BOOOM
The crowscrash down into the board, blowing it up, destroying all power flowing to the pylon and shutting it down as a result.
Now, with their biggest impedance out of the way, the small swarm, now consisting of barely ten in number, is once again given free rein.
But with the destruction of nearly the entire murder, a spur of moral seems to blow in tbe minds of the remaining guardsmen, a burst of second wind blooming between them.
Jeff, Danny, and a couple of others that remain after the horrifying assault on their unit all leave the fragile safety of their hiding spots.
And with sheets of scrap metal as makeshift shields for protection, they charge at the crows, suspiciously flying at eye level.
The birds too charge at the five men, slamming head first into the sheets of metal and piercing straight through.
But as a result, their weak bodies burst apart into a puff of feathers and drift harmlessly to the ground, dissolving silently as if touched the hard floor.
And as one, the five remaining men turn their heads to the last crow, one that did not participate in the battle at all, with the defining characteristic of a pulsing runic marking glowing ominously in the middle of its chest.
The crow looks down at them for a moment with its eerily intelligent eyes, turning away from them soon after in an almost dismissive way, letting out a sound that could barely be made out as a scoff before flying away.
"…"
The remaining guards look at each other silently as the tension finally leaves their shoulders. The desperate drive of survival that fuelled their every move starts draining from them, bringing with it a consuming fatigue that leaves them feeling like they've been running non stop for days.
But all that leaves their mouths… is laughter.
"Pft- HAHAHAHA!"
A desperate, relieving laughter full of relief that spreads to all of them.
A horror filled sight of five men laughing manically around a field of corpses being all that's left.
SQUELCH
SQUELCH
SQUELCH
A disgusting noise soon breaks up their tearful moment, freezing them completely in place to the point of seeming like they joined their companions in the stiff embrace of death.
"W-what in the Outsider's crooked cock is that!!" Jeff's voice echoes throughout the surroundings, snapping what's left of the unit out of it.
One of them screams like a little girl, one falls to his knees, going deathly silent. Another, perhaps the smartest among the crew, turns on his heels and runs.
The last though is the stupidest and the most brave, to put it ever so kindly.
"ROOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
He picks up his discarded sword and charges.
SLICE
But he doesn't even make it two steps before he is brutally stopped by a blade like wind tearing through his foot, removing the limb from his body cleanly.
"AGHH–?!"
He goes to scream out in pain, the blood of his dismembered limb spurting out, sending blinding pain pulsing through his body. But he stops as he comes eye to eye with hundreds of smaller eyes that are filled with a hunger that surpasses anything he has ever seen.
"Oh… fuck–"
{Corvo POV}
The nauseous feeling of my mind constantly fragmenting and expanding starts to finally subside, little by little, as I observe as I feast on the bodies of those I killed here.
It is a strange sensation. Something that I can only find being black out drunk to be somewhat similar. But at the same time, my mind is exceptionally clear, clearer than in my human state from the Void's influence being shared between so many bodies, even if they are all much smaller.
Though still, I am experiencing both of these sensations at the same time, so it's taking a bit of effort to command and connect to these fragment pieces of my body and mind.
The only thing I have been able to accomplish so far is giving them clear orders. To be honest, it's mostly instinct.
Back to the matter at hand.
One thing I discovered about this strange new power, the power made by combining devouring swarm with whatever monstrosity of an ability the hag so kindly gave me, was that though I did not have the convenience of being able to summon as many minions as I wanted, if I had the correct amount of mana of course, there were plenty of other advantages that made it much better.
One being that I was essentially immortal as long as one of my fragments remains, though I hazard a guess that I would be no more than an animal for a while.
And that ties into the second power of this aspect…
Watching the rats and remaining one or two crows that flew in from above consume the corpses, I notice a strange phenomenon.
Once they eat enough, my bodies shudder violently for a moment, until the shadow that is cast by the sun behind them too starts vibrating till it starts to become more tangible and rise from the ground, further twitching and morphing to become an almost identical copy of the one it shed from.
What does this mean, you may ask? Well, it means it has some great growth potential once I start to consume more and more, endlessly expanding my army even without mana.
The only problem for now is bringing the extras with me, as my body is only made up of a certain amount of them.
Another advantage to this power would be the mental aspect of it all.
The ability to endlessly fragment my mind and thoughts is a useful thing to have. Well, after I can even control it… right now I can only designate one body to be the command centre that keeps myself whole and controls the swarm that is now me.
Something that makes the current me very vulnerable.
To the point I could be one shot even.
With a spark of my will, as well as a minimal amount of mana, I will the excess rats to transform into crows and fly around other points of interest.
Another plus would be this, the ability to cycle between the transformations of my fragments with only a small amount of mana. The only downside would be the amount of mana it takes to switch from human and swarm form, that alone nearly stole all of my reserves.
Looking through the eyes of my crows, I see a repeat of what happened in this battlefield. Though of course, thanks to the lack of more arc pylons, the annihilation of the guardsmen is all the more swift and the growth of my army is instant.
I suppose it's my turn then.
Another flicker of will transforms the entire army into crows, sending them across the entire island to scout ahead.
Me?
With a flap of my wings I soar into the skies from my perch on the branch, a group of crows joining me into a murder.
We all fly as one, for that is what we are, and we travel up high, flying over the walls to arrive at a place of interest.
Martin.
That's who will be the first to see his end tonight.
…
..
.
{Narrator POV}
Corvo's bodies move together, flying into the sky with synchronisation and a smoothness that only comes from pure instinct.
And it's as one that they fly over to an entirely metal building stationed on top of the wall. Its purpose is used for a variety of reasons. A lookout tower, one to get a better overview of the seas than those stationed below could feasibly get. A mess room for the soldiers that spend their lives guarding this island.
But right now? Right now it serves as the office for the High Overseer Martin Teague, doubling as a war room as he battles against his former colleagues.
The man in question stands behind a table, spotted in the middle of the room with a map of the island fully covering its surface.
It is because of him being so engrossed in the map, so concentrated on taking down his now ally turned enemy, that he is incapable of noticing the chaos forming right outside the window.
The rivers of rats devouring the corpses of fallen guardsmen, crows dive bombing and destroying anything that gets in the way of the hungry rodents' mission to consume everyone, to snuff out the life of the entire world around them.
The swarm works as one, because that is what they are.
No useless debating, no conflicting of different views.
Only commands.
A firing of signals that tell the swarm where, when and how to move.
Like a brain with the nervous system.
WHOOSHH
The loud sound of wind and the beating of feathers bounces across the war room, bringing a swift, merciless end to the unbreakable flow that was Martin's focus.
"W-woah!"
He jumps, startled by the murder of crows turned hurricane that appeared in the middle of the room.
Though, as these crows start to darken in colour and the hurricane starts to get smaller and smaller to form the silhouette of a man, realisation dawns on the mad face.
"So it's true, Corvo… you really are a monster, aren't you."
—-
Word count: 1,559