Greed God chapter 69

January 23rd 2016 Palace of Debauchery 9:00 PM

As  I made my way down to the training room, I had to admit that I felt  fucking amazing. Slightly unusual interruption aside, the merge had gone  amazingly. I felt like I could throw a tank, or take a head on shot  from one if needed. My entire being was flooded with a raging hurricane  of force that bled through every cell. No matter how much I moved or how  much energy I expended I was overflowing with power constantly. I felt  like I was on a permanent adrenaline high. like a shot of epinephrine  injected straight into my fucking soul.

When  I got to the training room I was pleased to see Waylon already waiting.  Whisper had found him fast, and even though I had stopped in the  kitchen for a snack on the way he still made good time. My bodyguard was  standing in the center of my favorite training room, the one shaped  like a boxing ring. We had about four of the damn things in the palace  but this one had built in seating and was just generally awesome.

Waylon  was standing in one corner of the ring, in human form but wearing only a  set of loose fitting martial arts pants. Presumably he didn't want to  fight in his suit but also wasn't interested in shredding his shirt when  he transformed. He grinned at me as I climbed into the ring. "So you  finally got your own upgrade huh boss? You sure you want to test it out  on me? Sally might be a better match up." Bonebreaker, who was sitting  in one of the seats nearby, just glared sulkily at her...boyfriend? I  had no clue what their relationship was.

I  cracked my neck. "Nope. Your shifted form is the strongest fighter I've  got on my side. But I'm F rank now, and I should be able to keep up  with you, even if I think you might be stronger still." Waylon's shifted  form was a pure bruiser, all of his ability was in strength. My new  wyrmkin species seemed to be some kind of energizer bunny magic user  type fighter. I was curious what the whole storm thing actually did in  combat, but regardless even if Waylon was stronger it shouldn't be by  much, and Bonebreaker wouldn't be on my level.

If  I could beat Waylon I was going to finally upgrade Sally. I wanted to  make sure I had an F ranker who could keep her in line until I got  Waylon to the next rank. Waylon just stared for a minute before  shrugging and triggering his shift. His body expanded, rippling with  muscles and scales with spiked sprouting from his back. Fafnir towered  over me, a hulking ten feet of corded muscle and raw power, and I had to  admit that I hadn't counted on how intimidating my bodyguard was from  this side of a fight.

However,  I was wyrmkin now. I could intimidate too. I reached for that storm of  power inside me, and when I did I felt how it was contained within my  skin. The energy was sealed in me like a soda in a bottle, so I shook it  up and let tbe power explode over me. My forehead shifted as a pair of  antlers like a deer curled back from it. Scales rippled up my arms from  the tips of fingers now tipped with razor sharp claws, and up my legs  from taloned feet. I felt them roll up the base of my spine and around  my ribs, armoring my torso to protect it from strike.

My  eyes sharpened, my sense of smell and hearing increased and the storm  of energy inside me increased in power, to the point where I knew if I  pushed it could affect not only my body but the world around me. Blue  lightning crackled over shimmering green scales and for a second I  wanted to let it loose, but that wasn't what this was about. I could  test any magical powers I might have later. This was about finding the  limits of my new body.

Fafnir  was grinning at the change, clearly impressed by my new appearance. I  bounced on my toes a few times, awestruck at the air I got with each  bounce, and when I came down the third time I shifted my stance and shot  forward like a missile right at my guard. Waylon responded with a roar  of challenge, lashing out with a back fist at my ribs. I felt the pulse  thundering in my ears start to slow as my enhanced mind caught up with  his motion. I planted my hands on, his arm, hopped up and swung my legs  over it like I was vaulting a counter.

I  hit the ground and bounced back up into the air, scything a knee up  towards the bottom of his chin, but my moment of bullet time wasn't  permanent apparently and Waylon had enough experience to make sure to  keep his guard up. His fist snapped back to a defensive posture and he  caught the knee on his elbow. I kicked out with the same leg, pushing  myself off his chest in time avoid the colossal fist that he jabbed out  at my skull by maybe an inch as it split the air so brutally I heard a  fucking crack from the sound barrier.

