49 The core’s power
Inside the nest, a purple mist had covered the area from the explosions and contrary to Akira's belief Reia had not turned into a mutant. Standing right where he was pushed into the wall was Reia.
Her body had seemingly gained mutant traits, but she was still completely sane. Her hands and feet were covered in black slime and had streaks of purple that resembled circuits. Her eyes were also engulfed in black and she had gained an extra tail that was completely made out of mutant slime.
'Now that Akira is safe, now I have to deal with these mutants.' Reia had been the one to get Akira out of the nest and because she had gained a speed boost, she was too fast for him to see her.
Feeling the insane amount of essence flow through her body, she felt like she could now use the essence fox form she had used all those years ago.
'If I get damaged again, let's hope it's only a few years like last time.' Reluctant to have to use the form, she had to use it to survive.
'Why did my special ability I inherited from my family have to be so damaging? No wonder my parents are so damn inept in feeling anything.' Reia, whose special form was unique to her family, realized that the damage her parents obtained from using it, caused them to be deranged in their own way.
'No matter, let's hope they are dead since I'd rather never see their face again.' Hoping the mutants had gotten the better of her parents, she then activated her essence fox form.
The streaks of purple on her body began to glow brightly and unlike this time, the essence claws felt stronger. The mutant tail she obtained now had a purple essence coat and her hair was now a bright purple. She had also obtained a kitsune mask purely made from essence to appear on her head, which confused Reia, but she didn't have time to think about it.
'I wonder if the mutant parts I got are facilitating my essence so I don't' take any damage.' Reia had noticed that she did not feel anything happening to her body despite the heavy amount of essence she was using on herself.
Lightning surrounded her body striking the ground around her and the mutants that were blown away by the blast started approaching again.
The giant mutants that had come into the nest had retreated after seeing the core explode and returned into the branching caves observing Reia. This was rather confusing, but Reia was glad as it seemed like the mutants that used essence had some intelligence and were not interested in fighting.
'More questions just keep coming up.' Reia wanted answers, but any lead on the mutants led to more questions. Did the giant essence mutants have a goal or did they simply give up and know they will lose so they rather preserve their life.
'Maybe I should hunt one down.' Reia considered using her newfound power to see what would happen, but then she thought about how Akira and everyone were waiting outside.
'Let's focus on clearing the nest and get out of here.' Reia wanted to leave and knowing the panic she was putting Akira through didn't want him waiting any longer.
Dashing forward in a flash of lightning, Reia appeared in the middle of the horde and punched down into the ground. A wave of lightning exploded, electrocuting the mutants and killing some in the process.
Using both her hands and feet, Reia started to pierce mutant bodies aiming for their cores. Swiftly killing the mutants, almost like a dance, Reia had gotten through 30 mutants in a matter of 10 seconds.
She would stomp down on mutants, use her lightning to strike the core and use her hands to put holes in mutants' bodies. After killing more of the horde Reia had noticed that the ceiling, walls and ground were starting to lose the mutant slime suggesting that she was getting closer to clearing out the nest.
However, what had started was mutants were pouring out of every possible location in an attempt to overwhelm Reia. Trying to speed up her killing, Reia had tried to use larger scaled attacks with her essence.
Causing a bunch of lightning strikes killing bunches of mutants but it was not enough to stop the sheer amount of them as they began to stack on top of Reia.
Getting bit and scratched by the mutants Reia sustained a bunch of injuries, but she still did not feel like she was turning. Her only guess was the mutant traits had made her somewhat immune.
"ARGHH!" Screaming in pain as more mutants had got their fair share of attacks, Reia funnelled her essence into her claws. Letting her claws overcharge, a massive wave of lightning burst out pushing the mutants away and killing any that were close.
Blood had covered Reia's body as she had cuts and bite marks all over her body.
"Fuck that hurts." Her entire body ached in pain, but she needed to continue pushing on in order to get out alive.
Once again dashing forward Reia let out waves of lightning from her fists killing multiple mutants at a time, making full use of the massive pool of essence she was given.
*
<20 minutes later>
Smashing down with both her hands, Reia had killed the last mutant and the entire room was now completely dried up of any slime, meaning that the nest was finally clear. All that stood was the wall between her and the outside.
The giant essence mutants had left long ago and although they would have the perfect opportunity to attack it seemed like they left for another possible nest.
The essence claws and tail started flickering indicating she didn't have much time left. Picking up her sword and rifle that had been dropped on the ground, Reia then limped towards the wall.
Looking up at the wall that looked dried up and would break in a small hit, Reia prepared one last attack before her essence ran out.
