Asura braced himself against the ground with his four arms as he pushed his feet into the bear's large torso. Rolling onto his back, he pulled his knees down to his chest, flexing his quads. Asura prepared to push with everything he had. Kicking upward with all his strength, the bear soared up in the air, causing its spine to slam and bounce off the ceiling. A fog of dust rained down from the ceiling as the building shook, filling it with a thick haze.
Before the bear fell to the earth, Asura quickly rolled backward onto his feet, barely dodging the heavy creature as gravity returned the wingless creature to its rightful place. The large bear crashed onto the ground, sending tremors through the factory's foundation.
Its bones snapped as the bear's lower body absorbed most of the blow, sending the broken shards from his rib cage up into his organs. Metal rattled around as the cages, machinery, and loose parts shook. Wain's mouth gaped open at the sight of watching a bear fly.
Preparing to gloat, Asura stopped when the bear started to move again. "Damn, it was hard to kill without a weapon." Asura thought as the bones began to move within its body. Before the bear could move, Asura decided to jump up towards the back of the bear's shoulder blades. Standing up on the hide of the beast, the ogre knew precisely how to cripple it.
With all four arms, Asura punched downward right between the bear's shoulders, directly hitting the spinal cord. The bear's cry of agony was cut short as his spinal cord severed, snapping in half. Paralyzed, the bear slumped to the floor as the ogre threw his hands up triumphantly. From the shadows loomed the real threat Asura failed to detect. Focused on the bear, he was oblivious to the pairs of six eyes lurking in the darkness, observing their prey, waiting for the precise moment to strike.
Bursting forward, barking viciously, Hell Hounds pounced at Asura. Knocking him from the back of the bear, Asura tumbled to the floor as their vicious jaws locked onto his arm and leg. Thrashing their heads, the hounds gnawed on his limbs, trying to tear through the skin, as their molten saliva spilled all over his body. To their dissatisfaction, their teeth remained unable to pierce his tough skin.
His resilient body stretched as the teeth drug across the rubbery surface. Although it never cut through, such sharp objects raking against his body were rather unpleasant. Asura groaned in pain as the dogs viciously attacked. Slowly, the magma began to eat away at his skin, revealing raw flesh underneath.
Asura reached down and grabbed both mutt's heads. Clasping their skulls with two arms, he pried their jaws apart, freeing his limbs. Asura laughed, mocking their attempt to bite him as he continued to pull their jaws apart. Eventually, their jaws reached their flexible limit, but Asura didn't care.
Instead, their lower jaw began to rip apart from the top of their skulls. What remaining skin the Hell hounds had on their face began to tear as he severed the jaw from the rest of the head. Without a jaw to close their mouth, magma poured from their throat onto the ground like a broken fountain, unable to control the liquid.
Tossing their bodies to the side, Asura waited for his next opponent. To his right, one of the Hell Kittens prowled just out of reach in the shadows. The six eyes of the beast were fixed directly on him, unblinking and hungry. They seemed to be studying Asura, memorizing his every move with those calculating and patient eyes.
Asura taunted the beasts with his hands, urging them to come forward and attack, but frowned at their behavior. Neither of them took the bait instead, they continued to wait... "What are they waiting for?" Asura thought. By the time these kittens attacked he would have killed everything.
It was the perfect opportunity to strike at him while he was distracted, yet they remained vigilant. From the corner of his eyes, the sight of a familiar red glow grew brighter. Asura turned to get a better look at the source, but it was too late. A bolt of red lighting struck him in his chest, sending him flying through metal shelves.
Crashing through the metal with ease, Asura continued his flight, only stopping when his back slammed into a large machine, knocking all the air out of his lungs. A loud clang rang through the factory as the metal slightly caved in from the force.
The pain of striking such a sturdy machine sent Asura to his knees. From his spine up to his heart, it rippled an agonizing sensation from having his spinal cord struck. It felt like the lightning coursed through every part of his body, causing it to go numb. Asura opened and closed his hands, trying to shake off the numbness that plagued his limbs.
He tried to pull himself up and away before a second strike came but stopped as a large engine slammed into the dead center of his chest, pinning him to the machine. Asura cursed as his spine bounced against the solid machine behind him again,
"Fuck... that hurt, ughhh."
