Chapter 112 - 110

At that moment the world seemed to stop moving, not even slow down but stop and, for the first time, pure horror fills my thoughts and widens my eyes and yet, instead of fearing for my own life, my thoughts and actions are into Asher's safety completely.

And oddly enough at that moment in time I did not even remember that my life was on the line too, none of that fated pairing contract bullshit came to mind, no…

No… the only thing filling my eyes and mind is the image of Ashe being hit by the sneaky snake that, even if in the middle of transferring her wounds to the fox, had extended her narrow claws into sharp needle edges that, even at that distance, in seconds are already clearly trespassing Ashers skin and bone, coming out from the other side smeared in his blood. 

That image alone chills my bones. 

And a strong sensation builds up and beats inside me, beyond all the hunt, the cat and mouse games, beyond the sarcasm and plays… beyond the human or not human me, that strong emotion, stronger than anything I've ever felt before, surges like boiling lava and wouldn't stop burning its way up, filling my body with that strong sensation until the tip of my fingertips.

That moment, that exact moment, when I'm certain that I'm about to lose him, that my pupils focus on his expression as he tried to swallow the extreme pain up, that moment makes me realize that I did not regard him as mere food anymore, that, for the longest time, I've come to care about him more than any contract could ever obligate me to.

That's the moment when I realize that I hadn't been playing around like I thought I had, but rather have been playing myself a fool all this time, avoiding the truth that now lay right in front of me.

That I truly cared about this captain coldy of ours, painfully so,

That I, indeed, loved that son of a bitch very much so.

And he is about to die on me the fucker.

I cannot let that happen now can I? I have to possess him at least once before that, now that I understood the true meaning behind these feelings of mine.

I cannot let that happen… I won't have that happen.

The fire that has been boiling up hotter and hotter inside me seems to finally reach the point of spilling up and even I, a fire breathing scaled monster, gets bothered by the extremely high heat, my red scales blurring the air around and shinning back as if truly being akin to hot melted metal, hissing and cracking.

And to my surprise, they truly melt away.

The so well traced lines disappear as the scales seem to fuse together and instead of dripping off of me like a layer of skin, it actually fused together in me, and as I leaped back in a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable, with this slow motion senses, I could feel the change in me, the itching sensation spreading all around, but even though I could tell something is happening to me only later on would I be able to tell what really changed, because as of now my eyes are glued on Asher and the infringing Snake.

I could not tell, but at that moment my body is full of those symbols that once burned my skin, shinning gold against the black and moving as if having a mind or a purpose on their own, moving like a textbook in lines around my skin, and yet as soon they managed to fill every part of my skin a surge of power setts my body on fire, the ablaze flame exploding around me as my limbs stretch out to grab the enemy.

Chaos erupts as my claws sink in the snake skin, making her back up as I stand between her and Asher that does not cave in to the pain and holds himself up with the help of a tree, but as soon as the dust and the flames settle down both have a clear view of the new me that unfolds before them.

I stand on my six limbs, claws rasping the ground, my dark figure overtook by thick black fur made from the same material that my scales, but far more versatile than before, able to change its shape and even soften its texture, as well as carrying the moving marks along my body, now shinning red and overflowing with heat.

And my eyes shine in a deep red, being framed by my dark figure as my muscles somehow feel relaxed yet stronger than ever, almost as if some weight has been lifted off my shoulders and mind, almost as if I've truly become who I am at that point, taking away all the layers that weighed down around me.

It a weird complex sensation that makes me relax yet on guard, but one thing is for certain, it makes me feel like I'm burning with fury inside.

And I might as well let it all out.

The Snake Queen cannot hide her fear, and yet cannot back out either so she tries to stay strong and hiss back at me, but I snarl at her, twisting my upper lip to show fang, and opening up my stand to give a full out cougar howl that makes her coil for a moment, and the next second I'm right up her face and dash at her neck, my strong hind legs weigh her long body down as her upper body is pinned by the remaining four limbs that sink the claws into her skin, rendering her attempts to escape futile.

And leaving her neck and face wide open for my attacks.

So I sink my big fangs into her neck, but with no intention of killing her cleanly I start chunking in big portions of meat, cutting with my sharp as knives fangs piece by piece and spooning her flesh out bit by bit.

I do notice when she starts screaming and clawing at my back, trashing in my grip, but I get so indorsed in my meal that I lose myself and block of her fighting enough so as to not even realize when her voice runs thin nor when her body becomes limp, only coming back from the trance when I'm already half into the meal, leaving big parts missing from her body as I hear Asher's voice coming from behind.

"Is it truth then… you are one of the mountain guardians, the Ablaze Cougar of the south peaks." I clack my jaw at one of her bones, turning my bloobdy smeared face towards him as I stare back, frowning when his words reach me, licking my snout with my long tongue while I try to blink the daze away and think things through.

Only that I have no time nor voice to question his words for the next moment the once quiet night is filled with screams coming from all directions, making the forest seem like the graveyard of tormented souls howling through the night.

And I can only guess that our plan has finally worked out… and the controlled Ghouls were paying the price.