Xenomorphic

Chapter 40: Annihilation and Propagation

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"And so it begins," Shin'en intoned. Lucy stood next to him, a young girl again, and the Leviathan on his other side, dressed as he was before his Awakening just minutes prior.

"Indeed," said the witch. "This is going to be fun."

Shin'en gave her a sideways glance. "Keep your hands out of your pants, and away from your crotch in general."

"Like I need to physically touch myself."

Shin'en fully turned around to face her. "Please, refrain from masturbating to Asteria killing people."

Lucy grinned. "No promises."

With a low growl, the Abyss turned back around.

"You two are the best entertainment I've had in a long time."

"Do not get me started, Leviathan."

The trio were standing on the edge of Olympus, looking down at the earth, though their view was more like an IMAX of what Asteria was doing.

Shin'en looked up from the 'screen.' "We're all watching a girl have her period."

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Instincts.

Hunger.

Spread.

Feed.

Propagate.

Annihilate.

If couldn't be used, then it would be destroyed.

As she thundered through the forest, tracking the most bountiful prey in her range, those were the only things running through her head. Nothing else mattered. Not the gods, not her father, not Kronos, not the prophecy, not even her daughters mattered right now. Only feeding. Only food. Only the proper sustenance and nutrition for the young inside her, waiting patiently as ever to start the Hive.

Asteria ran right into the midst of a mother grizzly bear with her trio of cubs, and barreled straight into the mother, and hurled all 900 pounds into a tree with enough force to completely shatter the skeletal system. The cubs didn't even have time to perform a song composed by panicked screeching before a swipe of the tail cut them down to size in a spill of blood.

The rampant hybrid dove straight into the dying grizzly, viciously ripping her apart and devouring everything she could sink her teeth into. Fur, fat, muscles, organs, bones, tissues, all of it. Tearing off massive strips of meat and swallowing them whole. Her throat bulged as it forced down the massive amounts of food.

Inside her, the acid that was left inside her sacs did its job in melting down the material, but in the midst of menstruation, with different chemicals present telling the body to do different things. Instead of simply destroying the material and turning it into acid, only the byproducts were used for acid. The rest, the proteins and carbohydrates and lipids, were all gathered around the ball of genetic material, engulfing it and protecting it, becoming a vehicle. But it wasn't enough.

Asteria needed to eat more. Kill more.

After the bear had been used to its full capacity, Asteria devoured the cubs, even after eating several times her own body weight. The reason her ribcage was bulging so far from her body was to accommodate for the coming material.

Claws and teeth soaked in blood, Asteria hissed lowly, and bolted off for more sustenance. Everything organic she came across, she ate. A full herd of deer. Raccoons. Skunks. Squirrels. Birds. Any and everything. She tore a bloody path across the eastern forests of the United States, covering hundreds of miles. Time passed, of course. Thirty minutes, an hour, two hours, three.