Maxwell and Simon leapt into the pit, slowly rising to face the adversaries before them. Shawn giggled at them as the creature he rode moved closer.

“What were you two talking about up there? How best to iron your dresses?”

The two men just kept walking closer. Shawn shook his head and ran his tongue across his teeth. He pointed at them with his inhuman arm, and the creature began to bring its arm back yet again.

“You two just don’t know when to quit.”

The fist plowed into the ground as the two of them dodged yet again. Maxwell slowly rose up and glanced over at Simon, who nodded. It was time to enact Simon’s “plan”.

When Simon had described the plan to him, Maxwell had originally been against it. He was man who stuck to a particular morale code. He was a man who tried his best to stick to a sense of honor. He hadn’t always been that way, but that was why it was more important for him to be that way now.

The “Skum”, or whatever Shawn had called it, continued to throw out punches, all the while inching farther into the building. As he ran and dodged, Maxwell reached his left arm to his right shoulder, where flesh met metal. He pressed a hidden switch and a panel snapped open. His hand carefully grasped a small gear that jutted out of the mechanisms within.

Maxwell always made sure that his arm was specially calibrated. He never wanted to have an unfair advantage against his opponent, and so his mechanical arm always struck the same as his human arm. Simon, however, realized that this meant his arm had an “uncalibrated” setting, and included that fact in his plan.

Maxwell twisted the gear, and the sound of screeching metal began to ring out. Springs began to tighten, cogs began to snap together, and pneumatics began to work overtime. He didn’t like using this, no matter how awesome it was, but Simon had made an excellent point.

“You want to talk about honor? Fairness? We are fighting for not only our own lives, but the lives of others. Our enemy isn’t playing by any rules, so why should we?”

Those words stuck with him, and as he closed the panel on his shoulder, his hand moved to his back, just below his neck. He couldn’t feel it beneath his shirt, but he knew the mark was still there. Maybe it was time to move on, and stop dwelling on the past.

The monster brought back both of its arms this time, and released one at each of the men. Maxwell barely sidestepped the fist, and began charging the beast. He glanced at Simon, who had jumped on top of the creature’s arm and was running along it towards the head.

“Wha… what are you fools doing?”

Maxwell ignored Shawn and brought his right arm back.

“That didn’t work the first time Maxwell, what makes you think this time will be any different? Hey! Are you even listening to me?!”

“Overclocked!”

“What?”

Maxwell’s fist drove into the monster’s stomach, its entire form quivering as metal met monster. The fist drove deeper than last time, each individual component of the arm working at maximum efficiency. The Skum’s eyes bulged out of its head, and its entire body lurched backwards.

As the Skum began falling backwards, its mouth flopped open. Shawn’s arms spiraled as he tried to keep his balance, but he failed and fell to the ground. Simon, meanwhile, had leapt into the air. As he passed over the Skum’s open maw, he pulled something out of his pocket.

In his hand, Simon clutched a small beige stone, with a rune carved onto its surface. He pressed the rune, and it began to glow with a faint orange light. He dropped the runerock into the open mouth of the monster, and tumbled away as he hit the ground next to the creature.

The monster closed its mouth and made a gulping noise. It slowly stood up, its stomach gurgling. Maxwell slowly backed away, steam curling off of his fist. Shawn rose to his feet and laughed.

“You call that a punch? You just put him off kilter!” His knife twirled, a green light radiating off it, “Now, finish the job!”

The Skum wasn’t moving. Instead, its eyes bulged as a loud booming noise echoed outward, its stomach bulging at the same time. Its eyes turned milky white, and its mouth opened, black smoke curling out from it. Simon smiled.

“I knew that would come in handy. That was twenty crowns well spent.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but that was GREAT!”

The Skum continued to leak black smoke, and it slowly began to fall backwards, directly on top of Shawn. Unfortunately for Simon and Maxwell, the monster dispersed entirely before landing on him, and he was instead hit by a wave of smoke.

Through the smoke, Simon and Maxwell could see Shawn’s form shaking, illuminated by the light from his dagger. Maxwell stretched his mechanical arm, compressed air leaking from it in short bursts as he prepared for another punch. Simon flexed his hands, creating a sword in one and charging electricity with the other.

“You two… are roaches!” The smoke began to clear, “You are horrible, irredeemable blemishes on the face of this world, just like everyone else!” His head was tilted down, his teeth grinding against each other, “But unlike others, you refuse to lie down and accept your fate at my hands. JUST DIE!”

Shawn stepped from the smoke, his eyes filled with malice that almost seemed to wrap around the room, chilling the air. His mouth was curled downwards, and he was no longer laughing. His left arm twitched uncomfortably, the inhuman fingers moving like bony flesh snakes.

“You think that you can kill us?! All you have is a knife and a stupid little arm!”

“Maxwell… Why do you have to provoke him like that?”

Shawn held out his arms, and the glow from his dagger began to increase. In fact, it was almost as though the light was moving, extending outwards. The light began to stretch over and around Shawn, and wrapped around his left, inhuman arm. The dagger stopped glowing, and the arm began to bulge.

A tearing noise echoed throughout building. Shawn’s arm began to split, tearing down from in between each finger, and ending at his shoulder. Soon the arm had become five separate fleshy protrusions, each one moving independently of each other. As Simon and Maxwell watched in horror, each protrusion began to extend and thicken, growing five smaller bulges of flesh at the end.

Shawn now had five sinew-covered arms extending from his twisted shoulder, but they still kept stretching. By the time they had finished, the forearm of each arm was about as long as Maxwell was tall. They extended into the air, moving around in erratic patterns.

“I didn’t want to do this, but then again, I suppose it would be a fitting end for you. Dying by the hands of the arm you gave me.”

The numerous hands brought back their fingers, and slivers of bone emerged from each, tearing through the flesh. The now-formed claws pointed in the direction of Simon and Maxwell. Shawn’s mouth slowly curled into a smile.

“It’s time for the grand finale.”