The fierce battle continued, with both sides holding their own quite well. Through watching The Lich, she was able to figure that its power behaved differently. Instead of intentionally holding back to conserve mana, this thing was forced to. It seemed that its power grew with time, so in a battle of endurance, she would most definitely lose.

Between clasping his scarcely skinned head in pain, The Lich held his abnormal smile the whole time. He was enjoying himself.

It’s time, The Skinless thought to herself. I absolutely loathe this form, but I need more power, otherwise I’ll lose to this pathetic thing.

Whilst dodging the nonstop flame attacks, she lifted her thumb to her mouth and sliced the tip of it on one of her unnaturally sharp canines. Using her tongue, she licked the bit of blood that came forth. A sigil carved into the back of her neck began to glow a purple hue as her eyes became blacker than the void itself. The skin that covered her began to rip and tear as if becoming paper, and bulbous growths began to form within those tears. Any fire attacks she was previously avoiding were now being absorbed into the monstrous form she was taking.

“Now!” A female voice yelled out from inside the dingy alleyways. Mid transformation, two figures jumped onto the putrid creature with weapons while one remained on top of the building to shoot it with arrows. The woman that yelled out the command had begun charging towards the beast.

“You idiots,” The Lich mumbled to himself. How had he not foreseen this act of stupidity?

All four of them; Christina, Derek, Drew, and Arthur assaulted the foul thing. Unfortunately, it was far too late. The being had already finished its transformation, even going as far as absorbing the dead guards strewn about to increase its already gigantic size. A multitude of tentacles made of hands sprouted from it, and with its many mouths, it chomped and consumed both Christina and Derek. Arthur, who had been atop the building pelting it with arrows, was nearly instantly killed due to one of the powerful tentacles crashing into the building and turning it to nothing but debris. Drew, who remained the only one alive, could only stand in absolute horror at the death of his comrades. Utilizing another one of its tentacles, it sent Drew flying into a building, and finally collided with The Lich, who was sent several hundred feet backwards.

“Now it’s about time to step in.” Aborsphinx lifted his veil of absolute invisibility.

With a flex of his hand, a sigil etched onto the back of his hand emanated a dark blue glow as it morphed into the hand of a mythological beast, fur and all. Now equipped with his claws, he stepped off the building, diving head first into the enemy in front of him. With a mere swipe of his newfound claws, slashes appeared on the thing’s skin, causing a black liquid to spew from it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Fifteen percent should be plenty,” he murmured as he landed on the street.

With a softer glow of his sigil, the muscles in his forearm expanded as well as the fur that had begun to grow up his arm. The grotesque thing hurled multiple tentacles at him, but with precision and power, he sliced them to pieces nearly instantly. Pushing off the ground, he sped towards it, continuing to slice any of the tentacles he was met with. Once close enough, he caused many more claw marks to form on its skin.

The Lich had gone through a building and landed in the remnants of it. Many of his bones were broken and the impact had nearly destroyed his head. What floated above his lying body was the skull that just stared at him.

“They think I’m weak. Can you believe it?” The Lich stared back lifelessly before breaking into maniacal laughter. “We can’t have that, can we? Give me more power.”

The murky green colored fire that previously illuminated the skull dissipated and was replaced with a red crimson glow.

“I refuse your req-”

“Don’t you dare forget,” The Lich interrupted. “I formed our contract, and it was flawless. You are under my command.”

Instead of the overwhelming anger he had expected from the skull, it only let out a slight chuckle.

“You’re right, how could I have forgotten. Fine then, use it well you vermin. And remember who you’re talking to next time.”

In the midst of their fight, both Aborsphinx and The Skinless could sense the incoming threat. Even with their intense fight, neither could help but to release their gaze upon each other and shift it towards the colossal vortex of murky green fire that approached them. It vanished completely once it was deemed close enough to reveal The Lich.

The contract with his patron demanded a subtle increase of power over the course of a fight. This was not done by the patron itself, rather The Lich had placed these conditions on himself. It was to prevent too much backlash and overall decreased the severity of his breakdowns. Unfortunately for him, he forced himself into the position of releasing more of his patron’s power, condemning his fragile mind, all to protect his equally fragile ego and face the opponent who he had imagined berated him for being weak.

The fire behind The Lich’s eye sockets and within the skull passionately roared with determination.

“Goodbye.” The Lich raised his bony hand to the gigantic mass of flesh.

Sensing his death, Aborsphinx escaped the area as quickly as he could. He knew it was all over for The Skinless, not to mention the immaculate show of power he had just witnessed surprised him to no end.

The skull had to unhinge its own jaw before moving in front of the Lich’s hand. What happened next was both unknown to Aborsphinx and The Lich himself as he blacked out instantly after unleashing the inferno. When he came to next, it was with Drew and Aborsphinx huddled over him and the beast turned into no more than ash.