Creeping Cryptid

Marcus watches the gun in the cryptid's hand as the beast pulls the trigger. The jumper's supremely fast eyes track the bullet as it explodes out of the weapon and hurtles towards him. He is not at all concerned or phased by the projectile, and when it gets in range of his rune-sword his hand flashes forward and he dexterously uses his weapon to cut the bullet rocketing towards him in half.

Marcus's lips curl upward in an expression halfway between a smile and a sneer. Now that he's actually facing the monster that assaulted him and his new friends he is relaxed, almost happy even. The man hates uncertainty and not knowing where danger lies, but now that he is aware of danger and facing it head on, he is unafraid of it.

"A gun? That's unexpectedly, and disappointingly, ordinary of you." He says, attempting to insult the cryptid that desires to feed on him. The creature, who still looks like Nathan Silver but if he disliked clothes, does not bother responding to the insult, nor does his facial expression shift in any meaningful way.

The cryptid has not uttered a single word in the presence of the humans, and he silently fires the gun again. Marcus, expecting this, effortlessly cuts through this bullet as well. The man was never idle during his decade-long journey and his skills and attributes are all finely honed because of this.

If anyone who only has a tiny selection of true superpowers can successfully stop the cryptid right this moment, it's Marcus. Nonetheless, Marcus and the cryptid are not engaged in a one-on-one fight, and Marcus's unhappy allies are not staying still or idling while he draws the beast's attention.

Mary, the brainiac of the team of plucky sleuths responsible for bringing Marcus and Alexander to the forest, is studying the beast. Of all the beast's current set of victims she is the only one who has realized that physically speaking the creature is a naked version of the man who drew Roger and Dakota away from the rest of the team. Sadly, she is also paralyzed with fear and unable to speak.

Alexander is eyeing the cryptid and keeping a cautious eye on him. The warrior is waiting for a chance to strike, but even though the cryptid is focused entirely on Marcus, Alexander is a skilled and savvy enough warrior that he knows that the creature is not a foe that he can approach even when the thing is distracted.

Alexander's assessment is correct. The cryptid is a decidedly dangerous being and to approach him without a plan, in an attempt to distract him, would only result in tragedy. Marcus, as confident as he is in his own skills as a warrior, is aware of that as well. That's why the man doesn't attempt to dart forward and confront the creature in melee-combat.

The humans are not the only ones capable of strategy, and the cryptid sighs as he studies his target. His eyes narrow in frustration and curiosity as he readies himself for the battle to enter its next phase.

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Marcus is fast. In the ways that matter, in this context at least, I'd wager that somehow the human is faster than I am. It seems that if I try to confront him directly, I'd be flipping a coin on whether I'd come out on top, and I am not about to take that risk.

The man's allies are a bit spread out, with Alexander a few feet in front of and to the right of Marcus and Mary and Anthony close to each other and behind Marcus. I am positioned a few dozen feet away from Marcus and he keeps his gaze trained squarely on me, with a calm and determined smile on his face.

His skills and abilities will undoubtedly empower me a great deal if I can consume him, but he's not the only person of note worth consuming close by. Alexander's eyes are trained on me and the elderly warrior with a sniper's instincts and eyes are dangerous. I don't close my eyes, but I do begin to smile at my foes.

My enemies are focused on me and they can feel the pressure of the situation. Thanks to a subtle, passive perk combination I can see the emotions those around me are feeling which allows me to see the steely, pragmatic determination felt by Marcus and Alexander, the worry felt by Anthony, and the dread, the sanity-damaging fear felt by Mary. It is by studying these emotions that I come up with a strategy.

Marcus has nearly superhuman reflexes and speed, but he's not alone and I know what humans are, generally, capable of. Nathan's knowledge is not fitness focused but he knows enough about humans to know that most of them cannot reflect or cut through bullets.

I whip my weapon in a new direction. I don't aim it at Alexander, who may well be able to dodge bullets even at close range. Instead of going after the warrior, I aim for the young man; Anthony, to harm my foes emotionally and mentally.

The instant that the gun I took from one of my foes is aimed at him I fire a single bullet. Anthony's eyes widen and Mary screams in fear, the sound louder than anything I've ever heard and momentarily stunning even someone as sharp-witted as Alexander due to how loud it is coupled with their relative proximity to each other. Nonetheless no scream from a human will deflect a bullet, and so the ammunition speeds through the air towards the youthful teen.

This move draws a reaction from Marcus, who reacts faster than I thought possible and turns to moves to intercept the tiny projectile. Alexander's pistol is not a large thing, and neither are the bullets it fires, but it is enough to be fatal if I can hit him with it.

The bullet sails through the air, and as Marcus moves to try and stop it from harming his friend I raise my unarmed hand in his direction and project a wave of telekinetic force that travels faster than he does. The wave, moving at the speed of thought, collides with him and he is unable to guard against it, allowing me to pull him to the floor forcibly. He is slammed to the ground hard, and my bullet does not get intercepted.

