Rob’s charge was short but powerful. Accelerating himself in several steps by smashing his bare feet against the floor and leaving deep marks after each of his half-jumps, Robert shot himself into the air. His leg was already stretched forward, making a bad rip-off of the perfect martial skills of a currently dead senior agent. Clumsy motion even looked like a joke, with his inability to raise his straight leg even above his waist. Or that he never twisted his body, turning this running attack into the most basic kick. However, it was Rob’s deliberate choice.

His lack of flexibility or absence of training in any exquisite fighting style couldn’t magically disappear just because he wanted to. On the other hand, Robert didn’t need it, relying on the extensive battle experience that he went through just to get to this moment in one piece, even if it was a metal piece. In his eyes, the most simplistic strikes were the most efficient. Disregarding any specific or set forms, Rob was used to hit with anything at any given moment. That was how he was taught by William before life itself hammered this knowledge deep inside his broken head. To thrust with a blunt mace. To headbutt an enemy in the helmet, while wearing nothing. To use dirty tricks if needed, including smashing the balls or targeting the eyes. To exploit any weakness, no matter what it was. No restraints, no honor, no stoppers. Obviously, the last part was more of his findings.

If Robert ever needed a name for his style, he would use “adaptive”. The latter, a thing that caused the evolution of many species, wasn’t about how to completely counter something, nullifying the threat. No, it was how to change the approach with a limited effort to achieve a needed goal, to suit a new environment, to survive in changing conditions. Just a bare minimum that was enough to do it, nothing more. Starting from his choice of the rodent’s soul that caused his following journey without a leash from the fake god, Rob did exactly the same – he adapted to constantly changing battlefields and different foes, pushing himself to new heights for the sake of survival, while killing the enemies in the easiest way possible.

There was no need to show off, no need to overdo something, especially when his own existence was at stake. His current enormous strength and weight supported this idea to fullness when Robert crashed into the huge ball-like body. Almost digging himself into the hellish flesh, he felt something crack underneath, widening his grin. Making another step right onto the approaching hand and breaking under the forceful stomp, he swung with his cleaver. The coated-in-energy blade cut through the dark red limb at once, splashing a tiny fountain of blood from the stump.

Balancing on the constantly active ball of flesh, Robert made another step forward, trying to get to the head of the demonic creature, which was tiny in comparison to the whole body. The yellow snake eyes were already staring at him as if trying to incinerate Rob with just a gaze. Not having such ability, the hellish super relied on his multiple arms instead. With a silent command, Demonologist moved his limbs toward him. Quite literally moved, as the long demonic arms traveled across the spheric body as it was Rob’s black steel, catching Robert by surprise.

Cleaving another clawed palm, Robert missed a hit at the side of his knee. Stepping to the side and blocking another fist, he kicked the arm away, before proceeding with several wide swings. Unfortunately, the hands seemed to have their own intelligence… or the control over them was no less than Rob’s capabilities over the mechs back when he was in the bunker. Ducking under the blade, quite a few escaped the fate of being mown down. However, even cut in half, with a protruding bloodied bone, they still attempted to hit him, going for the thrusts. Considering the might of the super, it had enough power to penetrate Robert’s skin.

One of such stumps entered his thigh, shattering its bone in the process. The strike didn’t manage to get deep, but the broken fragments were still stuck inside the wound, taking a mental effort to push it out. Especially, when there were more improvised spears coming for him. Stomping on another limb, Rob barely avoided a hit, which was aimed at his groin. His codpiece was still there, protecting everything, while the insensibility to pain and regeneration assured him that there was no need to be afraid. But Robert couldn’t just ignore such an attempt, cursing inwardly.

Douchebag!

Roaring from the anger, he caught another clawed limb with his palm. Pushing it upward, he stretched it only to swing with the cleaver, cutting it off. A moment later the very same part of the body was already flying toward the head of Demonologist. Hitting the ugly face, it had enough force behind the throw to break a few teeth in the super’s maw. The following disorientation was used by Rob immediately, clearing the area around himself with two horizontal strikes. Not that it changed anything as more limbs were disgustingly popping from this living ball that seemed to replicate the birth of the aliens. Stretching something akin to a pulsing membrane with visible veins, they pierced it after a short struggle, emerging like some kind of a monster. Only the inability to produce any sounds was lacking to complete the horrifying picture.

