The Lupine System

Mike & Kris vs The Rat King II

The ash didn't exactly clear, the creature just got close enough for them to see it properly, and what they saw was... unnerving, to say the least.

At this point, the thing barely resembled the Rat King from before... not that it had in the recent stages of the fight.

Its fur, which looked like black stone, had entirely burned away, replaced by a sleek, dark hide that kept the cracks that resembled veins of magma, or perhaps magma-filled fissures on a volatile planet.

Its body was both leaner and longer now, with what looked like lava mist leaving its mouth with each breath.

A ring of molten lava hovered above its back like a halo of liquid fire. However, what caught Mike and Kris's attention, the thing, stood out the most, were its claws.

They were no longer made of bone or chitin. Instead, each claw had turned into curved blades of impossible sharp obsidian glass that was translucent enough for them to see the veins of magma running through them. The dual state of liquid and solid seemed to forge the claws in real time, making them deadlier with every passing moment. Each time it flexed its limbs, the hot liquid dripped from the tips of each claw, burning through the destroyed ground like acid.

Each time they scraped together, a sound not too dissimilar from blades sharpening rang out.

Then it slowly moved.

It step it took made its claws almost cut through the air itself, leaving trails of warped air before said air ignited behind its claws due to the pressure and heat, leaving trails of flaming sparks.

Its tail which was previously thin and hairless now ended in a cluster of these smaller claws, each one twitching independently like fingers, ready to grip or rend.

Its eyes were gone. What remained were two horizontal slits, or perhaps cracks, of white hot magma in its very skull, each one bleeding with light.

As it walked, the ground immediately turned red hot and sunk in from the sheer heat its body gave off, and around it, from the dozens of fissures created by that massive explosion, lava bled through and swirled around it like a protective mantle.

Mike saw this and narrowed his eyes.

"Good news, its internals aren't moving anymore, so a good enough hit to that spot will take it out." He said.

"And the bad news?" Kris glanced at him.

"Well, other than the obvious issue that is the monstrosity it is now, destroying said core will probably be a few times harder than blowing through a mountain."

"... Great." Kris sighed as he quietly summoned more chains, almost all of them of the smaller yet sharper variant.

'He's injured and tired, and yet he's keeping up with me, whose base stats are higher than my maximum output from back then.' Mike noted with both surprise and slight annoyance. Didn't that just mean that Kris was playing around when they sparred?

However, that didn't matter right now. What did, was taking care of whatever this... thing wa-

SLASH

Mike dodged the claw swipe by a hair's breadth.

As soon as he leaned down, slashes of impossibly hot magma streaked through the air and sliced through everything in that general direction, and despite having dodged, the sheer heat alone caused his aura to recoil slightly.

'Damn!' Mike cursed as he tried to back off.

He hadn't taken his eyes off the Rat King for even a second, and yet, he barely had time to react when it moved. His perception was already absurd, but he still almost failed to react to its movements.

As he tried to retreat, though, the thing's tail suddenly whipped through the air, creating a sonic boom as, in an instant, the clawed tip was inches away from his temple.

CLANG

Several chains moving together came from below and slammed into the underside of the tail, throwing it off-course and making it barely miss Mike.

With a growl, Mike reached forward and grabbed the tail. However, as soon as his gauntlets made contact with it, he had to grit his teeth as they immediately turned bright red, and he felt his hands getting cooked within them. That's how absurd the temperature was.

But in an act of defiance, he gripped even harder as he tried to rip the thing's tail off.

Not that it gave him the chance.

All he saw was a brief shadow before his side felt like he'd been hit by a mountain, and he was sent flying like a comet.

"Mike!" Kris shouted, but he didn't have to face his friend as the Rat King was upon him.

His chains moved automatically to defend him, but in an instant, most of them were sliced through like butter, the places where the slices happened glowing white from the heat.

In a moment, the Rat King was upon him, but suddenly, chains burst from below and smashed into its underside. Sparks sprayed as they tried to pierce it, to no avail, but they did manage to knock it off course, making it miss Kris entirely.

'It's not used to its power.' Kris analyzed rapidly. He needed to check on Mike somehow, but the thing was already hounding him again, and after just three seconds, he too was sent flying from a brutal hit that nearly shattered his arms despite him blocking.

He was embedded in a large chunk of rock and coughed up a mouthful of blood, but before he could extricate himself, the Rat King was already in front of him.

Seeing this, Kris gritted his teeth, and for a moment, his yellow eyes flickered to life. But just then...

BANG

A blue line crashed into the Rat King from the side and threw it away, causing it to crash through several pieces of rock as Kris was once more saved.

"I see how it is!" Mike landed on all fours and looked up. His voice was hoarse and wet, presumably from blood, and the part of his armor that was hit had sunken in to the point where it was clear that bones had been broken, but Mike didn't seem to care at this moment.

In fact, there was a massive grin plastered on his face, and coupled with the blood dripping down his lips as well as the whites of his eyes going red, he looked quite ferocious.

Annoyed, the Rat King which had already regained its bearing screeched and shot at Mike.

This time, though, Mike was ready.

As soon as it got close, Mike, who had barely reacted to its movements before, suddenly moved.

He wasn't faster, no, but his timing was borderline impeccable. Moreover, the way he moved changed.

His movements went from ferocious and dangerous to fluid and flexible, almost like flowing water.

His aura obeyed his will as his hands pressed against the side of the Rats's claws. The movement wasn't forceful, nor was it particularly ppowerful. However, it was enough to throw the creature off-balance entirely, making the claw swipe destroy the ground next to them without actually harming anyone.

The tail came next, but Mike had already repositioned himself, and one hand moved up just as the tail was about to reach him. It touched the bottom of the tail, but it wasn't smacked upwards, simply... guided, as a powerful shockwave was released from the tail, but again, it didn't hit anyone.

'How is he...?' Kris's eyes widened when he saw the display.

Not only was he shocked that Mike could even still move with such an injury, the fact that he was suddenly deflecting the attacks of the creature that had essentially speed-blitzed him a few seconds prior was mind-boggling

And yet, that's exactly what he was doing right now.

... Granted, things weren't so simple.

In regards to his wound, Mike had the convenient ability that was Vitalis Core. The blow from before had completely shattered his left lung, but it didn't kill him instantly, which allowed his regeneration to kick in, and it's in that moment that Mike truly appreciated the ability for what it was.

Then there was the way he was suddenly matching the Rat King, and to that, well, for starters, he'd poured all his stats into perception once more. As such, he could actually react now.

Moreover, this flowing style he suddenky employed was one of the many combat styles he'd observed and copied from while on Fighter's.Inc. He just never used it because he had the least practice with it specifically.

However, after being pushed into a corner, he forced himself to use it effectively enough to not die.

Not that it made things easy. Mike's margin for error was EXTREMELY thin, and the smallest mishap could lead to him losing an arm.

Or his head.

But that's one of things about him, isn't it?

As long as he has even the smallest bit of leeway, he can improve massively in a moment.

After all, the Rat King wasn't the only one who could adapt on the fly.