Chapter 126 - Demonic Invasion PT3

Turned out that things would not be as easy as they had thought with regards to clearing the first of the three floors. That fact quickly burned itself into the brains of the three Groups, burrowing into them like animals seeking to escape the harsh winter, everything that followed suit after Neptune's little 'display' with Soul Calibur. Said events felt like the core of a chaotic maelstrom, more than anything else.

"Um, is it just me or do these guys seem wilder to you all?" Neptune questioned, stretching her arms over her head after they cleared another room filled with Demons. The formation they had was pretty simple, her in front, IF to her left flank and Compa to her right. Their Party had just finished fighting a ton of Bloodletters and a few Juggernauts, way fewer than the horde she had fought back at the entrance to the Main Hall. None of it had been easy however, and at this point none of them expected it to. Fortunately, there hadn't been any of those Khornate Berserkers or the World Eater Legion (they kept calling themselves that during battle), which made using her Crystal constructs much easier since they wouldn't be axed off every few seconds.

After clearing the room out, the rest of them had quickly fulfilled their roles assigned to them by Stefan, as like he had said, he would remain behind to take command of what remained of the Basilicoms' guards. Someone had to, and since Yvoire had gone MIA (missing in action) he was the only one fit for the job. So far though, judging from the few times they had seen guard patrols acting additionally cautious towards the hallways, it seemed that the man didn't withhold how dangerous their jobs would be. Seemed like he had well and truly EARNED the right to be considered a Leader.

Of course, he wasn't the only one who worked as hard as possible, the other groups also deserved credit. Group 2 had done their job of cleaning up any remains and finding as many survivors as possible while Group 3 opted to remain behind their lines. Just far enough to be counted as a support group, and by the Goddess was that a good decision on their part. Neither of them hadn't remained inactive, as the latter would handle more than a few ambushes from their rear flanks, whilst the former would have more than a few scared staff members, the occasional panicked Noble (whom Lucy took great pleasure in 'shoving' into the main hall) as well as a few injured soldiers whom barely clung to life. Thankfully, they had healing items to keep their conditions from going critical. Otherwise things could have ended up much worse.

Still, there WAS something increasingly apparent, as well as suspicious, about these ambushes as Neptune had noted. Using her ability to track Demonic Power, the more they fought throughout the floor, felt like a 50/50 situation. As in, she could sense demonic entities throughout the Floor, which allowed them to target the areas with the lesser concentrations of them first. You know. To give everyone in their groups who had yet to experience them first hand a better chance of fighting them (she definitely caught those looks Isaac, Aiden and Ivan sent the way of the Demons while she and her gal pals fought them), but on the other hand she couldn't sense their Portals, leading to them spawning potentially right next t them and her senses wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to warn her beforehand.

It was a good thing she had the MARGINAL COUNTER technique in those cases, as absurd reaction times had been the sole thing saving her skin from meeting an early Hellblade decapitation more times than she'd care to mention.

The bottom line though, was that the more they fought, the more Neptune had begun to see some form of pattern here. Gradually the frequency of the ambushes would increase, and they were mostly targeting either group 1 or 3 according to what she'd seen. Not to mention that every time they got tougher and tougher, with more close shaves regarding life or death situations. Time passed, and these suspicions only served to heighten, making her worried no matter how much she tried to hide behind her usual cheerful comic relief character persona.

She wasn't the only one who noticed either, as IF had noticed the same thing she had done. "Yeah, you're not the only one, Nep." She remarked, glancing about while keeping her senses sharpened. Honestly, when she had seen Neptune's MARGINAL COUNTER the first time, she had been… well, more than a little jealous. Despite her training and powers, IF had found that she couldn't sharpen her reaction time to anything higher than 0.1 seconds. It had been a… rather disgruntling discovery, and she'd tried to push past it only for her body to mutate in ways that… well, let's just say she didn't want those mutations happening to her body. Still, the fact that there was something off here allowed her to focus on other things than her on training. "These attacks are getting more and more suspicious. Not only are the ambushes occurring more frequently like they know where we are, but the numbers of Demons are rising through each Ambush. Even with our current powers, it'd be bad if we were overwhelmed."

"Uuuugh… so many heals…" Compa whined, grimacing at the thought of the healing she would have to do. They had ample healing item supplies, so they could each restore their energy in-between attacks. Sure, they would work, but having to experience the exhaustion of combat multiple times in one day wasn't something she looked forward to. Not to mention the fact that most of the responsibility for healing and support rested with Compa herself. If she went down, the Party lost their support/healer. But, if what her friends said was true, then there would gradually be no time to restore themselves. Not something she would enjoy thinking about, especially when the time came when they couldn't afford to apply those healing items. The amount of pressure building up on her kept gradually increasing, and that… didn't really sit well with her.

There was a reason why she was so anxious about this after all, a reason that she had confided in Nico during their outing in Planeptune…

Nevertheless, whilst noting Compa's demeanor, IF walked ahead of them while holding a scowl behind her half-mask. She had a few ideas on how to improve her Armour, and some of them actually came from the way the Armours of those Khornate Berserkers looked. She had noticed it well through their random encounters with those Armoured warriors, but their Armour was very durable, hell it took a full powered shot from a Goddess to dent it, and even then it still functioned fairly well. There was also the intimidation factor, something she felt would be quite nice to have for her Armour. To her, an Armour suit best functioned with intimidation. The scarier the Armour, the better. Though, she wasn't sure on the moral aspects of having Armour similar to their enemies in appearance. "In any case, we need to get moving, if we want to kick the asses of these fuckers. Lets go retake the Basilicom, Ladies!"

"Yessie/Righto!"


10 minutes later however…

"Man, I'm beat…" Neptune whined, heaving and gasping whilst using Soul Calibur as a crutch. The girls' legs seemed like they were wobbly as hell, not to mention that she looked quite exhausted whilst Compa gave her some SP Chargers to refuel her power. However, said Nurse-In-Training also looked beyond exhausted, and with what had been happening, who could blame her? "These Demon guys just don't know when to quit, do they?" she questioned the others.

To say that their day had been exhausting as all hell would be one big understatement. In fact, it could very well be a contender for the understatement of the century award. Throughout the last 10 minutes, Neptune, Compa and IF had faced numerous Demons, consisting of Bloodletters and Juggernauts, throughout the entire floor with seemingly no end in sight. Not just ambushes, but the concentration of Demons throughout the floor just kept getting bigger and bigger with no end in sight. Almost like they were intending to just flood the entire Basilicom with numbers alone. If they weren't here, who knows how quickly the Leanbox Guard would have lasted against them, since these creatures seem to have ample experience on the battlefield.

Fortunately, they didn't encounter many Khornate Berserkers or World Eater soldiers, but even so the Party didn't like how that was a thing. The fact that they hadn't encountered any didn't bode well for them once they reached the lower floors. It was like in those RPG games, where the deeper inside a Dungeon one goes, the more powerful the enemies become till they reach the boss at the bottom. Not something that the wanted to ponder for too long, yet those ominous thoughts were like cockroaches, never leaving them the heck alone.

"The more we fight, the more that we attract to us, it seems…" IF muttered, thoughtfully. The other Groups didn't include themselves in the conversation, as they had their own tasks to do, which sort of comforted them and yet not at the same time. Sometimes, having more voices in a conversation could help provide fresh perspectives, after all. Especially the more knowledgeable ones like Raven, Guts, Isaac etc. However, she wouldn't risk deviating from their current plan for opinions just yet, things weren't that dire as of right now. "Still, this shows that the enemy has their eyes on US and not the Main Hall where the Nobles are. At least, they'll get a chance to evacuate to safety."

"True." Compa remarked, nodding in agreement as she fell onto her backside. Her lungs almost burned in their desire for air, her form already going through intense respiration. If she was going to survive this, then she would be getting a shower when they arrived at their hotel. Sometimes, she found herself jealous of IF, as thanks to her BOW physiology, she didn't have to worry about getting sweaty thanks to her body assimilating any bacteria that she came into contact with. It was the same for bathing, now that she thought about it, making her realize that IF really did the more human things like bathing, eating cooked human foods etc, from habit and not necessity like a normal person would. It filled her with both jealousy at the freedom her body possessed, as well as sadness for her friend, though right now wasn't the time for these thoughts. "At least we're doing what heroes do, as in helping people. But, we keep going like this and we're probably not gonna last…"

Both the preteen Goddess and the brunette BOW nodded in grim agreement, though the former tried to hide it behind her ever easy-going attitude. The grim reality of the situation however, didn't lose any of its impact from this, though. Compa was right on the mark after all, they wouldn't be able to keep up this mindless fighting forever. Maybe IF could if she kept assimilating her demonic opponents, that ability kept her strength up and helped her abilities further evolve. In essence, something like this only seemed like a means of growing stronger for her, a biological playground for her body to develop stronger mutations. However, the rest of them didn't have that advantage, they relied more on their healing items and Compa herself to keep themselves up to full strength in prolonged battles like this. Their supplies were quickly dwindling thanks to the excessive use of their supplies, so it wouldn't be long until they would dry up and 'wash out' as the saying went.

In essence, it resembled the difference between a rechargeable battery and a non-rechargeable variant. One could be used continuously as long as there was energy to charge it with, while the other had a bigger but non-rechargeable energy supply.

Vexing, that was what that was.

Just as they made to take a rest, Neptune suddenly tensed, her eyes widening as she almost dropped her Soul Calibur to the ground. Her eyes became white circles and her jaw practically fell open. "Nepu?!" she exclaimed, startling the others.

"Huh? Nep, what's with you aside form not going Nepu for a while?" IF questioned, arching a brow and crossing her Armoured arms over her chest. That had been a bit of a surprise, she hadn't expected the childish CPU to become like that all of a sudden. Whatever got under her skin though had to be serious, enough for her to have this level of a reaction. Normally, she would have dismissed this as Neptune being well, Neptune, but this time wasn't like the norm.

