Steel Eyed Faker

Chapter 24: Evolution Part 2

Beta read by Paragon of Awesomeness

.

.

.

-The Imperial Capital-

Slimy, salty, nauseating and absolutely disgusting. Those were the sensations that lingered in Wave's mind even as he donned his armor right as those things reached him. The aftertaste of those writhing tendrils that had tried to force their way into his mouth still clung to the tip of his tongue, leaving a sour taste that made his jaw tighten. A shiver rolled through him, the kind that slipped under his skin like a cold draft through an old house with gaps in its walls. He fought to steady his thoughts, especially with the creature standing before him. It had once been a person, someone who might have worked a normal job and held a normal life, but now they had been turned into a twisted blend of human and nightmare.

"Run! Bols!" Wave shouted for his companions. Bols had already recovered his Teigu and unleashed a sweeping torrent of fire that tore across the area. The flames washed over the infectious tendrils that had been trying to crawl into them moments earlier, reducing them to ash before they reached him. The mask on Bols's face had protected him, sparing him from whatever corruption the creature spread.

Wave rushed toward the spot where Run had been. A heavy kick slammed into the ground nearby, the impact scattering what had previously been a thick wall of flesh and sinew.

The mad scientist's mutated creations had swept through the area, their movements being far too chaotic for him to keep up. The blonde man Wave called out had been buried under that mess of warped tissue. Wave gritted his teeth and dug through the pile, tearing away each sticky layer. Slime coated his armored sleeves, and strands of mucus clung to the joints, but he pushed on without hesitation.

Finally reaching the bottom, he found Run lying motionless. Pale blue vein-like marks crawled over the man's skin like thin ribbons of frost.

"Shit! Wake up! Run! Wake up!" Wave tried to rouse the Jaeger' lieutenant. He shook him, slapped his cheeks, even tried prying open his mouth to pull out anything foreign, but Run's body stayed limp.

He was at least still breathing, but he did not respond in the slightest.

A warped voice echoed behind them. "How unfortunate. So you also refused my gift and denied the chance to join my collection? I should have known. People with such little intellect rarely recognize true opportunity when it crosses their path. At least your friend over there understood what you could not. He will be grateful to me for the rest of his life."

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Wave snarled. His fingers curled so tightly that the concrete beneath him cracked. In a burst of anger he hurled a massive chunk of rubble toward the scientist, the hunk of debris being more than half the man's size. It should have crushed him outright, but the creature Stylish had turned himself into just lifted its twisted sword with a single smooth motion. The blade's many eyes seemed to track Wave as the piece of rubble split apart into neat pieces that crashed harmlessly around it.

"Hahaha. Such a pathetic attempt no longer threatens me. Even now I cannot help admiring the brilliance of my own creation. My intelligence is almost frightening even to myself."

With a clenched jaw, it became apparent that this man was too far gone. There was no trace of the mind he once had... or maybe this had been the real Stylish all along and there was no point trying to reason with him.

"Bols, we need to take him down before he escapes. We can't let him turn any other people into more of these things."

"What about Run?" Bols stepped closer, flames swirling lightly around him to push back the advancing tendrils and the strange humanoid creatures creeping out from the shadows. Their bodies were fused with metal weapons and pieces of Danger Beasts, forming shapes that looked more like unfinished experiments than any shape nature could have intended life to take.