Asura pushed the engine away with his four arms, rolling it a foot away from his body. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he tried to take a breather for a moment. However, two large Hell Kittens pounced at him, preventing him from recovering.
"Shit."
Asura rolled to the side, avoiding their savage claws only by the length of a hair. The sound of ripping metal made Asura's ears bleed. Looking up, he found one of the large cats mounted on the side of the machine, its razor-sharp claws dug deep within the metal. It was rather disturbing how perceptive the cats were.
Even now, all of their eyes remained on him. Like stabilized cameras, their heads remained leveled and motionless as their body moved. The rancid smell sent shivers down his spine as acid poured from their mouths down onto the ground. It began to eat away at the metal piled on the floor. Focused on his opponents, the sudden laugh from Scar Face made Asura jump a little,
"Having fun yet, Asura? Is this what you desired?"
Asura, excited and eager to continue, replied,
"The time of my life, to be honest!"
Scar Face watched as Asura bolted forward, about to attack the cats. Before Asura could strike at the Hell Kittens, he came to a halt when Wain dropped from the skylight above. The unprepared human groaned as he absorbed the blow with his knees. As he fell to the floor and almost collapsed, he called up from the ground at Asura,
"I-... hate you."
Asura laughed while he helped the human up onto his feet.
"Took you long enough."
Asura spun his head around, looking for the cats. Wain adjusted his bag.
"Shit."
"What?"
"They are missing again..."
Asura frantically whipped his head around. He intended to search the room for the cats, but the bears started moving again. They took too long to kill them easily...
Asura sighed as their bones snapped back into place, their flesh stretched and sowed back together. He wanted to fight Scar Face already, not these weaklings he's using as pawns, "Like, come on! Just stay dead, please! Wait, is that smoke?" Asura thought, looking at the bears.
Light brown smoke sank and rolled across the floor, spilling into the room. Growing denser and denser, it became apparent this wasn't just the average type of smoke. Spinning around, he came face to face with Wain. Unexpectedly, Wain produced it with his mouth. Asura watched as he blew a cloud that rippled through the air like waves. The thick layer sat on the floor up to Asura's hip, swirling around as if it were alive. Asura knitted his brows, agitated by Wain's new smoke screen.
"Don't you try to take the fight from me now! You hid the whole time, and now that I'm winning, you wanna take some credit, huh? I'm not hiding in your little smoke screen bullshit."
Waving his arms around, Asura tried to disperse the cloud, but the smoke appeared to avoid touching him. As if a thin layer of air prevented him from interacting with it, his arms passed through without moving the smoke at all. Wain rolled his eyes at the ogre's childish attempt to mess with his creation. He pointed at the bears, alerting Asura to the new danger, now able to move towards them again.
"Dude, we got other things to deal with right now."
The perfectly fine, enraged, and angrier than before magma bears let out a deep growl as they slowly approached. From the tip of the jagged rocks protruding from their backs, fire ignited, coating them with flames.
They let out a guttural roar, and the bears shot fire from their mouths at Wain and Asura. Expelling all the mana lingering in their bodies, the flames expanded into a sea of fire. The waves of flames shifted and joined together as they poured through the room, joining into a singular crashing avalanche of fire that consumed everything in their path. Wain was taken aback by the oncoming storm.
The blazing heat made sweat profusely drip from his face as the temperature increased dramatically. Any corpses in the path of the large wave immediately became incenerated leaving no traces of its past presence. Wain gulped, unsure if they would live this next attack.
In preparation, Asura ripped a large metal sheet from a table nearby, slamming it into the ground in front of Wain and himself. Like an angled shield, he braced for impact as he pressed his body against the back of the table, preparing for the oncoming sea.
As the sea of flames slammed into the table, Asura groaned from the force slowly increasing due to the flames becoming denser, putting heavy stress on his body. The metal groaned as the temperature increased to its near melting point. Wain watched in horror as the one gray table became violently bright red.
Asura watched as Wain hid behind him, building up the smoke that was circling their feet. It seemed to start piling up as if it were also hiding from the fire. With the abrupt stop of the torrent of fire, Asura peeked around the bright glowing table, ready to melt at any second... "
Welp,... there it goes."