Therefore, Robert decided to avoid a confrontation of regeneration capabilities, using a free moment to strike a potentially vulnerable spot. Decreasing his weight, he bent his legs before pushing himself into a jump once again. However, this time he forgot about the higher starting point, hitting the ceiling an instant later. That broke his trajectory, dropping his body slightly to the side of the intended spot. Rob was still fast enough to react, fueling his weight to the maximum while simultaneously gripping the handle of the conjured cleaver with both hands. Everything to deliver a really mighty downward strike.

The following collision was terrifying. Falling like a meteor, Robert seemed to pulverize his landing spot, reducing everything to a bloody mess. Moreover, his cleaver dived deeply into the flesh, cutting through it with ease. Not stopping on it, Rob commanded the obsidian steel to change, quickly reforming the instrument of a butcher into a long rapier, a weapon of nobles in the Renaissance age. With no guard to waste a precious material on, he made it finger-thin just to get as deep as he could. A second later the edge of the blade was already enveloped in multiple Energy Blats, raising the cutting properties to unimaginable level… or just enough to go through the demonic flesh, barely feeling any resistance.

However, before Robert managed to deal any noticeable damage, Demonologist’s regeneration kicked in. Restoring the flesh right under Rob simply pushed him upward. A moment later multiple reappeared limbs grabbed him from the sides, raising him even higher. Robert countered it by switching off the cutting properties, instead redirecting available energy, matter, and focusing on creating several hooks on the endpoint of the rapier. Maybe the super completely missed an addition of the foreign objects inside its own ball-like body, but Demonologist simply tensed his muscles before giving him all in attempt to rend Robert. Raising him even higher, the demonic human tore part of his flesh, spraying blood onto the surroundings.

Unfortunately for Robert, he couldn’t rejoice from the first severe wound on the enemy’s body or from the fact that he noticed a pulsing purple heart, which was clearly another weak point. No, all his thoughts were thrown away when he felt the pull. Despite screaming from pain, Demonologist continued his motion, stretching Rob’s body. The handle with a rapier was blocked by a few palms, while around dozen more were extracting all their force in a single motion. Rob only started to redirect his obsidian steel into another place, when the pull became intolerable. Despite being a living metal, he still felt how each of his segments in the spine was losing a connection, being ripped off from each other. How his limbs lost any sense from the joints. A moment later his body was ripped apart in multiple pieces before being thrown away by the furious super.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Well, that sucks…

A flashing thought went through Rob’s mind while the whole world lost everything, narrowing to the existing only inside his thought process. Still, the latter was already working overtime, dispersing the lost parts and restoring him around his reactor core. Robert’s hearing returned before the sight, helping him to understand that the angry super was roaring with a victorious cry while trashing the surroundings with heavy hits against the floor.

Faster, faster, damn it!

Pushing his energy output to maximum, he simultaneously started to reform the obsidian steel, abandoning any thought about protection. The time almost came to a halt, moving painfully slowly, while he was manually restoring himself back and doing other tasks. Feeling an upcoming dread, Robert focused on eyes and a single hand, creating them first. Casting a single glance at a blurry figure approaching super made Rob grip the floor. Leaving deep holes with conjured black nails, he pulled himself along the surface. The second pull was made with both hands. At the third, he could even use his legs up to the knees to push himself faster. Instead, Robert turned around and leaned to the floor, making a thrusting motion with his hands.

In the next moment, the huge sphere of flesh dropped onto him, trying to crush him with sheer weight. However, the metal held, while the obsidian in the form of a spear was already piercing the ball-like super. Cutting through the fleshy obstacle, it quickly reached the heart, penetrating it at once. Demonologist trembled, while his body almost recreated the wave with its multiple limbs. Then there was a long pause, where the super stayed motionless… before going limp, dropping onto Robert.

Almost squashed, Rob felt like the real mountain was lying on him. However, it wasn’t the weight that bothered him, but the blood that was leaking from the wound. Luckily, this demonic transformation didn’t have a toxic variant, just coloring everything red. Still, it took some time for Robert to cut his way out of this previously living trap. Clumsily rolling out, he stood up and looked at the potential corpse. He wasn’t absolutely sure if he killed the man, but the absence of the regeneration was quite telling.

Well, you were good, but nothing extraordinary… Nope, not going to risk – I need to behead him just to be sure… Yeah, let’s do it!

