There was an immediate clash, as a blitz of claws and fangs came into contact with one another.

Even with the gains she suffered to achieve, Calypso was still a mere match for the Cassie-controlled Melissa. Each blow from both parties not only shredded away flesh, but caved in bones—twisted internal organs, only for all of it to quickly heal back to relative normal. And to add more ticking bombs under the table, Calypso’s sensitive nose picked up on the faint scent of smoke.

This was becoming a terrible, awful time.

She couldn’t help but keep smiling. Ear-to-ear.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face, you cheating poser!” Cassie’s words fumbled out of Melissa’s mouth. She followed up the next statement with a fierce punch to the gut, causing Calypso to cough up black blood upon impact. “People didn’t even know what I was, anymore! I didn’t have backup, I didn’t have fancy-ass books: I figured it out on my own! I outrank you in every-single-fucking way: and you’re going to understand that!”

Calypso simply chuckled and just as casually wiped the corners of her maw with the back of her wrist. “I’m having so much fun, Cassandra. Never have I met such a sore winner before in my pitiful life—”

Cassie twisted Melissa’s face into a flurry of expressions all bound to unyielding rage, before exploding into a foundation of blood due to the few cuts that haven’t healed yet along the stolen body.

Calypso thought fast, using her powerful legs to jump backward to evade most of the spray, despite still getting mildly covered—how easily the blood melted her spikey bone armor.

Which made Calypso’s just as immediate healing of what was once fatal wounds, such a satisfying feat to behold.

The skeletal monster girl realized that the blood fountain suddenly ceased a little too late, as Cassie managed to sneak behind Calypso, to put her into a Full Nelson in turn.

Knowing that the girl will burn instantly, as she was not only covered in blood—but no way to escape. And as Calypso screamed out in agony as her very back turned into a slurry of molten blood, physically sinking into Melissa, Cassie couldn’t help but cackle out in triumph.

The villainess wanted desperately rub it into her face, her victory, but figured that a few thirsty tentacles would suffice: shooting out Melissa’s veins in rapid succession, as they writhed in front of the pathetic girl’s face, their small, hooked fangs glistening with clear liquid that Cassie always associated with transformations.

Until a series of sharp bone scythes rocketed painfully out of Melissa’s own back. Once again, a pained, stupid, but nevertheless haughty chuckle filled Melissa’s ears—and in turn, Cassie was forced to listen to as it was clear that she was losing her mind. Basically invincible, yet the stabbings felt so deep.

A horrible realization shot through Cassie’s mind.

Why can she feel that?

And before she could scream out that question, Calypso used her regular elbow scythes to angle upward and slice off Melissa’s arms, causing her to stumble forward, pulling out the spikes that now were her back, leaving Cassie literally shaken with the harrowing pain.

So she was left to watch, as Calypso healed, easily change once more, back to her default state with a bit more effort this time around—but only a bit. She then playfully exhaled, and rotated her shoulders so that her shoulder blades could flex along with her back.

“Ooooh… She doesn’t know what’s going on… Poor baby~”

“Y-you’re not… Healing because of the book… The scene would’ve reset by now…” Cassie tried to speak above a pained whimper.

“Yep~!” Calypso purred. “This is all my technique~ There was a reason I managed to survive that night, aside from outside help. If it were anyone under that molten-blood bed, it would’ve been very painful but never less instant death for them. But not me. I hung on…”

Calypso plugged a claw into her right eyeball, to prove her point.

“I have very. Very potent healing capabilities as a Consumed~” Calypso pulled the claw from her eye, and as it spurted black ooze, it sealed within moments, causing her to blink. “You know that there’s at least three traits, right? Transformation, magic, and healing~? It’s kind of funny how one with the healing trait can outright force the other two branches to… ‘Behave’, let’s say. It’s a cheat that I’ve developed in secret, because I knew I’d get tongue-lashing from my peers—just have the healing on and constant, and you could even get unstable versions of transformations and magic as a boost!”

“You’re fucking insane…” Cassie whimpered out. And then with a growl, realizing how pitiful she sounded then, roared out, “AREN’T YOU AFRAID OF ME?! LYING ABOUT THAT TOO, HUH?!”

“Oh no…” Calypso raised her claws, showing how much they oddly trembled. “I am terrified. Terrified of you, of what this night will bring… The fact that even if I defeat you, how strong I’ve gotten… What if I go mad? Who could stop me…?”

