One moment I was literally fucking dying, my consciousness wavering into darkness, the next I was super energized, raring to wildly rage with power. My brain that was on the verge of shutting down was suddenly bombarded with a cacophony of information. Blanchette’s enhanced senses simultaneously picked up everything around me: the movements of monsters entering the parking area, the humans through the building’s windows, the helicopter above, the assortment of smells of varying disgustingness, sounds from the minute to the explosively loud, all in between minuscule vibrations and large tremors.

So overwhelming was the mental shift that I simply forgot where I was, like the times I opened the fridge and blanked out on what I was supposed to get. A crash a few yards away snapped me back to reality.

And barely just in time.

I kicked up to a squatting position and dove forward, smoothly transitioning into a front flip to avoid the buffalo monster ramming the car I was on. It furiously threw back its head, attempting to snag me with its wicked curved horns as I passed a couple of inches above its reach.

I landed behind it and watched as it tried to stop its mighty charge. It ended up tumbling into more cars.

Shit! I crouched down, expecting whistles. However, there were no wind blades and I was still in one piece.

Axe Lady was preoccupied fighting, but I was positive she saw me. I really had no other choice than to transform because Mr. Buffalo wasn’t generous enough to give me time to heal back to fighting shape. Fortunately, protecting the humans inside the police station was apparently a higher priority for her. I had to thank these new monsters swarming the place that I wasn’t sashimi yet.

Which hole did this new batch of fuckers climb out of anyway?

If the mammoth was coming, then the horde it brought along should be from SaveValue Depot. But shouldn’t they be heading in another direction since I ordered the PCM members to distract them? And why weren’t these fuckers attacking and eating each other?

I narrowed my eyes and scanned the building. That stupid metal box! The weird box I found in my condo that could control the monsters. There should be one inside there attracting these monsters. That meant someone from the 2Ms organization was—

“Hroaaghh” A throaty bellow signaled that Mr. Buffalo wanted another pass at me.

This buffalo-looking abomination reminded me of the one that killed my best friend and best puppet, Cesar Pintor, during the condo attack. Well, technically, I was the reason he died…because of my Pino powers and whatnot…buuuut the buffalo monster did deliver the fatal blow. Weird that a lot of these monsters had similar features. Did it have something to do with the parasites in them?

Mr. Buffalo shrugged off the pile of wreckage on its humped shoulders and aggressively pawed the ground once again. With a lowered head, it began its charge, kicking up a cloud of dust. A couple of tentacles zombies heading to the precinct had the misfortune of being in its path and were unceremoniously trampled.

Evade or stand? Stand! I snarled, squatted down, and extended my arms. Come on! I’m colored red!

“Ghgrooaw!”

I caught its horns a fraction of a second before its boulder-sized head could hit my body. My arms buckled, bones threatening to snap, muscles straining to keep my body intact. I was able to stop it from slamming against my torso.

The familiar hunger, like froth overflowing a boiling pot, started to swell inside me. Relief came over my aching muscles; relief and strength. I must’ve sustained small injuries that triggered my Blanchette powers. All according to plan.

Boosted by a tiny surge of strength, I dug my heels into the ground. I grunted as I tried to push it back; my bitchy competitive side didn’t want to lose.

Mr. Buffalo was unfazed.

The pavement under my feet broke, my heels plowed two deep furrows into the soil as the hulking monster continued going forward like I wasn’t there. This wasn’t a contest of strength. I’m too fucking light. This stupid monster was basically just pushing against the ground with me in between.

I tightly gripped its horns and turned its head sideways in a bid to twist its neck. It might’ve sensed what I was planning to do. Several small horns grew all over its face and pierced the front of my body like I was locked up in an iron maiden.

“Grrwaaarr!” Wrong move, big guy! Injuring me was a bad idea. I opened my mouth wide—the small horns pierced deeper into my chest and neck as I came closer—and chomped its forehead. I crunched through the small horns and its skull. Black blood filled my mouth, pouring through the gaps of my fangs. The formerly disgusting blood was now scrumptious. Hey, I’m not being a sore loser by eating it.

Mr. Buffalo furiously bucked and shook its head, and me, wildly in the air. I kept holding onto its horns and enjoying my meal. Desperate to be rid of me, it tried smashing its head on the floor as the gorilla monster did.

That trick won’t work twice. I landed on my feet instead of my back. Next, I leaned backward, dragging Mr. Buffalo forward and down, pulling it off-balance. I fell into a backward roll, sliding beneath the huge monster as it tipped headlong. I then kicked its belly upwards with both legs.

