User blog:Roinelll/God Eater Next - Volume 2 - Segment 16 Part 2

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============== G. E. N. - 2 - 16 Part 2

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It was quite a terrifying thought for Arthur. Him turning into an Aragami and being able to take on something like a horde Ouroboros'. What was the most shocking is that the Oracle Cells that were infesting him came from that golden scaled arm he seized in order to beat the Achilles, in order to survive that ordeal. Right now those very cells belonging to the former Devourer were rampaging throughout his mutated body, ingetrated with close to a third of it's full mass already. His body was just similar to that of the Ouroboros Arthur had been feeding on in the last half hour, with some differences.

The firstmost was that the golden scales that covered the arm of the Achilles had spread through his entire upper body, concentrating mostly on his right side. The two tentacle arms on the right side very enforced with a heavy layer of golden scales giving them a resistance that even he was surprised of as he fought with the Aragamis their spines and even their carapaces could be smashed with a single hit, or even cracked in the case of the latter even though they were known to be almost impenetrable for God Eaters.

Another change was that in his visions right side somehow everything was many times sharper, he could gain an extremely higher amount of information streaming into his mind. That was due to the level of the cells attempting to encase the entire body, to bring it under their rule in order to make this new body theirs. Arthur felt as if the cells were literally attempting to bore into his consciousness, however at the same time that would have spelled sure doom if they were to succeed.

Everything that he could muster, every little ounce of willpower was being sapped from him just to resist the dreaded erasure of his being. Because he knew quite well, he felt that the cells eating at him in every moment were alive. They were living, but their only drive was pure instintual. They have no entity, no will, no personality. Their only goal is to consume, the Devourers only reason of existence is to make everything be a part of it.

Mentally Art shaked his head, as physically he was unable to for quite a long time. He was being aware that even in this very state the two sides were in constant battle for the body, the mutated body he was inhabiting. For now he felt a bit relieved, he didn't get to cause too much damage in others as there were Aragami present. Aragami he could direct the unquelchable hunger his body warrented at. Aragami he enjoyed taking down, devouring their body until they violently burst and disintegrated.

Even right now he felt rather grateful, although he met the God Eater twins once or twice, he could muster enough strenght of his already over-stressed mind to ignore them, to not devour them. It was nervewreckingly hard as Baluar somehow radiated with such a glimmer that for a moment even Arthur wanted to consume him, for what reason he was unsure yet luckily he could divert his focus onto a nearby Conqueror of the Plains.

But, that wasn't enough. The more he consumed, the larger amount of Oracle Cells his body amassed, the hungrier he got aswell as the mutations speed exponentially increased. This drove both contestant of the body into a frenzy or sorts as the Devourers cells craved more  and more while Arthur's load of mental stress piled up higher and higher. He did feel reaching his limit soon, and should that happen he prayed that his mind would become erased.

Becoming a calamity, an entity on the level that could eventually rival something like the Devouring Apocalypse. That he wanted no part in it, Arthur silently prayed should that happen, his personality should be shattered as having a recollection of what would be happening at that point would become the worst that he could imagine.

There was only one left. A single victom of the previously known strongest Aragami to ever exist. However that didn't mean anything right now, as Arthur noticed not only he was gaining in strenght as the mutation was rising. With the drop of the number of the horde the individuals became deadlier, attacks increased in variety, speed, power. Eventually the last one remaining in front of him was an unstable mass of replica, formed from Oracle Cells in the image of an Ouroboros.

Though that didn't mean that it was any weaker in any aspect, only that should enough damage pile up on it's temporal body it would burst and violently return to where it came from, the Earth. Arthur mentally smirked, this scene was something like from an old monster movie where gigantic beings wrestled for dominance over the other or something similar.

His body zipped at an unbelievable speed towards the very last being standing between him and everything else, the only problem was that even with it's power increased way beyond that of a regular Ouroboros it was going to fall. Arthur knew it exactly that this body is already more dangerous than that remaining victim of the massacre he went through.

The body shook as he rammed into it, toppling it over. It didn't matter that the Ouroboros was over six times his size, it didn't matter that in order to defend from the charging attack it rooted itself deeply into the ground. The roots snapped like threads at the collision and the gigantic body was pushed back hundreds of meters in the aftermath.

Arthur sensed the Devourers cells moving, forcing the body to once again resume their only purpose. All of the tentacle arms of his mutated body raised high converging into a single point, entwining themselves around each other and forming an extremely dense mass of Oracle Cells. Arthur saw this a few times now, with each of his feeding the method grew stronger and more refined. The mass of cells ruptured at a side and a maw formed, a gigantic maw resembling that of a God Eaters predator form.

