CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD

CH.69 'FOR FAMILY'

The newcomer, Wu, the simian who had been tainted with Asura's own energy, flinched as a burst of energy became tangible... he could feel it now, radiating off of Asura's body. Subconsciously, he shot backwards, his bare feet grinding on the street beneath him as he came to a halt, a streak of purple energy trailing after him. As he finally stopped in full, he saw Asura's fist, radiating a malevolent purple energy, with blackish-purple ink having enveloped his arms. Tilting his head to the side, a burst of energy caught Wu's ear, and he felt a pain shoot through his body, from his own two hands, and from his ear where that chimeric purple energy had came from. Baring his fangs, Wu was about to fight back, but his body had seized up.

"W-What the hell...? What'd you do... to me..." He grunted, his vision beginning to blur as it lost focus on the last thing he would see. Asura's body, having morphed and changed, tearing and twisting, contorting to fit his twisted idea of an Install. "Y-You're a..."

As Asura's hair began to grow longer, each of his roots beginning to glow with evil energy, his legs began to melt, fusing together. With a wretched tearing sound, arms erupted from between his individual ribs, first the bones, though the flesh erupted outwards soon after. His eyes bulged, and then began to multiply. Four eyes, six arms, and the lower half of a fleshy serpent. All this, and Asura had still continued to piece together the art of Blood Magic. "I'm a superior being... in every way!" Asura belted, throwing his head to the sky as his clothes were shredded as he grew larger, his 'human' body going into total overdrive now. "I've finally ascended! Can you see me now, Hierophant?!"

Inoshishi and Hattori readied themselves to engage with the Chimera as he took his true form, their polearms at the ready as both Raiju and Ainu appeared beside them, the two wolves pelts radiating blue and red energy respectively. It seemed that they too had begun to tap into their honest chimeric power, as the maws of the wolves boiled over with plasma and magmatic power. Raiju howled, and Ainu roared, and the two men watched as Dove appeared between them, forming a barrier between Asura and Shimoda, who was still supporting himself on Hirano. "You two... things aren't looking good. Think you have enough left to fight?" She asked, looking at Inoshishi, then Hattori.

One glance was all it took to get Inoshishi burning once again. As their eyes met, his entire weapon erupted into golden fire, and he narrowed his vision back onto the chimera before them. Hattori was more reluctant to fight, but still readied his weapon either way, his body beginning to be enveloped by armored Wind. "I don't suppose we have a choice." Hattori said, his voice cold. "This one doesn't seem like the type to be talked down!" Inoshishi shouted as he began to twirl his halberd, creating discs of flame which hovered around him as Ainu at his side barked, the red brandings on his fur erupting into fur.

The fire and fury of the wolf and the man were the first to fly, followed by another volley of bolts, with the combination finally finished by a storm of wind and plasmatic lightning. Inoshishi felt the adrenaline pumping in his burning heart as he pushed off the ground, each of his flaming discs soaring forwards, with himself and his brother trailing behind alongside the twin wolves. Asura's gaze fixed itself on the two men, watching as Hattori's emerald-green armor intensified to meet his brother's shining flame.

Raiju and Ainu continued to power up as they broke into a full sprint, the two wolves erupting into embodiments of pure energy as they surged forwards with all the courage of a whole pack of their kind, and the strength of two more. The flaming discs spread out, surrounding Asura's vision as he raised his energized hands in defense, batting away two with his upper arms before cleaving through a third, clashes of golden-reds and violet-purples flashing like stars on the very surface of the earth.

A fourth disc landed as the first two were fired back in the twins' directions, Inoshishi managing to avoid on the ground as Hattori used the very weight of the wind to leap into the air, landing atop one of Dove's explosive bolts as a glimmer of emerald caught in his eyes. The younger, more reserved of the two brothers exploded forwards, usurping Inoshishi in distance as his glaive met the joined palms of Asura, who caught the weapon, only to be berated by a delayed series of slashes from the very wind. Inoshishi was next as Hattori and Asura locked eyes, coming up on the chimera's side, only to have his halberd caught by the beast's fleshy, black-purple energized tail.