The Noxious Crawl tended to muffle the noise of the Din above to a continuous wave. Even if Aujura was able to hear what those above said, he could not. Can not.
There was only him, the sewage flowing around his body as he slithered through, and what he needed to destroy.
His target.
Bishop Fiasco.
He was almost too easy to locate with him humming, near singing in this festering stage. Bishop went silent only when he knelt down, dipped his hands into the water, and plucked miscellania into a waiting bucket. There was a light brushing against his head, Aujura didn’t imagine it, he swore. It would be easy to drag the clueless being down if he could reach out and grab him. Would he be able to breathe underwater, like the malformed octopus Bishop seemed to resemble from the vantage point of under the current?
Entropy gingerly placed down their bag, small as it was, against the leg of the chair they crouched on. As it oozed slightly, they clutched their lance-whip tight, wiping it down with one of the copious scattered napkins that acted as a tablecloth.
They had a mark to take care of.
One could say this one Bishop Fiasco was one of the easiest hits of their career, with him basically skipping towards them one they made… eye contact?
It was hard to tell since the being had no obvious eyes, just a goofy buck-tooth mouth, blattering on and on about how Entropy was just in time! Before they could think of something clever like ‘Just in time for your death’ after the fact, they felt a sudden yank on their leg, as Bishop continued to not shut up. Sparks snapped against the pavement as the whip-lance skeeted in a fein attempt to drag themself free, but Entropy was being invited to sample meals by someone they were supposed to be slaughtering within The House of Scales.
Down gilded halls, into a quiet side room. Entropy noted to themselves that being in close proximity to this tentacled idiot, glaring at any other patron who even gave a half-glance at Bishop could be seen as protective. It was just that he seemed to blindly deflect any fatal strikes so far by pure ignorance of the situation alone. Like he was truly going to get away with getting an assassin to work as a food tester. With such clueless wonder of this damp cruel world, Bishop grinned.
“The local cuisine here is plentiful! I figured since I am going to be setting up a little tavern nearby, might as well learn some recipes, yeah?” It was hard to tell if he was actually looking at Entropy as he whipped towards him, but the pause in the conversation left a void urging a response.
Ha ha… nope. Just a stare. That’s all he deserved.
“Let me just grab something I prepared in advance!” Bishop basically bolted out, only to return with one of those silver domed lids. The ones cartoon characters used in cases they wanted to make a real impression with their meals. With a minor struggle and a wet, sharp pop of the lid of a platter-
“Bone Apple-tea!”
This… whatever this horrifying mash of clear globs and collagulating gray-beige was, was in a pitch battle of its own. Against wiggling and sticking against the plate as it clanked against the table. Entropy felt their body stiffen as it slid right underneath their face. If this was what happens when they don’t have a nose, then Bishop might be more of a knowing opponent than they thought. Ridiculous to think about, yes, but still possible?
Calculations swarmed through Entropy’s mind, reflected against the sick sheen of the meal. Would it be better to let this concoction rest, let it rot away. Would it be better to force it down, and risk playing into Bishop’s unlikely game, even if Entropy wasn’t sure if it was a conscious decision or just not knowing what food even was.
The spoon then flew into their maw, with a generous slob on top.
Bishop leaned in, a joyous laugh barely restrained. “And I sourced all the ingredients from the land! The very fruits of the city! Can’t you imagine it?”
Each found bobbing in the water, the ripples after each pluck camouflaging Aujura's trail.
As he rose his head to get a better look, Bishop was siphoning liquid sewage into spare wine bottles, snapping the corks back in with some effort. He still did not notice Aujura.
Aujura knew he wasn't the only one going after Bishop this round. Just in this sewer alone, he ended up swatting apart a small troop of rats, managing to slaughter a good number, though one might have managed to escape with one of their arms ripped off and oozing blood.
(Note, Aujura logically would not know that Bishop added this into the recipe, but rest assured, it is in there.)
Was forming on the metal curves of the pipes, which echoed Bishop's heel-soled steps as he finally left towards the House of Scales. Large enough to pass through, but still it clipped against the cyborg's body, slowing him down to an isolated pace.
The chair splintered against the wall, chipping off flakes of who-even-cares what color of paint this now indented building was coated in. Entropy clutched their face, keeping what felt like their entire digestive system from coiling out. The halls formed a flurry of screaming panic, with the assassin slicing through whoever was between them, and the bathrooms. Doors kicked off their hinges, launched through other doors. A maze of shouting bodies turning into smears of red against the walls. Ivory bowls as the grail to trek towards, the reward a final place to blow all the chunks Entropy could dream about.
Only one issue- There was a cyborg climbing out of this toilet. One with a slowly forming blaster cannon curling from his arm.
All Entropy could do now is stab.
The bloody buzz of before suddenly broke, leaving Aujura alone in this darkness. It was quiet here. The time it took for him to ask “How long have I been falling for” barely registered. Even if the inky void that enveloped Aujura wiped the brutal bout he was just in, he felt a clarity that eluded him for hours, perhaps even years.
Though it felt more like the value outline of its form, he could feel a toothy presence before him. A soft, ruddy glow emanated from beyond.
There was only so much energy he could spare before the end of this run, but a thought seemed to be right at the tips of his phantom limbs.
Perhaps… in another life… we could have been friends.}
At 11% battery remaining, the white-blinding flash from Aujura’s form tore through the stalls of the bathroom. Entropy only regained some consciousness stumbling towards somewhere within the wrecked halls, with the now twisted lance-whip and the cyborg’s severed skull in their hands. A mixed tempo clacking of heels was the only clear indication they were absolutely near fainting right in front of Bishop. Who was now standing dead center of a doorway, holding a dripping chunk of ice with what most likely was a pile of sugar sprinkled on top of it.
“Er… does local tradition treat explosions as a positive reaction to a meal?”
This was the last sound Entropy heard before they plummeted face first into the floor.
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