I succeeded in launching the massive buffalo monster in the air and flipping it on its back. Yes! It was just something I saw on a judo video on the internet; I didn’t expect it to work on a four-legged creature, although I probably did it wrong. Good enough.

Mr. Buffalo squirmed to return to its feet. I pounced on it, pushing it down and biting its throat. I tore out huge chunks of meat with each bite, swallowing it without chewing. Bones were a minor annoyance, ground to dust by my jaws. It was as if I was almost drinking Mr. Buffalo with the speed I ate.

My snout stretched out, lengthening fangs jostled each other. My braided hair unraveled, growing longer and wilder; parts of my red hoodie also sprouting fur. There was also fur on the back of my hands as my claws extended. I flexed my muscles, feeling them enlarge. I was slowly growing, my injuries healing. The holes poked by the small horns were closing.

Hang on...where did the large gash on my stomach go? Did it disappear when I transformed?

I thought my injuries as Erind got carried over to Blanchette? That was what happened when I first transformed after Myra skewered me at Sanders. Or was I missing something here? When I return to my original body, it would be a problem if I still have that injury.

A group of monsters interrupted my musings. They crashed into me, wrestling me away from the dying buffalo monster. They swarmed me but I easily took care of them. One downward punch cut a zombie in half, a swipe of my claw severed many tentacles, my strikes caused bodies to explode with its force.

I was hoping for stronger monsters to attack me to fuel my growth so when all of these fuckers were cleaned up, I’d be more than prepared for another round versus Axe Lady. Too bad, these ones I was killing barely did any damage to me. Useless pieces of shit. Don’t bother me while I eat!

I let out a growl of surprise. My craving for a Mr. Buffalo patty disappeared.

What was going on? Did it die?

Tentacles were growing out of its corpse, it should still—oooh! It dawned on me. The host, the actual buffalo monster, had died. The parasite hitching a ride on it had taken over and was consuming its body. Those two were supposed to be separate entities. Technicalities, technicalities…my power had so many rules. I wonder why, I thought sarcastically.

I headed to the buffalo-tentacle hybrid and the other larger monsters approaching. Mammoth Buddy was stomping on cars. Let’s work up the food chain.

“Red Hood!” shouted a woman’s voice. That it gave me pause. “Move aside!”

I followed the order without a second thought.

Fwoom!

The fuck?

Fwoom! FWOOM!

Wind blades carved a valley across the monster throng. Mr. Buffalo’s corpse with its tentacles and the other monsters near it exploded into minced meat confetti and a mist of black blood.

Axe Lady ran through the path she made, glancing my way as she passed me. She wiped her face and gave me a nod before continuing to meet the monstrous crowd.

Huh…are we supposed to be allies now too? I shrugged my muscular shoulders covered by my untamed reddish-gold mane. Sure, why not? Our goals overlapped—okay, I had no idea what her goals were. And didn’t she look familiar? I felt like I had met her somewhere before. Probably one of the secretaries at the police station I saw a few days ago.

Before I could figure out Axe Lady’s identity, all the monsters rumbled in a deafening chorus. They suddenly became more aggressive and ferocious, breaking into a full charge to the police station. I roared and met them, using my fangs and claws to dispose of them wholesale while keeping an eye on Axe Lady.

Mammoth Buddy swept away the cars as well as other smaller monsters with its trunk. Axe Lady jumped to avoid it and climbed up its trunk. She hacked its thick flesh in a whirlwind of blades on her way up to the monster’s face. But her cuts were noticeably shallow, barely drawing blood. It might be that she was weakening or that the monster’s skin was super thick.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Undeterred, she leaped up, high above the mammoth monster, and then spun downwards, looking like a gigantic pizza cutter. Dozens of tendrils reached out to her, weaving themselves into a wall of flesh to catch her. She burst through the tendrils and buried the axe’s blade on the monster’s forehead.

Mammoth Buddy didn’t mind, continuing its earth-shaking stroll across the parking lot. Axe Lady was just an annoying pest to it.

“Blanchette! Blanchette!” Myra fought her way to me. Good that she remembered not to call me by my real name. But then again, who the fuck would be listening in on us in this situation? “I sure do hope that’s you somewhere in there.”

It’s me, I replied. She stopped approaching, holding up her armored arms decked with spikes and blades. I realized I didn’t answer her with words but with a growl. Not sure how I looked now, but it certainly wasn’t friendly. Taking a page out of Axe Lady’s book, I squashed a couple of monsters and waved at her.

“Are you in control?” she called loud enough to be heard through her bark helmet and the noisy monsters we were killing, not knowing I could already hear her clearly.

I vigorously nodded my head.

“Come closer to the building!”

I nodded again and followed her.

