The Lupine System

Kris vs The Rat King II

SPLASH

BANG

Torrents of lava erupted upwards as a figure covered in chains was sent up into the cavern ceiling like an inverse meteor, creating numerous cracks that spread outward from the impact point.

Kris couldn't help but wince as his armor bent and deformed under the heat. If before, the heat had nearly been unbearable, now, it was borderline impossible to deal with.

'That thing... It's fused with the lava itself.' He judged as the vast pool of lava churned before rising like a tide, thousands of liters of the stuff shifting and converging until a mass of magma and flesh formed.

Countless rat heads and tendrils of lava surged upwards, letting out gurgling screeches as they reached for Kris, and he clicked his tongue as he summoned even more chains and shaped them into something reminiscent of a buzz saw which spun rapidly and buried itself into the wriggling mass that made up the abomination.

However, all that did was slow it down for a second, as the surrounding lava was absorbed into the creature, and the wound left behind by the attack was healed in moments.

Seeing this, Kris's frown deepened.

'It's using the surrounding lava as a source of vitality, huh? That said...' His eyes narrowed.

He watched as pieces of the creature would occasionally fall off the main mass and get assimilated back into the lava. This didn't seem to be intentional, and Kris immediately made a judgment.

'It's still not fully acclimated to its new form.' He realized and used his chains to swing around the cavern as the mass that was the Rat King chased after him, sending out large globs of Lava that were far hotter than they should have been.

After observing its movements for a few seconds, he moved.

He raised his hands, and dozens of smaller chains shot out like needles. They darted through the air at incredible speeds, but they didn't strike the grotesque mass of endlessly burning agony. Instead, they went for the hanging stalactites above it.

The molten creature screeched as hundreds of tons of sharp rock impaled it from above, momentarily burying it in stone and molten flag. Kris didn't sit still.

He extended two chains and made their tips curl before going rigid like hooks, then he threw them deep into the debris.

CLANG

He clenched his fists, and the chains were immediately pulled taut as he poured energy into them, allowing them to resist the absurd heat. Using his control, he started spinning the weights on the creature while pulling them inward. Compressing it.

The rubble shifted, and the Rat King's molten face emerged slightly, looking like a mix of melting bone and crust.

Kris yanked hard.

The hooked chains ripped free, taking chunks of magma and bone with them. As soon as this happened, the creature screeched like dozens of voices crying out at once.

More lava spewed in response, and Kris was once more forced to swing and leap as the steaming, molten projectiles struck where he'd been a moment earlier.

BOOM.

The place disintegrated, the melted stone dripping downward like a glowing waterfall.

Even from his new vantage point, Kris could feel the heat pressing against his armor, and his chest felt unnaturally tight.

Still, he watched as the creature struggled to keep itself together, literally. For all its regeneration, its form was far from perfect.

Which was the window Kris needed.

He spread his hands and slammed his palms together. Chains exploded outward in every direction, striking everything. The ceiling, walls, and everything else, embedding themselves deep into the rock.

Then, with a breath, he pulled.

There was a rumbling sound as chunks of terrain collapsed inward, and the Rat King's mass found itself trapped in a growing ring of collapsing rock and cooling lava. The beast writhes, molten blood spilling out like rivers of mahma.

Kris then aimed at chain at a specific point in the cavern. It seemed unassuming at first glance, but those with keen eyes would realize that it was the collapse point of the cavern.

He yanked, and for a split second, everything was still.

Then it all fell.

Massive slabs of rock fell from above, slamming into the creature and pinning large parts of its body under immense weight. Geysers of lava erupted around it violently, filling the space with ever-growing heat.

The rat king screamed. Dozens of overlapping voices screeching in agony.

Kris dropped from above and landed on the shifting rock, preparing to end it.

'It'll get crushed under the weight. I just need to–' Before his thoughts could finish, something changed.

The lava, which had been boiling and churning wildly a moment ago, began to recede inward rapidly, like the tide retreating.

Seeing this, Kris frowned, then, his eyes widened.

'It's concentrating everything–'

The entire pool seemed to implode, then it erupted outward with cataclysmic force.

A tidal wave of molten rock swept through the cavern in a blast of obliterating heat.

All the rock covering the creature was eviscerated, and Kris immediately created a barrier of chains layered on each other.

