Chương 74: Compression

The world flashed before Nyx's eyes. A volcano shifted with each breath, from in front of her, to her side, to right beneath her. The ground against her cheek was at one moment hard and smooth; rough, jagged and cutting through skin the next; and sometimes gone completely. When she fell, the only thing she could feel was the boot in her neck, and the staff suddenly wrapping around her front. The Dark Star was collapsing, and Nyx knew this was her only chance to escape K'Caies clutches.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who knew. The cultist and her puppet behind her did their best to keep Nyx unable to move. They held her close so that each thump of the hammer wouldn't steal her away from them.

"Don't you dare even think such thoughts." K'Caies' sneer was barely audible past the gongs.

"This won't end well for you if you try." Well, fucked if she did. Fucked if she didn't. With the end of the Dark Star, her mutations were so obvious they would be discovered quickly — if not immediately. But if she tried nothing, then Nyx was bound to repeat fate.

"Then I better make sure it ends worse for you." The instant another heartbeat shook the land, Nyx moved. Pushy slammed into the side of the gun, shoving it away from her shoulder, and into a direct line to her head. All K'Caies would have to do is have her puppet pull the trigger and Nyx would die… but Nyx knew she wouldn't. She risked everything on that assumption. And she was proven right.

When she reached her sole arm to the back of her neck and clamped the pincers around K'Thorn's ankle, K'Caies hesitation to kill her stopped the older man from saving his leg. Following the motion, she slammed her wing hard enough to dive to the side. Nyx rolled, and the moment her head twisted enough to look upon the duo, she spat. The globule of acid struck struck K'Thorn in the side of the face, but under his acolyte's control, he couldn't so much as flinch.

Her other tentacles, Curious and Cuddly were ready to throw her off the ground and back into close range. That was the only place she could hope to win. K'Thorn had immensely focused on power at range. If she gained even a couple of metres, she was done. Yet, as she was mid-way through throwing herself forward, Nyx saw K'Caies eyes harden, and the rifle was already pointed at her waist. She had no way to dodge. She was about to lose the bottom half of her torso.

A flash of gunfire, and Nyx watched the bullet crawl towards her again. The hammer struck, and mere centimetres from striking her lower stomach, the terrifying little lump of metal and flesh disappeared. Nyx snapped her head around, and she couldn't see the cultists anywhere. She'd done it. She'd escaped her clutches. Nyx slumped in relief even as the world around her continued to flash. When her sight settled each second, she found that even the Fleshforged creatures seemed disoriented.

The gummy sharks flopped around on the surface, waves of them seeming to flee the rivers. Another gong, and an otherworldly squeal ripped over everything. Deep, thrumming cracks filtered through the sound, gradually growing faster and more intense until they overwhelmed the squeal. A single, powerful shatter accompanied the sight of the surface of metal itself compressing and exploding upward.

All across the landscape — wherever Nyx suddenly found herself — rivers were suddenly sealing, and the massive metal surface was warping upwards in what amounted to mountains of twisted, jagged steel. Making matters worse, the volcanoes already present were visibly shifting towards each other. It was like this impossibly vast expanse was suddenly trying to compress into the space it truly fit. A whale shattered the surface with its distinct wail.

Though this time, when it crashed down on the metal again — warping solid steel into liquid from its size and heat — it tried its best to remain afloat. Nyx was transported again, and this time she found herself falling over the remains of the Fleshsmith's tower. Her amalgamations had cleaned their way through it. They had fulfilled their task and killed the cultists. Now, they brawled with the Fleshforged beasts where they had scattered all over the landscape.

A crack of thunder slammed into her, filling her chest with involuntary giggles. Nyx turned to the thunderstorm — Euphoria — spreading across the entire sky to one side. The flashing light of those ethereal smiles spread across its entire smoky mass until there was a single, larger grin spreading what must be dozens, if not hundreds of kilometres.

"This was fun, Nỷx. Summon me again sometime." The booming voice, riddled with laughter and barely perceptible giggles, rolled over the landscape, perceptibly affecting the creatures that remained. She winced. If Solan and her retinue hadn't known about her before, they certainly did now. Euphoria's smoke seemed to disperse. It filtered through the darkness of the sky above the remaining rails that once held the forge hammer, and disappeared. The impossibility of escaping a Dark Star did not apply to him.

As it hadn't applied to Little God. Nyx glanced down. She was starting to get worried that she'd have to find a way to survive the fall before the next heartbeat thumped. But it was a pointless concern. The world shifted, and she found herself tumbling down the side of a slope. A slope of a new series of alps the compression of steel had created. Her claws found purchase, and she scraped to a stop.

When she looked up, she saw something strange — well, stranger than everything else that had happened — the crater-like walls of this space were rising. At first, that's all Nyx thought it was. But soon, she realised that it was more like space was warping around the edges. Instead of being an endless expanse where the world seemed to continue on without end, it had twisted into an inverted sphere. Right above her — still far away, but rapidly growing closer — was the main Fleshforge basin.

It was massive compared to the other volcanoes, but it was actually comprehensible now. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The gongs continued, and with each change, the landscape tried to compress on itself further. It was like being below a hydraulic press, an unstoppable force was pushing down all around her, and it was only a matter of time before it crushed her completely. Nyx hoped the Dark Star would collapse before then.

But there was one thing in particular that she was concerned about more than any other with the shrinking of this world. And that came with a thoomp. Nyx had seen the pair just in time to throw herself out of the way. Her third eye had been peeled, and thankfully, she'd seen K'Thorn aim before he could blow away another arm or leg. Her reaction had been quick, but maybe not the most well thought out.