Asura watched as the table immediately sank to the floor, creating a large pile of goopy red-hot metal. Bubbling, the liquid spread out, creating a molten puddle that stuck to the bottom of Asura's feet. Although the metal was scolding hot, it was much more tame than the fire produced by the bears.
Asura took a moment to think about the current situation and circumstances. "Without a weapon, this was pointless," he thought as he watched the bears become plagued by mana exhaustion. Even if he pounded them for eternity, they would continue to rise like zombies in the human movies.
"Can you, like, give me a weapon to kill these guys?"
Wain shook his head as he held the herb from which he was inhaling smoke. Blowing out of his nostrils, the smoke swirled downward. In a massive sweep, the smoke joined together, pulling the rest of it up towards the factory's roof. Asura watched in awe as the smoke quickly condensed into the shape of a herd of rhinos crashing down towards the ground.
The thunderous clatter of multiple hooves striking the concrete floor filled the room, leaving Asura speechless. Charging forward, the large mammals showed no signs of stopping as they rammed into the remaining monsters in the room. The bears were the first victims, skewered by the horns. They screamed as their flesh tore.
Underneath their large muscular legs, the Hell Hounds cried out as they were trampled over, crushing all their bones and leaving them mangled in piles of flesh and mush. Trying to flee from the onslaught, the Hell's Kittens ran to Scar Face, taking their place next to him alongside the Banana Wyrms.
Scar Face, unfazed by the sight of the rhinos, waved his hand, signaling the Banana Wyrms to attack once more. Their scales lifted again farther than before. Revealing small openings underneath the scales within their bodies that channel mana. Releasing a haunting red illumination from each opening, they unleashed their strongest lightning breath from their mouths.
Crashing through everything, the rhinos made haste towards their opponents onstage. Yet, they were no match as the lightning easily ripped through the condensed smoke, stopping the attack in its tracks. In the blink of an eye, the rhinos evaporated as the lightning tore the smoke apart, leaving nothing but a wispy remnant of the once great cloud.
Prepared for his attack to be thwarted, Wain resorted to plan B. Pulling out a different cigar and smoking it, he exhaled a vibrant green-tinted smoke, vastly different from the light brown color he had released earlier. The green smoke filled the room quickly, creating a dense fog, making it hard to see anything in the expansive facility. However, two red lights pierced through the fog, growing brighter in the distance.
Asura knew exactly what that meant... "Damn Banana," He thought as the lindwyrms tried to strike again. Ready for another scorching blast, Asura looked to grab Wain but stopped after noticing his unworried, relaxed face. Slightly shaking his head at Asura, Wain denied his attempt to save him but appreciated the gesture.
In the distance, screeching erupted from the direction of the red lights. Turning to look where the noise was produced from, Asura found the green gas had dispersed, revealing the Banana Wyrms gasping for air. Their scales had blisters bubbling up from underneath them, shifting them into painful positions.
The grotesque sight was appalling even to Asura as their skin began to melt. Sliding off the skin and scales created a goopy puddle of green liquid, creating a repulsive odor that would haunt Asura for the rest of the day. A wave of nausea swept over Wain as the odor intensified, and the Hell Kittens fell victim to the same plague. Thrashing around in agony, the Hell Kittens desperately tried to flee from the building.
As they dragged their rotting body across the floor, their flesh dissolved, leaving a streak of melted hair and meat along. Asura watched with disturbed admiration as the monsters slowly died before him,
"Wicked."
Wain couldn't help but feel a little proud as Asura sat intrigued by his powers. His admiration meant a lot to him, even if it was a monster. Wain opened his mouth to speak,
"See-"
Sudden applause interrupted Wain before he could finish speaking. Asura searched for the source of the applause. There, he found Scar Face standing only a few feet away now. Scar Face had moved from the stage, now standing close enough for Asura to leap towards. He became antsy at the thought of engaging in a fight with the cult leader.
Wiggling all twenty of his fingers, a smile spread across Asura's face. He was eager to fight his new opponent. Before Asura could even think about moving, he noticed Scar Face's smug face. Smiling, the cult leader stated,
"Bravo, bravo. You did quite well. I would have enjoyed the fight more if those pets were not so useless, but beggars cannot be choosers, I suppose. Asura, I cannot wait to see you again. It'll be quite a fun show. Until next time, my friends."