Then the girl grinned madly, “The perfect, endless, and emotive fuel for me to keep going in this bout, is it not?!”

Calypso gathered herself and finished her explanation with a fading chuckle, “After all… It’s like I said. I’m the hero here. And I’m not going to let you make the world worse.”

Melissa’s body just stood there. Letting the bloody stumps that were once arms continue to softly spray downward onto the burning stage. It being due to the blood or the book finally catching fire, it remained to be seen.

But Melissa was slack. Her head rested against her right shoulder. The expression of the face eerily vacant.

Until sudden, uproarish laughter filled the scene. Melissa’s pupils dilated, her glowing irises smaller as they were taken by the void-like sclera surrounding them.

Cassie just laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

And without missing a beat, aimed Melissa’s stumps to fire out geysers of blood.

***

“Remember: the bullets aren’t killing them—only slowing them down! We’re only here to save the innocent and soften these bastards up! Anything more is suicide!”

Richard was amazed that he could hear any of that—anything at all, amidst the sounds of bullet fire and screaming of the damned. If only he was remotely physically capable, or he would’ve aided in the shootout against the Subsumed, or helped the victims out of the mess.

He did crush a Subsumed’s skull, so at the very least he helped in some aspect.

All he had to do was to simply survive. Survive until the end, and this entire mess can be meaningfully resolved. While the other members of this “group” were just as pivotal: as the person who had a hand in causing this chaos. Him being there meant sweetening the deal that they had to beg and beg to make happen.

He was rocked out of his thoughts by Martha, who was covered in black sludge. Wanting to grasp her son’s shoulders but merely hovered her hands over them.

“They all think that I’m a folk hero now~!” Martha chirped. “‘Martha Mittlemen: The Hero of the Founding Festival Tragedy!’ Even without the Miracle Matter affecting them, this means full adoration of the town once we get outta this…!”

Richard smiled, “And one step closer to ridding humanity of humanity. Glad to be a service, and most importantly, glad I made it up to you, Mother.”

And before she could say anything, a very resigned “Aw shit” erupted from the cacophony.

Richard saw the scene being swallowed up in darkness in real-time. There wasn’t even a complimentary haze anymore, just a deep shade that he could barely see.

“Fuck…” Artemis Grimes uttered in defeat. “Fuck fuck fuck…”

Richard wanted to echo the sentiment himself. Despite being prepared for this… The imagery, being here… It just echoed and prodded at mankind’s primal fears.

Being alone in the dark. Surrounded by enemy eyes. With nowhere to go, or hide.

“Everyone! We have to circle up and protect each other for this next bit!” Martha commanded, becoming more of the unofficial leader by the second. “They’ve devolved in a sense, going back to the tried and true tactics of just overwhelming their prey until either nothing’s left, or they have fancy new bodies to have! W-we have to brave it for a while until our special help comes through!”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

There was no time for mummers or asides, the crowd of humans with Richard and Martha in the middle, became a circular bastion. The literal last stand against the darkness that threatened to destroy everything.

As he gripped his hands together, he prayed for the girls he considered fodder, to be the true unsung heroes in this madness.

***

“Aw geez—aw geez—aw geez—aw geez—”

Gale said repeatedly on rhythm, as she kept impaling the various Subsumed that swarmed her. And how despite shooting brambles and vines straight into their heads at some point, they kept coming back.

Or was it the same ones? She legitimately lost track.

In this shroud of darkness, all she could go off of were these yellow eyes. She couldn’t make out what was coming towards her until they already made an attack. Stubby heads that took a big chuck out of her shoulder, a snake-guy that coiled around her neck. And that’s not counting the hit-and-runs, that just kept slamming her head around as she tried in vain to concentrate. When it was hard to do that normally.

She already turned her arms into veins, and they had shaved off what would’ve been improbable into something just impossible—as they attacked anything that got near. But it didn’t save against the really bad hits still.

Despite the pained, panicked tears she were letting out—she could still see the exit she’s made. How despite the horribleness of the situation, the Subsumed parts that made up the wall still couldn’t simply cut, nibble, slime, or burrow their way through Earth-infused flora. How the layers upon layers of veins created a gateway, anchored to the nature pathway Gale created. It seemed like the innocent folks managed to get away due to her work, and that gave her the best warm-fuzzies.

But her new problem was across from that.

