After Ace finally killed the creature he was dealing with, he rushed to Skyler’s side quickly, for he noticed her struggling to kill the creature that was giving her trouble. Meanwhile, Cherry was having quite an adventure with her opponent. While the others went on the offensive in their attacks, she went on the defensive, often dodging the creature’s attacks and occasionally landing strikes of her own. Eventually, the creature grew frustrated and started running after her. Swiping left and right, the mimicker tried its hardest to hurt Cherry, but all of its attempts were in vain.
"What’s the matter?" Cherry taunted, her tongue sliding across her lips as she stared at the exhausted mimicker. "Too tired already? But I haven’t started yet?"
The mimicker jerked up, its body standing fully erect while it let out a mighty roar. Cherry moved aside, her eyes kept on the mimicker while she turned her hands into long blood blades.
As it roared, the mimicker’s body developed a likeness similar to Cherry’s’. It took a more feminine shape with its bony arms turning into skinny blades. Unlike Cherry’s almost metallic blood blades, those of the mimicker had a more bone-like structure and texture. Get full chapters from 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝗇𝗲𝘵
’Such an impressive skill,’ she thought to herself as the mimicker stood before her, its body almost similar to hers. ’If only we could tame these things.’
"I’m impressed. You know how to copy my transformation style. I wonder if you can copy this too."
Cherry’s blood-red body started splitting itself, and soon, the female Blood Mutant had created a blood clone in her likeness. Now, the mimicker had two opponents to battle, a task that wouldn’t be easy since it couldn’t do the same thing by itself. However, from the way it stood and looked at Cherry, it didn’t show any signs of backing down.
"Suit yourself then." Cherry ran to the left, the clone to the right, and together they both attacked the mimicker with precise attacks. Thanks to Ace’s few teachings and the symbiote evolution processes, Cherry was now able to control her clones so well that whenever she’d use it, the two would seem as if they’d train and fight together.
Her control enabled her to size up the mimicker while she came in with a quick cut aimed at its legs. However, the mimicker went on the defensive by running, just as Cherry did. With its hands behind its back, the creature swayed from left to right, dodging each attack with ease.
"You only mimicked my defensive style," Cherry shouted with a grin. "But you didn’t mimic my offensive style."
The female Blood Mutant took one step and lunged at the mimicker, her body moving much faster than it could keep up. The blood clone appeared from the creature’s backside and held it in place. As much as the mimicker stabbed the clone, it didn’t pose any dangerous effects, for it was just a clump of blood stacked on each other to produce a humanoid figure.
The inevitable arrived. With nowhere to move, the mimicker was stuck and unable to avoid Cherry’s attack. Giving one strong slice, the female Blood Mutant thrust her sword through the mimicker’s chest and lifted it upwards until it came out of its head, separating its upper body into two.
Dead and defeated, the mimicker fell to the ground with a white discharge leaving its bodily muscles. Cherry dismissed her blood clone and consumed its blood before paying attention to her fellow Mutants. Jim was doing just fine with his mimicker for, at the moment, he had just impaled its head off.
{Subject Jim and Cherry have completed the first phase.}
{Subject Ace has completed the first phase.}
{Subject Skyler is yet to complete the first phase.}
{Phase two has begun.}
{Those who have completed the first phase may proceed with the second phase.}
[Side Quest: Complete.]
"Thanks for...helping me back...there. Don’t know what...would have happened if...you didn’t show up..."
Skyler gave her thanks as she sat on the ground. Her body was covered in sweat with a few bruises on her body, particularly on her arms. Her breathing was heavy and uneven even as she remained still on the ground.
{Subject Skyler has completed the first phase.}
"I can’t believe that I’m still slower than you guys even...with this new...power," She complained, dissatisfied with her strength. "I thought...Eneraflux would have put...me at a level almost comparable...with the three of you..."
"You know," Ace chimed while reverting to normal. "You don’t really have to be on the same level as us. Make your level that can’t be compared to us. You can transform your body into different beasts and have that weird alien power. Use that to your advantage. There’s a reason you’re different than Earth’s Body Altered Gifted."
"You have a whole array of different beasts from different aliens to turn into. Use that to your advantage and then create your power level."
Skyler’s eyes lit up with hope as she took Ace’s words to heart. The Blood Mutant did make a compelling point. Skyler was different than all the Body Altered Gifted on Earth because, unlike them, she had access to the DNA of alien beasts, meaning she could experiment with them, and what better way than using the mimicker’s DNA.
"Does it even count as a beast?" she asked while tearing a piece of its flesh. "If I get this thing’s DNA, I’ll be able to copy the physical abilities and forms of my opponents. I wonder to what extent though."
{Subject Skyler and Ace. Commence to the second phase.}
Regrouping with the others, Skyler and Ace found them standing at the edge of a medium-high cliff with a steep slope below. Looking ahead, the faint glow that marked the end goal of their training has grown dimmer, signifying that they were now further from it than when they started. Despite this, something else was more worrying than the simple distance. Some more vile and dangerous.
"Ethisians!!" Cherry mumbled under her breath as she and the others looked at Ethisian clones lined up at the bottom of the cliff. They all had armour on, and in their hands were vairous arrays of weapons so large that they would take three muscular humans to carry with a bit of a struggle. The Humans, upon looking at these Ethisians, were more frightened than when they first saw them. The reason for that was simple.
{Phase Two: Commence.}
{Goal: Disable at least one Ethisian to advance to the next phase.}