His breath caught.
"No… no, this can't be…"
He was trembling. His hands, his chest, his mind. His entire being refused to believe what he was seeing.
"Shit…"
He leaped. Barely landing, he assumed a fighting stance, on full alert.
"You are indeed powerful, General…"
The voice was strange. As if captured by a damaged device, distorted, jagged, dissonant.
The silhouette, facing away, stood straight, motionless. It was easily two meters tall. It wore a long white coat with silver trim. Its boots, also immaculate, barely sank into the ashes on the ground.
Under the coat, a smooth, composite armor of Entropian white. Its glow pulsed softly.
And its hair… a meter long, light and translucent. It reflected the colors of the world around it. It had no color of its own—it was made of singularity.
The silhouette turned slightly.
Its face was indescribable. A distorted, pixelated, glitching texture covered its features. In reality, it was the effect of the cosmic energy it emitted—a Neon so dense, so divine, that it warped perception.
"What do you want…?" Nadir asked in a strangled voice.
"Hm…"
The silhouette looked up at the night sky.
"That's a good question."
Nadir clenched his fists. He knew. He knew he was already dead.
But if there was the slightest chance to save his family, then he would hold on.
He no longer needed to feign fear. The damage was already done.
"How…?"
The silhouette raised its hand slightly.
The ground of the hill trembled.
The bunker, an ultra-secure refuge buried deep underground, was torn from the earth like a mere toy. Debris swirled in the air as the protective shield collapsed with a sinister hiss.
And there…
The bodies.
Grotesque.
His wife. His two sons.
Their entrails hung out of their torn bellies. Their eyes, wide open, still alive. Their flesh slowly regenerating.
"Let them go!" Nadir screamed, his heart shattered.
The silhouette hovered above the rubble.
"In truth… I hadn't even planned to kill them."
Its voice grated like a cracked record.
"I came for Rahman's right-hand man. Namely, you... But…"
It paused as if thinking.
"…I thought: why not have a little fun? And in the end, I regretted it, their blood almost stained my coat, and they're far too noisy, these wastes."
Nadir remained frozen. The words no longer made sense.
Why him?
He wanted to reach Elder Rahman? With his null power, he couldn't stand against him. In reality, The Fool was just mad.
"Anyway…" he whispered.
"NO!"
With a twist of the wrist, The Fool compacted the bodies. Flesh twisted, folded, crushed. Sending sprays of blood everywhere.
A hideous, living ball. Muscular spasms still vibrated within it.
"To begin with… die already."
And with a movement as fast as it was impossible, he tore off Nadir's jaw.
Splash
A grotesque spray of blood, which evaporated instantly before even approaching the immaculate whiteness of the coat.
Nadir screamed. Or tried to.
He regenerated—an instinctive reflex, a survival reflex.
But barely had his throat reformed, it was torn off again.
And again.
And again.
Every time his body rebuilt, The Fool destroyed.
Nothing could splash him. Even his glove remained perfectly white, without a stain.
With his throat dangling...
"Kill me… please…" Nadir struggled to articulate, his consciousness fleeing with each cycle of pain.
Before him, the greatest genocidal maniac the cosmos had ever known.
The Fool.
And the only prayer that echoed in Nadir's broken heart…
…was that he would have enough.
And that he would finally end him and his family.
"Well… I think I've had enough."
In a nonchalant tone, The Fool observed Nadir's mutilated body, which weakly crawled in a pool of blood, his limbs trembling, his gaze empty.
"Do you think she'll come?" he added, almost distracted, while staring at the broken body.
"I overestimated your importance, General Nadir."
He paused.
"I'm quite busy, so do you think it would be more effective to kill his father?"
"..."
"I was certain she was in the Omega Quadrant…"
"..."
"I suppose you're just as confused as I am, General?"
"..."
BOOM
A deafening roar split the air, followed by a flash of movement.
The Fool barely had time to tilt his head to the right to dodge a titanic punch. Behind him, the earth opened into a massive crater, a sign of the inhuman force of the attack.
"Ah… I wasn't mistaken." he said with a hint of relief in his voice.
"I've been eagerly awaiting you, Ashera Ibn Asad… of the superior Neutrian race."
The young woman had just landed with a crash. She clenched her teeth, her silver eyes glowing with pure rage.
Standing at nearly two meters tall with her heels, the Marshal had a figure with voluptuous curves and an athletic build. Her smooth, flawless skin was a slightly luminescent cyan blue. Her broad shoulders and narrow waist emphasized the physique of a born warrior, while her long legs, sheathed in black stockings with metallic reflections, ended in stiletto boots.
Her form-fitting uniform, tailored for combat, accentuated her shape while maintaining martial elegance. The military jacket, open over a laced corset that outlined her generous bust and waist, was adorned with silver decorations and black braids. The fitted sleeves extended into fingerless gloves, reinforced with blue steel plates. A leather belt with a pike-shaped buckle strapped around her hips supported an asymmetrical slit skirt, revealing a thigh adorned with a weapon holster.
Her cape, thick and lined with midnight blue silk, floated behind her like a spectral wing, the symbol of the Spade Faction—a pike crossed by a saber—embroidered on her back. Silver runic tattoos, seeming alive, ran along her arms and décolletage, converging toward her sternum where a black gem sparkled, embedded in her uniform.
Her face, of icy and perfect beauty, was framed by a cascade of silver hair with blue reflections, floating as if bathed in a supernatural mist. Her eyes, an almost white electric blue.
"Monster…"
Her gaze briefly turned to the shapeless mass of flesh nearby. Nadir, broken, mutilated. His wife and sons, amalgamated into a pulsating abomination. Even if she saved them, it was already too late.
"It's one way to see things, Ashera…" The Fool replied, his voice distorted, almost mocking.
"I thought that if that wasn't enough, I'd go directly visit your father."
"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"