Anthony's eyes widen as the bullet hits him in the chest. All of us watch as the bullet enters the man's chest and then exits his body by bursting out of his back, covered in blood flying a bit further before hitting the ground dully.

I watch shock color Anthony's emotions, and I begin to laugh, the sound deep and loud as it emanates out of me. Anthony is still on his feet and when he attempts to glare at me, I release my telekinetic grip on Marcus and point my hand at the injured man, again projecting another burst of telekinetic power in the direction of my intent.

I capture Anthony with ease, and I wrap a large, telekinetic fist around his throat. I begin to squeeze, lightly, causing him to gasp and I smile at my foes.

"Stop!" Mary screams, agony coloring her wail. I chuckle and look at her, feigned interest filling my eyes.

"You want me to stop?" I say, speaking for the first time since I initiated this battle. When I speak everyone's, eyes widen, even Anthony's, and I can tell that no one expected me to address her. She cannot bring herself to speak, but she does nod, pitifully, at me.

I smirk at her, and I make a subtle circular motion with my hand as I lift it higher. This causes Anthony to rise off his feet and flip in midair. He is now floating, upside down, only a few feet off the ground, helpless to do anything of meaning to stop me.

To his credit, Marcus recognizes where I am going with this, and he attempts to dart at me. Marcus IS fast, but there appears to be a difference between the speed he can exert when doing something as simple as positioning a sword in just the right place to cut through a bullet, vs when he's got to move his whole body.

He is not fast enough to stop me from using one of the cryptid perks I possess, "Teleportation", to reposition myself. As soon as I will it to activate I feel time slow to a nearly complete stop around me as I look for an appropriate place to arrive at.

Many of my perks that allow me to mimic traditional superpowers have caveats and/or gimmicks. The gimmick for "Teleportation" is that I can only teleport if I am teleporting to a place that isn't being seen by anyone, and so long as I am only teleporting up to a mile away. In the dark forest, most of my surroundings are unseen but where I choose to appear is behind a nearby tree. This is so I can stay close to the battle.

One instant Marcus is in front of me, his eyes filled with rage, and the next instant the thing that is in front of me is a dark tree. As a result of my abrupt movement and the increased distance between Anthony and myself it becomes harder for me to keep the man floating in the air but while Iposition my head so that I can see what I am about to do to Anthony I forcefully steady my mind and remain focused on my victim.

I grit my teeth and manage to keep Anthony floating just long enough for me to take my empty hand and violently smash it downward. It doesn't hit anything but that doesn't matter. What does matter is my intent, and my intent is violent.

I watch Anthony's helpless body be moved by my telekinetic power and I see his head be violently smashed into the ground beneath him. I'm happy I only need to do this once to end his life, as I sense his body go limp in my telekinetic grip when his pulverized skull begins to bleed onto the grass of the forest floor. No one in the group says anything, nor do they do anything in response to the life-ending violence I have just shown them.

A few moments later I am forced to slump against the tree in front of me as knowledge begins to fill my brain, making it hard for me to focus on the present. Anthony's knowledge sneaks into my mind in the wake of my violent murder of the man, and I silently laugh as I feel every memory of his and every bit of knowledge, that he ever possessed begin to fill a quiet corner of my mind.

I focus on keeping my laughter silent as I take in the implications of this victory, since this means that I don't have to eat the bodies of my foes to absorb what is theirs! At the same time an alert fills my mind's eye that affords me an equally important victory, making me have to struggle to remain composed.

[Alert: Shadow Servant Opportunity

You have slain a foe. As a possessor of a nascent [Essence] that is steeped in darkness and death you can recreate your fallen foes as [Shadow Servants]. These creatures are freed, sapient reflections of the people they are based on that are given form and identity by mixing your arcane power with dying, esoteric scraps of identity left behind by the deceased.

These beings are immortal, utterly devoted to you to the point of worship, and are both enhanced beyond their abilities in life and able to grow further still. They are also, in all the ways that matter, fully alive, capable of acts such as reproduction. In a handful of ways they can even count as you, such as for the purpose of creating more of themselves through acts of murder they commit on your behalf or at your behest.

Anytime you or one of your servants slays a foe you can turn them into shadow servants if you are willing to expend a bit of your magical power. Distance is a factor, but with training and time this weakness can be lessened, and eventually eliminated entirely. You are still close enough to Anthony to turn him into one of your servants. Would you like to do so?]

I inform the text box that I would love to make what remains of Anthony a servant of mine, bound to my will, and I watch his friends gasp in shock when they watch Anthony's corpse vanish. I feel my internal stores of magic, the energy I'd expend if I used my greater powers, take a hit as a floating orb of darkness appears where Anthony's defeated body had been unceremoniously positioned due to the ongoing battle.

The humans struggle to fully sense the orb, as it is a ball of darkness in the middle of a lightless forest, but they can clearly see it on some level since their eyes are focused on the thing. They let out a collective gasp when the orb expands and takes on the form of a human man's silhouette.

