drip
drip
drip
the blood of what once was the executioners of palo town would ooze all over the rubble pile their corpses were smashed against. their lifeless, mutated bodies attracting flies.
They weren’t the only ones who were defeated however, for dozens of lost sailors would have their remains splattered all across the walls and buildings of palo town, the actual town itself now looking like a warzone, drenched in atlantean blood and littered with… wood splinters.
~.~.~
Matthew was walking down a long narrowing path in the ruins of a market. the murky, overcast sky added a sense of ominous uncertainty to the environment around him. the cries of ravens and other scavengers would surround him, they were probably here to feast on the victims of Matthew’s purging. As he took a turn towards a familiar building, Matthew clenched his fist with a burning resentment.
He wasn’t here because he needed supplies, or because he needed shelter, Matthew was thirsty, thirsty for vengeance. against a monstrosity who killed his friend.
That monstrosity was once a humble, timid mayor who Matthew even talked to at one point.
That monster was mayor Tilly.
As he stood in front of the mayor’s house. he listened for her presence. knowing fully well what her facade was, her little game she played that lured unknowing victims to their demise.
He waited, patiently, as a magic circle began to form on his arm.
“…”
then, the voice of a young man would echo from the inside of mayor tilly’s mansion.
“help! someone help! I’m bleeding- bleeding out here! please!”
There would be no mercy from Matthew.
A massive dragonhead made out of wood would go flying towards the mansion, demolishing the entire front of the structure as branches spread and crushed the rubble even further, leaving nothing but dust and debris in its wake. another circle appeared behind matthew, this time, it was a burning orange fire magic circle, things were escalating, and fast.
a demonic screech of agony could be heard from the smoke that the wood blast created, Matthew stared intensely at the smoke, waiting for it to clear up, preparing a new firey attack to follow up.
the battlefield fell to silence for a short moment, when suddenly, the ground began to rumble.
Mayor tilly had revealed her mutation, and her new monstrous form, out of the rubble.
a massive wormlike creature, covered in the faces of the lives she’s claimed, it seemed these faces were what granted her the many voices she imitated in her strategy to collect prey, the creature’s skin was dark and scaly, like an eel of sorts mixed with a fleshy bloody tumor of some kind. the word “cancer” popped into Matthews head for a second as tilly’s new form revealed itself to him, but he wouldn’t have much time to reflect as she immediately began to attack him back.
dozens of fleshy tendrils would launch themselves towards Matthew, he’d jump high into the air and begin to bombard tilly with furious embers and massive wooden fists, the embers burned and singed her malignant flesh, but they weren’t the main source of damage for Matthew, each wooden fist would violently react with the flames, embedding hundreds of splinters into tilly while also increasing in power thanks to the heat. Matthew screamed furiously in retribution for his fallen comrade, as tilly screamed back in presumably anger and extreme pain, her tendrils desperately tried fighting off the onslaught of projectiles.
Matthew would be stricken by one of the tentacles, and he flew back and crashed into the roof of a smalll house somewhere on the other side of palo town, thankfully he managed to recover somewhat quickly, though Mayor tilly was right on his trail, despite her size, she was fast, and she was angry as well. the faces that covered her body donned a scowling expression as she went in for another attack against Matthew, he countered with a snare. wooden roots grasped tilly as she was knocked back far away enough for Matthew to recover himself, returning to his aerial position, he would continue to rapid fire spells of both flames and lumber towards the abomination. tilly would try to hide her fleshy form in buildings and other structures that made up palo town, but each building would be demolished sooner or later by the furious mage, making easy work of tilly’s fodder defenses, she was growing desperate.
suddenly, tilly roared as several more atlanteans and lost sailors would rise from the ocean banks around the island, Matthew was about to be overrun. But he wasn’t going to fall just yet, for he had another spell in his arsenal that could let him deal with the horde, and tilly, at the same time.
Using all of the energy he had left, Matthew rose high into the air as several giant wood circles appeared, they hovered over tilly and the dozens of atlanteans trying to snipe Matthew down, one atlantean weapon impaled Matthew, he shouted in agony as the spear dug into his ribs, but this pain only made him more furious as he screamed the following words:
“Ultimate art”
“oak judgement!”
a massive hammer made out of wood would conjure itself above tilly and the atlantean horde, it fell down like a lightning strike, sending a shockwave of branches to impale everything in its wake, splinters flew like showers of sparks, the ground was pulverized like dough as whatever structures were left of palo town were completely destroyed. as for tilly herself, she would be totally and utterly flattened by the attack, the branches lacerated her body at every direction, ripping her to shreds until she was nothing more than a pile of repulsive tainted blood and bone.
the remaining lost sailors scrambled away in retreat as Matthew went towards the corpse of tilly, something glimmered inside of the mass.
it was a small amulet that Matthew instantly recognized, opening it revealed a picture of Matthew with another man.
“I’ve avenged you, Maddox.”
He stared at the overcast sky, as memories of the poison conjurer made him weep.