The hall—anything that surrounded it, was completely pitch black. The plan was for her to maintain the bridge between the hall and the outside world—and the right side of said bridge has been completely swallowed up. Gale couldn’t even feel anything on that side anymore.

So her current hell is trying to keep the Subsumed back as she shot out plant life, to make a new way out. She’s already exhausted her magic, she already exhausted her weapon transformation…

Gale laughed a little, shaking her head.

She made it such a point to be wary of using this, made it a point that it made her feel super “uggo”. And yet she’s going to be the first to whip out. But there was simply no other choice.

Gale forced her arms to regain their shape, as she lowered her head and raised her hands above it.

“I am the Swamp Subsumed. And they are also me...”

It seemed like the Subsumed stopped, some screamed out in a shrill. Knowing what what coming next.

Gale manifested a dark clump of marsh in her gather hands, and she took a deep breath.”

“So let us truly become one!”

Gale pulled the marsh over her head, as if she was putting on a hood.

And in a sense, she was.

It was less of a transformation, and more of donning a costume that was brought to life.

Her head was overtaken--became a massive, toothy flytrap’s head—with an equally thick, unearthed root acting as support. Various vines sprouted from the ground, acting like various new limbs for the being that was once a girl. The surrounding earth turned into a swamp, terraforming into it’s own, exotic ecosystem with twisted, insane flowers and flora dotting out of the edges.

And for the final touch, the snapping, snarling flytrap’s head forcefully grew flower stalks that doubled as “eyes” in place of the blossoms. Everything, the entire new body, shades of black and greys.

With a deafening shriek, Gale was reborn.

***

Natalie was stuck in a pretty desperate situation. She was supposed to cover the spots her teammates can’t effectively see from above. Even maneuver them out of harm’s way.

But she’s too busy trying to escape from the skies. And she can’t attack, lest risk her wings getting smaller and unable to keep flying away.

There were just limbs grabbing at her body, rows of teeth slicing away at her. Branches trying to impale her, other forms of wings trying to trap her by stretching outward to surround her at both sides.

She was thankful for being so annoyingly nimble because, well—she was as strong as her namesake. Maybe she could brave one or two heavy hits, but after that? Probably instant death. And Natalie reckoned that her healing isn’t that great—or at the very least, disappointingly standard.

It wasn’t just an empty void that seemingly didn’t have a beginning, middle, or end—it was a moving endless void. There was no resting, no ability to analyze and take a breath. Even if she wanted to make the sacrifice play, that meant stopping. And the only reason she’s still in the air is that she hasn’t, outside of changing direction. And even if she’s moving, she’s barely grabbed, stabbed, crushed, or burnt.

When Natalie knew that the people that’s possibly below her were suffering so much worse. The fly monster girl sighed, wishing that she didn’t regrow a heart in the first place.

Surrounded by all sides… Everyone she’s supposed to aid being possibly low on those numbers…

“Ah well…” Natalie smiled a bit in her resignation. “There’s nothing else to it…”

She hooked her thumbs together before her masked face, forming a pair of wings.

“I am the Fly, we’re one and the same…” Natalie unhooked her thumbs, to allow her hands to cross in opposite directions to reach at her hair. “Let’s join together—to prove the fact!”

Natalie pulled down a bundle of chittering jet-black hair, which sprouted a pair of twitching antennae.

She kept pulling down the insectoid guise, her body covered in a massive torso with a thick fur that coated the chest and shoulders. Her once brittle wings expanded multiple feet wide and were made up of clusters of smaller wings.

The hunched body had an equal amount of massive feelers of five—the “main arms” being a hybrid of feelers and pincers. Able to fold into each other.

Natalie’s new head, which was long and trailed into thick mandibles, crested with two massive compound eyes that had four smaller ones dotted behind her head… Simply twitched about. Taking in the new sensory.

So much so, the Subsumed used this as their chance—immediately grasping her new body. So fragile, that the quick grapple alone caused it to separate.

…But those segmented pieces, soon grew their own heads, mandibles, and pincers…

***

Cassie had to aim, predict the movements, and otherwise try to shut down a being that was literally prancing about her, singing some sort of show tune.

Which made aiming for her a complete fool’s errand.

