Blaze flexed his fingers, ready to create the worst abomination possible.
Twelve slots hovered before him. Each belonging to a separate zombie part, like skull, torso, spine, etc.
The only issue was the lack of creation materials. Thankfully, the trait had another useful feature. It could store Blaze’s creations as blueprints, which the latter could then use to create the undead.
Or, I can use some sacrifices.
He turned to Cheetah.
At first, he wanted to keep the creature as a ride for its speed. But after his evolution, there wasn’t a need for it.
While he was gathering things for his lair in the domain, he wasn’t teleporting around like the horde believed. He was just running around.
Since his speed was on a similar level to that of Cheetah, it made the latter’s existence pointless. Blaze’s hesitation stemmed from Fester’s closeness with the beast.
"It’s not like I’m going to kill it."
Blaze shrugged, and the next moment, Cheetah was sliced into pieces, and it fell inside the domain.
Fester turned towards Blaze, but then went back to normal, enjoying the spicy frogkin flesh.
Blaze’s eyebrow twitched. He realized Fester’s feelings were reserved for him. Although Cheetah was a friend, its disappearance didn’t matter much to the rat.
Shaking his head, Blaze concentrated on the creation.
[Subject skull or fusion skull?]
"Skull... let’s go with a fusion for this," Blaze said, selecting what remained of David’s head, along with Hailey’s.
Once again, Blaze selected fusion, preferring to go with Cheetah’s and David’s. For the torso, we went with Hailey’s useless tank, since he didn’t have many options.
Then came the spine, for which the Headless was the best option, given its neural operations, it was the best organ for what Blaze had in mind. The limbs consisted of the fusion of Cheetah and human limbs.
"Skin, cheetah. Tail... cheetah. Bones, David’s should suffice. Now, for the two final slots, mutation. Ha, I can give them mutations too?"
A wide list of options appeared before him. Every single mutation of the horde was listed there, though only a few were compatible with his creation.
The first one that caught his eye was the shoulder mutation.
[Shoulder spore sac: The creature carries small sacks filled with blightspore on its shoulder that explode upon impact, spreading across the battlefield. The spore sacs can be refilled in due time.]
Blaze selected it with no hesitation. As for the second slot, he had already made up his mind for that.
"As much as I wanted to be the cool one, you’d use it better."
After putting a stone on his dead heart, Blaze gave Cheetah back its thunderous horn.
[Creation has an 81% success rate.]
[Materials will be returned in the event of a failure.]
A light shone as the body parts began forming their respective organs inside Blaze’s domain.
[Creation successful.]
[Please classify the blueprint.]
[Blueprint: Chimera has been created.]
The words appeared before Blaze, and a moment later, the corpse of a giant human-animal hybrid. Honestly, the corpse was more animal than human.
It had the face and the body structure of a human, but was covered in the Cheetah’s white fur and had their characteristic tear tracks.
Surprisingly, it had long hair and a beard, which resembled a lion’s mane more than a cheetah’s, and a thick tail to use as a whip.
"It’s quite muscular as well," he commented. "That’s given, considering how I used David’s remains a lot to make it."
But there was one problem.
How was he supposed to reanimate it without a necroseed?
He could use blightspore to convert it, but then it would alter Chimera’s body, and Blaze didn’t want that. At least not before seeing what it was capable of first.
[Inject it with Spire fluid.]
"Oh, now you’re alive? Why weren’t you replying to my queries before?" Blaze asked. "And why am I marked as deceased?"
He waited for a minute, then five, then five more, but the system went silent. Honestly, it was childish, as if the system were ghosting him.
He grabbed the chimera by the tail and hurled it towards the spire. He did it to vent, but put too much strength into the throw.
Instead of stopping near the spire, the chimera’s corpse went to the top of the fountain. For a moment, the rotten rain ceased as the chimera absorbed all of it before being tossed away.
The corpse landed in front of Blaze with a thud.
"Aren’t you a sturdy cat?" he asked, looking at the top of the tower and then at the fallen corpse.
However, it seemed his words had offended the chimera as it got up, growling at its master.
"This is the third time. Stop holding onto grudges already."
Without hesitation, Blaze backhanded the creature right then and there.
Upon witnessing the sight, Breaker’s hand immediately reached for its cheeks.
The giant remembered it had gone through something similar after being born. Blaze had thrashed it back then, and it didn’t dare to go against the horde master ever again.
Chimera puffed out its chest and let out a monstrous roar, but tucked its tail between its legs when it noticed Blaze’s glare.
The spire had tamed the creature, though it was a bit late.
"Stand still," he instructed, circling around the creature. "You’ll do fine. Now, hit me."
"Reh?" Chimera asked, tilting its head.
"Yes, I won’t punish you for it."
Chimera smirked. It wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to hit the one who had hit it first. Its muscles bulged as it dug its claws into the ground.
With a loud grunt, it threw the punch at Blaze. The latter crossed his arms in front of his chest to guard.
Still, the tremendous force behind the punch pushed Blaze backward. He dug his feet into the ground to stop, yet he only came to a stop several meters away, creating deep grooves under his feet.
Instead of being pissed, Blaze kept his word. Chimera thought the latter would be hurt somewhat, but it was far from the truth as he smiled.
"You’ll do just fine," Blaze said, rolling his shoulders before cracking his neck. "Let’s get serious now, shall we?"