Chapter 14: The Engulf part 3

Many spikes extended from Barbados's body. He plucked them out while dodging a wave of flesh tendrils attacking him and rib-cages trying to bite him. Through a hole in his arm, he peeked through and saw the body mould bones into a chain, and gathered blood at one side to form a large weight, one too large even for Barbados to wield. The core grew more layers of muscle, exchanging agility for strength, to swing the obnoxious weapon. He dodged constantly, acting more like a ballerina than a warrior. The stoic core became visibly angered by the inaccurate hits, and in the time of a split second, it calculated an alternative form would be better. It compressed its muscle fibres and adapted a lean muscular structure, rearranging the very bones that held it upright.

"Freaky." Barbados said as he threw kunai with blades forged in the shape of spades and containers filled with ashy powder attached to the handle.

On impact, the ash powder escaped the miniature cage and exploded, causing a plume of smoke to linger and daze both parties. Barbados thought he had the upper hand, clueless to the core's abilities. It caused large tentacles with bulbous texture to extend from its body and absorbed the smoke through photosynthesis. From the carbon in the smog, the creature formed more limbs equipped with biological weaponry. As a flail smashed against Barbados's body and destroyed his ribs, he reinstated that it was cheating. The creature ignored him and prepared to shoot again, but it hesitated. It considered other projectiles over the simplistic sharp bones. It loaded balls of flesh and shot around Barbados.

"Oh?" Barbados asked confused, but shortly after they extended and popped like a balloon, sending shrapnel into the environment.

Barbados was barely able to protect himself using a shield, and almost let his guard down but caught the core's attempt to slice him in half using a large axe. Barbados brought the still-flying sword into the back of the entity, but it bounced off a layer of exoskeleton armour.

"I saw that." The monotone voice annoyed him, even if it was just his mimicked voice. He believed that there were eyes all over the area, hidden in plain sight or farther away from the fight. He tried to call for the star to blind the core but it was nowhere to be seen. "Is this what your gaze is searching for?" The creature held the remains of the star, covering them in a bubbling ooze that destroyed the artefact.

"Damn, you really enjoy planning ahead." He barged into the clone with the shield and repeatedly attacked it with the butterfly knife, feeling its durability drain at an exponential rate.

A single red flame shot into the sky that alerted the creature and his attention. The core slowly moved, ditching the large weapon and cracking his back as silver-shining black feathery wings sprouted from his back. They slowly fluttered and it began to pace faster, then jogging and afterwards running. It jumped into the air and adjusted its weight to make it easier to fly. Barbados wasn't staring mesmerised, he had already prepared his green kusarigama and wrapped it around the wings. He held on tightly as he dug his feet into the ground and pulled the core back down, but the wings fell off instead while the creature was descending at an increasing speed.

"The wings are missing." the core told itself as it grew a glider formed of skin cells. To move itself, it created a propelling mechanism by creating large holes in the front side of its body and pushing the air from the tips of its fingers.

Barbados saw the opportunity and attacked again, this time jumping as he swung to try and grab onto the openings. As the weapon touched the hole in the body, a little plant sprouted from the graze. The Ghost Pipe caused the core's automatic anti-foreign body system to activate, which made it lose consciousness as it hit the floor. But that wasn't the end of it, the body was now being controlled by the original hive mind. It picked up one of the many metal sunflowers and moulded it into a short serrated sword.

"Now that's more fair!" the Sinborn said as he approached it with the kusarigama, but saw the creature grow another pair of arms and wield the same weapon. "Why do I even bother." he exasperated. He prepared the lightning spear in his other hand and charged. The 2 clashed, and it took several attempts before Barbados managed to scratch the copy. From the scratch grew another Ghost Pipe, which didn't faze the core. But as more and more plants grew, the body started to go a sickly colour.

"You probably wouldn't assume that flower was poisonous, how could you?" Barbados smiled at last as he felt he finally gained the upper hand in the fight.

Both charged to attack, Barbados aiming with the spear and the core charging like a rabid rhino with the weapons merging into a single horn. As Barbados doged, a thorned tendril dug into his skin and dragged him towards the core, which prepared a large cannon-like structure full of miniature smooth beads. The balls hit Barbados and forced a spike to grow from both sides of the wound, one inwards and outwards. The marbles that missed hit the ground and spontaneously formed large bridges and arches forming a crowded jungle. As the Sinborn pulled the projectiles out of his body, the core jumped into the air and crawled like a spider around the environment, spewing acid from a range to wear down him. The core split limbs of its body and threw them down; transfigured them into miniature figures of itself to distract Barbados, while launching surprise attacks. Angered by the cowardly fight, he took the vial containing the mana pin-needle from his space and launched it into one of the bone bridges. As it exploded, the structures began to fall and the core was trapped under one of the large pieces of debris.

