Part 69: Showdown with The Devil

[BGM: Lamb to the Slaughter]


We made our way up to a different section of the floor, and hid ourselves in a chemistry lab. There, we caught our breaths.

How? It was perfect, we totally had him! And even still, he just didn't die!

He really is incredible.

He really is horrifying! I don't know what on earth could stop that beast. I don't even think he's human.

Well, let's try and stay on the bright side.

What bright side? Tiger and Bunny just got murdered! There is no bright side to this!

Um... I think there's some good things to take from this. Nothing that makes up for their deaths, of course!



But, well, their sacrifices weren't for nothing. He was shot in the side, and twice in the leg. I know it didn't look like it there, but that has to slow him down.

Like you said, it didn't look like that there.

That's because he was running on pure adrenaline! Once he calms down, the pain of that has to kick in. And it's not like there are any medical supplies around here, so the most he could do is bandage it up.

So maybe he has a limp now. So what?

It's not just the bullets. Tiger sparred with him for a while there, Horse was really starting to sweat. He was getting tired.

Not so tired that he couldn't throw a knife into a human body!

True, but again, that was the adrenaline. Think about it, at this point, Horse has been in four separate fights.

He had to act fast to get the jump on Dog. He sparred with Dragon for a while, that definitely took some strength. He moved a vending machine and fought an attrition war to kill Snake.



And against Bunny and Tiger, he took some serious damage and spent a ton of energy! He might be really strong, but he's still human. Humanity has its limits.

He might be doing a bunch of seemingly impossible things, but most of that is probably due to the stress and danger of the situation bringing his muscles into hyperdrive.

But that comes with a cost. Your brain has a limited amount it can handle before things start going south.

So... you're saying he's almost out of juice.

He has to be, right? Horse hasn't been able to eat or drink properly in a while, and yesterday he was electrocuted and tied up for a long time. His body must be incredibly sore. There's no way he's in good condition!

...If my math is right, then at the moment, he just needs one more kill to get across the finish line. It'd all be for nothing if he was overwhelmed right now. So at the moment, he's probably not looking for us. Instead, he's resting up!

Exactly! And also... I have this.



Sheep handed to me the broken taser Dragon had shot before.

This is-

The taser from before, right. I found it on the second floor, and I thought, um, maybe it could be of some use. When Tiger and Rabbit were fighting him off, I tried my best to fix it.

That didn't, uh, go too well, but I think I sort of have it working again.

If I'm right, it'll fire once before I need to re-fix it. Oh, but it'll still shoot out as kind of a kind of short-distance web. I couldn't fix that.

Even so, this is great work Sheep! With this, we actually have something to fight with.

Exactly. I mean, it won't kill him, but if we hunt him down now, when he's weak, manage to stun him, maybe get the dagger from him, we just might be able to win.

You're right, Sheep! We can totally do this! Not just for us, but for Pig and Monkey and Ox and Rooster! We'll find him and we'll end this! Let's go!

[BGM: Silence]


It was at that moment that Horse walked into the Chemistry Lab, not wearing his skull mask or carrying any weaponry.

You'll find me, is it?

H-Horse!

Monster! Piece of shit bastard! Scum!

Easy with that. I get that you're upset with me, but name-calling is just petty.

You know what's not petty? Tiger and Bunny's lives! Dragon's life! But you seem to think those are petty, you must, or else why would you kill them? I guess you're just not a very good judge of pettiness.

I placed a great amount of significance in their deaths. As I will with yours.

You monster! I hope you rot in hell for this!

And I hope you may rest in heaven.



S-So what happens now?

With Tiger's death, everyone who I consider a threat is now dead. Killing the rest of you should be easy. Please, just surrender, and let me give you a quick and painless exit.

That's it, huh? You're just gonna calmly walk in here and murder us?

If that's how you want it to be, then yes.

Um, if you want to be accommodating, do you mind telling us why you decided to do all of this?

It's not an answer that would satisfy you.

Alright then, what about this? What's the deal with that skull mask of yours? Why do you go berserk when you wear it, huh?

The mask, hm? Yes, I suppose I owe you that much.



