CHPT 354: Breakthrough.......
The battle felt like a stroll down memory lane for Claude. A memory twisted by the nightmarish power of hell and myth. But a memory nonetheless that he couldn't help but relive in small disjointed fragments as he faced off against the snake and Urd's above.
The fight hadn't gone on for long, and still, Ursula's roars had long since lost their semblances of humanity and the sand died by blood had a steadily spreading growth of both Nature and ice.
So quick, yet so deadly. One mistake was all it took, and the snake could end him. Luckily, he was relatively focused. His fluidly changing body shifted and morphed in spams of power that came free of pain. Free of the feral rage. It felt like power with no drawbacks. And he took advantage. Running and dashing through his growing ring of forestry to cut and stab the snake's thick hide while Gil and Ashe followed, bothering the giant creature with their highspeed craftiness.
But, crafty wasn't all they were. Claude had just given the mythical monster a glimpse of his capacity for deadly efficiency as he stood beside the creature with his black spear sticking through it's eye grotesquely while the wooden tendrils of his recently grown nature locked and weaved through it's antlers, holding it firmly in place.
Time slowed in those moments, breaths coming in slow huffs and inhales as he studied the shiny reflective brown scales of the creature. In each of the snake's massive scales, he watched himself. First in wonder, and then in horror.
His glimmering verdant Aura that coated him like a veil of flames had faded, only remaining covering half of his face. The shape shifted and flowed fluidly until the solid form of half a wolf's head remained.
It's shape and expression so similar to his own he was almost stunned when the thick jaws moved. Even more so than usual with the random growth of his senses.
"MoRe...BoY!"
Time regained normality. The horrid God of Wolves and Vengeance gone from his face, leaving only his grey skinned, halfway transformed scowl in it's wake.
"SHAAAAAA!!!!"
The random growth of his senses due to PSBF caused the bass heavy hissing roar to hit him like a concussive blast.
SHRIP!
The Snake dove downward, no longer trying to raise it's head and break through the wood as it smashed into the sands and and began drilling it's way deeper, breaking off pieces of it's antlers along the way.
SHlCK!
Claude stumbled backward, ripping his spear out of it's eyes while he tried to collect himself and steady his vision. It didn't take longer than a second, and the snake was already halfway under the sand, travelling in a rumbling mess of hisses and scales grinding against the grain of the small rocks.
His Prey Drive pulled him into action, following the feeling of vibration beneath his booted feet as the snake twisted and dashed beneath the ground like a sea serpent in the darkest depths of The Tendread Sea.
As he ran above the snake that was trying to move towards Ursula and the others with Gil and Ashe at his back, he slashed at the ground with his spears, manipulating the reinvigorated roots beneath to stab and grip at the snake. Making it's usually carefree and natural mode of travel a sort of wooden hell. The process forced the snake to change direction and begin leading them further away from the others in the opposite direction.
It's hisses and roars of pain tugged at something within him, wishing for more and more until it could take no more and emerged once again in an explosion of sand and bass heavy hisses.
Being directly above the creature, caused Claude and the others to be thrown off to the side where he landed in the sand with a roll before recovering and turning to attack the snake.
Flaming javelins whizzed past his face like glowing darts that sunk into the snakes tough hide as he closed in, raising his spears and jumping to attack it's underbelly where most of the damage was already done.
FWOO!
SW--CK!
Before he could reach the creature, it's tail that was once hidden beneath the sand rose from behind him and spun to his front to slam into his midsection with the weight of what felt like a tree.
He tried pulling up a spike of wood to defend him but both parties were moving too fast, resulting in a clean hit that sent him rolling and flipping through the sand like a tumbleweed.
***
The sounds of chaos blended into a distant dull collection of roars that shook him awake. Stringent arcs of pain ran through his ribs and chest like lightning bolts beneath his skin. Every inhale sent another strike to his nerves and shook his vision.
[65% Health Remaining! (464/715)]
Fenrir's words echoed in his mind, no time to wonder if that meant he was back or not.
"MoRe...boY!'
The words fell on his mind differently. Not just more violence and blood. He was close to something, Fenrir was pushing him closer to it.
Whatever it was, it was happening even as he laid in the sand, beneath so much steam he couldn't see the mid-day sun above.
He rolled over with a growl and spit a mouthful of blood into the sand, taking note of all the rage filtering into his mind from his connection to Ursula. The feeling rallied him, pulled him to his feet slowly but surely as if her anger was a battery charging his insides.
On his hands and knees, he looked ahead, seeing through the haze of steam how Ursula and the rest of the pack ripped through the HellBred Kobolds with the snake approaching just barely below the sands. He wasn't out for long, he had to get back.
And as he looked at his hands, he couldn't help but realize how simple it could be. Through his blurred vision he watched as his right arm shifted and morphed, bulking with muscle and dark shining fur until it was completely transformed. In seconds, no pain, no deformity. A fluid transformation, with no help.
