Chereads / Blood Eater- / Chapter 16 - Coalescence

Chapter 16 - Coalescence

Those words struck into him like a bolt of lightning. "That wasn't a Terror, Nyx... It was a human."

"What..?" He muttered in response, refusing to believe her words, "What are you saying?"

She let out a deep breath, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. her hand reached up, gently stopping over the top of her forehead before speaking. "Underneath the black mass... there was a human inside of it. The front of his body was missing, almost as if..."

Nyx shook his head. "-As if the Terror is actively consuming him."

Rei nodded. Feeling composed enough to stand, she slowly rose from the ground, turning towards the door and unsheathing her blade.

"Wait- you're not seriously going to try and fight it, are you?"

She tightened her eyes, peering back towards Nyx with a serious expression glued to her face, a single drop of sweat sliding down her cheek. "I need to try. The others are still out there. If this thing catches them off guard, they could die."

"You could die-!" Nyx argued, "We don't know anything about it... it could've appeared during the Starfall for all we know!"

"You can't convince me on this. I'm going for the kill — it's my duty as a soldier."

He let out a slight tick. 'Seren wasn't lying, she really is stubborn...' "Then I'm going, too."

She placed her hand through the hole in the door, giving a hefty tug back and holding it open with her foot. "With your injuries, it'd be better if you stay here. You'd only get in the way."

Nyx walked to her side, gripping the blade on his waist. "You can't convince me on this. It's my duty as a soldier, right?"

She was visibly taken aback by his words, though was swift to regain herself, passing a subtle nod. "Suit yourself."

With one final breath of air, Rei shoved the door to the side, turning the corner and booming down the alleyway. Nyx followed close behind — his blade now firm in his hands as they ran.

Cutting through the darkness like shifting thunder, they failed to waste any time in trying to bridge the gap. Weaving their way around loose bits of debris and the lonesome remnants of a forgotten past, the distance began to close.

By the time they reached the mouth of the alley, they were already charging forward with terrifying speed. It was at the same opening that they finally reached the Terror.

From behind, it appeared nothing more than a walking ball of dusk. Its writhing mass was violent, almost as if its flesh had a hint of devilish sentience to it. Even then, Nyx could already see what Rei had meant.

The lower half of the beast didn't appear as hefty claws or squirming tendrils, but rather as two slim legs subject to act against their will. There was clearly a human in there. A person forced to become this things slave — to act at its every beck and call.

They were determined to make this the hour of its execution. Lunging forward, Rei shifted her arm back, twirling through the air like a dancer of the night. With a hasty swipe, her blade cut through its flesh with graceful ease.

The rush of liquid began to scream out. Rei twisted her sword in front of her, clearly expecting the waves of red to combust into flame. Much to her surprise, that failed to occur.

In fact, there were no waves of red. There was no blood. Rather, it was molten lava.

Flooding down onto the blade, it visibly began to melt and warp in appearance. With undeniable haste, she kicked herself away from the demonic creature, letting out a slight grunt as the puddles of orange collapsed onto the pavement and hardened to stone.

"Rei-!" Nyx shouted out, leaping forward and steadying his hands. By now, the Terror had realized the presence of its attackers. Slowly did it turn, moving with the sounds of deep grunts and wriggling mass.

Upon seeing its front, Nyx's eyes widened. He could feel his heart drop, skipping a beat only to pound in his chest with the force of a cannon immediately after.

The human was completely exposed by the front of the beast, and Nyx could see it all in horrific detail. It almost appeared like his face was cut in two — parts of his brain exposed and dripping out from his skull. The heat emanating from the beast's flesh was literally melting him into nothingness.

The process was slow. Degrading. With the entire front half of his body missing, parts of his guts and innards were clearly reduced into mush and drooping outwards.

Not even his eyes remained, simply fractured, empty sockets.

As soon as Nyx laid eyes on him, he couldn't help but gain a sudden queasiness in his stomach. Even still, he knew what he had to do.

'No human...' He thought to himself, teeth clenching out of pure rage, 'No one ever deserves such a fate-!"

Arching his arm back, he began to swivel his body downwards. The beast, in an attempt for retaliation, swung its grotesque limb forward, the metal protruding from the tip swiping just overtop his head.

Nyx slid against the ground, raising his blade high and firm above him, slicing through the underside of the Terror's arm as the lava followed in pursuit.

He stood, being careful so as to not touch the spewing magma as it piled onto the ground below. He couldn't help but crack a grim smile.

'This shouldn't be too bad.... the Terror is already quite slow. as long as I move faster than the lava can leave its body, I should be able to-'

He cut himself off.

At first, he thought he was being delirious. He had thought, with every monstrous thing he'd already seen, that his eyes were simply playing a trick on him. He was wrong.

The beast, after just having been cut, didn't have a scratch on it. It was something out of his nightmares. He had heard the stories — now he wished they were nothing but a fairytale.

A rare genetic mutation within certain Terrors had been observed in the past. Only ones stronger than a certain level of power can obtain it, and it's known to be extraordinarily rare. Regeneration.

The beast was regenerating.