Very well, then. Let me tell you my story.

Oh goodie. Can't wait to hear about this.

I sense sarcasm.

Oh no, not at all.

…

…

[BGM: A True Foal]


I was raised in a pretty bad part of Hightower. Lots of ruffians, lots of gangs. Troublemakers and the like. Which was pretty inconvenient, because my father was incredibly morally upright. He had firm convictions of what was right and what was wrong.

He instructed me to follow those teachings to the letter. He ranted on about how I couldn't stray from the noble path, how imperative it was that I be a good upstanding son.

He talked about the dichotomy of people in this world, and how after we die the virtuous will be saved, and the sinful punished. ...And I obeyed him. Not because I was afraid of punishment or anything, but because I believed what he said.

I still believe it, genuinely.

So that defined my early childhood. I was the model student. I would never cheat, never lie, and never cover for anyone. And that, of course, led to incessant bullying from my class.

But I could tolerate it all fine. Because I knew I was right.

Eventually I started making some friends. They were, as my dad would put it, “a bunch of troubled youths”. But they were friendly with me, and at that time in my life that was really all it took.



Slowly but surely, they started convincing me to hang out with them after hours. To have some real fun. I told them again and again, no, no way, nothing good could come of it, and besides, if my dad ever found out I'd be grounded forever.

But they kept on insisting. If I wanted to keep being their friend, I'd have to go out and have some fun with them.

Eventually, one of them offered me this skull mask. He said I should wear it, that way no one would be able to recognize me and I wouldn't get in trouble.

Even back then I physically stood out, but they convinced me that with a hoodie and in the dark of night, no one would find out. When they presented the mask, I caved. I snuck out at night, and got into some real trouble.



I was wracked with guilt, so I convinced myself, “That wasn't me, that was someone else. That was the Night Devil. We just happened to share a body.” That was how I justified it to myself.

And the next night, I did the same thing. Then I justified it in the same way. When I was wearing the skull mask out at night, I wasn't sinning. The Night Devil was. And the Night Devil was really having fun, finally able to pent out his frustration and run wild.

I could control when I lost control.

I guess after a while, I started to really buy into this dichotomy. I remained my father's model son. I never lied, never cheated, never got into fights, never smoked, never drank.

But the Night Devil? Oh, he was a real party animal. He would do all those things that I couldn't. But of course, I wasn't doing them. That wasn't me, that was him.

As time passed, the Night Devil became something of a figure. He wasn't being led around by his friends anymore, he was leading them. They adopted his skull mask. And started to mark their turf.



The Night Devil would get into lots of fights with other hoodlums, other gangs, all while under the moon's disguise. The Night Devil got really good at fighting too, so much so he gained a bit of a reputation.

My father would eventually learn the 'secret' of the Night Devil, but not until I had already gone to college.

I still haven't gone back home. I don't even know if he'd let me.

Anyways, as I stayed at a somewhat local college, I started to think that enough was enough. The Night Devil had had his fun, but he wasn't welcome anymore.

I stuck to the straight and narrow for a while. Got my education. Found a job at a construction company that I still work at to this day.

Eventually, however, I had started to bore of the tedium of life. I was content with a simple life, but something felt... missing.

It was only one night.



I only let him roam the streets for one night. But, what happened that night... he went to a bar. Got pretty drunk. Got into an argument with another man, who also happened to be pretty drunk. Took it outside.

The Night Devil only shoved him, and yet... Luck was not with that man on that night.

The curb hit his head, and he died.

I didn't kill him. The Night Devil did.

And he was a true monster I had let run around on the world.



After that night, I vowed to never let him run free again. And since it was my fault for letting him out, I obsessively followed the story around his death. I was sure at any moment the police would come knocking down my door, there to arrest me for his crimes.

But I was lucky. They never found any evidence linking me to that death. They never even had enough to pin it down as a homicide. I thought that was simply that for a time. However, since I was following his death, I learned of one other tragic fact.

He had a young daughter.

Much worse, he was a single father, with no close relatives. The girl was transferred to an orphanage. It must've been such a sad time for her.