Turning to them, Neptune began to try and say what she wanted to say. Her eyes narrowed, her lips pursed while her cheeks puffed in concentration. "Muuu… I dunno how to say it, but I'm getting this strange feeling… Its like I'm sensing a whirlpool nearby or something, but how could that be? I mean, whirlpools are meant to be in oceans, right? Not inside a building or is Gamindustri logic that bad?" she queried, confused while scratching the top of her head in puzzlement. She understood that it was to do with her demonic energy sensing powers, that much was for certain. She could sense that there was a massive build-up of the stuff nearby, but for some reason, she just kept getting this strange feeling. Like this kind of energy was different from what she had been used to so far.

If anything about this taught her a lesson, then it would be that the unknown was NEVER a good sign…

"Well, whatever it is we only have it as our lead at this point. Perhaps we can find something there." IF stated, sighing to herself in resignation. The other girls looked at her weirdly, but didn't say anything, and for that, she considered herself grateful. Honestly speaking, she didn't like the idea of going anywhere near something she had no clue on, it was just asking for trouble and with the shit that had been happening the unknown sounded REAL freaking dangerous alright. Dangerous enough to get them killed. However, with their current situation being what it was, she found herself being forced to admit that they didn't have many other options. The majority of the floor had been cleared, they had found most of the Survivors on this floor with only a few areas left. And some of those areas had the highest concentration of Demonic entities according to Neptune, anyways.

Might as well check this out, see what the whole fuss was about.


Later, the trio found themselves before one of the guest rooms on the floor, a particularly large one according to the size of the door. Groups 2 and 3 remained to do their own roles, but thanks to a recent Demon attack they had found themselves separated from Group 1. Fortunately, IF had the contact details of several people in the two groups (she could already see Vert freaking out that her precious 'iffy' had disappeared), so they could get in contact and regroup at any time they wished. Not to mention the chances of them finding more survivors with the floor they had left to search wouldn't be as high as it was before.

"This the place, Nep?" the brunette BOW questioned, looking over to the amnesiac preteen with a questioning gaze. She wanted to make sure they were in the right place and not somewhere else entirely. She didn't completely trust Neptune's sense of direction, one time they had been walking home after a quest and Neptune's tiredness lead them to go to a brothel with male strippers instead. An eye-opening experience, but it made her always wary of whenever Neptune was either tired or had hunches similar to the one she had said she had now.

Looking over to her friend, Neptune gave a firm nod of resolution, a 'hm-hm!' sound escaping her lips as she pumped a fist. "Uh, huh! Yeppers, this is where I feel that strange thing coming from alright. Just behind this doorsie." She replied, before twirling on one foot and prepping herself by raising Soul Calibur. In her hand, the weapon seemed to almost rattle with excitement, the fact that it had been used so much during this invasion filling it with utter joy. It had been locked deep within Neptune's soul for months now, so excuse it for enjoying its time out of her being for once! "Alright, ladies! Let's do what we do best, and charge ahead blindly! Goooo-!"

"Nope." Before anything could happen that could potentially spell doom for the Party (or perhaps an aneurysm for IF, she didn't doubt Neptune's antics being possibly capable of even making someone like HER have one with the body she had), the brunette slammed a fist on top of her head. She used only a bit of her true strength, she didn't want the preteen to lose any more brain cells after all. While Neptune trembled in the fetal position as she held her head (which had a throbbing cartoonish bump with a bandage forming on it and steam), IF spoke more with closed eyes. "Not charging ahead blindly on this one, Nep. Also, stop pulling jokes from other games into this, this fanfiction is crazy enough as it is." Oh, who was she kidding? This was NEPTUNE of all people, trying to stop her from being meta would be like trying to stop her from liking pudding.

Compa, whilst she tended to the preteen's head injury with some bandages (which Neptune kept a wary eye on), furrowed her brows while a questioning look formed on her face. "Then, what are we gonna do, Iffy? If we don't go in, we won't find out what it is Nep-Nep sensed." She asked her. In cases like these, when Nico wasn't around the Nurse-In-Training would find herself looking to the Spec Ops Candidate for leadership, cause no offense to Neptune, but she hardly fit the bill for a leader. She was more the cute, lovable oaf who helped keep the mood up.

And like she thought, IF had a plan already in mind as she walked to the wall beside the door. "Don't worry, I got this covered." She responded, an eager smirk soon spreading across her lips like wildfire. "Heh-Heh, Nep isn't the only one who's got a few new tricks up her sleeve. Had a bit of practice with this ability, so I wanna test it out in the field." She stated further, pressing her hand onto the wall.

At that moment, IF closed her eyes and began to focus. Her mind quickly sent commands to her body, or to be more exact her Biomass reserves that felt so large that they resembled a whale ten times bigger than an average one. All of it came from assimilating Demons and Abnormals over the last couple months, so she had much to burn through. That Biomass soon detached a piece of itself under her will, and she willed it to go down her arm. It did so, traveling down her arm in the form of a barely noticeable bulge, acting almost like a living organism. It weirded and creeped Neptune out to no end, as she was the sole person to notice.

Once it reached her hand, however, IF manipulated her hand's biological structure, allowing the Biomass within it to escape into the wall. She felt it escape in the form of a feeling of something sliding out of her, a somewhat ticklish sensation if she were honest. However, it quickly passed, and soon enough, she found a connection between both herself plus the Biomass she had ejected into the wall form in her mind. It had entered the wall through the smallest, unseen cracks that could only have come from the building being as old as it was, though IF didn't focus much on that.

While she worked, Neptune made to ask what the brunette planned on doing, however just before she could open her mouth the preteen found her mouth being concealed by a quick motion from Compa. Surprised, Neptune made to break free, but Compa shushed her, whispering that it was best not to disturb IF during her work. When she got a confused glance from the preteen, Compa briefly explained that whatever IF was doing seemed to require intense focus, so it would be best if they gave her the space needed.

'Heh, well at least I'm not getting grilled for answers yet…'

That thought made IF let out a relieved chuckle, a small humorous smirk forming on her lips as she continued her work. She'd rather explain the abilities she got when all this shit would be over, and she didn't see that happening any time soon. Returning to her task, IF commanded the Biomass to envelop the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room to both isolate the sounds within as well as tell her what was going on inside. This was the exact same thing that she had used to guarantee herself some alone time with Nico after he helped her with the Hellverse incident, only this time it had been more refined for combat use. Having eyes everywhere across the battlefield sounded like a huge tactical advantage to her, hence why she had developed it.

Thanks to having refined this ability, something she liked to call the 'Zen Shiya' (All-seeing Vision), IF could have it infest certain sections of a structure and allow her to know what lay within. This could extend to the structure's layout including any hidden areas, up to even the amount of organisms inside of that section including their location. It's not meant for attacking per say, but more on the lines of scouting, as it will also inform her of anything getting close to its vicinity. It didn't see through 'eyes' as it was merely Biomass stretching through the interior of a structure, but through special nerves that would inform it where the enemy was and their numbers. It also secreted unseen atoms that merged with the ones inside the section which would fill said section, allowing for the ZEN SHIYA to see whatever was not on the ground but in the air, taking care of any aerial enemies.

There were several downsides to using this, however. One of them was that its actual use was fairly limited, as it could only be used inside structures, and even then, only parts of it can be infested at a time. If she were outside in an open space, then it would die the moment it detached from her Biomass reserves. Not only that, like she said before it wasn't much of an attacker, and it also didn't have that much defense either. It relied on the structure's integrity itself to defend it, infesting it to make the section more durable against attacks which would normally break them. If but one stab from a weapon got through that and impacted it, then the ZEN SHIYA would kill the infestation in seconds.

Fortunately for IF, she had another mutation developed to compensate for that.

After a few more seconds, IF felt the ZEN SHIYA completely cover the room from the Basilicom's structure, allowing it to see inside and inform her of the enemy's numbers, and their locations. Instantly, she began getting information through the link she had with the ZEN SHIYA, her brows narrowing while her eyes closed, and her left hand's index and middle fingers touched her forehead. 'Hmmm, judging by what the ZEN SHIYA's telling me… looks like we have a full house of Khornate Berserkers in there. Doesn't seem like there are any Bloodletters or Juggernauts though which will be a relief. Still, if this is true, then it would seem that they've been sending Demons out there to attack us while the Berserkers have remained by this room for some reason. What the hell?'

This behavior immediately caught IF off guard, as so far, the Khornate Berserkers seemed content with just randomly charging into battle with utmost ferocity. The fact that they were waiting and supposedly doing nothing but remaining stationary inside this room felt both shocking, and more than a little suspicious. 'Maybe they have some form of intelligence after all? Or perhaps someone else is rallying them, like a leader would his army when they're regaining their morale. If they do have a leader, then this will be like a boss in a Dungeon. Odds are, the difficulty spike will be great…'

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy, hellllooooooo! Gamindustri to Iffy! Gaminustri to Iffy!"

"Um, Iffy?"

Two hands waved themselves in front of her face, abruptly and rudely snapping IF out of her thoughts as she smacked the hands away. When she did that, did the brunette hear the preteen that she called a Party Leader exclaim at the gesture, however, IF didn't focus on that as she aimed a glare at their direction. "What was the big idea? I was thinking something important!"

"Hey, rude, you were pulling a Nicky and keeping us all in suspense! Don't try to copy Nicky, that's his gimmick in this fanfic, not yours!" Neptune retorted, pouting with her hands in fists at her sides. Heck, within her, she felt Soul Calibur grumble in annoyance at her companion's demeanor, its frustration being sent through to her via their link. "So, uh, what's the dealio? You found something out?"

Compa didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes said it all. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to seem rude about it. The difference between her and Neptune, people. Maybe she should have the 'Party Mom' moniker, IF thought, before clearing that thought from her mind and turning to fully face the two girls. "Well, I've found out where all the Khornate Berserkers were all this time. Apparently, whatever got Nep's senses all wound up is extremely important, so they've opted to protect it or at least gather around it for some reason."

"Huh, so… that's a thing." Neptune responded with a deadpan. Her eyes had that 'I_I' look on right now as she digested that information, putting it under the 'weird stuff that doesn't matter to Nep' folder in her mind. "We help then, let's just bust on through, ladies!" she bellowed, getting into a combat stance before the door.

