Dark and Askal wait behind the balete tree, hiding in the shadows with their sniper rifles pointed at an old mansion, looking similar to newly renovated ones you see now acting as tourist spots in Ilocos. Very old and beautiful buildings are just surrounding them, and they are silently prepared to shoot.
The congressman came from a limousine with his wife and three mistresses, along with his children.
Hercules sighed, hiding with Dark, watching from the bushes using his telescopic vision.
Askal sighs, standing up. "Imma take a piss."
She walks away, and Dark just breathes shakily.
Hercules turns to Dark. "You're okay?"
"No. The fuck. Our boss wants us to murder an entire fucking family. CHILDREN."
"Not everyone... in this team... agrees... with his methods."
"Why?"
"They're called Shroomen. And we need them dead."
"Okay. I like that they're called that. Now, EXPLAIN THE FUCKING CONTEXT."
"I don't know anything either."
"Don't you have super hearing and telepathy?"
"Our boss is really good. Can't hear him whisper about the Shroomen, nor can I even hear his thoughts."
"How the fuck can you NOT hear his thoughts!?"
"I have no idea, man."
"Fuck!" Dark facepalmed.
"I thought you were a killer."
"I don't kill kids just because some guy thinks it's the right thing to do for whoever the fuck for."
"Hm," said Hercules.
Hercules and Dark silently looked in the distance.
Hercules side eyes Dark, looking at Dark's lips and smooth skin, and down to his molecules and atoms.
Dark smirks, turning to him. "I mean. Some things do keep me at ease."
Hercules smirks. "That so?"
Dark's eyes widened as they entered the mansion, now seen at the window, all of which changed the way they walked. Instead of having the demeanor of a corrupt poolitician with depressed children, they all walk in a file.
Dark asks. "The fuck?"
"I think we should kill them," said Askal. "Something's... wrong with them."
"Askal. You said it yourself. We don't kill kids."
"Yeah. But fucking something is wrong with that. Look! They aren't using bagoong! What kind of sick family DOES THAT!?!?"
"That isn't grounds for murder. It's the fact we suspect their status as Shroomen."
"The fuck are Shroomen?" asked Askal.
"Mhm... Yeah," said Hercules. "Habagat says to kill all of them."
"Oh. NOW you hear the whispers."
"Not for the Shroomen. Just\-... Dude. Do it."
Dark begins hyperventilating.
Askal facepalms and grabs a sniper rifle. "I'll do it... Fuck..."
"Askal?" asked Hercules, seeing her eyebrow twitch. "Askal. Breathe."
"I'm cool."
"You don't look cool. Just breathe, dude."
Askal sighs.
"What happened!?" asked Habagat, in the van nearby.
Kagitingan turns to her and shakes his head.
Habagat facepalms. "Fuck. Shit. Why won't she shoot!?"
Hercules grabs her shoulder. "Calm... down..."
Suddenly, they hear screeching in the distance.
Askal looks back through the telescope. No one is there. "Fuck. They're gone."
Hercules holds his fists up.
Dark takes out his katana as two children and three women, screeching like animals, attack Askal and Hercules.
Dark backs away. "Is that a fucking Alamanhig!?"
"Oh... Shroomen are Alaman-..." Hercules punches the child to the ground as he regenerates and crawls on all fours like a spider, hissing at him.
"What are they!?" asked Askal, shooting at a mistress who regenerates.
The Alamanhig bites her, and she feels a tickling sensation that makes her laugh uncontrollably.
Dark spills his own blood at the wound, as she heals immediately.
Askal gasps as the children begin beating her down.
"FUCK!!!" yelled Askal.
Suddenly, the Alamanhigs began ripping her hair out before leaving, waddling away and returning to the "Wife".
Her "husband", whose eyes are tucked in while looking up so much so that only the eyeball can be seen, groans and waddles toward them, holding a knife. They walked stiffly, with their limbs stiff and bodies stiffly upright.
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They charge, waddling forward and screaming with their bloody teeth out, and stab at Hercules over and over, even causing him to bleed somehow.
"Fuck..." said Hercules. "Demon Blood..."
The children laugh as the tallest one, the congressman, headbutts Dark over and over.
Dark backs away. "This one's different from the others. Fuck. Kinulam..."
