The two monsters stand before me.
The snake centipede one and the lizard in a mascot suit impatiently tap their claws and feet waiting for me to speak.
I tap my nonexistent mouth a few times to symbolise I cant speak, and they nod understandingly.
Well, its good that they understand what I mean, perfect for my plan.
I crouch and start scratching letters into the dusty street with my claw.
The snake leans in, hundreds of tiny claws twitching. The mascot-lizard squints, tilting his fuzzy head.
"…Is that a B or a D?" the mascot mutters.
"I thinksss it's a sixssssss," the snake hisses, but the mascot shakes his head in disagreement
"No, wait- it's a- hold on yeah its an O"
The snake smacks the mascot on the back of his head with a claw. "If itttt wasssss an O then it wouldnt writesssss an I before ittttt"
The mascot stares at the snake irritated. "Its not an I its an L thats obvious cmon!"
They bicker louder, moving closer, both trying to read the shaky letters I'm etching into the ground. My crystal claws aren't exactly designed for carving so i cant be fully accurate.
The mascot finally folds his arms. "Just hurry it up, uhh glass thing. What are you writing?"
I finish the last word, step back, and point down. The carved letters read:
"LOOK CLOSER"
And just as planned, they do.
The mascot bends over first, one paw on his fuzzy knee, eyes squinting behind the tiger mask's mesh. "What does that even-"
I lift my clawed hand, and with one sharp motion, bring it down.
*SMASH*
The impact caves in his head like a soda can. The sound echoes through the ruins, followed by a meaty thud as the mascot's body collapses, limp and twitching.
For a moment, everything goes still.
Then the snake recoils, dozens of hands flaring open in panic.
I step toward, and I instinctually move forward and grasp its body in my claw, im only twice the size of a normal person, but the mascots like 4 feet tall, which is less then half of my height, so i can grasp its entire body in my claw pretty easily.
The monster inside the suit gushes blood that sickengly turns bright and eventually to pure light as it drips, and before it touches the ground the light shoots to me in a beam, and I can feel my power surge.
Only the empty tiger suit remains, crumpled like discarded fabric, and I toss the mascot costume aside.
Energy floods my body. The cracks and lines between my crystal plates flare white-hot, tracing along my limbs. My blank eyes blaze, theyre still blank and void of color but much brighter, theyre glowing white now.
Five percent, I can feel it.
I flex my hands, feeling strength return, the sluggishness fading. Not enough to bring back my mouth panels. Not enough to talk, But enough to move ... better or something idk where I was going with that thought train.
As I test the glow running under my surface, I can't help but think that if I restore the mouth panels, maybe I'll be able to speak aga-
Oh right, the snakeipede lunging at me.
The ground cracks beneath it as it surges forward, claws scraping the floor trailing along, its fangs leaking venom beared to strike. I dodge left with suprising speed. It snaps past, barely closing its maw before slamming into the pavement.
I dash forward, attempting to slam my claw into its side, but quickly turns to spot me and instead of moving away, the claw-legs on its side all rush together like a wall deflecting my blow, and to my shock the claws extend even further, scratching my arm and nicking my body.
Thats strange, so his claw-leg thingies can extend much further, that makes them more tentacles then legs.
The snake hisses, rearing back. Rows of claws extend further to grab at me from all directions like being punched by a hundred toddlers holding knives.
I go as fast as i can and break free from the grip, and I dash back in trying weave between them, slashing and dashing, but I can't break through its defenses. My movements are faster but it just has so many claws, and I cant risk getting too hasty or else its venomous bite might catch me.
Each impact sends tiny shards flaking off me. For a second, I catch my reflection in one, white light bleeding from the fractures.
The snake retracts its claws and coils up, its claws digging into the ground, and lunges again, pushing off the floor with its claws for more speed.
I barely roll aside dodging its bite, but its claws are still digged into the floor, and i dont notice fact enough.
*SLAM*
It used its claws that were burrowed into the ground to pivot, turning and whipping me with its tail into a concrete wall with a loud slam, i can feel my torso crack.
No matter, I cant show the snakeipede that im injured, I flicker forward, ignoring the pain and I use my psychic power to hold one of its claws... thats odd, I can only slow one down, not even stop it fully. It appears my psychic powers havent strengthened despite absorbing that mascot monster. Maybe I need to absorb an esper to increase my psychic ability- oh wait im fighting.
The snakes already flying towards me mouth open, and i duck, but not fast enough.
Its jaws close around me.
*CLANG*
The sound rings out like a bell.
For a moment, neither of us move. Then the snake screams. Its fangs snap against my crystal shell, cracks spreading along its teeth. It thrashes violently, shaking me like it's trying to bite through a steel beam.
The vibrations reverberate through me, painful but harmless, I can only imagine what the snake feels ... right to the teeth too, damn thats gotta hurt.
Wait why was I even scared of its bite in the first place? Im a crystallian im not biological, I cant be affected by any poisons, so why did I give up all those chances to attack in fear of the bite?
I probably could have killed it pretty easily too, but oh well, It is what it is.
I raise my claw to sheepishly scratch my head embarrassed, before I grab the snake by its head.
With one sharp squeeze, its head caves in like glass under pressure. The rest of the body writhes, claws flailing but I hold firm, using that same strange instinct as before.
Light flows out of the corpse and floods into me, washing away the cracks, seeping through every crevice. The hands fall limp, and soon, all that's left is the shed husk of its skin, like a husk.
The glow inside me intensifies. My vision sharpens. My eyes they shift, faint traces of color rippling through the once-blank white.
Ten percent.
The number pulses in my mind like a readout.
If anyone saw this from the outside, the sight of something being dissolved into light and absorbed would be terrifying.
I stare at my reflection in a shard of glass. My new eyes burn with colour now, no mouth panels, but atleast my eyes are coloured now, that must be a positive sign.
The city wind howls through the ruins, it feels empty, but I wonder. If ten percent feels like this…
I grab a rock and toss it as hard as I can, a city block away, 5x of what I could do on my initial awakening.
Still, I can't help but wonder how bright I'll burn at one hundred, and maybe even beyond that.