Book 3: Chapter 41 - A Zero Tolerance Policy On Violence

Strictly speaking, it is expected that one yellow lancer can overpower several yellow hedron.
The logic behind this is simple.
A trained, sapient, and armed human should easily defeat a mindless beast.
Even if they have similar levels of power.

This has worked in the past, on occasion.

But my advice is to ignore official policy when it is stupid as fuck.
That guideline was written by someone who’d clearly never been in a nest.
And probably someone who felt easily dispatching lancers was more important than getting them back.

Don’t fight hedron in your category alone. Ever.
In fact, I recommend you do the opposite.

For every single hedron you fight at your color, make sure you have at least one lancer backing you up.

Or, ignore this advice and get yourself killed.

Your call, really.
—Virgil Clay, Lecture

The violence was immediate when Kiera took the heart. For all the silence Violet had bought with her bloodlust, the reaction of the hedron in the nest was impossibly fast, like they'd been waiting for the betrayal all along. Violet had ensured they'd be near enough, but staggered. She wanted a fight, but she didn't want to be overwhelmed. 

She was fairly certain she could overpower any individual hedron in her category. This nest had no queen, and sapience was a significant advantage in any fight. Especially against humanoid hedron. They had fangs and claws of crystal, but lacked bodies designed to make proper use of such weapons. Fighting a human without intelligence was like fighting a three-legged cat. She would win, even if her degree was lower.

If she were swarmed, however, she would almost certainly lose. She was decent in a fight, even if she relied on an almost animalistic instinct more than her training. But she wasn't good enough to survive hundreds of yellow hedron.

Thankfully, most of the beasts were currently eating the bait. Sending them away had been easy. Almost as simple as hiding them in the basement had been before. Except she couldn't constantly monitor them and keep them moving away from the nest. A problem quickly solved by offering them a few moving targets.

Lisa and Masaki would almost definitely die, which was a shame. Violet really had no quarrel with them, if she was being honest. They weren't good people, of course. And if they'd insisted on the dangerous part of saving their friend, they'd ironically have survived. But they happily accepted what they believed was the less dangerous role. All while Violet risked her life for their sake again.

She wouldn't do anything differently than they were, of course. So it wasn't like they were worse people than she was. But they couldn't complain when the gamble failed to pay off, either. That was the nature of the game. Violet got to survive because, among the immoral and self-serving people on this mission, she understood the rules better than anyone else. She'd go check on them later, though. There was no reason to leave them to die if they managed to escape. Not when she wasn't specifically aiming for their necks.

That was if she survived the day herself. Her own gamble was running into a couple of hiccups already. About a dozen or so hedron had been left behind. Enough for Violet to display a convincing fight for her team until she scared them off. She knew Aubrey and Kiera would refuse to go, and she'd be forced to put on a show for them. 

But she had faith in Guy. 

For some men, her request may have inspired them to stay and fight. The public declaration that she knew he would flee might inspire the courage to improve. Or just the pride to defy her. But Violet had seen his eyes, and she'd seen how desperate he was to survive. She'd tested it with the sting of a bat. He would protect himself in the end. Especially if the fight got anywhere near him. She had absolute faith in his fear. 

And the plan was going smoothly at first. Terry's team had obviously been overwhelmed, and they'd sent the signal for backup. This had at least convinced Violet's friends to grab the heart. Kiera had shifted to her fox form and torn the yellow heart free with fire and her fangs. 

The problem was that staggering her opponents had apparently been too subtle. As soon as the heart had been taken, Violet's control over the hedron shattered, and they rushed through the nest from every direction. They far outpaced Violet’s expectations, and five of them rounded different corners at once. Only a few moments had passed since Kiera had retrieved the heart, and thick yellow smoke had started filling the hall Violet was guarding. 

The hedron in the back had summoned it. It was approaching like a toxic storefront, black and ashen. It made the other hedron hard to spot regardless of Violet's perception. Worse, she could feel it burning her lungs from feet away, well before she'd even been enveloped by it.