**
<Akira and Lou POV 20 minutes before>
Akira was lying on the floor by the wall, not daring to look so he could avoid breaking out in tears.
Lou had tried again and again to break the wall, but nothing came of it. She had even signalled Kim to give it a few shots, but even her explosions were not enough to get through as it would instantly regenerate in a few seconds.
"This stupid fucking wall, let me in so I can kill those motherfucking mutants." Lou was getting more pissed off by the second as anything she did was useless.
"Lou there is no point, just sit and wait." Akira did not want Lou to waste any more of her energy as it was futile.
"Shut up, you gave up before you even tried, Reia might still be in there fighting yet here you are sobbing!"
"I saw her turn, what else do you want me to do, I don't want to see her in that state!" Akira smashed his fist into the ground as it was already hard enough to see her turning and couldn't imagine seeing her mutant form.
"Tch, better die trying than give up." Lou didn't care as there was no guarantee since she had used the core it might have just been part of the process to absorb the essence.
*
<20 minutes later>
No progress had been made and Lou sat on top of a car looking at the wall trying to think of other ways to break it.
'It looks more brittle, maybe I could get Kim to fire some shots at it again.' Lou had noticed the change in the wall as it no longer looked like flowing slime, but a hard wall.
However before she could move, the wall suddenly burst open with lightning and launched chunks of the wall toward Lou. Rolling on top of the car and getting behind it, Lou pulled out her berettas, preparing for mutants to come out of the small hole that was created.
"Reia!" Akira had called out as he was the first to see who made the hole and was not in the blast range.
Lou looked over the car and saw Reia who was severely injured, barely being able to stand.
Akira had run over to Reia's side and as soon as he did, she had collapsed, no longer being able to support her own weight. Lou had also rushed over to see and there was a glaring detail about Reia.
Her hands and feet were transformed into that of a mutant and it looked like it was slowly infecting her.
"We need to get her back to the bunker quickly!" Lou wasn't sure what was going to happen to Reia, but they needed to treat her wounds before she died of blood loss.
Akira with tears in his eyes picked Reia up and began to sprint with Lou back to the bunker.
Kim had seen that it was Reia and knew they were running back to the bunker, so she packed up and quickly climbed down the building.
*
Not stopping a single moment, they had made it back to the bunker in about 10 minutes. Quickly opening it up, Akira rushed inside and placed Reia on the table.
Kadi who was excited to hear people return quickly went back to worrying as she saw the condition of Reia.
"Hey sweetie, everything will be okay, now it might be good if you head to your room for the time being." Kim, following behind Lou, saw Kadi's stressed-out face and quickly tried to get her to go to her room.
"I-I okay." Kadi was very conflicted as she was happy they were back and did not abandon her, but was stressed out about what happened.
Kim led Kadi to her room and decided to stay with her to keep her company while Akira and Lou treated Reia.
Lou, having the most medical experience due to her hurting herself so much and having to patch her own wounds, was able to treat Reia. Stopping all of the bleeding, the immediate danger was over.
Cleaning up most of the blood that was all over Reia, they were able to get a clear look at the mutant infection on her arms and legs.
"It looks like she is slowly being infected." Lou saw it move ever so slightly getting further up Reia's arm and legs.
"Fuck what do we do." Akira shook a little as although Reia had lived through the nest, it seemed like she didn't have much time to live.
"Hmm it may be a crazy idea, but I think we might need to use your essence." Lou had a sudden thought when trying to think of ways to help Reia.
"What? Are you crazy?" Akira was in a bit of disbelief as if he used his essence, could very well kill Reia in only a matter of seconds.
"Yes, I am and thank you. Now listen to me, your essence can eat the slime that the mutant bodies are made of. What if you gave a very controlled dose of corruption onto where Reia is infected to eat it up." Lou's idea wasn't too far-fetched, but it was extremely dangerous as one slip-up would kill Reia.
Akira bit his lip unsure what to do, as there was no real way to cure Reia and as of right now, was the only method they had.
"If we don't start now, we may run out of time." Lou wasn't sure how long it will take for it to fully turn Reia, but the sooner the better.
"Alright fine, it's the best shot we have." Akira was determined to save Reia and although he could accidentally kill her, there was no better alternative.
Grabbing a few small utensils to facilitate the corruption and precision needed, Akira sat down ready to start.
Hope you enjoyed the fight scene, I wanted to make it longer, but it would have been Reia hit this mutant and kicked this one so hope you can imagine a mass murder to fill in that gap x) Shoomoon
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