by Devin Cain
"The hell do I know? I’m not good with mythologies!" Samson replied, charging the Admiral. Just before contact, Levi shot another HE round against his head. Asclepius staggered backward, flailing his arms around as he tried to steady himself.
Numbers appeared all over his body.
Armament: Asclepius: Tier: 3
Head: 841
Chest:1,600
Arms: 900
Legs: 1,150
The bastard was far stronger than I was in pure percentage, though I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what it all meant. If I were to judge the situation by what experience I had with games, the lower the percentage, the less life it had. Looking at it that way, it could only be their life pool of which his head was the lowest.
I couldn’t let the two do all the work, so I charged his back and shot out a javelin into the back of his leg.
"You monsters!" Asclepius roared as he dropped to his knee and yanked at the metallic growth. I extended my claw with a roar and ripped at his leg. The captain threw his katana my way, hitting me square in the chest.
"Khepri, activate Retaliation."
The excruciating pain gathered at a single point and shot back at him. His left katana-wielding arm evaporated along with a part of his side armor. Samson charged him head-on and brought the giant to the ground. His leg bent in a strange angle and snapped at the knee joint where the javelin was still stuck.
A mass of Gebradim troopers swarmed us, pummeling our bodies with their rifles and a sort of batons as they tried to free their leader. Samson finally brought up his hands and slammed them together, releasing a massive shockwave from up close. The troopers scattered and died by the dozens as their armors cracked open, and their bodies absorbed the shock, imploding. Asclepius’ two front limbs broke in multiple places along with the chest armor, revealing the orange skin beneath.
"Fuck, man, you’re a cheater! Why don’t I have such a skill?" I groaned and hurled myself at the captain. Multiple bolts passed through my gut and my side. I started losing my consciousness along with a massive amount of blood, but Devil wasn’t coming out. Instead, I heard him laugh in the deepest depths of my mind. Was he trying to show me who owned whom? Fuck him!
"You wish! This baby is all mine!" Samson laughed slamming his fists against Asclepius’ chest, over and over again. Loud cracks and odd sounds left his body and reverberated in the near vicinity, followed by a green mist rising from the open wounds. Samson staggered back and coughed violently as his arms turned back to his human form.
An HE round struck the chest just when the mist caught up to me. But nothing happened. My arms remained transformed, but my breathing became harder as the vapor filled my lungs. The round exploded, engulfing the Admiral with flames so hot, I could feel them from ten feet away gnawing at my skin. Samson wasn’t moving anymore and lay there on his stomach as Asclepius rose in a sitting position, his chest down to half of his percentage along with the arms. The only limbs still going strong were his legs.
Asclepius opened a small box and picked something out, then poured it over his wounds and drank the rest.
"Now you’ve done it," he said with a low, rumbling voice. His leg snapped back into place while the chest wound closed and the arms healed up to full. The skin and muscle grew back together in mere seconds.
"At least his arm isn’t re-growing," I murmured. But something else happened instead. The bastard started transforming. Growths protruded from his back, arms and chest, doubling his mass twofold. He started twisting and writhing on the ground as his body changed into something even more horrific, a true monster from hell.
The three remaining arms dried up and fell to the ground as two new arms sprouted from the sides, adorned with bony spikes and long claws. The head widened and grew slightly along with his mouth where long, sharp teeth protruded.
Somehow, I doubted he’d be happy with the mutation, or that he’d give us a second chance to fight if we didn’t finish this quickly, so I forced myself up and jumped into the group of dead Gebradim. I started cracking open skulls and prying out the brain matter as fast as I could.
"Keep him busy!" I shouted up at Levi through mouthfuls. "I’m trying to heal up as well!"
"I’m almost out of usable metal!" she replied as two bullets struck him right in his open mouth. One remained stuck inside, while the other exit out the back, splattering gore against the wall.
I dug in again and finished my fourth brain, healing most of my wounds. I could feel my claw itch for blood, for murder, and destruction. Just then, a door to my right opened, letting a female Gebradim out, from what I could tell by their looks. Her head was slightly elongated and had a growth at the back that went down to half of her back. Now that I thought of it, she looked like Nyx, though I hadn’t had the time to observe her during the battle on Devil in detail.
"What’s with all… the ruckus?" she asked, stretching all four arms. "By the Queen! Brother? What’s going on!" she screamed, bringing out dual katanas that looked identical to Asclepius’ ones. It might have been a defensive mechanism, or Devil playing a cruel joke on me, but I shot up and rammed my left claw into her gut, twisted it around and ripped her heart out, killing the Gebradim where she stood.
She shuddered for a moment as our eyes met, and bloody tears streamed down her pink cheeks. The Admiral looked my way in disbelief as if he wasn’t sure of what he’d just seen, and before I could react, released a murderous bellow.
"Eat her, fast!" Devil hissed. "Eat her, or you all die!"
My eyes wandered from the Admiral to his female and back again. With his right hand, he opened up a container, then proceeded taking out large syringes and rammed them into his neck. One by one
"Eat!" Khepri added to Devil’s annoying presence. "Eat her brain!"
