"It's still a little short." Holm rose from the ground unharmed, stretched his body, and patted the broken glass off himself with a hint of regret in his voice.
If not for the large lizardman's arm blocking his strike, he could have severed its head cleanly moments ago.
Though he had increased his strength, the lizardman's dense bones and formidable defenses had absorbed much of the force behind his attack.
"AGHHHH!" the big lizardman roared in pain, gritting his teeth against the agony.
For the first time since becoming a lizardman, he had suffered such a grievous injury.
While his body's regeneration would heal the wound quickly and even regrow the severed hand, the searing pain was unrelenting, and the blow to his pride and self-confidence was not something time could mend so easily.
As his guttural cries echoed, Holm's sharp eyes caught sight of the lizardman's rapidly regenerating hand.
The sheer speed and potency of their healing abilities bordered on the absurd. Unless he landed a clean strike to the neck, wounds like this would only prolong the fight without achieving a decisive outcome.
"I'm going to crush you!" the lizardman bellowed, his voice dripping with rage. Before he could finish, Holm stomped the ground and charged toward him with blinding speed.
This time, Holm moved with even sharper precision. The black blade in his hand and the writhing tentacles extending from his back worked in perfect unison.
With a single clash, Holm severed the lizardman's newly regenerated hand once more.
"ARGH!!!"
The lizardman descended into madness, his scales darkening, his eyes glowing a feral red, and an overpowering, wild aura radiating from him.
His attacks became primal, instinctive, and relentless, no longer retaining the calculated edge they once had.
Now, he abandoned all sense of self-preservation, focused solely on inflicting as much damage on Holm as possible.
In his mind, no human—no matter how peculiar—could match the vitality of a lizardman. If trading blow for blow was necessary, he was confident that he could wear Holm down to his death.
But the lizardman hadn't accounted for how extraordinary Holm truly was.
When his sharp claws raked across Holm's body, there was no blood. Instead, a sticky black liquid oozed from the scratches.
Even as the lizardman's frenzied attacks landed, Holm's clothes remained unscathed. Meanwhile, the lizardman had lost both arms, his tail, and was surrounded by his own blood splattering the ground.
"You're in quite the mess," a voice called out from a shadowed corner. It was followed by a series of low, mocking laughs.
Several pairs of cold yellow eyes glinted faintly in the dim light as more lizardmen emerged from the shadows.
The sight of them only deepened the big lizardman's humiliation. Roaring in frustration, he lashed out at Holm, attempting to use his severed arms as weapons.
"Snap!" Holm flung the detached limbs to the ground with disdain, his cold gaze fixed on the newcomers.
He could sense that the top two floors of the building were now empty, with only Dr. Lizard remaining at the very top. These lizardmen must have been stationed there, but his battle with the big one had drawn their attention.
"This human is not simple. Instead of mocking me, why don't you try fighting him yourselves?" the big lizardman growled at the newcomers.
Normally, he would mock their smaller frames and lack of muscle, but today they had an opening to ridicule him.
The leading lizardman stepped forward, licking his sharp teeth with a long tongue. "We're not like you—just muscle, no brains. Why should we fight him alone when there are so many of us here?"
His voice carried a cold confidence.
"So what if he's special? He might be able to defeat you, but he can't take all of us at once."
The others laughed darkly, their claws gleaming in the dim light. While they were not as physically imposing as the big lizardman, their balanced builds and cunning intelligence made them formidable opponents.
Outside the building, Gwen crouched in a corner, watching nervously through the glass.
Holm had nearly defeated the big lizardman, but the arrival of reinforcements had changed everything. If the group attacked together, Holm might be overwhelmed.
Clenching her fists, Gwen scanned for an opportunity to break through the glass and intervene.
But then Holm, who had been standing motionless, suddenly shifted.
Facing the approaching lizardmen, he smiled—a cold, unsettling grin—and opened his arms wide, as though he were welcoming their attack.
The lizardmen hesitated, momentarily thrown off by his strange demeanor. But their hesitation didn't last long.
With roars and snapping claws, they lunged at Holm in unison.
As they closed the distance, Holm's eerie grin widened.
"Leave it to you," he said softly.
In an instant, black liquid began oozing from Holm's body, surging like a living thing and engulfing him entirely.
The sticky substance expanded, covering him from head to toe until Holm disappeared.
In his place stood a monstrous figure—a black creature as muscular and fearsome as the big lizardman, yet far more sinister.
Its pale, narrow eyes gleamed menacingly, and beneath them, an exaggerated mouth full of jagged, razor-sharp teeth stretched into a terrifying smile. A long, scarlet tongue writhed like a serpent.
"Now, who looks weak?" the creature's guttural, raspy voice taunted. "Ready to be torn to pieces, lizardmen?"
Before they could react, Venom moved with inhuman speed.
Grabbing one lizardman with a clawed hand, he opened his massive mouth and bit down, tearing the creature's head clean off.
Blood spurted in gruesome fountains as the lizardman's body fell lifeless to the ground.
Two more lizardmen met the same fate within seconds. Their heads were severed and discarded, leaving their corpses crumpled in pools of blood.
The remaining lizardmen roared in panic, scrambling to launch a counterattack against the monstrous Venom.
Outside, Gwen remained frozen in shock, her raised fist forgotten, looking at the scene in front of her.
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Try my other fic as well; Good or bad, does it matter (Harry Potter fandom)