Published at 1st of October 2026 8:03 am

Chapter 256: Before It's Too Late

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Chapter 256: Before It's Too Late

Within a large white room deep inside the farmhouse, a monitor filled most of one wall, alive with activity. Explosions, screams, fireevery image seemed worse than the last. Ash paced alone in front of it, breathing hard as his hands opened and closed at his sides.

"Lying jerks! Big dumb idiot gorilla! Look at!"

A ding and the hiss of automatic doors cut off his tirade. Mr. Gates whirred into the room with a tray balanced in one hand, carrying a glass and a strange cylindrical rod.

"Here, drink this."

After being drugged by Min and Teal, Ash wasn't drinking anything without asking questions. He eyed the yellow liquid and sneered.

"What is it?"

"We used to call them energy drinks. Tastes like ass if I remember, but it should clear the fog."

Fog was definitely the right word. Ever since he'd woken up, his head had felt stuffed with fluff, his thoughts slow and hard to hold onto. He hesitated another second before reaching out and taking the carbonated yellow drink.

"It's called Popstar. How does it taste?"

Ash pulled his lips from the glass with a gasp, bubbles still biting his tongue as his eyes lit up.

"That's good! Tastes like sugar."

With a nod, the tray in Mr. Gates's hand folded in on itself and disappeared into his palm. Rolling closer to the screen, he raised the rod to his round head and pressed one end against it. Electricity snapped through his metal body, jolting him hard enough to make his arms twitch.

Ash stared at him like he'd lost his mind, and Mr. Gates held up the rod.

"This body makes it hard to de-stress. Helps me relax."

Just then, Snare's scream ripped through the speakers, pulling both of them back to the monitor.

"Dammit! I should be out there! I'm a Dead Hand too!"

They watched the Brood regroup through the smoke and destruction. Panic and Widow reached Snare with some bug guy beside them, while Sin joined them as well.

"Look, I don't care what they said, you gotta let me outta here. They need me. If they lose, we're screwed anyway, so I"

"Follow me."

Ash blinked.

"Huhwait, where're you goin'?!"

Mr. Gates didn't wait for a response. He was already rolling through the door, forcing Ash to chase after him. Ash finished his drink as he ran and tossed the empty glass aside, only to wince when it shattered against the floor behind him.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Super easy to just pop down to the store and replace it."

Ignoring the robot's sarcasm, Ash hurried after him and quickly realized they were heading toward a section of the facility he'd never seen before.

"Seriously, where are we going?"

They stopped in front of a wall. That was it. Just a wide stretch of smooth white material without a door, button, or seam. Mr. Gates rolled closer and pressed his palm against it, and somewhere behind the surface, machinery answered with a series of whirs and heavy clicks.

"I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, but you're right. They need help. So I'm taking you to the armory."

"Armory?!"

A heavy thud shook the floor, followed by one final buzz as a seam appeared down the center of the wall. The two halves slowly separated, exposing flashing red lights beyond them as cold vapor rushed through the widening gap.

Ash's eyes widened. He practically rose onto his toes as his blue aura ignited around him.

"Hell yeah! I call that one!"

The face on Mr. Gates's screen smiled, but only for a moment.

"Come. Time is limited. I'll run you through how to pilot it."

Ash ran into the armory, the pressure that had been sitting in his chest since he'd seen the battle finally started to loosen. If the Brood needed help, he was going to bring it.

And he was coming in style.

----

The sun had started to set as the battle between Blight and Granny Boil continued to rage. Boil stood suspended in the air, breath coming hard as sweat ran from her brow and into the mess of hair stuck to her face. Her body was feeling the fight, but the glow in her eyes and the smile pulling at her mouth hadn't faded.

"Fen!"

Her warning reached him just in time. Instead of getting up, the giant black dog threw himself into a roll, and a massive fist hammered down a few feet from his body. The impact caught Fen anyway, blasting him into the air, but he twisted with the force and planted all four paws against empty space as if he'd found solid ground midair.

Boil was already closing the distance. Aura flooded down her arm and packed itself along the edge of her knife until the blade shook in her grip. She rolled it once between her fingers, caught the handle, and cut across the air. One swing became hundreds of overlapping slashes, mana blades ripping outward in a dense wall that carved through everything between her and Blight.

"Predictable."

