Theo took the opportunity to repair his mangled body, starting with his torso and then moving to his limbs. After a couple of minutes, the shapeshifter returned to his normal state. I don't need this form anymore, Theo thought excitedly as he began using the biomass in his inventory to transform into his Goliath form, settling on lowering its height to three meters, after having heard the General's advice on size.
The Major was engaged in a duel with one of the surviving priests, one at a single digit, using jets of flame to keep the enemy distant while conjuring golems made of magma to fight head-on. The puppets of fire were running around devastating any low-tier priest. The shapeshifter saw another strong enemy behind the Major, trying to sneak up on the snake. This one was number Eight, who seemed a bit stronger than the Examiners, judging by Soul alone. He was heavily injured, his mask shattered from the explosion. Theo didn't waste a single moment, running up to the man and swinging a fist downward. The injured enemy turned around incredibly quickly and sidestepped his blow, throwing a front kick at Theo's knee, shattering it. The massive monster fell to the ground, albeit with a smile on his face. A closer look at the man showed that his shoes and part of his robe got destroyed in the explosion, meaning he had made contact with Theo's neurotoxin.
The shapeshifter crawled backward, buying time until he could repair his knee. As well as for the toxin to take effect. Hesitation was written on the blonde man as he was debating whether to pursue Theo or use his opportunity to strike behind the snake's back, assumed Prometheus. Number Eight decided to finish Theo off, aiming a fist at his serpentine head. The attack came too quickly to be avoided, so Theo did the most reasonable action at that moment: Filled his head to the brim with neurotoxins, making sure that the man's punch hurt the man as well. Theo's head exploded like a watermelon when the fist flew through it, followed by the shapeshifter lying dead. Number eight turned around, ready to attack the snake, before stumbling slightly.
He came into contact with so much neurotoxin that it should have taken down an elephant already. I think my tiering up made it more effective, too.
Eight staggered once more, almost tripping to the ground, his left arm hanging down his body, completely numb. The shapeshifter had already repaired his head in a quick minute, sneakily walking up to the resting man. Prometheus could see the man using some kind of technique, or ability, on his arm, trying to make it functional. Another massive fist flew at the man's head, with all of Theo's strength behind it. Once again, Eight managed to evade the strike with a quick sidestep. Unfortunately for him, his right foot, the one he was using as support on his maneuver, gave out. The toxins had made their way into the leg's muscles. Prometheus relished the look of despair on the man's face, elongating the moment in his mind as much as possible. Hurting people I hate... feels strange. They captured my owners, Mr. Fluffernutter and his children, as well as used prisoners from Earth as art pieces and objects. Feeling anger at their demise shouldn't give me any benefit... yet here I am. The man was falling on the ground, face up.
Theo's massive fist collided with Number Eight's arms, which he had used to parry the strike. Just as the first strike came, another followed just behind. The power from each punch wasn't enough to cause significant damage, shaking the ground around them with satisfying *thuds*, but that wasn't what Theo was aiming for: large spikes were present on the shapeshifter's knuckles, dripping clear liquid. I need to get as much neurotoxin as I can into him. Theo continued hitting the man with quick strikes, each one pumping more and more toxins into the man's arms. At a certain point, Eight's arms gave out, trembling from the muscle spasms. He had even tried getting up once to escape, but his legs betrayed him at the worst possible time, making the priest fall down once more. His limbs didn't work anymore, and his torso was being bombarded by powerful punches that only weakened him more. Then, the unexpected happened. Theo heard the man utter a few words under his breath, still in English, "[Down with me]". Massive amounts of Influence moved from the man's Soul around his body, starting to shake uncontrollably. His Supernality sense helped him see what was happening with the Influence: It was popping under the skin, raising the temperature in a chain reaction.
Low-rank Supernality sense leveled up to lvl 2!
Prometheus didn't have to be told twice about getting away, as he could very easily guess what the man was doing. Self distructing. Fuck, it's probably gonna be powerful if he thinks it's gonna take me out. With a genius idea popping up into his mind, Theo ran to pick the man up, noticing how his eyes bulged in confusion and terror. Creating a mental connection in less than a millisecond, he told the Major his plan. Without waiting for a reply, he threw the paralyzed Eight into the enemy that the Major was fighting, seeing how the massive snake was already creating a large dome of magma around himself. Theo ran inside it, pushing with his hands to support the structure. Not even an instant later, light engulfed the room, shaking the ground below them more than any earthquake could. Theo could see the strain on the snake's face, perpetuated by dents forming on the magma dome.
