Eater Blade: Grinding in Apocalypse-Chapter 37: TANKER REMATCH — A NEW SLAVE FOR JOHNQUIS?

They slipped through the maintenance stairwell, Dancer prowling ahead on silent claws. Johnquis felt the hum in his bones before he heard it, that damn "Seaside Savings" jingle drifting up through the cracks like a lullaby from hell.

"♫ Where every day’s a sunny day... come down to Seaside Savings! ♫"

His feet hit the next landing. One more flight down. The air tasted... sweet? Like fake cotton candy on stale air-conditioning. The moment they pushed through the stairwell door, it slammed into him: a whole shopping floor, untouched. Or pretending to be.

He froze in the doorway, chain slack in his fist. Dancer eased up beside him, hackles bristling.

The entire concourse lay ahead. Bright, almost too bright. Neon banners flickered above rows of open stores: an ice cream shop, shoe stores, toy shops. In the atrium’s heart, a carousel turned in slow circles, its painted horses bobbing up and down with hollow smiles. Clean tiled floors glowed under perfect fluorescent strips. Mannequins in beach hats lined up behind glass. If you didn’t smell the blood, you’d think this place was ready for a summer sale.

"♫ Savings never end... sunshine and smiles for everyone... ♫"

The music cooed on loop, echoing down the polished corridors. Johnquis’ teeth ground together, that syrupy cheer gnawed at the back of his brain worse than any Eater snarls.

Dancer growled low, pacing ahead of him. She paused by a perfume kiosk, nose twitching. The mix of blood and cheap perfume made her snarl, irritation flaring in her eyes. Then she froze.

There. Half-slumped in front of a glass storefront: Archer. Or what was left of him. His body sprawled beneath the flickering sign for WAVE-RIDERS SWIMWEAR. His throat was a yawning hole, edges ripped ragged. His stomach... split wide open, guts piled on the pristine tile like some butcher’s display. Flies buzzed around his vacant eyes, while the shop behind him stayed spotless — bikinis on sale racks, mannequins frozen in plastic summer smiles.

Johnquis swallowed, dragging the back of his wrist across his mouth. Bile and rage tasted the same.

"That wound... reminds me of something," he muttered. He met Dancer’s eyes.

"Yeah. That’s how a Runner does it. Always the throat. Always the belly."

He stepped closer. The blood spread like a dark halo under Archer’s body, soaking into the too-white tile. Dancer nudged the corpse with her claw, sniffed once, then snapped her head toward the hallway ahead.

More up there. He knew that look.

They pushed deeper. The carousel came into view, lights spinning lazy circles on the walls. The horses bobbed up and down, paint untouched, their eyes glassy with permanent glee. Plastic carnival music mixed with the mall jingle in a nightmare lullaby.

Something glistened at the base of the carousel. Johnquis squinted — shapes. Armor. Limbs.

[HIGH EATER]

[CLASS: Tanker]

[LEVEL: 2]

[FEED POINTS: +1000]

He moved in slow, every step a drumbeat of dread.

The Shieldbearer lay crumpled under the Tanker’s massive foot. You could barely call it a body more like a wet sack of bones and flattened meat. The shield, was snapped in half like a cheap dinner plate, embedded in his ruined torso.

But that wasn’t what made his gut twist.

It was the Tanker itself — a huge, sick monster of muscle and bone. Its skin looked like cracked asphalt, rough and gray. Thick ribs bulged under its rotten flesh, violet veins throbbing with each heavy breath.

It sat low on its back legs, claws sunk deep in the Spearwoman’s broken body like a child tearing up a doll. Her suit was peeled back, ribs split wide open like snapped sticks. The Tanker made a low humming sound — a deep, ugly noise that mixed with the carousel’s broken music.

Johnquis felt Dancer’s claws tap against his leg — her sign that it was time to kill.

The Tanker’s big head twitched, its flat skull scraping the metal pole above it. Its tiny eyes locked onto them with that blank, insect stare.

Then, with a wet snort that sprayed blood across the fake white horse, it grabbed the Spearwoman’s corpse by what was left of her neck.

Johnquis’s breath caught in his throat.

"Don’t—"

It threw her.

Her broken body flew through the air like trash, ribs splitting open mid-flight. She crashed into a row of candy dispensers behind them, glass and neon sugar showered down like confetti. A half-crushed lollipop rolled to Johnquis’ feet, pink and spotted with blood.

The Tanker stood up, each step hit the floor with a bone-deep boom that made the carousel lights shake. Its claws flexed and curled, strips of flesh hanging off its knuckles.

