Morphling

If one were to witness a scene so bizarre, what action would one normally take?

*SMASH**stab**WHACK*

The answer would vary for some, but in the most likely case, one would tend to stare.

*pierce**THWACK**swish*

Stare, gawk, or marvel; this is the usual response when one cannot comprehend the absurdity before them.

ROAR

The two creatures fought; one the very being that caused so much pain and anguish, now an image of pure nightmarish proportions.

BOOM

The other; a grand beast of incredible strength and unimaginable power.

The two beings fought, each giving no quarter. The Fallen was fast, cunning, and relentless in its attacks, but the behemoth was resilient, intuitive, and tireless.

Whenever the Fallen would strike, the behemoth would avoid the more dangerous attacks then take the weaker blows head on in order to retaliate. Several times the Fallen would pierce its hide, only to get stuck and get summarily headbutted or pounded into the ground, narrowly avoiding getting crushed by its feet.

This was the scene the Kaijin arrived to when they moved to surround the region.

“What in the gods is that?”

An old Kaijin and one with cross scars on his face turned when they heard someone voicing the question in their minds.

The one who exclaimed happened to be a blonde man in a hood and light leathers. Shock and awe painting his face, the man almost fell on his back as he staggered backward at what he saw. The rest of Jortus’ party soon arrived, their faces matching the same or similar expressions at the scene before them.

“Old dog, it seems we’re in a predicament.” Uruwan said as he looked toward Jortus scratching his head.

“That’s a big understatement, old friend.” replied Jortus, his expression no different from the others.

As the others silently watched, he stepped forward to get a better look. He quietly observed the behemoth while placing his free hand forward and recited a spell.

‘Oh, spirit of light, grant me sight. Oh, spirit of wind, grant me guidance. Oh, spirit of earth, grant me fortitude.’

As the old man recited those words, the earth surged as it enveloped him and raised him high. The wind then began to blow around him as it lifted him into the air with clumps of earth orbiting around him. His eyes then began to glow as he flew closer to the fight and circled around the two monsters.

The first thing Jortus noticed was that the behemoth seemed to be mostly on the defensive. At first it wasn’t clear as to why a creature of its size that retaliated ferociously wouldn’t attack as aggressively, but then he noticed that it kept attacking with only one arm.

It kept one arm close to its chest and always held it in. He thought it may have been injured somehow, but the quick regeneration of its wounds shows otherwise. It even received a vicious looking lash from the Fallen that almost tore its entire shoulder, but then its shoulder visibly repaired itself.

Looking closely at its enclosed hand, he found the reason. Within its hand was a shaking white wolf pup that hid within the folds of its palm.

Having a clearer picture of the situation, Jortus was about to return to the others until he saw the beast looking at him. In its eyes he could neither see madness nor the mindlessness of a beast, but… curiosity? The beast continued to observe him for a while, but was forced to turn away when the Fallen increased the ferocity of its attacks.

Jortus wanted to observe some more but the intensity of the stray projectile spines and debris being deflected by the orbiting earth clumps told him it was time to leave.

After returning to the others, he gave a sigh of relief now that he was at a safer distance.

“Looks like you still got it, old boy, so what did you learn?” Uruwan asked as soon as he landed.

Jortus thought for a bit then brought his hand before them, palm facing upwards. Light played above his palm as the images he saw were soon projected.

“To be honest, I couldn’t really tell what that beast is. Some distinct parts tell me its either a mutant Horned Goliath or a rare Wilder Titan, but so far, my magic could only determine it as an unknown. Not to mention the contradictory parts of it, like a Horned Goliath having horns and not antlers like this beast has, and a Wilder Titan being quadrupedal and closer to a bear. However, this is the most unusual part about it…”

The images then shifted showing the beast’s cupped hand.

“It seems to be protecting a wolf pup. And it also seems to be avoiding attacking the Fallen’s main body. Many times I’ve seen the beast having so many chances to crush it, but for some reason it kept going for its limbs as if aiming to disable it.”

Rakai stirred when he heard about the beast’s actions.

Looking at Rakai’s reaction, Uruwan rubbed his chin as he turned towards Jortus inquiringly, “Hmm. So, it seems the beast is strangely protective of the young of a wolf and… is somehow trying not to immediately kill the Fallen, which surprisingly works in our favor.”

Jortus nodded with more to add, “That’s not all… this may come off as strange, but the beast… appears intelligent.”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Uruwan asked requiring more clarification.

“Call it a hunch, Uru, but I believe we may be able to work with this creature.”

Almost everyone turned to Jortus to look at him incredulously. If it weren’t for his reputation and his history, almost everyone who heard him would’ve thought he was crazy.

The old Kaijin’s eyes narrowed and looked at Jortus with seriousness rather than skepticism. “Old dog, what are you planning?”

“Let’s just say we’re going to give it a bit of a hand. On that note, I’m going to need someone’s help. Someone fast and will listen to my instructions without hesitation.”

The skeptical ones were looking at each other with concern. Just as Uruwan was about to voice his willingness, Rakai stepped forward.

“Jortus… if I do this... helping this thing... you are sure I’ll be able to save my daughter?” Rakai asked.

Jortus looked towards him, his eyes widened but nodded firmly.