IF and Neptune quickly got out the way, the brunette making a note to alert her ZEN SHIYA to pull itself out of the door, so it didn't get hit by whatever Neptune was about to do. Something she found to have been VERY correct to do, when she sensed a large amount of hybrid energy gathering within Soul Calibur like a pure blue torrent, a blue aura slowly forming over the blade. It sent chills down to her very core, every instinct in her body screaming at her to NOT let that energy even TOUCH her lest she suffers pain worse than burning from the sun itself.

Should those guys on the other end feel it, they'd be shivering too, she would bet.

"Alrightie, boy! Let's go to town on these suckers! Hyaaaaaaa!" Neptune called out, screaming as she swung Soul Calibur in an under-arching wave. The blade's tip touched the ground, and in its wake, Crystal formed to launch itself as a huge stream of sharp, jagged spikes with large pillars mixed in. The stream shot through the ground with the speed of a bullet train, slamming into the doors with such unrelenting force that tore right through it, blowing the doors open and filling the interior with sharpened Crystal. One could hear the startled cries, mixed with furious howls, of the Khornate Berserkers within. "Hehehehe, looks like we got the first strike! Symbol attack go!"

Even with that rather loud proclamation, neither of the two girls voiced their objections. None of them wasted any time in running inside, Neptune dismissing the Crystal in favor of using it to forge Knights and Viperwolves for support. Even applied the DEMONIC BLESSING to them.


Inside, the girls found themselves witnessing the sight of what lay within.

Like IF had stated to them outside, there were a large batch of Khornate Berserkers, about 60 in total, each of them still recovering from the surprise attack Neptune had launched with Soul Calibur. If it were any normal attack, then they would have recovered near-instantaneously, but thanks to Soul Calibur NOT being a weapon normal mortals could use, this wasn't the case. It may as well have been their anti-thesis, considering their opposing natures, hell Soul Calibur had a demonic side that mixed in well with the Divinity it now had, making it even deadlier. Some of them were on one knee, using their weapons as crutches while others were on all fours, shaking their heads to get rid of the dizzy spells they got from that attack.

Looking at all this, IF couldn't help but sweatdrop. "Wow, this is…" she muttered under her breath, shaking her head before glancing incredulously towards their Leader. "Geez, Neptune. You ever heard of the word 'Overkill'?" she questioned with an arched brow. Now, she felt VERY glad that she wouldn't get on the receiving end of that blade. Her BOW instincts refused to let their guard down around that weapon, especially with how it still radiated that beautiful blue aura over its blade, remnants of the power it used before still clinging to its form. As for the constructs Neptune made, each of them encircled the trio of girls, ready to unleash hell upon their mistress's orders.

"Hehehe, sorry…" Neptune responded, sheepishly chuckling with her free hand, all the while Soul Calibur trembled in her grasp, giving off an aura of something unrepentant for its actions. Soul Calibur seemed almost like it had somewhat of a prideful side compared to Soul Edge, which just hungered for bloodshed, warfare, and slaughter. "Guess I kinda don't know my own strength…"

"So… YOU are the one who attacked my men, are you?"

Just then, a deep, masculine voice broke through the air, its sharp, cold and deep tones quickly demanding the girls' look to the source. It also demanded the attention of the rest of the Berserkers, whom quickly shot to attention with cold, stiff forms like a well-disciplined military unit, unlike the rabid dogs that the girls were used to.

The source came from the center of the room, and when everyone looked there, Neptune, IF and Compa all widened their eyes (two sets being hidden behind their helmets) when they saw what looked like a cloud, a cloud composing of energy, gas, and lightning all mixing together like some form of a whirlpool. Yet, it wasn't a whirlpool in the traditional sense, it felt more like some form of space mixed with whirlpool traits, leading to confusion from the girls whilst the source emerged from within the 'thing' there, confidently striding towards them with strength and purpose.

This source happened to be a man, or rather they THOUGHT it was a man since the being had full body Armour covering him, so they couldn't tell. Still, the masculine undertones indicated that he was male… yet, more than that at the same time. The guy's Armour seemed much like that of the Khornate Berserkers around him, matching their appearance, but colored a darker shade of red than theirs, with black markings of eyes, fanged maws and demonic symbols adorning the Armour. Each one nonetheless almost glowed with burning malice and sinister intent. The man's eyes resembled literal flames through his helmet with how bright they glowed, their gaze locked onto the girls with barely a readable look in them.

For weapons, the man sported two types: On his left hand, there was this large, powered gauntlet fitted with four razor-sharp metallic blades, each blade a miniature power weapon sheathed in a strange energy field, no doubt enabling them to carve through armor and flesh with ease. In his right hand, there was a massive, two-bladed Axe that looked wickedly sharp, both blades having double pointed ends and along spike between them for stabbing. It also came with a Chainsaw function, as apparent when the girls noted the various teeth that adorned each blade's edge.

"Ooooh! Let's call that a Chainaxe!"

"Hush, Nep…!"

"It matters not what you call my weapon." Snarled the man, having heard Neptune's words almost stupidly easily. It was almost child's play for him, and yet the preteen's voice grated heavily on his short-tempered nerves. "The fact remains that you three BRATS, dared to hinder our great Conquest of this pathetic world! You dared deny me the skulls I seek for my master! You shall taste the wrath of I, Roghrax Bloodhand, personally! Men! Rip those ants to pieces for the glory of Khorne! RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" He roared, raising his Chainaxe to the air. His marks seemed to pulse brightly, and the rest of the Khornate Berserkers screamed in a unified gleeful war cry. He then dashed forwards without warning, his speed so great that none of the girls could react in time as he made to grasp Neptune by her Skull. "You first, you trollop!"

Just before he could grasp her, as in just MILLISECONDS before, IF barely managed to knock Neptune out of the way, turn to face the enemy, but ended up getting grabbed instead. "Guh!" she grunted, rearing a leg back to try and kick him with no small amount of Biomass enhancing her leg for the attempt. However, the moment her foot impacted the man's Armour, it just exploded into pure gore, a shower of blood exploding beneath her sole remaining foot. "GAAAAAH!"

"IFFY!"

Both her friends cried out at the sight, horror, and dread filling their beings whilst IF got thrown across the room like a rag-doll, landing on all fours (or perhaps threes, since she had only one foot) until she ground to a halt. From the injury, pain shot up her leg right into her brain, nearly making the brunette cry even more, though she bit her lip and endured it. She'd gone through worse, so this should be nothing to her. However, thanks to her large Biomass reserves, IF managed to regenerate her foot in a second, which proved to be quite a feat considering how this 'Roghrax' character was already on her, swinging his Chainaxe towards her head with his fiery eyes wide with bloodlust and maniacal glee. IF almost saw her whole life flash before her eyes when she heard the revved-up rotating teeth of that Chainaxe as it neared her skull.

'Shoot! Gotta form my weapon…!'

PARRY!

GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNND!

Quickly, IF reacted by morphing her right arm while raising it into the weapon's movement path, making a weapon that managed to catch the Chainaxe, barring its path successfully even with the rotating teeth grinding away at it. The girl cringed at the feeling of the teeth digging like shovels constantly chewing through dirt, sparks flying between their weapons, before pushing him back and getting into a combat stance.

Stumbling backward a few steps, Roghrax got his balance back, each of his men all rearing to charge forwards. However, he held his clawed gauntlet out to stop them, much to their surprise and anger. Yet, their fear of being killed by their leader held them at bay. The reason why soon became apparent however when they all glanced to the one whom he'd picked as his opponent.

IF, who had lowered her defense, made a few practice swings before rearing her weapon backward, forming her own attack stance. She had applied her blade mutation to her arm, but… unlike before, it had a completely new form. One that seemed quite… radical, perhaps more so than her blade mutation's previous form.

Instead of its previous one, the blade mutation took the form of a massive, elongated, double ended blade, forming from the base of her right arm's elbow. The blade mutated the rest of the arm down into a mass of black chitin. The main blade protruded downwards, with the rear blade protruded upwards. Making its size rival that of IF's height. The main blade seemed about the shape of a large tooth, while the rear blade looked much smaller, retaining the length so it reached the top of her head, with the shape of a spike.

The moment that they saw the blade, both girls blinked owlishly as they stared at their brunette friend in shock. "Whoa…!" Neptune exclaimed, her eyes going up and down the blade's form. The way it looked gave off this primitive, savage impression, all the while complying with the whole organic gimmick… plus, it kinda made chills go down her spine as images of IF stabbing someone with that blade raced through her mind. "Iffy, that blade looks awesome!"

'Iffy…' Compa thought, eyes equally s wide to show her surprise, whilst she put a hand over her mouth at the extensive mutation taking over IF's arm. True, IF had some drastic mutations already, but there was something about this one that seemed… well, special for some reason. Perhaps it was how the blade seemed much more organic than her previous one? It definitely took over her arm in an increasingly 'complete' way in comparison to its previous form.

On the other hand, Roghrax narrowed his eyes, looking at the blade and noticing the intense sheen coming from it. That man's instincts told him that this weapon wasn't just for show. Not to mention, it struck a chord with him. Well, not the weapon per say, but how she got it. "Hmmm… interesting… that arm…." Soon enough though, he figured out why, and a dark chuckle escaped his lips as he pointed his Axe towards her. "I see… you remind me of the Tyranids I fought countless millennia ago…"

"Uhhh…" IF began, arching a brow when she heard him say that word. For some reason, she got this feeling that she was being insulted somehow, a spark of indignation igniting within her. "Tyranids?" she questioned, though she didn't think she would be getting an answer from this guy. The way he quivered right now gave her the impression he was struggling to hold back his murderous intent.

She only confirmed her thoughts when he erupted into mad laughter, rearing his head backward. "Hahahaha! Yes, yes, yes! This conquest had gotten all the more interesting" My Lord, Khorne! Grant me your power, so I may add another Skull to my collection! To my eternal offering to your greatness!" He bellowed between his laughs. The marks on his Armour, in response to his words, almost seemed to glow so brightly that they could be mistaken for miniature suns, all the while his form became cloaked with this crimson aura that only contained malice and unfathomable insanity. His laughs gradually become more and more demented all the while, until they could give even the most deluded of psychopaths a run for their money.

