He Who Fights with Monsters 6 (He Who Fights with Monsters, #6)

by Shirtaloon

“I talked to my girlfriend after you killed her,” Jason said. “She told me that I shouldn’t go looking for revenge.”

“Shade, do you think…” Jason’s shoulders slumped as he trailed off, remembering. He could feel the familiars inside him but couldn’t call them out, which angered him more than having all his other powers sealed. More than the powers they offered, his familiars were his ever-reliable companions. Without them at his side, he was truly alone.

“Do you still have that sausage recipe?” he asked. “It was not a sausage recipe.” “I could go for a good meal right now. I mean, that fruit you picked was nice, but I’d rather enjoy taking a sausage in the mouth.” “Please don’t be juvenile, Mr Asano.” “You think it’s beneath me to say?” “No, Mr Asano. It is beneath me to listen.”

“Better to be a queen than a pawn, Jason.”

Broadly speaking, anyone who invaded the domain with hostile intent would get a warning as they accumulated the sin affliction. They would also get a set of Jason’s afflictions that let his powers bypass immunities. If they ignored the warnings and refused to leave, they would suffer damage that continued to multiply until it killed them and their body was erased from existence. “That’s quite harsh.”

“What is this made of?” “Clouds,” Taika said. “Clouds?” “Clouds,” Taika confirmed. “How does that work?” Dashiell asked. “Magic, bro. Are you new?”

“But why did they run?” he wondered. Farrah looked back at the carpet of dead ghouls and vampires, plus the ceiling of magic butterflies. “No idea,” she said.

“You can get in, though, right?” Her head turned to give Jason a flat stare, her hand not pausing as she continued to draw without looking. “Sorry,” Jason said, holding up his hands in surrender. “You can get in, right?” Farrah muttered, turning her attention back to her work. “You don’t hear me questioning whether you can slowly and horrifically kill someone, making their final moments of life a terrifying ordeal of pain and despair. I just trust you to do what you do.”

“You need to do it, Mr Asano. You don’t need to like it.”

Gerling turned to his own group, eight silver-rankers. “I can enhance your powers,” Gerling told them. “Give you the strength to contribute. Make no mistake, though: If you join, the chances of death are high. That’s true for all of us, let alone you. I won’t force anyone, and I won’t think any less of you for staying back. But you’ve heard the stakes. There are worse things to die for than saving the world.”