The feeling was nothing short of amazing. A cool warmth spread beneath his skin, sending his hairs to erect points with the exilerating rush of magical power that flooded his veins. His left arm that once was reaching for the Lunar Artifact in his pocket fell back to the ground.
He didn't need it. He had the power....
His eyes glowed with a new light as he focused on his dual spears that stuck out of the sands ahead. Beyond them, his pack fought, and the snake closed in.
With a pained cough, he got to his feet, still steaming like a living cloud as he moved on instinct and began taking off his boots.
All while muttering to himself, "It's power....my power.."
When they came off, he ripped his pants even more so until his quad muscles glistened under the sun, riddled with black veins and slowly growing muscle.
"[Claude, what are you doing?]"
He whispered two words in reply, "....I found my trigger."
FWOOOSH!!
Without a second more to waste, he was gone from where he previously stood, in an explosion of sand and gusts of wind.
He blew past his spears in a flash, ripping them out of the ground mid-stride while continuing to bullet towards the snake.
Along the way, his speeds only climbed, his feel for the ground growing more intimate with every high speed smash of his feet until the sight of rocks and mountains in his peripheral vision all blended into a beige blur.
He'd never been so sane-- so collected while running so fast. The beauty of it lingered at the back of his mind as the sight of the snake grew with every inch he dashed closer. Hands gripping his spears harder, leg muscles pumping like pistons.
BWWSH!
The snake rose from the sands, causing his eyes to rise with it and notice the Urd's that dodged Blackbeak's weak attacks and continued to rain fire down on Ursula in the midst of her Berserker's Rage.
Change of plans.
He roared, boosting the packs power once again and grabbing the snake's attention. Due to how fast he was moving, by the time the serpent turned, he was already off the ground with a single powerful bound.
FWOO!
The snake's tail came again, Claude raised his own leg and used the tail a step up to reach it's head, where he landed soundlessly. Before it could divebomb and send them both into the dirt, he shoved his broken spear into it's head and jumped again, as hard as he could physically muster.
Shlck!
POOM!
His leg muscles exploded with power and sent him flying off the snakes head, pressing hard enough to force it's massive horned head down a few feet.
As he rose, he twisted to face the Urd's that flew no more than fifty feet above the chaos like a demonic winged duo.
Due to Blackbeaks distraction, the closest didn't have enough time to react as he closed in, slamming his spear into it's stomach with a twisting shove that caused the creature to drop it's sword.
SHLCK!
"AAACK!!" The Demon roared and sunk it's claws into his shoulders, ripping through the mending cloth of his Druidic Cloak.
"HSAAA!" The second Urd, now alerted by the scream beat it's massive wings and closed in on him with a mouth crackling full of HellFire.
The first blast came in a flash that had Claude grabbing his opponents throat and forcing it to turn and take the blast. The flame hit, merely angering the Urd, causing it to slash at his face and rip three lines of red across his cheek.
SHLCK!
He snarled in response used his free hand to rip it's throat out.
Which might've been a mistake. One he quickly realized as the Urd's wings lost their source of movement and they began falling towards the Snakes open jaws full of electrified fangs.
The other Urd watched with a sick form of excitement before smacking away Blackbeak.
Green flames began rising from the tattoo on Claude's left arm as they fell, reminding him of his power as a HellSlayer.
"Come here!" He snapped before sending out his Malevolence Tether. The chain whistled through the air, puncturing the thin flesh of it's wings like a flame to paper before wrapping around the bone framing where it locked in place and burned the creature all the while.
As they all fell in a blaze of colored flames, steam, scales and fur, the snake below welcomed the entirety of them with a gleam of reptilian greed in it's slitted eyes.
Instincts kicked in, causing him to yank the chain and swing the second Urd towards the snake while he used the spear he held in the other to twist them. Just like the last time he fought an Urd. Take them out of the sky, use them as a shield on the way down...only this time, the ground wasn't what would greet them.
As they fell closer, now moving at breakneck speeds, Claude ripped his spear out of the Urd he rode like a sled and raised it in preparation to catch himself. The other Urd, held further ahead by chain had entered the mouth of the snake that swallowed the screaming creature without chewing.
His chain disappeared in a flash of flames, leaving him, the final Urd and the snake.
With nothing left to contemplate, he pushed off the Urd with his feet, sending the creature into it's massive maw and raised his spear in an overhanded grip.
As he entered it's mouth, the sound of flesh tearing and blood hitting the air like a mist hit his nose as his spear dug into the roof of it's mouth, slowing his fall and stopping him from reaching the pits of it's endless stomach.
Somehow the fall was rough, causing him to hit teeth and other objects as he ripped his way in, all while the snake writhed and screamed, trying to remove him from it's mouth until it just stopped and hit the ground with a loud thud that he heard even inside it's dense jaws...