Quickly seeing that their friend was in duress, Neptune and Compa glanced at each other. This only lasted for a second thought, before they nodded in unison and then began to sprint forwards, trying to come to IF's aid. "Don't worry, we're coming for you Iffy!" Neptune cried out, holding Soul Calibur for a powered slash. She even made to activate her PLANEPTUNE DRIVE, however, two things happened that stopped both her and Compa from doing anything.

One: Roghrax yelled out "BEGONE!" while throwing his hand out, causing his minions to step between the two girls and his fight with IF. Neptune's Crystal Constructs backed her up, though they likely wouldn't be able to break through in time. "This whore's skull is mine for the taking, none shall interfere!" he yelled, before he clicked his fingers. That triggered the second thing, as all around them a large circular ring of orangish-red Hellfire erupted around them, being just large enough for them to engage in single combat, whilst sporting some unknown-looking Carvings IF couldn't read. More maniacal laughter escaped her opponent, who howled like a hyena whilst pointing his Chainaxe at her. "The Death Parade has been accomplished! Now, it is truly a one-on-one duel! Only by becoming victorious, can this be settled!" He bellowed, before breaking into a mad sprint in her direction.

Hearing this, IF cursed as she readied her blade, also morphing her remaining arm into her Claw whilst she quickly blocked the man's fist Chainaxe swing. Her eyes narrowed, their gaze as sharp as any blade would be whilst her body began to heat up, thanks to her Biomass reserves doing so by her will. She would have to pull out all the stops here, she thought to herself. Her training, her Mutations, both new and old, all of them would be put to the test right at this moment. It had to be, or this may very well be her last fight… ever.


Back in the Main Hall, things proceeded smoothly, with minimal incidents...

Well, that was what Captain Stefan Von Kessal WISHED would be happening, but nope, that was not the case whatsoever.

A tired groan escaped his lips as he sat on a chair, a hand on his face while he had his head hung low. One arm draped itself over the chair's back, the other having its elbow lean on the nearby table. Sometimes, the man wished that people could be more competent in their jobs, that they were more aware of their responsibilities and their commitments. Pretty much everything important about their jobs that they seem to ignore in favor of their own interests.

Now, this wasn't a jab at the military, in fact despite all the shit that had gone down, the Basilicom Guardsmen and the staff had behaved rather well. They co-operated with him, complied with his orders and did their best to help out where they could be of use. Those that weren't injured, anyways, those that were still kept their pained cried on the down-low, since bitching about it wouldn't do much in the long run. Stefan found THEM to be much easier to deal with than these stupid, sniveling cowards called Nobility.

Seriously, those guys gave him more migraines than the stupid Paperwork he did on a daily basis, they were THAT bad. In fact, Stefan had to stop up to 20 Nobles from throwing fearful fits about not being allowed to be teleported to safety first, nearly causing mass panic and riots just to secure their own skins. Some of them made wild accusations, threats and the like, trying to demean other Nobles in the eyes of the masses so they could get out first, only for Stefan to step in and assure them things were going to be okay. Even though that had been more and more like an empty promise the more injured guardsmen and staff came in.

It was a good thing that the military had the competence for these situations, Stefan thought to himself.

He had to hand it to MAGES., though, that woman had a LOT of patience to be able to remain silent while teleporting these weak-willed idiots out of this place. For not once did he hear her complain about these guys, when they did the exact opposite. Instead, MAGES. just kept on doing what she had to to get everyone out of here alive, at least the ones who couldn't help with the fight. He had already questioned her about possible reinforcements, to which she had stated that she had sent a request to both the Guild and the various military forces outside the Basilicom. They would be getting reinforcements soon, as in 10 minutes as, unfortunately, most of the military had been spread thin fighting off the Demonic forces.

Not exactly an ideal situation, but it was the best that they could do with their current forces. MAGES. had said she had some healing Circles prepared for the guardsman that they managed to get out, Circles that would heal their injuries to allow them to be teleported back into the Basilicom to fight. It was something she had suggested once she had teleported a large portion of the Nobles out of the Main Hall, and something Stefan had decided to accept. Whilst this would extend her time being unable to help the three main groups throughout the first floor, they would need all the manpower they could get to keep this area secure. Every time they got attacked by Bloodletters and Juggernauts (thankfully, none of those men in red showed up, things would be WAY worse if they joined in), they would lose a good deal of their men trying to take them down.

Taking a sigh out of his lips, Stefan looked up from his seat, gazing up at the ceiling above. His eyes darkened with melancholy whilst his thoughts wandered to the three Groups. More specifically, Group 1, the Neptune Group.

He wondered if they were doing alright...

Hopefully, they would make it out of here, as he had a GOOD feeling that Nico would probably flip if any of them got seriously injured.

'That reminds me... where are you, DEATHSTROKE? Yvoire, too...'


CLANG, CLANG!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDD!

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDD!

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDD!

Sounds of combat raged on throughout the room, filling the air with its presence and making it all too clear for anyone nearby, that this was NOT a place innocent bystanders wanted to be. Inhuman war cries filled the air, ringing through everyone's ears which reminded the occupants of normal and Abnormal monsters out on a blood rage. No, even that seemed like an understatement to the amount of berserker rage that was flowing through the air right now.

Neptune and Compa stuck together, the preteen helping keep the Nurse-In-Training safe by surrounding her with a circle of crystal Spikes. None of those spikes would yield so easily, as some of the Khornate Berserkers found out when they tried to get up close and personal with the Nurse-In-Training, just as Neptune had figured they would. All the while, Compa would aim her MPCS at their helmets to fire explosive ammo shots, either that or Paralysis sots so Neptune could get in a finishing blow or two. It helped that she had a ring of crystal constructs around to help keep the enemy off her back, too.

The preteen on the other hand, practically flew throughout the battlefield, darting between the Khornate Berserkers with TRACKLESS STEP and leaving deep cuts through their Armour. She'd use a mix of crystal attacks to not only bring her foes down, but also to aid in her mobility, sliding throughout the battlefield either on the ground or on walls, sometimes even trapping her opponents in cages of spikes so she could wail on them till they went down. It helped that she had a bunch of Knights around her to help her out, enhanced by DEMONIC BLESSING and KARMA REFLECTOR.

Yet, they weren't the biggest source of the combat sounds...

'You know...' IF began to think to herself, smirking in a rather pained fashion. The brunette stood while regenerating her lost right arm into Blade form, having lost it a second ago when it got severed at the shoulder by Roghrax's Chainaxe. Thankfully her reserves were on an all-time high thanks to this whole battle, thanks to Demons having more Biomass in them than humans that she got when she assimilated them. But, even so,m she didn't like the thought of wasting Biomass, especially since he was only the first floor, and the enemies were no doubt going to be greater in both numbers as well as combat efficiency the further down they went. Basic Dungeon logic, people. 'I think I may be in a bit of a pinch here...'

Fighting this guy felt way unlike fighting that Herald of Khorne back at the Hellverse. Back then, each strike the Demon made felt like maddening, uncontrollable and unrelenting bloodlust, like a massive wave of hot magma constantly slamming into her with the desire to burn her to ashes then out of existence itself. It was like fighting against a humanoid furnace, infernally hot and relentless rage combined into one horrendous mix.

This guy? Whelp, imagine all that actually being condensed, controlled and aided at only her, and you get an idea of how much shit she had found herself in.

Some good things had happened though, one of them being that her body had already adapted the Blade mutation, increased its endurance so the Chainaxe couldn't cut into it as well as it did in the beginning. Not to mention how the Blade slowly but surely managed to gradually increase its sharpness so it could dig deeper and deeper into the Armour that Roghrax wore, which wasn't that easy to do since the guy had speed and agility in spades, Likely, he had fought in an untold number of battles, battles against beings much greater in scope than herself. Odds were, she moved like a rookie in a training camp compared to him. It... didn't go down very well for her pride, realizing this.

Quickly, IF ducked under a Chainaxe swing to the side of her head, raising her blade to block the Claw strike that followed it. The Claw was a whole new story in terms of adaptation, as it still remained efficient in digging through her blade. If they were to get into a contest of strength and endurance, then IF felt sure her Blade would fall first. Which was why she kept their exchanges brief and only risked deadlocks with the Chainaxe.

Flipping backward, the brunette found herself getting some distance between them, though not much considering the Death Parade that surrounded them has limited the amount of space they could fight in. It was why she had stuck to some of her smaller Mutations, she doubted her Tendrils or Tentacles would have much space to move around in here and she had NO intent on finding out. 'Tch, this is getting me nowhere, I'll have to find a way to get through that Armour of his in one fell swoop.' she thought to herself.

That done, the brunette held her other arm out, allowing her BOW powers to apply another one of her newer Mutations to it. That arm quickly began to morph, various grotesque sounds coming from it while Roghraz quickly closed the distance with his Chainaxe revving audibly. IF however, raised her blade and brought it down, blocking the Chainaxe from its intended course of severing her mutating Arm before its transformation could be completed. She then superheated the Biomass inside her right leg, as evident by the heat rolling off it so suddenly before she kicked upwards, launching a wave of superheated Biomass towards her opponent who wisely chose to dodge by jumping backward.

Just before the man could attack again, IF's mutated arm finished its transformation, allowing her to aim it at her opponent with a sinister smirk forming beneath her half-mask. "Sorry, but Booyah bitch." she stated, before her arm unleashed a single human head-sized projectile towards her opponent. The Projectile slammed into her opponent's stomach area, the force behind it being so great that he was forced to bend forwards while being knocked backward into the air. He quickly slammed into the ground, before recovering and flipping backward to land in a crouch, sliding to a halt.

Looking up, Roghrax's glowing eyes narrowed in concentration, observing the new weapon and calculating its purpose. The new arm looked pretty much normal from the shoulder down the bicep, and to the elbow joint. But below that, the arm had bulged till it was twice the size of IF's original arm, with a quarter of it becoming this fleshy cylindrical-shaped mass with a rather ridged design. Tendrils came out of this Mass to embed themselves into IF's arm just above the elbow joint, likely so they can suck in the Biomass needed to make the rounds it fires. Then, from this mass, a metallic rhombus-shaped barrel with the same size protruded out, being about a forearm's length and sporting a glowing orange interior.

