Chapter 347: Furry Battle
War and Famine had no trouble hitting the group of beasts that had gathered around the Raccoon as soon as they started to charge. Their shots hit and exploded with incredible accuracy causing the beasts to erupt in a bloody mass of explosions. This was due to War’s expert ability to determine range along with factors like wind speed and angle. While they might have been using grenade launchers instead of mortars, War’s use of them made it so that they both hit spot on without any adjustments.
Death and Pestilence didn’t exactly score a hit the first time. Instead, the area behind Laz exploded into a fire storm as well as two shells rained down, causing the cement walkway to be blasted into oblivion while Laz felt his asshole clench up at the horrible aim. Had they been just a bit closer, Laz would of had to deal with the blast hitting him head on instead of standing there and being pelted with debris.
’In all fairness, I didn’t exactly take into account that even if they could handle the weapons without a problem, that didn’t mean they could handle them well,’ Laz thought to himself, knowing he only had himself to blame.
Either way, he trusted that after this warm up shot, he shouldn’t have to worry too much about it the next time since the girls would be able to make the corrections themselves.
What he didn’t know was that War had smacked her forehead with her hand after seeing this before reloading while Death and Pestilence both turned a bright shade of red. Famine couldn’t help but laugh as she reloaded herself and then waited for instructions from War where to aim the next one.
Lyssa was just frozen in place after seeing Laz almost being blown up.
’I would have shit myself just then but he seems to be standing there like he is fine...’
Laz, instead of showing his worry, just grinned at the tiny creature like all of this was part of the plan.
"Spread out you morons and go find them!" The Raccoon yelled after regaining it’s composure. The Raccoon, as smart as it was, had no idea what had just happened, but was able to figure out quickly that the human in front of it wasn’t the only one attacking them.
While Laz and the Raccoon faced off, the other creatures, massive dear with heads full of razor sharp metal horns, giant bears with huge bone claws, bulls as big as big as semi’s and all other manner of misshapen and mutated creatures roared before charging forward, intent on finding out where the attacks were coming from.
But during all this, the Raccoon and Laz just stood there as faced each other. One, a slightly tall human with reddish white hair, dust grey skin and golden eyes facing a furry and rather cute looking two foot tall creature who seemed like it had just strolled out from a kids fairy tale. Of course Laz knew that this was just a fake look it was using. With the Asura eyes showing him the truth, he knew that while this was a form of the Raccoon, it’s real form was much stronger and far more horrifying.
"You are different from other humans. I smell a strong power coming from you that makes me want to eat your flesh so much more than before. I can’t wait to see how strong I will grow from it." The Raccoon was drooling as it spoke, the liquid escaping from it’s lips along with a bit of white foam.
"You’re just this side of being road kill. Seriously though, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. Tell me, how many humans have you eaten so far?" While Laz could tell the true shape of the creature, he also noticed a rising mist of red around it that smell faintly of blood. Laz was just a bit curious as to how this came about.
"You wish to avenge your brethren?" The Raccoon asked, preparing to charge forward in case it’s meal decided to run.
"Oh, no. I don’t really care to be honest. You’re a beast after all and this is how you live. Why would I get mad at a fish for swimming or a bird for flying? Doesn’t mean I won’t kill you all the same. But that’s just because you’re dangerous."
"You amuse me human. You don’t seem repulsed by seeing your own kind eaten. From what I have understood after observing your kind, eating you creatures seems to be an afront to your kind."
"We are, after all, only meat. You, me, everyone else. We’ve been at the top of the food chain on this planet for so long that people have grown egotistical in their viewpoint. But that’s just foolish. This is no longer the planet of old. This is now a planet of the strong will survive while the weak will just be a meal for others. It’s just the way it is now," Laz said, shaking his head. While he didn’t think that humans should eat humans, beasts eating humans is just the law of the jungle.
"Well said human. Well said. But fear not. You shall live forever as a part of me now. And I shall rule this world, enslave your kind and never go hungry again!"
The Raccoon charged forward, intent on taking out Laz in one hit to enjoy it’s meal sooner, but Laz just stood still and raised his hand up. As soon as the Raccoon appeared in front of him, Laz swung and slapped the small, furry death rat, sending it flying away. It only stopped after flying through the cement wall of one of the booths for the entrance guards.
The Raccoon just dug itself up from the rubble and laughed, clearly not affected in the least.
"Good. You should be at least this strong," It said before getting down on all fours and digging it’s claws into the stone floor.
Rearing back, the tiny raccoon let out an ear piercing shriek, before it’s body started glowing red, the faint cloud of red that surrounded it was sucked back into it’s body and it began to grow. Like a cicada breaking out of it’s shell, it’s skin stretched and tore before eventually being shed while the inner body kept growing and growing.
