User blog:Roinelll/God Eater Next - Volume 2 - Segment 15

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======== G. E. N. - 2 - 15

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They stared at the monstrosity in front of them. Closely it resembled an Ouroboros on a much smaller scale then a regular one, with the exception of the left side of it's body was covered in something akin to golden scales. Knowing that this being before them was none other than the boy from before, suffering from a major infection he shuddered for a moment. God Eaters, that underwent Aragami transformation could only be hurt by their own God Arcs, which practically fuses into them should they reach a state similar to what they are witnessing, thus they would become an unstoppable and unpredictable being.

Looming above them the Devourer, lowered it's head towards them scanning the duo with it's multiple eyes before straightening up again. Releasing a deafening roar, it braced itself and strenghtened the legs. After a few second of focusing, the Devourer jumped with such velocity Baluar had to stab his God Arc into the ground to brace himself. Looking to his side he saw that Nia had done the same as they endured the sudden shockwave.

After taking off a smaller crater marked the place from where the Devourer jumped, with the surrounding the landscape bearing cracks of being unable to handle the pressure about it. Although it was quite a powerful jump and it carried quite far, it had to repeate the process almost a dozen of times until the nearest Ouroboros had gotten into it's range.

"Did he just ignore us and go for the bigger serving?" Baluar commented, raising an eyebrow. Actually he wasn't unhappy about avoiding to become a snack, but he couldn't stop giving a snarky remark about it. Instead he just watched as the Devourer lifted it's many tendrilled right arm, covered in the golden scales and a predator form emerged from it. Compared to the size of the Irregular, it was a huge jagged mouth harboring uncountable teeths and eyes.

-With this All-you-can-eat buffet around? It's far more compelling to just go and consume a few Ouroboros right now, than a smallfry don't you think?- C rebuked on the other hand and those who could see the spectable witnessed as the predators mouth opened, and instantenously swallowed an Ouroboros' head and a part of it's upper body. As the rest of the body collaped due to losing the cohesion required to maintain it's shape and a violent Oracle Cell disintegration took place.

"So... He'll turn into an Ouroboros if this goes on... Just great... As if we didn't have enough problem as they are." Meanwhile the Devourer retracted the predator mouth and absorbed into it's being the gathered Oracle Cells. Having it's body gain additional nourishment immediatelly it started to grow and become even more powerful. This is why Baluar sighed in defeat as he saw the Devourer still in the process of enlarging, yet already seeking a new target to hunt down.

-Without actually devouring a core, the transformation is only temporary. Although the gathered Oracle Cells have to be exhausted first, still it will take some time untill they are burned up.- Another Ouroboros gets downed as C explains the process behind the ability, and they can hear the triumphant roar of the Devourer.

-That's interesting. How would having devoured a core change it?- Sakakis voice interrupted a question forming inside of Baluar.

-Acquiring a core stabilizes the change and also allows for ingesting Oracle Cells from a different source yet keeping a stable form, though with a different core gained interesting combinations can emerge. As I recall the previous Devourer could house dozens of Cores at the same time.- As C continues the explanation the number of the Ouroboros have already dropped below 30, with the Devourer continously gaining in both speed, strenght, size and voraciousness. He is able to consume more and more of the Aragami before their contructs collapse on themselves due to taking a large amount of damage at the same time.

"Dozens... so it was like some Chimera, huh?" Baluar wonder thinking on the possibility, that by the end this situation ends, something even worse will be present in the form of the Devourer, who had lost against his desire to consume. Housing a body that's yet still smaller than a regular Ouroboros, yet still in terms for strenght or speed it is far more terrifying. Not knowing how would he even attempt to stop the infected kid, Bal just sighed. That was currently out of his capability.

-Close enough.- A snide remark came from the infected girl, as they saw another Ouroboros devoured, this time by two simoultenously manifested devourer forms. A little bit more than the half of the Ouroboros dissapeared instantly, and those who witnessed it could feel nothing else, but awe at this point.

"The Ouroboros' are picking up pace and are getting more coordinated. Do you know anything about that?" Suddenly stopping by them, the high speed God Eater appeared surprising Nia and her brother at the same time.

"Lyrr? What are you doing here?" Raising an eyebrow Baluar turned to the panting sniper.

"I'm spent... Can't expect me to fight such numbers, besides their motor functions are getting better coordination, that I couldn't make them collide or damage themselves any more." With a large exhalation, he straightened up and threw a casual glance towards Nia. Casual as in Lyrr's version of course, in order to refresh himself by the welcome sight.

-That's quite natural, Skaadi is getting a better hang on the control as a lesser amount of Ouroboros are left.- A bit of humming later, C commented.

-Skaadi? C, earlier you've stated that the one who is responsible for this is Lilith with the help of three other Irregulars. Skaadi's role was different in this as I recall." Nanako voiced her notice of a discrepancy.