Obviously, this displeased the massive Armoured man, it displeased him a whole hell lot.

"You WORM! A ranged weapon is for cowards who cannot stand in a close quarter fight!"

"Heh, sorry, but I don't give a shit." IF countered, raising her new weapon and prepping to fire, The glowing orange interior began to get brighter, showing that the weapon was beginning to charge up another shot. "It's only a recent addition, but I call it my 'Bio-Cannon'. Nifty little thing, since it lets me fight at a range without sacrificing space like some of my other weapons do." The moment she finished, the Bio-Canon finished charging up, and thus fired a human head-sized ball of flaming Biomass towards Roghrax, aimed towards his torso Armour.

In response to this, Roghrax quickly slashed through it with his Chainaxe, making IF resort to firing more at him. In an instant, her Bio Cannon shot about 10 rounds towards her opponent, giving IF a slight recoil from the repeated usage. The man just sprang forth into a mad sprint, slashing through some rounds while others he shoulder tackled through, not giving a thought about dodging. He noticed, however, that the flames from the super-heated Biomass began eating away at his Armour after the 8th shot, much to his anger.

IF noticed this though, and her eyes narrowed while a small smile formed on her lips beneath her Armour's Mask. 'Looks like Superheated Biomass is the best way for me to damage that tough Armour. I say tough, cause it took 8 shots in the same place to put even a dent in it, which means I'll have to use my Biomass in other methods...' IF thought to herself, glancing at her Bio Cannon, then her Blade, as an idea formed in her mind. It wasn't something she hadn't thought of before, hell she had spent more than a small amount of time looking into this possibility. However, with the research, she did into furthering her own powers, IF hadn't had much of a chance to actually use it in battle. Not to mention, this Armour this guy had sported significant toughness. It would take a LOT out of her to burn through it.

Hopefully, this idea of hers would work now.

'Alright, powers, don't fail me now...!'

With that in mind, IF made to act. She quickly threw her arm downwards and morphed her Blade into her Whip, sweeping it back before launching it forth into a side sweep towards the man's head. During the swing, the brunette went and implemented her idea, focusing on the Whip's Biomass molecules and trying to apply the same formula to them as she would her own blood. It would be a long shot, and the flames likely wouldn't be as powerful as saying Nico's Hellfire, but she could at least do some damage to this fucker.

She would NOT be letting him have her Skull, thank you very much!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for the two fighters, IF's whip gradually nearing Roghrax's head whilst the man just as gradually raised his Chainaxe to block it. As the two weapons neared, IF gritted her teeth, trying harder and harder to focus on the ability she wanted. No, the ability she NEEDED for this to work. 'Come on... Come on...!' she chanted in her mind.

Just as the Chainaxe managed to get its rotating teeth in the Whip's way. IF felt something goes CLICK within her. At that moment, she couldn't help but grin beneath her half mask as her Whip... erupted into flames. The flames roared to life, enveloping the Whip right down to where it connected to IF herself, though it didn't burn her Skin. With its fiery form, IF swung a bit faster, catching a surprised Roghrax by surprise as it wrapped around his helmet.

A surprised gasp escaped his lips as he grasped onto the fiery whip, cursing when he saw the steam rising from his bulky gauntlets the moment they touched the flames. However, before he could do anything IF lifted the man into the air with her Whip, smashing him into the ground multiple times before sending him flying towards the end of the Death Parade flames.

In mid-flight, he managed to right himself though, using his weight to slam into the ground and roll several times until he could get back to his feet. Unfortunately, he had been unable to keep his Chainaxe, which lay off the side of the two fighters, having been discarded while he had gotten his head smashed in. Fortunately, he could feel his body mending the damage that he got dealt through his Armour, Armour which had melted spots in some places. Most of them happened to be around his shoulder and above his eye sockets.

Good thing he had his Claw at the ready.

In a burst of speed, he already had gotten halfway in closing the distance between them, roaring a loud "FOR KHOOOOOORNE!" IF however, reacted by unloading more of her Bio Cannon's rounds, rounds of while Roghrax used his other shoulder to block until he was right before her, having avoided her Whip attacks this time. He would not let her attack him with that, he may be bestial, but he DID learn from his mistakes. When he was close enough, Roghrax slammed into IF, knocking her down with him on top of her.

"Guh!"

IF grunted, feeling her brain bounce about in her Skull for a moment there, before her vision refocused to the sight of Roghrax's Claw raised to impale her through the face. Her eyes hardened as she instinctively reacted, quickly morphing her limbs into Tentacles to catch the man's arms. 'Space ain't much of an issue to me as my face is!' she thought, before using the Tentacles to throw him off her.

Landing in a crouch, Roghrax got to his feet as he saw the Tentacles reform back into normal, if Armoured, Arms. His inferno-like eyes narrowed at the sight, a snort of disgust swelling within him at the sight. "So, it appears you are full of fucking surprises." he stated. It wasn't meant to be a question anyways, and not long after he thought that, the man noticed that he had landed right next to his discarded Chainaxe. Thus, he promptly picked it up, almost 'MOANING' at the feel of its shaft in his grasp...

Moving on.

"You'd be surprised." IF countered, morphing her arms into her Blade arm and a... Shield?

The woman's left arm had a stream of flesh growing out of her forearm, forming a chitinous Shield that seemed to conceal her entire lower body. Its form looked to be shaped like a V, with each edge having spikes curving upwards. The Shield had a very ridged-looking design, with what looked like an orange, slitted eye embedded within the middle of the Shield which sported a sunken inward socket. If one were to shine light on it, they would see that there was a reflective lens over the eye.

She didn't let him comment any further, as IF quickly dashed towards her opponent this time, engulfing her Blade in flames made from superheating its Biomass, allowing her blade to become like a fiery Hellblade that the Bloodletters use. She didn't waste any time, quickly bringing the weapon down for a mighty swing towards Roghrax's head. Since the helmet had already been partially damaged by her fiery Whip, that place along with the damaged shoulders would be her primary targets. At least, that would be her plan...

A plan that Roghrax wouldn't let it come to pass so easily, as he blocked her blade with his own Chainaxe, then swung his Claw towards her chest. IF responded by raising her Shield to block it, then the overhead Chainaxe slash that followed, plus the two strikes from both the left and right flanks that followed. The last strike forced her back by a few steps, and nearly caused her to fall off balance had she not morphed her Shield into her Whip, heating it into its fiery form before wrapping it around Roghrax's arm. She used that to get her balance back while yanking backward, pulling her opponent towards her, which allowed IF to smirk as she reared her blade back, and then unleashed a reverse upward slash.

CLANG!

Her blade met the man's Claw, however, much to her surprise, before the man howled as he grabbed her by her Blade, smashing her into the ground repeatedly before flipping her into the air. His Chainaxe rotated its teeth wildly, almost making electricity spark from the friction, before he sliced right through IF's arm when she came down, sending her flying at the same time.

"Agh!" The brunette gasped, pain shooting up her spine from the loss of her arm before she regrew it out of her own Biomass. She formed it into another Blade, then stabbed it into the ground to halt her movement. Once she had stopped, IF widened her eyes as she sensed immediate danger, and just as swiftly reacted. She quickly raised her arm, morphing it from Whip form to her Shield, which ended up blocking an overhead Chainaxe swing from hitting her. If she had been a second slower, she had no doubt that it would have cleaved her in two with how fast those teeth rotated.

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!

However, that would not be the end, as Roghrax's fury allowed him to constantly rain down upon her with furious swings from his Chainaxe, treating it more like a blunt weapon like a maul, than a cutting one. The raw brutality of the strikes could be felt as IF barely stopped herself from being forced back by the strength of his blows. A strength that felt wholly unnatural for a human, though whether or not this guy was even human at all was still a debatable question in her mind. Still, the rotating teeth gradually felt like they were carving through her Shield, something she felt was true when she saw cracks gradually beginning to form over her defensive weapon.

'Tch, this isn't good... if I don't find a way to bring this fight to a close, I might as well kiss my life goodbye...!'

IF found herself under quite a bit of pressure, a rather drastic understatement considering her situation. She constantly pumped her Shield with her Biomass reserves, reinforcing and repairing it from the relentless, non-stop onslaught that Roghrax was giving her, the Khornate Berserker even adding his Claw to the mix with furious roars ripping free from his vocal chords. Roars that were mimicked by his subordinates, the Khornate Berserkers proudly demonstrating their namesake by charging in with no care for their own well-being or that of their comrades against Neptune and Compa.

Not to mention, using so much Biomass had already eaten its way into 50% of her total reserves, reserves she had filled by assimilating Demonic flesh throughout this invasion. IF was no fool, everything she had seen thus far has pointed to the fact that Demons had launched some form of invasion through an insider of sorts, it was the only conclusion that made sense to the Spec Ops Candidate. Still, that didn't matter right now, figuring out how to turn this fight back around was a greater importance.

Honestly, id she went down like his, IF would NEVER forgive herself. She had come so far in her training, developing her ever-evolving powers, the works. She had trained herself to the bone, fighting countless Demons, Abnormals and the like so she could get this far. Not many could claim to have gotten this far with the circumstances she had, hell, she doubted there was anyone else who had been in her shoes. She WAS the first ever sentient BOW, after all, thus she had no clue how much power she could amass, or the limits to her potential. There could very well be a possibility of her not having any limits at all. But, even so, what good would be having these powers be if she were to expire right here?

Heh, a shoddy death definitely didn't suit her tastes, nope, not one bit.

Just then, IF caught a glance of her discarded Biomass Blade arm barely through the steadily growing cracks in her Shield. The moment she did, her eyes widened as she remembered something... something she had discovered about her powers not long after the Hellverse incident...

'Yes... Yes! That could work!' She thought, a small grin slowly spreading across her lips when a spark of hope ignited within her chest. Yes, there had been several Mutations to her DNA she had discovered, Mutations she had been reluctant to test until recently. Thinking about it, now would be a good time to see how well they could do in battle, she supposed. Not like the option of death was an option for her at this point.

