Preparations of the Forgotten

"Ergh... eeeegh... hnnng!"

Roach-chan squeaked and grunted as she slowly dragged Aziz across the broken stone streets in the City's back alleys. The Warlord simply lied down with his arms crossed in the image of a man laid to rest, as he let his subordinate bear the honor of transporting his presence back to the sect headquarters. This pace however... was not to the standards of Aziz.

"Is the weight of Aziz's might too much for you to bear, bug? If you are not able to handle this much, then perhaps a correction is needed..." Aziz chided. While he wasn't in danger of bleeding out from his injuries, the final attack from that impetulant fox child had left him with far greater damage then he thought, creating major fractures and internal damages within his muscle tissue. His legs took the brunt of the explosive force generated from her swan song, now left broken and useless, just like some certain individuals Aziz knew...

Aziz sat up as best he could considering his current state, keeping his lower back securely on the makeshift cloth cot fashioned from what material wasn't scorched into ash during the fight. He lifted his right hand, his form leaving no room for imperfections even in injured. Roach-chan chirped, redoubling her efforts.

"I'm sorry Aziz-sama! I used up my aura getting rid of those annoying simps who followed ugly bitch after they tried to stop us from leaving! I'll do better, I can-" She didn't get the chance to finish her words as Aziz's hand fell at a speed she couldn't even process, much less see. With a mighty cleaving motion, his strike hit true, tearing through flesh and bone as though it were made of water. Roach-chan instinctively flinched and closed her eyes despite the strike having reached its target long before her reflex's kicked in. After a momentary pause, she lifted one eyelid open, and both her eyes flew wide from shock as she laid witness to the brutal efficiency of Aziz.

With a meaty thud, one leg fell to the ground, and then the other.

"There. Now there should be no issues with carrying half a man, although Aziz supposes half of him would still be more than most weaklings who reside in this city." Aziz declared with a grin, displaying his now amputated body. "If the burden is still too great, then Aziz must reconsider your place as one of his Fists, for he doubts being reduced further as only a head is becoming of a warlord..."

Roach-chan stared in momentary awe and disbelief, before quickly regaining her composure. "No, no! This is more than enough, your grace, my liege, I mean Aziz-sama!" With half the weight and double the effort, the two set forth on a much speedier journey. Aziz eyed Roach-chan as she tirelessly pulled him through the winding paths, keeping them both in the shadows. Despite her skill in remaining undetected, it was easy to see that her focus was taken by some other far off thought, her gaze filled with the turmoil of questions unasked, her inner mind pushed down to remain her facade of professionalism and reliability in front of her kamioshi superior. Aziz leaned back down and closed his eyes, raising his hand with two fingers loosely extended.

"Aziz can see confliction in your thoughts. Speak your mind, lest it cloud your ability to perform on the battlefield later." Roach-chan jumped a bit at the sudden permission, startled at his ability to see right through her. She hesitantly gathered the courage and the words she desired answered.

"W-well, I was just wondering... not that I would ever doubt the great Aziz that is! ...but why didn't you go after the others? Even without your legs, you could have simply blown through any wall that stood between you and them." Roach nervously chittered. Aziz laid there in silence, the tension dragging on the pause that those seconds seemed to last for minutes, before bursting out laughing.

"Is that really all you were considering? Why Aziz did not slaughter the rest?" Aziz barked out another laugh. Roach-chan's antennae flickered from a mix of curiosity and nervousness. It wasn't very often Aziz found something so entertaining outside of fighting. His laughter slowly died down into a light chuckle, before he responded once again. "Good, that's good. There's a considerable difference between those who follow orders blindly, versus those who seek to understand them. The latter tends to live longer..." Aziz shifted his weight more comfortably so that he can look at the back of Roach-chan as he spoke. "If you really desire the reason why, it was simply not their time yet."

"Not their time? But they dared to stand beside that streaming whore! They should have been flayed alive and have their heads put on a spike!" Roach-chan muttered, getting increasingly agitated and aggressive, turning to look at Aziz only to receive an air compressed flick to the forehead. Her head rolled back from the impact and she crouched down as she chittered in pain, hands rubbing the small bump starting to form. Aziz slowly lowered his hand, aura dissipating in small waves around his fingertips.

