Death Cultivator 2 by eden Hudson (books to read in your 20s .TXT) 📗

idea for you to cloak your affinity, at least until we’re too far inside for them to wonder what sort of danger they’re in letting a Death Spirit into the bowels of their Bogland operation.”

“Oh yeah, good idea.” I inhaled and triggered Last Light, Last Breath.

Cautiously, we headed up to the shack at the base of the signal tower. Nothing moved around the outside, and no alarms went off.

I was just starting to think we were going to make it inside without a fight when a huge chunk of the signal tower broke off, two oblong panels buzzing as it landed between us and the shack. The shape didn’t make any sense, though. It wasn’t like pieces of ladder or buttressing. A few pairs of thin legs connected to a thicker upright with hooked pieces hanging off either side like arms. Even weirder, a hat had been hooked on top of the thicker upright to hide a chewed-up piece sort of like a bite mark.

Then the metal shifted color from steel gray to bright leafy green and blinked its alien yellow eyes at us.

It was a seven-foot-tall praying mantis that had been camouflaged way up there on the tower as a lookout.

“Meat roach from the train?” it hissed, rustling the long wings down its abdomen. “Did you come to steal more from my gang?”

Hungry Ghost told Death cultivator enemies are never dealt with until they are dead, Hungry Ghost croaked inside my head.

The mantid lunged, screaming out a shrill buzzing note.

I took a running step forward, grounded my feet, and slammed out a palm strike of Rigor Mortis. Mantids must not have had the same kind of muscle systems everybody else did, because his wings and scything arms kept moving.

I threw out my right hand, summoning a scythe of my own. The skin and muscle tore away, leaving bare bones, and the gleaming black blade materialized in my fleshless palm.

Before I could use it, Warcry crashed in from the side, knocking the mantid’s head around with a massive ringing kick from his prosthetic.

The mantid bounced across the ground, flopping on broken wings, legs scrabbling, but Warcry was already there with a follow-up kick to knock it unconscious.

We all stood there silently for a second, listening for alarms. Somebody had to have heard this guy.

No sirens or klaxons cut through the silence.

Rali stared down at the mantid. “Anybody bring any rope?”

Death cultivator should end the insectoid, Hungry Ghost said. Hungry Ghost has heard Death cultivator’s thoughts. A Heavenly Contrail is a creature which would have kidnapped Death cultivator’s love and put her through many terrible pains. More such creatures await below. Death cultivator believes each of them deserves a swift and brutal death.

No, I told him, just barely hanging on to the cloaking oblivion. We’re not here to kill everybody in sight.

Then why did Death cultivator summon the Lunar Scythe? Lunar Scythe is not a defensive weapon. It is a battle-ender.

Something crunched, dragging my attention back from the argument. It sounded like chewing. A little bite mark appeared next to the ragged spot on the mantid’s head. Then another one.

All three of us scrambled back as whatever that invisible force was ate the rest of the mantid’s head.

I popped Death Metal on both arms and threw out a wall of Dead Reckoning around the three of us in case whatever it was came after us. Warcry caught fire, and even Rali took a defensive stance.

“What the bollix?” Warcry breathed.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Guys...” Rali frowned at the space above the mantid’s empty neck. “Something followed us.”

That something burped, then giggled.

“Followed us!” Sushi shimmered into view. “Followed Grady!”

My jaw dropped. “What the heck, Sushi?”

“Eat bugs!” The little fish spun in a gleeful circle over the mantid’s body. “Grady said Sushi could stay if eat bugs!”

“This,” Warcry growled, stabbing a finger at her, “is why you never trust an animal that took the Dragon Gate.”

I gulped. “I think...she’s just trying to help?”

Sushi giggled again and nodded with her whole body. “Sushi eat bugs! Sushi can stay!”

“No,” I said, “Sushi can’t stay. Sushi needs to go back to the Heartchamber and wait for me.”

Sushi pouted, then in a shimmer of purple, disappeared again.

“She didn’t go anywhere,” Rali said after a second. “I can sense her; she hasn’t moved.”

Warcry grimaced down at the remains of the mantid. “Guess we won’t be needing that rope now. Best get the corpse out of the way, yeah?”

He looked pointedly at me.

“What, because I’m a Death cultivator you think I like to touch dead stuff all the time?”

“No, grav, I think it’s your fish that ate this cove’s head, so it’s your problem,” Warcry said, crossing his arms. “Anyway, you’re always digging in feral pockets. You’re already unclean, ain’t ya? No sense in me and the big man getting tainted, too.”

“Fine.” I grabbed the body and dragged it back down to the marshes, trying not to think about how five minutes ago this guy was alive and had most of his head. That was a pretty good incentive for dropping back into oblivion, so I took it.

The headless mantid sank into the muck, disappearing. I watched it go under, thinking about Biggerstaff disposing of bodies in the bog and the janitor dragging the Ylef across the soaking room tile.

Part of my brain whispered, This is what you’re going to be doing for the Dragons for the rest of this life.

Last Light, Last Breath evaporated like fog in the sunlight.

But saving the angel of death... If I could do this one good thing...

What do you think that’ll do, I sneered at my idiotic grasping at straws, balance it out like a teeter-totter?

The grinning skull stone spoke up. Death cultivator should learn from Hungry Ghost and shed his shame for killing. Hungry Ghost sought power, and in doing so, killed many. If Death cultivator seeks justice, Death cultivator may choose not to kill all, but he cannot choose never to kill any.

I tried to shove that out of my brain. Gritting