Source Origin(34)

"Fuck!!"

That was the only thing Cades said as he realized that he had passed by the perfect chance of striking at this monster, whatever kind of being it may be, a being that he had now realized to have made a mistake, not having thought that he would decapitate it that easily as it was struggling to move, it's every joint rigid and unhandy, it's eyes darting all over, at least one could assume that, if the being even had arms, the legs twisting over each other and barely holding themselves atop.

Atop the formerly headless body there was already a thin shell of what seemed to be squirming tentacles of flesh, pulsating with a gooey liquid resembling a dark, but slightly golden, bloody colour, and it was already starting to grow the bones back, the flesh retreating from those areas that were now floating freely, waiting to be bestowed with skin, flesh, and so much more.

The teeth were already there, and, as if it was to be expected, the eyes seemed to be regenerating especially quick as well, the beast being intent on looking at him, on seeing the man that had decapitated her and facing him face to face, though he was certain that the beast's mask would soon return, the mask that was unnerving even to him, the mask that he didn't want to admit, the mask that wielded a similar pain to his own, be it on another magnitude.

He was certain now that the woman hadn't planned for this to happen, he was certain that she hadn't really thought much at all, something she would've perhaps worked on if she had the chance to survive this battle, a chance he would not give to her.

Using the improved warping step he had acquired in this place, a skill he felt now to only be temporary, a skill he thought was too powerful to take outside, he warped right in front of her, sword already readied in both hands, slashing down from the top right and intended to slice through her entire body before she was able to even glimpse at him, hopefully ending this regenerating beastly freak that had been tormenting his head with her curses, or perhaps had been perpetuating Cades who was cursing himself in some way, he wasn't certain about that.

Ironically enough he still needed to use as much power as he could muster to even cut through the flesh of this beastly woman, this monster made fleshy worms, this being made of screams and cries, this unstoppable force, this incarnation of a raging hog, this creature that he refused to believe and think of as a normal person, this being that he felt as if he knew about from something that happened before, something he thought about not too long ago, though everything felt like an eternity ago right now.

The woman's body was shaking as she almost instantly lifted up her hands to block the attack, causing Cades sword to almost be repelled by the idiotically thick and powerful bones of the woman that were far stronger than those that had been situated around the neck, resulting in both his sword almost being knocked out of his hand, the abdomen and chest of the creature he still refused to think of as something like him to be unharmed, but the arms of the woman, though not cut through, to be adorned with gashes, about two inches deep on each hand, already starting to recoverin gin both the clothed parts and the squirming flesh he now began to hate even more.

Just a moment later the right arm of the woman, the one that took the greatest deal of the force and had gashes that were closer to three inches than two as the other arm was adorned with fell of, falling over from the still heaved up arms, still formed and flat, as if trying to still block the attack, the stump quickly being adorned with the seemingly indestructibly regenerating cloth that he now knew too well, still fearful of everything here, though he now realized that he had to win this, that he had to continue slashing at this beast at all costs, until she fell, until that which happened with Manug would be repeated, until he remembered something that he had forgotten, or perhaps simply until he had luck and struck at her weakness, if she even had one.

But as it fell of, in the back of his mind he remembered something, something he had heard in children stories and many a book alike, a source of many alchemical fluids and tricks, a being with an ujotrian liquid as it's blood, a being with an arcane sickness keeping it alive deep within the place where it originated from and spread wide and far, a being known on most worlds by the same ironic name, a being that was , oddly enough, romanticized in most modern media of many worlds, a patient with the sickness called vampirism.

Also known as a vampire, these beings could only be killed through stabbing the source of their blood, the pump of the body, in this case, as in most cases, the heart.

Honesty speaking, Cades didn't even really understand why he did it, he didn't even really realize it, but something in the back of his mind spoke to him and he stabbed right into the upper middle part of her chest, a surprisingly soft spot, perhaps because it was the weakness she was hiding, a spot that was also unadorned by the countless strings, as if to flaunt it's own weakness and the fact that it was fairly unprotected, as if to deter the attacker when she was already decapitated.

Ploph.

That was the sound his blade made as it protruded out of the other side and finally ended this battle, the fleshy parts finally stopping to squirm, fully regenerated eyes looking at him, most of his mana gone now, his body weak and about to collapse, and everything having ended in a, to Cades, very unsatisfying manner.

On the other hand, Cades thought as he fell over, collapsing as the woman seemingly vanished into a silverish golden light, they had never claimed them to be powerful opponents.