The Congressman screeches with bloody lips and beats Dark and Askal down to the ground.
The Congressman even bites into Dark's throat, forcing Dark to stab him into the brainstem, but he kept on beating Dark, so Askal takes out a grenade as the Congressman, trying to chomp her, bites into the grenade and his head blows up, brains everywhere, but the headless body keeps beating the pair down.
Dark turns to Hercules, who is still getting stabbed. "Kill them. They're fucking zombies."
Hercules, now with blood leaking out from his abs, is forced to blast heat vision at the children, killing them all.
The trio, beaten and bruised, then face the Congressman's wife, who just waltzes next to them.
"Hello!" smiled the elderly woman. "Hi! Would you like to come in?"
Dark takes out his katana to try to kill her, but then she grabs a doll made of twigs and snaps his arms' bones by snapping a twig of the doll.
Dark booms roaring, falling to his knees.
She snaps the fish spine of the doll, and snaps Dark's own spine backwards.
Askal takes out a bolo and prepares to kill her.
The witch smiles and prepares to cut off the doll's head with a pair of scissors.
Askal's nose twitches.
"Aw! Your eyes... I don't see a killer. All I see are two traumatized children... who failed to grow up."
Askal's eyes quivered. Her breath is shaky.
"Well?" asked Askal, lips twitching. "Dark? Didn't this bitch invite us for dinner?"
Dark snaps his body back to normal, forcefully, regenerating.
Hercules backs away in horror.
"Aw! A demigod! Good thing you're part Human. I have three dolls for you. Possibly even more."
"Fuck..." said Dark, backing away.
Askal sighs, leading the way, and the trio walks into the mansion.
Sitting down at the table, the trio just looked closely at the witch.
"They say that Filipinos have too many politicians. Especially in recent times, no?"
The trio looked at each other before going about. Dark was bouncing his leg and looking around. Hercules was just locked in, staring at her. Askal, meanwhile, was just ignoring everything, merely listening.
"Why are you in my house? Hm? You killed my alipin and fucked with me? Who the fuck are you?"
Hercules answered. "We are a task force working for Maharlica-152. We were tasked with assassinating you because you have something to do with this Earth's Shinpinoshima."
"'This Earth's'..." she quoted before chuckling. "You realize that this Earth is much, much more important than many other Earths, right? Earth-777. One of the many Earths of the universe, very similar to the famous Earth-152. Prior to B-Day." Her eyes look up at their faces. "Breakdown day." She furthered. "Your little hero task force is absolutely pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. You realize what I am, right? I mean. Now..."
"Yes. You're a Mangkukulam. You use a portion of the primordial power of evil known as self-faith, Kulam, which allows you to tap into a force of extreme power, letting you bend reality to your will. Though it takes away much more of your humanity, eating away what's left of it the more you tap into this power."
"Well, least I'm not a Martian Colonist, no?"
"Hahahahhahaha!" Askal laughed. "Oh. Wonderful, yeah? You think that bewitching people is an argument of order?"
"Among other things..." she tapped her fingers across the table. Her eyes widened psychotically. "I had my husband hammer his skull down into one of those mistresses."
"Why did you kill your own family?"
She smiles. "Those aren't my family. Just a political dynasty filled with aristocrats I enjoyed murdering. Just for fun! I'm their stepmother, as they call it."
"You murdered those children," said Dark.
"Political Younglings, if ever! I am trying my best to save this country. My husband was... weak, for lack of a better term. He was too afraid to accept his calling to join his empire."
"Whose empire?" asked Hercules.
"You really were just pulled into this war without knowing anything, hm? Ever heard of the King of Shinpinoshima?"
"Our butler came from there," said Dark. "He's gone now, but he was the one who trained us with the arts."
"Sorry. Aren't you two siblings?" asked the witch.
"Not exactly. I am John Stevenson. Crashlanded on the island when I was six. Adopted by the blacksmith Daisuke, who became her butler and father figure, prior to our current adoptive father, the Buwaya..."
"Ah, yes! You two killed Daisuke."
"He made us do it," said Dark, furrowing his eyebrows and standing up.
"His blood is in your hands, though," said the witch. "I'm not surprised. After all, you two are children, each given a revolver. I don't think you'd ever be-..."
Dark slams the table, angrily.
The witch smiles, and somehow, Hercules' wrist is shattered.