He pierced the creature with the spear and backed away.

"Purge! PURGE!" A similar lightning began to escape from the remaining 2 stones and as the thunderclap hit the air, the millions of volts of electricity coursed through the body and turned it into a husk. The spear fell apart and slowly disappeared. Barbados fell to the floor and looked at himself through a mirror. He noticed his halo had further cracked and began to feel rough to the touch. "Now this is worrying." The Sinborn walked over to pick up the core, ripped it from the lifeless body that still resembled him. He began walking away, but his missing heart dropped as he heard the squelching of flesh from behind "How are you alive?" He looked and saw a new type of yellow cell grow and multiply on the corpse. It grew and grew, consuming every bit of organic matter in its path. Barbados ran away towards the flare shot from before, theorising what could have awoken this form. "Could there have been a single cell the hive mind was unaware of, one that would awaken at its death to consume everything and destroy itself."

****

"Look, I see him!" Jan pointed him out and the large mass of puss growing from the centre of the island. Barbados ran through the decaying fields and waved at the flying ship, signalling to drop the ladder. "Is he telling us to … wave at him? Ah no he's pointing to the ladder." The orc walked towards the cabin and informed the pilots. The ladder dropped and Barbados ran faster than before, his legs feeling splintered and bleeding, which they were. His regeneration wasn't able to keep up with the injuries. Was there anything on him right at that moment that could help him to run faster, even if his body would be in more pain. And then he remembered the mana crystals. He chose the smallest one and ingested it. The familiar feeling once again overcame his body, being more bearable this time. He focused the mana on his legs, imagining the regeneration process occur. As soon as they healed, rather than waste the precious resource and let it leave his body, he tried to store it inside his body. The only place where he could do it was in the empty hole his heart would have been. He focused the mana into the gap and tried condensing it back into its original crystal structure, which proved to be harder since he still had to outrun the moving coalescence of flesh.

Gaping holes and craters had started forming as the flesh decayed, pools of blood left behind only to be absorbed by the dying core like a sponge. Barbados was finally able to condense the crystal, although very efficiently and was only able to retain 1/10 of the original amount. He coaxed his body in the stable mana and felt a new urge, a hidden instinct that hadn't existed before but felt familiar. He ran faster from before, imagining the mana to carry his body through the air. He saw his golems fight off the mold, but he decided to exterminate them rather than have the sentries and the totems fall into the hands of an unstable creature.

"Fall!" He yelled as he jumped onto the dangling rope. He climbed up towards the ship and lay on the floor, crystal in hand.

"What happened?" asked one of the pilots.

"I haven't got a clue." Barbados said as he felt reinvigorated.

The flight back to Germania was a lively one, the hunters and Barbados bonding over their shared experiences, and over their accomplishments. When they arrived at the station, there was a large crowd waiting with flashing bright lights, as if they had stars that they could turn on and off.

"Woah." the Sinborn said while covering his eyes. Through the endless stream of questions, he was waiting for one in particular.

"Sir over there with the large boney wings. May we have your name?" This was his moment. Barbados put on his famous smile and turned to face the reporter.

"Why yes, my good man. My name is Barbados Sansar the Creative. I am a Sinborn."

"Took the question right out of my mouth" the reporter laughed quickly while taking notes, "What happened on the trip to the island?"

"The island is no more. It was an ancient creature that died at my hands and," before saying the last sentence, he took a deep breath and shouted, "We triumphed against the blasphemous land." A crowd of cheers spread through people.

"Quite the regal speech for a non-believer." teased the mage in cloak.

"People often compliment me for that."

The world finally knew his name. Across the distinct regions, many pondered what a Sinborn was. Many tried to find one in their own cultures, but failed to do so. Thus, the name 'The Lone Hero' was attached to Barbados's list of titles. Although some doubted his potential, there were those who believed in him, and just as he had wanted, his name spread through the lands. But there were some who peered with eyes full of unsatisfiable curiosity.

****

"It's been 3 weeks since my return back to the Academy. Adam has restricted me from my lawful use of sick days and I am not allowed to leave the country." Barbados started writing a diary to try to help him remember more parts of his childhood life and his time trapped in the prison. So far it had been unsuccessful, only letting him remember the name of his pet 'Grontahn', but he couldn't remember what race it was. He leaned in his chair and stared at the ceiling, feeling the left side of his chest. The skin felt cold at the touch, but warm on the inside; the crystal inside almost mimicking his missing heart. He was going through the most stressful time of his life, finding cameras around his room and paparazzis spying on him. And worst of all, the weapons he had formed throughout his life had nearly all turned to dust, leaving only a spare few behind. But the strangest of all was a text message from an unknown person on his mobile phone. One that only asked a question.

"Would you like to go on a date?"