Alone in his room, Lukas closed his eyes.
Tanya’s confession had been a massive surprise, one that had both elated and annoyed him. Elated because she had proved that his fears were unfounded, and annoyed because despite her confession, he wouldn’t get to be with her. Especially with the way things were unfolding.
Inanna had been right. He had been ignoring what he was. The battle against Solana and the Glacier Queen had been enlightening on several aspects. It had given him a glimpse of what the future was about to become. His opponents won’t be weaklings. They’d have powers and skills greater than his own, skills they had honed for longer periods than he did his own.
Sometimes over literal centuries.
So he’d need something to even the odds. Play to his strengths.
Finding exactly what he could do was a good start. Lukas Aguilar the Anomaly, after all said and done, wasn’t someone that could fight against them. Instead, he was someone that could fight against their powers, their weapons, their skills. Countering strengths and exploiting weaknesses, instead of taking on the ones that possessed them.
The more he knew about his enemy, the easier it was for him to strip them of what made them strong, and strike at their core with the least resistance possible. Literally.
The fight against Meynte was proof of that.
And that meant finding new ways to fight. New ways to add to his combat. New ways to win.
He had been testing out his powers out there, in the Crypt tunnels. Away from the yokai, isolated from any living being, monster or otherwise, he had experimented on the different facets of Creation granted to him by the Anomaly within. Unlike before, he wasn’t looking for power, but versatility. In this world of Potential, being able to call oneself a powerhouse was an ever-uphill climb.
He couldn’t rely on Tanya to do it for him. And something told him that allowing Blob to just tank damage every single time wouldn’t solve his issues either.
The problem wasn’t acquiring multiple skills. He had tens of thousands of skills copied from the Crypt of Fiendish Worms. The problem was that using these skills was like reverse osmosis, where his body was a major limiter, raising a gap between the original instinct and capability, and his own performance. Just copying the skill, using it, wasn’t enough to use it perfectly. The more complex the skill, the more prerequisites it would have, and the more strain his body would undergo. Cutting corners at times made the process easier, but it also heavily degraded the final performance.
It had taken him an upgrade from Level-8 to Level-21 to be able to truly use Level-3 lifeforce skills. And unless he gained another 18 levels, he’d be unable to fully utilize Kinetomancy as the Apex-tier Level-4 skill that it was.
So he needed something new.
The bylestyr was admittedly, a nice start though. Lukas was fairly certain that between his lifeforce and mana production rates, he’d be able to fight at the bylestyr’s level of skill with maximum efficiency. Augmenting the prototype with svartalfar terraportation was an option, but earth and fire were at odds with each other. The control he would gain through seismic sensing, and terraportation would bolster his performance, but his ability with fire production would take a hit. Shatterpoint Intuition was a perception skill, so it could be added without much difference to the former’s abilities, but the calm rationality that it operated from was a counter to the bylestyr’s innate warlust.
No, this wouldn’t work.
He needed something else, something special. Something that combined skills from multiple prototypes but did not run the risk of incompatibility.
It was an utterly selfish and unrealistic thing to demand. A prototype or ability of that nature simply went against conventional logic.
So of course he had found something as nonsensical like that in the Crypt of Fiendish worms.
Alteration. The ability of an anomaly to alter the physical, chemical, physiological and spiritual structure of its monsters, its accessories and of course, its own body.
Lukas opened his empty right hand, and closed it around a shard of featherglass that materialized in it almost effortlessly. He repeated the process with his left hand, and noted the effort it took in order to do the same thing with the same substance.
He had previously thought that a precise knowledge of the chemical properties and molecular structure of the substances would be a major prerequisite for crafting them. He had been mostly right about that one. The Omphalos within him contained the knowledge of every single compound in existence, and the information extracted from the Crypt’s Omphalos added the knowledge of the substances it had analyzed and reproduced over the centuries of its existence. All he needed to do was trust that the anomaly would do its job and direct his energies to that end.
Vanishing the contents, he turned his attention to his right arm again,and began morphing the featherglass by adding details. Ten centimeters long, five centimeters wide. Flat ended, conical, like a dagger with a forty-five degree angle of ascent, increasing the density and altering the lattice configuration….
The featherglass shattered to fine dust.
Damn it.
Every single experiment so far proved that the structural lattice of featherglass was incredibly weak. Even a minor molecular rearrangement was more than enough to shatter it. Crafting an alloy with vatuatil increased its physical hardness and stability, but it came at the cost of decreasing its spiritual-storage capacity.
Weird.
He focussed on his left arm again, but this time, focussed on the properties of vatuatil, the metal the thoggua’s tail-blade was crafted out of. The clearer and more precise the outcome he could imagine, the better it would be.
Size of scales, three centimeters. Density, three point five seven grams per cubic centimeter. Native mineral. triangular crystal, no fractures. Hardness —
As he began molding, drawing out details from the Anomaly system, he focused the change to happen on his skin, and was both shocked and elated when warped vatuatil flesh in the shape of triangular scales rippled into view, replacing his skin.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
He frowned in concern. Not because his attempt didn’t work out the way he imagined, but because it did.
He clenched his inhuman hand into a fist momentarily, feeling the metallic nerves firing off and grating against his metallic skin.
No traces of injury from bruising against the metallic epidermis.
No signs of pollution in the blood stream either.
Vatuatil was a solid conductor of lifeforce. That the lifeforce conductivity in his lower left arm suddenly went up by a sixty-three point seven percent confirmed that. There were obvious effects of the sudden gain in mass, but the increased lifeforce through his bones, muscles and tendons all but mitigated the difference.
“Guess my body is changing faster than I imagined. Still, there’s a couple of things I can…”
His words died at the tip of his tongue, before a notification interrupted his musings.