Prometheus pushed with his legs and arms to prevent the structure from collapsing, continuously pondering to himself, Please, don't get caught up in the explosion! referring to his owner. When the tremors stopped, The Major glanced at him, nodding. The dome opened up, revealing a large portion of the ground they had stood on had been replaced by a ten-meter-deep crater, full of burnt bodies, including the one from the enemy. The enemy had just wasted a sacrifice in an attempt to take out the two monsters, resulting in the unnecessary death of a priest. Prometheus smiled widely at his plan being unfolded in a positive way, before he noticed one of the charred bodies in the crater squirm slightly, detecting it was the priest, from his Soul. The shapeshifter immediately bounded down the crater, the ground burning his feet, arriving in front of the enemy.
No details remained on the human in front of him, as most of the skin had been stripped off along with the limbs. What remained was a blackened torso attached to a head, lacking eyes and hair. No pity remained in Theo's mind as a foot descended on the man's neck, an executioner's axe taking the head off of the sinner. The priest died soundlessly, not even a whisper escaping his trembling lips.
Body +1
Moving back to the Major, a quick mental connection was established by the shapeshifter to organize themselves, "What should we do now, Major?" The flaming snake considered their next course of action, looking at the fiery golems in the distance, massacring low-tier priests. "We will now look for Doctor Fluffernutter, starting in that area over there," Pointed the snake behind them, where the closed-off sections were used, "If they aren't there, I'll send more golems in search of them." A boom echoed in the distance, revealing two spots in the air blurring around, sonic waves emanating from their position. The General was engaged in a duel with Number Two, in which the tree monster seemed to conjure giant roots out of thin air to grab onto the human, using the weapons to strike at him at the same time. Narrowing his eyes, Theo could see multiple duplicates of the priest appearing out of shadows around the chamber, flying to meet the General. None of those managed to even get close, as a simple whip strike from the monster was enough to dispel them. The shapeshifter transformed his skeleton to accommodate four-legged running, maintaining the same overall shape, ready to engage in other fights. The massive, armored snake slithered to a remote section of the chamber, looking inside each room for their objective. Prometheus did the same on the opposite side of the chamber, opening each door alongside the massive wall, revealing mostly empty rooms. Five minutes into his search, he came face to face with another stairwell going downwards, opening up into a dungeon-like structure below. He informed the Major through the mental connection and continued his search.
Down there, many chambers were dug out on the side of the walls, closed off by large windows, somewhat resembling the test chamber he had grown in. Most of them were empty, but what stood out was the amount of Influence engraved into each chamber, almost overwhelming his Supernality sense. The first occupied room held a human, or a human-like creature inside. It was wearing a suit commonly used in the 19th century back on earth, with a high-collared waistcoat, a well-fitted tailcoat, and a walking cane by its side. A black tall hat rested on his head, with its face completely covered by a dull, empty white mask. This chamber held a sign on its front, in English as well, 'Do not interact with Subject 11 under any circumstances, lest you risk the demise of the Chosen ones as a result'. Naturally, Theo decided to knock on the glass two times, trying to gather the well-dressed man's attention. It quickly turned to look at him, tilting its head to the side.
Prometheus noticed how the glass seemed to absorb the vast majority of vibrations, so his knocks must have been almost inaudible. Using voice to speak was useless, Theo realized. Even using a mental connection wouldn't do anything, as his Influence could not move past the wall, which was creating a barrier for any Influence, preventing it from going inside. The most intriguing detail about the man was his lack of a Soul and its incredibly heavy presence on Theo's wrongness sense.
Maybe I can't feel his Soul because there is this barrier in place? Actually, should I release him in the first place? He read the sign once again, taking a moment to decide. Let's see if he can read English first. Theo flattened his chest as much as possible, coloring it white. Shifting specific cells into having black pigmentations, he was able to write a message on his chest, reading, 'Can you read this?', to which the man replied by nodding elegantly, spinning his cane around in a display of impressive dexterity. Woah, Theo was distracted momentarily by the cool cane, before resuming his mission. He then wrote, 'Do you know where they hold a bald man with three children?' The man nodded once again. Prometheus waited patiently for the man to tell him where Fluffernutter was, with no results. He then asked, 'Where are they?'
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
To that, the man pointed to the glass in front of him, tapping it with his cane. Prometheus nodded, replying with his chest, 'Yes this glass is strong, what about it?'. The elegant stranger imitated a baseball player with his cane, swinging it around, pointing it at Theo, and then at the glass.
'You want to play baseball with me?' Asked the shapeshifter. He couldn't understand why the guy would want to play a game in such a moment, without the necessary space for it no less.