She dodged the voided sphere in the metal besides her, but she'd still not gotten used to the imbalance brought upon by her missing wing. Fortunately, the gong rang before another shot could strike her, but it was obvious there was no running. The shrinking Dark Star would force them together before it collapsed. She could not simply wait K'Caies out. Nyx had to fight. But how could she get past that terrifying accuracy and speed?

Besides, with K'Caies healing them both, Nyx's third eye would never eat away at them enough to win, nor could she rely on attrition. The only way she could kill them was with a hard and fast attack that they couldn't avoid or heal. How? She didn't have her sword anymore — it was still bound to K'Thorn's rifle with her mould hair — nor did she have any chance of actually closing the distance without being shot down.

The glowing veins from her third eye were thankfully keeping the pain of her lost limbs and exhaustion from completely disabling her, but they didn't seem to provide any greater benefit than that. Nyx considered allowing new mutations to grow. She really did. No longer was she scared of becoming something other than human, of what her mutations made her, but it still remained a massive risk.

Her opponent needed only to touch something connected to her for those spheres to explode and take out much of what they were connected. If Nyx had the misfortune of long fur over her body, or more of her spine-spikes, it would only increase her profile and make it more challenging to close the distance. She already had a pincer to kill, so the only beneficial mutation would be something that gifted greater speed, or could murder K'Caies from a distance. Neither were likely.

Not all of her mutations would be universally beneficial. Her spines did nothing more than rise when threatened, so they were essentially pointless in a fight. Well, unless she wanted to try exposing her back to the enemy. Of course, if she had no other options, she would have to take the risk, but she still had one wing. With only the one, she couldn't fly, but combined with that name she still hadn't fully determined what benefit it provided, Nyx could throw herself forward very quickly.

She just didn't know if it would be quick enough. The world shifted, and like a gift, K'Caies and her mentor appeared only a hundred metres away. She had to trust that her speed was enough. Slamming her wing down besides her, while pushing her three remaining tentacles along the surface, she managed to throw herself in the cultists' general direction. It was good that it wasn't straight for them, as a bullet whizzed past her almost immediately. K'Thorn was terrifying with that weapon.

Nyx skimmed the ground, scraping her claws through the metal just long enough to control her rotation as she beat her wing again. The sudden change in direction made her feel nauseous, but it was worth the discomfort as another bullet missed her. By keeping her eye on the barrel alone, she knew where she needed to avoid.

She was able to dodge another shot, and was rapidly approaching the cultists when, instead of firing where she intended to dodge, K'Thorn waited just an instant until she'd made the change in direction, to alter his aim and fire directly at her. Once again, she had no way of dodging. By the time her wing beat again, it would be too late. So instead, she doubled down and pushed herself forward.

When the weight of her wing struck void, the bullet would have already struck, but it also wouldn't give the cultist enough time to react and fire again. All three of Nyx's eyes followed the flash of light from the muzzle of the rifle, and the bullet that crawled free. Her tentacles, claws and wing were all intent on carrying her towards her target as fast as they could, none close enough to block the damage she would take. She settled herself.

Her mouth opened, and her tongue, almost as if the muscle knew the true import of its task, spat forward a ball of acid faster than it ever had. More accurate than Nyx believed she could throw with her hand, the globule of acid struck the bullet a mere metre from her face. The lump of metal travelled through her saliva for a moment, as if designed or empowered to ignore such unintended targets, but the acid ate away at the fleshy strands far too quickly and the ball of energy behind it destabilised. Thoomp.

The sound rang in her ears. Dull, yet thumping, as if it had originated from within her head. All the acid was gone. But so too were some strands of hair that had slipped forward in flight. She was sure she'd lost the thinnest layer of skin from the tip of her nose and forehead. Blinking away the distorted space, Nyx focused on her target. She brought her arm forward to strike for the man's neck. Regardless of whether he was controlled or not, K'Thorn lifted his rifle to block her deadly claws.

Both his and K'Caies' eyes were wide. Nyx's claws slammed into the weapon, and clamped shut instantly. Her pincers cut through the weapon, but didn't break through it completely. She wasted no time lamenting the failure, and the rest of her body pushed past his defence with all the momentum she'd gathered. Her mouth opened wider than any human jaw should, and she bit through his throat. No resistance met her. Her sharp teeth slid through flesh as if it were never there.

She bit so deep, that when she pulled her head back, the only thing that remained was half his spine, and a little flesh around it. She swallowed. Only a second after doing so, did she realise she'd just eaten human flesh. And it had gone down easily. Bone and all. It, surprisingly, didn't taste terrible. An exclamation came from K'Caies, but Nyx didn't hear what she said. But she did notice when the flesh started trying to stitch itself back together all the while K'Thorn gurgled in pain.

With no time to even think about another method, Nyx shoved her head forward again, and took another bite. This time, she severed his head completely. Nyx, clinging to K'Thorn's now truly dead body, fell to the ground not long after the decapitated head. With one of her targets dead, she snapped her head up to the other, mouth splattered with blood. The terror stricken face of K'Caies was an absolute pleasure.

What wasn't so much of a pleasure, was when she yanked her staff free of her mentor's spine and disappeared with a hammer strike. Touching the mould on the rifle to her own, it lost its binding properties and freed her blade. Nyx sheathed it before looking up to the enclosing space within the Dark Star. She still had time. But now, it was Nyx's turn to hunt.