Out of nowhere, with a suddenness that even surprised Corvo, Martin pulled out his pistol.
The pistol itself held a traditional style, similar to the very guardsmen Corvo was currently fighting. But its internal components were modified to the brink of what could be achieved without a change in appearance.
And there was only one man that could modify a weapon to such an extent.
"…"
'…Pierro.'
He pushed the pistol underneath his jaw, giving the loaded bullet a straight road to his brain.
"Here to add me to your list, Corvo? To write my name across the floor with my blood?"
Martin sported a glare in Corvo's direction as he practically spat out his words with anger.
Corvo didn't respond, his mask a statue that shielded him from the words. But a silence filled the room, answering Martin's query with as much of a response as his opponent could verbally give.
"Deep down I knew it. By the Void's cold wind, we all did, even if we didn't get visual evidence of inhuman feats. Your constant escaping of miserable odds is proof enough.
But still, I so desperately wanted to deny it, to not believe that this world is truly crawling with monsters that are hiding away in shadows… to not believe the Outsider could really be real."
Martin looked to the ground, unable to meet Corvo's eyes as his hands started shivering violently, as if he were in Antarctica with his pants down.
But as he looked up, a self-deprecating smirk played on his lips, with a laugh of a similar tone escaping him too.
"You may think I'm pathetic, with how a man of faith fails to truly believe. But as I'm sure you know, as someone who was once of nothing, the real world breaks down hope and belief… no matter how desperately you hold onto them. But enough of this, enough of this silly rambling. I'm sure you're not here for my life story."
As his eyes met Corvo's once more, determination started to settle within him. His shivering hand stilled and hardened, the tip of his finger tightening against the trigger.
"What were you expecting when coming here? Did you want me to beg for forgiveness, to reflect on the error of my ways? No, I'm not going to plead innocence. I'm neither blind nor that hypocritical.
When we dug you out of Coldridge Prison, we had the best of intentions. We would find Emily and strike against the Lord Regent.
But once we started ordering deaths, blackmailing those in power, and all the other things you're not supposed to do, well, I guess it just became a habit."
He started pacing back and forth across the office, periodically turning back, as well as keeping a side eye trained onto any movements coming from the man.
"It's a hard thing, holding the keys to the Empire in your hands. It weighs on a man's mind, heavily."
And finally, he stopped, returning to the middle of the room where the confrontation began, to see it through to the end.
"Curse Havelock and Pendleton as fools. Curse me as well.
I can't stop you from going after Emily, nor do I even have the will to try, but I'm not going to give you the privilege.
I was born into nothing, and now… it will be nothingness I return to."
BANG!
…
..
.
Throughout Corvo's confrontation with Overseer Martin, his other bodies and lesser fragments of his mind continued his rampage all through the island.
And even though hundreds, no, perhaps thousands of the swarmlings that made up the horde were extinguished by the adrenaline-fuelled guards, tens of thousands still remained.
And all at once, as if Corvo's arrival to the now empty courtyard was the tolling of a bell only they could hear, they returned in a black tide, ready to await the orders of the main body.
'Hmmm…'
He stared down at the hundreds upon hundreds of mixed creatures, composed of crows and rats, and they too stared back.
An odd feeling as the connection between his minds, being so strong and close, sent a mixture of contradictory signals.
'No, this won't do. Past this point I will not need any more eyes and ears. One of me will be enough.'
His eyes gleamed with curiosity, but he pushed such emotions down and concentrated on the matter at hand.
With a flicker of intent his body once more began to transform into that shadowy form, the form that was becoming ever so more familiar.
But this time, it was different…
All as one, the giant horde that was made up of his fragments moved, heading straight for him.
As they got closer and closer, they too started to be covered in shadow, and slowly, ever so slowly lose their forms.
And like he was a black hole, Corvo started to absorb those fragments into himself.
WHOSSHHH
Wind started to pick up around him as the absorption reached its zenith, the suction force intensifying dramatically.
But the process was not as smooth as it appeared to have looked from the outside.
Instead, a weary heaviness and feeling of fatigue started to manifest in Corvo's chest, his mana dwindling all the while.
"UGH-!"
'Aghh… I should have just dispelled the swarm, instead I decided to be a greedy idiot!'
The absorption reached its peak as he finished the thought, and for just a single moment, everything was brought to a standstill.
…like the calm before the storm.
