Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Heart of the Beast (Part 2)
Vincent’s bloodshot eyes widened in absolute terror as he stared at Nero’s demonic grin.
The metallic claws hovering inches from his most precious anatomy made every survival instinct scream in primal panic.
"You like to fuck high-class women, yeah?"
Those words carried such cold malice that Vincent’s entire body went rigid with fear.
This wasn’t just about killing him anymore.
This was about destroying everything that made him feel like a man.
Dude was about to lose his precious family jewels and that was enough to wake him up.
"W-Wait...!"
*WHOOSH!*
The metallic claws moved downward with deliberate, terrifying precision.
It seems this one finally made him move. Vincent’s mind snapped.
After all... with all his careful planning, all his calculated schemes, all his backup strategies – none of those mattered when faced with the fact of losing his manhood.
"M-MALIGNANT FORMATION... ACTIVATE!"
The desperate chant tore from Vincent’s mangled throat with the last of his strength.
"!!!"
Nero’s Greater Instinct exploded with warning signals so intense they felt like alarm bells going off inside his skull.
And without hesitation, Nero launched himself backward, his metallic form creating distance as a single backward leap carried him meters away from Vincent.
"..."
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
Vincent’s broken body began convulsing as something dark and putrid started seeping from every pore of his body.
"... HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
Despite the excruciating pain wracking his shattered frame, Vincent’s maniacal laughter echoed across the camp.
"You’ve... you’ve gone too far, Nero Walker!"
Vincent’s mind was calm despite the outrageous appearance he was showing, restraining the joyous feeling rising from his chest as the overwhelming promise of power started to surge within the depths of his spirit.
’It’s a bit early, but this would have to do.’
***
The SR-tier pendant had been Vincent’s most carefully guarded secret.
It’s his ultimate insurance policy against the teacher who thought she could mold him into another disposable pawn.
Approximately 2 weeks ago... during what should have been a normal leveling expedition with his wives, they’d encountered something unusual.
An A-tier Shadowmaw Reaper, but one that behaved strangely.
Instead of a giant beaver-like creature with razor-sharp scythes as its limbs and tail... this one seems more like a mutant.
With black liquid oozing from its flesh, and the unnatural armor-like addition in its body, this one behaves differently...
Most monsters attacked with bestial instincts or territorial aggression.
But this creature had stalked them for hours, watching from shadows, studying their formation and abilities like it was learning.
Its movements were... more calculated rather than savage.
Behind those attacks targeted specific weaknesses rather than random violence.
It seems like it has a level of intelligence that seems a bit too advanced for an A-tier monster.
When they’d finally cornered and killed the aberrant beast after a half an hour of effort... Vincent had found something extraordinary among the loot.
[Drop of Evil (SR)]: A cursed artifact of demonic origin that temporarily transforms the wearer into a suitable greater demon based on multiple factors. Grants overwhelming combat buffs at the cost of sanity and life force. Activation chant required: "Malignant Formation... Activate!"
The moment Vincent read that description, he’d known exactly who this would be used against.
Vex’ahlia.
His supposed "teacher" from the otherworldly cult named Obsidian Covenant.
The mysterious woman had approached him after just a few days since he thrived in the apocalypse with honeyed words about potential and power, claiming she could help him become a "disciple" worthy of the Covenant’s inner circles.
She even helped him "upgrade" his [Enslaver (A)] ability to [Charmed & Enslaver (SR)], granting him the power to magically charm women into devoted love slaves while maintaining his hypnotic control over others which only strengthened the bind.
... But Vincent Cross knew the term: "there’s no such thing as free lunch".
Especially as someone who survived and climbed up the ladder of the corporate world...
Well, that was before his career fell after some rising star bitch managed to speak out despite the threat he gave... good thing he managed to kill her after the apocalypse.
But besides that point, Vincent knew to trust no one other than himself, let alone some mysterious woman who suddenly appeared to "help him because she saw his potential".
At least, not someone like her whose smile never reached her eyes.
Vex’ahlia would also speak casually about divine essence extraction during one of their casual talks.
How certain "pure" beings contained concentrated power that could fuel major magical workings, especially that born staff of hers.
... How the right techniques could extract this essence without immediately killing the host.
She’d been subtle about it, weaving the topic into broader discussions about magical theory and power sources.