"♫ Come down to Seaside Savings... smiles for everyone... ♫"

Johnquis bared his teeth, the chain coiling tighter in his grip than ever before.

"What the fuck? Did that Tanker just throw us a corpse? You sick freak."

Dancer hissed, heel-blade scraping sparks on the perfect tile. Her eyes glowed under the rainbow spin of the carousel lights.

Johnquis cracked his neck, the chain rattling. "Alright then, big boy. You pissed me off. We aren’t your toys."

The Tanker bellowed,"GRUUUUHHHHRRRAAAHHH!"

A roar deeper than thunder that rattled the mannequins in their glass cases. The carousel horses spun behind it, plastic smiles frozen in glee as if they were about to witness the next act of slaughter.

Johnquis felt the vibration in his bones and beside him, Dancer was already quivering, foot-blade carving tiny grooves in the pristine tile. Her violet eyes locked onto the Tanker’s bulk like she was itching to test her power on all that meat and armor.

"Oh, you want this one, huh? Fine. Just don’t get greedy without me."

He rolled his shoulders, chain coiling tight, sparks dancing at his fingertips.

"Dancer... you feel like wrecking this pretty floor?"

She clicked, one crisp, savage sound. Yes.

Then she lunged, her heel-blade shrieking across the tiles in a trail of sparks as she closed the distance.

She carved a line straight at the Tanker’s knee joint, foot-blade flashing under the carousel’s strobing lights. The Tanker swung one massive arm but this time, she slipped under it, the blade slicing deep into the tendon under its armored hide.

CRACK!

The Tanker roared, knee buckling sideways with a spray of black-violet blood.

Johnquis laugh, "Holy shit! Look at you now, first time we fought a Tanker, it almost flattened us like roaches! And now you’re out here turning its leg into mince? I love this dance!"

Dancer landed behind it, spinning low, her foot-blade tore back through another strip of thick armored flesh like it was paper. The monster’s flesh hissed and split, it stumbled, bellowing, carousel lights spinning around its hulking form like a warped stage show. frёewebnoѵēl.com

Johnquis was already moving, chain looping out like a whip. He hooked it around the Tanker’s neck, boots skidding on the polished floor. He planted his feet, muscles burning.

"Come on! Come on! Let’s see how you like a choke chain, big boy!"

But the Tanker just reared up, the chain grinding against its iron-like plates. The vibration shot down the links and slammed straight into Johnquis’s arms. His teeth rattled.

"Goddammit—"

He pulled again. Nothing. The Tanker’s hide didn’t even dent. He felt the chain quiver, a reminder that this wasn’t flesh he could tame so easily.

Meanwhile, Dancer was everywhere. A flash under the flickering carousel. She bounded onto a painted horse, vaulted off its fake mane, and slammed her heel-blade straight into the Tanker’s back. The blade punched in where Johnquis’s chain only bounced.

The Tanker shrieked, clawed hand swiping wildly, catching only empty air as Dancer flipped clear, trailing violet blood in her wake.

"Oh, now you’re just showing off!"

Johnquis shouted, he twirled his chain again, looping it around the Tanker’s ankle.

"I swear, I’m helping—!"

He pulled hard, dragging the Tanker’s leg sideways. For a moment, it lost its footing.

Dancer seized the opening. She lunged in, foot-blade blurring in a flurry of stabs along its ribs. Every slash ripped open the thick armor-like skin, blood spraying over the carousel’s fake horses. Their painted eyes reflected the gore, glass smiles frozen under the neon spin.

"♫ Sunshine Specials... and Seaside Savings! ♫"

The mall’s music burbled on, bright and cheerful under the roar of monster and steel.

[SYSTEM NOTICE!]

An Eater has been weakened.

Skill activation possible:

[CHAIN SLAVE - LVL 2]

Johnquis’s eyes went wide. "Oh shit, I almost forgot! I can enslave this bastard! That’s gonna be insane — a Tanker for my cage? Hell yes, let’s do this!"

[Skill: Chain Slave LVL 2 - Blood Cost: 0%]

Activating...

"CHAIN SLA—"

He froze. Dancer moved in a flash, sliding right in front of him. He barely choked out the word as her shadow cut off his view. She stood there, her outline glowing in the carousel’s rainbow spin. Then she lifted one leg, the foot-blade flashed like a silver scythe under the neon.

A new line of text flickered across his vision, right next to her:

[Skill: Pirouette Slash - Blood Cost: 2%]

Activating...

"Pirouette Slash."

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