The first attack tore through the Grand Meridian’ front doors before Austin even reached the lobby.
The entire hotel shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. Black roots hidden beneath the tile pulsed underneath in response. Newly grown armor plates clanked together along their joints, beneath the marble.
Austin burst through the stairwell at full speed with Rin at his side and Seven lagging behind him. Elena was already manning the reception desk, handing rifles and crossbows to anyone who could hold them steady. Kaela stood near the barricade with a broken spear gripped in both hands as if she’dnae been born without it, one wrist still stained silver from Malrec’ shaking her head. That bond was too dangerous for anyone to keep.
"What hit us?" Austin asked.
Elena nodded toward the broken entrance.
A demon ram crashed through the door and into the lobby. It was the height of a horse but had the body of a bull with six jointed legs and a massive skull wrapped head to toe in glowing green chainmail. Four armored demons piloted it with hooked poles. Half a dozen other demons walked behind them with ladders, jars of fire, and chains so thick they looked like they could snap trees.
"Malrec’ knows you’re here," Maelis called from the upper landing. Fire crackled between her fingers. "He’ sent you his opening hand."
The ram charged again.
The Root Armor stopped it.
Black vines erupted out of the broken doors solidifying into segmented plates of armor. The ram’ horns punched through the first layer but stopped there. Still, the impact rattled the lobby enough that several survivors collapsed backward onto the ground.
[Stronghold defense engaged.]
[Root Armor integrity: 82%.]
[Siege Growth active.]
[Warning: repeated impacts will breach outer defenses.]
Austin stared down at the Siege Core nestled in the crook of his palm.
It had been warm since he pulled it free of the Flesh-Garden Behemoth’ heart. Now it pulsed beneath his fingers like a second heartbeat, screaming at the starving core beneath his ribs.
Root armor. Regenerative mass. Siege growth. If he ate it then this place would fortify beyond stone and steel because he would fortify beyond human.
He could lose himself too.
The ram pushed forward with all six legs. The vines refused to budge.
The ram charged again.
It broke through this time.
Root plates shattered beneath its horns. They burst through the reception desk and into the lobby. One handler lobbed a fire jar through the opening and green flame blossomed across the tile floor. Survivors screamed.
Seven dove head-first into the ram’ flank and caught one of its horns between both hands. His battered armor split apart even wider as the massive beast shoved him backward through the reception desk.
Master," he growled over the loud crackle of flames as he fell to the ground, "decide."
Austin loathed that word right then.
Not because Seven was wrong. God, no. Because every person inside that lobby had stopped moving and was staring at him.
Every survivor. Every freed demon woman.
Elena. Rin.
Even Maelis who Austin was pretty sure had killed more demon lords than he could count on two hands while they were still alive.
Austin opened his mouth to speak.
The ram twisted its head sideways and slammed Seven through the reception desk.
The sound of breaking bone answered him.
Austin sunk his teeth into the Siege Core.
Its energy detonated in his mouth.
Black blood sprayed across the lobby. It filled Austin’ mouth and soaked into every open wound on his arms where it burned like ice against his skin. Its flavor hit him like a punch to the gut; dirt and raw flesh, burning metal and every terrified creature he’dd hunted deep within caves and tunnels across Ilia. Electricity surged down his throat and into his chest cavity, pumping him full of adrenaline until his legs went weak beneath him.
[Siege Core consumed.]
[Evolution available: Partial Flesh- Garden Form.]
[Warning: humanity loss projected: severe.]
[Accept evolution?]
The ram thrashed free of its bindings. One of its handlers leaped through the opening with a chain axe raised over Elena’s head.
Austin accepted.
His skin folded in on itself. Black roots pierced his skin at his shoulders and wrapped around his forearms like plated armor. His fingers elongated with each heartbeat. His fingernails reshaped into black hooked claws. Another heartbeat began thudding in his chest cavity warming him from the inside out.
Veins stitched themselves closed at every scratch and gouge on his body before blood could spill.
The world smelled different now.
Austin could smell everything alive around him.
Seven’ broken bones and torn muscles. Elena’ frantic heartbeat. Rin’ triumphant growl. Even Maelis’ ember blood beneath her ribs and the iron-heavy blood pumping through the ram’ chambers from inside its enormous skull.
Hungry became instinct.
The handler brought the axe down.