I felt a responsibility to her. I thought about adopting her at the time, but it felt like too cruel an irony.

A father's murderer adopts his only daughter? What a horrible man that must be! No, better to let sleeping dogs lie.



But time passed, and time passed, and she wasn't being adopted.

It wasn't a good orphanage, either, I used to have friends who lived there and they'd tell me horror stories.

Since I... since the Night Devil had killed the poor man, wasn't it my responsibility to at least make sure his daughter can live a good life? I felt it the only way to atone for my sins.

And so, she became my daughter. And ever since that night, I've kept the Night Devil's mask locked in a box, deep in the attic, and with it all memories associated with him.

And yet, through some cruel irony, when I awoke I had his mask on under the Horse mask. Clearly, Brian had dome his research.

I didn't plan on ever using the mask to let him out, but... Well, once the hunt began, I knew who needed to do the killing.

[BGM: Silence]


You... you're crazy!

That would be a fair assumption.

B-but hearing that story, I don't think you... I don't think the, um, Night Devil killed anyone. It was an accident, right?

What difference does the intent make?

What will your daughter think when she finds out what you've done?'

She won't find out.

Oh, she will. And let me guess, you never told her that you were the one who killed her daddy either, huh?



Of course I haven't. I wasn't the one who killed him.

Ha! You're pathetic.

That I am. But the least I could do is finish my job.

Y-You mean...

He means he's still going to kill us, in case we forgot.

Any last words?

You don't have to do this!

…



Please, I know this isn't really you! You wouldn't mercilessly kill two girls just begging for their lives, would you? You told me you'd protect me! You said everything would be fine. You want to be good, right? To atone? Is this really how you plan to do it?

…

Stop this, please, stop this! I don't want to die! Please, hic, please... spare me. Save me!

…

Horse stood over Sheep, and yet he had stopped in his tracks. Sheep had curled into a ball, crying nonstop, utterly powerless and pathetic. It should've been an easy kill, and yet... Horse picked Sheep up by her collar, walked over to the door, opened it, then threw her out.

[BGM: Metal Horse]


He then yanked the handle to the left so hard that the wood around it splintered. He gave it a testing shove, and just as intended, the door could no longer be opened or closed.

You stay out of this. For now, anyways. First, I've got this one to deal with.

Horse turned over to stare me down.

I can guess how this is going to go.

Nothing personal.

The room's lights were off, and the curtains were lowered. The room was dark, and my opponent lumbered tall and strong.



There were no escapes. This was it.

Things were so tense that I looped back around to being calm. It's super expected that I die here, right? In that case, might as well accept it. I'm probably going to die. So let's just see what I can do. No pressure.

I'm... ready when you are?

Ready? Don't tell me you're actually going to try and fight me.

Sort of.

It'd be simpler if you didn't.

And I bet you like it when things are simple, huh?



You'd like it too. After all, simple deaths are the least painful.

Actually, not-dying deaths are the least painful.

There's no such thing as a not-dying death.

I know, I was being poetic, to like, you know, turn your phrase back around on you.

Didn't work.

Are you going to come after me or what?

Fine.

[BGM: Steadfast Gallop]


Horse started to make his way towards me. Oh, shit. I didn't think this far ahead. I saw him swing his fist, but I ducked under it and started running away.

Running away? Where to?

Away from you!

How long will that last you?

Who knows?

Hm. This could get annoying.

Instead of chasing me down, Horse started to pick up a desk. Was he going to throw that at me? I realized I still had the taser on me that Sheep gave me. I only had one shot, but when was a better time than this? The shot came out wide spread and unfocused, but enough of it hit Horse to make him drop the desk and cry out.



Yes! This was my chance! I ran up to him and started punching him in the chest. ...It didn't take long to realize this wasn't doing anything. Horse, more annoyed than hurt, swat away at me with his other hand. I wasn't able to make it out of the way in time, so he sent me crashing into the nearby table.

Ow. Why did you have to go and do that?

Once again, Horse started to approach me. This time, however, I didn't see a clear place to run away to. I needed to get him to stop, to catch him off guard...



