Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 86: Brawl

Jer looked larger than before. Smoke was coming from his skin, and his eyes were bloodshot as he charged at a group of demihumans. Peers. The same peers I’d seen training earlier, throwing nasty looks in Jer’s direction.

One of the demihumans had feline features and was nimble enough to push himself aside, evading Jer’s charge. His fingers expanded, turning into razor-sharp claws with which he slashed into Jer’s side. Blood splattered as I pushed out of the Huntrice. I moved through the crowd, as a bear-like man collided with Jer.

Jer was strong and fast, but he was alone. A woman with the lower body of a serpent attacked him, her blades raking across his right arm and shoulder. No blood came from the wounds. Instead, the cuts turned to stone before my eyes.

The feline demihuman shot toward Jer from behind as the young minotaur demihuman lifted the bear-featured demihuman into the air. The female demihuman did something. Her eyes flashed, and Jer froze momentarily. It wasn’t long, but the opportunity was enough for the bear-featured demihuman to escape. He clawed Jer in the face while the others attacked again.

Jer was losing. He stood no chance, for he was alone. In a fair fight, he wouldn’t be losing, but this was not fair. This was a massacre.

I stepped forward, ready to charge into the battle, when a human Hunter held out his hands.

"You don’t interfere in a fight of honor." He grunted. "It might not make sense to you, nor does it seem fair, but you are not allowed to intervene. None of us, because we do not have a grievance with either side."

I was about to snap at the Hunter and shout at him when something about his words got me thinking.

"Are they allowed to kill Jer in this ’fight of honor’? If not, can they cripple him? Either way, will it be considered a grievance if they seriously harm my friend? My good friend." I asked, earning no more than a side glance.

The Hunter didn’t say anything for a second. In that second, Jer’s left arm was nearly severed. It hung down from his shoulder like dead meat, blood dripping to the ground.

"Jer? I understand now." The corner of the Hunter’s lips curled upward. "He is your good friend. Normally, I would say that it is forbidden. Crippling and killing is a taboo. So is ganging up on a foe–normally. But this is not a normal fight. Your good friend is stronger, so they decided it was fair to join in a fight of honor with more than one enemy. He accepted a fight of honor. Not to get crippled."

That was all I needed to hear. ’Normally,’ ’usually.’ All that was nonsense I didn’t have to care about. The crucial part was that crippling and such was not allowed, yet the guards did just that–for whatever reason they deemed honorable.

Why nobody intervened, I couldn’t tell, since the fight of honor was certainly not all that honorable, so I joined.

The Trickster Demon peeled from my Insignia the moment I shoved the Hunter aside. He muttered something and whistled, but I barely heard any of it as I kicked the ground.

The Trickster Demon waved its arms and screamed something in the demon tongue. A moment later, the three demihuman guards looked confused. Their heads snapped around like they didn’t know where they were. The bear-featured demihuman was confused enough to strike the serpentine woman.

Jer was no longer visible to their eyes, courtesy of the young demon’s trickery.

The feline demihuman seemed to notice something amiss and pulled back–in my direction. His hair stood on end, and he spun around, only to be faced with a fully grown Silverback Elephant.

The ground shook as my lightweight body of several tons thundered across the compressed earth and stone. The demihuman tried to leap to the side, but I was already too close. I was heavy but not all that slow, especially considering I had turned into a monster and had a quite saturated Core in that form.

The feline screamed, and I thought about impaling him with my tusks for a moment, but I stomped him instead.

Both bear- and serpentine-featured demihumans spun around to me, only to see a Silverback Elephant transform into several Terro Sparrow. Two shot toward bear and serpent, while the third barreled through between both of them.

The first and second erupted in fireworks of light and demonic magic, while the third transformed into an Airborne Archeropteryx. As slow as the Airborne Archeropteryx was, as deadly was its racial trait. And that I released without hesitation. The repercussions of my actions couldn’t matter less at this moment.

Sonic Boom unleashed thrice in quick succession struck the serpentine demihuman with deadly precision. She collapsed to the ground with a scream, blood coming from her nose and eyes, but I wasn’t done. I wanted more. I wanted her form.

I transformed back into my main form, steel sword in hand, and ready to reap the lives of those that hurt Jer. The bear-featured demihuman didn’t even move. He stared at me in a mixture of fear and disbelief, sending waves of satisfaction down my spine. Yet, it was also disappointing. The demihumans had been weaker. Weaker than expected. They couldn’t do anything.

Fragile. Useless. Spineless.

I brandished my sword to strike down, when a pull on my heartstrings caught my attention.

A moment later, a voice thundered across Cintre. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"What is the meaning of this?!" A monstrous man, almost three-meter-tall, covered in brown scales, and adorned with a massive tail that cracked the ground as he struck it angrily, stepped forward.

He did not look angry. He was furious. Properly enraged. And behind him were Fern, Clove, and Bork. The latter shook, cursed, and shook his head until he saw his son. His eyes grew wide, and he pushed past the monstrous demihuman.

The minotaur demihuman caught up to his son, who apologized to his father for failing him before collapsing to the ground. His arm, in the meantime, was barely hanging by a thread.

"What happened here?" The demihuman thundered, looking between the bear-featured demihuman and the others. He then turned to me, my sword still aimed at the serpentine woman. "You were about to kill someone in MY domicile. Explain yourself. NOW!"

For a moment, I felt like I had fucked up badly. I was already wondering how I was going to leave this place, but then I saw the Hunter from before. He barely gave a nod, but that was more than enough for me.

So I started to explain.