Excursion 11: Polymorph Showdown

Five floors deep underneath the warehouse, bodies are littered across the ground. Black Hawk was getting exhausted, probably having burned over two thousand five hundred calories just moving around and slashing.

In a dark, dingy corner of the maze-like fifth floor was a man who looked exactly like the clones. He was hooked up to an IV and his eyes were closed, sitting on a wicker chair. Black Hawk grasped the hilt of his dagger as the immobile man opened his eyes directing his pupils right at Black Hawk.

The man took the IVs out of his veins revealing that he was much more built than his clones, having a bigger and more defined chest, bigger arms and legs. From his back, a mayonnaise blob shaped like a tentacle. Two bits broke from the blob forming two swords, and four other bits broke off forming missiles.

"So… that's why they call you Weaponsmith," said Black Hawk.

A furtive silence punctuated the two, Weaponsmith simply said "goodbye."

Two missiles began flying towards Black Hawk, whilst Weaponsmith crouched down and started running towards him under his eye level.

Black Hawk moved behind him, attempting to slash him, but the blob formed into a floating shield and took the cut.

The shield then disassembled itself eliminating the cut from Black Hawk's knife.

Weaponsmith had a perfect counter to Black Hawk's knife, and Weaponsmith knew that too well. Black Hawk attempted to barrage Weaponsmith with slashes, but he was wearing a large part of the blob as his armor, so every time Black Hawk made a cut, the armor would simply and rapidly disassemble in the cut region and reassemble itself, nullifying the slash.

Black Hawk now had to restrategize. He had to investigate the powers of his opponent.

He surmised from the fact that his clones couldn't manifest this slash nullifying armor, that his clones must not be equal in power, but then how did they get their weapons? Perhaps, Black Hawk thought, the blob forming the armor must also be present with the clones, suggesting that he had been facing a weakened version of the foe before him.

Now what? Well, Black Hawk thought back to his training. The gift isn't just an object or some alteration of the gene, it is an extension of its bearer's very soul. The gift essentially becomes a part of the soul. So the only way to explain why he had no power before and why he has so much power now, must be because the clones were made with fragments of his soul! Since humans had finite soul, its splintering must weaken the capacities of the gift, thus the blob in the hands of his clones couldn't change forms, losing the malleability he's displaying with it now.

The revelation clicked, and he realized one of the weaknesses therefore must be distance. If Black Hawk could get far enough away, it might just force Weaponsmith to call upon his clones, splintering his soul once more, potentially imposing the single-form restriction on the main body.

He didn't know for sure but it was worth a try.

Black Hawk moved ten meters away swiftly, immediately running to the other side of the floor maze. Weaponsmith gave chase, until they reached a five way crossroads. Realizing Black Hawk's plan, Weaponsmith takes off the armor, and forms them into twenty missiles. Groups of five were sent down each path.

In that moment, Black Hawk was watching from above, having used his gift to jump on top of a divider. He saw the armor disappear, and realized it was time to strike.

It had been five seconds since he used Judicious Equality, so he used it once more, appearing behind Weaponsmith's back, and he placed ten slashes on it. He pressed the button. The sound of tearing fabric filled the air as blood gushed from the deep cuts he placed on him.

However, Weaponsmith has had worse injuries. He was still conscious.

One second passed. He summoned two clones behind Black Hawk, their bodies twisted and contorted from his footprints. They had no weapons, but they held him by the arms.

Two seconds passed. Weaponsmith gets up, pulling a switch blade from his pocket. He slashes Black Hawk twice in the two diagonal directions along his chest.

Three seconds passed. The blob is half way to Weaponsmith. Two more clones emerge in front of Black Hawk, punching him several times in the gut.

Four seconds passed. The blob is half a second away from returning. Black Hawk is holding the knife in his hand, and creates wide cuts along the wastes of the clones which are restraining him.

Five seconds passed. Just as the blob is returning, Black Hawk pressed down the buttons and cuts down those who restrained him. He jumps towards Weaponsmith and plants the blade right on his side.

The armor forms around the blade, but it's too late. He pressed the button once more, and a deep stab wound appeared, causing blood to gush out at an alarming rate. The side of his armor was stained red, and he was forced onto the ground.

Black Hawk, incredibly injured, begins walking away from the man he just took down.

However, whilst the intense bleeding never stopped, he realized something. The Soul Splitting Relay, which was one of Weaponsmith's gift, worked by manipulating a fragment of the user's soul onto some kind of trace of the user, such as a fingerprint, a footprint, even a photo. Upon imbuing the soul fragment, the information contained within it then influenced the form of the clone. But Weaponsmith realized, on the cusp of his death, can he control the information encoded into the soul fragment?

Through rigorously controlling the demonic energy used to process and encode the information onto the soul fragment, he learnt what each signal meant, akin to bits on the computer. Manipulating some of those bits allowed him to change the form and parameters of his soul fragment. Thus, he encoded one hundred percent of his soul into a new form, one with four arms and eight feet tall, with jaws made of steel. The form emerged in front of Black Hawk. The epiphany led to the abandonment of Weaponsmith's old body to accommodate the awakening of the gift. It went from the Soul Splitter Relay to Soul Sculpter's Chisel.

… To be continued.