the first time.

Its figure was that of a normal human, only dead, barely skinned, dark, with rotting muscles and bones that stuck out...

Simply put, it was disgusting.

'Gross.'

Indeed, as Eris commented, it was gross.

Yet this 'gross' thing was strong.

Its eyes flicked toward him.

"HEEEE—"

It reached out, arms long enough to wrap around him twice.

Ignotus dodged both hands by sliding under, only to then cut upward.

His [Wise Fool] kicked in, the blade slicing clean through its torso.

A critical hit triggered, yet it was far from terminated.

The top half fell, dragging itself toward him with clawed fingers.

The bottom half stood upright like it hadn't noticed that it was cut off yet.

"Persistent, aren't you?"

He kicked the lower half away, then flicked the upper part up with his sword and slashed at it again and again while it was in midair. He was juggling it almost, making chunks of it fly and its black liquid spray everywhere.

Just then, the legs rushed at him and jumped.

"Really?!"

Ignotus sidestepped, stabbed through one leg, swung the body like some disgusting flail, and hurled it back at the upper half, sending both tumbling off together.

"Did you think I was waiting for no reason?"

Calling away his sword, he raised both hands and activated [Fortune's Wheel] once more.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick—

DING!

—

{Acid!}

—

"Perfect."

A glob of glowing green liquid materialized above his palms.

"GRAAAARRRAAAH!"

The Demon screamed as its parts began to reattach.

Something that Ignotus wasn't about to allow.

After pumping the poisonous glob full of Divinity...

Whoosh!

Ignotus threw it.

The acid hit dead center, melting its flesh and bone until the Demon's entire body collapsed into a puddle of black slush.

Sighing, he looked around as his sword returned to his hand, waiting for the Malevolent Undead to drop alongside their master.

...They didn't.

"Huh."

Woof! 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He turned to Alba, and the dog barked again.

"You lost control of them, didn't you?"

Alba nodded once.

"Right, right. Their master's gone, so they're leaderless."

He looked around the field of snarling, twitching creatures.

"…but they're somehow still alive... Great."

'Ignotus. Focus.'

Sighing a second time, he took a stance.

"I know."

His eyes narrowed as the first wave screeched his way.

"Round two starts now, it seems."

This was going to be a bit rough.