-Ah that... quite simple. Perun helped to pin down Lilith, while Skaadi devoured her. Then, Perun took care of Seraphina.- Over the comminucation link the three God Eaters could hear C respond to the mechanic. Meanwhile the Devourer snapped two Ouroboros in half with each manifested Predator forms of his, reducing the number of the incoming army to less than 25.

"Infighting... Is that a good news for us in this case?" Scratching his head Baluar sighed, somehow this didn't quite relax him at all.

-Yeah... It's actually a bad thing, you see... The reason why the aggressiveness and attacks of the Ouroboros force was dwindling at the beginning was that it was an extreme amount of pressure to control them. Furthermore Skaadi is the least experienced in such a thing, this is why the Aragami are marching towards us instead of performing ranged attacks. That's the most it could pull out before the numbers were beginning to be culled, however now the variations the Ouroboros will be able to make will soar once again..- After sighing once, the infected girl recalled it. Sure, it was an immense help for them that the Ouroboros' are being felled one after the other, however at the same time it's a completely double edged blade.

"So you're saying, that the more of them the kid eats, the stronger will he become and at the same time the rest of the Ouro's will become harder to beat?" Summarizing the information up to so far, Lyrr said that halfway lost in his thoughts. Under normal circumstances he could have dealth with him even in such terms, though for the moment he did exhaust his reserves and that made the situation a bit dire.

-We'll have to deal with the Devourer afterwards. He isn't capable of controlling himself as I can see it.- Adding to that Nanako injected her thoughts.

-I will take care of the Devourer.- Cutting into the silence that descended over them was the Overseer. Well, not counting the roars of the Ouroboros' trying to defend against the seemingly unstoppable Devourer.

-Ooohh... So the Overserver finally decided to interfere? Aren't you a bit hypocretical, hmm?- With a sneer C responded.

"Cecilia, do you get a kick of annoying him?" Lyrr mused halfway to himself, while at the sime time attempting to taunt the infected girl.

-You perverted garbage. Come here, I have a very special gift for you. I promise, after that you will not be having such thoughts again! In fact, you'll not be hany anything to think about with th--.- The rest of the sentence became muffled as Nanako decided to hold the mouth of C, who attempted to break free and continue swearing at the same time.

"And you get a kick of annoying her?" Nia turned towards Lyrr, scowling at the same time. This wasn't the time for them to get on each others nerves.

"It's fun, I admit that." The sniper shrugged wearing a wide grin, which made the twins just sigh.

Arthur was on the brink of losing consciousness, or control. He wasn't quite sure about what is going to happen first. When the insane amount of Oracle Cells had been extracted from the Irregular that attacked him, he felt hunger. A hunger that he wasn't familiar with earlier, something that made him go almost insane in an attempt to quelch it.

As the rest of them escaped the radius of the thick foglike substance that spread around the two Apostles, he couldn't do anything else than step forward, his golden scaled right arm. His... Actually, that belonged to the previous Devourer and now it's his. It rose up by itself, contorting and calling forth a shape similar to a God Eaters predator form.

The mouth of the predator opened wide, biting hard into the dark mist surrounding him and attempting to gather as much of it as possible. One by one, constantly he continued to do so as no matter how much he did ingest of the Oracle Cell cloud, there was still plenty more, aswell as Arthur was aware that the majority of it was absorbed by the earth itself.

As the Overseer dropped the weakened Irregular, who was responsible for attacking him a thought crossed the new Devourers mind. 'I want to consume that one.' With that he stepped forward once again, the predator form started to expand once again to such a size that even Lilith could be swallowed up by it whole.

Before he could have struck the severly exhausted victim, something swooped down from the crack of the ceiling and scooped up Lilith. With the Oracle Cell cloud still heavily blocking the vision, Arthur contemplated on staying and collecting as much of it as possible as it apparently quelched his hunger, but at the same time he wanted to consume the fool daring to attack him.

In the end, the latter one proved stronger and he also exited the building. Following as quickly behind the two as he could, trailing them with the help of something like an extra sense that pinpointed the target that he was seeking. By the time he could catch up to the two, a pair joined them.

Stopping a considerable distance away, Arthur stopped thinking for a while. Should he engage and attempt to get his hand on the weakest on, or withdraw until he is spotted. As he was lost in thoughts he suddenly felt a chill encasing him, and his senses signaled that one of the targets had vanished. The one he wanted for himself, the weakened Irregular Lilith.

Soon after one of the remaining ones turned at another and now only two of them remained, however the instincts of Arthur were screaming that the remaining two are extremely dangerous. The one to take his target out wasn't such a big threat, however the other one was tantamount to a suicide should an engagement occur.

As Arthur tried to escape unnoticed, he noticed his surroundings. Aragami were literally appearing out of nowhere. Not the small ones that he could kill endlessly without any effort, and not even the dangerous ones that he could take down with a slight difficulty. The ones that were materializing all around their position in the distance were one of the most dangerous ones, known as the Ouroboros.