“You think you have me cornered?! Got me on the backfoot somehow?!” Cassie kept forcing Melissa’s body to shoot out as much blood as possible—using the veins to angle themselves, to quickly slash her arms to create whips to corner the monster girl, before spraying her in a finish that never came. “I fucking prepped myself for some bullshit—I drank like, 50 people, animals—whatever had a fucking pulse—I can literally do this fucking forever--!”

All Calypso was doing, was simply what she realized from before she transformed. Dodging and going in between the erratic patterns that Cassie made, the major difference was a body that more than enough could handle such high-defying and executing actions.

And once Calypso got close enough, immediately slashed at the Vampire Consumed’s body—causing an unintended spray that forced the Grim Consumed backward—and fast. It was funny how it was the stray shots, that were ultimately damaging Calypso—causing her to run about to stall, to heal again.

Doing this again and again, mere child’s play.

And it was mere child’s play, when one renders the shooter unable to make perfect shots.

“wwwwWWWHY?!” Cassie shrieked out of Melissa’s mouth, coiling the various veins that sprouted from the girl’s build to hit Calypso even once. “WHY CAN’T I HIT YOU?! WHY CAN YOU HIT ME?! THE ACTUAL ME--?!”

Calypso just stopped in her tracks. What was showboating turned into legitimately laughing at this poor girl. Her forehead in her palms, her spiked shoulders rising up and down with mirth, full-on cackling like a cartoon villain.

“Because clearly, you don’t pay attention!”

Calypso simply raised a claw, while covering her face with another.

Cassie looked down at Melissa’s body… And realized how badly she just fucked up.

There was so little pressure to force the blood out, it was as if the body were a faucet that was only cranked once or twice. Weak bloodstreams covered the body, as the cuts Calypso made to make this happen healed well enough, but the damage was basically done.

Cassie could only lift Melissa’s head back up, shakenly. Her supply she just boasted about, rendered nearly gone already.

“But that’s not the only thing you’ve missed… If only you didn’t totally fuse with that Vampire Subsumed of yours, maybe they could’ve informed you about me being a Grim is kind of a big deal…~”

“I fucking know why,” Cassie croaked out. “They were a race that tried to be big shots and dictate how everything dies—hunted on both sides—and are dying janitors of this shitty world we live in—big whoop. All you can do is slice through shit to kill people, what a secret fucking weapon—”

Calypso looked at her claws. Casually brandishing them.

“But why hunt them into endangered status, if said cuts are some display of brute strength, hm? There has to be more to it, surely…?”

Cassie searched for the answer by staring at Calypso… Until the girl placed Melissa’s claw over her cheat in a wide-eyed stare.

“That’s right. I always wondered why the act of cutting felt so divine—the fact I love my victims struggling as I plugged myself in, I always took it as me being unhinged until we figured it out… It’s not just merely slicing—at least in regards to the living… Every hit. Every slash I make against you. I’m chipping away at your life force. Tasting your inmost essence for myself.”

And Calypso pointed forward. “Weakening the defenses… Until I reach the grand prize.”

As Cassie was about to scream out, various screams interrupted the duo’s conflict, one shriek and another disturbed rumbling… All foreign to the panicked Cassie, but familiar to Calypso.

“Ah…” Calypso cracked her neck and lowered herself to the ground. “Suppose that’s my cue…”

Cassie tried to rush her. Tried to force Melissa’s now sluggish body over to the monster. But it was far too late. She was hit way too many times. Now that she was aware of the damage she’d been receiving, Cassie could feel their merged soul so tightly within the center of their being. She had to stop this. End it.

But it was far too late.

Calypso got on her knees, and gripped the air above her spiked shoulders, arms covering her chest.

“Death and I are mutual friends…” Calypso chanted to herself. “Now let me become what I ultimately am!”

Calypso pulled the jet-black shroud over herself. The hood quickly fastened itself over her bowing head, as her very features sunk away into bone.

The claws were overtaken, grew into these boney daggers that were far too long to properly be a digit on a hand. The shroud itself, as it flowed ethereally, was more like lose skin that stuck to the specter at the joints, waist and upper chest. So long that one couldn’t tell if the being was hovering or not, or had a lower half to begin with.

Calypso rose her new head to look at the rushing Cassie. A skull that had a permanent scowl, the teeth fused together by the front. A face devoid of skin, a pearly white… Yet still caked with yellowing, mossy, dead grime that littered the surface.

The reaper rose solemnly, and transformed her arm into the weapon of her species’ choice. Ready to reap a soul that’s been long due.

***