Opening the crimson book, Scar Face raised his hand before him. It was obvious what he was trying to do, resulting in Asura leaping forward with all of his arms outstretched. However, with little time to react, whatever he was doing became unpreventable as he was the responder. A crystal-like ball appeared before Asura and Wain.
Within the transparent orb, crimson lighting sizzled and crackled in the fragile container. To Wain's horror, it began violently shaking in the air before them as if it were unable to control the contents it held inside. Scar Face called out with a chant that sounded like The Temples,
"Through Beelzebub comes power and glory. His ways show us the truth."
On command, the ball exploded, releasing all the quotidian mana contained within. The force sent both members flying apart through the factory walls as the explosion erupted. With ease, it tore the building apart, consuming the entire side of the factory in seconds. Asura counted the time as he crashed through three walls, only stopping when he collided with a brick fireplace. Asura groaned as he rested for a moment in a pile of bricks.
"Ten seconds huh? Impressive air time..."
Rising from the pile of rubble, he stared at the path of destruction he had carved with his body. Whatever remained of the factory was now reduced to fragments of what once stood, and with the raging fire all around, it wouldn't be long before nothing was left. Asura's body stiffened as he moved, causing his joints to lock up. The ogre groaned from the pain as he pulled himself out of the pile of bricks.
"Damn... That hurt... Wain? Hey, Wain? You still alive buddy?"
Asura called out for Wain, hoping his partner was still alive somewhere. After scratching his back, he figured he better go look for him around the neighborhood since Scar Face was probably gone by now. About to leave through the hole he had created by his entry, he stopped, realizing an old lady sat terrified to his left on a couch. Left speechless, she trembled in fear as she clutched a small dog, praying for the feisty creature to protect her.
He felt bad after discovering it was an elderly woman's home that he ended up crashing through. She seemed like such a sweet old lady with her plastic-wrapped couch and unusual furniture... "Is that a lamp made of a mannequin leg?" Asura thought as he stared at an abnormal object that resembled a lady's leg. Asura half-jokingly looked at the small dog barking ferociously in her lap and asked,
"You gonna eat that?... Um, I'll take my leave now."
Figuring it was best to leave her alone, Asura ran back towards what remained of the factory in search of Wain. Arriving at the outskirts, he watched as more pieces of the building caved, adding more fuel to the raging flames.
"I hope they don't blame me for this shit."
Behind Asura, Wain gave a wry laugh,
"You're worried about that right now?"
Asura turned to find Wain clutching his left arm. Blood spilled down his arm, dripping down from his right hand as he clutched it. About to say more, Wain was stopped by the sudden appearance of a new figure. Asura and Wain noticed a new figure resembling a lion mixed with a humanoid body. The firelight danced in her green and red irises.
Her sinister smile made it clear to Asura that this would not be a friendly encounter. However, the more the better for him!, "I couldn't care less about her being a new victim... I mean attacker, the more fights, the more fun!" Asura thought.
From the corner of her eye sockets were black jagged lines that spread across her face, traveling down her body like tribal tattoos. The human-like creature wore clothes like a human. A green hoodie, blue jean shorts, and a white baseball cap. Interesting... Asura sat perplexed by this odd sight.
It was a Beastman, which is what Asura assumed this new creature was due to its appearance. They hated the smell of humans... The sight intrigued him. "Why would it willingly wear anything related to humans? Whatever, it doesn't matter." He thought as he prepared to engage with his new dance partner.
In her right arm, she wielded a giant hammer made of blood. The blood warped, twisted, and moved within its large form. "It was alive..." The crimson color reflected the yellow light from the fire making it hard to look away from. Laughing maniacally, the Beastman slammed her large weapon into the ground. The loud thud of it smashing into the floor spoke volumes for its density. Confused momentarily, Asura stopped and tilted his head as rumbling began underneath their feet.
"What? Wait..." Asura thought as the ground trembled below the boys, causing them to look at each other in shock. Large bloody spikes erupted from the ground, jutting up towards the two of them like spring-propelled blades. Slamming into Asura's chest, they shattered as they met an impenetrable force. Unfazed by the jagged spikes slamming against his body, Asura threw chunks of large rocks ripped from the ground at his attacker.