Just then, the tail of the BID helicopter flying over the roof of the precinct exploded. Myra spouted curses in shock. The chopper spiraled out of control, going down on the other side of the building out of our view. An explosion rocked the ground. I guess that’s it for those BID agents.

I noticed it was a large object that hit it, probably a piece of rubble. Its trajectory had a slight arc, making me suspect it was thrown, having experience throwing stuff myself. Someone with super strength was up there, like a heavily augmented human…or an Adumbrae.

There was gunfire on the rooftop and inside the building interspersed by smaller explosions. I yelped to get Myra’s attention—it was the most unthreatening sound I could make—and gestured at the barricaded entrance, tilting my head to ask her if we could break in to see what was up. She was like fifteen feet away from me; it was obvious she was wary of coming closer. Which was funny because this was the most I was in control of myself this far in a transformation. I was actually surprised at my progress.

I tried to mime that someone dangerous was up there. But I had no idea how to act it out—especially with monsters simply begging to be killed scrambling around me—so she didn’t get my full message.

“Professor said we should fight here,” Myra told me as she skewered greyish goblins clambering over her.

Professor? The Professor who was helping their hero wannabe group? I thought he only contacted Dario and no one else. Or was she referring to a different person?

“If we go inside,” she continued, “we’ll fight the police and might injure them. But damn, I want to go in and help. Sounds like hell’s breaking lose inside. Johann might be—”

I jabbed my thumb back at the door, slowly retreating to it while continuing to defend it.

“Wait a bit!” Myra turned to the mammoth that was coming closer and closer, the building was within reach of the numerous tendrils coming out of its trunk. Axe Lady couldn’t stop it, the wounds she caused rapidly healed. It must be feeding off the corpses it stored in those green bulbous sacs growing on its back. “But Professor…” she began to say. A huge tendril whacked Axe Lady while she was doing her spinning thing mid-air, sending her flying towards the building. “Professor Deslys!”

Deslys? The annoying professor from Melchor Institute? What was she doing here?

Even without an answer to the questions that crossed my mind, I already climbed the side of the building. Reaching the second story, I kicked off the wall to catch the seemingly unconscious Professor Deslys.

It’s really her, I realized as I landed on top of a tentacle zombie.

Her husband, that grouchy doctor—he must be the reason why she was here. I didn’t particularly like Professor Deslys, but I saved her because she might provide some answers to the mystery of the axe and that weird boy I met last night.

She still grasped the axe even in her nearly lifeless state. Should I grab it and throw it away? But I didn’t want to touch it. With its wielder out of commission, it would try to find a new one. Maybe I should throw Professor Deslys and the axe inside the building. People inside might be able to save her, and the axe could change wielders and get back in the fight. I wasn’t that confident in taking down Mammoth Buddy without pushing my transformation more…and that could be the point I’d lose control of myself.

Mammoth Buddy raised its trunk, about to slam the building. But it stopped and lowered its trunk.

All the monsters stopped moving.

The air became heavier. A wave of…something…passed through me. The world became a whirlpool as if I was super drunk on the verge of passing out, and then, just as suddenly as the sensation came, it disappeared.

I’m weak! I staggered, dropping Deslys. In turn, she let go of the axe, splaying out on the ground. I knelt on my knees beside her, hugging my stomach tightly. Searing pain radiated from my abdomen—it was my wound from earlier. My guts weren’t spilling out of my body anymore, but the wound hadn’t finished healing. Sticky blood coated my arms.

“I’m back?” I gasped. It was hard to speak with the pain I was experiencing. I was still rapidly healing; I could feel it. I clenched my fist, sensing the super strength I possessed. It was just my Blanchette transformation was reversed, hence the extreme weakness I felt as I returned to my original body. “How could this be?”

“What the hell?” Myra looked down at her body. Her bark armor had dissolved. She was left with her balaclava mask and sports bra top; her shirt might've gotten torn when she summoned a massive armor. She only showed a moment's hesitation before she held up her fists and faced the immobile monsters, ready to fight despite losing her power.

“Testing. Hello…hello…” An echoey voice like it came out of the radio, spoke above us. I pulled down my own balaclava mask to cover my mouth before looking up. A man peered over the roof fence. This fucker could be the one who brought down the BID helicopter and was likely an Adumbrae.

Was he the one who stopped our powers? And did he control these monsters with that mysterious metal box?

Myra rushed to check Professor Deslys’ condition and then faced me. "Ah! What the fucking hell happened—Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Just give me time to heal." I looked up.

She followed my gaze. “That guy...Isn’t he with the PCM?”