I watch the scene, delighted to have gained one new ally during this battle, and I let out an audible laugh when the silhouette lifts its own hand and brings it to the thing's face only to rip off the blackness wrapped around it like a gimp suit. Right as the creature begins to truly go to town on its silhouette-covered body, I dart out from behind the tree I was using for cover and I aim at one of my greater, remaining, foes: Alexander.

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As the group reacts to seeing a bizarre reflection of one of their own, a dear friend, rip something analogous to a mask made of darkness off his face none of the people under attack know how to react. The suddenness and brutality of their foe's assault is overwhelming and that is now coupled with the fact that they had to see one of their own perish, only to watch him be abruptly brought back to life is throwing even Marcus and Alexander for a loop. It's a lot to process at once.

Their wicked foe has exhibited abilities like telekinesis which can be meaningfully countered if someone has enough experience, and other, less easily addressed ones. An example of one of the less easily addressed abilities he's demonstrated is his power to revive the dead, so long as he is their slayer, which he has just shown his foes even if they don't yet understand what they have seen.

Nonetheless, even if they are ignorant of the cryptid's powers what he has just done is nothing short of a faux miracle and that is affecting the morale of the group opposed to his evil actions. Everyone in the group is feeling uncertain in the face of their revived ally and while they are on guard in his presence, knowing logically that there is no way he is on their side, they cannot help but want to believe that the figure in front of them really is their fallen friend.

The distraction of mentally addressing the odd emotions one feels when witnessing a friend be slain and then immediately resurrected by their killer proves to be an effective tactic and the cryptid eagerly mentally notes that even as he darts out of his cover and towards his enemies. While he dashes at his foes, he makes use of "ESP", a powerful perk that allows him to use basic, trainable psionic powers to communicate with his shadow servant.

"Attack Mary. If you get the chance to kill her, do so." The malicious creature commands, and he senses his servant mentally agree to obey the order without hesitation. This causes the cryptid to smile violently, because Anthony loved Mary and if the man's living remnant does not hesitate to obey even an order to kill her that means that his control over his servants really IS absolute.

The cryptid lashes out at Alexander while Anthony faces Mary and darts towards her, fire and hate visible in his eyes. Anthony's shadow is a speedy thing, much faster than the actual Anthony was in life, and his arms are outstretched towards Mary's neck. Mary is not able to react in time but Marcus does.

Marcus moves in between the two individuals, and he lashes out at the creature with his sword. His counter is an efficient move: he stabs his short sword into the man's chest, right where the heart would be on a human being, but no such organs exist inside of shadow servants which greatly reduces the damage done by this counterattack. However, because Marcus performs this heroic action, he is not able to protect Alexander, who without his gun is a much less capable combatant even if he's not helpless.

The cryptid, a speedy and brutal fighter, begins a targeted onslaught aimed at knocking Alexander off his legs and onto his knees or back. The creature focuses on speed and strength over actual technique and launches an array of heavy strikes using his arms and legs when he gets within striking range of Alexander, but he is not fast enough to reach the man before Alexander can turn around and face the creature face-to-face, so Alexander is not forced to endure several quick, brutal strikes to his back.

Alexander deftly endures the impressive display of martial arts, putting on an equally impressive show of dodges, blocks, partial deflections, and other defensive hand-to-hand techniques using his legs and knees as much as he uses his arms and hands. While none of his work now is as impressive as his earlier cool head and sniper-like reflexes, Alexander still fights like an ambitious, skillful youth and manages to take minimal damage from the otherwise withering onslaught the cryptid just forced him to endure.

By the time the cryptid's last blow has been softened by Alexander's masterful use of close quarters combat skills, the almost old man is smiling at his foe and still on his feet. He is breathing considerably heavier than before, but the fact that he can smile at his foe at all is a testament to the stern stuff he is made of.

"Is that it? I expected… more." He grumbles, as a form of trash talk. Yet again the cryptid does not answer the taunt, and he does not look winded in the slightest. The cryptid does open his mouth, but only to exhale a large golden cloud that he almost vomits out at his enemy. The powerful cloud is made up of nauseous toxins and other unpleasant things that encourage disease, rot, and decay, and Alexander is forced to take careful steps backward, away from his foe, due to his need to breathe to survive.

"Time to wrap it up." The cryptid exclaims, speaking physically but also using his telepathy to alert his two servants that it's time that the group wrap up its activities here. The cryptid does not smile as he says this, he instead only gives Alexander a stern, focused look. He is still and his fists seem to spontaneously combust, a pair of beautiful flames suddenly exploding into being around both fists as if to protect them.

"You'll be a good shadow servant." The cryptid says, intending to throw the man off his A game. The figure's eyebrows raise in confusion, and the monster hunting him manages to resist making some snarky pop-culture joke opting instead to return to his past state of silence. The creature makes the first move, aiming at Alexander with a nasty looking fire-covered jab. The cryptid moves forward as he makes the move, adding furious force to it to use it as the weapon that will end Alexander's life.