"AARRGH!" Ito screamed in agony as the numbing cold was suddenly replaced by searing heat that raced through his body as if his blood had ignited. He rolled and thrashed about on the stone floor as the pain increased, feeling as if every bone in his body was breaking apart and knitting back together at once. His muscles expanded, tearing his clothes apart in the process.
Quit your whining. I said I'd heal you. I never said it wouldn't hurt the mask chided him.
Finally the pain receded and Ito was able to stand up. His wounds had indeed been healed, but he was now barely recognisable. He stood over two metres tall and was massively built, with limbs like steel girders. The remains of his shirt hung in tatters on his huge frame although thankfully his trousers were mostly intact. The mask clung to his face like a limpet, its eyes glowing a bright yellow.
"What is this? What happened to me?" He looked down in shock at his huge new hands.
Simple really. You're wearing me and I'm inhabiting you the mask replied. We're a team now. I help you get your sweet little girlfriend back and you help me get what I want.
"What do you want? What are you?"
Ito-boy, do you really want to be playing twenty questions or would you rather find Kyoko?
Ito set off at a run through the cavern. After a moment he noticed that the smell of mildew had been joined by a cloying, sickly odour similar to rotting meat. The stench grew stronger as he neared a corner. Turning it he came upon a ghastly sight.
Stretching away into the distance was a wide stone corridor. Scattered around like garbage were putrefying corpses, many of which were little more than bones. They all looked human but each had something malformed about them. Claws, twisted or extra limbs, distended skulls. The more recent ones had twisted features that looked as if they had died in horrible pain.
"What is this place?"
The caverns are a dumping ground. It's where they toss the ones that don't work out so well.
"What do you mean?" Ito asked.
Never mind that now. We have things to kill and I need the practise said the mask.
Ito heard the familiar shuffling footsteps and odd breathing. He looked over to see a group of the same creatures that had attacked him and Kyoko earlier moving towards him. Rage boiled up from within him as he remembered his girlfriend being carried away while he could do nothing to stop it.
Yeah! That's the spirit the mask said encouragingly. Waste them!
Ito spotted a rusty cleaver laying on the ground and snatched it up. He charged forwards and swung his weapon, slicing off the nearest creature's head. It dropped to the ground with a low thud as its now-headless body slumped to its knees and dissolved into foul-smelling green sludge.
The creatures came on mindlessly, but Ito was unstoppable. He swung the cleaver back and forth, each swing cutting down another of them and leaving a trail of melting bodies in his wake. Within seconds he had slain all of them. Only then did he notice that the cleaver had broken, its corroded blade having finally given under the stress he'd subjected it to. He tossed it away.
Ah, you never forget your first kill the mask drawled. Not bad, not bad at all.
Ito didn't reply as he moved down the corridor, alert for any more of the creatures. He couldn't see any but they could be hiding close by…
Stop!
The urgency in the mask's psychic voice made him halt just in time as three metal blades, each as tall as him, flew up from the ground. A second later and they sank back into the earth.
"Thanks" said Ito shakily.
Don't mention it. You're no good to me dead.
Ito made it past two more sets of hidden blades and sliced his way through another batch of the grey creatures before he came to a wooden ladder that led up to a hole in the ceiling.
"I made it" he said delightedly as he climbed up the ladder.
Don't get too cocky Ito-boy. The fun's just starting the mask warned.
Ito's good mood from making it out of the caverns promptly disappeared as he reached the top of the ladder. He found himself in a room with a plain wooden floor and white plaster walls. In the middle of the far wall was an empty fireplace. He barely noticed any of that because piled against the walls were heaps of bloody red carrion. The air was choked with the smell of blood. As if that wasn't bad enough in a corner was a square hole in the ceiling. From the hole dangled a bloated grey-skinned creature with a noose around its neck. Its head lolled at an unnatural angle, its neck clearly broken.
"W, what the Hell?"
Feeding area the mask casually explained. Better look out for bore-worms.
"What?"
There was a sudden wet popping sound as something burst out of the nearest pile of viscera and landed on the floor with a squelch. It was a limbless, worm-like creature, flesh-coloured and with a huge mouth filled with gleaming teeth. With remarkable speed it slithered across the floor and sank its needle-sharp teeth into Ito's ankle.
He screamed in pain as he reached down and ripped it free, ignoring the pain as his flesh was further torn. Enraged, he flung it to the floor and stomped on it, bursting the thing like a balloon and leaving a crimson puddle.
Hey, I told you to look out for bore-worms the mask taunted him. Speaking of which, here they come.
More bore-worms began emerging from the heaps of carrion, some launching themselves at him through the air, others keeping to the floor. This time Ito was ready for them. His feet rose and fell like pistons, squashing them into pulp while his fists intercepted the leaping bore-worms one after the other. The power behind his blows ruptured the creatures like rotten fruit, sending gobbets of flesh flying everywhere.
Yeah! Pop them like zits!
After several long moments of this the remaining bore-worms turned tail and burrowed back into the gory piles. Ito allowed himself to relax slightly.
"Thank Kami-sama that's over."
Not quite.
A final bore-worm burst forth from the gut of the hanged creature dangling from the ceiling and flew right at him. With a cry of rage Ito brought his fist down in a hammer blow that smashed it to the floor. For good measure he slammed his foot down on it.
"That was disgusting" he said as he strode towards the only door in the room.
The mask laughed. You haven't seen anything yet Ito-boy.