Chapter 526: Peter"s Ability
Diana jumped forward and hugged Ark, shielding him as the building trembled down. Then, as the rubbles fell toward them, the blue flames destroyed them all.
The vampire that jumped downward did not attack anymore, but it stood there with its blood scythes coming out of its arms. Diana glared at the monster as the fragments turned to nothingness, who looked no different from a human.
"You are an evolved vampire, it seems," said Dia as she squinted her eyes. "It is funny that as vampires evolve, they become more humanoid."
"A phase," said the vampire as he licked his scythe. "You are fast, and those flames are no joke. So, how does an anomaly such as you exist? Are you going to freeze me or simply burn me to ashes?"
"You will have to find out," smiled Diana as she let go of Ark, who was leading them toward the capital. "Let me handle this, little brat."
"...I don"t need your help," scowled Ark.
"You are so stubborn," the princess sighed as she gestured for Courage to protect him. The rest can handle it, but Ark was more of a scout than a fighter.
"The pot calling the kettle black," laughed Courage as she laid her hand on the youth"s shoulder. "Let her handle the weak ones; we need to save our strength."
"...fine," Ark was finally convinced and retreated with Courage. Diana looked at the youth with a tired smile before it disappeared.
"I will kill you all, so no need to retreat. You better attack me at once, or I will..."
"I will show you that this anomaly is far scarier than you think it is, vampire," said Diana as she walked over slowly, her blue dress trailing behind her. "You are an evolved being. So, tell me, what happens when the body alters between cold and hot rapidly? Maybe even at the same time?"
"...what are you talking about?"
"I am talking about science. I realized that my powers are a mix of two instead of one. These blue flames can freeze anything, but they can also burn anything. How about if I do both at the same time?"
"He would have never allowed me to experiment on my enemies, so I never checked. However, even he will be disgusted by the creature before me."
"We are the perfect species!" roared the vampire as his expression morphed to hatred. His long strands of hair grew until they were akin to tentacles. "Let me taste that arrogance, foolish human!"
"I guess vampires are the ones who do not discriminate," smiled Diana as she clapped her hands. "All of you... retreat."
"Oh boy," snickered Peter as he turned around and started walking away. "I hate this part the most. Their screams make my ears hurt."
"What are you..." Ark was curious before the ground tilted. Courage picked him up and jumped, and the two of them landed on a building. The land beneath them caved in under the princess"s feet before she bolted forward, freezing everything in her trail.
Diana spread her arms as the flames covered every inch of her body. The vampire attacked her directly without reserve, believing that his regeneration would save him.
The flames formed a pair of wings behind her back, propelling her forward faster than the eye could see. Diana appeared in front of the vampire instantly, but he did not look surprised.
"Hehe," laughed the monster. "Let me see how strong you are."
"As you wish," she said while waving her hand, which was covered with her blue flames. The blood scythe met her hand, and it simply dissolved into blood, which began to cover her.
"Idiot!" laughed the vampire as his hair tried to pierce the captive Dia. However, the blood evaporated into nothing instantly, exploding in his face. Then, as the tentacles were about to pierce through her flesh, they froze before melting into nothing. "AGH!"
"You are the foolish one," sighed Diana as her hand pushed through the blood and pierced his heart. "Live the last moments in agony."
"I will not... AAAAAAAAAA!"
The screams rang in her ears as the vampire convulsed while covered in blue flames. The blood tried to regenerate him, but the flames froze his body before melting it, before freezing it again, an endless cycle.
Diana watched as he suffered in the agony of a thousand alterations. Finally, after tinkering with her dual abilities through numerous battles with her Lance Squad, this was what she realized. Well, some of those battles were to discipline the members.
The alternation between her fire and ice can happen instantly at her will, and the flames can burn endlessly. This allowed her to overload the nerves that conduct the two sensations, making the victim experience excruciating pain.
"Boss, you are as terrifying as always," shivered Peter as he seemed to recall bad memories. Then, after a while, the vampire stopped moving, his mind broken from the pain. "Can I devour it?"
"...it looks like a human, Peter."
"My monsters are hungry."
"...only this time. We will need his appearance to infiltrate the palace, anyway," sighed Diana.
"Thank you, leader!" jumped Peter happily as he skipped steps toward the vampire. "Oh, it is still alive. This is going to be yummy!"
"Ark, you should look away," Diana said to the youth who landed on the ground next to Courage. "This is not a scene that you can forget."
"...you can"t tell me what to do."
"Courage, please."
As she turned toward the knight, the latter nodded and closed his eyes. Ark tried to resist, but the knight was far stronger. Diana turned toward Peter, who had already begun his transformation.
His tiny body began inflating like a balloon as fur grew on it. His head morphed into that of a lion while his body was that of an ape, and it was almost ten meters tall after it finished growing.
"Hehe," laughed Peter, who was now a monster, with glee. "I haven"t had food in so long!" the voice was hoa.r.s.e and monstrous, and hearing it made Ark stop resisting.
Diana watched as the giant monster picked the vampire and began to devour it. The blood splashed everywhere, on Peter"s hand and neck, but he licked every drop.
She can still remember the first time that she witnessed this transformation. It left her horrified to see a little boy turn into a heinous beast. However, the monster in front of her was one of his least scary choices.
Peter was a shapeshifter, as he introduced himself. However, his shapeshifting abilities were limited to things he devoured. It was a few years until it was found that he ate humans too and took their shapes.
King Solomon realized that such an ability would be wasted if he threw Peter in jail. Furthermore, the boy was not specifically a cannibal, but his ability cursed him with unsatiable gluttony.
Another one of his abilities was to merge different monsters that he devoured. This Lion-Ape hybrid was a fine example of that. As he finished eating the vampire, Peter began to shrink.
After a few minutes, the person in front of them looked identical to the one that had just been eaten. It made her sick every time she saw it for some reason, and that was when Peter spoke.
"Thanks for the meal, boss!" giggled Peter looking like a grown man. "This body is way better than normal humans. Look at these muscles!" he began to flex them.
The thing that bothered Diana the most was how comfortable this boy was in another human"s skin. She learned that the first person he devoured was his abusive father, and then he used his body to run away.
The funny thing is that the knights believed that the father had killed his son with the amount of blood left in the house. In the end, it turned out to be the other way around.
"Lead us to the palace, then," said Diana before waving for Courage and Lusica. "Are you alright, Ark?" she asked with concern after seeing the youth"s pale face.
"I... am..." he said without the usual confidence. Diana felt sorry for him, but Peter seemed unaware of his ability"s effect on others.
"You are afraid of a weak vampire? Hahaha!" laughed the boy in a man"s body before shaking his head and turning. "There are other vampires around, it seems. Act like you are my prisoners. Boss, can you freeze some blood as cuffs and let me drag it? That would be the most believable."
Diana nodded and used her ability to create cuffs from the blood on the ground. The chains surrounded their hands, and Peter grabbed them before pulling them across the city.
Ark walked beside her, feeling uncomfortable with the blood on his hands. Diana looked at him with pity, not realizing that she even had such emotion in her.
"I heard that you volunteered for this mission, but the Seika said that you hated him," asked Diana implicitly.
"I... saw how sad my father was. Others thought he didn"t care about the Seika, but he never slept ever since he disappeared.. Father says that the Seika was his only friend."