"Look at his face, Ben!"
Gwen pointed urgently at Tyler. The Slaughter Wraith hovered in the moonlight, but its predatory features were drowning under a tide of jagged, ink-black cracks. The possession was nearly complete.
"Is... is he gone?" Ben panicked, his hands hovering uselessly. "I tried to help, but he kicked me out! I think he wants us to stop him—to stop both of them!"
Gwen turned on him, her eyes sharp with realization. "You idiot! Use your head for once! Tyler didn't kick you out so you could kill him. He kicked you out because he needs you to operate the watch!"
"Operate the... the Carnitrix?" Ben froze. Then, the light clicked in his eyes. "I get it! I'm on it!"
Ben lunged forward. He didn't attack Tyler; he reached for the blood-red dial on the Slaughter Wraith's chest. With a sharp twist and a decisive slam, he activated the override.
A surge of crimson light erupted, thick as fresh gore, swallowing Tyler whole. The black cracks on his face didn't just recede—they vanished. Beneath the mask, Tyler's lips curled into a smile that was cold, jagged, and utterly deranged.
Inside the crumbling fortress of Tyler's mind, Zs'Skayr was reveling in his triumph. The mental barricades were shattered, reduced to grey dust.
"It's over, boy!" Zs'Skayr shrieked, his ethereal form expanding until he occupied every corner of the consciousness space. "This body... this power... it all belongs to me!"
Tyler's mental avatar flickered on the verge of dissolution. "Ben... please tell me you weren't just watching the show," he whispered to the void. "I gave you the keys. Turn the damn lock!"
CRACK!
The grey sky of Tyler's mind split open. But it wasn't light that poured in—it was blood.
A torrential deluge of crimson energy gushed from the cracks, flooding the mental space. Zs'Skayr froze, his triumphant laughter dying in his throat. "What is this? This isn't your willpower!"
Streams of blood crisscrossed the air like barbed wire, lashing around Zs'Skayr and pinning him to the center of the void. From the swirling gore, a distorted, blurry figure began to take shape. It had no eyes, only a demonic maw filled with fangs made of pure, killing intent.
"The Killing Consciousness," Tyler whispered, watching with grim relief. "It's finally awake."
The entity didn't hesitate. It let out a soundless roar and tore into Zs'Skayr's spectral form.
"NO! STOP!" Zs'Skayr screamed, his body flickering as the predator ripped a chunk out of his torso. The entity didn't just attack; it consumed. It tore off the ghost's limbs and swallowed them like scraps. It drew in Zs'Skayr's tentacles like they were nothing more than silk threads.
The great "Slaughter King" was reduced to a whimpering shadow, struggling in a cage of blood.
"Tyler... save me..." Zs'Skayr begged, his single eye looking up in desperation. "I'll serve you! Just make it stop!"
Tyler stood in the corner of his mind, cold and distant. He watched the Killing Consciousness tear Zs'Skayr's head from his shoulders and grind it between its teeth. There was no mercy for a parasite.
As the last of Zs'Skayr's essence was swallowed, the mental space went quiet. The predator licked its lips, turning its eyeless gaze toward Tyler for a terrifying second before dissolving back into the watch's code.
Tyler opened his eyes in the real world. A wave of raw, unfiltered murderous intent washed over his mind, and it took every ounce of his discipline to shove it down.
"It's over, Ben. Thank you," Tyler rasped, his voice sounding like grinding stones.
"Don't thank him. He was about to strangle you," Gwen said, stepping forward with a proud smirk. "I'm the one who figured out your frequency."
Tyler looked at Gwen. For a moment, the world turned red. The Killing Consciousness was still humming in his veins, and it saw Gwen not as a friend, but as a target.
Without a word, Tyler stepped forward and pulled Gwen into a tight embrace.
"So sudden?" Gwen's face flushed deep crimson. She stood stiffly, her heart racing.
CRACK.
Tyler's arms didn't just hold her; they began to squeeze. His veins bulged, his muscles coiling with a strength that intended to crush her ribs. He was fighting himself, his mind screaming to let go while the watch urged him to finish the kill.
Gwen gasped, the breath being forced out of her lungs. "Tyler... too tight..."
With a guttural growl of effort, Tyler forced his arms open, stumbling back.
"Don't do that again without warning!" Gwen panted, oblivious to how close she had been to death.
Ben stood by, sweating profusely. He had seen the look in Tyler's eyes. "Tyler... thank the stars you held back. I really didn't want to have to explain that to Grandpa."
[System: Host has successfully eliminated the Zs'Skayr consciousness. Major narrative threat neutralized. Progress +2%]
[System: Template Progress 44/100. Unlocking: RATH, ALIEN X, CHAMELEON!]
Tyler stared at the icons. The rewards were immense, but the price—the sheer madness of the Error Table—was growing.
That night, back in the Rust Bucket, a newfound silence filled the RV. Ben nervously activated the Omnitrix and transformed into the Void-Wraith. He hovered in the air, doing a few test punches. "No voices. No nightmares. It's actually... just me."
He flew into the tiny bathroom, still in ghost form, and started humming as he washed. It was a bizarre sight, but for the first time in months, Ben Tennyson slept without looking over his shoulder.
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