BOOOOOM
An earth-shaking explosion tore through Corvo's body as his shadowy form, as well as any other shadow that was attempting integration inside him, collapsed inward before exploding outwards, launching him back out of the shadow form and shredding what remained of his mana.
CRASH
Corvo's body was sent flying outwards, in the opposite direction of the explosion, hitting the wall in the blink of an eye and almost blacking out point blank.
"…F-."
He attempted speech, but all that came from his lips was a cough and a glob of blood.
"..Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck, fucking idiot!"
Ever so slowly Corvo's vision started to return, just for him to get a look at the devastation that was the result caused by his little experiment.
Sighhh.
He sighed harshly, wincing slightly while nursing the back of his head, which was pouring with blood at this point.
The whole world spun slightly before settling, stopping at a wonky position that made everything feel wrong in his perception.
'…I think… I… have brain damage… shit… let's hope I at least survive long enough to take Emily away from all this…'
Corvo flinched back further as he brought himself to his feet, knees shaking in a mixture of pain, fatigue and a touch of damaged brain tissue giving him something akin Parkinson's.
He flipped open his sword, something modified by Pierro in their parting to be extended to a full sword length, a length perfect enough to be used as a walking stick in this position.
Before moving off, corvo did a quick check of his body and found the situation far from desirable. In fact, it was pretty bleak.
His arms were mangleg, shards of bone sticking out of them. By the odd sound of his breathing, as well as the horrible breathless feeling, a rib must of pierced a lung.
But that was all he could observe with his rapidly slowing thoughts, so perhaps a bit delusionally, Corvo decided to ignore it and hope for the best….
And so Corvo started to walk, moving forward towards his next target to finally complete an aspect of his newest mission.
…
..
.
But when he finally got there, it was too late.
Trevor Pendleton.
A noble of Dunwall, a drunk, a cunning and scheming rat of a man, but an intelligent man nonetheless.
At one point, he strived for the good of the Empire, a way to put Emily back on the throne and bring the chaos that was Dunwall to an end, even if it was just to use her name as a proxy.
And although his motivation and desires to help the falling Empire were far from pure, his original goal and mission were so. But alas, it was only right for a man such as him, someone who always had everything handed to him or coveted the belongings of others, to fall into depravity when given a chance for more power.
So although his death did not move Corvo's heart in any way, a part of him was thankful for the help he received from the nobleman.
Kneeling down, Corvo came face to face with the unblinking stare of Lord Trevor Pendleton. His stare a pained glare fixated on the ceiling, one hand gripping the side of his torso so tightly that even in death his grip remained, yet still it was unable to stop the leaking blood.
Reaching out, Corvo put his hand over the man's open eyes and pushed the lids down, finally allowing the dead body to rest.
"I hope in your next life, if you have one, that you will learn to be a better man. Goodbye Trevor, rest well."
…
..
.
Corvo slowly limped his way up the metal stairs as a heavy downpour rained onto his blood-soaked head and clothes, washing one of the stains and creating a stinging pain in the other.
One leg up, the other followed, one step climbed, repeat.
This continued for a while as Corvo was left without even the augmented passive recovery created from the mark his Void flesh brought.
So he continued to trudge on endlessly as the world around him grew colder and darker, thoughts becoming slower and more sluggish.
Right now, the only thought on his mind was filled with the hope that he wouldn't collapse prematurely, for everything he had done to be for naught.
His only advantage to this harrowing experience he put himself into was the fact he had already slaughtered most of the guards on the island, leaving only a couple further up the lighthouse.
Before he knew it, Corvo had already reached the elevator that would take him to the top, and luckily he had the key.
So, after unlocking the door and activating the contraption, the machine started to lift.
…
..
.
Corvo didn't know how long it took, but eventually he made it to the entrance at the top of the lighthouse.
The mechanical walkways transformed into a lavish expanse, something only fit for a king or queen. Such a dramatic change was what allowed Corvo's conscious mind to finally wake up and become aware of everything he had done since blacking out.
'I didn't know I was capable of doing anything but dragging my feet… guess I still underestimate this body, no matter how much I abuse it.'
He looked down, observing the pool of blood the soles of his feet were soaking in, as well as the tens of guardsmen corpses laying within.
He didn't stop for a moment. He didn't have the luxury.
'I need to keep moving.'
One large step after the other, climbing two steps at a time, moving as fast as his broken body could.
By the time he reached the top of the giant flight of stairs, Corvo felt as if an eternity had passed.
