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originally posted in:The New Dojo
11/27/2016 6:16:05 AM
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Lucien stood up from the ground just in time to see the beast's arms be chopped off... And red tendrils whipping angrily to form new ones. He looked over to his left and saw a thick branch laying on the ground.
He picked it up and lit it alight with his own blood, allowing blue flames to settle around its tip violently.
"Burn the stumps so it'll stop regenerating!"
Throwing the branch to Ian, he rushes forth and dodged a swing by a massive hand via deftly vaulting over the thick arm. He slashed twice, relieving a massive arm from its position.
The body begins to assemble further - a metal jaw being dragged by red tendrils to Damien's face...
English
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[i] Seeing the jaw being reattached gave Ian a glimmer of hope. If they all didn't die first.. He grabbed the branch Lucien threw to him and dashed forward with the flaming limb, thrusting it into one of the stumps of the removed arms, simultaneously bringing the water jet around and cutting another one off. [/i]
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The beast roared as the iron-melting flames scorched its ailing stump, its arms all writhing in furious pain. One came out of nowhere and grabbed Ian by the leg and was about to fling him before being amputated by Lucien's flaming sword. Something began to grow around Lordan's head - multiple faces, about three in total. One on each side of his head, the last facing opposite to his front upon his back. "You'll need something finer to take care of those," Lucien said. He offered the handle of Razorflame to Ian as he opened his forearm up with his spiked ring, drawing a crude bastard sword made of ash and blue-flaming blood. "I'll take the arms. We cannot let the brain masses of those faces connect with Damien's."
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"Done." [i] Ian said, grabbing the handle of Razorflame. He could automatically see the fine craftsmanship in the Blade, being a craftsman of plenty himself. He lunged forward, turning his body sideways and avoiding a flailing tendril as he brought Razorflame up, meeting one of the faces at it's bottom and shearing through it.[/i]
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The remaining faces screeched in pain, cut short by a flipping Lucien who swung and swept through the remaining arms. He cauterized each wound with a palm strike of flame, careful not to damage Damien's actual body. Skin began to form over Lordan's flesh. His skin covered the pulsating red mass as it began to cool down, steam rolling off his entire body in droves. "That should be it," Lucien says as he stabs his sword into a writhing arm laying on the ground.
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"What the Hell is he..?" [i] Ian breathed, handing Lucien his sword back. It was starting to look like Damien, sure..but whatever was now under his skin was something else..[/i]
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Lucien takes the sword as he speaks. "He's Inoculated now. We call them Inos where I'm from, people inoculated with a strain of the mutated stem cell virus. I gave him a very powerful strain of the virus, one that responds to remnants of the frontal lobe or anything of the like. In other words it has the potential to raise the deceased and restore their memory."
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"So he's infected with some kind of monster? The price of being brought back from the dead..?" [i] Ian said, watching him form back together. It was downright creepy and weird..and he was starting to wonder if he'd done the right thing.[/i]
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"The price is far greater, my boy. From now on Damien shall fight his inner monsters. He must feed them quite literally on the flesh of the living, but only enough to sate them." He watches as Damien's skin begins to finish, somewhat pale from the lack of pigmentation. Lucien fetches a blanket from his original position and wraps it over the naked Lordan, waiting to see if the inoculation had worked.