Austin caught it in one clawed hand.
Its metal crumpled around the demons fingers like paper. He pulled.
The creature lifted its head to stare up at him with eyes hidden behind a bone mask.
Austin squeezed.
"It’ the wrong door," he growled.
He flipped the demon around and slammed him through the reception desk.
The ram charged straight for him.
Austin met it halfway.
Instead of stepping aside he grabbed onto its horns with both hands.
Root armor exploded out over his shoulders. The behemoth ripped up pavement with its six beefy legs walking through the lobby but Austin shrugged its head back with ease.
Green chains rattled around its skull.
He felt their commands wash over him like a wave pressing through his fingertips. Smash. Destroy. Burn. Eat.
Every primal instinct in his body screamed at him to just take the demon core sitting pretty between his thumb and index finger and swallow everything else around it whole.
Instinct turned to anger.
Austin bit down on one of the chains.
Command Bite flashed across his palm.
"Fall!" he roared.
The ram’ front legs buckled underneath its massive weight.
Austin used the opening to rake his claws across the seam behind its head. Bone cracked. Black blood dripped down his forearms. He tore into its muscle further, parting the beast open with his hands before Austin yanked his mouth free.
The ram collapsed to one knee.
Its handlers froze.
Rin struck first. She phased through them all in nine red afterimages. One lost his throat. Another lost his wrist. Kaela kicked the handler in the knee closest to her and snatched his chain pole away. Seven crawled free from underneath the desk, hooked the final handler around the neck with one hand, and tossed him clear through the front breach.
Outside, the front of Malrec’ war camp must have spotted their rampaging demon. Half a dozen lesser demons stared up at the Grand Meridian with wide eyes and twitching tails.
They ran.
Every demon bolted for the streets. Every prisoner scampered out behind them like mouse teeth.
Absolute silence fell over the lobby save for the sounds of roots drinking from the ground.
Austin stood at its center with the demon ram core clenched tight in one hand.
Pieces of his new armor sloughed off underneath his skin like a glitched-out magic trick.
Not all of it.
Black tendrils lingered across his wrists and traced up his forearms like ropes. Austin tilted his head up, then down.
His eyes stared back at him from a shard of mirror on the floor.
They’ black now.
Human eyes staring back at a monster.
Almost completely.
"Are you gonna stand out here all day?" Elena growled from behind him.
She moved slow.
Had probably already seen him drink demon blood before. Hell, Austin could vividly remember the look on her face when he ate a demon whole years ago. Her eyes skimmed over his new eyes before she spoke, knife half-raised in her hand. "Austin?"
Every word stabbed further than he was willing to lose right now.
He wanted to laugh in her face and tell her everything was fine.
Instead he asked himself if he should eat the ram core.
Too.
Rin pressed close enough next to Austin that she bumped shoulders with him. She cocked her head to the side as if she wanted to comprehend how easy the thick armor around his wrists and collarbone had made ripping that demon head off like a grape.
"You liked it, didn’ you?" Rin mused.
Austin kept quiet.
Did too much.
The fight. How his body moved without question now.
How that ram stopped being a monster and started being dinner the second Austin stopped denying who he really was.
Maelis descended from the staircase above them. Ember fire crackled across her hands. "Every demon lord within five district blocks can smell that bloodline calling," she said while stalking closer to them all. "You didn’ just butcher Malrec’ front lines. You’ve announced your arrival to every monster stupid enough to come looking for you."
His Systems chimed from the corner of his eye.
[Partial Flesh-Garden Form acquired.]
[Traits: Root Armor, Regenerative Mass, Siege Growth.]
[Humanity: 88.4%.]
[Warning: repeated core consumption will hasten instinct replacement.]
Just the number should have scared Austin more than Malrec charging headlong towards them both.
It didn’.
All he felt was cold resolve.
Then the lights flickered.
The smell of smoke crawled down the Grand Meridian’ outer halls that tasted as old as death itself.
Malrec.
Somewhere far closer to where the war camp was currently marching, a hunting horn sounded three times.
"I know," Maelis replied as her gaze soured. "He can smell you."
Austin studied the firelight dancing across shards of glass littering the front entrance. Heat pooled beneath the newly armored skin of his arms. His fingers remembered how easy it was to snap that demon’ skull clean in two.
"He will like this."
The monster within Austin growled.
Let him.
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