And then Faiz started sweating, for he had forgotten that terrible gaze, made even worse now by Aujyav’s utter lack of sanity. That most singular stare from those insanely trembling, nail-sized pupils…Faiz had encountered it on his past hunts, the devotion of hunter to quarry; Seeing it on that familiar face was another matter, the man seeming to be devoid of anything that wasn’t murderous hatred for Faiz alone.

  His rebuke fading, Faiz glanced around for anything he could possibly use. Well, there were those spatial tears in the far distance, slowly closing in-probably because their anchor lay dead by his hand-towards the battlefield, there were still frenetic clashes going on all around him, and a myriad of bodies laying uselessly around.

  Such wonderful sceneries, was Faiz to simply ignore them? He took a glance back at Aujyav, nearly stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the sheer

  of the ma-well, there was nothing ‘man-like’ to him now…he had more than doubled in size, the strained muscle and bone of his body occasionally giving up the fight and snapping, ripping through skin, before springing back into place by some magic.

  Faiz couldn’t see his face, but the distorted voice was easy to pick up, “

  He took that as his cue to enact part one of his bold plan: Flailing his arms and screaming for help while he ran, using his (very real) fear as impetus. “Ahh! Help, there’s a monster after me! It’s so deadly that I need a hero to save me!”

  Faiz didn’t have to look behind again to know that fiend was in heated pursuit, the terrible squelching of trampled corpses acting as a gauge for telling him just how far away his approaching death was. He ran straight into the largest active field of battle he could find, slipping and falling on the blood slicked earth halfway through.

  “Whoa! I didn’t think it’d be this…wait, where..?” He flipped around, scrabbling to his feet, gazing at the unfolding scene of carnage.

  The thing that wasn’t Aujyav any more towered over literally any other person in Faiz’s vision, a monstrous mountain of meat and strength currently tearing everyone around him apart. Faiz’s plan had mostly worked; His cries drew the attention of the simulacra combatants, and the monster was immediately beset upon by both sides. So far, all occurred as intended.

  What Faiz had to account for was that Aujyav was now seemingly unbound from any and every law, of biology or reality. A thousand shades of Arts and techniques pummeled and tore his body to shreds, strands of meat moss…which reconstituted themselves just as fast, looking more inhuman each time. And those half-shorn limbs kept swinging through the air, each blow crushing or halving one foe of his.

  It got to the point where one could see a truly grotesque scene, a pile of bone speckled gore being shredded in spectacular displays of blood and magic, as it generated (and just as fast, lost) new limbs from all angles to ward off and slaughter all opposition, dyeing even the air a hazy blue with its own fluids as it kept on marching. Every single fibre of muscle and shard of bone crying out its desire to kill.… directed right towards Faiz.

  Faiz whimpered and started running again, not sticking around to see the foregone conclusion. Lucky him, the Aujyav pile provided anyway, and he was able to see limbs and organs bereft of their owners flying through the sky, sailing over his head in gory arcs. He couldn’t help but bitterly curse whichever deity was surely watching over him and laughing now, at this terrible predicament. Why was it always him that triggered all the relentless pursuers?

  He couldn’t run long, though, and soon came face to unfortunate face with the edge of the world, that headache inducing shimmer of impossible shades closing in slowly. Then the panic started bubbling up, and he really didn’t want to turn around now…

  “Ohnoohnoohno-what do I do?! I didn’t think this’d-I can’t-don’t wanna die do I lose..i should-mercy! If I beg an“

  Beg?

  (--“No…please, I sorryimsorry im so so sorry…no..Kest…oh please…don’t..dont hurt me…”--)

  Faiz’s mind caught up to his body in that moment, and he stilled. Then, shame and anger filled him. Boiling hot emotion, unwillingness. He…how could he start crying and pleading? Heroes didn’t do that, and Faiz would stoop that low again. Never!

  A wave of indignation swept over him, and that washed away the fear. For a moment, his rage mounted, and he whirled around scowling. No, Faiz did admit, seeing the Aujyav-beast rolling forth like a very bloody game ball was intimidating…but he wouldn’t be giving up his hard found fervor now, right?

  So, he attempted a test. Certainly not the ideal situation to be experimenting in, but he wasn’t exactly brimming with options. Faiz lifted his lightdial covered wrist, and tried to imagine using sigils instead of just one. That’s how progression always worked in those stories, didn’t it?

  It did nothing. Less than nothing, since he could feel some of his will sapping off without producing any apparent effect. It was hard to maintain focus, or summon even one sign in such an environment. Aujyav the orb was almost upon him, still howling death threats, and he could feel the anxiety nipping at him again.

  Instead of worrying about that, he remembered something Kalak (curse that old man!) had taught him: An old trick they used back in the day to keep themselves sharp.

  “I breathe…in..out…feel…my heart? Yeah..” Taking a few deep gulps of the admittedly metallic air, Faiz tried to emulate the sensation the old geezer utilized, feeling every limb and bone of his body. It was admittedly risky, stopping and breathing like some marine creature gasping for life while being actively chased, thankfully Aujyav was still hampered somewhat by the others. He wasn’t sure if the technique really worked, but he certainly felt calmer as he looked over at the massive flesh-ball taking up most of his view. Faiz raised his arm up just as the fiend broke past the last barrier between him and Faiz.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “…and…Be Cut!