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Edited by Chesh I Guess: 11/28/2016 5:17:06 AM[b]There was a pause in Damien's breathing as his own consciousness began to flutter to life. One pained snort later, and his eyes rolled back into correct position, thoroughly shaken by the last few moments. They wobbled once, twice, then lay still, his eyelids sliding over them for a brief moment before retracting with a watery snap. The pale yellow irises held two thin slits, cat-like, narrowed. Then, the bloodshot arteries of the eyes pulsed and burst to life as Damien let out an intense gasp.[/b] [i]"GAAAAHHH!"[/i] [b]He yelped, his right, heavily mechanical arm swinging to his chest, then snaking up his body. The pain was excruciating... His augments felt like they had just been put in, and he hadn't used Neuropozyne since he had died... The medicine stopped his body from rejecting the augments and causing intense pain... But now... He didn't have the medication in his blood stream.[/b] [b]His skin prickled like tiny needles sinking deep into the inner layers of his body, the hairs on his back standing up. His visible spinal chord hummed and clicked as it clamped down on his rib cage with a loud thud, this visibly contorted his muscles.[/b] [b]In order to cope, his gag reflex began to move into overdrive, but with an empty stomach... Only bile began to come out as Damien hunched over and released the fluid.[/b] [i]"F-Fūck..."[/i] [b]He cursed, metal plates sliding over his chest and legs, grafting into place with drills, Damien's body slowly returning to normal. Mechanical left leg, mechanical lungs, rib cage, augmented kidneys, metal filter instead of a liver, mechanical spine, metal skull, brain connection sensors, bio-sensor, metal under-jaw, mechanical right arm... It was Damien... The metal grafting served as both armor and cover, having long since been installed over his shoulders and chest, stretching out over most of his exposed flesh. Only the back, and his two metal limbs remained untouched. Hell, at least his hair looked good. Dirty blonde, spiky, in all directions.[/b] [i]"W-What...?! T-The hell..."[/i] [b]Damien managed to pry himself up from the dirt, flakes of dust scattering across his face as mucus and bile splayed across his lower metal jaw, causing it to look grimy. He looked from Ian, to Lucien, clearly in distress.[/b] [i]"E-Explanation..."[/i] [b]The only strength he could muster went into a single word before he tipped over and leaned against a rock, sweat starting to form at the bridge of his nose as his eyes turned red and puffy. Everything ached... And worse... It felt like an extra face had been cut off.[/b]
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"In simple terms, I inoculated you with a highly unstable strain of a mutated stem cell regeneration virus. This particular strain interacted with the leftover remnants and dopamine found in your amygdala, restoring memories and brain cells and remaking your physiology based on neural patterns. In simple terms, I gave you the scalpel equivalent of a mutant virus. You can compare it to a reverse lobotomy of sorts," Lucien states matter-of-factly. "Your friend here," he says as he points to Ian with his lip, "brought you here in pieces. Actually I redact that. Pieces would imply some feasible parts of you remaining - he brought you back as a liquid jelly. Your reaction to your new body is normal. You need sustenance..." The man takes a thick hunting knife out of the folds of his coat and stares directly into a bush, seeing the leaves rustle. With a quick whistle he throws the knife, making a sickening [i]thud[/i] sound as it collided with some kind of animal. Lucien yanked his hand back, bringing the knife as well as a plump fox back into his hand. It seemed that there was some kind of near-invisible wire affixed to the knife... "I learned that one from an old friend. Take this, Damien. Feed upon it. You can alter your physiology now due to your control over the virus. You must feed, but only to the point of saying the beast within. Starving it will make it devour you, saturating its accursed belly with blood will give it control. Devour it in any way possible, Dr. Lordan. Form claws of bone, razor sharp teeth, a mass of fanged tentacles... Whatever you so desire."
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[b]Damien let his mouth hang open for a moment, his nose not taking in the air quite fast enough. His chest moved rhythmically with his gasps as his eyes narrowed.[/b] [i]"Y-You expect m-me... To f-fūcking eat t-that shit...?"[/i] [b]The hostility was not hidden, his fear had long since turned into paranoia. His brain had begun to rationalize everything... As Lucien's explanation just didn't quite add up.[/b] [i]"G-Go t-to hell..."[/i] [b]His usual calm and collected voice vibrated with fury, certain that this was some kind of trick or... Dream? He couldn't tell anything apart these days. For all he knew, he had been too late, and this was the dream Salem was keeping him in. Paranoid, and stubborn.[/b] [i]"I-If you are s-so damn i-inclined... L-Let me s-see you take a-a bite."[/i]
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"Mr. Lordan, I implore you to eat it. Otherwise the virus shall quite literally feed on your own body to survive, turn you feral and destroy any remnant of sentience you have left. We don't have time for me to eat your meal. If I could acquire something more appetizing, I would. But time is dire. You have a choice: take a leap of faith and trust a man you've just met, or allow yourself to be taken by the noose of doubt and fear. If your answer is the latter I suggest you tell me now so I can cut you down where you stand." Fire blazed in Lucien's hazel eyes as he fingered his sheathed sword blade. They did not have the time nor the resources for any doubt, otherwise the developing Asura mutation they faced earlier would be mere child's play as compared to what the virus could do upon metabolizing Damien's body. His tone was calm, but heated with direness in relation to the problem at hand. "I do not this out of pride or as show, I am doing this for your own good. You may be scared because I essentially just brought you back from the dead, but now is not the time for explanation. Now is the time for a very important decision. Choose. Now."
