Chapter 29: Cruelty

At the Port of Tilbury, workers were busy loading small cargo onto ships, while larger shipments were secured in containers, hoisted aboard by dockside gantry cranes.

March and Lisa were hiding inside a red shipping container. In the sweltering, airtight space, March was drenched in sweat, his breath coming in shallow gasps as the oxygen grew thin.

"Mar—ch, let me wipe your sweat." Lisa reached out, gently stroking his damp face. Despite the stifling heat, she showed no signs of discomfort.

As she touched him, fleshy, tentacle-like sprouts emerged from her palms. Her eyes were eerie, reptilian slits, and several additional eyes lined her neck; one look was enough to reveal that Lisa was no longer human.

*Thud.*

The container lurched violently, and March stumbled into Lisa’s arms.

Feeling humiliated, March looked up at her, only to see her reptilian pupils constricting sharply. She parted her lips, baring fangs as she let out a bestial hiss, as if she had sensed a natural predator.

"Mar—ch, they—are here—with the same scent as me," Lisa whispered in a voice of profound depth.

March’s expression turned grim. The followers of the Church of Flesh had arrived.

*Bang!*

The container wall buckled inward like paper, and a two-meter-tall monster with a hideous face and rows of shark-like teeth lunged into their space, his hands still embedded in the twisted metal.

"Found you!" Dorn grinned ferociously at Lisa.

*Hiss!*

Lisa flicked out a forked tongue, roaring in fury as countless tentacles erupted from her trench coat, lashing out to entwine Dorn.

Dorn charged into the tentacles with manic excitement, savagely tearing and biting through the appendages Lisa had sprouted.

"Lisa, don't engage him! Let's go!" March, shielded by her, cried out in panic.

Following his instruction, Lisa decisively wrapped Dorn in her tentacles and hurled him aside.

*Crash!*

Dorn slammed into a cluster of nearby containers. Lisa’s assault didn't end there; the tentacles on her body split into several segments. As they hit the ground, they bulged and writhed, quickly spawning four two-meter-tall humanoid shapes that charged toward Dorn.

After performing this feat, Lisa’s face turned pale. She reached out toward a ship’s mast, her arm stretching like rubber until it gripped the pole firmly. She pulled March close and retracted her arm to swing them away.

"Rubber!"

A massive fireball struck her arm from below. She cried out in pain, and they both plummeted. As they fell, her tentacles formed a protective sphere around them.

*Thump.*

They slammed into the ground, leaving a shallow crater. The spherical mass of tentacles blossomed like petals, and Lisa stared fiercely at the figure standing before them. It was a man in a black trench coat wearing a mask, his thumb and forefinger pinching a ruby; it was he who had launched the fireball.

"The people on the cruise ship have been alerted. It’s your turn to act; it will be troublesome if they gather," Xia Xiu said to Harry, who stood beside him.

***

The alarm had been raised on the cruise ship. Sailors and security guards rushed toward the deck where the commotion was loudest—the scene of the brawl between Dorn and the four fleshy constructs.

"Very well, let’s make this quick," Harry said in a low voice.

The shadow at Harry’s feet rose again, and he raised his wooden staff, chanting.

The shadow began to be covered in muscle. Soon, a figure emerged: a human body covered in various sigils of the Church of Flesh, wielding a massive meat cleaver, his head encased in rusted torture devices that hooked directly into his flesh, leaving his torso drenched in blood.

This was a Flesh-Walker, crafted by the Unbroken.

The Flesh-Walker let out a frantic shriek that carried a memetic pollutant capable of inducing madness. Xia Xiu frowned and stepped back, having been partially exposed to the influence.

Lisa placed March a safe distance away, then sprouted more tentacles, lashing out with sharp, gale-force strikes at the charging Flesh-Walker.

*Swish! Swish!*

Lisa’s tentacles moved with such speed that only blurs remained. Wherever they struck, the impact left deep craters, a testament to their immense power.

The Flesh-Walker, however, chopped through her tentacles as if they were mere vegetables, maintaining a steady pace as he closed in on her.

Reaching her side in an instant, he raised his crimson cleaver and brought it down, severing her head.

"Lisa!" March screamed from behind, his voice raw with agony.

*Boom!*

Lisa’s headless body exploded, spraying blood onto the Flesh-Walker. The blood droplets transformed into straight, rigid needles, pinning the monster in place.

Lisa’s head remained conscious; her body was merely a tool, not her core.

March rushed forward, cradling her head, and bolted toward the ship’s edge, intending to jump into the river to escape.

*Bang!*

A gunshot rang out. March looked down at his chest in a daze. First, a red dot appeared, then a large patch of blood spread. A searing pain took hold, and his consciousness began to fade.

"Mar—ch—"

The head in his arms wailed in despair.

"The weakness is far too obvious."

Harry slowly lowered the black handgun, smoke still curling from the barrel. He gazed down at the two fallen figures with heavy, dull eyes, cold as a viper.

"What is that look?"

"As a creation of Yaldabaoth, why do you harbor such cowardly eyes? Why do you not understand the order of superiority? How dare you look at me with such eyes," Harry remarked coldly, staring at the fury in Lisa’s face.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Harry fired two more shots into the struggling March. Lisa let out a furious hiss, her head morphing into a mass of raw meat as she lunged madly at Harry.

***

*Clack-clack-clack—*

The Flesh-Walker had freed himself from the blood needles. He stood behind Lisa, hacking away frantically, his cleaver a blur of motion. Lisa inched toward Harry, piece by piece.

*Squelch.*

With the Flesh-Walker’s final strike, nothing remained but scraps of meat. Lisa’s form reverted to a single head. The Flesh-Walker pressed a massive hand onto her skull, and countless Flesh sigils crawled from his arm onto her.

He grabbed her by the hair, hoisting her up to face Harry’s twisted expression.

"Even now, you maintain this ridiculous form. Your true self should not look like this. What keeps you clinging to a human shape? Is it this man?" Harry sneered, looking down at her.

"Don't tell me this is love."

Harry walked over to March’s lifeless body and mocked Lisa.

"If that is the case, then I shall refine his corpse into a bio-specimen. Yes, let’s do it now."

Harry reached for March’s head, but a hand suddenly caught his wrist.

"My dear brother, it’s time for us to go," Xia Xiu said from behind his mask, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I thought you’d keep hiding in the shadows, watching the show until the very end," Harry replied with a polite smile.

"I trusted you could handle this yourself. It would only be a nuisance if I intervened," Xia Xiu said, showing no shame for his laziness.

The work that needed to be done was finished; he saw no reason to do more.

"Then let’s go. That fool Dorn must have started a fight with the sailors. We don't need to worry about him; let's head back," Harry said.

"You go ahead. I’ll follow shortly."

Harry didn't press the matter. He had the Flesh-Walker carry him as they leaped toward the opposite shore, disappearing into the distance with Lisa’s head in tow.

Xia Xiu turned back to the fallen March. According to the orders from Heaven: bring back the person alive, or the corpse if dead. He had to deliver the body to Eden.

By slacking off, he had not only collected his payment from Harry but also fulfilled his old employer’s mission. The pleasure of killing two birds with one stone was simply magnificent.

Xia Xiu hoisted March’s body and left the cruise ship. Finding a secluded spot, he laid the corpse down and began to rummage through its pockets. Personal spoils were not to be handed over to Eden.

With experienced hands, he looted every item of value:

A wallet containing a check for 10,000 Union Credits and ten 100-credit bills.

A small notebook titled: *Experimental Journal*.