Using the rocks to distract his opponent, Asura left Wain to defend himself as he advanced. Quickly Wain pounded away a cigar sucking the air into his lungs as fast as he could, and exhaled a cloud of light brown smoke. The large cloud condensed rapidly as it took the form of a ram, which slammed its head into each spike as it protruded through the ground like the game whack-a-mole. Taking the opportunity to get some distance, Wain retreated farther away from the factory, ensuring his safety. Upon getting to safety, he sighed with relief as he whispered to himself.
"Man, that was close."
Asura smiled and glanced back to see Wain safe and away from harm. Now, he could focus on his opponent without worry. He let out a battle cry, roaring with joy as he charged without thinking.
"Finally, some real fun! I ain't got a weapon, so you'll have to excuse me if I just beat the shit out of you repeatedly!"
The Beastman noticed Asura's cocky smile and answered it with her own,
"So Asura, it seems like you're on their side, ya traitor. What's up with that? Monster on monster violence? That's just wrong you know."
Asura rolled his eyes at her comment,
"Shut the hell up ya filthy hypocrite, we fight all the time. There is no monster code or anything. In fact, we fight more with each other than humans. I have no side, just the thrill of a fight, and right now, this human side is providing me with some real fun fights."
Sprinting towards the Beastman, Asura slowed as he watched her shift the weapon into the air. Although the momentum from his earlier sprint carried him forward, he lowered himself to the floor. Digging his fingers into the ground, he leveraged himself with his grip on the concrete, throwing himself to the left as she slammed her hammer down.
Spikes tore through the ground in a line where Asura once stood. Although it probably wouldn't have hurt, he found it amusing to see the disdain spread across her face as he dodged her attack. Laughing, Asura taunted the Beastman,
"You missed!"
A large, devious grin that began to sprout on the Beastman's face made Asura immediately regret his words as he drew near. In his peripheral vision, Asura watched as large tentacles slammed into his side, sending him tumbling back. Pushing himself up off the floor, he looked back to see a tentacle form from the blood spikes that had been left earlier.
"That's bullshit!"
Like roots, they traveled underneath the ground, jutting up from random locations as Asura dashed towards the Beastman. Tearing through the concrete easily, the tentacles sent debris flying through the air as they lashed at Asura. Trying to do everything in their power to stop Asura, they thrashed around, grasping for his limbs. Although flexible, the tentacles seemed to be hard and brittle like glass, making them easy to dispatch.
Punching, each one that approached Asura shattered them into pieces effortlessly as they collided with his fist. Asura grabbed another chunk of rock and made a break towards the Beastman. Pulling his arm back, he tossed the concrete block at the Beastman. Smashing it easily, the Beastman scoffed at his attempt.
"What an insu-"
Before she could finish, her mouth was met with a fist, causing her to bite through her tongue as she collapsed to the floor. Attempting to defend herself, she grasped for her hammer, which fell from her grasp as she tumbled to the ground. It was too late for her as Asura punched her in the center of her face, causing it to cave in. The familiar bone-crunching sound of her skull being smashed inward echoed in Asura's ears. In an instant, her body slumped, lying motionless like a corpse on the ground.
Asura watched the corpse. He knew it was only a matter of time before she healed, especially if she was intelligent enough to speak. The mana coursing through her body made him reach down slowly. He had to deal with this now. "Wait... Where is Wain?" He stopped for a moment. Looking around the area, there were no signs of him. Asura stood up and began to walk away from the body. He was powerless when it came to killing without Wain's mana.
"Wain? I need you bud... Sorry about what I said earlier..."
"How could you hurt this pretty face? Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"
Asura turned to see the corpse looking up at him. The repulsive sight of her talking with no bones to support the front of her face made Asura recoil in disgust. The skin that made her face pulled and stretched itself back into position like a scrunched-up sock being stretched out. The sudden suction and pop sound from her bones jolting around inside her head didn't help his disgust either.
"Ew. Also, we don't all have mothers. Insensitive, am I right?-"
Asura turned like he was talking directly to Wain, but he was still out of sight.
"-... Wain? Bud, I still need you..."
Trying to catch her off guard, Asura abruptly leaped towards her. Realizing his mistake Asura could only watch in horror as her hammer changed its form like Mel's guns. He gasped as his momentum carried him forward,
"You sly son of a-!"