Dark frowns. "I'm sorry."
Hercules grunts, but immediately heals from the witch.
"So, you're the King's accomplice."
"Oh, no, no, no! If anything, I'm just here to fuck with him! I am far too scared to even fight him, myself, indeed! My goodness! I am technically on your side. The Congressman was afraid, so he went to Shinpinoshima to partake in stealing funds from our government to use them for his own gain. He got scared... So he went to the King for help. The King had my children killed with this moron. So, I married him, killed his children, and the rest is history."
"We're still gonna kill you for killing those innocent children," said Askal.
"How?" smirked the witch.
Suddenly, a dagger slams into her face, killing her.
The dagger was from Dark's monkey-like tail.
"Well, you probably didn't know this. My brother... is... half Aswang."
The witch wheezed and fell to the ground, crawling away.
"I don't kill children. Child killers deserve to fucking die," she said, holding a knife at her face before cutting out her ear. "I'm called a street dog for a reason, bitch... You fucked with the wrong bitch."
"He was corrupt-..."
Askal cut her more. "Those children were innocent. And I will enjoy doing this for them..."
The witch whimpered, cried, before wheezing her last breath. "You two are nothing but... pieces of shit..."Askal's eyes quivered as she delivered the finishing blow.
Later... back at the compound, the siblings sigh, sleeping on separate beds in the same room.
"What's wrong?" asked Dark.
"I'm beginning to think we're fucking maniacs," said Askal.
Dark sighs. "You think so, too?"
Askal nods. She keeps her mouth under the sheets and peers out from the darkness. "Dad made us kill Daisuke."
"Dad is a racist psychopath who thinks killing Daisuke, a Shinpinoshiman, was the right call."
"You ever think we should've joined the Black Spiral? We... were told by Unbreakable that hope is meant to be enforced. I agreed with it for the most part. But something felt off... killing that one guy. Reaper. It almost felt like he was a good person. And we killed him for the wrong reasons."
Dark sighs. "We've killed a lot more for Stefan."
"But he... died... begging. I didn't... I didn't like that."
"What's your point?"
"I think I don't wanna kill people no more."
Dark closes his eyes. He rolls over, turning away from her and falling asleep.
Askal closed her eyes...
She remembered Daisuke...
Daisuke smiled, patting her head, while the two siblings laughed while he trained them both.
Daisuke smiled, patting John's head.
John asks. "Can I get ice cream after all this?"
"Ah, ah... You can't have too many sweets, kid..."
Emilia smiles, hugging Daisuke, giggling. "Was I a good strike?"
"Yes, you were, love!" laughed Daisuke, before seeing a bruise on her shoulder. He sighs, and warmly puts the bruise on ice. "This from our training?"
Emilia looks down.
"Em?"
"My Daddy's really mad sometimes..."
Daisuke's smile faded away. "I'll have a word with him... Just... clean your brother's wounds, okay?"
"I wish you were my Dad," she sighed.
Suddenly, Mister Li enters the vicinity. "Excellent," said Mister Li. "A word with you, Daisuke?"
The two siblings are seen ripping their hair out, strands falling from their scalp ,while they hear their father yell at them, berating the poor foreigner.
"I was hired and told to train your child. Not whatever the hell this is... You're training them for nefarious purposes-..."
"FUCK!!!" Mr. Li slams his fist into Daisuke's face.
"Daddy?" asked a younger Emilia, Askal, who watches her father beat Daisuke and strangle him on the floor.
He hands the two screwdrivers. "Kill him."
A younger John whimpers. "He's my Dad."
"Yeah. Well, this fucking putrid Shimmy is going to fuckin' die and I'm your new daddy. Lest you wanna fucking die like the pussy you are." The old man places a blade by his neck.
Daisuke tears up. "Mister Li. Don't do this... They're children."
"Do it, you fuckin' f**."
Dark and Askal are born as they approach their father figure. Daisuke smiles, touching their cheeks while they cried for him. "It's going to be okay. I will meet you in Langit. I love you two..."
"Do it, or I'll slit your throats..." smirked Mister Li.
Daisuke, to make it easier for them, holds their hands while the screwdriver approached his chest.
And... they stabbed...
Askal can be heard crying in her bed, whimpering, while Dark pretended to sleep.