"E-Emi- EMILY!"
He shouted, drawing from the diaphragm to project his voice as loud as he could. And he called for her, called for his one and only daughter in this world.
But all he was met with was a deafening silence that caused a bout of despair to worm into his insides, cold sweat starting to join the fever-influenced body fluids.
"…no… am I too late?!"
"No! Let me go! Corvo, help meee!!"
"Quiet now, child! Be still!"
Those distant words paused his thoughts like a dam, liquid relief pouring down his spine in response, but also more worry.
So with a strength he didn't know his unenhanced body possessed, Corvo sprinted up the stairs like a madman, breaking any objects blocking his way, bursting through any door with such strength that it tore them from their hinges as he continued the insane charge towards Emily.
BANG
CRASH
He made it up another flight of stairs, practically flying up them with how fast he was moving, but the sight that greeted him made him grit his teeth in rage.
"LET HER GO, HAVELOCK!!"
Corvo's voice broke free from his throat without thought, frightening the two at the end of the bridge, a bridge that led all the way down to the bottom of the island.
But the crazy look in Corvo's eyes, the aura of rage practically oozing off his skin alongside his blood, and the anger-fuelled shout seemed to scare them more than the fall for a brief moment.
"Stay where you are now, Corvo! Or I will jump with Emily with me!"
Havelock quickly regained his composure, tightening his grip around Emily's body.
"CORVO! Save me!"
Emily shouted desperately, but something seemed off about her. The usual childlike innocence that appeared in the little girl's eyes now seemed dull, calculating and calm.
Strange.
"Stop squirming, you stupid child! He won't move. Will you, Corvo? You had your chance to be a hero. In a minute this will be just another bloody mess you left behind. My guards will be here soon, and you are now weak enough for even the weakest man to take you down.
I mean, haha, just look at you, Corvo. Look at the pathetic state the mystical butcher of Dunwall is in! Can you even move at all? Can you even attempt to save your charge?!"
Havelock started laughing manically as he inched closer to the edge of the platform, enough that his heel rested over the edge.
His eyes almost pure red with how bloodshot they were, suggesting possible ingestion of drugs.
But instead of backing down, Corvo's lips split into a wide, malicious grin, one filled with a bloodlust that only comes from the murder of hundreds.
Havelock's own grin faltered for a second before breaking into laughter again.
"What's wrong, Corvo?! Is that injury on your head deeper than it looks, huh?!"
But in response, a quiet, whisper-like tone escaped him.
"…dead."
"HUH?! What was that, Corvo? Speak louder!"
"I killed all of them. Every! Last! One!"
And as asked, he spoke louder and louder to drive home his point.
Of course, Havelock's mouth fell open in shock, speechless at what he heard.
"…heheheheheheheehehehe!!!! I knew it! We had the right to be afraid! We should have listened to that fear before we betrayed you… I shouldn't have given the order, I am a fool."
Havelock backed up even more as his deranged screams turned into depressive whimpers. Now he stood with only the tips of his toes holding him up.
Corvo charged his body, drawing himself taut like a bowstring.
But in one last act to spite Corvo, the former admiral drew his gun as he leapt and fired.
BANG
The bullet hit Corvo in the foot, tripping him and sending him to the floor.
But this didn't stop him.
Ignoring the pain, Corvo rolled and forced himself forward, launching towards the edge.
"AGHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHHHHH?!"
In his fall, Havelock let go of Emily.
Emily was caught at the last second by Corvo, his body scraping along the metal.
With effort, he pulled her up and held her close.
"I always knew you'd save me. You're my hero."
Happiness bloomed in Corvo's chest as his vision started to fade.
"Yeah, you always save me, don't you, daddy!"
And that feeling vanished instantly.
Replaced by anger, confusion and fear.
But the fading didn't stop. It sped up.
"You can stop all this needless meddling now, Corvo. She won't need you anymore.."
Stab
Pierce
Thud
"In fact… she never did."
Pain both emotional and physical surged into as spikes pierced his body, paralysing his entirely.
"W-what?!"
"Be grateful, your daughter will live on eternally… under my care."
A twisted smile spread across her face as brambles and thorns formed around her.
"Under Delilah coldwins love embrace."
The plants wrapped around Corvo, tightening.
"Well then, off you go."
With a flick of her hand, Corvo's body was sent flying off the bridge.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUC-"
SPLAT
———
Volume 1: DISHONOURED (complete)
Word count:2,619