328: Resolve

328: Resolve

“Got any more pets?” Number Seven asked Uma as he rested his massive forearms against the straight, blunt part of his giant rectangular blade.

“Come here and find out, coward!” Uma answered, looking at the muscle mountain with anger and disgust.

“Coward?” the giant man asked. “I chose to stay, unlike that beastkin woman who’s now at the bottom of some pit.”

“Don’t even pretend!” Uma shouted. “You attacked that girl from behind! Unprovoked! Uncalled for!”

“Uncalled for? Did you forget that her, you, me, all of us are still part of the Games? Or did someone announce their cancellation?”

“You… You’re still participating?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Of course! Didn’t you hear the final task that Felicia gave us?”

“After all that has happened? How can you even… You said yourself that you would not participate in this! That Number Ten had the right idea!”

“I said that I have no interest in the so-called prize,” Number Seven shrugged. “And Number Ten did have the right idea. I would have killed her too, just like Seventeen, just like you.”

“Y-you… Deceiver! Scum!!”

“And you’re a fool,” Number Seven stated, unfazed by Uma’s insults. “What stopped you from attacking me when you had so many opportunities? Just because you heard what you wanted to hear? Just like Seventeen, holding on to some stupid virtues or sense misplaced sense of justice as if that makes you better than me or anyone else.”

“I’m nothing like you! You’re a simple brute. An emotionless killing machine!”

“Really? What about when you had fun ripping your teammate to pieces?”

“That was different! He betrayed those that trusted him! A cowardly backstabber, attacking from behind! Scum, just like you! His treachery received a deserved punishment! As will yours!”

“How was he in the wrong for trying to survive?” Number Seven asked. “Only one was making it out alive out of each team. Did you offer to slit your throat so that someone else may live?”

“W-we had a plan.”

“Did that plan conveniently have you as the survivor?” Number Seven’s smile grew wider when Uma did not answer. “Ha! So, then you flip out and torture in most inhumane ways possible anyone that goes against you? Aren’t you a little tyrant!”

“Don’t talk as if you were there!” Uma burst out. “No wonder that one backstabber would sympathize with another!”

“Right, you’re all about a ‘fair fight’,” Number Seven chuckled. “Then why didn’t you help Number Forty when she was outnumbered one to seven? Or when she was thrown straight into another fight? Or how about helping Number Sixty-nine when she was wounded and surrounded? You had plenty of chances to intervene. But you were content with sitting on the sidelines. What good is all your talk if you behave just like everyone else?”

Uma’s unflinching resolution cracked further and for a split second her eyes wandered from Number Seven.

“Now who’s thinking only about themselves?” Number Seven asked. “Just like Seventeen. Idle on the sidelines until the wind changes. You’re the cowards! You just changed sides when that double-dicked woman gained the upper hand on Felicia! And if she didn’t? We both know you would have just stood there and watched that dickgirl get raped and torn to pieces! The only difference between you and me is that you’re a hypocrite!”

“I see,” Uma said quietly and lowered her head. The bangs of her gory-colored hair fell over her eyes, casting a shadow over them. “I should have expected as much. A man who only has his size and never hesitates to use it in most brutal ways possible… Of course, you would show no remorse for what you have done.”

Uma then looked at the pile of flesh at Number Seven’s feet. “But that girl did not have your size! Nor did she have your strength! Yet she had more spirit than you! … Than me… She dared to aim higher than following orders like a mindless slave! She had a dream. A dream of avenging her brother. Of returning his name to the world. Not only did you rob her of her life, but you also mocked her dream as she died!

“Know this! I, Uma Sophia Anderson, do solemnly swear that I will find not let Seventeen’s and her brother’s names fade into nothingness! As for you… I’m glad that your body is as tough as it appears: you’ll last longer than Aldrich.”