Predator Found You
Quickly, he reversed the alteration. He didn’t need to turn to know that Tanya was standing outside his door. What was she doing outside his room this late? He had expected her to react in a lot of ways after the way they ended things, but coming to his room this late was not one of them. He heard her slowly turn the knob and enter into his room, and she still had yet to utter a word. The dreary greenish illumination cast long shadows everywhere, making the room darker than it was.
She turned and closed the door, her back now turned at him. All he could see was a black robe draped over her shoulders. Her silhouette melted into the darkness, and he could barely see her face.
“You wanted something?” He asked.
“I—I thought you were asleep.”
She sounded nervous, and conflicted. Neither of them were good signs.
“What are you doing here?”
Silence.
“Tanya?”
“I’m just… thinking.”
“Oh.” The room plunged into another awkward silence. “About what?”
Tanya did not reply, nor did she look away from the door.
Lukas felt conflicted and, dare he say it, a bit nervous. He had gotten used to dealing with the somewhat volatile, secretive Tanya over the time they had spent together. The possession had done a number on her. That he had rejected her feelings only made things worse.
Feeling uncomfortable, he snapped his fingers and lit the candles in the room, washing it with a crimson glow.
“Do you want to…” Tanya paused, unsure. After a long second, she turned towards him, with a deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face as she met his gaze. Her blue eyes regarded him with such intensity that he just couldn’t look away. He knew he was completely smitten with this woman, and seeing her vulnerable like this wasn’t helping at all.
The candlelight illuminated her beautiful face as she took another step forward.
“Do you… do you enjoy me?” she asked.
“Do I… what?”
“I asked whether you enjoy me,” she repeated, a little bit of courage seeping into her tone as she puffed out her chest. “Because I do. I enjoy you. Watching you stealing glances when you think I’m not looking.”
Lukas wracked his brain for something to say, but all potential distracting topics erased from his head as he watched her take another step. And then another, and she was standing before her.
Their hands touched.
He had to stop this. He had to put an end to this right now.
“Tany—”
His words were cut off as Tanya’s lips pressed against him. It was soft to begin with — as if she was testing the waters, but he automatically returned her kiss. Within a few seconds, their tongues were battling for dominance as they forgot themselves and simply enjoyed the moment. He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but Tanya had swung a leg over him, and straddled him. His hands found purchase on her hips as her fingers ran through his hair as she pulled him into her, rocking her hips into him, while his hands wandered over her thin robe and crawled beneath it until they felt smooth, bare skin of her back. He felt her moan into his mouth, as her body shuddered from his touch, making him want to touch her even more. He was drunk on the feeling of her body and addicted to the sounds he was drawing out of her.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally separated for air. Her hair hung about them like a curtain, blocking out the outside world. Their chests heaved as they struggled to calm their beating hearts, and he felt himself go hard and nestled between her legs.
“Tanya—” He began again.
“Shhh!” She held a finger against his lips, her lips moving to his cheeks and crawling all the way to his neck, before she pulled back and stood up, never once leaving his eyes. A small war seemed to wage on her face, before she steeled herself and slid her robe over one shoulder. One hand went to the middle of her chest where the robe closed covering her breasts, and she used her middle finger to slide it over until the other side went over her other shoulder. She then extended her arms behind her back and allowed the mesh robe to trace every curve of her body until it landed in a small heap on the floor, exposing herself to him.
Every inch of her.
Before he could so much as react, Tanya had crawled back upon his lap, dragging her supple skin against his own. Their chests connected and he could feel the weight of her breasts on his chest, one of her hands next to his head while the other rested on his stomach.
Tanya brushed a lone hair from her face behind her left ear. Slowly, she lowered her face until it was inches away from his own, her gaze locked onto his and vibrant with intimacy.
“Are you sure?” he felt compelled to ask.
“Shut up Lukas,” she growled, her hand trailing up his abs to his bare chest. “I know you’re attracted to me. I’m tired of trying to play this smart and I—” her voice broke. “I— I don’t want to be alone. Not tonight. I want to be held. So please…”
Lukas made a vague sound of agreement, one that quickly turned into a moan as her mouth found his. His heartbeat rose frantically, and so did hers. His hand crawled down to her hip while her fingers mussed his hair. Slowly, Tanya let out a sound of need that robbed him of the ability to think of anything at all.
“Now,” she whispered, urging him to act as her hands found the hem of his shorts.
“I— are you really—” he tried one last time, his own lifeforce surging in response to her actions. He hadn’t gotten laid in months. If she didn’t stop now, Lukas knew that nothing would stop him from continuing. “Are you sure?”
Tanya seized his face again and glared down at him, her sexual frustration clearly shining through. “This whole chivalrous thing you have going on? It’s making me want to kick you in the nuts, but then I won’t be able to go any further. So for once in your life, shut the hell up and fuck me.”
Lukas arched an eyebrow at her bluntness. Tanya didn’t look like she’d be convinced by any amount of reason. Regardless of whether she’d accept his words or not, she had made up her mind that she’d not be spending this night alone.
Let it not be said that Lukas Aguilar didn’t choose his battles. And this one, there was no way he’d win. So he gave in.
He guided her onto the bed, and knelt before her. Her legs parted instinctively and he lay a kiss upon her thigh while he positioned himself. Her chest was already heaving with thrill and anticipation, as was his own. She leaned back, propping herself upon her arms as she looked down at him, her eyes sparkling with unyielding love and devotion to him. He didn’t know what he had done in life to deserve it, but he was not going to let her efforts go unrewarded.
Whatever happened in their future, whatever decisions they took, it would not happen before the next morning. And until then, this moment was theirs, their moment together and he needed to focus on her right then.
He wanted her to remember this night.
He owed her that much at least.