Neo started to somewhat recover from its near-death state by devouring the beast corpses and cores. It dragged itself toward the Alpha's chest, its jaws unhinging to swallow the dark red core. Kale watched the process, his mind already calculating the data from the slaughter.
Kale thought hard and long about the tactical implications of this failure. Perhaps it was actually a good thing in a certain context. If Neo had won easily, it would have never learned to respect the mechanics of its secondary form. It would have remained a spoiled predator.
After all, the true strength of the Black Chameleon state did not lie in its physical might or its defence. Those were mere auxiliary features designed to keep it alive while it performed its true purpose. Its value resided entirely in the transformation trait and the element of surprise.
