Dorin crushed the beetle after a small struggle. Its shell was much tougher than the bugs they had been fighting previously.
'Any bigger and I wouldn't be able to get it between my claws.'
Eki devoured the remains of the beetle and Dorin saw his red eyes flash. His companion grew with each beetle he ate, especially his antlers. There were now four different curls, two of which were on the side of his face, wrapping around his head and neck with webs of smaller spikes, creating a hood of bone. The other two were at the very top of Eki's head, and they curved to create two hooks that protruded past his face.
The web of spikes covering Eki's face and neck looked impenetrable to Dorin, leaving only the elk's body unprotected. That was up to Dorin to defend, but as of now they were no longer under attack.
The beetles grew bigger and bigger with each cycle of going back and forth from the swamp and the city.
After devouring a few of them with his darkness, his armor fused with his body and his form grew to match. He was now just as tall as Eki, a monstrous one-clawed giant. His armor now had similar spikes to Eki, and Dorin felt much bulkier. Everything he devoured now empowered him as a whole rather than just his new exoskeleton.
Eki drooled watching all of the beetles come and go as Dorin took a moment to think. He wasn't sure if it was smart of them to keep going. He had no idea what was truly going on, and his vital sight was giving him signs that it was time to run.
A beetle that had grown to the height of his hip had a slight black tinge to his aura similar to the leviathan he had seen blocking a portion of the coast. Dorin didn't know what having a black aura exactly meant, but if it meant that it would eventually be as powerful as that abyssal mouth then he couldn't wait around for them to grow stronger.
Eki suddenly rushed into the lines of insects while he was musing, and Dorin reluctantly ran after him. Dorin knew that with how fast the beetles were growing, he wouldn't be able to put up a fight for too much longer unless they wiped them out now.
All of the beetles which were scurrying back to the swamp turned towards Eki and jumped towards him, opening their wings to propel them as fast as they could go. Dorin tried to catch up but Eki was surrounded before he could do anything.
'NO!'
Dorin did everything he could, crunching beetle parts with his claw and spraying his dark liquid everywhere but he could only deal with a few at a time.
The beetles formed a giant purple ball around his companion, gaining momentum as they rolled it back towards the city.
His left side was starting to show his actual skin because of how much of the hungry liquid he had thrown. The liquid compressed together after a few layers of the ball were dissolved. The form of a horned beetle now stood equal to the giant beetle with the black-tinged aura.
The two beetles locked together, pincers and horn scraping at each attempted maneuver. The horn of Dorin's beetle liquidated, covering the other beetle completely. The insect shrieked as it was eaten from the inside.
Dorin smashed the ball relentlessly with his claw, as crunching one at a time wasn't making any difference. Unfortunately his efforts only increased the ball's speed with each pound.
Dorin's form wasn't right for this battle. No matter how cool it looked, which Dorin was still on the fence about, he didn't have the force to deal with hundreds of beetles.
If he was able to morph into Eki, he could attempt to face the ball head on. He had seen life through Eki's eyes before, but that was under the influence of the hunger demon.
'This is the only way.'
Dorin felt his body shift into one with four legs, and his black beetle merged into him. A large black ivory horn protruded in front of his face, a menacing spiked outer jaw which curled upwards.
Dorin ran to the front of the rolling ball with his new form, easily outpacing the mass of beetles. He prepared to charge, sifting through all the aura's in order to find Eki's. He didn't want to accidentally skewer his companion. The large red eye seemed focused on other things instead of staring back at him.
Dorin charged, lowering his head as he prepared for impact. Dozens of beetles were pierced on his antlers as he struck the ball. Dorin could feel them squirming around, trying to find their way through the maze of spikes atop his head.
His antlers were slick with the hungry black liquid, dissolving whatever came into contact with it. Dorin felt his the weight on his head increase as his antlers grew, threading through the beetles to reach the center.
Eventually Dorin felt something shift amidst the mess of beetles, and with his vital sight he saw something change with Eki. The pupil of the red eye opened up, and Eki's aura turned into a gaping maw as the dozens of red auras that belonged to the beetles were drawn into it.
Eventually all the beetles surrounding Eki stopped moving, rolling over each other lifelessly as the ball collapsed. Dorin changed back to his human form suddenly, without any input from himself.
'Please be okay.'
Dorin saw Eki amidst the empty shells, but his companion had changed. Eki had returned to his infant state, and there was only a single large eye on its head. Dorin's infinity mark was now vertical on its face, the bottom loop surrounding his eye. Atop its black fur were purple chitinous wings.
Eki's body crumbled before compressing into the shape of a die with five sides.