I looked down at the female Gebradim and felt disgusted by myself. Was I going to become someone who could destroy life just like that? Yes, if it needed to be so, I would. I would keep my friends and my new family safe, no matter the monster I’d become in the process.
"I’m sorry," I whispered and cracked open her skull with my claw. Closing my eyes, I dug in. A sensation so rich, so powerful flooded over me. It was as if I was high, and all my senses were working in pure overdrive. It was unlike anything I’d felt up to the point, and even stronger than after I consumed Khepri. Then, my whole body started rearranging itself again, discarding my bones through my flesh and skin. The last remnants of what had ‘made’ me human evaporated into thin air, replaced by a thick, sturdy skeleton made from—something I had no idea what it was.
Then pain disappeared and was replaced by a rush of raw, primordial power.
"Finally tier two again," Devil smirked.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Time crawled to a halt as the now already familiar skill trees and my image appeared before my eyes. Nothing much had changed, except for the tier two branches which had lit up, as well as the percentages on my body. They were now more similar to Asclepius in his first form.
Armament: Lucifer, Khepri
Tier: 2, 2
Resistance 1: Physical damage 30 %
Resistance 2: Status change 25 %
Non-transformed stats: Head - 320 %, Chest - 700 %, Arms - 300 %, Legs - 350 %
Transformed stats: Head - 850 %, Chest - 1800 %, Arms - 750 %, Legs - 900 %
I was rather happy to see the new changes tier two brought me, especially the resistances. It was only logical that I was much stronger when transformed, but the rise in power when not transformed came as a welcome bonus.
I looked to the right and observed the skill trees. The view was strange and not entirely like a picture, but more like a memory or a video recording. Focusing on one gave me information about what it would do, so I examined the Devil branch first.
Armament: Devil
Skill tier: 2
Skill Name: Broken Wings
Description: Use one of two modes: assault, or fortress. In assault mode, the wings attack any enemy tha
t comes into range automatically, while in Fortress mode the wings automatically provide defensive support.
Type: Always Active
Cooldown: 60 minutes
Skill Name: Sweet lies
Description: Confuses enemy to attack their own side for 60 seconds
Type: Passive
Cooldown: 120 seconds
Armament: Khepri
Skill tier: 2
Skill Name: Energy Blast
Description: Convert all received damage to a ball of energy and attack enemies in target’s vicinity
Type: Active
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Skill Name: Hyper Regen
Description: Regenerate lost limbs or organs instantaneously
Type: Passive
Cooldown: 6 hours
It was quite hard to make the right choice, as I’d have the unique properties of both an offensive and defensive armament. First, I thought hard about the situations I could find myself in. Randomness wasn’t something I’d opt for, so I took the Broken Wings skill in the Devil tree. Khepri’s choice was much harder. His tier two skills were both excellent and made me want to cry. The energy blast was a killer, but so was hyper regeneration in the thick of battle.
"You have only nine seconds left," Khepri said. "Your mind will go back to normal speed once your time buffer is up."
Eight—seven—six—
I sighed and chose Energy Blast. If I survived an encounter, the limbs would grow back no matter what, so that was it then. As time picked up again and the Admiral started mutating even further, I thought back at the decisions.
A new flood of pain struck me like a sledgehammer when my body started changing along with the arms. Growths sprouted from my back that looked like plucked wings, sharp and hard. My pitch-black metallic body felt like it could take on the whole world. And one day it would, that much I was sure off.
"You can rearrange us now freely. Just letting you know," Devil said.
"Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that one. Khepri, you’re in charge from my head down to my hips. Devil, I want both of your arms and legs."
"Right on it," Devil replied. Just as the transformation started, Asclepius charged me and slammed his massive fists right against my chest. Even though I was one large bastard after getting up to tier two, it didn’t mean a thing to the Admiral and his power. Just before I slammed against the wall, I couldn’t help but think about how badly it would hurt. But it didn’t, at least not as much as I thought it would. My body came crashing through one wall, a second, and then a massive door. I only stopped when my spine hit a metallic beam at the center of wherever I was.
"Oh, fuck! That hurt!" I groaned, getting up and readying myself for a renewed attack. To my luck, the giant didn’t fit through the door. He tried to squeeze right through, but his massive bulk wouldn’t let him. To his bad luck, he’d become too dumb to punch through the wall.
I looked down to my status percentages, only to find myself having lost a couple to the attack. The physical resistance sure did make a change.
"Come out, or I’ll kill your friends! Fight me, you Human scum!" he bellowed, finally coming to the idea of slamming his fists against the wall. I didn’t know how long they would hold, but by how everything shook under the blows, it wouldn’t be that long obviously.
"Sure. Mind giving me some room to get out there? It’s cramped in--"
"No! I want to get my hands on you right now!" It roared and turned from me for a slight moment.
"Gotcha," I whispered and lunged forward, launching a javelin each from either hand. They struck the Admiral’s back and neck, but the beast just shrugged it off like it was nothing. At least I’d gained a couple of precious seconds to close the gap. With a battle-cry, I plunged both of my claws into his sides and tried to activate Decaying Touch. To my luck, it went through and started spreading rot and disease through his body. The status percentage on his chest started changing and showed me as 2991 points, and was steadily declining.