The force threw him back, and the heat seared through his chains like they were cotton candy touching water. In an instant, only a single layer remained, and that, too, broke.

Thankfully, it had been enough for Kris to resist most of the impact, but even then, some lava still managed to hit his side, burning through his armor and searing flesh.

He clenched his teeth and landed against a breaking pillar of rovk, smoke rising from his shoulder.

Below, the Rat King could be seen, but it's form was new. Smaller, but countless times denser. The molten hide had cooled into black plates, and the lines between them glowed like veins of melted gold. The dozens of rat heads were gone, leaving a single one. That said, even if it was smaller, it was still massive, and the skull could be seen through the semi-transparent flesh of lava.

'... It acclimated itself.' Kris clocked his tongue again. He'd been hoping to destroy it before then, but it seems like that wasn't gonna happen.

There was a brief pause, then the beast lunged.

Lava surged around it as its massive jaws snapped at him. Kris dodged, and a chain shot out to anchor him to the opposite wall, and he used it to swing across the place as a flood of molten rock vaporized the space he had just been.

'It's even hotter now...' He thought as even while supplementing his lungs with his energy, it felt like his lungs were burning from within, and smoke was literally wafting from his armor despite the lava not touching him.

He landed, sliding across the slick stone as he sent out two chains in two directions, one above the creature and another above it.

The one behind snapped back and wrapped around the thing's leg, and the second embedded itself into the ceiling. With a flick of his wrist, Kris pulled.

The Rat King stumbled, and Kris sent out another chai straight into its maw and filled it with energy.

'Bite down.' He said inwardly.

And it did.

Then the chain exploded in a blast of kinetic energy and metal fragments that ripped its jaw off, mokten blood spraying across the cavern like fiery rain. The creature screeched and thrashed, but that gave Kris an opening.

He leapt forward, using the chain in the ceiling to swing as he rapidly closed the distance.

As he moved, chains lashed out, striking joints and cracks in the armor of the creature. If there was one thing he found better about its new form, it was that he had a clear target that wasn't a constant, undulating mass.

He got close, and the tail of the Rat King, now glowing bright orange, whipped at him. Kris caught it with two chains and redirected the attack into a nearby rock which exploded from the impact.

But the Rat King wasn't done.

Its core pulsed once, and several tendrils simar to its tails appeaared all over its body. They shot out from all directions, and Kris quickly came to a conclusion.

He couldn't dodge that.

He crossed his arms, and his chains created a crisscrossing barrier in front of him just before the chains struck.

BOOM

The force sent him flying, his armor cracking from the heat and impact. He hit the cavern wall hard, and he coughed up blood as he saw spots in his eyes. He tried to move, but the ground shook.

The Rat King was already regenerating, lava flowing into its wounds and mending them at a discouraging pace.

'Dammit. If I don't destroy the core, utterly makes no difference. It'll just keep–'

A deep, rumbling sound reverberate through the cavern, almost like a heartbeat.

But it wasn't his.

Kris's eyes widened.

The Rat King's abdomen swelled obscenely, the lava vejns glowing like small suns, and a moment later, it opened its mouth as a geyser of molten death erupted, swallowing half the cavern as it surged towards Kris.

Kris barely had time to summon a barrier of chains around himself before the wave hit. But even then, he felt his defenses melting even faster. Layer after layer as the heat consumed everything in its path.

'I... Don't have a choice.' He grimaced as of in pain, but it seemed entirely separate from the pain from the heat as he slowly held out a hand, his energy surging and.... changing.

'I'm gonna have to–'

SPLIT

Blue light tore through the molten tide, splitting it apart like the ocean.

The light parted the lake of lava below and smashed into the ground, creating a crater as the force pushed the surrounding lava away.

From within the crater, a figure emerged, his aura blazing like a blue sun.

Mike landed between Kris and the Rat King, his expression dark as smoke wafted off his gauntlets from the heat.

"So this is what was taking your time, huh?" Mike spoke. His voice somehow traveling through the cavern despite the lack of air.

Kris exhaled and lowered his hand, his energy becoming stable.

"... Took your time." He mumbled, and Mike cracked his neck as he narrowed his eyes at the creature.

"Let's make this quick."