Sorry for the delayed upload peeps and so late as well, my procrastination side of me is quite the nuisance and ideas for my other story A Life Worth Molding and some of my future webcomics kept getting in the way. My mind never stops wondering.

With explanations out of the way let's get to the reading.

"Uuuuh I think that micro-scarab is loose. I'm hearing some skittering around the living room."

I ain't asking when you got here since now I'm too angry that that thing is free again!

"By the way what happened to your face?" Short story now lets just get to stopping that thing! "Got it sir!"


Chapter 3: Test Drive

Batearis' P.O.V

For a minute or so after leaving my new lair I've wondered about the forest in search of any creatures that I can test my new abilities on. Now that there's enough light, despite it being sunlight, I might as well examine my new vessel while all is quiet.

I start with my arms as I expose then the light causing the muscular "flesh" to give off a metallic shine despite the dark rock-like armour that have grown one top of it as a result of my possession. I'm actually starting to like the new look and feel of this body, it feels rejuvenating just to stare at it, it's like I'm my much younger self all those years ago once again. But this armor doesn't seem to suit me anymore, this a new sleeker body and this bulky armor only fits the old king, it's time for a makeover. I start to focus on my entire body feeling every inch of my armor and started to imagine my newer and sleeker armor within my mind. Soon I start to feel my body shift and morph as the sensation runs from my head all the way to my feet like a wave until it ended as soon as it started.

I opened my eyes and gazed at my arms once again and see now that my dark green armor is now as smooth as a newly made blade and reflecting a magnificent bluish green light now. I even see my own reflection in the armor and I bear witness a more streamlined and lower profile to my old form now with the spikes smaller and on top a knife-edge helmet that extend a little beyond my head. I'm really getting even more eager to try this new body out assuming that the entirety of what that human said is true in any capacity.

Speaking of him I can't believe the nerve of that bug to treat me in such a manner, what did he think he was to defy me like that. The only thing that is keeping him alive is his knowledge of this matter, if it wasn't for that then I would've spilled his guts all over the floor. It's still shocking to me that I'm reduced to relying on the likes of a human just to survive, I will get my revenge on Orochi and his one-eye bastard of a companion.

I hear some skittering on a nearby tree and in anger from my thoughts I instantly strike at its source with a spike that rapidly extended from my hand as a sickening sound of pierced flesh being heard right after. Caught at the end is a small furry creature that I saw while I was still just an energy orb. It tried to escape from my weapon but quickly succumbs to blood loss and quickly goes limp. That human did say that I can consume biological materials right? He also said that I don't have as much microbots as I should, let's put those little statements to the test.

I retract my spike with the creature still on it and grabbed it when it reached my hand fitting quite snuggly in my grasp. A small brown creature with a large fluffy tail that is clearly meant to flee rather than fight, unfortunately for it though, it was not fast enough to flee from me. Now lets see how this whole absorption thing works. Perhaps I could just eat it for at least this one, the creature is small enough to eat normally. I hold the soon-to-be morsel over my mouth and opened wide before dropping it down my gaping maw. Though it went down smoothly I felt it land where my stomach should be but nothing happened. Do I really need to do it myself?

Thinking so I close my eyes once again and focused on just consuming the creature itself. Soon I start to feel a portion of my own body start to envelop the creature's corpse like a slime monster would until its entire being is covered by my own. Its presence quickly starts to fade as I start to feel each individual metal cell begin to consume the flesh little by little with their numbers quickly taking it apart. The flesh quickly disappears before the bones start being chipped away like stone against the picks of millions of tiny worker. Soon not even a single cell of the creature remains as the small portion of my body starts to settle a little afterwards.

That was certainly an odd feeling, it's gonna take some getting use to.

I continue walking in search of some bigger prey but a scream of a human catches my attention before it was overpowered by a louder and even more monstrous roar before the former was silenced. Looks like lady luck has answered my call. I immediately dash towards where I believe is where the source of the noise had came from causing the trees around me to turn into a blur.

I weave and swerve between each tree as the thrill of the hunt all of a sudden washes over me, damn when was the last time I felt this way? Ignoring this question I continue my way towards where the commotion was as the air rushes against my whole body as if to stop me. This only makes me feel more free than before, I no longer have any more responsibilities, nothing to worry about, no one to keep an eye on, it's just me against the world. This is pure nostalgia! This was all before I was even king.

The next thing I saw was a small break in the trees that I quickly reached and what I saw intrigued me: A large brown furry creature what seems to be feasting upon the corpse of a newly killed human. It looks like quite a meal with enough biomass to replenish the lack of nanobots that I have. I form a scythe blade on my right arm in preparation for the fight but this catches the creature's attention causing it to turn towards me revealing a blood stained mouth.

"Hmmm, what are you supposed to be? Never seen you before." The creature spoke emitting a deep and brutus voice.

"Since you asked I'll tell you beast. I am Batearis, king of the monsters! And you will fall before me!" I exclaimed as I open out my arms in pride.