Not wasting any time the maw expanded wide. It didn't matter that Arthurs current body was close to 50 meters, he could call upon something that was even greater with a size almost reaching twice his current size. Which was although still much smaller than the restrained victim he was going to feast on. The maw suddenly opened and expanded itself wide enough to cover almost the entirety of the Ouroboros.

He wouldn't have believed if someone were to say this to him, that there is a being that could devour almost an entire Ouroboros in a single chomp. Because that was what happened, As the maw streched and encompassed the mightiest Aragami it suddenly shrunk and contorted matter, taking in an extremely large amount of Oracle Cells from the fake Aragami.

Yet that wasn't enough, it will not be enough as he could feel the body once again mutating. Once again expanding and once again hungering. Arthur let out a mental sigh, as the body now turned towards a small group of God Eaters, there were four of them in the distance. His eyes could also make out in the very distance something approaching, something dangerous. Something that could stave off the building starvation inside him.

"This just keeps getting better and better. Too bad there's no one to enjoy the show!" Baluar threw his arms wide aside, spinning slowly in the process with a ferocious grin. In a moment there would be something at their neck that they held no hope of dealing with.

"Cut the lame jokes will you? Isn't it bad enough that we're being served on a golden platter?" Ken snorted angrily, furrowing his brow. He didn't quite understand how could that guy utter such a thing in such a situation.

"Well, keeping yourself objecive is always a good start. Panicking never solved anything, though being too lax is also counterproductive." Lyrr muttered and aimed with his sniper, he shot at the nearing monstrosity. The attack didn't show any effect despite it would have been powerful enough to cause severe damage to a regular Ouroboros. Not to mention that while it was a direct hit at the eyes, there was no sign of damage, not even a flinch or a loss of momentum.

"Are we going to stand still and let a 50 ton mutation trample us, or we gonna move?" Nia asked curiously, well she didn't see the others panick either as they pulled one wisecrack after another.

"Lyrr is right that panicking is pointless, running would be just a waste of time as we're the next targets anyways. Plus, I still have this." Saying that Ken raised his God Arc high and Oracle Cells started to converge around it, unlike the regular method of powering up for a Charge Crush required to gather Oracle Cells from the surrounding of the user and maintain it with sheer willpower this was different everyone could tell. Be it for the fact that the gathered energy surrounding the blade took on a pitch black color instead of the deep crimson red hue it originally should have.

-Aim at the right side of the horns and eyes, at those covered in the golden scales.- An order came from C and Ken snorted angrily.

"You're nothing for me, why should I?" On the surface of the energy layer small bubbles started to stir, popping constantly as they were overcharged with power beyond they were being able to handle.

-Because if we want to normalize the mutation and extract the Oracle Cells, we will have to remove as much of the Irregular Oracle Cells as possible. In order to do that it is mandatory to break the golden armorous surface of the Devourers body.- She went into more detail in regards of the matter and Ken annoyingly understood that.

"Fine, well don't be angry... However if I miss we're shish kebab anyways." Saying that with a sour smile the hotheaded God Eater swung his weapon down at the ground. From there literally a forest of black spikes erupted covering many dozens of cubic metres, each one of the Oracle Nails had a diameter of a half meter along with various lenght, yet none of them had less than 3. Seeing the spectacle the others were amazed by the sight, what was before them came resulting from a Charge Crush only. Although they knew that it was probably the effect of Ken's Irregular ability, this was still an awe inspiring sight.

At the sudden eruption of the obstacle, Arthur realized the intent they've put it out. His body was big and the momentum it gathered was enormous already however maneouvering it was difficult and his reflexes suffered greatly. He was aware that the Devourers cells attempted to plan the next move of his body ahead in time, but that was it's major flaw. As it had to keep always a move ahead of what is happening, unforeseen events were a major weakpoint.

Therefore, unable to correct the path or evade in time like a runaway locomotive his body crashed right into the sea of spikes. Truthfully he was quite glad for this even as it stopped him in tracks, unable to follow up with what the body had planned. Yet it wasn't enough, he crashed through the massive area covered by the spikes, each boring deep into his body although they didn't hurt. It was due to the fact that the body mostly belonged to the Devourers cells at that time, though the purpose of them wasn't to cause damage in the first place.

"Good insight, slowing it down with the spikes was a good idea. Art's body has very weak reflexes so if we keep moving constantly we could drag this out." Baluar nodded as the mutated body started to recover from the crash. Slowly, but surely the huge sized recovered, towering above them menacingly.

"Who said I wanted to slow him? That was with the intent of killing him." Ken gave a surprised look towards the tall God Eater who stared back also perplexed.