“Then that is enough… tell me what I must do.”

***

The beast was at a loss. While its spiky nemesis couldn’t put a significant dent to its defenses and regeneration, it in turn wasn’t able to properly do much in retaliation.

Especially not with one of its arms tied and the risk of harming the other little pup if it caused too much damage to the monstrosity.

It became a battle of attrition and one which was more against the beast’s favor. It doesn’t know how resilient the monstrosity is, but it can’t be taking more than the beast since it stopped absorbing those masses of flesh. It’s a good thing the beast just fed to more than full capacity, but eventually it would run out of biomatter if it kept taking too many blows.

Despite wondering how long the fight has been going while trying to figure out a way to solve its problem, the beast started to notice they were surrounded.

It didn’t know when these beings arrived, but they were all bipedal with most of them possessing horns and tools of some kind, similar to those creatures it ate earlier. However, these beings were far larger and their weapons looked more threatening. They also appeared covered in an exterior material that doesn’t seem to be a part of their bodies.

Wondering if these creatures were attracted by their fight, it grew concerned when it noticed the amount of bloodlust that permeated the region.

After consuming a good amount of the local fauna, the beast found that these local creatures have developed a sensitive intuition towards danger. Not just reacting to random sounds or sights, the creatures have become innately able to sense what could be defined as bloodlust, or the desire to kill.

In this situation, the beast was able to sense a dense bloodlust surrounding the area, but for some reason it was entirely directed towards the entity it was fighting.

Confused at first as to why these creatures showed a strong desire to kill the being before it, it then remembered what happened to the other wolf pup and what could be inside the other flesh masses.

Putting two and two together, the beast understood that these creatures surrounded them since they were after the monstrosity. It now understood the circumstances, but then it didn’t know how to communicate with the creatures that it means them no harm. After all, it didn’t know how dangerous these beings were considering how complex their societal and organizational structure appeared when compared to the previous bipedal creatures it consumed.

Once more at a loss, the beast continued its struggle when suddenly one of the creatures started moving closer. This one had seemingly skin-like material that hung loosely around its entire body, fur on its face, a wide flat round thing on its head, and held a wooden stick almost as long as its body; just like that screaming pissing thing that shot freezing projectiles before.

It at first wondered if this creature possessed a trick as well, but it was almost stunned in place when it saw the being rise from the air as the earth lifted it and started flying closer towards them.

Whatever this being is, it was far superior at manipulating the mysterious energy when compared to that screaming creature. It also solidified its belief that these entities were far more powerful than that small tribe of humanoids it consumed.

While continually holding off the black monster and keeping most of its attention to it, the beast secretly observed the floating being. The earth flew around it protecting it from stray objects that flew at it, and masterfully manipulated what seems to be the wind to circle around them in its observation.

The beast was jealous of such mastery considering that it possesses the energy as well. If it could only understand its use, the fight would have already gone a lot easier.

When it had a chance and looked closer, it noticed the being’s glowing eyes. Wondering if it saw it looking at it, they observed each other for a time, but the black monstrosity’s attacks have grown fiercer. It must have noticed the beast’s slack in attention and tried to exploit it, so the beast returned to pushing it back.

If it could ever figure a way out of this situation, the beast definitely wanted this being to teach it. Of all the entities it has encountered, none have shown as much mastery of the mysterious energy as this being. Perhaps, considering their intelligence, it might even be able to persuade them into letting it have some of their dead for genetic assimilation.

Regardless, the bigger issue now is dealing with the creature before it. Now that the bipedal creatures studied it, there might be a way it could get them to care for the little pup so that it can finally take on the monstrosity. The question is, would they be willing to assist it?

Its question was soon answered when the floating being from before appeared again out of the monstrosity’s sight. It then moved its arms to manipulate the earth and showed it an object that appears to be the little pup being picked up by a bipedal creature that was running.

This confirmed that the bipedal creatures wanted to assist it, but then what did they want it to do? Throwing the pup was out of the question as the monstrosity might take its chance to go after it. Putting it down on the ground was even worse since it might run in a panic and get stepped on.

The answer soon became clear when it saw one of the horned bipedal creatures rushing towards it from behind the black monstrosity.

The creature noticed the being running behind it and was about to turn and intercept it, but its sudden lapse in attention was enough for the beast to grab it by the neck in a one-armed choke hold.

The difference in size played a major factor since the creature had trouble getting out of the beast’s one-armed grip.

Just as the horned humanoid came close, the earth before its feet rose higher until it reached the beast’s torso. Seeing it was close enough, the beast reached out with its open palm in front of the being.

The horned being then ran up the earth, jumped onto its hand to grab the little pup, then ran over the other side to jump onto more raised earth that followed its steps as it ran down carrying the little one to safety.

The monstrosity finally broke out of the beast’s hold and tried to go around it to chase after the two, but was caught by the throat by the beast’s newly freed hand.

In one swift motion, the beast raised the creature up by its neck and summarily slammed it onto the ground¹one-handed chokeslam with enough force to crater the earth. 

Holding its fist within its other hand, a loud crack resounded as if crushing stone²one hell of a knuckle cracking. The beast can finally move freely and glared at the monstrosity from above. It’s finally time for payback.

***