The man facepalmed, walking closer to the glass. He reared back his cane, hitting the glass with a blurry swing. It was so fast Theo hadn't even seen the hit. However, when the black walking stick hit the glass, the barrier wobbled slightly, producing a funny sound when it did so. Hehe, funny sound. Theo tried hitting the same as much as he could, trying to replicate the same hilarious noise. His strikes were too weak to move the glass at all, but he tried synchronizing them with the man. After a minute of continuous strikes, Theo decided to use his enchantment-breaking expertise to soften the barrier. Okay, I know that enchantments have a deposit where the Influence comes from, and then it goes through a circuit-like structure to reach where it needs to go. If I'm able to cut off that flow, I should be able to break the enchantment apart. That was much easier said than done, as the shapeshifter couldn't recognize where the deposit was, or even where the Influence was going, so he used the most advanced method he knew: Whipping his Influence randomly, hoping it would do something. Ten minutes later, a single crack appeared on the spot where the two refined beings were hitting. Theo's attempt at breaking the enchantment through random hits gave him some insight into which part did what, increasing his knowledge of the subject.
Low-rank Enchantment breaking leveled up to lvl 4!
After another ten minutes, the glass finally exploded outwards, showering Prometheus with the sharp shards. He was not happy about that. The man, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic about being free, so much so that he deeply bowed to the shapeshifter and said, with an accent resembling a British one, "Good sir, I am profoundly grateful for your timely intervention. Your benevolence has granted me release from that confounding chamber, and I am most indebted to you. Pray, accept my sincere thanks for this act of liberating kindness. I find myself in your debt, and I shall not forget this noble gesture," The man used his right hand to search for something in his breast pocket, taking out a small, black card.
"Please, accept this token of appreciation. You may use it to call forth myself, in the eventuality that you found yourself in a pickle, good sir. Now, I must embark and exchange a few pleasantries with the good gentlemen who have dared keep me locked like a hound for so many centuries. I bid you adieu with the utmost respect and gratitude." Theo took the black card, noticing how the man was tapping his cane on the ground aggressively, shaking the whole dungeon. The business card had an insane amount of 'wrongness' in it, almost as much as that thin, grey creature back on the stone platform. Once again, he couldnìt see a soul in the gentleman's body. He then greeted the man farewell, who disappeared out of thin air after telling him of the location of his owner. Red lights started flashing through the air, a high-pitched sound accompanying it. It resembled an alarm, Theo thought. The shapeshifter ran deeper into the dungeon, ignoring other bizarre creatures inside of the chambers, looking for a door with the number '739', as the man had said.
The dungeon looked well maintained, with the rock around him being carefully smoothed, and engravings covering the walls around the room. They mostly depicted the weird priests praying to some incomprehensible figure. Theo passed through many doors with the wrong number, frantically looking for the right one. Most of the doors were made of metal, and impossibly heavy. The last door before the end of the hallway held a metal plate, with the number '739' written on it. Prometheus took a deep breath, calming himself down, before swinging the door open with all his strength. Since he was too big to fit, he condensed his biomass before putting it into his inventory, saving it for later. What he found on the other side made him check his visual cortex twice to check for defects.
His owner, Mr. Fluffernutter, sat on the corner opposite the door, shaking, holding his knees to his chest, wearing only a pair of boxers for clothes. The man looked like he hadn't eaten for weeks, indicated by the fact that he had lost most of his muscle mass. On the other side of the room, three children stood under an improvised blanket made of Mr. Fluffernutter's suit. Prometheus realized the children had their clothes stripped from them, but they didn't look starved like their father. All four of them were sleeping quietly on the ground since their room was completely empty, with many wounds and surface cuts lining their skin.
Prometheus immediately ran up to the man, taking his wrist to check for his vitals. Naturally, he had stopped the neurotoxin secretion. The bald man's eyelids opened to reveal two bloodshot eyes scanning Theo's form in alarm, before moving away in fear.
"Sir, It's me! Prometheus!" Immediately said the shapeshifter, trying to calm the man. The now-skinny father stopped in his tracks, analyzing Theo from head to know, never having seen his combat form. "Pr-Prometheus?" Why do they look like this? It hasn't even been a day since they've been kidnapped, so why do they look like they were held here for months?! "Yes, sir, that's me. We are here to rescue you. Me and the Monster Army. Major Fuoco is also searching for you."
The man breathed heavily at the explanation, looking around the room for something that Prometheus couldn't understand. "Please, Prometheus...Check my kids... Those sick bastards have..." Fluffernutter gritted his teeth, tears flowing down his cheeks at his next words, "They have used them...for their own pleasure! Do you understand?! Those 'things' traumatized my children!" Those last words rushed out the man's mouth like a river flowing through a valley, unimpeded. Fluffernutter began to cry loudly, punching the side of the wall with his skinny wrist. The shapeshifter quickly moved to the kids, noticing how all three of them had heavy fevers plaguing their bodies. The room's temperature was no more than 10 degrees Celsius, utterly inhospitable for people without clothes.
