The air thickened with tension, a palpable dread that hung over the group like a storm cloud ready to burst. Joel felt his heart race as the Mother Otter's eyes glowed with a feral fury, reflecting the flickering flames around them. Her guttural growl rumbled through the air, a sound that sent shivers down their spines, resonating deep in their bones.
“Tonight, your kind ends,” she snarled, her voice low and menacing, echoing the anguish of a thousand lost souls. The ground trembled beneath her massive paws as she advanced, each step a testament to her unyielding wrath.
The echoes of her dead offspring's cries rang in Joel's ears, intertwining with the haunting silence that enveloped them. Panic surged through him as he exchanged frantic glances with Darren and Craig, their faces ghostly pale, illuminated only by the flickering firelight. Kevin's body lay lifeless, a grim reminder of their mortality, as the remnants of his fiery charge flickered into darkness.
The Mother Otter lunged, swift as lightning, her body a blur of fur and fury. Joel barely had time to react; he felt the rush of air as she barreled toward him, jaws wide, sharp teeth glistening with the promise of death. He dodged to the side, his heart hammering in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
The world around Joel had devolved into chaos, a nightmarish blur of snarls, roars, and the desperate cries of his friends. Time seemed to slow as he moved towards Kevin’s lifeless body, sprawled unnaturally on the cold, hard ground. Joel's heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing the urgency of the moment. He could see the gleaming eyes of the Mother Otter fixated on her prey, and a primal instinct surged within him.
“Kevin!” Joel shouted, his voice cutting through the cacophony. He raced toward the fallen man, dodging the flailing limbs of the enraged otter who tried to surround him. The air was thick with the smell of burnt flesh, mingling with the acrid scent of fear. He reached Kevin, dread flooding his veins as he knelt beside him, his hands trembling.
Joel’s care for Kevin was something he couldn’t fully understand, a feeling tangled up with grief, loss, and the relentless pressure of survival. Maybe it was because so many people he cared for had already been taken from him, snatched away in a system that had turned the world upside down. Or perhaps it was a quiet ache for the time he’d been robbed of with his own family, memories he carried like fragile relics. He had already lost so much to the chaos of the storm and the strange, increasingly brutal world that followed. Yet, under the dim flicker of their campfire, with nothing but the vast, dark silence around them, he knew one thing with absolute clarity: Kevin mattered.
With frantic desperation, Joel gripped Kevin’s shoulder, feeling the coldness of death seep into his skin. The Mother Otter lunged, her massive form a terrifying shadow above him. Joel’s eyes widened as he saw her jaws snapping dangerously close, the sharp teeth glinting in the flickering firelight.
“Come on, Kevin!” Joel urged, his voice choked with emotion.
“He is dead,” Craig screamed as he whipped his chains, “he doesn’t even have a fucken head anymore.”
Joel didn’t care, but hoisted Kevin’s lifeless body, feeling the weight of loss crash over him. He could hear the enraged growls of the Mother Otter, feel the heat radiating from her as she prepared to crush everything in her path. In a surge of adrenaline, he yanked Kevin toward him, cradling him against his chest, a futile attempt to protect him from the impending doom.
Just as the Mother Otter's claws descended, Joel rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow aimed at them. The impact sent vibrations through the ground, reverberating through Joel's bones. He could feel the air rush past him as the otter's furious roar filled the space, but he held Kevin tighter, unwilling to let go. “I won’t let her take you,” he whispered, even as despair clawed at his throat.
With every ounce of strength he had left, Joel scrambled to his feet, dragging Kevin with him, desperate to escape the carnage. He could hear the growl of the Mother Otter behind him, a harbinger of death ready to unleash her fury. The battle raged around him, but in that moment, all that mattered was keeping Kevin safe, even if it was a losing fight.
“Fuck! Get back!” Darren’s voice rang out, snapping Joel back to reality as he stumbled toward what was left of the makeshift barricade. He could feel the heat of the Mother Otter’s rage closing in, a wave of fury ready to obliterate anything in her path. And yet, despite the terror surrounding him, Joel's resolve hardened.
Finally snapping out of it, he placed Kevin’s body down. Looking back, Joel had felt like a solider on the battlefield walking around holding his lost arm. Or, as if he was coming out of shell shock. He couldn’t say, but that was the closest reference he had.