"Makes sense, unless we go all out it shouldn't affect that Irregular structure of his body. Although only a single person amongst us has the capacity to even scratch it." Lyrr fired a couple times during his speech. Each shot had been aimed at an Oracle Nail potruding out of the body, hitting them dead on and forcing them invards even more slowing it further down. Popping another O-Ampule, the sniper continued to fire and strategically implanting at various locations the spikes deeper in.

The already sluggish actions slowed considerately more, now they could simply dodge the huge body with easy even though it was still ridiculously looming over them. Yet reducing the speed wasn't the original idea, that attack was only the beginning of what Ken had planned and immediatelly he turned to action.

"I planned to have some of the spikes stuck inside of him, though I never guessed Art'll stumbled and collect most of them. That made this all the more potent." With a grin the hothead snapped his fingers and a bestial howl resounded originating from the Devourer. Reason for that were the Oracle Nails, as they weren't the result of regular Oracle Cells, but that of Irregular ones stemming from Ken. His Charge Crush pulled them from his own Oracle Reserves, unlike the regular method for handling it. That is why they were infused with the ability to hurt a body composed of mostly similarly Irregular cells.

"They weren't simple obstructions, you set him up." Seeing as how from each nail countless others started to sprout, boring themselves deep into the body further restricting it's movements. Some of the tentacles that were still free from the immobilizating effect trashed around desperately however they couldn't reach them. Ken grinned in response only as his focus expanded over everything and seized the control over the mutated body.

"How long can you hold that up?" The only one who was concerned about such a thing was Nia, as she looked the nearing Overseer she could make out the speed of the advance dropped drastically. Possibly he was exhausted from shielding them for such a long time, aswell as attempting to meet up with them as fast as inhumanly possible.

"A few minutes or so, I've yet to actually try such a thing to be honest." Scratching his head Ken answered and turned towards the nearing duo aswell, while the effect of this restrainment succeeded better than anticipated at the same time it will definiatelly drain his reserve that much faster.

-While the Devourer is immobilized, go and break off the scales. Hurry!- Once again C reminded them that they need to act and fast, so with the exception of Ken who remained to support them the other three god in range to perform a devour. Seeing how Lyrr changed to blade form aswell the three of them called upon their predator forms at the same time and at the count of 3 simoultenously dig into a restricted tentacle.

"No Aragami bullets. No Burst mode either." Noting the fact, the sniper shrugged. Earlier on he did gather a lot from the Ouroboros so he could distribute them at will eventually. With a though he changed back to gun mode and passed three of the bullets to Ken, who wondered at the reasoning.

"You'll need all the help you can get to maintain your support. I'll be passing you bullets regularly to keep up your status." Answering the unspoken question Lyrr explained the situation, then he passed a bullet to each of the twins aswell.

"I knew that you can obstuct an Aragami bullet by blocking it with terrain or body, but... I didn't knew there are duds aswell." Baluar scratched his head seeing as how the two of them were struck with the passed bullet, however only Nia invoked a Burst status as her Bias factor controller Oracle Cells went into an overdrive enforcing her body. However for him there was nothing, absolutely as he scratched his head again.

-What happened there?- C's voice was filled with curiosity, there shouldn't be a restriction on activating a super charged state. However immediatelly it came into her mind that, the tall God Eater was an Irregular aswell yet at the same time she did dispell it as Ken successfully entered a higher state of super charging.

"Burst failed me. Never happened before." Noting it casually Baluar answered, at the same time another bullet was passed on him, and the energy that should have activated the Burst once again diffused around him without any effect.

"Weird, never seen something like this." Lyrr muttered, and passed another bullet to Nia, and also to Ken to refresh their status. Seeing as how the two of them successfully extended their super activated state he returned to the puzzled God Eater.

-When did you attain burst the last time?- Poking the matter more thoroughly the Overseer suddenly asked.

"Eh, I don't know? I mean... A few months? Regular Aragami don't really require me to go Burst." Not being able to reach Burst could have manifested much earlier than now, however due to not requiring to reach it Bal didn't notice it.

-Inside the Irregular Ouroboros, did you attain Burst? Pervert, did you say that he lost an arm and his God Arc was destroyed?- Thinking on a possiblity that might have arised C asked a question from the God Eater, then asked anotehr from the sniper.

"Brothers God Arc was found nearby him and his entire body did have a lot of injuries, but his supposedly missing arm was intact." Nia answered in return, after all she was the first one to have found Baluar after the violent reaction subsided. Though she did dive into it even before it completely vanished, enduring an extremely high level of pain and incredible amount of strain on her nerves.

"Sis, pass me your's." Suddenly the elder brother stabbed his God Arc into the ground at his feet and reached towards the one his sister was holding. The idea behind this was that the bulk of the Burst status cells were regulated by the control of the Arc itself, from there it was diffused throughout the body of their users. That is why when the body acquires from a team mate a refined Aragami bullet via energy form transmission they will be transferred into the God Arc even if temporarily. Using that energy both the weapon and conventionally it's user gain a boost in status.