Glancing over his nude body, covered with blood and filth, Rob sighed before taking a step on the motionless super. Using limp arms to pull himself, he additionally decreased his weight to make it easier. Less than in a dozen seconds Robert was already on top, observing the frozen face of the creature. Terrifying, it somehow belonged to the real superhero. And not just a random guy, but Demonologist himself. From the interrogations of the scientists he even knew that there were multiple action figures for sale, each showing another stage of transformation.

Wait… Transformation! Why does this fucker keep a transformed state?

Robert’s mind was already sending command to the obsidian steel, creating a short knife in his palm. However, he was an instant too late as the huge violet sphere surrounded the body of an obviously not-dead superhero, momentarily throwing Robert away. The force was so huge that Rob traveled through the final part of the hall, breaking through the wall and rolling on the road. Hastily standing up, he was met with another primal roar of the ancient predator right before his ears caught a quiet muttering.

“Beelzebub, come!”

And it did, turning the ball-like figure into a terrifying beast that once walked across Earth. Or, precisely speaking, the demonic version of it. With giant size, rivaling the three-story building, an enormous tyrannosaur stepped outside of the skyscraper, tearing a hole with just its body. Long clawed limps, bulging muscles underneath red lizard skin, thick twin tails with sharp ends – everything spoke about the unstoppable might. Only the eyes were the same – yellow snake eyes that were filled with hatred to the brink, clearly clouding any sanity that was left in the super’s mind at this point. The crown on the head was made from bones with the addition of several colorful feathers. Similar protruding bones were everywhere, going along the spine or finding its place on the elbow.

Stupid idiot! You’ve heard about different summons of Demonologist. Why in the hell would you assume that there are only two, Rob? Moron!... Wait, what is that?

Hearing a low whistling sound, which carried a similarity to a working engine, but immediately reminded about his experience of being constantly shelled with projectiles piercing through the air, Robert reacted without a single pause, throwing his body to the side and leaning to the road. After more than a year in the trenches, the action was too engraved in his instincts, making it instantaneous and completely mindless. Demonologist, on the other hand, despite noticing it too, just raised his gigantic head in bewilderment. A second later a cruise missile dived from the sky, avoiding the nearest building with a slight twist before smashing itself into the face of the demonic super. Its sister followed the example but instead chose Rob as a target. Only his fast reaction of moving out from the initial spot helped him to survive the blast.

The explosion was instantaneous, without any delay. Sending quite a limited shockwave, the missile was turned into a sphere of plasma, simply evaporating everything inside. Surprisingly, the destructive power appeared to be quite contained, as there was barely anything remotely similar outside of this 10-meter area (around 33 feet). Still, even the remnants of the heat were enough not only to raise the surrounding temperature but also to melt most of the objects around, including Robert. At least that is what he felt when half of his body was turned into living liquid, while it took around five seconds just to cool to reproduce his body again.

Glancing around, Robert noted a trembling air that blurred the headless figure of Demonologist. However, the obstruction couldn’t hide that the super was moving, regaining his strength at a fast pace. Hastily standing up and measuring the headless hero once more time, Rob launched himself back to the ruined building.

Nah, not going to face the fucking missiles directly! I can see why CSA was so stubborn to take down me before the military would step in… I won’t be surprised if they nuke me in the end… Just nope… But God damn it, that asshole is tough!

Running past the gigantic body that was rising on its feet, Robert simply dived into the empty hole that led to the already destroyed stairs. Clumsily dropping down from the height and smashing the debris with his forehead, he avoided another pair of cruise missiles that exploded behind his back. An annoyed roar from the transformed superhero was a good indicator that the decision to run instead of fighting against Demonologist in such circumstances was a correct one. Robert wasn’t sure how he would deal with the demonic tyrannosaur or survive the direct hit of the plasma. Therefore, he ran, going deeper and deeper inside the laboratory.

He had thought of destroying the machine that kept him in this timeline, but even a chance to be late before the military would use something more powerful was outside of his plans. By the moment when Robert reached the lowest level, the roars and trembles had disappeared, hidden behind many layers. It led him to sigh with relief before a sudden strike shook the whole world. It felt like a mighty blow from the titan that forgot any restraints and decided to unleash its fury on the land he was previously carrying on his shoulders. The time had slowed down, almost showing Rob in detail how a powerful shockwave penetrated the mixture of earth and concrete. The light went off an instant later, exchanging its presence with something ethereal but nevertheless damaging. Then came an overwhelming heat, boiling his inner organs from inside. The last Rob’s thought before the whole world went to restart.

Well, that does look like a nuke…