The demon didn't bother moving. He raised one arm, and the enormous shadow behind him followed, extending a hand between him and the incoming barrage. The first blades hammered into its palm, followed by hundreds more in a continuous burst, each disappearing into the darkness without so much as forcing Blight back.

Behind him, Blight's tail lashed through the air, and a near-perfect copy of Boil's attack came screaming back at her. Hundreds of black blades spread across her vision, closing fast.

Boil clicked her tongue at the mockery but kept flying forward. She threw up one hand, and her giant purple cutting board formed in front of her.

The blades hammered into it one after another, filling the air with the rapid chop of knives striking wood. Each hit shoved the board farther back, until Boil gave it a palm-strike from behind and forced it forward.

The impact cracked like a mortar shell, and the cutting board launched toward Blight, carrying hundreds of his own black blades back with it.

Blight started to raise his hand, only to abandon the defense and jump back as Fen lunged in from the side, massive jaws snapping shut where he'd been standing.

The fight continued like this, with Blight spending most of it on defense while looking completely unbothered. Every so often he'd answer with an attack of his own, and more often than not, those brief exchanges ended with Boil or Fen taking the worse of it.

The damage was starting to stack. Boil was past feeling her age; now, with every hard breath and fresh pulse of pain through her body, she was starting to feel her death.

Her connection to Fen told her he was in the same boat.

"Do it now!"

She shot backward in a flash, her knife disappearing from her hand as she clamped both palms over her ears.

The dust choking the street below thinned enough for her to see Blight still smiling as he watched her retreat. He crouched to follow, then stopped short when Fen moved to attack.

She knew this was going to hurt, but she was past caring.

Boil crushed her palms against her ears as Fen started howling.

The sound hit hard enough to shake her bones, clearing the clouds overhead while broken structures across the area came apart under the vibration. Her cutting board snapped into place between her and the blast, but even behind it she was driven back, feet digging into open air as her aura fought for purchase.

This was Fen's most powerful attack. The problem was, it didn't discriminate. You didn't even have to stand in its path to take massive damage, and the wam blood already trickling between Boil's fingers proved it.

Still pressing her palms over her ears, she forced her eyes open against the pressure shaking the city. Dust and debris stripped away until she could finally see Blight again, caught directly inside the massive tunnel of vibration ripping from Fen's throat. A smile pulled at her mouth.

Blight's entire body rippled under the force, flesh and smoke shuddering like they were being shaken apart. She knew this probably wouldn't kill the demon, but hopefully it would be enough for her to finish him.

She started forward, keeping the giant cutting board between herself and the pressure like a shield...then she saw his smile, and her heart seized.

"Something's wrong."

That was enough. She didn't know what he'd done or what was coming, and waiting to understand would only give Blight time to finish it.

She ripped her hands from her ears and drew her knife. Pain punched through her skull as blood burst from her ears, nose, and eyes, but she dismissed the cutting board anyway and shot toward Fen. Fresh tears split across her skin under the remaining pressure as she drove through it, closing the distance before Blight could make whatever he was smiling about matter.

Her attack had range, but not much, she would have to get close and time it perfectly. Her strike needed to land the instant Fen's attack hit her, before her body gave out under the force.

She activated her skill.

[God of Cooking / Tournee Cut // Activated]

Every trace of her aura vanished, compressing into the edge of her knife. As she closed the distance, a thin trail of purple vapor peeled from the blade, runes began burning along its sides that hadn't been there before.

One stab. That was all she would need.

A breath before she entered Fen's attack, her knife erupted with purple light. The vibration hit at the same time, tearing into her flesh, but Boil drove her arm forward through it, and light extended from the blade

And struck pure white bone.

"No!"

The vibration ripping through her stopped as Fen cut off his howl, but the damage was already done. Something inside Boil had torn apart. Blood and pieces of her insides filled her throat, choking each breath, but none of it mattered. All she could see was the cage of white bone surrounding Blight's body and the shallow mark her strongest attack had left against it.

Her body dropped in a broken heap, hitting the ground without enough strength left to catch herself. Granny Boil looked years older than she had moments before. Her gray hair had turned pure white, her skin hung gaunt against her face, and there wasn't a trace of aura left.

"Don't feel bad. My second mother spent over a century refining these. I'm a little upset at having to use them already. I'm sorry, are you listening?"

He looked unharmed. Smoke still drifted from his horns, his oily black skin unblemished beneath the bone. And that smile was still there, stretched across his face like nothing had happened.

"No matter what you do...you can't...defeat the Kings."