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[b]Damien didn't like being ordered around, but he didn't like being threatened with death either... Hell, in his state... He'd last a solid five seconds in a scrap.[/b] [i]"H-Hand it over..."[/i] [b]He outstretched his left arm, the large hand opening into a star pattern as he waited for the dead corpse to deposit in the empty spot.[/b] [b]His voice still shook from the apparent shock of it all, and the sweat had begun to pour freely... But color was slowly returning to the surface of his skin, and his eyes seemed to become more luminescent.[/b] [i]"Ain't g-gonna c-chew."[/i]
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"Feed your inner demons, lest they consume you. My mentor taught me that, albeit in a much different context but never has such a statement been more true." He places the dying fox into Damien's opened hand, awaiting for the sustenance to be taken hold of.
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[b]With a squish, Damien's hand pressed down and he drew the fox close, scowling at the dead creature.[/b] [i]"Bottoms up..."[/i] [b]Then... Then, he opened his mouth, slowly, the lower jaw unhinging until a large gaping hole was left, a long, pointed tongue slipping out... It looked like a snake's tongue, just not quite forked. Quickly now, Damien slipped the creature into his mouth, the tongue wrapping around it like a long tendril, before pushing it down, the mass visible as it stretched his throat... Only to quickly disappear in one gulp. Sickening...[/b] [i]"C-Compliments to t-the chef..."[/i] [b]He breathed, rubbing the three dots that marked the bio-sensor holding his brain intact, above his right temple.[/b]
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"I shall teach you how to feed without the complications of taste," Lucien says flatly. "I recall my first time feeding as well. 'Twas not the most pleasant experience, yet you have the pleasure of feasting upon an animal rather than a human." A sparrow flies down from the sky and at Lucien's feet. Its wings are black with soot, with burnt tendons streaming from between its feathers. Corrupted violet-blue flames danced within its iris. Its peculiar appearance was sullied by Lucien's blade stabbing into it, black tendrils with a bioluminescent blue glowing off of them gathering around the corpse of the strange bird and absorbing it back into the sword. Some of Lucien's cuts began to heal, but only slightly. "That was a proxy. A simple term used for a complicated process: absorbing another being's genetic code and modifying it to your liking. You can then figuratively 'transmute' the biomass equivalent to create your proxy. Say for example that fox you just ate. You now hold its genetic code. Subconsciously, you can modify it within your own body and give it small features: extra limbs, eyes, claws and so on. But you can only recreate your fox proxy by using your body as biomass fuel... Or using something else. Like a corpse."
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[i]"Cadaver eater..."[/i] [b]Like it or not, Damien felt better, and his voice mimicked the strength that had returned to him.[/b] [i]"Anything, eh? Plants?"[/i] [b]Bodies were one thing, general biomass was another. He was gonna need to feed this thing, and he barely ate as was. It showed. Damien was thin... Not a stick, but more than normal. Sure, he was toned in areas, but he had the body of a runner or swimmer.[/b] [i]"God... It's impossible to tell what's real any more..."[/i] [b]He mumbled, his eyes tracing to the ground in defeat. One thing, then another. His life felt like a damn list of side quests.[/b]
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"Sadly no. I've heard of a viral strain that can manipulate the biomass of plants, but your strain and mine are rather carnivorous. You'd only get a sliver of satisfaction from such a meal. Perhaps this is our curse, two monsters doomed to wander and devour. Or maybe this is all one cosmic joke. Either way we must come to terms with our situation or be taken by by madness." Lucien held out his forearm and drew a bloody red line with a spiked ring upon his index finger. The wound began to knit itself shut, but what Damien did not know was that Lucien's strain usually seared wounds shut to heal them. "You need not feed constantly. The more you regenerate, the more you will need to feed. But if you are not healing through this, keep your beast sated nonetheless."