"Hahaha! You a king? You look nothing like one to me you welp. And do you think you can take me on? I am the great Ursa Major, fourth strongest of the House of Evolution and you will be my 10th great kill of the day!" The bulky beast bears his large claws in the air before making the first move against me. "Now prepare to die! Celestial Slash!"

I dodge the incoming attack avoiding the same fate as the now falling trees behind me landing inside the naturally formed ring across from my opponent. I dash towards my opponent with my blade ready before slashing it into the beast's hide repeatedly but not even a scratch can be seen. Realizing this I immediately leap away avoiding another strike but by a narrower margin.

"You fool, my thick hide cannot be pierced by any weapon, not even gunfire can damage me!" Oh really? Well lets just see how much damage your fat-filled hide can take.

I continue my assault as I start to hit various areas of his body to find a weak point under all the fur. I hit the arms, no good. Then 2 more strikes on the torso, nothing. Another strike is dogged as I go for the sides hitting them a multitude of times but my opponent continues to laugh at my attempts to make him bleed.

"It's no use little welp, as I said before, nothing can penetrate my hide!" Damn it, there has to be some sort of weak point. I continue to strike at various parts of the beast's body. No effect at all how the hell can I wound this thing.

I then start to remember something, a battle Renga took part in during my ascension to kingship. She was fighting against a large creature much like what I fight now, she sliced at it but to no avail and it looked like she was getting nowhere. But then she started to use her weapon's spearhead and she easily made holes in the monster eventually killing it in the end. Perhaps a shorter and more serrated blade will do the trick, enough pressure in one spot will break through any amor.

My scythe blade begin to shorten until it is only half a foot ahead of my own fist and the same blade begins to form on my other hand forming twin blades. This should be easy, it'll be like using my claws, I just need to get close enough while avoiding his.

I dash once again as my opponent roars raising his paw against me. I sidestep the attack and aimed for the legs, more specifically the area where the knee bends. I thrust the blade into the leg cutting deep enough to draw blood and cause some actual damage making my enemy roar in pain before striking at me again, crushing the ground that I was on seconds ago. I close in again striking at the other leg causing Great Ursa to collapse before he could retaliate hindering his use of his arms as they are now being used to support him. Taking advantage of this I jump on his back and started to repeatedly stab into his back causing him to lose a good amount of blood. It took a few minutes before the ever increasing wounds overwhelm the beast causing him to completely collapse to the floor.

I approach the downed creature and placed my foot on his head in triumph as I leaned in close to his face while I bear a large smile on mine.

"Still think I'm no king?" My brutish opponent growled in anger at my remark making me chuckle as I begin to land the last strike to his skull.

Before I could land the blow though the beast catches my arm and throws me across the field embedding me in a nearby boulder. I look up as I recover from the impact, trying to piece together as to what just happened. When I caught sight of Great Ursa I saw that steam is rising from his body as the brown fur slowly start to turn into a crimson red and the black beads that are the eyes begin to glow a deep blue. My bulky opponent gets up and lets out a titanic and bellowing roar as the ground collapses around him from the resulting power surge.

The aftermath shows Great Ursa with a blood red aura and bright blue eyes staring at me with extreme malice and bloodlust.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU WELP! NOW YOU WILL DIE TO MY GEARTER FORM: URSA MAJOR! YOU CAN NOT AND WILL NOT KILL ME! NOW DIIIIE!" In a blur the angered beast dashes towards me caving me into the rock to the point where it shattered to pieces and sent me flying into some trees breaking them down in the process.

I instantly recovered as I dig my claws in the dirt and avoided another attack but by mere inches. My opponent is now on the offensive as I start to avoid each attack by extremely close margins causing the entire forrest around us to be torn apart with each swipe. As I try to avoid another attack Great Ursa strikes the ground in front of him causing a shockwave that overwhelms me as it pushes me back far from my opponent and into a desolate trail. I try to get back up but I couldn't feel my body at all.

"Hey, what the hell is happening here?" A familiar male voice made itself known to as some sort of label shows with the words 'Maxus Starge' along with a squiggly line underneath it.

"Minion, is that you? How are you communicating with me?"

"It's Maxus Starge damnit, and I just got finished with fixing the communication system which gives me direct access to your condition and your audio and visual input. And from the looks of things here someone is really kicking your ass."

"Watch yourself and tell me what is going on with me."

"Fine fine, from what these specks are showing here your body just suffered an overload of energy and went into a temporary shutdown state. You should be able to move in about 20 seconds." I then hear a roar in the distance and the ever growing sound of collapsing trees afterward. "Geez who did you piss off while I was away?"

"Someone beyond your capabilities minion, now what I'm I suppose to do about this condition?" I continue to try to move my body but was only able to move a finger.

"I can't say much, just wait and get ready to move in 10 seconds. I think this monster will be on top of you the moment your recover." I soon got an arm to start moving as my body continues to recover but the sounds of the rampaging monster quickly grow closer. "Five seconds."

I begin to hear the footsteps before I see a large figure high in the sky that is starting to barrel towards me.