She was struggling to track every hedron through the talent-created smoke, and it was going to be difficult to respond to all of their attacks. Especially with Quiet Ivy largely off the table so long as her team was still there. On the other hand, if her perception was struggling, theirs would be completely useless. If she was strategic about it, she could use the hedron's smoke to hide her shadows.

It was time to use the so-called talent she'd presented to Kiera before. Aubrey and Guy would be expecting her to use a new one as well, after all. She held her breath to avoid the sting of the smoke, then created thousands of shadow tendrils at her feet.

She'd been practicing this for months. The talent to hide her ivy, which was absolutely necessary to avoid any connection to the moniker she'd been assigned by the police. It was easier now, with significantly higher dexterity than her practice had allowed. But it still required an immense amount of focus. Even with every shadow following the same wide, spiraling path from her feet, there were too many. Directing them felt like pulling her mind into pieces.

But she was in control. In only a few seconds, her shadow spread out around her in a larger circle, approximately eight feet in diameter. This would allow hedron to get fairly close, but once they touched her ivy? She could grip them with every shadow at once and completely lock them down.

“Don't step on the shadow,” she ordered, the air required sliding down her throat like the claws of a frantic cat. That smoke really was annoying. “It's a trap, and you'll need to run when you realize you can't help.”

“Violet, for fuck's—” Aubrey started, but the hedron didn't allow a full response. They were practically on top of Violet, and talents were flying down the halls before any of them reached the trap. 

Violet saw the first coming with no time to spare, dodging to the right as a shard of steel nearly caught her in the throat. Even as her own body twisted and the air sang with the projectile slicing through it, she maneuvered her glaive backwards. In a sharp movement, she caught Aubrey in the chest with the butt of the weapon, knocking the banshee on her back and out of the way of the same projectile.

As she recovered, she sent a few vines out to feel for the attacker. Her ivy quickly wrapped itself around something and pulled it to the ground. Violet let black flood her right eye as Fatal Flaws helped her spot what regular vision could not. It wasn’t a flawless plan, since only hedron with obvious weaknesses would be easy to spot. But it would help. She still couldn’t make out the monster she’d grappled with, which meant she either had something else entirely or the hedron had no vulnerabilities. Either way, her solution was the same. 

She pulled, first toward her and then into the shadows in the corridor. Whatever it was, it was swallowed whole by her Quiet Purgatory. 

Whether this eliminated an opponent or not, Violet had no time to celebrate. Yellow crystal flowers had started blooming on the walls around her. All of them had about a thousand weaknesses, which was more alarming than comforting. They weren’t dangerous on their own, but with so many places each could fracture, and the warm glow building in all of them, Violet had a pretty decent guess as to their purpose. And she was the only one who could survive all of that shrapnel.

She’d definitely fucked something up with this plan. On the bright side, it would be even more effective than she’d intended. Unfortunately, she was at serious risk of dying.

As she considered how to respond, her makeshift trap caught its first victim. The hedron in question had more crystal on its arms than most, yellow blades replacing its forearms in their entirety. It was lunging at her—partially by design and partially as part of a frantic fall as its momentum was suddenly halted. It was fairly easy to deflect the blade with her glaive, knocking the first arm away with a swing down. She raised the back of her glaive to lift the free arm of the hedron. With the moment of safety this bought her, she let the weapon go entirely and caught the monster by the collar of his shirt. A shirt Violet noticed was far too new.

She turned on her heel, leveraging the monster over her shoulder and throwing its body onto a few flowers. They'd passed her to approach her friends, and she had to deal with them. As she’d guessed, each one combusted on contact, shredding the hedron on top of them. Some crystal seemed to escape, peppering Kiera and Aubrey’s shins with shrapnel. Violet only had a few seconds to wince at the blood staining their uniforms as she turned around to face the hedron again.