When it was done, it’s now human sized body still had a layer of fur on it, but it was coated with it’s own blood and juices. The once cute and cuddly face had now taken on a sinister look with a smile that was too big, teeth that looked pointed and razor sharp, a nose that still jutted out from the face and bushy hair that was like damp mop, long and clumped together with blood.
Besides the face, the Raccoon’s body was taller than Laz and muscled, the explosive power obvious for any onlooker to notice. It’s now five fingered hands instead of paws still had almost foot long nail like claws, but it now had much greater dexterity than before. The legs were one of the weirdest things about the Raccoon since it’s change. Where as they were once small and in line with it’s arms, they now supported the Raccoon to stand upright with ease. They were also bowed, looking like a kangaroo, but covered in dense muscle. Looking at them, Laz didn’t know if the Raccoon could still run with them or if it could now only jump. If it did run though, Laz knew that it would be far faster than any other creature on the planet. Not only that, but since it would have to stand upright to do so, it would probably be almost three feet taller than Laz.
For the first time since breaking through and building his golden palace, Laz felt the pressure of this fight.
"Come human. I shall enjoy a good game before I feast!" The demon beast’s voice seemed to echo from everywhere all at once, the power from it would have been enough to cause other beings to fall to their knees.
But not Laz.
Even though Laz had to force his legs not to shake, the pressure from this beast and it’s bloodlust being enough to cause even him to fear, Laz wasn’t going to back down. After his breakthrough, Laz felt stronger, but slightly unstable. He hadn’t been gathering energy for a year or really working his system, causing it to become weaker than it had been. While the body kept itself from breaking down from non use, being unused for over a year meant that the channels for energy flow had shrunk slightly and the pathways no longer ran as smooth. Laz had been trying to fix this problem with his flame ever since he figured it out, but while he could heat the steel, he couldn’t temper it properly by himself.
He was no longer the newbie with the fresh body on which to work.
Due to this, Laz couldn’t help but enjoy the site of his enemies strength increased to such a degree.
Without waiting for the beast to charge first, it’s instinctually cautious nature showing when it’s own life was on the line, Laz charged first, the flames on his body roaring to life as a black inferno surround him.
Laz closed in quickly as his muscles flared to life, the rust that had resulted from a year off from serious training being swept away in an instant.
The punch Laz aim for the beasts chest never connected though. The Raccoon, while surprised at the human’s speed, didn’t hesitate and swung forward, swiping it’s clawed hand toward Laz and connecting, swatting him away like a fly and sending him sailing through the air.
As Laz connected with the wall of a nearby building, the wall gave way quickly, burying him in a waterfall of brick and cement. Even as Laz pulled himself to his feet, the Raccoon was still on his heels, this time punching out and sending Laz flying off again.
Each impact caused Laz to have the wind knocked out of him. Each punch, slap and swipe was enough to make his bones moan in protest, just this side of cracking outright.
Like a cat playing with a small ball, Laz was swatted away again and again while the beast chased after. Each time, the creature didn’t give Laz any time to rest or plan, choosing to deal with the difficult human in the most direct way possible. The Raccoon had also felt a trace of fear from Laz and knew that it couldn’t give the human time to retaliate.
The positive part for Laz was that the beating acted like a hammer, causing the force he needed to strengthen the heated pathways. While his blood was raging at him to fight back, Laz kept using the fire to within to mold himself, not to anything new, but to what he was before.
He never had a clue though that his efforts were being slightly interfered with, thanks to that golden drop of blood in his system. While it didn’t do much directly, what it did do was give Laz a new pathway of flow but disguised it as being his own memory. This caused Laz to think his body was in worse shape than he thought which was drawing out the beating to be longer and longer.
The only thing Laz could do was to twist, turn and tuck himself in ways that allowed to blows to land where he wanted them to land. While Laz wasn’t sure he could even beat this Raccoon, he also knew that if it kept going like this, then no matter how much tempering he did, it would be worthless if he was dead.
When he finally realized that his body was at the limit and any more abuse would only hasten his demise, Laz finally fought back with all the strength he could muster, ducking the well aimed blow at his head and landing a foot and heel directly into the Raccoon’s stomach.
This time, it was the raccoon that went flying like a ball, directly flying through the two walls of a stairwell before coming for a landing.
Standing up from the rubble, the Raccoon eyed Laz with a wary grin, knowing that it’s instinct had been right.
’But that will just mean he’s much tastier than I thought.’ The Raccoon.
Laz, now fearless and looking for payback, charged in head on as well, disappearing into the mist and leaving the rubble behind.
Neither of them had any idea that the security system for the club had been up and running the whole time, taking video of this soon to be history making fight.