Glancing towards the incoming Chainaxe, which almost reminded her of an animal finally seeking to finish off its prey before initiating in a well-earned meal, IF quickly reacted. She quickly thrust her Shield forwards, catching the Khornate Berserker off guard and forcing him back a few steps. Grunting, the brunette returned her Shield Arm to its Armoured form, a twisted grimace escaping her lips as she focused on the Mutation she wanted. 'Gonna go for broke, here...!'

It took only a second, but Roghrax quickly recovered from the unexpected Shield Bash, gripping his Chainaxe tightly before he let out a mighty war cry. He then charged back towards IF, his Armoured feet stomping on the floor contained within the Death Parade like mini earthquakes as he closed in on his opponent, eagerness shining behind his eyes at the thoughts of claiming another Skull to add to his glorious collection.

Wow, insane much...?

But then again, these guys were literally the personification of 'Berserker Rage' at its finest, so it shouldn't be too surprising.

The exact moment he swung his Chainaxe downwards, intent on slicing through IF's right shoulder blade down to the left hip, the man barely caught the slight gaze of... success? Yeah, success, in the woman's eyes. For a moment, he wondered what the hell she could have been so happy about, but he quickly assumed she would be happy to die a death befitting of a warrior. Despite the use of such crude, pathetic ranged weapons earlier, she hadn't used them much, so Khorne would probably welcome her into his domain. Either her or Nurgle, actually.

However, the moment he thought that...

STAB!

Something stabbed into his left shoulder from behind, impaling it and driving itself deep within that part of his body. The man gasped behind his helmet, surprise in his tone and if his face could be seen, it would be etched onto his facial features, too. Glancing behind him, he tried to see what had stabbed him just as he was about to add another tenacious Skull to his collection, only to find a blade etched into his Shoulder through his damaged Armour...

A familiar, VERY familiar, blade actually: the Blade mutation he had severed before.

For a moment, confusion rather than pain raced through his mind as he tried to piece together what had happened. Was this some form of foul sorcery? But, throughout this fight, he had observed his opponent and quickly came to the realization that it wasn't magic she was using, but forming weapons from her own body. Basically, she was like a mix of Khorne and Nurgle's principals, something that both disgusted and befuddled him. Disgust because there had not been something like that in all his thousands of years pleasing the Chaos Gods, but also befuddlement because he could not sense the taint of the Plague God in her. It was like she was something new, something mysterious... something unknown.

Something like that... for someone who had lived as long as he had, would definitely treat this with extreme caution.

Whilst he momentarily got distracted by what had happened, IF smirked beneath her Mask, quickly making use of the confusion to act. With a swiftness she hadn't thought she could be capable of, she generated one of her Tendrils and launched it. The appendage flew through the air like a javelin, swerving beneath the large man's arm and impaling the blade at its chitinous core, the part that would have grown out her Elbow if it were still a part of her. At that moment, she pumped just enough Biomass for the Mutation she thought of before to take effect, withdrawing the Tendril fast enough that it would confuse the Khornate Berserker, making him unable to process what had just happened... and how IF just turned this entire fight back to her favor.

From the point of connection, a long stream of Biomass erupted from the Blade impaling Roghrax at the shoulder, forming a body in a matter of seconds with an arm starting first. In a couple seconds, the body was complete... and the body took the form of a copy, a 'Replica' of IF. Well, not a complete one, since her skin was a poisonous green color while her body had a sinewy carapace covering it that was shaped like her body, covering it from the neck down like an Armour. As for hair, it merely looked like it consisted of long, insectoid-looking Tendrils that reached her waist, mimicking her hairstyle to the latter...

Though, the lack of iris or a pupil in her green eyes were the greatest facial feature to her.

"...The fuck?" That was all Roghrax uttered in bewilderment, before his instincts kicked back into high gear as he made to elbow her with the same arm whose shoulder got impaled. However, the other IF pulled her Blade arm out of him, hopping back so that he couldn't have hit her, before twirling into a reverse side slash towards his exposed Shoulder. In response, Roghrax quickly raised his Claw and brought it into a slash from the opposite direction, parrying her as he raised his Chainaxe to strike her down.

However, his instincts quickly reminded him that there was someone behind him, so he redirected his swing while twisting around, swinging his Chainaxe into the approaching Blade belonging to the ORIGINAL IF. "What sorcery is this?!" the man yelled, stepping back whilst holding his weapons at the ready. His anger, fury, and significant pain tolerance, all combined to allow him to wield his weapons despite the damage done to his shoulders. Adrenaline helps to numb pain for beings everywhere, apparently.

The original IF only smirked behind her half Mask, the other her remaining expressionless as she readied her Blade. "Nope, just Biology and Mutations, bub." She replied, before charging forth with her Replica beside her. This Mutation was the ability to expel portions of her Biomass, then give them their own consciousness. Even if the Biomass was separate from her, IF had discovered that ever since the Hellverse incident, that she still had somewhat of a connection to it. A connection that she could utilize to her advantage like a limited form of Telekinesis.

But, if she has enough Biomass split from her, IF found that she could order it to take on a form similar to what she looked like when she first broke out of her Cocoon in Lastation, and then have it help her fight. In essence, she was Replicating herself by dispelling her own Biomass. It was an ability she had developed through Mutations after assimilating many Demons into her being, their Biomass fueling her evolution. Hell, their physical abilities had ingrained themselves into her DNA, so while she didn't look it, she did have the physical buffs of a Bloodletter and a Juggernaut within her. If she assimilated the Biomass of stronger Demons, then their attributes would be added to her own, making her strength and other physical abilities increase as well.

So far, she could form up to 4 Replicas, any more and the weak telepathic link she has to control them with would be severed, and they'd attack everything around her.

With that in mind, IF telepathically ordered her Replica to attack whilst she bounced back, sliding to a halt whilst the Replica attacked her enemy. Roghrax quickly met her challenge he`ad on with a mighty bellow, swinging his Chainaxe with the fury only a Berserker could possess. Once she had halted herself, IF quickly threw down her sole human and Armoured Arm, detaching several blobs of Biomass. 3 if one wanted to get technical. At the moment they met the ground, each one erupted into Biomass, reaching her own height whilst forming into 3 more Replicas. With the maximum amount of Replicas under her command, IF mentally commanded them to attack, ALL of them each charging in against the Khornate Berserker.

A fight that the Khornate Berserker eagerly welcomed.

Now, this did have the problem of limiting the space for IF to move about, as the Replicas and her opponent would have taken up the majority of what the Death Parade ring allowed them to have. However, she had made these 4 Replicas knowing this, as she had a plan for how to settle this score instantly. She wanted just one opening, just one chance to strike this guy down. She wanted it so bad that IF even morphed her free arm into a second Blade in excited anticipation. Her Replicas had her own combat potential, and had the capacity to learn their opponents' tactics so they could overwhelm them. Thus, this made them significantly different from Neptune's Crystal Constructs which only stuck to her own combat ability. One could say hers were 'stagnant' while IF's constantly 'evolved' just like every other aspect of her powers.

Though, as she watched her Replicas attack, she also analyzed Roghrax's attacks. She watched his movements, how he met her Replicas head on and engaged in a fast-paced slash fest. Each Replica would attack him from the front, back, left and right flanks, focusing on keeping him on the defensive. Even so, the man admirably held his own against them, switching expertly between his Claw and his Chainaxe respectively whilst covering all his bases. Now that she wasn't in the heat of it, she had to admit that watching him fight showed her just how much this guy had trained to be as Skilled as he seemed. The way he moved like a savage animal and an expert warrior at the same time, the way he kept his eyes out for any surprise attacks, it almost seemed like he had a 360-degree vision or something. He would sometimes toss his weapon into the air to free his hand, allowing him to grab one Replica to stab at her, only for another to block his strike with her Blade. He'd respond by kicking and throwing them away, raising his hand to catch his Chainaxe to slash away at another Replica.

She had to admit, that despite being her enemy, his combat skills impressed her.

Finally, though, she saw an opening being made the more her Replicas got used to his movements. A small opening at first, but the more the fight went on the more that IF saw it lasting. It first lasted only a second, but now it lasted for up to 5, though it didn't get any longer than that. At that moment, IF acted, as if she let her opponent realize what she was intending, then she'd be doomed. She quickly deployed her 12 Tendrils, each of them arching around her as close as possible so they didn't touch the edges of the Death Parade ring. In the moment that they were deployed, IF broke into a sprint, mentally commanding her Replicas to jump back while her Blades erupted into flames.

That movement quickly caught Roghrax by surprise, but it didn't last. Not that she expected it would, anyways since this guy's reflexes seemed almost like they transcended human limits. He quickly turned to face her, swinging both his Chainaxe and his Claw at her in an attempt to meet whatever strike she had planned... assuming that she even would respond with a CQC strike.

Just before they could collide, IF quickly jammed both feet into the ground, sliding through it so she halted just out of the Chainaxe's range, allowing it to pass her harmlessly. Much to the Khornate Berserker's surprise as his fiery eyes erupted into an alarmed gaze. The flames surrounding IF's blades roared even greater, just as IF swung both upwards to create a huge wave, a wave that quickly forced the man to cover his eyes to stop the heat from getting through his Damaged helmet.

Heh.

Just as IF had hoped.

After all, it was only natural for one to look away from the sun instead of simply staring at it. The sun's rays could cause direct harm to one's eyes after all, especially to those who have enhanced senses like herself, Nico, Nep, and this guy apparently. She took advantage of this weakness, and with one mighty war cry of her own IF aimed her Tendrils at every vital she could see through the Armour. At that moment, each of them quickly trembled, like something was trying to get out...

SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Before 12 streams of Acid erupted forth, spewing all over the man's Armour. Even with the Armour's durability, the amount of Acid that it was getting bombarded with would prove to be too much, as the acid melted right through the Armour with little resistance. If it were at 100% operational, then perhaps this tactic would have taken longer, longer as in minutes longer so Roghrax would have had ample time to recover and counterattack, but thanks to it NOT being that case, IF managed to get her Acid to melt through the Armour in seconds instead.