  The result was absolutely spectacular, an endless stream of shimmering sharp-as-shades sigils blossoming out of his palm, like a volley loosed from one of those ancient siege engines. Every vein in his arm lit up in all hues of light as he concentrated. It was no exaggeration to say there could have been well over fifty streaks of light jetting through the air, lending the surroundings a brief but intolerably bright glow.

  They wrought absolute havoc on the monstrous Aujyav, easily rending every connecting sinew and tendon that might’ve existed inside that wall of flesh, rendering it rather see-through. The ceaseless flame also counteracted its vitality by a lot; Wherever a strand of muscle grew back, the rainbow flame would streak up it, and even when the holes in its body started closing up, that just enclosed the blaze within its body, weakening it further.

  This awe-inspiring ability that Faiz had pulled out wasn’t just some convenient blessing though, and as fast as he had unleashed his barrage, he had to stop just as quick, almost doubling over in agony from the sensation of having a mountain be squeezed through his skull. His arm also felt utterly unresponsive and looked charred, that display of light almost certainly having burned out the veins and flesh within.

  “…...” Faiz was incapable of screaming at that moment. Such great was the pain that he barely managed to stay standing, staggering and wobbling as he wept silently. He did manage not to break down completely, coughing and shaking his head, useless arm clutched to his side by his working hand as he looked up at his foe with expectation.

  To his immense disappointment, the gargantuan Aujyav was not yet dead, only shuddering in apparent pain as it fought back against the inextinguishable inferno inside itself. It was actively hemorrhaging that disgusting maroon liquid, pumping it out in the apparent effort to douse itself.

  Now that Faiz had an actual moment to breathe, he got to wondering at how Aujyav could do..well, Faiz was certain the man hadn’t possessed such capability, knowing all he knew about him. Or if he did, he never told Faiz once during their many…story…sessions..?

  Faiz’s eyes lit up as he squeaked with excitement. The stories! Aujyav had mentioned off-handedly about eating hearts of evil or something, hadn’t he? That was most likely the source of this terrifying power! Though knowing all that, how to stop him? And clearly he had been stopped before, seeing as he hadn’t been a disgusting nightmare of flesh when Faiz met him…

  A scream filled with bile and malice shook Faiz out of such thoughts, “Ah, not again! I never learn..” Even as he chided himself for lapsing into thought, he warily glanced at the ball of meat, which had suddenly stopped moving or screaming. Was it giving up in the face of the pain and waiting for death? Not very likely, given Faiz’s fortunes so far.

  As the first of the awful squelching noises rang out from the congealing orb, Faiz realized to his horror that it seemed to be…

  Indeed, the parts that burned were being shifted out of the meat pile, each new blazing pinprick heralded by a squelching cracking sound, telltale sounds of cartilage fracturing and being crushed. Well, this was the first time any opponent managed to figure out a way to negate his fire!

  Faiz really did not want to remain near and find out what was going to emerge, and this steadily dwindling field wasn’t (as wide open plains tended to be) the best of places to engage a singular, strong foe. Though…he didn’t have to be in a field if he didn’t want to, right?

  This was still the fast fading mind he was within, so if he concentrated very hard, wouldn’t he very easily be able to get away? He closed his eyes as the shifting of flesh before him reached a feverish peak, and focused on being away..no, not quite. There was a mild pressure here, maybe a persistence? Even that was fading though, thankfully so, since it meant if he shifted-

  He was..! Well, Faiz didn’t know where he was, once again, but when he opened his eyes and saw not the blood drenched plain of war, but a pleasant looking lush swamp, he was very relieved. He should’ve done this from the start, escaped easy! Only…

  “Kiiiiilll Youuuu~thing. It could speak again! Was that…good?

  “Killer of my prey~ Cannot hear screams…? Please diediediedieDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!”

  Ah.

  Faiz grimaced, paling slightly as he took in the new horror. On the lit side of matters, the Aujyav monster looked a lot more anthropomorphic now! On the other hand, this only made it look more terrifying.

  It now had a basic structure of five limbs and an underbelly trailing greenish innards. The proportions looked so very each limb short and stubby, no differentiating factor to discern arms or legs. Each joint attached to an extremely long, and distended torso, with the aforementioned entrails spilling out the sides, the front, back..everywhere the skin was pierced by bone really.

  Faiz thought the worst part might’ve been the head, or something passing for it. The creature looked to be in the process of sheddingaround the maw as if hinging it shut.

  He couldn’t see any eyes on the monster though…right up until it raised its tails (yes, it also had tails, multiple of them!) and showed Faiz…fire. So that’s where that flame went eh? Jutting from the rear end of its body were innumerable tendrils of hardened flesh, each tipped by one eye that was constantly burning with Faiz’s empyrean fire, lending the stalks attached many shades.

  When those tail-no, eye-or maybe..fire..? Those when raised, gave Faiz the terrible sensation of being perforated by a thousand gazes. No eye was the same, some slitted and some round, others long and noded. It might’ve even been beautiful were it not attached to an absolute purple monstrosity.

  Faiz didn’t know what this thing could do, and thankfully, judging by how the…Aujyav monster..? It didn’t feel right to call this one that, Faiz was mostly sure his pal had been taken over by an evil deep creature entirely by this point.

  Whatever it was, it also seemed new to its own body. This gave Faiz a bit of confidence, sure he wasn’t doing so well now…but his opponent could always do worse no?

  Faiz sighed mentally and decided to do something quite foolish indeed. He opened his mouth…