— Well, all we have left to do is clear this area, and we're done! Sakolomé exclaimed, proud of himself.
— I wonder what Mother could want to do in a place this frozen, Bakuzan sighed.
The two brothers stood at the summit of Mount Ayohngoï, which rose to nine thousand three hundred meters. It was covered in snow, and no one had ever reached that peak through purely physical means, as Bakuzan and Sakolomé had just done.
They were both wearing jogging pants: black with blue stripes for Bakuzan, red with yellow stripes for Sakolomé. Neither a T-shirt nor a jacket to protect them from the cold: they stood bare-chested on that summit.
— And I wonder what we're supposed to clear here, Bakuzan continued.
— That thick forest, in front of us. That's all.
Bakuzan sighed.
— That's it? It'll only take me one attack to deal with it.
Sakolomé stepped in front of him.
— It's my attack that's going to level that forest, not yours!
— Sakolomé, get out of the way. Don't wear me out right now.
— You're the one who's annoying, now that I think about it!
They pressed their foreheads together in a theatrical quarrel.
— You're looking to die young, you little idiot…
— Me? Die? Why are you describing your own future situation through me?
It was then, in the middle of their young men's quarrel, that the ground began to shake around them.
— Uh… Bakuzan, what is this earthquake?
They positioned themselves back to back.
— A mutant. Be very careful.
Sakolomé hardened his face, determined not to end up as mutant food. They both suddenly felt a presence rising beneath their feet.
— Sakolomé, jump!
They leapt at the same time, and an immense creature thrust its head out of the spot they had just left.
— What is that? An ice worm?
— More like an ice mutant, shaped like a worm.
They each landed on a different side. The worm emerged from the ground, and its size defied all measure. It was so vast that the surrounding forest was nothing more than a speck on the snow, and Sakolomé and Bakuzan, facing it, were mere dots, grains of sand.
— Maybe that's what Mother wanted us to clear, after all, Bakuzan murmured.
— Ha ha!
When half of its body had emerged, the worm turned its maw toward Bakuzan.
— Graaaoooooh!
That powerful roar made the cold around them grow thicker.
— Bakuzan, it's looking at you! I think it likes you, ha ha!
Bakuzan smiled.
— It made a very bad choice.
In a blinding flash, Sakolomé did not have time to understand the gesture, but he directly saw the result: the giant worm had been cut in two.
— Whoa, Bakuzan! What did you do?
Bakuzan was now perched in a tree.
— A simple kick.
But, unsurprisingly, the worm regenerated.
— What? A mutant capable of regenerating?
— This one must be very old. It probably lived during the war.
The mutant charged straight at Bakuzan, still in his tree, and spat out a strange liquid. Bakuzan jumped to avoid it.
— Too slow!
The liquid struck the trees, which froze and snapped cleanly, without the slightest resistance.
— Not bad.
The worm charged at him again, its maw wide open. Bakuzan remained crouched on the ground, as if preparing a counterattack. Then:
— Take that!
*Boom!*
It was Sakolomé. His enormous fist had just struck the worm and blown its head apart. The beast collapsed onto the ground and no longer seemed capable of getting back up.
— Looks like I got it, ha ha!
— Are you sure? Look behind you.
Sakolomé turned around: the worm had disappeared.
— Huh? But where is it?
— It regenerated its head and burrowed underground.
— That means…
Bakuzan nodded.
— Yes. We're going to be attacked from below.
He had barely spoken when the ground collapsed around them, and Sakolomé found himself underground with Bakuzan.
— Let's see who kills this mutant first!
The ground became covered in a mist mixed with acid, secreted by the worm. The two brothers managed to rise above it and found themselves in the air. Then, an immense maw, armed with fangs resembling elephant tusks, but far larger, burst from the ground and prepared to devour Sakolomé.
Sakolomé grabbed one of the teeth and exerted such force that he stopped the worm's momentum.
— Grrrh… Wait a second. Since when does this worm have teeth that long?
— I don't think it's the same one as before.
Another worm surged up, straight at Sakolomé. Despite a difference in size so great that he could have been mistaken for a speck of dust, Sakolomé lifted the first worm, used it as a weapon, and violently slammed it down onto the second.
The impact shook the entire frozen region and triggered immense avalanches, which completely buried the giant worms.
— My turn!
Bakuzan leapt and landed on the mass of snow covering them. He touched it.
— Die!
But another colossal worm appeared behind him and prevented him from finishing his attack. He jumped, and the monster barely missed him.
— Damn it, how many are there?
— No idea, but this is super fun!
Bakuzan smiled, then saw another gigantic worm rising behind Sakolomé.