That's right, the final branch point for this route is whether we can survive the fight or not The right answer to this one is pretty obvious, though.

Who's doing the killing?

What?

You said the Night Devil's the murderer, right? But the one coming at me right now is you, isn't it?

That's-

Horse looked conflicted. And being conflicted meant an opportunity. On the nearby shelf, there were a couple of vials. I grabbed one that was labeled Vinegar and threw it right at his face. This caught him off guard, and the glass shattered against his face, leaving him drenched. The impact put him off balance. He stumbled back, and the skull mask fell out of his pocket.

The skull mask! I ran forwards, grabbed it, and as he tried to grab at me I dodged, running further back into the lab.

That's right, run! Running's all you're good for! You just let others do all the work, then run away after they fail! That's all you've done this game, all you can do!

His words stung. I had been running this whole time. But running had kept me alive. Horse was rapidly making his way towards me, but maybe there was something I could do, some trick that could keep me alive. I looked over to the nearby desk, and saw three bottles of chemicals. I wasn't sure, but maybe, just maybe, one of them could save me.



Hey, doesn't this sound familiar...? Either way, time to do some chemical deduction Arsenic, while toxic, generally requires ingestion or inhalation, so, well, good luck getting Horse to drink it. And what good is sodium gonna do here, huh? Peroxide, on the other hand...

I grabbed the peroxide. Then I poured it all over the inside of the skull mask. Then, I prayed as Horse approached me.

Now is your time to die!

Wait, wait!

What?

You shouldn't stain your hands with my blood. It should be the Night Devil, right?

…

Here, let him finish me off!

I handed out the skull mask to him, hoping he would take the bait.

...Yes, you're right. He's the killer. He should do this.

With one hand, he took the Butcher's Knife out of his pocket. With the other, he reached over to the mask, took it, and placed it on his face.



However, the moment the mask made contact with his face, he began screaming. He tore it off, but it was too late. His entire face was burning.

What's wrong? Can't handle the heat?

GAAAAAAGH!

Vinegar and Peroxide. Each is fairly harmless on their own, but together they make a rather powerful combination. A rather painful combination.

Horse fell to his knees, racked with pain. He kept screaming, grabbing at his face, but the burning wasn't stopping. As he did this, the dagger fell to the floor. I couldn't waste this opportunity! I quickly rushed over and grabbed the knife off the floor.

Then, with all my strength, I stabbed it right through his neck. Right then, right as I stabbed him, he stopped screaming and his eyes jolted open. He stared at me. He gave me a long, hard stare. Then, after what felt like an eternity, the man on his knees fell forward. Horse lay face down on the floor, nothing more than a corpse.

[BGM: Silence]


I... I did it. Where the others had failed, through quick thinking and sheer luck, I had managed to kill him. I murdered him.

I... won?

It didn't feel like it.

The rest of the race was a blur to me. Sheep helped me break down the door Horse had jacked up. The 'run and hide' strategy ended up working out pretty well for Rooster, Monkey, Pig, and Ox, because they were all fine. Grimly, with so many of us dead, we had the necessary Minor Trinkets to run together as a group. Even through all that insanity, no one had stopped pressing RUN, so we were all at the same space.

Horse ended up being one space away from the finish line. He was a hair's breadth from victory. ...Victory that I stabbed out of him. There was no longer any opposition. With just the 6 of us left, we were able to work as a group and escape. We all crossed the finish line together. Our metal collars came loose. We were free.

But I knew even then, stepping away from that graveyard of a school, that things couldn't be the same. I would be permanently scarred. And six lives would be permanently over. Dog, Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Bunny. In the end, they were all killed for nothing. I could hear the Jade Emperor's laughter. This wasn't a victory.

It was a loss.



[Ending – 8 of Spades]

If nothing is found in the first three rounds but the Sheep's Clothes, trinkets, and weapons, Horse will be assigned a role that forces him to act.

It isn't possible Horse will accept death without a fight. Horse is a monster who can beat any other animal in a fair fight. There is, however, a potential miracle if Mouse can tire out Horse and trick him.

But this possibility is both slim- and bloody. Better paths definitely exist.