CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD

CH.56 'LIKE LIGHTNING! PT.4 - THUNDERCLAP AND ERUPTION!'

Andrei groaned as he felt a rumbling against the wall of the mountain he had been planted against. Pebbles struck him square on the head, and he shook himself off. Dazed, and confused, he felt a pounding in his mind which felt deeper than physical. Looking to his side, he saw the form of Baka-Bayashi, and memories struck him in an instant. The first incredibly powerful Chimera he truly faced. His eyes fluttered for a moment, and Ra shouted for him from the back of his mind. In his current state, he doubted he could hold the voice for long.

Bayashi felt his fur becoming sticky with blood, and he growled with ruined satisfaction. His eyes still stained crimson with bloodlust, he dug his claws into the mountain wall, causing more stones to collapse around them. Before either half-Chimera understood their situation fully, they were begin enveloped in boulders, stones bearing down on them and imprisoning them.

But Andrei could only see more clearly in the dark. Ra stood before him now, another projection as time stopped and the noises of battle quieted down around him. They stared at one another for a moment, and there was no reason behind Ra's actions, no words to convince Andrei in this moment that he should relinquish his humanity. In that moment, if they did not work together, Ra's game would be over.

"Boy... Will you let this be all? Will you disappoint me?" The demonic dragon queried, holding out his hand before Andrei.

Andrei gritted his teeth, unable to move as the boulders which held him in place only grew heavier as more toppled down on top of himself and Bayashi. He wanted to speak, but it was as though he was stuck in a dream, unable to scream. His muscles tensed and strained, and he felt the blood in his veins pounding. He felt his heart beating into overdrive as he pushed himself to hoist off his stony shackles, the tomb surrounding him and Ra.

"No..." He managed to let out. "... I have to save them all. The future... even if we don't go anywhere, I can't let it die out here."

Andrei didn't even realize it, but Ra held his arm now, and he could feel open air on the raw flesh of his knuckles. Feeling a burst of heat on his flesh, he seized in pain as cinder filled his lungs, and his heart began to beat magma. Clutching Ra's arm now, he realized that he was only making a balled fist... but now Ra's arm had enveloped his own... he could still see himself, but also the demon in his head in his place. Gulping back nerves, he clenched his fist again, and began to strain against the rocky tomb. "We'll all live... Free!"

Andrei shouted now, and he felt a hand on his chest. Not his own, but rather Ra's. It burned to the touch, but it grabbed hold of the chain on his chest, and ripped it clean from its place, causing an eruption of Chimeric energy which Andrei now let take him. The blast was enough to blow the rocks clean away and into the now idle Geryon, who had previously set eyes on Saionji, who had risen once more to the challenge. His fist still clenched, aimed forward like the barrel of a rifle, Andrei felt the palm of his hand rapture, and chimeric energy began to spill out, enveloped his arms.

His chest became fully enveloped, and his legs too began to morph and change. The rear of his feet changed, a rear claw splitting from his bone structure as his two smallest toes merged into one claw, alongside three other frontal claws. Black and red energy enveloped him fully, and his hair lit ablaze as his whole face was shrouded in chimeric power. Ra's power. His power. "Free... together! Yes!" He shouted, appearing more manic by the moment.

The rocks tumbled, turning to molten lava as they landed on Andrei's fully-Installed form. Bayashi shifted himself out of his own rocky grave, and though blood smeared his fur, he bared his fangs and brandished his claws, as Andrei, or Ra, brandished his own. It wasn't exactly clear who was in control at the moment... even to themselves.

An aura of black and crimson enveloped Ra-Andrei, and he threw out his other arm in a taunting cackle akin to Ra's, though it was Andrei's own tone of voice. Magmatic yellow pools of energy opened wide as eyes, and two streams of flame like either wings or ponytails sprouted from Randrei's head. "Geryon... You've stepped foot into a domain of true Gods! A lesser being such as yourself... it isn't worthy of a place in my pantheon!" Randrei shouted, a blend of their two tones now making themselves known.