He would not lose Kevin, not today—not without a fight.
“Get back!” Craig shouted, swinging his chains, but the Mother Otter had her eyes fixed on Joel. There was something horrifyingly intelligent in her gaze, a cruel understanding of their fear.
The otter’s claws slashed through the air, the sound like nails on a chalkboard, a noise that clawed at the sanity of everyone present. Joel felt the weight of despair crash over him as he grappled with the realization: they were not just fighting a beast; they were fighting an embodiment of rage and loss, a force of nature bent on annihilation.
Craig whipped his chains forward, and they snaked around the Mother Otter’s massive, sinewy neck. With a fierce yank, he dug the metal links into her fur, feeling them bite through flesh. The otter thrashed violently, black blood spraying across the shop floor that was already stained in grease and oil, as the chains tightened like a vise. Each whip and pull sent another burst of the oily blood flying, splattering onto Craig’s arms and face.
With a determined grunt, he locked the chains down and twisted, forcing them deeper into the otter’s hide. The chains creaked, and with each pulse of his heart card, they sank deeper, cracking through bone, sending shudders up the length of the metal. The creature howled, a guttural sound that rattled the earth beneath him, and in its last, desperate attempt, it swung toward him, jaws wide.
But suddenly, with a savage twist, the creature flung her massive head to the side, breaking free of his grip. Craig’s shoulder twisted at an unnatural angle, and Joel heard a sickening: POP! Craig stumbled back, his arm going limp at his side, the pain etched in his face as he clutched his shoulder with his other hand.
The Mother Otter, enraged, whipped her head toward Craig, her blood-matted fur glistening with oil and gore. Black blood dripped from the fresh wounds, but her eyes were fierce and wild, filled with a hunger that made Joel’s stomach clench. She bared her teeth, crouching low, ready to pounce.
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Joel reacted instinctively, slamming his foot into the ground as his armour responded, charging his limbs with a thrumming energy. With Craig vulnerable and struggling to stay upright, Joel knew he had to step in before the otter's jaws killed again.
“Fight! We can’t let her take us!” Darren yelled, gathering what remained of his courage. But Joel could see the fear in his eyes, mirrored in Craig’s.
As the Mother Otter let out a primal roar, it echoed through the darkness, reverberating off the walls of the storage unit like the tolling of a death knell. The air crackled with energy, and the shadows around them seemed to deepen, alive with the echoes of their impending doom.
Joel's mind raced; he had to act, had to find a way to survive this nightmare. But as the Mother Otter bore down on him, teeth bared, her maw crackled, and a bolt of lightning leaped from her jaws, arching toward Joel in a blinding surge. Instinctively, he braced, expecting the impact to kill, but a faint, pulsing glow erupted around him. The system notification he’d ignored earlier flashed briefly in his mind — Temporary Boost: Absorb and Redirect Energy.
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Personal System Notification:
[Temporary Boost Activated]
Source: Defeat of [Three Young Otters]
Effect Duration: 10 minutes
Absorption Protocols: ONLINE
Redirect Capacity: LIMITED
Boost Summary:
Absorbs lightning-based attacks and allows redirection of stored energy. Temporary increase in conductivity and resistance detected.
Additional Notes:
* Boost strength: 1.5x standard absorption
* Current energy levels: 65% capacity (expending stored energy may reduce duration)
----------------------------------------
The notification faded, and Joel felt the surge pulsing within, oddly, the system’s stats a reassuring hum in the back of his mind.
The lightning struck, and instead of burning through him, it wrapped around his armour like a living coil, sinking into his skin and merging with his body’s current. Joel felt a fierce energy build up inside him, buzzing through his veins. Clenching his fists, he channeled the raw power, focusing it forward and sending it crashing back toward the otter in a crackling arc of his own.
The surge hit her mid-charge, forcing her to stagger as Joel steadied himself, a fierce look in her eyes. A low, rumbling voice echoed, sharp and guttural, filling the air with a sound that was both ancient and deeply wild.
"Little spark-bearer," she snarled, her voice like the grinding of stones beneath dark waters. "You steal power that is not yours, wield forces you cannot understand. I have seen ages pass, storms rage and fade, but you — a flicker, a flame soon snuffed out."
She shook herself, drops of black blood splattering as her muscles tensed, and her gaze narrowed. "Do you think your borrowed strength can break me? I am the storm made flesh, the keeper of these dark waters. And you, spark-bearer, will drown as so many have before you."
