The Fall of the Society

Chapter 64: Drastic Decision

The man's head jerked violently as he pushed the needle all the way into his chest. He began to drool as the contents of the cylinder injected into his body. His force contorted with pain as his eyes began to bulge. He looked as though he could not breath and his skin began to turn blue. Rose watched helplessly, unsure of what to do. The only thing she could imagine was that he was going to die because of what he had injected into himself. Suddenly, a high-pitched scream was seemingly forced from him and he flung his head back to look up at the ceiling. He continued to scream as his skin crystalized, hardening all over. Cracks began to form along his appendages, but as pieces fell to the floor, new ice moved into place. His skin became a deep blue and slightly shiny.

With a great amount of effort, he managed to lower his head back to look at Rose, just as his eyes turned jet black. His scream changed into a roar as his face elongated, creating a sort of snout and his teeth grew into large blue fangs. Two loud pops sounded out as his knees mutated and reversed directions. His fingers stretched and thinned as razor sharp claws protruded from the tips of each digit. Working his way back to his feet, she could see that his arms and legs had also grown longer and more muscular, as he hunched forward. Snarling as his body continued to mutate, he took a step toward her, walking on all fours. The man's body had doubled in size and he was now easily nine feet tall, but he was walking on all fours, so he was staring directly into her eyes as he moved methodically forward.

Rose barely had time to put her aura back up as he shot forward and swiped his massive claws against her face and chest. Managing to block it, she was thrown from her feet and flew backward into the wall. Her purple aura was swirling once more, but she could feel pain in her chest and face from where the attack had impacted. The power that he was emanating was much greater than anything she had felt from him previously. He began to circle her menacingly while snarling and watching her, waiting for her to move. She had no idea what to think about this complete transformation. Whatever he had injected himself with had turned him into a monster. On the plus side, she no longer would have any qualms about killing him she thought to herself as she watched the creature prowl. Like a flash, he lunged at her again, but she shot upward out of the way just before his claws gouged huge chunks of concrete from the wall, leaving an icy residue where his skin had touched. Rose spun and was taken by surprise as he swung again, hitting her hard in the right shoulder and sending her careening back into the ground where she crashed in a blaze of fire and ice.

Before she could move, the creature smashed down on top of her, pinning her shoulders and legs to the ground. Had she not still had her aura up he would have smashed her bones as the concrete beneath her crumbled. The moisture in the air around the creature was turning into ice crystals as he gazed down upon her. His jaws snapped shut on her head, his teeth putting mass amounts of pressure into each spot they touched, pushing her aura toward her skin. Forcing her power toward her head, she shot out from under the beast, leaving a burning gouge in the cement she had been forced down into. Spinning she cast a stream of fire in her wake, which engulfed the creature as it had lunged after her. Much to her chagrin, the flames merely danced harmlessly upon the creature's icy skin.

Throwing herself to her left at the last moment before impact, she cast another blast of fire into the creature's stomach as it passed her. He let out a massive roar as he buried his claws into the wall and held himself firmly to the wall. The skin on his stomach had turned black and red where the fire had burned him but crumbled away as new icy skin formed behind it and forced itself to the surface. He was definitely faster than her now, and she was going to have to figure out a way to get back on the offensive rather than reacting to what he was doing. Trying to put herself out of his reach for a moment, she flew up as high as the room would allow her, watching him the entire time. His jet-black eyes never broke contact with her and he was soon running up the wall toward her, tearing huge chunks out with each stride. The large chunks smashed onto the ground as he lunged toward Rose, turning over in midair, claws out, teeth bared.

Thinking quickly, Rose dropped and turned her back to the ground. Facing upward she sent a new stream of white-hot fire into the belly of the creature. He smashed into the ceiling as the flames scorched his vulnerable stomach. She continued the attack, holding him in place on the ceiling as he shrieked in pain and anger. His long claws swiped for her, before he balled up and spun to face the ceiling allowing the fire to glance off his thickly armored back. He then thrust himself downward, colliding hard into Rose's front, sending them both flying into the floor. Rose maneuvered herself out of the creature's path just before they hit the ground. She skid across the floor, landing hard as the beast smashed into the concrete.

Getting back to his feet, the creature roared as his blacked and burned skin was replaced, crumbling to the floor. Her back was to the door that her and Sid had used to enter the room. The creature lunged for her, smashing her backward through the doorway into the corridor beyond.

"How are things going?" Sid asked her casually as she slid to a stop near him.

She gave him an exasperated look, "Fine, just fine. Fighting a bloody monster over here. Who does that?" Rose asked, climbing to her feet. "He injected something into his heart and transformed."

Sid rubbed his chin, thinking. "Try this," he said suddenly and tossed her one of his longer blades. "It won't melt and should channel your powers nicely."

Rose caught the hilt of the sword and swung it in gracefully around the hallway. Flames burst on the walls in front of the blade as it passed through the air. Her purple aura seemed to move from her hand into the hilt, but did not cover the blade, which started to glow white hot. The creature had not followed her into the hallway, most likely because he did not want to involve Sid in the fight as he would then be at a severe disadvantage. Focusing more power into the aura, she shot forward, leaving a blazing trail in her wake.

As soon as she passed the doorway, the creature latched its claws onto her shoulders. He had been waiting above the door, his claws dug into the wall, preparing to ambush her. His intentions were cut short as she swung the blade toward his face, missing by inches, but leaving a black mark across his long snout. He roared and released her as he backed up the wall to put some distance between them. The wound on his face took longer to heal, but slowly the skin pushed out and was replaced by new icy blue covering. Snarling he released his hold on the wall and crashed to the floor. A cloud of dust blew into the air as he landed and began to circle.

Rose did not follow his movements as he began to speed up. She knew he was trying to get her to follow him, hopefully making her dizzy as he flashed around the chamber. An icy path was forming where he was running, as well as on the walls beside him. He was a blur, and the formation of the ice was making him even harder to see when he passed in front of her eyes. She could no longer tell if he was passing in front of her, or behind. His presence was coming from every direction, he was using the ice forming on the walls to confuse her senses. He was turning himself invisible by blending in with the ice he was creating in order to retake the advantage. A sudden burst of ice exploded toward the middle of the room where Rose was standing. She swung the sword in a circle around her, stopping the oncoming wave before it could make it to her.

All was still, he had stopped moving as far as she could tell, but she did not know where. His power was emanating from all the ice, as if he was a part of the formation. A low growl began to echo all over the chamber as the ice began to glow blue. An attack would soon come, but she did not know from where. A false move could put her into a bad position, so all she could do was wait.