She was numbly aware that the same had happened to her, although the wounds likely didn’t cut quite so deep. She also felt blood running down her back, and a sharp pain made her realize the cause. The hedron had clearly run one of its arms along her back, cutting a gnarled gash through her shirt and skin. Her throw had hardly been safe, but she hadn’t been left much choice. At least the flowers had been somewhat contained.

She formed a large yellow tower shield as she gritted her teeth and focused on the fight ahead. She slammed it into the ground just as some sort of sparkling projectile entered her small range of visibility. It literally exploded against the shield, igniting a chain reaction in the crystal flowers surrounding her. Her arm vibrated under the repeated pressure of different explosions, and her shield started to crack after only a few seconds. Even then, fire and shrapnel flew past her defense and toward her friends.

She’d only seen them for a second. But she thought Kiera was trying to form some kind of illusion, which was unlikely to work on any of these hedron. Aubrey had been screaming, which definitely wouldn’t. Thanks to the Wail talent, Violet couldn’t hear the attack, but she recognized that embarrassing look it inspired on the banshee's face. Then again, that could easily have been a result of the crystal splinters tearing the girl’s shins open.

Either way, they weren’t running. They were trying to help her, and they had nothing to offer. She needed them further in debt to her, not dicking around and forcing her to protect them. She also couldn’t go all out while they were there. So she made a decision.

She let her arm collapse under the pressure of the bombardment, and she let her shield collapse with her—just a little. Enough to let a high-pressure stream of boiling water catch her shoulder. It tore a hot, painful hole directly through her, coloring itself red as it made its way to the banshee behind her. She knew it would hit Aubrey, ideally not doing permanent damage. If it did, it would be the other girl’s fault. And that was fine, so long as Kiera didn’t move in the way.

The shout of pain she heard—even as she choked back her own—revealed neither scenario had played out. She glanced over her bleeding shoulder as she lifted the shield upright again, only to see Guy had taken the attack on Aubrey’s behalf. 

It was his job to do exactly that as a tank, but it was still surprising. She almost would have considered reevaluating her opinion of him. If the howl of pain and the absolute horror on his face didn’t make one thing clear. He wouldn’t be doing that a second time. He’d tried hardening his body into crystal to tank the hit, but the water had cut directly through it, opening a bubbling gash along his ribcage. To his left, his decoy sat completely safe, revealing he’d been protecting himself until Aubrey was nearly hit.

This would work.

“Guy! Please! They won’t do it, but I know you will. And I can’t survive this while protecting all of you,” Violet begged. She caught his eyes—wide, round, and innocent in their total panic and pain. He saw her determination, then glanced back at the window over his shoulder. Finally, he nodded.

“Please don't die,” he whispered.

A moment later, he turned, ripped the heart from Kiera’s hands, and fled.

“Oh, Christ, that idiot!” Kiera cursed.

The fox stumbled backward, literally catching herself with her tail. Meanwhile, Aubrey stared at Violet with an intensity that made the reaper shudder. The banshee bit something back, then met Kiera’s eyes. They shared a brief but silent conversation, and Violet gripped her shoulder to emphasize the wound.

“You have to go after him,” Violet insisted.

“Goddamnit, Vi. I'm kicking your ass for this later,” Kiera complained.

Aubrey didn't say a word. But she nodded, and the decision was made. Kiera gave Violet one last reluctant look and swore under her breath. Then, finally, the two girls followed the tank and left Violet on her own.

The reaper weathered the onslaught of the hedron while her team ran. Her arm ached under the repeated impacts, especially with the wound in her shoulder. But she waited. Her team disappeared out the window, Kiera’s tail being the last sign of any of them. And she waited a few more moments, just in case.

But she could hear them, even among all the violence she was barely withstanding. She could hear their sprinting footsteps bounding away from the building. 

Finally, she was alone.

And Quiet Ivy could be unleashed in full.