The Mother Otter roared, and with a powerful lurch, she unleashed a torrent of water, a high-pressure jet that sliced through the air like a blade. But Joel was ready. His focus locked, he threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the blast. The jet struck the ground behind him, ripping up chunks of concrete in an explosion of wet debris.
Sliding low across the floor, Joel gritted his teeth as his armour screeched against the concrete, sending sparks skittering in his wake. The friction only fueled his momentum as he closed the gap between himself and the beast, his heart pounding. He wasn’t holding back now; he was done reacting, done getting tossed around.
With a fierce push, he rose from his slide, driving his shoulder forward, aiming to bury his armoured fist into the otter's exposed flank. This time, he was on the offensive, and he could feel his armour humming with energy, ready to strike.
Joel’s focus sharpened to a razor edge. His heart card pulsed within him, a roaring surge of power that set every fibre of his being ablaze. He closed in on the Mother Otter, fists crackling with stored lightning as he launched a relentless flurry of blows. Each punch struck like a thunderclap, lightning-infused fists pounding into the creature’s thick hide, sending shockwaves rippling out with every impact.
The otter snapped back, thrashing her claws, but Joel was already gone, ducking under a swipe that would’ve taken his head clean off. He twisted, dodging with inhuman reflexes, weaving in close and then back out as he unleashed another surge of charged punches, his fists blazing as they connected. He aimed for her vulnerable spots — her neck, her underbelly, anywhere he could leave his mark.
The card fed him data in real-time on his HUD: Increased conductivity detected. Strike efficiency: 85%.
Joel grinned, a wild light in his eyes as he shifted, sidestepping her counter-attack and redirecting a clawed paw in a move so fluid it looked like part of a deadly dance. The otter screeched, snapping around, only for Joel to meet her with an uppercut that discharged a raw bolt of lightning straight through her jaw. Sparks exploded, and the creature’s fur smouldered as she reeled back, stunned.
Without missing a beat, he pressed the advantage. Joel threw himself forward, leaping onto her back, his fists hammering down in a brutal storm of electricity and fury. Each hit sent fresh waves of lightning arcing through the otter’s massive frame, her body convulsing under the relentless barrage. He felt her buck, her muscles contracting as she fought back, but he rode the storm, clamping down with his armour as he rained strike after strike, his fists nothing short of thunderbolts crashing down.
Armour Integrity Failing: 15 Percent.
She roared again, unleashing another blast of water, but Joel pivoted, letting the spray glance off as he dove beneath it, sliding to her side and landing another charged punch straight into her ribs. The concrete beneath them cracked, each impact shaking the ground as if it were an earthquake.
His heart pounded with every strike, the thrill of battle and pure adrenaline merging as he committed every ounce of power to his attacks.
Joel’s fists pulsed with electric energy, but he could feel something else stirring within him, something darker. His encounter with the void oil monster had left its mark — a shadowy, oily energy that now thrummed under his skin, waiting to be unleashed. He felt his armour respond, the once sleek metal shifting, taking on a darker, almost liquid sheen as the void energy surged to the surface.
The Mother Otter’s eyes narrowed, sensing the shift in his power, but it was too late.
Joel drew in a deep breath, feeling the void energy merge with the electricity in his fists, creating a volatile, otherworldly charge that flickered and sparked with a dark light. He lunged forward, his body almost seeming to phase through the air as the void energy warped space around him. In a blur, he closed the distance, every ounce of power focused on this final strike.
With a primal roar, he drove his fist straight into the Mother Otter’s chest, unleashing the void-infused energy in a spiralling shockwave that ripped through her form. Tendrils of dark energy snaked out from his fist, wrapping around her like hungry shadows, seeping into her wounds and tearing at her essence. The creature’s body convulsed, twisted by the dark energy as it eroded her from the inside out, merging with her flesh before erupting in a flash of blackened light.
The Mother Otter let out a final, desperate screech, her form flickering and dissolving, as the void energy consumed her, disintegrating her piece by piece. As she crumbled, the void tendrils withdrew, leaving only smoking remnants and the echo of her last scream reverberating through the empty air.
Joel stood over the remains, his armour still dripping with traces of void oil, dark and pulsing, a grim reminder of the power he had barely contained.