"This thing is overpowered," I whispered. It was like poison to his health, and corrosion to his armor.
"Sure is. Make sure to stay alive though, he’s far from dead," Devil replied.
The monster cried out from the pain as its skin and flesh first turned grey, then a shade of black as rot started to set in. I could only imagine what kind of pain it must have caused. A normal cut or slash, or even a broken bone wouldn’t even come close to it.
New shots rang out from above and slammed right into the creature’s exposed chest. It staggered backward slightly, but it didn’t topple over. Asclepius twisted his body in a strange angle and slammed me with the back of his hand, sending me flying across the room again. He knelt and destroyed the armor around his decaying side, then started ripping at the flesh. Whole chunks of dead meat flew around as he raged like a bull.
"It won’t work," Devil said. "The decay cannot be removed even if he destroys half of his body."
"Shit, I feel bad for the man. We just killed his woman or something, and now he’s rotting from the inside--"
A loud thud reverberated in the back of my mind as his meaty fist struck my face and sent me crashing into the hard steel floor. I didn’t know how getting run over by a tank felt, but I couldn’t imagine it being anything less than this. I lay there, crumbled in a heap and looked on as the monstrosity slowly stepped toward me, its face contorted in a raging scream.
"If we hadn’t evolved, you’d be dead now. That kind of blow would have decapitated you easily," Khepri offered.
"Tell me something I don’t know," I groaned as my head showed a measly 219 percent, and was flashing an angry orange. I cursed and spat blood before I got up.
"We can always lure him in close and use my new skill. In your current state, you can only fire it once. And for some reason, the RNG gods aren’t in our favor today when it comes to Retaliation."
"RNG?" Devil asked. "You’re viewing this as a game?"
"What else could it be? A game of life and death, no?"
I sighed at their bickering and shut them both out for a moment as I tried to stabilize my breathing. Very well, we’d try that new skill and see if it would do any good.
"I’m sorry, but I never wanted this to happen. You people attacked us," I yelled. I didn’t sound honest even to my own ears. Shit, I needed to work on my lying techniques.
"Before you could lay waste to our world, yes!" the Admiral bellowed, spitting darkened mucus at me. "But I’ll take at least you and your friends down with me, Human. Oh you despicable creature, you attacked us during sleep. How low can one stoop?"
"I was also asleep when you attacked!" I shot back as I stood a mere couple of feet from him. With a lunge, he grabbed me by the neck and looked down on me. I was so sick of people acting all high and mighty, even if they were a monster. Fuck it.
"Khepri, Energy Blast his chest."
"Energy gathering. Nine seconds to go, eight."
"Oh no, I won’t let you," Asclepius growled, slamming his fist against my face three times in quick succession. My nose and jaw bone cracked as stars danced before my eyes, but the damage only served to make my own attack that much stronger.
Bringing up my claws, I pressed them into its forehead and raked them down across his eyes. The balloon-like sensory organs popped, releasing a gooey substance. With a screech, Asclepius opened his mouth and bit down on my head. His long, sharp teeth ground against the metallic layer protecting my scalp, but even if it held, I felt like my head was about to pop.
"Hey! Why don’t you take on someone your own size!" Samson shouted as he charged the Admiral.
"Duck!" I ordered pressing myself against the mad alien, and my chest against his. The ball of energy started forming, slowly but surely. Mad screeching and chirping sounds assailed my ears as the ball finally appeared and shot right through him.
The hole in its chest was as large as my head, transformed as it was. Its inner organs evaporated from the searing heat, leaving a pe
rfectly round hole in the Gebradim Admiral. He looked down and back up at me, stammered forward and dropped me from his grasp.
"We were only-- defending our planet," he wheezed. "You invaded-- us."
"I’m sorry," was all I managed to say. He was right, but it was the higher-ups, the scum who had wanted us dead as well. "I’ll give you a burial on Gebradim Beta, Admiral. That much I can promise you."
His eyes shifted down to my feet as he nodded slightly.
"Together with-- her," he replied barely audible, toppling over to his side. I nodded again and kept staring at the captain until his final breath. I could feel the pain well up inside, but I wouldn’t show it to anyone, not anymore. I had decided on a course, and I would need to stay true, or I’d lose myself first, and then everyone else. I finally had something worth fighting for, so why put it at risk?
"Don’t let it get to you," Samson said as he walked up to me. "And besides, we got another issue right now. Look around us."
"I’m not letting it get to me," I replied as I looked around at the countless Gebradim troopers who looked on in shock and awe. From all the excitement and fighting, I’d forgotten about those who got left behind in the massive chamber. But all they did was stand around and stare at us.
"Khepri, suggestions please," I whispered.
"I have no idea. Why would you think that I would know what to do in such a situation?"
"Because you’ve been a Gebradim once before. Never mind, just translate."
"Sure thing, boss."
"Gebradim! There’s no need to fight anymore. I have defeated your master!" I shouted. They twitched uncomfortably but remained standing. "I offer to take you in my service! I am the strongest among everyone on our ships! Follow me, and you can live! Serve me, and you will be rewarded! Pledge to me, and I will find you a queen!"