Shadow enveloped the hall, Purgatory swallowing the smoke and revealing all of the hedron still assaulting her. Instead of a circle, hundreds of vines flailed around her like tentacles, grabbing every hedron she could see. Like the electricity in an old plasma ball, her shadows traveled up and down the hall with erratic movements. They rejoined each other as they met human flesh, creating flickering but thick ropes around every limb.

Three of them ripped themselves free, one at a time. A small, lanky man with crystal focused around his throat was the first to escape. He bit into the shadows somehow, literally chewing and tearing at incorporeal vines like they were little more than crepe paper. His arms were bound to his side, but he bent his spine farther than any living human could and ate his way down the shadow.

A woman was next, with crystals in her hair like a frozen waterfall. She was the source of the flowers, it seemed. She grew them all along her skin, detonating each and dissipating the shadowy vines like sugar in hot water. Each explosion came with a squelching pop as red decorated the skin underneath. She was hurting herself to escape Violet’s grip, but she was escaping.

The third was another woman, far less crystal decorating her skin than any other hedron. Her flesh boiled like molten lava. Violet's shadows literally turned to wispy steam, rising from the hedron like a dark sauna.

Violet wouldn't be beating these monsters the easy way. Not these three.

But two of them failed to escape the attack, only struggling in vain against the shadowy assault. Violet swallowed them whole, casting them into purgatory until they were worth her attention again. She wondered if Angelo would have to fight them in there or if everything was separated. It would be a shame to lose her little health potion. But it would be worth it. It was an experiment of sorts.

She ran through the hall, summoning her scythe as she did. Steaming water rained down on her, leaving red boils and rapidly forming blisters with every touch. It was agonizing, but it was only pain and blood. 

Crystal roses exploded from every direction, lighting up with a deep yellow glow as she stepped close. Yellow crystal cut into her like hail from all sides, burying itself in her skin and clothes. She ignored it. It was just pain. Like tripping and getting asphalt caught in her palms.

She was smarter than any of the monsters before her. She didn’t care that it hurt, and she didn’t have time to panic or slow down. The monster with the appetite was chasing her, but she swatted it away with a few vines of ivy. They could draw blood, but only she was the goddess of death. The scrawny hedron caught itself on the wall, trying to push its body off and leap at her again. But she pulled her own body forward and to the side with Quiet Ivy. She could travel like an insect with that talent, especially in such close quarters. 

She ignored her pursuer and closed in on the bloodsoaked woman with the roses of crystal. Her right iris shriveled to make room for the consuming darkness of Fatal Flaws, and she saw it. The crack in the hedron's armor. The delay before a new rose could form. The energy required to create a dangerous explosion. And the weakness of the monster's crystal skin.

The hedron lifted an arm, one finger pointed at Violet as a massive rose formed in the air between them. But Violet twisted around it, ivy pulling her by her waist like an aggressive dance partner and racing her to the other side of the flower. The explosion was coming, but it would be like a claymore. Entirely directional. And it was too late for the hedron to change that direction. 

Violet’s scythe found the weakest crystal on the hedron's throat and bit into it. Blood sprayed across her blade as it tore through the woman, and Violet idly watched the eyes on its falling head. The monster had the same piercing blue irises as Violet. These hedron had too many combat talents. That was where Violet had gone wrong. She’d expected more tailors and writers. But nearly every beast was ready to fight. There was something twisted about that.

She had no time to consider what, however. The lanky hedron caught up to her before the bloodied body of her latest victim hit the floor. Her brief moment of distraction had been far too long, and the monster managed to wrap rough fingers around her throat as it tackled her. She felt a thousand open wounds screaming for attention as new ones opened on her neck. The two tumbled together through the hall, and Violet had to catch them both with ivy to prevent a fall down the stairs. 

The world was a jumble for a few seconds. When she finally slowed herself down, she saw nothing but teeth surrounding her head. Too many teeth, in random rows, growing from the hedron's lips, gums, and seemingly all down its throat. They weren't sharp like a shark’s, but fully human, except for their number and placement. It was an instant from biting down on her face, more than likely killing her. But she formed a crystal mask, already affixed to her face with Tools of the Trade. She was barely fast enough, and teeth crunched into the mask as soon as it was formed.