But Vincent had spent his entire career reading between corporate double-speak and political maneuvering.
He knew exactly what Vex’ahlia wanted.
Aurelia’s essence.
The problem was the implications.
Vincent might not understand the exact mechanics of "essence" extraction, but he understood the basic cause and effect of this world they live in.
Taking something vital from a person would fundamentally damage them.
Maybe not kill them outright, but certainly reduce their value.
And if Vex’ahlia succeeded in extracting Aurelia’s divine essence, what would be left?
A broken shell of the perfect being Vincent had spent a month obsessing over?
That was unacceptable.
Vincent wanted Aurelia intact, whole, in all her divine glory serving at his side.
Not some diminished remnant left over from Vex’ahlia’s magical ambitions.
... But confronting his "teacher" directly would be suicide.
Even with his enhanced abilities and 6 devoted wives, Vincent knew he couldn’t match an experienced otherworld sorceress in direct combat.
Vex’ahlia had countless years... or even probably decades of magical experience and power that dwarfed his recent improvements.
She was only playing along with this student-teacher dynamic because it served her purposes.
The moment Vincent became inconvenient... she would dispose of him without hesitation.
And that’s where the pendant came in.
His ace in the hole.
His final gambit for when diplomatic solutions failed and he needed raw power to protect what was his.
Vincent had planned to use it during the eventual confrontation with Vex’ahlia, when she finally dropped the pretense and tried to claim Aurelia for herself... at least, when she’s too occupied doing her rituals.
But circumstances had now changed.
***
Back in the present, Vincent’s body writhed as the putrid black mass began engulfing his broken form.
The stench of sulfur and decay filled the air, making even the battle-hardened survivors gag from the overwhelming corruption.
"HAHAHA! You should have just died quietly, Nero Walker!"
Vincent’s voice was becoming deeper and more guttural as the transformation took hold of his shattered frame.
"You should have let me have her! She was supposed to be MINE!"
*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*
His bones began reshaping themselves with sickening snaps and pops, growing larger and more angular as demonic corruption flooded his system.
The black ooze covered his body completely now, pulsing like a living thing as it remade him into something far beyond human limitations.
While all his past wounds have started regenerating at a speed that surpasses even Nero’s...
"I had everything planned perfectly! The camp, the wives, the power, the respect!"
His mangled face was healing rapidly, but into something twisted and inhuman.
Sharp canines pushed through his gums while his eyes began glowing with malevolent red light.
"All I needed was to eliminate you and claim the angel! But you wouldn’t fucking DIE!"
The putrid mass pulsed with each word, growing more solid and defined as Vincent’s humanity burned away to fuel his transformation.
"You think your little dragon form makes you special? You think those pathetic scales can protect you from what I’m becoming?"
Claws began emerging from the black corruption where his hands used to be, each one gleaming with supernatural sharpness.
His legs were stretching and bulking with demonic muscle mass that dwarfed his previous human form.
"I am going to tear you apart, piece by piece!"
Vincent’s voice now carried harmonics that shouldn’t exist in human throats, multiple tones layered together in unnatural chorus.
"And when you’re broken and bleeding, I’ll make you watch while I claim your precious angel! She’ll forget you ever existed!"
The transformation was reaching its crescendo now.
What had been Vincent Cross, businessman and manipulator, was becoming something that belonged in nightmares.
"This is what happens when you cross Vincent Cross! This is what–"
But then something happened in the midst of his seemingly perfect transformation.
*CRACK!!!*
His body suddenly twisted, as his muscles bulged and inflated disproportionately.
"W-What...?"
His voice suddenly stopped as he looked stunned at what happened to his body.
Immediately after that, his skin color immediately changed to violet red, his face dangerously swelled.
Multiple limbs and other human parts grew from his body grotesquely...
"..."
Even Nero, who has his silent rage going on, had to frown in disgust at the bizarre appearance that’s happening before him.
His size immediately doubled... tripled... quintupled.
And by the end of it... what was left... is a towering blob of flesh and muscles with multiple human limbs looking like a bunch of tentacles...
Nonetheless, it looks fucking gross.
And as if to confirm that,
[Transformation complete. You have now changed your race to a variant greater demon: "Amalgamation (SR)".]
***
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