Theo's Soul whirred at the sight of his owner being on the verge of death. He kept his emotions in check until the right moment came. The shapeshifter began to get rid of any disease or infection from the children, immediately using his excess biomass to create improvised clothing made of heavy fur, using his Soul Technique to speed up the process. After the three kids were covered in heavy clothes and healed from any infections, with their wounds covered by leather bandages, he moved to
Mr. Fluffernutter, who was still casting tears on the ground.
"Sir, how long have you been here?" Asked Theo, panicked.
"I-I kept count. I used my pocket knife, it's-it's been 94 days." The man's voice lacked any of the previous strength he had back on Earth. The lack of a window made Theo wonder how the man had kept track of time. His biological clock, perhaps?
"You were kidnapped the day before yesterday! How is it possible?!" Asked the shapeshifter incredulously.
"I- I don't know. When they captured us, they... They came once a week for food and water, but it was never enough for all four of us." Whispered the man, voice raspy and broken.
Theo made another set of heavy fur clothes for Mr. Fluffernutter, offering him some nutrient paste made by mixing the most important nutrients into a gray sludge. It tasted terrible, but it was the best Theo could do in a pinch.
"We need to move, sir. This place is too dangerous. Can you move?"
"I-I'll try my-" When Fluffernutter tried getting up, he fell down, senseless. Fuck! Prometheus grabbed the man before he could hit his head, relieved by the fact he wasn't dead yet, just unconscious. Theo brought the four members of the family outside, shifting into a camel-like creature to accommodate the four sleeping passengers. It was a four-legged beast with a large, shell-like structure covering its back, acting as protection for the passengers inside. It looked like those coverings camel riders used to protect themselves from the sun, only this time it was armored plates. Picking up the four people with a temporary arm, Theo made sure they were resting comfortably before he closed the shell, making sure oxygen was constantly fed inside through pores.
Running up the stairs into the open chamber, he found the Major searching other rooms, ignorant of Theo's success. A simple mental communication spell was enough to inform the snake, who immediately slithered up to Theo, "Do you have them? Are they still alive?"
"They are, Major, but we need to hurry. It's dangerous here."
The flaming snake nodded, pointing his mouth at the sky and spewing jets of flame that reached into the ceiling of the massive underground chamber. A second later, a spot on their right shook, with a small crater on it. A tall figure stepped forth.
"Well done, boys. Let's get out. Major, make an exit for us. If you can, use your puppets to take out any remaining enemy." The General said through a mental connection. The trio moved to the edge of the chamber, choosing a wall that was empty and barren. The Major opened his mouth, Influence gathering into his mouth. Theo had to step back, as the ambient temperature began to rise significantly. A bright jet of violet flame escaped the Major's mouth, eating through the wall at a constant rate. Liquid rock flowed down the wall, joining the magma armor around the flaming snake. The jet was angled upwards, to create a stairway that would get them outside. Theo asked why they couldn't exit from the entrance, as it would be much easier in his opinion, but the General explained that many enemies would be waiting for them there.
The general tapped his foor on the ground, arms crossed, scanning their surroundings. Like earlier, whispers of Influence flew from every human in the chamber, flowing inside the General's Soul. The four inside Theo were excluded from this. Theo decided to keep his questions for when they were less busy, focusing on making sure his four owners were sleeping peacefully.
Twenty minutes later, the tunnel finally opened up into the outside, connecting to a private bathroom inside a residence. A man sitting on a primitive toilet glanced at them with wide eyes, trying to cover his exposed parts. The three monsters ignored him, smashing through the walls of the house to reach the outside, finally tasting clean air.
"Perfect. Follow me," said the General, running along the clean and stony road. This time, the citizens screamed and shouted at them, running inside their homes, and hiding their kids. I thought the General might kill anyone we ran through, judging by his hate of the civilized races. Glad I was wrong. Looking behind him, Prometheus was stopped in his tracks by the sight. Any person that they encountered and got a bit of Influence 'stolen' by the General would drop senseless soon after, blood escaping their mouth and eyes.
Theo composed himself as best as he could, moving forward. he hoped the people inside the cages didn't suffer the same fate, but he also wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Just before they reached the gate, one different from the one they had gotten in from, five forms landed in front of them, each one as colorful as the last.
Theo narrowed his eyes at the silly costumes the five people were wearing, noticing how they were wearing motorcycle helmets and had capes fluttering in the wind. They all wore different colors, those being red, yellow, blue, green, and pink. The people on the street stopped screaming and pointed at the new arrivals, shouting in unison, "THE COLOR RANGERS!"
"Shit" Exclaimed the General, massively annoyed.