Name: Nil
Race: Demon
Type: Transformed Deviant Soul
Age: Immortal – 4years
Crystal Essence: [Crimson]- Lvl.2— 65esq
[Available Essence Points— 0]
Strength: 14
Agility: 56
Wisdom: 13
Abilities: [Faithless Absorption], [Faithless Mimicry]
[Available Trait Points— 5]
Traits: [Calloused Exterior]- Lvl.1
Ascension Perks: [Reais Fiend]
Spells: Nil
Patron: Nil
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I’m cornered.
The horned one, [Inurri], snaps its little cube-shaped head at me, wings buzzing as it closes in on me. There’s no escape to be had, not with [Adar] and [Tagorria] waiting at either side and both drawing closer, tightening the trap.
There’s no way around it. Fueling my good arm with Essence, I attempt once again to form claws at my fingertips but to no avail. Still, the bulking and tensing in my muscles should be enough, it’s all I have.
With a desperate roar I make a dash toward [Inurri] and the mosquito-headed ant strafes and matches me in charge. Numerous legs skitter, and the broken stinger is poised as the [Inurri] lunges at me, trying to pierce my chest.
Faster than I ever thought myself capable, I grab hold of its stinger and dig my feet into the burning sands, pushed back by the force of the [Inurri’s] charge. Beginning to slow, I follow the defense with a tug. My arm pulses with Essence as I heft the Demon overhead and toss it toward [Adar].
[Adar] snaps out its wings and flits away from the tumbling [Inurri]. Still, there’s no reprieve as even in these winds I can catch the shuffling strides of [Tagorria] on its way to bite my head off.
I take a dive and roll to the side, tumbling away from the locust-shaped battering Demon. A quick scan finds the others recovering—[Adar] is a bit distracted snapping at [Tagorria], but otherwise they’re up.
So soon…
Panting, I dive away from the charging [Tagorria] and grunt at the strain on my shoulder. It’s started to swell up.
Venomous stinger. Damn it.
As [Adar] buzzes into the air, drooling some sort of mucous from its mouth, I watch the other two, particularly the venomous one. At the point of its broken stinger glows a spindle of Essence, a crimson-colored spindle of mist elongating the broken stinger and healing it gradually.
They can regenerate? Why can’t I?
One of the reasons I’m so cautious of the biting desert storm is because I’ve found no way of regenerating my body on my own… at will. My closest experience with regeneration was immediately after the tusked Demon threw me off and burned off my lips. They grew back the next minute, but I suppose fresh blood and flesh, as well as the powerful Essence I sucked out of the tusked Demon, shifted the chances of regenerating.
At will, I divide a portion of the Essence empowering my arm and direct it at the swelling.
The area soothes, lessening rather than bulging with muscle like my other arm. Intent is important, I note.
Gritting my teeth, I prepare myself to go against all three Crimson-level Demons with the injuries they’ve inflicted.
Since the start of this mess I’ve gotten hit by two of them once, and I’m almost handicapped with the venom coursing through, barely slowed by Essence. It’s a lot for a start, especially since I haven’t taken down any of the three and one is healing from its injury.
Screeching wildly, [Adar] lunges from the sky, jaw slack and teeth bared as it makes to snap my head off. The long gash in my chest is still fresh from its last attack, and I start to run. My feet scuffle against the burning sand, only to catch a rock, and I spill on my back, vulnerable.
In a snap it mounts me, wings settling into its back as it bares against my good arm I’ve brought up to protect myself.
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Its friends don’t waste any time covering the rear, skittering closer to have their piece of me. The sight of [Inurri] bursts a bubble of fear within me—its stinger is nearly complete.
I abandon my good arm to the jaws of [Adar] on top of me, retrieving the Essence flooding it, and with a single snap of its maw agony beyond anything I’ve ever experienced jolts me into quicker action.
Tugging on the vibrating sensation in my swollen shoulder, I flood it with all the Essence I can manage until it breaks. The Essence and tingling venom within rush throughout my right arm, morphing it, peeling skin and condensing flesh. The combination splits and fuses my bone into a long, single sharp point. A point that spears through the horned head of [Adar] and pumps what I know is venom into it.
[Adar] falls slack over me, its weight barely held by my stinger arm. [Inurri] and [Tagorria] come to a stop at the development, the loss of their fellow Demon. The two study me as I struggle to pick myself up from under the heavy carapace corpse of the third Demon. It’s a lot harder with one arm bitten off and the other transformed into a stinger.
My first instinct is to dig out for the throbbing [Soul Crystal] hidden in the corpse, but I can’t. Both from a practical sense, because I have no arm with opposable thumbs, and from a sensible decision with the other two studying my every move.
There’s chittering from [Tagorria]; its large locust body and shielded head parts to reveal the drooling maw aching to digest me. It starts to charge.
In the corner of my eye [Inurri] still stands in wait, looking for the outcome of this fight, so I turn my full attention to the charging Demon, its wide, shielded head shut and ready to ram me into oblivion if I’m not ready. But this time I am.
