"We go all out and destroy all the cores in one go." Clara declared, the members of her cohort dropped down to join in on the fight.
But they all stopped short, the creature was conforming again. Clara knew what it was doing all too well.
"It's the second evolution.'
The creature was undergoing its second evolution, Lucas, Karl, Deborah, David and Clara all stared at it as its body conformed and converged. It began to have a smaller form but it was still bigger than a human, its torso was that of a man who had red flowing hair and a beautiful face while its lower half was that of a horse. A centaur.
The creature opened its mouth, for the first time since its arrival it spoke with words that Lucas and the others could understand:
"Thank you humans for allowing me to evolve to the pinnacle of my strength." It said and then placed its hand on its chin and started stroking it.
"I just remembered, I don't have a name." The creature said. Lucas was shocked, why would something like this concern itself with such trivial matters.
The next thing he knew, the centaur was in front of him, its face but a hair's breath in front of his, Clara was caught off guard as well by its speed.
"You think I don't need a name?" It asked Lucas. It had read his mind, the evolution this creature had gained had given it the ability to read minds. Lucas's mind flew to different thoughts, he still had one thing on his mind. Why would this creature need a name of any kind?
"Everyone has names. Humans, gods, devils and so on. A being's name is tethered to their identity, it gives them meaning and it gives them life. One without a name is basically one who no longer lives and one who is forgotten by the world." The creature stated.
Lucas and the others were stunned. How did it gain such intelligence this fast? The evolution it underwent had evolved its cognitive prowess as well and now it was on the level of most top-tier philosophers.
Seeing as they decided not to answer it, the creature stopped stroking its chin and then smiled and said:
"I think I'll call myself Aron. Yes, that has a nice ring to it." Aron said and then looked at the humans staring at him, he shifted his head to the side in surprise.
"Are you afraid of me?" Aron asked as he shifted backwards and stopped a few metres away from the humans in front of him.
"I see, you all wish for my death, the same way I wish for the death of this planet." Aron said and then attacked.
World Eaters were creatures said to have the power to eradicate entire populations, an entire planet was explored within one of the Impositions and the only thing living there was a single World Eater. It was hypothesized that said World Eater eradicated the entirety of that planet.
Aron lunged at Lucas, his cells telling him to run away. Aron missed his mark and then stood there for a while.
"I know I would have hit you, nothing was in my way and you weren't running away. So why didn't I hit you?" Aron asked, he swung his fist again and then missed again.
Aron attacked again with a Ruin powered punch… but this time it hit Lucas directly in the face which sent him flying backwards.
Lucas lay on the floor, blood dripping from his nose. He didn't understand how he was able to get hit, he couldn't fathom it, he felt that him getting hit now was just him being killable again.
Faculties were given based on the user's personality and use of a faculty was always powered by Ruin energy. Lucas's faculty was the ultimate defense mechanism against any attack that wasn't infused with Ruin but that wasn't the case here.
Aron embodied the concept of destruction, he was able to destroy any and all things on a conceptual level and faculty mechanisms weren't out of his reach even though temporarily as faculties could neither be created nor destroyed by anyone.
Karl snapped his fingers, his soul flames erupting upon Aron. His entire body was aflame physically but his physical form wasn't burning. Lucas stood up from where he laid down, blood still on his face. Giving up now would be stupid as they were so close to achieving their goal of going home.
Lucas's mind ran through all the scenarios, there was only one person who could turn the tide of this battle in their favour and that was Clara Lindenheart. Lucas watched as she traded blows with Aron, they both seemed evenly matched although Aron had the slight edge when it came to technique which gave him the upper hand.
Her title as Messenger Of Destruction enabled her to be able to touch Aron while he was totally covered with the energy of destruction, now that he was in human form, she might be their only hope of ever defeating him.
Lucas's mind also went towards Karl and Deborah, he believed that they were also pivotal in winning this battle against Aron as Karl's soul flames would be immensely helpful when Clara was able to damage any of his other cores and Deborah's reading of the field and marksmanship would be helpful as well.
Then Lucas looked at David, the kid looked like he was on his last legs but he still had that determination in his eyes, the desire to return and loyalty. David had the determination to prove something, Lucas noticed that but didn't know who David wanted to prove anything to… he hoped the kid survived and that they were able to go back to the real world and his soul would be completely healed.
Clara and Aron clashed fists, others were almost blown away by the following shockwave. Clara smiled at what she saw, for the first time in her life, she had seen a Cursed Creature with a humanoid face and mannerism and now she had seen one smile.