Infamous Shifter's Genesis

Chapter 28

Damian paused on a nearby rooftop, his gaze lingering on Isabella's home as he contemplated his next move. Now that he knew where she stayed and confirmed her conduit abilities had activated, he decided it was best to leave her be for the time being. There were more pressing matters at hand, and his curiosity about Isabella would have to wait. She was interesting, no doubt, but she wasn't ready yet. Not ripe enough to be of any real use to him.

Turning away, Damian shifted his focus to a new objective: the zoo. It was the perfect place to gather the animal DNA he needed for his next creation. The Dark Stalker had proven to be a somewhat successful first experiment, but there was still room for improvement. He needed to refine the creature, make it deadlier, more efficient, and more versatile. To do that, he required new genetic material—unique abilities that only certain animals possessed.

His thoughts drifted to the books his mother used to read. She had been an avid reader, her mind filled with knowledge on various subjects, including animals. Even now, after having consumed her, those memories and knowledge were his. The venom of a Cone Snail intrigued him the most—it was able to create both toxic and paralytic venom, such a thing could make the Dark Stalker even more lethal. The idea of incorporating the silk thread manipulation and sensory hairs of a spider was also appealing. Spiders were masters of stealth, their webs nearly invisible, and their ability to sense vibrations was unparalleled.

The Dark Stalker was built like an assassin, and its current traits allowed it to move and attack without being seen. Adding these traits would further enhance such capabilities. But Damian knew that he needed to see the animals for himself, to determine what he could extract and use. The zoo was his target, and if time allowed, he intended to take everything he could. The more DNA samples he gathered, the more options he would have to perfect his creations.

Damian began making his way toward the zoo. Moving swiftly and silently across the rooftops, his form shifting to allow him smother travel. His mind was already strategizing, planning the best way to infiltrate the zoo without drawing attention to himself. The city was in chaos, and security was likely lax, but Damian wasn't one to take chances. He would move carefully, ensuring that no one saw him—or, if they did, they wouldn't live to tell about it.

Damian eyed the zoo's entrance, the samples he had already collected were impressive, but they only scratched the surface of the genetic potential that lay within the animals housed here. He had been careful up to this point, extracting DNA without drawing attention, but now he could take a more drastic approach. The chaos in the city was growing worse, and in this lawless environment, the zoo wasn't something that others would focus on and if they did they would be insane.

Damian decided that now was the best time to act. He needed more than just DNA samples; he needed to consume the animals themselves to fully integrate their traits and instincts into his own biomass. The main problem he noticed with the Dark Stalker was that it had no instinct besides infecting others. It wanted to reveal itself and disregard its superior stealth ability just to achieve that purpose. So it needed to be restrained with orders. If he give it animal instincts of a perditor then even if he released the leash he wouldn't need to worry too much.

Concentrating Damian liquefied and collapsed his body in on itself. His form became a dark, amorphous blob of biomass, writhing and undulating as it took on a new shape. The process was liberating, as his human form melted away, replaced by something far more primal and terrifying.

Now a formless mass, Damian slithered towards the zoo's main gate. The locked entrance posed no obstacle to his new form. He oozed through the tiny space between the doors, the metal creaking softly as he pressed against it, squeezing himself into the narrowest of gaps. Once inside, he began to move with surprising speed, his biomass form flowing like slime across the ground, silent and unseen in the darkness.