Celia watched in horror as the crab she was to face rapidly morphed into something else. Shape of its body twisting. Claws growing new flesh. Ribbon like tendrils climbing their way out of its skull. A wing bursting out its side. Light both beautiful and horrid pouring out its eyes in an oscillating wave of colors. Chest opening up as a butchers shop of flesh was released, slowly forming together and into new limbs.
It was a thing of horror. Radiating a perverse sort of energy that seemed to subtly influence everything around it.
Trees sagged under their own weight as it passed by. Bark turning strange within its presence. Bending, turning white, growing fingers, and wilting like a bouquet of dead roses. Grass burning beneath its feet, turning putrid with festering death.
It was a thing of horrid anatomy twisting in on itself. A cesspit of life growing from which it should not. And it was walking toward Celia. Heavy thudding step after heavy step.
Her instincts instantly warned her that it was dangerous. That it was going to hurt her, scar her if she let it get close. That what it was wasn’t natural. A mutant of a thing, diseased in all the most dangerous ways. And that it had eyes solely for her. She almost ran because of that. Fear almost gripped her and tore into her, almost ravaged her apart from within. But there was something else that stopped her. That grounded her in the right here, and anchored her feet.
It was a caustic mix of defiance and gluttony. Defiance against the fear that tried to consume her. And a burgeoning curiosity as to what the horrible abomination in front of her might taste like. Better yet, what might she gain from it.
Besides, it wasn’t like she’d be able to outrun it either. Something told her it was plenty fast despite its bulky appearance and great height. Fast enough to catch her at the very least. So, Celia leaned a little low, and got ready for her next fight.
It came faster than she expected.
The crab, or what was left of it, shot forward with a burst of speed. Six skittering legs sending it toward her faster than she could blink. And in less than a second it was on her. One great claw raised high, descending down toward her head in a chopping motion.
She barely jumped out of the way in time. Shockwave sent dirt flying her way and created a cloud of dust.
A second claw emerged out of it. Pincers snapping close where her face should’ve been. Cutting more than a few hairs as she backed away. Spinning in the opposite direction it was coming from, balance all but lost for a moment.
She recovered it a second later, right as a host of red tendrils ripped their way out the crab’s shoulder and shot towards her. Deflected by a swipe of metal claws that cut clean through them. Followed by a fist full of sharp teeth and horrid camouflage. Impact hit, fist to chest, and yet it was her who was left rattled. A tremor making its way back down her arm and into her core.
Then came the second claw in a backhand swipe, that felt like it should’ve taken her head clean off. Instead it sent her flying backwards and into the dirt.
The crab came stomping after her. A claw of a foot coming down, aimed at her chest and carrying enough force to put a crater in the ground. Celia didn’t think about what would happen if it hit her, she rolled. Found herself as flat as could be on her gut, and swung. Teeth growing from her hand coated in steel and spite.
And this time she aimed for the flesh growing out its armor. Struck it, felt it tear, and watched as the crab drove a knee at her anyway. And unlike hers, it did real damage. Teeth breaking as she was knocked aside and onto her back for the second time in a row, and left dizzy. Everything spinning.
Something like a mass of organs came screaming at her, grabbed her, wrapped around her and tried to force its way past the barrier of her skin. It was met with a collection of offensive defense. Skin growing sharp and toothy and emerging with false hands. Then she did something new.
She willed herself into another shape. Hand twisting into a blade as thin and as sharp as she could imagine.
The crab gave its first shriek of pain as she thrust that blade into what she assumed was something moderately important. An organ that beat with the force of a drum, and dripped white. But pain wasn’t enough to stop it. And if came at her swinging, claws coming one after the other, grappling with teeth and tendrils of her own. And to her surprise it was too sharp for even that. Her lash bouncing off its layers of armor and leaving little more than a scratch.
Then it head butted her. Blunt force knocking blackness into her for a half second. Long enough for an idea to take hold of her.
One that actually might’ve been good for once.
She didn’t bet on it. Still went with it. Hand returning to normal as her pronged lash grew a grinning mouth and bit down on the wing erupting out the crabs back. Teeth sinking in and drawing blood before being pulled back. Forced away as the crab threw her.
Celia rolled with it. Landed on her feet, and let the hit from drawing blood hit her.
She could win this, she just needed to be smart.
And that meant creative. So, before she forgot, she activated candle hearth. Felt her body begin to heat up, and sank into her tremor sense.
She felt the crab move before she saw it. And even then, there was only a fraction of a second to react. Head tearing back out of the way of a brutal swiping claw. Feet carrying her to the side as a tide of malformed flesh reached for her. Fist jabbing out into its back. Vibrations painting out a picture of its body for her in real time, from external to slightly internal.
That gave her just a bit of insight into her opponent. A picture of what was on the inside, one that showed her it wasn’t nearly as tough in there as it was out here. Which, yeah, should have been obvious. In her defense, though, she’d never gotten into a real fight in her life before all of this. Not to mention, there was more to it than that. The crab wasn’t just weak on the inside, but it had weaknesses on the surface of its shell. None more exploitable than the underside of its arms and head.
A revelation that changed this from a brawl into a game of attrition. Where her head on assault was switched out for a series of jabs, dodges, and doing everything in her power to bait it out. She spat and kicked and ran. A war entirely dependent on avoiding every strike the overgrown crab of a monster threw at her.
Which, as it turned out, was a lot harder than she assumed it would be. The crab was as she expected, fast, it could also pivot its entire body around at the drop of a hat and had more limbs than even she did at this point. But she managed via a mix of rapidly backing up and spitting molten loogies at it.
A continuous barrage of - barely effective - attacks that eventually achieved her desired result. Rage. Rage filled the crab. Sent it into a fury that had it running straight at her. Arms raised as it attempted to smash her into fine dust.
She took that as her chance. Morphing her hand into a blade once again before thrusting it upward and driving the edge between a joint beneath the crabs left arm. Where her blade clinked deep and cut something fragile. Blood pouring from the crack in its armor, a tide of putrid green that made her regret possessing a nose right then and there.
Regret she forgot in the next second as the crabs arm began to mutate. A wave of lumpy white colored meat pouring out of its arm and transforming into something altogether new. A horrible sort of new that Celia couldn’t help but gag at, even as her stomach betrayed her with a growl.
It would seem that crab meat still had a firm grip on her even between worlds.