Their apperance triggered an even greater hunger inside of him. The largest known Aragami, also the most dangerous existence amongst them even alone. Still more and more are appearing, attacking the settlement he just left a short while ago. However the pangs of hunger were very much like the ones he felt when he wanted to consume the Irregular. Then it dawned on him, that these beings are the same as the Oracle Cells released from Lilith.

With that, Arthur started towards the nearest one of the Aragami. It was still focusing towards the settlement, releasing a deadly concentrated beam of light from it's compound eyes. As he ran, his right arm raised almost by itself again transforming into a devourer form mid motion. Arthur noticed that it became smaller than previously. No, that wasn't right as he understood. The arm didn't became smaller, his body had grown to match it's size.

"What... happened to me?" Arthur spoke to himself, with a voice that he didn't even recognize it belonged to him at all. The size of his body already surpassed 3 meters, and as he noticed the scales on the right arm now extended on the right side of his torso aswell, as if they are trying to cover him more as time progresses.

He caught up to the one Ouroboros he targeted and wondered what now. His God Arc was destroyed as he battled with the Achilles, though the arm of that Aragami functioned similarly to a manifested predator of a God Eaters weapon. Plunging the right arm as deep as he could into the leg of the gigantic beast he ripped out a sizeable chunk, prompting the Ouroboros to release an earshattering scream or anger.

"More... I need MORE!!" As the predator mouth receeded, he felt the same surge coursing throughout his body as earlier when he was consuming the massive Oracle Cells mist released by Lilith. Immediatelly, he summoned the devourer mouth again and as it became ready he targeted the same wounded leg. As that receeded and the flow of cells coursed throughout his body, he fel himself once again change.

However this wasn't quite a change like previously as his body size merely enlarged. It was a bit different, on his shoulders something hard started to grow out, not to mention on his head a number of horns started to emergy from underneath the skin. Actually this frightened him a little, yet the feeling was so exhilliriating that Arthur decided to ignore it and once again charged up the devouring move of his right arm.

After the third time the leg was damaged, the might beast toppled almost crushing underneath itself the infected youth. But that didn't matter any more. The motion of returning the right arm to normal, ingesting more Oracle Cells, their empowerment and transforming of the body concluded with once again summoning the same attack and repeating it.

He lost count how many times he repeated it, but was clearly aware that his body had gone through an immense amount of changes already. The clothes he worn so far had already ripped apart his body outgrew them by a major scale, he could make out on his shoulder the same wingstumps that an Ouroboros possesses, his hair also hardened and grew long enough to cover his back much like the mane of the largest Aragami.

Not to mention that both his legs and arms are very much resembling that of said beast, although he saw the changes that high right side is still dominant with the golden scales. As he calculated his height was right now somewhere over 5 meters and he knew that this wasn't going to stop any time soon.

As he decided to dig into the immobilized Ouroboros' body once again for devouring another batch of Oracle Cells, suddenly it started a violent burst of decomposition, forcing Arthur to back away. Releasing an inhuman growl in return he just turned to a nearby target to continue quelching his hunger.

Starting a sprint so far, that he never reached as a regular God Eater in just withing minutes he was at it's target, growling at it as he bored the predator mouth once again into the leg, knocking it away in a single move, forcing the gigantic beast to stumble and collapse. Following that Arthur, still not losing his momentum he rushed towards it's compound eyes and dug deep into them. Crushing many in the process and ripping a hefty chunk out in one fell swoop.

His predator form had to swallow that in two large bites due to the sheer size of it, though that didn't matter as Arthur felt his body once again grow and turn to something similar that of an Ouroboros. Yet the hunger was still present, not only did it not be quelched, on the contrary.

"More... MORE!!" Barely human in nature, he howled as the hunger started to peak. He didn't even notice when his left arm also called upon a predator form and ripped the horns of the Ouroboros off their place, munching on them in the process his right was still eating itself deeper and deeper into the head of the Aragami.

Once again, the only thing to stop him from completely consuming such a beast was the reaction of the Oracle Cells evaporating, due to losing cohesion. Which forced Arthur, who was very much like an Ouroboros just on a smaller scale now away and to seek a newer target.

He left the two God Eaters he encountered earler as they are, Although the large male would have somewhat be able to quelch his hunger, there were still Aragami left. Aragami that he crawed to devour. He let out another threathening roar as he slammed into another of his prey. Devouring it with both predator mouths and even taking bits out of the Ouroboros himself.

'Not ENOUGH!! I NEED MORE!!' If he could have spoken human words at this monent instead of just howling like his targets, Arthur would have voiced his desire like this. But that didn't stop him at all in continuing preying on the Aragami's known to God Eaters sometimes as the Conqueror of Plains. The though crossed his mind, that should all of the Ouroboros' be devoured and/or destroyed by him what's going to happen. Will he be able to control himself, or he'll lose to the unquenchable desire that is currently ruling him.

--- End of Chapter 2015,10,01