Boil forced herself up, but her legs refused to move. She barely managed to lift her head toward the demon, blood running from her mouth, but felt a small bit of satisfaction when his smile twitched at whatever he saw on her face.

"You think that's funny, human? Where are these Kings? Will they stop me from devouring your soul?"

Nearly collapsing again, Boil swayed as another weak laugh worked its way out.

"No. Today will be my last. Truthfully, I wish I could have made those kids one last dish"

A cough tore through her before she could continue, spraying blood and a chunk of lung onto the ground. Her strength was disappearing fast, but she dragged her head up one last time.

"The Kings will stop you if they have to...I just don't think you'll make it that far."

Blight tilted his head and leaned closer

The air cracked beside his skull.

He jumped back as a massive war hammer tore through the space his head had occupied, the blunt face passing close enough to stir his skin. Before Blight could recover, someone stepped between him and Boil.

Through her failing vision, Boil made out a man she had never seen before. Naked. Pale. Long black hair hung to his waist, and both hands gripped a massive war hammer, one end blunt and the other tapering into a spike like an oversized fang.

He didn't look at her. He planted his feet, raised the hammer overhead, and shouted as he brought it down.

The street collapsed beneath the blow.

Stone and earth burst toward Blight, forcing him into the air as the impact punched through the ground. The demon hovered above the destruction, staring down as the last chunks of broken street fell away beneath him. His smile finally began to fade.

"How pointless."

Blight raised his palm. A shard of bone pushed through his black skin and floated above his hand, thinning as its tip sharpened. With a lazy flick, he sent it flying behind him without even bothering to look.

The naked man was already halfway across the city, Boil held tight in his arms, when the bone shard caught him from behind. It punched through his chest and burst out the front, missing Boil by inches.

But he kept running.

Blight's tail gave a single irritated whip.

"Lucky dog. Oh well. They're both dead anyways."

He rose higher, his body turning slowly until he faced his real target.

"The time has come, little ashkin. I have so many questions for you."

He stepped forward and walked through the sky, his pace relaxed, that same smile spreading across his face again.

----

"We don't have time for this shit!"

Min's voice filled the ruined street as she threw an arm toward the distant flashes lighting up the city.

"Whatever you're doing, do it faster! Everyone is fighting, and I'm done standing around with my thumb up my!"

A heavy impact shook the street behind her.

She spun, fists already coming up.

Only to find a naked man had landed hard enough to crack the pavement. He stumbled on impact, nearly dropping the small bundle clutched against his chest.

Staring at the very naked man, Min's eyes dropped before she could stop them.

"What the fuck?"

The Professor and half a dozen puppets rushed past her before she could decide whether to punch the stranger or ask why he was running around a battlefield with his dick out. Then the man shifted whoever he was carrying, and Min caught sight of white hair hanging over his arm.

"Granny?!"

Everything else disappeared.

She shoved forward as the Professor reached them first, his puppets crowding around. Granny Boil hung limp in the man's arms, her white hair soaked with blood and her skin gray and loose against her face.

"Move!"

Min shouldered between two puppets.

"What happened?! Granny!"

"She's dying, and so am I."

Min stopped.

"What?"

The man turned enough for her to see his chest. There was a hole straight through it.

Black blood ran down his stomach, while dark veins spread from the wound beneath his pale skin.

"I don't have much time."

"Professor, do something!"

She reached for old woman, but the man's eyes locked onto her.

"You possess the power to bind the souls of beasts. Is that correct?"

Holding his gaze, Min barely processed the question. Granny made a wet sound in his arms, and her chest gave another shallow rise.

"Iyeah. Yeah, I can. Why?"

His knees inally gave out.

Min caught Granny as he lowered her, taking the old woman's weight into her arms. She was cold. Too light. Min dropped with her, one hand going behind her head.

"Granny? Hey. Come on, look at me."

A bloody hand grabbed Min's shoulder.

She looked up. The naked man was breathing hard, one hand pressed against the hole in his chest. The black veins had already spread across his shoulder and up the side of his neck.

"Listen to me."

"There's no time! She's dying!"

"Then listen!"

Min froze from the weight of the man's aura.

"If I die like this, there won't be another chance."

Another cough bent him forward, black blood spilling between his fingers. When he looked back up, there was fear in his face now.

"Before i die..."

His fingers dug into her shoulder.

"Form a bond with me."

Share