Even his higher-than-normal Pain tolerance wouldn't save him from being melted like this, as his screams filled her ears.

Behind her, her Replicas all converged on the brunette as her Tendrils wrapped around them, quickly assimilating their Biomass back into her. If they had been destroyed completely, this wouldn't have been possible, but thanks to that not happening, IF managed to recover some of her own lost Biomass reserves... at least before the meal she would be having soon. 'Whew...' the woman thought whilst watching her opponent fall onto his back, his Armour barely shambles of what it once was. It had been highly damaged by her Acid, so much of it biting through its structure, internal workings and beneath his skin. Tenons were melted away in a spout of sizzling fire, making any and all mobility for him impossible. Trapped, both by his lack of Tendons as well as his own Armour being turned into a wicked cage with many of his internal organs damaged as all fuck...

Yep, this guy had become a trapped animal, an animal that she planned on devouring.

Coughing and Gasping as IF stomped her foot on top of him, her Tendrils impaling the ground around him, Roghrax growled as he barely managed to bite through the pain and open one single fiery eye. The fact that he still had such a fierce gaze in his eyes that he aimed directly at her, even whilst his body gradually got melted away by her Acid, would be nothing short of impressive to the Spec Ops Candidate. 'Wow, this guy has some endurance...' She couldn't help but think. 'A lot of Bloodletters and Juggernauts fell to my Acid already, so its a surprise to see this guy still alive... still, it's not going to be for much longer...' she thought further.

"Looks like... you have.. won...!" he barely got out through gnashed teeth. His eyes blazed with the fury and humiliation of being defeated, as a strange orange symbol appeared on his forehead. "A-As per the... Death Parade... the loser... is at the whim of the victor... they cannot refuse whatever it is... they demand of them..." he got out, groaning at the pain racing through his body. More and more of IF's Acid ate through his Armour, joining what had already gotten into his body in running rampant through him. The pain he felt was almost like being scorned by the infernal gaze of his Chaos God, intensified by 1000. Even so, he refused to show weakness, he would keep his honor and dignity to the very end if it was the last thing he did.

IF momentarily blinked at that, surprise forming on her features. "You say I can do anything I want with you, huh...?" she remarked, tilting her head in surprise. A part of her wondered what she would react like if Nico had said those words while being pinned under her, helpless to escape. Shaking off those rather perverted thoughts, for the time being, the brunette narrowed her eyes at her defeated opponent. "Alright then, to start with answering me this, what is going on here. Why are you attacking this place?"

"Yo-You think that... there is some plan...?" The man retorted, barely getting a laugh out before coughing up some of his blood. He could feel his life support systems being eaten away by the Acid, so he didn't have much time. "You'd be a fool then... we just came here... to fight... to conquer. There is... nothing else.. to it. We are... followers... to the glory of Khorne! For him... the blood of the strong and... the power is more than... enough a reason... for conflict! There is no... grand plan! Leave that to... other Deities!"

Eyes now narrowing at that response, IF sighed, realizing that this guy was telling the truth. It not only aligned with his personality and demeanor, but it also showed in how gleeful the rest of these Khornate Berserkers were. None of them care for any specific goal. To them, the power to fight against strong opponents, to utterly slaughter them and usher in a shower of bloodshed, warfare and slaughter would be enough for them. They were savage warriors, but warriors nonetheless, not leaders who want diabolical schemes tied to their actions. She felt like a fool for even asking that question, but she just had to ask anyway. At least now she knew there would be no higher reason with these guys other than the thrill of combat, martial honor, and pride. Even so, that alone could be counted as an insidious reason, and she felt disgusted welling up inside her gut for it. These guys needlessly endangered countless innocents in their quest for conflict, no remorse for the families that lose their loved ones. Thus, they had to die.

And she had the perfect means to do that.

"Alright then." she stated bluntly, with no emotions in her tone as she raised her foot and stomped right into his chest. She'd put some of her Biomass into the stomp to better get into his body, which allowed her to start the Assimilation process. Screams rang through the air as she Assimilated Roghrax, both him and his Armour, her Tendrils grasping his discarded Chainaxe to add it to the Assimilation of the Khornate Berserker. She briefly caught sight of the Death Parade vanishing and all eyes turning to her, but she dismissed them. All to enjoy this brief moment of pleasure that assaulted her senses thanks to this process.

A sensual moan escaped IF's lips as the process continued. There was truly little that could compare to the pleasures that came from Assimilating other things into herself, no matter what they were. If she were to describe it, it was like every G spot she ever had in her body felt like it was constantly being fondled with, including her other pleasure spots, in all the right places. As well as at the same time as each other, nearly overloading her brain with it. No matter how many times IF did this, she couldn't find much that could rival the amount of pleasure she got from it.

Well, maybe perhaps pinning Nico under her then having her way with him would be a good start...

After a moment or two, IF then noticed something, if barely thanks to her current high. Her body slowly, but surely, began oozing out this strange oozy substance, a substance that she was reminded of the time she got cocooned back in Lastation upon being infected with the C Virus by Ganache. Before she could think about it anymore, the substance quickly enveloped her being, cocooning her once more whilst her Tendrils remained out. It didn't even take a second for the Cocoon to form, and when it did the Cocoon remained there, floating above the ground like it was being suspended by some unseen force.

All the while, IF felt like her consciousness was slipping away, and soon enough she found herself out like a light.


By the time she came too, IF found herself in... quite the situation.

Opening her eyes, the brunette saw that her surroundings had... changed. Not only did there seem to not be any Khornate Berserkers around her (much to her confusion since there was up to 60 last time she recalled), but she felt... different. Stronger, faster, better. She felt better than she had felt in a long ass time. It felt like she had taken an overdose on steroids, times that by a thousand, and would not suffer any of the drawbacks. It felt like she was constantly feeling like she did whenever she Assimilated something, which not only made her happier than she had been in a long while but also drew her curiosity too.

Not to mention, her entire body felt... different. Not in that she couldn't recognize it, this WAS her own body after all, but there was just something... off, about it. Aside from the physical feelings that were... unlike what she was used to, the brunette felt like she had suddenly hit some form of a growth spurt. Looking down, IF raised her hands and looked them over, flipping them about to look at them from every conceivable angle. Nothing about them seemed out of the ordinary, to be honest. In fact, they looked the same as they always have, which only confused the brunette.

Perhaps gauging her surroundings a bit might help.

That goal in mind, IF lowered her hands and looked about, searching for any signs of answers to her questions. Like she had previously seen, there were no longer any signs of the Khornate Berserkers. Not even a shred of their Armour, a Weapon, anything, which kind of worried IF. After all, wherever they had gone, death would surely follow in their footsteps. They WERE warriors dedicated to the Blood God Khorne, after all. These worries filled her mind, though she didn't let them show on her face. She had to keep a calm, composed mind so she could figure out what had happened to those guys. Only then, could she move forwards and devise a strategy to deal with them.

One thing she DID notice, however, was that her eyes saw things that were in... greater detail than what she had been able to see before. If she were to make a comparison, it would be that she had been a near-blind person, but somehow had been granted near-perfect vision. It was a complete 180 in terms of visual acuity, something she had to take a moment to get used to. She saw things down to their tiniest details, she saw the walls down to their tiniest cuts, fractures, and cracks. She saw Crystals scattered throughout the area down to their tiniest details. Honestly, she almost felt like her eyes had become literal scanners one would find in the military.

Wait, Crystal? Didn't that mean...

"Nep? Compa? Where are you guys, come on out the enemy isn't here anymore!" IF called out, starting to walk forwards. Another thing she noticed when doing this, was that her feet moved with greater swiftness than they did before. Despite being clad in her boots, she felt like she was calmly striding, almost gliding, through the battlefield. Like the very ground, she walked on was nothing but a reflective surface for her to slide along as she fought and fought on the front lines. It was like she had survived the greatest of battles, fought against beings she could only dream of and had emerged victorious.

Soon, however, she found her thoughts to be paused when she saw Neptune and Compa poke their heads out from behind a large clump of Crystal. She would have smiled and went to greet them, had she not noticed the concerned expressions on their faces. Those made her own brows furrow in confusion and concern as well, wondering what spooked those two to give them those types of expressions. "Uuuuuhhhh... Guys? What's got your panties in a wad?" she questioned, tilting her head sideways.

"You tell us, Iffy!" Neptune replied, flailing her arms up and down beside her whilst Compa firmly nodded her head in agreement. She heard her do the 'Hm-Hm!' sound while doing said action, too. "I mean, I'm not the one who went all 'buffet girl' on us."

"Huh? What are you blabbering about now, Nep? You need some Pudding to calm yourself down?"

Compa soon interjected before Neptune could respond to that. "Iffy... I think you should check your reflection in one of these Crystals..." she stated with uncertainty, gesturing to a... rather large Crystal formation. "That should help you see why I and Nep-Nep are kinda shocked right now..." she added on, fumbling with her hands.

Okay, what was going on here? IF couldn't help but be concerned with what was happening. These two seemed unusually... docile, for their standards. Especially in Neptune's case, she was never THIS docile for anyone. Whatever had happened had shaken her to the point where even she couldn't keep up her happy facade anymore. Thus, with these thoughts in her mind, IF made her way towards the Crystal with trepidation and anxiety in her heart. She hoped nothing truly twisted had happened to her, like she had gained bestial features or something. If that were to happen, then things would definitely be awkward for her companions in the future, nevermind how Nico might react when they find him.

Approaching the Crystal, IF finally managed to look at her own reflection... and what greeted her was a sight that shook her to her core.

Was... Was she always this tall?

The brunette saw herself clearly in the Crystal, its smooth surface allowed her to use it like a mirror. But, the reflection that stared back at her hardly seemed like anything she had been used to looking at in the past. In fact, if it weren't for things like her hair and eyes, she wouldn't have recognized herself at all. Looking at her reflection, and then down at her own body, she realized that the reflection wasn't lying with what it was showing. It was being as truthful as it could be considering the circumstances.