— Sakolomé, watch out behind you!
Sakolomé turned around, too late: he was swallowed by the worm.
— Sakolomé!
*
Inside the beast, Sakolomé discovered an incredibly narrow passage, despite the creature's gigantic size. Stuck, he could not make any movement. The muscles of its throat kept contracting, pushing him toward the stomach, and a stream of saliva carried him ever farther along.
— Am I going to die like this? No way!
Outside, Bakuzan was assailed from all sides. The mutant worms emitted a vapor that created a fog around him, to keep him from seeing and smelling. They themselves had a highly developed sense of smell and sharp senses, but Bakuzan nonetheless fought with ease, controlling the creatures and striking them with such violence that they burst apart in a single blow.
— What is Sakolomé waiting for to get out of that worm's belly? I can't kill the others without knowing which one swallowed him!
At that same moment, Sakolomé realized he was no longer moving: the worm had swallowed him all the way into its stomach. Still immobilized, he felt something coming that would force him to make a decision, and quickly.
— Hmm… What is that?
A heat spread through his body, agonizing, suffocating.
— Those are gastric juices! This stuff is insanely powerful: it wants to digest me in a few minutes!
He calmed himself and tried not to give in to panic. He closed his eyes, breathed in, breathed out, then opened them again. A reddish vapor escaped from his body, which became burning hot.
*
Outside, Bakuzan continued to batter the worms.
— At this rate, I'm going to end up killing the worms and Sakolomé too!
Suddenly, a worm emerged from the ground and writhed on the snow, clearly in terrible pain. Bakuzan looked at it.
— What an idea, eating a Satsujin Otoko!
The worm struggled, and its gigantic body struck the entire region. The other worms, meanwhile, kept attacking Bakuzan.
— Good. Now that I know which one swallowed Sakolomé, I can deal with the others.
He watched the worms charge at him, their maws wide open and drooling.
— Now!
His body released a gigantic mass of bluish aura, resembling flames, so vast that it could be seen from kilometers away from Mount Ayohngoï. It consumed the worms entirely, leaving nothing of them behind.
— There. And now, the one that swallowed Sakolomé.
The worm kept writhing in pain. Cracks appeared across its body, from which a strange reddish vapor escaped. Bakuzan reached a tree, sat on a branch, and watched the scene.
The worm's belly swelled like a balloon, until it burst from all sides. Organs and purple blood spread across the snow, around Bakuzan and throughout the region. The creature was no longer able to regenerate: it could not recover after that.
Sakolomé suddenly found himself in the air, breathless, his pants slightly torn, his body marked with burns. He was covered in slime, vapor, and gastric juices. Bakuzan got up and joined him.
— You took your time. Look at the state you're in!
Sakolomé laughed.
— That was a strange experience. I wouldn't want to live through it again, I guarantee you.
— Those mutants weren't the kind to be stopped by the police: it would have taken the army. With Father, we learned that the most powerful and dangerous mutants are found mainly in uninhabited and isolated places, like these worms.
— Whoa, my brand-new jogging pants! They were almost digested by that damn mutant!
— You have several. No need to whine.
— Bakuzan, do you think there are more of them here?
— No. As strange as it may seem, these mutants are very territorial: they fiercely defend their territory. I promise you we won't see any more like them.
Sakolomé sighed and let himself fall toward the ground.
— Worms are definitely the creatures I hate the most now.
Bakuzan stopped floating and joined him.
— Anyway, we still have the forests to level.
— That's true. So, who's taking care of it?
— Leave it, I'll handle it.
Sakolomé sat down and watched Bakuzan for a moment. Bakuzan did the same.
— What is it, Sakolomé? Do you want my picture?
Sakolomé smiled.
— My picture? You know where you can put it?
Bakuzan smiled in turn and held out his arm.
— Come on, get up. This isn't the time to sleep.
Sakolomé grabbed his arm, and Bakuzan helped him get back up.
— I'll level the forest on the right and you the one on the left: it's simpler, right?
— I'm done.
— What?
Sakolomé looked toward the side Bakuzan was supposed to level. He was surprised to see that everything had already been leveled, without him noticing.
— When did you do that?
— A few moments ago.
— That's cheating! You're a cheater, Bakuzan!
A few minutes later, their work was entirely finished. They sighed and made their way to the edge of the mountain. From there, they gazed at that dizzying height, whose depths disappeared into a thick fog.
— Shall we jump? Bakuzan suggested.
— Last one down is a chicken!
Sakolomé leapt first into the void.
— You cheater! Bakuzan shouted, smiling.
Then he jumped in his turn into the immensity.