Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

“Room full of Cha—” O’sut shoved bloody fingers into Jeb’s mouth and leaned forward.

Right there, at their most excellent moment together, they both saw exactly what was going to happen next: O’sut was going to rip Jeb’s jaw off.

Jeb started winking as fast as he could, alternating between left and right, hoping he could go faster than O’sut could tear off his favorite jaw.

O’sut tensed for a moment before flinching and letting out a howl of pain, a bit of smoke emerging from over his shoulder.

Jeb finished the third wink on his left side, completing the alternate trigger for the ‘Room full of Charlies’ command.

Telekinetic spears flew out in every direction, dozens catching the child-killer in the chest and flinging him up into the high ceiling above them.

Several spears were absorbed by the reinforced shields of the surrounding nobles, and the emperor leaned out of the way of another one, where it drilled a hole in the throne behind his head.

Jeb scrambled to the side, snatching up the sword while his spears held O’sut stapled to the ceiling. Jeb’s grip almost slipped, his right hand slick with gushing blood as it was. He wrapped his dry left hand around the handle too, making damn sure he had a good grip on the blade.

A moment later, the spears ran their course and the keegan fell down from the ceiling, hitting the marble hard.

Jeb didn’t wait for him to get up, or even twitch. He heaved the blade down like he was trying to win a prize.

The blade sank into the rock-hard flesh and most of the way through the Keegan’s spine, killing him instantly. Jeb wrenched the blade out and kicked the keegan over before striking again, severing the neck the rest of the way.

Gotta be sure.

From the back of the corpse, he spotted a smoking hole in the madman’s shoulder, and glanced up at Brett, who winked.

“Lasers!?” Jeb demanded.

“Lasers are cool,” Brett shouted back across the room with a shrug, before pouncing on his next victim.

Jeb hefted the sword, looking for the next threat, panting furiously, when his head began to pound.

Oh, shit, not now.

Jeb’s entire body began to cramp, his emotions running wild as he sank to his knees, clutching his head.

He’d just fulfilled his side of his Deal with Vresh.

The Deal favored her, didn’t it? Jeb thought. Why would I be getting Attribute Sickness from her not talking about me!?

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeb spotted Mr. Sophistication charging him, the melas literally breathing smoke, he was so pissed.

Jeb tried to raise the sword in time to block, but his muscles refused to respond, too busy pulling themselves painfully apart.

Thankfully, the black knight flickered up beside Mr. Sophistication and lopped the melas’s head off with a casual swing. The horned head tumbled past Jeb while the body slid to a halt in front of him.

“Cripples should hide behind the throne,” a familiar voice said as the ominous black helmet faded into thick smoke before vanishing.

“You’ve got a ‘fro now,” Jeb said, looking up at Jess. Her hair was growing back in since the Tutorial, but being curly, it made a silly-looking poof around her head.

Jess’s eyes narrowed, and she clicked her tongue.

Jeb wasn’t going to make fun of her for it, though. His gaze flickered down to Razorback, the wicked-looking blade caked in blood.

Nope, definitely not going to make fun of her.

Jeb looked past her and noticed that every single noble in the room not wearing the colors of the emperor’s personal guard was lying in a puddle of their own blood.

The room fell silent.

“Now,” the emperor said, leaning forward in his seat, his voice cutting through the emptiness. “We have to decide what to do with you, Jebediah Trapper.”

Chapter 27: Aftermath

Jeb froze in front of the throne, feeling like a very small animal in front of a very large snake…with cheerful yellow plumage.

“Without this information, we wouldn’t have exposed this level of corruption in our local government, and for your help excising this tumor from my empire, I must thank you.”

The emperor stood, walking gracefully down to where Jeb was crouched—seemingly gliding down the steps, the way his legs held his body stable.

“I thank you,” he said, reaching out and putting his hands near Jeb’s neck.

Jeb’s breath caught for an instant before the kitri’s claws squished through the hinge on his collar like a soft cheese. A moment later, it fell away from his neck and clattered to the floor.

Jeb immediately used Myst to cinch down on his finger stub, stopping the bleeding.

“Get this man a coat!” the emperor said. “We can’t let Solmnath’s protector carry on in shame!”

A coat was hustled over to where the two of them stood, and Jeb accepted it gratefully, as well as the hand up. Jeb wrapped the coat around himself, glad for its length as the emperor pulled Jeb into a human-looking handshake with his good hand, albeit strangely awkward and from the wrong angle.

He was shaking hands with Jeb, but his body was turned to the side, away from Jeb. Jeb frowned at this, glancing up at the emperor, who wasn’t even looking at him—he was looking at the throne.

No, he’s looking at the camera. It’s a photo-op handshake! Damnit!

Jeb stiffened and made double-sure his junk was tucked away, grinning awkwardly for the camera.

“How can I possibly thank the man who single-handedly uncovered this horrifying conspiracy?” the emperor asked.

Like involuntary word vomit, Jeb’s mouth started talking without his permission.

“Don’t thank me. In actuality, Zlesk Frantell deserves all the credit for bringing these people to justice. He’s the former sheriff of Kalfath, a law-abiding Citizen, and a goddamn decent fellow. I owe him credit for every major accomplishment