IF's form had grown taller, like she had queried before. From her base height of 4'11, she now looked to be about 5'12 if she were to guess. Just a little shorter than Vert, but she had an athletic yet womanly figure to boot. Her hair remained waist length, while her eyes looked like a darker shade of green than she remembered. Even so, though, there was one thing she noticed above these changes: She didn't even have a SHRED of the petite frame she once had, something she felt... rather pleased about, actually. She now felt more like a woman than just a fighter, something that kind of made her a little giddy inside. Her clothes remained the same if adjusted so that they fit her new form. Hell, her coat not looked like it fit snugly on her, instead of being several sizes too large for her. But, the most important thing... her boobs. They were no longer an A cup, but more of a high C borderline D cup. Not too big but not too small either... definitely more noticeable though.

"Holy... shocked doesn't do justice how I feel right now..." the brunette couldn't help but remark, looking herself over and trying to find any form of familiarity to her previous self. Even so, a part of her couldn't help but cheer in joy, kind of like a high-school girl, at the realization that she wasn't exactly flat-chested anymore, something she had been secretly jealous of the other girls for a while now. "Though, as for how I got this way, I honestly have no idea..." she mused to herself, furrowing her brows in curiosity.

Soon, however, part of her remembered her Assimilating Roghrax the Khornate Berserker... and with the lack of subordinates around...

Wait, could it be...?

Quickly checking her reserves, the brunette stunned herself to find that they were just as overflowing in quantity as well as quality as they had been before coming here. In fact, dare she say it, the quality and quantity of her Biomass reserves felt even GREATER! This meant that the potency of her powers had drastically increased, her physical abilities would have been amped up with reinforced internal fibers, muscle and bone structure, while her body seemed to have been reinforced with stronger cells. It was like all her body's individual Cells got completely energized and reformed, resulting in her body having a greater ability than before. Even if she didn't show it with her physical form, her strength, speed, stamina, agility, instincts and everything else, even her mental fortitude, should have received a major overhaul.

Not to mention, whatever it was that helped boost their pain tolerance, had been ingrained into her body as well, any flaws in its design having been worked out and purged by her powers. From what she could tell, that part had been because of a set of implants inside the brains of the Khornate Berserkers. Implants that, when activated by their wills, stunted their production of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the human brain to encourage instinctive aggression, just as they deadened all other forms of emotional response and neuroelectrical activity to all parts of the brain save for that which regulated the flow of adrenaline. In essence, it made them more of a Berserker than they should have been, boosting adrenaline and deadening everything else. Fortunately for her, IF's powers had changed these implants so that they didn't deaden her emotions, but could still give her bursts of adrenaline to ignore pain.

She decided to call those implants the "Butcher's Nails".

Nevertheless, despite the upgrades to herself, IF had to scowl in disgust. Her eyes flashed with this emotion as she gripped her fists. Whoever made those implants was one sick fuck alright.

"When you went into that Cocoon, Iffy..." Compa began to speak, nervously as IF drew her attention towards her friend. The Nurse-In-Training shuddered a bit, before she found some small amount of courage to continue. "When that happened, you launched Tendrils all over the place. They grabbed and pulled all of those red guys to you where you hence did that absorbing thing to them, leaving no trace of them." she explained, trembling when she remembered seeing the Khornate Berserkers scream whilst IF's Cocoon Assimilated them. Herself and Neptune had taken refuge behind the former's Crystal formation to avoid getting targeted by the Tendrils. They hadn't know why, but their instincts screamed at them to do so, like those Tendrils had been on a warpath, and wouldn't care who they caught in their grasp so long as their mistress got satisfied with their Biomass.

It was a rather... scary concept. Not to mention the cries those men made definitely scarred her for life.

On her end, IF grimaced, a pang of shame and guilt filling her chest as she now realized WHY it was that Compa and Neptune seemed so scared of her right now. It was her Assimilation ability, before this, they hadn't really paid much attention to how it worked. All they had known was that it was one of her abilities to absorb anything into herself and have it improve her in some way. When they went out to quest together, IF had made sure they either weren't looking when she did it, weren't around when they did so since it... wasn't necessarily a nice thing to look at. Then, when their 3-month training began, IF had made sure to do Assimilation only when she was on her own, as Neptune and Comp had their own training to keep them occupied.

Even with these thoughts in her mind though, several things stuck out to her during her mental examination. Things that took her mind away from the shame she felt for scaring her friends. These were Mutations, Mutations that had taken place thanks to her Assimilation of the Khornate Berserkers and their leader, according to what Compa had told her. Considering the lack of remains around them, IF had no reason to doubt her, either. Still, these Mutations are an unknown, and she wanted to know what the hell they were.

One of them seemed to be involving her Armour, so after weaving it in (whilst seeing how it destroyed weaker Mutations to the Armour to replace them), IF closed her eyes and allowed the Armour to come out. She soon felt it do so, in the usual manner that it came out with the ooze that spilled from her being. When it completely formed, however, IF's eyes opened and she immediately noted the difference. Not only did her Armour FEEL different, it seemed to have looked different too considering the shocked looks that Neptune and Compa sported right now.

Wordlessly, she looked to where the formation was and saw why they were shocked. Instead of its previous form, IF's Armour now resembled that of the Khornate Berserkers. Its colors had been changed to a dark greenish color, with lighter green highlights and symbols. The Armour seemed to have been remade so that it suited a female warrior, so it didn't look as bulky as it did with male owners. In fact, it looked much more streamlined yet still offered the same amount of protection. Instead of a Mask, IF found that the Armour had a full helmet covering her head, but with a small rectangular piece that let her hair out and down her back. The Helmet had a humanoid shape, but with two horns coming out both sides, whilst sporting dark sockets that shadowed her glowing fiery green eyes.

Looking down at the rest of her Armour, IF held her hands out before her eye level, smirking to herself behind her new Helmet. "Heh, this doesn't feel half bad..." she remarked to herself, before deciding to see what other Mutations she possessed. Activating another, she soon found her hands morphing into Claws... Claws that looked more like large organic gauntlets like the Claw that Roghrax used, only the 5 blades were as long as a forearm, shaped like Scythes, and came out the back of her knuckles. Her eyes noted that they each carried somewhat of a static field, small sparks of electricity briefly manifesting and vanishing around them. No doubt that they now had increased cutting power, too. "Goddess damn, this is gonna come in handy..."

A faint "Hey!" from a certain preteen reached her ears, but in all her happiness IF ignored it in favor of looking into her new Mutations.

But before she could, IF quickly snapped out of it, shaking her head and dismissing her Mutations. leaving her in her... improved, human form. A sheepish chuckle escaped her lips, her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. "u-uh, yeah, um... sorry about that guys, got a little excited there..." she remarked, lowering her head in the direction of her friends.

Seeing this, allowed Compa to disperse her earlier fears. It looked like even if she had changed, somewhat, IF still remained her core self in the end. Something that relieved her more than what one might expect. "No biggie, Iffy. You're still you, so that's all that matters!" she exclaimed happily before she looked to the center of the room and frowned in contemplation. "Also, when Iffy did that stuff... that purple swirly thing vanished." she reported, getting IF's attention.

"She's right-and don't think I'm going to forget you ignoring me, I-F-I, I'll get you back for that." Neptune childishly stated, grinning as she and Compa merrily walked over to the brunette. "But, yeah, I can't seem to sense any more Demon Power here, looks like those things are sources of the enemy numbers though!"

IF nodded in response to this, her previous high now forgotten in favor of contemplating this new information. "Looks like these areas are the sources of Demonic Power on this floor. Odds are, these are like portals that spawn countless Demonic entities, and there'll likely be more of them as we progress to the Dungeon. At least we know now that these are the keys to how they got so many numbers in such a short time-frame. That means, if we take them out, we can cripple the enemy on this floor." She theorized, before looking back to Neptune with narrowed eyes. "Alright Nep, do you think you can detect any more on this floor?" she questioned her friend.

In response to this, Neptune hummed as she placed a hand on her chin. "Hmmmm... mmmm... Aha! I can sense one more on this floor, though there's a whole bunch on the others. Guess that we should tell the others once we regroup with em." She mused, getting nods of agreement from the other two girls.

"Yeah, but first let's take out the other Portal, then we can focus on wiping out the rest of the Demons on this floor."


Chapter end!

Whew, a big chapter is done.

I'm just going to say it straight, the next couple chapters will likely have similar sizes to them, with a heavy focus on combat, character development, and new abilities. So, if the chapters come out slower, then that is why. Not to mention, that I was trying to portray the fight against the Khornate Berserkers as they were depicted in the wiki, to try and capture their brutal savagery as warriors dedicated to Khorne himself.

For IF's Mutations that are developed by A: her own work, and B: Assimilating the matter of the Bloodletters, Juggernauts and Khornate Berserkers, the Blades are actually the ones Alex Mercer from Prototype uses. Second, igniting her weapons is basically her superheating the Biomass used to make them, a variant of her Superheated blood from the T Veronica aspect of her powers. She gains the Armour, Butcher's Nails implants and the combat prowess of the Khornate Berserkers. These, along with her claws being upgraded to ones rivaling that of the Wargear the Khornate Berserkers, a section of Space Marines in the Warhammer universe DEDICATED to close combat, use, will DEFINITELY put her up there in terms of power level.

Combined with a couple more additions to her arsenal which shall be shown next chapter, I believe that IF's power will swell enough that she can go up against Greater Demons, something that the Goddesses (in their current power levels) can't do, though her being able to fight a Demon Prince in single combat is still beyond her at this point... even though that'll change in the future. Not to mention, her physical prowess is now enough that she can fight on even terms with the most dedicated of Khorne worshipers, who are OP warriors of their own right. Heck, its reached a point where she's gone through a physical metamorphosis... one of many, I might add.

In essence, IF could very well be more powerful than the CPUs of Gamindustri. Makes sense, considering her powers are fueled by Evolution itself, a mix of resident evil and PROTOTYPE.

Side note: Roghrax Bloodhound is actually a Notable Khornate Berserker in the Warhammer 40K Franchise. Apparently, he's a Skull collector and according to the Warhammer wiki, he leads a bunch of his fellow Berserkers against a Tyranid fleet called a Hive Fleet Kraken where he collected 'plenty' of Trophies.