"Sure." As the sister passed the charged weapon over, Ken went 'EH?!' and even Lyrr raised an eyebrow.

"We're twins, we can switch at will. Nothing unusu-- al here." Baluar tried to explain as he grabbed onto the weapon and could feel as the Oracle Cells of the weapon made their ways inside his body. He could feel as like a wave they surged inside him over and at the same moment a weird sensation eloped him making the God Eater drop the weapon and collapse like a ragdoll.

"HOLY?! WHA--?!" Ken's reaction wasn't due to that, however what happened at the same time Bal fell. The huge God Arc of his released a violent surge knocking Nia away, as it's shape violently contorted like something tried to squeeze it together. Lyrr stood motionless and lost in thoughts on what could have happened.

-I suspected this. Lunkhead had no idea of actually taking the core into him, because he didn't do that at all. He couldn't do that since the core replaced his weapon and on a level helped to regenerate his arm.- A sigh of C came from the ear piece as the revelation struck her. The God Eater did tell them that he saw the Irregular core embedded into the Core of the Ouroboros he entered, however if the Aragami would have devoured the core normally it would have become the core of it's body and not just something to support it. Another thing that was beside the symbiotic relationship was that the Irregular core attempted to heal it's hosts body at the cost of restructuring it over time if necessary.

"The... Irregulars core became his God Arc, is this what you mean? That's... unheard of! I mean... that would mean..." Unable to overcome his shock, Ken momentarily lowered his focus and at the same time the Devourer attempted to free itself, breaking some of the paralyzing shackles weaved thoughout his body, yet they were reinforced once again at the cost of a hefty amount of reserves and more of his concentration spent on assuring that this doesn't happen again.

-Symbiosis between Aragami, and now between Aragami and God Eater. Fascinating.- Saying out lout what they were thinking were Sakaki. Fascination mixed into the professors voice as the possibility of that fact was recognized by them, such a thing was something that said researcher attempted to attain many times before.

-When I earlier saw his Oracle Cell composition it was quite odd, there were traces of Irregulars inside him, but he wasn't infected by them more like some form of a coexistance. When I saw Arthur, his cells were violently mixed due to the infection unlike this Lunkheads. That hotheaded bigmouth and the perverted retard has an even ratio coursing inside them so they are exempt from it. Although, interestingly Nia you also came into contact with the cells. Did you by chance switch gears since your brother contacted the Irregular?- Recalling when she saw them without her visor, each one of them had various levels of traces of Irregularity. Even the female twin, who should have been exempt from such an ordeal.

"Bal's got a name C. We switched just now since a long time ago, however what does this mean now?" Furrowing her brows Nia stood up for his brother, and helped him into a sitting position from the ground. The God Arc was still behaving weirdly, having it's shape change slowly, but constantly.

-You're infected girl. It's spreading slowly, yet surely. If the world wouldn't be at the doorstep of it's absolute end, you're head could boil on how to survive this predicament. Good for you, no?- C replied with a miserably succeeded laughter as she attempted to be sarcastic, but was doused by the sharp glare of the Overseer.

"In... fected? I've... from me?" Baluar stopped attempting to get into a proning position and decided to stay sitting. If he wouldn't have been doing that already he would have probably fallen when hearing such a news. Afterall, they had each other only now after their parents and most of their family died to the Aragami. He couldn't imagine, he didn't want to imagine losing his only sister.

"Focus, keep focus!" Lyrr reprimanded Ken, who once again almost slipped in concentration aswell as passing him two rounds of Aragami Bullets. Well he was also a bit startled by the sudden events, and forgot to pass a bullet earlier as he should have done to keep his Burst to a reasonable level as it constantly decayed.

"It wasn't you. Against common sense I've dove into the disassembling remains of that Irregular Ouroboros, after that time I noticed that something is off and Sakaki agreed to keep silent about it." Nia finally gathered enough courage to explain it to him, she knew quite well how Baluar was feeling. She would have felt the very same should something happen to her brother and could easily imagine what he is going through right now.

-We di--.- Sakaki tried to explain the situation, but was brutally cut short by the male twin.

"ENOUGH!!! C, is there a way to... Can anything be done?" With a booming voice and a sudden surge of strenght Baluar stood up and turned to the duo that just arrived to them. She knew answers to many things, she should know the answer for this just as well.

"You're sister just needs to kill an Irregular and take in a core herself. That, or die. Simple, no?" Seeing how the eyes of Baluar radiated with an unexpressable determination, she couldn't help but explain it. Although she added a jerkish ending to it, she did in order to soften the implication of what that would bring with.

--- End of Chapter 2015,11,13

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