The hedron was determined and feral. Violet felt canines breaking through her crystal defense, leaving thin gashes, deep punctures, and hot drool on her cheeks and across her face. She also felt rising humidity and steam approaching, and she decided to use the beasts against each other. She sent ivy out toward the source of the steam, latching onto anything she could. She was on her back with the hedron crawling all over her, gnawing at her mask like a rabid dog. So she pulled herself along the floor as quickly as she could, sliding back the way she'd come.

She wrestled with the monster, but its strength far outstripped hers. She couldn't get it off on her own, even with Quiet Ivy catching its arms and pulling it with all the leverage she could manage. That was why she needed help. The rain was coming again, and she was pulling herself back into it. 

The instant she felt boiling water touch her arm, she formed a large crystal mallet in her hand. The hedron felt the same rain. It shrieked with that familiar mechanical howl as it briefly loosened its grip to react to the searing pain. Violet took advantage of this, swinging the mallet into its gaping mouth so its jaw couldn't close. 

It tried anyway. 

Violet felt the mask dissipate as she formed a second mallet in her free hand. This one she used for its real purpose, hammering it down against the handle of the first. With the hedron gripping her waist as it was, she could feel the crack on its jaw as easily as she could hear it. It was that unique and sickening sound only bone could make, and it vibrated through the monster's flesh. She hammered at it again, and the first mallet was forced farther into an already splitting jaw. 

Teeth cracked with each strike. The hedron dug long nails into Violet's side, and an inhuman scream escaped past choking gurgles. The rain was still burning them both. Violet could barely see through the steam and the blood, and pressurized jets started flying past the struggling pair. 

Fingernails had long since opened Violet's sides, but the furious hedron wasn't stopping there. As Violet hammered one final time, fully separating the jaw from the salivating monster, it forced its fingers into bloody openings. Violet couldn't silence the pain any longer, and her screams joined her attacker’s. This had been a fucking mistake. They were human. In a school. These monsters should have had callings suited to fucking school teachers, or explorers, or something safe. They were supposed to attack one at a time. And Violet, nearly blind with rage and pain, couldn't shake the feeling that this nest had been designed to catch her off guard. 

She was done.

She wrapped both herself and the hedron in ivy, even as filthy fingers dug around in between splintered ribs. She waited, and she watched the patterns of the jets of water. Then, when she knew where the next would strike, she lifted herself into the air like a stepped-on rake. 

She and the monster stood upright together, and boiling water cut a new hole in both. It severed the monster's spine and traveled into Violet’s side. It was agonizing beyond belief, but it was also victory. 

The many-toothed beast waited like a dying deer, but it lost all strength and fell off Violet. 

She barely paid attention to it. She wrapped ivy around its throat, dragging it behind her as she pulled herself forward and toward the final monster.

With only one threat left, Violet found it easy to avoid the projectiles. She created another shield, using ivy to carry it around her and block incoming jets of water. She swam through the air like this, angry and violent, until she was finally in range of the last opponent. 

She collided with it, her shield catching it first and knocking it off its feet. She met the shield next, landing on it with her knees and holding it to the ground with her weight and shadows. It tried to summon more rain, but Violet created a massive hammer with a short handle. 

She gripped this  with every ounce of strength left in her body and crushed the skull of her opponent. She felt the cracking skull through the crystal, and it drew out her own teeth. She couldn't help but smile, even if she didn't truly understand why. Maybe it was just easier than screaming. 

She gasped for breath, even as she grinned. Then she pulled the paralyzed hedron up beside her. This one had hurt her more than she'd ever planned for. So she was going to do the same.

After she let Angelo out to play, at least. She was still losing blood. If she were Category White, this much would have already killed her. She needed healing desperately. 

Thank God she had a guardian angel.