“Can you hear me down there?” He talked through a megaphone, the same used by the PCM leaders, as he was in fact one of them. Not just a low-ranking PCM officer, but the leader of them all.

Auron Cohenn. I had only seen him a couple of times on TV, and I got sketchy vibes the moment I saw him.

He said, “This is a pleasant surprise, all of you are working together. Truly unexpected.”

It’s a surprise to me too that I’m working with this axe. What wasn’t a surprise was that Auron Cohenn was connected to the 2Ms.

“No sudden movements now.” He dangled a metal box over the fence. “I assume you know what this is? The giant elephant over here is going to destroy this building and kill everyone in it with a press of a button. And I don’t think you’re in a position to help the humans inside.”

“We’re listening!” Myra shouted.

“I’m sorry I had to do this to you. It’ll wear off after some time, no worries.” Auron had a very punchable sneer on his very punchable face. “My plan worked to draw you here, even if I wasn’t sure who was going to come. Which means you’re not over at the hospital.” His previously haggard visage demeanor changed to a relaxed, a bit of playful expression, from an impassioned leader of a cult-like organization to an annoying smugfuck. “Have you figured out our goals yet?”

(Hey…)

My eyes widened. I looked around without making it obvious. I thought Auron did some shit that shut down our powers. Why was this axe still talking inside my head? And where was the Adumbrae controlling it? Maybe he could help us out here.

(Hey…pick me up…)

“I’m not going to do that,” I snapped in a low voice.

“What?” Myra said.

“Not you.”

Auron Cohenn’s laughter boomed on the megaphone. “Of course, you haven’t. You are as clueless as ever. So many times you tried to thwart us, but you are no closer to figuring out what’s happening. And none of your attempts have succeeded.”

(As much as it pains me to say this…)

“Shut up,” I hissed. No way I was going to pick him up.

(…I propose a truce.)

“In fact, our plans are progressing way faster than we could have imagined,” Auron continued to blare. “Now, I’m not one to gloat, but allow me this one time. Or perhaps I was already gloating from the start. No matter. I simply wanted to tell you that what we were doing at the hospital was a success…and we didn’t even expect it to succeed.”

“I’m not going to hold this weapon of yours,” I murmured. I couldn’t concentrate on what Auron was talking about; not that I had any clue what it was supposed to be. We knew the 2Ms were experimenting with the patients at the hospital, and nothing else. Myra gave me a weird look. She was about to say something but closed her mouth. I told the axe, “How about you show yourself and help—wait. Are you—?”

(Yes…)

“All thanks to the specimen we acquired a few days ago,” Auron said, his voice cracked trying to hold back laughter. “Can you imagine the luck we have? And now the successful Cocoon at the hospital? I have received reports that it's Bridging—”

“Bridging?” Myra shouted up at Auron. “The hell? You mean to say that—”

“Yes, Ms. Tree, whoever you are,” Auron replied with mirth. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met? An Adumbrae, an intact Manifestation will be born…being born as we speak. It’ll be a weak one considering the short gestation period, but it’s a tremendous success in an experiment that we originally expected to fail. We were supposed to merely record data but—ah, I’ve blabbed enough. I’m going there now to witness it firsthand.”

“Blanchette, what are we going to do?” Myra said, shaking my shoulder, continuing to use my alias. “Oberon and Emcee are there! We also have to save Johann inside the building. And…and Professor Deslys isn’t moving.”

“You’re an Adumbrae?” I said, at the axe, ignoring Myra and not caring about Auron and the 2Ms plans. I needed a plan not to lose now! “But you’re an object. I mean…ah…” Was this possible? Adumbrae could materialize into all sorts of monsters. Why not an axe?

(Yes, I am an Adumbrae.)

“Wha—what do we do?” I said, throwing Myra’s question at it.

(Use me. I’m not going to take over your mind.)

“That sounds like something a mind controller would say.”

(I promise—)

“The BID was gracious enough to lend us a ride,” said Auron, probably referring to the bigger BID helicopter that landed on the roof. “It may not be, their intention, but here we are. What luck! Luck just raining left and right. Can it be divine providence? After all, we’re making a god.” He threw his megaphone to someone behind him, and exaggeratedly pushed several buttons on the metal box. He jovially waved his hand and disappeared. We could hear the helicopter engines starting, the sound of its blades rotating.

Mammoth Buddy trumpeted. I covered my ears. Its tendrils roped the monsters scattered in the parking lot, shoving them in its gaping mouth.

(This is the only way.)

“I know,” I said. My brows furrowed in thought. My heart was pounding, not with fear, but with the thrill of a gamble. And of a fight with low odds.

(You resisted me before, I promise—)

I picked up the axe. “Pleased to work with you.”