Noah watched in morbid curiosity as Isaac's body grew and expanded with painful screams.
This was Isaac's Phantasm, the Chained Bull. But with each second of the transformation, Isaac's bloodcurdling scream made it seem like he was being ripped apart. His blue eyes turned red as they filled with blood.
The creature rose to its feet, sniffing the air with its wet nose.
It was almost ten feet standing on its hind legs, closer to a bull than a man. Its arms were covered in black fur, and its muscles were as thick as a car.
Two white horns glowed in the light of the fire surrounding them. They were inscribed with thin gold lines.
Noah rose to his feet. His head of black flames flickered uncertainly, watching the bull.
This was a monster in the truest sense. A beast born only to indulge its dark desires. And Isaac had fully lost control of it.
If he got out into town…
It would be a massacre. The monster would create a tragedy that would never fade from the minds of people.
The bull's red eyes found him among the ruins of the burning gas station. A maddened roar followed its discovery. Its force flattened the fires and made the earth tremble.
Noah tightened his fist and prepared himself. This was going to be tough, but he needed to kill this thing now.
The beast got down on all fours and charged. Each step shook the ground. It was far faster than he expected, bearing down on him in seconds.
Noah became intangible instinctively; the black blur rushed past him, followed by a column of pressured air.
Things that big shouldn't be moving like that.
He bent his knees and focused all his strength into his legs, no longer daring to even hold back.
The charred asphalt was blasted apart by his jump. His body soared through the air instantly and silently.
He felt weightless, and there wasn't even any wind resistance. That was when he realized he was still intangible and invisible.
He landed some meters in the forest. Looking back at the distance he covered in a single leap was staggering.
Back in the burning remains of the gas station, the Chained Bull was searching for him and roaring. He waited until the creature was done before he shouted,
"I'm over here, bonehead!"
The bull turned immediately, eyes glowing with crimson malice. The beast took off, shrinking the distance between them in seconds.
"Shit."
Noah turned, running into the forest. If he was just going off foot speed, he was around the same speed as the Chained Bull.
The treeline blurred as he pushed forward, so quick that anyone he passed would simply see a shadow. With his intangibility, they wouldn't even hear his footsteps or feel the wind of his passing.
He didn't run for long though. That wouldn't help him much.
Once he was far enough from any living thing, he stopped and turned back.
The forest was screaming. Trees were crushed and splintered, the ground was gouged, and the very air trembled as the bull charged.
"Come on then," Noah said slowly, exhaling.
The Chained Bull appeared instantly, blasting trees between them into wood chips. It lowered its horn and tried to smash through Noah, but he phased through its body.
The moment it passed him, Noah turned and jumped towards it, interlocking his fists and raising them above his head.
He slammed down the fists on the bull's back, and a heavy thud echoed through the forest. But Noah cringed.
That must have hurt me more than him.
The bull spun, swinging its fist so hard and fast the air burst in loud booms. Noah became intangible instantly, allowing the fist to phase through him harmlessly.
In that weightless form, where air resistance was null, he could move faster midair. He swung his fist, slamming it into the bull's turning face with a roar of his own.
The air boomed, and the creature staggered while he landed on the ground. His fist was sore, but he dealt damage.
The pain was fading quickly, and he had the advantage. His mind sunk into a still state, a sharpened focus poised to kill.
He shot forward, jumping aside from one of the bull's fists before phasing through the second.
Then he made his hands solid and laid a barrage of haymakers into the bull's belly.
The ten-foot creature was barely affected though; its muscular body felt like chiseled stone. It slammed down its fist, eviscerating the ground in a heavy blow.
BOOM!
Noah just stood there, intangible, through the upheaval. The ground rose in a black wave, the trees were uprooted and blown away by the overwhelming force of the bull.
I'll have to strike vulnerable points with maximum force.
He phased through the ground and fell for five seconds, a plan forming instantly in his mind.
He relied on his supernatural senses to track the bull above ground. Then he angled his body and released his breath.
Above ground, the bull searched for him, heavy grunts rolling from its chest. It was about to leave and find fresh victims when Noah returned.
His form phased from the ground in a black blur. At the last moment, just before his fist slammed into the bull's chin,
Noah made the rest of his body intangible again.
The air expanded in a white cone once his fist made contact; a sound so powerful it could rupture human ears echoed through the forest.
Like the earth had cracked open.
When the wind settled and all the dust scattered, Noah was standing over the bull's body, panting.
Making his whole body intangible, except his fist, at the last moment was a smart move. It lessened the force traveling back through his arm and made sure he wasn't blown away by his own attack.
He stretched his sore fingers, but the pain was rapidly fading. However, his hunger was growing.
It's connected to how I take damage.
Anytime I take damage or heal my already dead human body for possession, the hunger grows. What will happen when it becomes too much?
He didn't have much time to answer.
The Chained Bull rolled over, releasing an enraged roar that was even more powerful than the last.
"It's getting stronger?" Noah muttered under his breath.
The bull was bleeding from a hole under its jaw. But the blood was like magma, burning and starting fires in the dirt beneath it. The bull grabbed its blood and began shaping it.
A molten red chain extended as the bull turned on Noah.