"Do not think just because I allowed you to speak your mind gives you permission to let your passion run wild." Roach-chan eeked out a small sorry as Aziz settled down again and signaled for her to continue walking.

"While you can see all the ways to destroy the enemy in front of you, Aziz sees the way to destroy even the enemies who do not appear before him. As there are times you need a precise hand," Aziz raises his hand with his fingers outstretched, letting Aura pulse through his wrist and into his palms, spreading into his knuckles and down the rest of his digits. "There are also times where you need to be a strong fist to break through any obstacle in your way." He slowly closes his hand into a fist, letting more of his aura seep into it until a faint blue glow started to shine beneath his tattoos. "To let your enemy mistake you in being only capable of one or the other is the first step to victory."

He could sense the confusion on her face without even looking, and continued. "Aziz could have severed her soul from that body in a single strike, but they would have forever hid from his sight thereafter, vanishing their presence from this earth for as long as he remained. By letting them think Aziz is no more than a barbaric fool, they'll only recognize his strength, and plan only on how to counteract it." The aura concentrated itself even further, traveling beneath his hand wrappings and condensing itself into his thumb and middle finger. "As word spreads of such simple performance and strategy, it will bring the rest of the worms out from the woodworks who think it is only a matter of physical power to defeat Aziz, drawing them out to be crushed in one blow." He extended the rest of his fingers while keeping his middle finger drawn back, covering the fingernail with his thumb, aura practically humming within the delicate appendages. "Do you understand now?" Roach-chan nodded repeatedly, bringing a small grin to Aziz' face.

"Good." Aziz uncurled his finger in a flicking motion, unleashing a sudden burst of force beside Roach-chan's head and into the sky. A strangled {SQUAWK} was heard, before a previously flying crow landed in a broken heap at her feet. "Now eat up and recover your strength. We've nearly arrived at our destination." Roach-chan reached down with one hand, picking up the bird's corpse and biting into it with small pleased murmurs. In the distance, the familiar structure of their headquarters loomed.


[Fists of Aziz Headquarters]

Getting the legless Warlord up the entrance's stairs was easy compared to trudging through the tight twists and turns they navigated before. The doors opened long before they stood at its foot, the other members spying their approach. They did not meet Aziz' return however, as they may only be seen when Aziz himself requests their presence, forcing them to stay out of eyesight while they operated in the background. Aziz scanned the halls for those who might be found lacking in their efforts, and was carried by Roach-chan down the seemingly empty building with small satisfaction that there didn't seem to be a single living thing residing within. That is, except for the muffled cries of one individual.

Roach-chan hurried down the halls with Aziz in tow, hanging onto her back. While on one hand, she'd use any opportunity to get closer to Aziz-sama, both physically and emotionally, she also didn't want to keep him waiting to meet his guest. So, she'll take any small victories she can, practically skipping down the hall and perhaps squeezing Aziz's thighs close to her far more securely then she needed. In a few short moments, they stood outside the door where the choked wails of the visitor inside sat. Roach-chan grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it open, practically beaming as she entered. "Stand ready for Aziz' arrival, you worm!" she yelled, striding into the room and slamming the door behind her.

"Down, Roach." Aziz commanded, signaling with a small hand gesture to let him off, to which Roach-chan complied squatting down with a small arf! Confusion briefly flickered across his face, before deciding to ignore Roach's eccentricities for the sake of his own sanity as he disembarked and lifted himself down in front of his guest. They were forced to kneel on the floor, their head obscured by a thick burlap sack fastened over it, tears staining its front. With a motion practiced countless times in the past, Aziz drew his finger in a swift line across the surface of the fabric, cutting it apart and roughly yanking off the remainder.


The man behind the mask was of no particular qualities, being of no memorable note in anything from stature, attractiveness, or reputation. For all purposes, he was just a random person picked off the streets. Precisely because of those lack of qualities is why he was chosen, as he was a nobody to the rest of the world, an insignificant insect in the grand scheme of things. He blinked rapidly, his tear swollen eyes adjusting to the light and getting rid of the blurriness to see the situation he was in. Before him sat a legless man covered in various wounds and scars, staring intently into his eyes. Standing beside them was a strange insectoid woman crouching down to match the man's level, although she was more preoccupied with the male amputee's hair then looking directly at him.