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[i]"Eat... Fūck if that will be hard. Cooked shit work?"[/i] [b]Damien wasn't into raw meals. He gave a sarcastic smirk as he ran three metal fingers through his hair. He needed to know if a beef patty would do anything, or... If he had to eat animals raw.[/b]
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Lucien began to lose the tenseness in his shoulders as Lordan was starting to regain his senses. "Cooked meals will indeed work. But upon the battlefield you must be prepared to devour any type of meat for the sake of your survival. So what shall you do now? I have given you an accursed life to live, yet it is life nonetheless. Where shall your wandering take you?"
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[i]"Does it matter...? Hell, if we were friends, you still wouldn't bare up my sins. Now piss off... I need medicine."[/i] [b]He was an angry sort, easily disturbed, but just like the bear prodded with the stick, Damien's circumstances would make anyone unhappy.[/b] [b]With a groan, he sat up, peeling the blanket off, wrapping it around his right arm thoroughly to hide it. The black metal had a glossy sheen that seemed foreign and complex. Whatever the arm was... It was a weapon... One that Lucien wasn't supposed to see. In all likelihood, his foul attitude wouldn't change... Not with so much on his mind... But right now, he wanted some payback... Assuming he could find his gear.[/b] [i]"Everything is bullshit... Might as well become a pyromaniac so I have a reason to burn it all."[/i] [b]He grumbled, getting to his feet as his long tongue slipped out and slithered across his face, wiping away the dirt and grime. Then with a flick, it slipped back down his throat, his lower metal jaw now glimmering with a special sheen after the rinse.[/b] [i]"Actually... You wouldn't happen to have some smokes on you?"[/i] [b]Damien's cravings were always in the back of his mind, hell, sometimes in the front too... But right now, he wanted a cigarette, and a hard glass of whiskey. Besides, Lucien looked like the type to carry smokes. Damien sure as hell knew Ian didn't...[/b]
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Lucien rummaged through one of his bandoliers before bringing out a faded box of unidentifiable cigarettes, taking one out and handing it to Damien before offering him the entire box. "Keep it all. This was confiscated contraband from where I'm from, making it quite the bargaining chip. However there is no use for such a trade item here in the Dojo, so I shall allow you to take it. I have another offer, Mr. Lordan. A development I have only recently heard of... Another galaxy in a faraway place full of varying factions and new resources. I have consulted a few others about this interest of mine, but I am quite curious in such an opportunity. I was hoping you would be too. You're quite the esteemed scientist, are you not?"
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[i]"Was... And who's telling you this shit...? I erased all my files and burned every certificate."[/i] [b]With a hard stare, Damien takes the box, snapping his fingers till a small flame burst forth from the tip, pulling on of the cigarettes out. With a quick light, and a snort, he placed the paper roll in between his metal jaw and upper lip, a puff of smoke soon following.[/b] [i]"I drank away most of my smarts. What's left is shattered and vacant. I'd have to do some soul searching to find all the damn info that washed away by a dry gulp."[/i]
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"A small girl named Lana told me of some of your exploits. As did Ronin, whom I've heard has had some firsthand experience against your technology. You've lost your drive, Lordan. I'm offering you a chance to find it once more. You can other waste the rest of your accursed life drinking away, but if that is to be the case, your friend," he said as he gestured to Ian, "would have wasted his time and I would've wasted a valuable resource on reviving you. If you waste your intelligence away in some bar make no mistake that I will return for my asset. And I will take it back, piece by piece. I am not forcing you to join. But at the very least do not waste such potential away on a bottle of alcohol," Lucien states flatly. He did not seem all too bothered by the smoke at all. Judging from the gas mask clipped to his belt, it was safe to assume that this man was indeed some sort of pyromaniac.
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[i]"Lana? Sellout... May is no surprise. Can't get shit past that hardass."[/i] [b]Lucien had a point, and Damien hated when people had a point... Mostly when they weren't him. But he wasn't lying. 'The Prodigy of Warfare' had long since died, alcohol and drug abuse washing away plenty of Lordan's old thoughts.[/b] [i]"Your faith is deceiving you... But what the hell, right? I've got nothing left besides my family... But it's not on me if I don't meet expectations."[/i] [b]With a huff, and a stretch of the arms, Damien looked up towards the sky, realizing he'd need his brother... Hell, he needed his daughter...[/b]