“Raaarggh!” With a costly roar as sands slice into my open mouth, I poise to spear through [Tagorria] like I did the one at my feet.
My stinger meets its shield with force, enough force to threaten to snap my stinger even as it doesn’t make a dent. Eyes bulging, I realize the mistake just in time to strafe to the side and duck under a wide swipe of one of its six legs.
Antennae waving, it’s quick to realign itself, hiding soft spots and weak joints. Grinding my teeth, I pull on even more Essence from my [Soul Crystal] and pump it into my morphed arm; it staunches the bleeding from my lost one. My stinger straightens in response to the flood of power, the bend and crack from meeting the shield is patched and strengthened, but still not enough to charge right back in at the swiping [Tagorria].
It charges after me again, all six legs skittering forward with its head set to bash me in.
I’ve got to get the sides…!
Target in mind, I bring up my left side, propping my armless shoulder best I can for—
“Argh!”
The numerous cracks are loud and audible. Bone pierces out of my skin from the impact. My shoulder has definitely shattered, but I steal the opportunity I need and jab my stinger right over its head as it slams into me.
The impact alone isn’t enough to send me flying, not with my stinger lodged in what I think is its neck. The Demon locust lets out a cry and starts thrashing, lifting and pulling me by my stinger. I grunt as all I have to fight against it dragging me are my feet.
But even worse is what I find in my periphery. [Inurri] starts to strut toward us, confident in its victory, secured in its meal.
It’ll finish me and this Demon off and feast on our corpses!
In agony and close to death, the thought of all this work serving that Demon burns. This feast is mine.
“Stay still!” I punctuate the command with a pump of venom into the [Tagorria], sinking my stinger arm even deeper and making a mess of its neck. It turns and pulls and thrashes around with my stinger arm until the wound is a gaping hole.
Pushing in even deeper until my stinger bursts out the other side, I grunt, struggling against the tough carapace and flesh, but in the end I manage to rip my arm out of the [Tagorria’s] neck, essentially decapitating it.
The ominous buzzing behind me meets me fuming. Turning to look up at it, I’m struck with a sense that it’s extremely pleased with itself right now.
I bet it is.
The dire remnants of strength motivate me to fight even harder for my life, but I’ve lost an arm, shattered my shoulder, and I’m facing the Demon I unintentionally mimicked. This close up I can spot the fundamental differences between our stingers, but it doesn’t matter. My muscles are exhausted, and my body’s been abused to the point I’m surprised I’m still conscious.
[Inurri] readies, pulling back its head for a strike with its stinger. The attack comes down hard, and I barely have the strength to maintain my block. Again I sense a feeling from it—shock, annoyance.
Heh… I’m not going down without a—
Black, sharp objects break into the sides of [Inurri]. Zipping out from the billowing winds are more of these objects, peppering the ant mosquito to the point its large behind bursts open, pouring out acid as it tumbles over on its side. Dead.
Crumbling to my knees, I pant, huffing to catch my breath, sandy as it is. But there’s no such thing, my mind rips with pain as images flash through it, images of Humans killing Demons and…
“No! No, I… I was Human. I don’t think I am anymore.” Blinking at myself, I stare back into the sandy dunes until my eyes catch a figure. It stalks forward slowly until it’s in full view and a good distance away from me.
Three yellow eyes study the surroundings from their bony sockets. A narrow nose rests below, but it’s the large mouth below that demands all my attention. A wide grin reveals two large canines and a slithering tongue that licks its lips. Long round ears sit on each side of its short, fat head, which is covered by some kind of cloth, a hood, and has two stubby horns protruding from the sides.
Its small, fat body is slightly hunched over. Two short arms rest at the sides and end in wide hands with short fingers, each with long clawed nails. Likely the black object that fired at [Inurri]. Its legs are short and stand straight, each ending in small feet.
[Khozuik] is what I see it described as.
The fact that it dons a wide, brown, hooded cloth over itself means it must be intelligent, far more intelligent than the dead insects around me at least.
And it asked a question… with images, but a question nonetheless. This is an individual, a thinking individual. Now… how to communicate.
Slowly, I get on my feet, but in a snap it brings up its arm, pointing the sharp claws right at my face and slamming my mind with dozens of images of all sorts of bipedal creatures kneeling.
Back on my knees then.
It walks closer, close enough that I can hear it humming over the winds. And through images it observes, “You very Human. Close, but no Human organ.”
The image of Human genitalia floods my head and I shake it, replying, “No, I’m not Human… anymore. I used to be, but now I… I’m not so sure.”
Again it slams me with images of genitalia, and I can tell it wants me to show it my genitals. Growling, tired, hungry, and with my knees burning, I ground out, “Does it matter? I don’t have any.”
It blinks at me, lips turning in a frown. “Noisy, will sell as new Human.”
Wait… sell me?
“Can I…?” I start to ask, reaching for the corpse of [Inurri], and it screams at me, jabbing its claws my way.
“No! Soul Crystal mine! No move!”
Still got robbed. I hate this place.