"W-who are you? What do you want? D-do you want money? I don't have much but I got some saved up, it's all yours..." The man choked out his pleas, his throat dry and worn from his desperation in captivity. The insect woman's face curled in indignation, taking her attention off what he assumed was her boss, and towards him.

"How dare you not address Aziz-sama properly?! After I already introduced him too?!" She made a move towards him, her arm extended as to grab him, and he flinched turning his head away in fear of being harmed. Suddenly the legless man intercepted her, raising his arm and brushing her's aside. She jolted at his touch, and turned to sit down in meek silence. The man before him leaned forward, his face plastered with a smile that seemed filled with more malice than pleasantry.

"Do not worry, my friend. You are in the presence of Aziz now. For you have been chosen to serve in a higher purpose." Aziz withdrew himself, sitting up straight, his hands unfurled in a nonthreatening stance. The man didn't know what to make of it, but it felt like the person in front of him commanded immense respect, carrying a composure that bore a higher strength behind it. He swallowed nervously.

"A-Are you going to kill me?" He could barely force himself to ask it above a whisper, as he almost didn't want to know the answer. Aziz shook his head and looked back at the man.

"If any man can give a reason for themselves to live, then they could freely walk through these doors. So then, what is yours?" The offer of freedom hung in the air tantalizingly, he just needed the right words to say.

"Well, I, uh-" He didn't get to plead his case any further as his head was ripped from his shoulders, the rest of his body falling suddenly still. It was doubtful that he would have even realize he had been killed, as his soul was ripped from his body at the same time as his neck. Aziz' hand stood raised, still aimed at the empty space above their torso, the only evidence that it had been his actions to have severed the man from the mortal coil. His hand shifted, gently waving Roach-chan to move to his side.

"If you couldn't speak with conviction to prove that your life held any value, then you lacked the conviction to live at all." Aziz was speaking to no one in particular at this point, as it wasn't as though that man could hear him now. Their body still stood upright, kneeling before him like an offering to a god. Roach-Chan stood above him, brushing against his shoulder. Aziz simply gave a small nod before turning his hand onto his own neck.

{SWSSH}

Roach-Chan leaned down to catch his head before it fell to the ground, bringing it close to her chest. She cradled his skull as though it were a precious treasure, scurrying quickly over to the other corpse. With measured precision and practiced composure, she slowly set the severed head down onto the waiting neck of the fresh body, backing up to watch expectantly.

Aziz's head remained still and lifeless, until a momentary twitch of the neck signaled his stirring back from death. He rolled his shoulders one at a time, flexing his neck as though he were waking from a long slumber to revive his stiffened physique. As Roach-Chan watched as Aziz adapted to his new body, she could see the discoloration forming across his borrowed skin, tattoos weaving their way throughout his musculature, marking it as his own. He stood up, straightening his back to revel in his renewed height and vigor.

"It seems that this one will do quite nicely." He flexed his fingers, already feeling the muscle memory imbued into his very soul flowing into it. Aziz looked down to his legless corpse, already decaying and shriveling into a emaciated state. He waved his hand away at it, addressing Roach-chan without looking her. "Dispose of it. You may do with it as you will as long as it is out of my sight." Roach-chan took no delay as she skittered up and took the dismembered body in her arms, clutching it tightly.

"Oh, oh! Thank you, Aziz-sama! Your kindness is far too much for a bug as lowly as me..." She bowed, walking backwards out of the room as she did to take her leave and bring the spoils of war to her lair. He didn't know whether she planned to caress it or to consume it, and he didn't care. It wasn't as though he were attached to a useless rotting body he couldn't even use.

Aziz had more important matters to attend to. A new body meant new opportunities to use it, and there were plenty of those in the City Between who needed to be shown the true path of the conqueror. He grinned. It was about time he started to demonstrate why he was known as the Almighty, and to let the world know exactly why it is his banner that will take it by storm.

Edit

Pub: 09 Mar 2025 23:39 UTC

Edit: 10 Mar 2025 18:12 UTC

Views: 125