"Move now!" Without hesitation I roll out of the way letting the impact of the creature give me some distance from him. "Wait, is that a bear?"

"I don't know what that is but tell me on how to defeat this creature." I move aside to dodge another slash from the creature.

"What I suggest is to fight fire with fire. Focus most of your energy into one attack and kill it in one blow. I'm sure you have enough energy for that." That's assuming that I can get close to this thing without getting cut in half. Taking the advice I start to look for an opening in Great Ursa's movements but his enhanced speed is making that difficult.

"DIE!" It seems that his rage can make him say only one word now.

The mindless beast then raises his fists in the air and smashes them in the ground producing a towering form of red energy that rushes towards me tearing everything in its path. I easily sidestep this and quickly noticed that the creature is becoming sluggish. I wasted no time in taking advantage of this as start to sprint towards him as I also start to focus all my available energy into my blade arm turning it into a blade of pure energy. My enemy still seems to be recovering from the last attack as I quickly close the gap between us. Right when I'm right in front of them I jump as I prepare to give the final strike.

When I was right about to make contact a blur crosses by torso and the next thing I see is my body separating into pieces. Everything slows down as I see the outstretched paw of Great Ursa as he gives off a victorious smile while staring at the sky. Like hell I'm losing to this mindless animal!

I outstretch my arm and grabbed hold of his head, digging my claws into the skin keeping me on him as he tries to shake me off. I start to dig my blade into the damnable creature's skull cleanly slicing through his skin and carving right through the skull and out the other side instantly killing the animal.

Great Ursa's energy instantly dissipates and the fur turns back into its original brown before his body falls to the ground along with me.

"Damn, I have to admit, that was sort of hardcore." I look for my other pieces as my minion comments on my actions until I see a couple of shiny puddle close by.

I crawl towards them and made contact with the smaller of the two which was instantly absorbed into me. I see that at least my own mass can be attained instantly, that's convenient. I dipped my fingers into the larger puddle which was once my legs absorbing it in seconds and having all that start to move down my body and start to reform them. The formless mass quickly regains the define shape of my legs and I stretched them out in comfort.

"Yes it indeed was, nothing will get in the way of my ascension, not even a brute like him. Speaking of which." I place one of my hands on the creature's corpse as I let my nanobots spread across the surface like water.

"Whoa, wait a minute, that thing is too big for you. Remember what I said back at the lab." Ignoring him I continue to absorb the body covering it inch by inch until it's nothing but a writhing metallic mass. I start to absorb the body little by little shrinking it until it's just a ball in my hand which quickly dissipates. I suddenly start to feel drowsy as my vision becomes blurry and my body becomes heavy causing me to crouch on the ground and grasp my head, damn how am I feeling so exhausted? "See, this is what happens when you don't listen to me idiot now it looks like you're gonna be like that for a few minutes." I growl at him while I just lay there.

"While I'm like this have you ever heard of the House of Evolution?"

"No, that doesn't ring a bell, why."

"The creature said it earlier, saying that it was the fourth strongest in it."

"Well I have no idea about that but from the looks of it it's some sort of organization that mutates animals into a higher form like what they did to that bear. I think we may have made a troublesome enemy." All of a sudden a rustling can be heard attracting his attention he however cursed a few seconds later as something gets a hold of him. "Dammit let go of me you freak! Argh!"

"Minion?" I called out but no replay. "Minion!" What the hell happened over there?

"Greetings creature, I am of the House of Evolution and I currently have your creator. If you want to see him alive again you will follow my orders." Damn this guy who does he think he is. "The first assignment I want you to do is to be a test subject of mine. One of my creations is currently making her way into a human city just South of your current position, meet her there and engage her for me will you?"

"You won't get away with this human!"

"Oh but I will, I have your creator after all and from the looks of things you are in a bad shape and your creator is the only one who can fix you." This guy is already getting on my nerves but he's right, my hands are tied here.

"Fine, but I'm coming for you eventually."

"We will see. You got an hour to comply." Damnit, I hate this arrangement already.


Let's see how the former monster king will get out of this problem now unlike that micro-scarab that we just killed.

"Yeah and now there's a big yellow goopy stain in the hallway." Yeah, it's gonna be a hassle to clean that mess. Now daily trivia time:

There is a type of bacteria that scientists have recently discovered that can eat plastic by breaking down the bonds that keep it together for so long. Said scientists are experimenting on it in order for it to break down the plastic faster. They named the bacteria Ideonella sakainesis.

Next will be the first review response of the story:

Paradox009: Nice to see that this story interests you fellow reader. The idea of a less heroic protagonist has interest me for a while and this story provided the perfect opportunity to express it.

Also the next chapter will be for A Life Worth Molding at the usual time since it's been a while since I gave that story some love I don't like leaving things alone for too long. Though I may have a chapter for this story up alongside that as well but no promises. Also some clearer ideas sprang up while writing this story.

With that done I hope you readers and writers have a great day or night wherever you may be.