The Absolute Chair
Omnipotence Is Not Freedom
Chapter 5 — The Price of Blood
The group sat in a loose circle inside the ruined building, the small fire crackling weakly between them.
Li Fang ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
"Damn… we're running out of resources."
La Dang leaned against a cracked pillar, arms crossed.
"There's an old market at the bottom of town. I passed it two days ago. No monster presence. No people either."
Junior nodded immediately.
"I'll go."
"I'll come," Karl-Jay said without thinking.
Zuko raised a hand lazily.
"Alright, alright, I'm in too."
Li Fang looked around.
"We go together. No splitting up."
Siel floated upside down in the air, arms behind his head, eyes closed, snoring lightly.
"I'm not working," he muttered. "Wake me when food appears."
Karl-Jay stared at him.
"…He's floating."
Zuko shrugged.
"Yeah. He's got powers."
"All of us do," Li Fang added calmly. "We killed a monster. Drank its blood. That's how you evolve."
Karl-Jay exhaled slowly.
"…So that's what happened to me."
No one questioned it.
They moved out quietly.
The streets were unnaturally silent.
Broken signs creaked in the wind. Ash drifted through the air like snow. The group moved carefully, stepping over corpses and shattered glass.
A sound echoed from ahead.
Soft. Rustling.
Everyone froze.
La Dang raised a fist.
They advanced slowly—breath held, weapons ready.
Something stepped out from behind a fallen cart.
A cat.
Thin. Dirty. Very much alive.
The entire group screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!"
They clutched each other, weapons flailing, hearts pounding.
The cat stared at them, unimpressed, then walked away.
Silence.
Li Fang cleared his throat.
"…It was a cat."
Karl-Jay crossed his arms confidently.
"I wasn't scared."
Six pairs of eyes stared at him.
🙄😑🫤😑😑😑
"…Sure," Zuko said.
Laughter broke the tension as they continued on.
The abandoned market loomed ahead, half-collapsed stalls lining a wide open square. Rotten food, broken crates, and torn cloth littered the ground.
La Dang took position at the entrance.
"I'll guard. You guys grab everything."
They spread out quickly.
Karl-Jay stuffed dried goods and bottled water into a bag when a wet chewing sound reached his ears.
He turned.
And froze.
A human-shaped thing crouched on the ground, skin gray and sagging, jaw unhinged as it devoured a corpse. Its eyes were empty. Dead.
"G-guys…!" Karl-Jay shouted.
The group rushed over.
Sheila covered her mouth, gagging.
"That… that was a person…"
The thing snapped its head up.
Then it screamed.
More rose from behind the stalls—human-like monsters, shuffling and twitching, mouths dripping with blood.
"They're coming!" Junior yelled.
Karl-Jay charged.
His broken sword flashed.
The creature split in two, black blood spraying across the ground. The others lunged forward, but La Dang's voice thundered from outside.
"GUYS—COME OUT! NOW!"
They grabbed what they could and ran.
Outside, the air shifted.
A man stood there.
His lower face was covered by a dark cloth. His body radiated pressure—heavy, suffocating. Around him, dozens of the same human-like monsters stood perfectly still.
His eyes burned with darkness.
"Impressive," the man said calmly.
"I control them."
He stepped forward.
"My name is Bang Min."
The monsters moved in unison.
"Give me the food," Bang Min continued coldly, "or I'll slash your bodies in half."
He laughed—low and cruel.
Karl-Jay glanced at his group, then smiled thinly.
"…Looks like we're in a bigger problem."
End of Chapter 5