I  sailed bock to land a few feet away, gracefully catching myself on my  toes. Waylon gave me a slow nod and I whistled. "Damn, you're definitely  still stronger." Which was true, but the more I fought the more I was  sure that wasn't the point of my new species. I was a walking reactor. i  didn't need to overpower him, I could outlast him. Take as many hits as  needed or dodge until he couldn't move. I had other abilities I hadn't  tried yet too, but in terms of physique I wasn't a sprinter. I was cross  country.

I  was still stronger than almost anyone I was likely to meet on the  street. Waylon was G rank, but I was pretty sure it was only because he  was human most of the time and had to make a conscious effort to shift.  if his Fafnir form wasn't F ranked it was fucking close. Combined with  me being specced different so to speak I wasn't going to muscle my  bodyguard, but I was damn sure strong enough to hold my own, especially  with my perfect bodily control. I cracked my neck. "Alright man, you  better keep your guard up, I'm coming hard this time."

He  bent his knees, shrinking his body down to a more defensive position as  I streaked forward again. Instead of using my fists I raked out with my  claws, trying to get under his guard and tear into his belly. He  hunched, bringing his giant elbows down in front of his midsection to  block. Unfortunately for him that kind of block, while conservative and  cautious, still opened up the face. I bounced up, putting my hands on  his fists for leverage, and arched my body forward to slam my fucking  antlers right into his scaly skull.

I  winced as I had the experience of headbutting a brick wall, but I  landed the blow and Waylon staggered, dazed for a minute as his guard  dropped. i dipped in close, past his arms to a spot where he would have  to backpedal to reach me, and started smashing short sharp punches into  his short ribs, snapping them off with a twist from my waist karate  style. I shuffled my feet as I punched, shifting forward using the  momentum of the strikes and trying to follow him across the ring so he  couldn't get out of range.

Unfortunately,  this was a boxing ring. He didn't hit a wall, he hit ROPES, and he used  them to leverage his superior weight and power and bounce back at me,  shoulder dipping to try to slam into my chest. I popped up, rolling over  his shoulder, My feet landing on the ropes, which I used to propel  myself into a tight back flip. I tucked my knees in to increase rotation  as I sailed back towards the middle of the ring, and unfolded at the  last second to lash out at his head with both feet in a crushing axe  kick aimed at the back of his neck.

I  felt the talons of both feet make contact with his flesh, and for a  split second I was triumphant...until I remember the spikes. My feet  both got fucking speared before I even had time to register the impact,  and I planted my hands on his lower back and threw myself into a  handspring. Wincing as my bloody feet slammed down as I landed the move.  We ended up on opposite side of the ring, him facing away from me until  he turned around, grinning at me as he hunkered down again in a  defensive posture.

I  whistled, not in too much of a hurry since my feet would be healed in  like a half minute anyway. "Damn. You are just a juggernaut aren't you."  Waylon started to walk slowly to one side, circling, and I did the same  in the other direction. I wasn't doing this right. I was trying to  finish it with a perfectly precise shot, but Waylon was tanky as hell  from all that muscle. I needed to play to my strengths. I dashed in  again, and he flicked out a jab to try to ward me off, using my talons  for traction I stopped on a dime right before I got in range, and as he  jerked back his punch I followed it in.

Then  I started wailing on him. No short sharp punches, these were all the  fastest jabs I could snap off, and I poured them out like machine gun  fire. Waylon's eyes widened and he defended, but I was throwing them so  fast he couldn't get an opening to fight back. I could put out punches  at top speed all damn day without getting tired. I just poured them on,  smashing my fists into his defending arms. A punch to the forearm from  me couldn't hurt him too much, but a hundred was another story. I could  feel his arms shake under the assault and I kept it up, not letting him  have a chance to breathe.

He  tried to throw a low kick, but I stepped off his leg and bounded up,  smashing my antlers down again on his skull. He saw it coming this time,  but unfortunately for him my rain of punches had seriously fucked up  his arms and they were too shaky to react as fast as he was expecting.  My antlers met his skull, ringing his bell again, and he dropped to his  knees, eyes unfocused. I slipped around behind him put a leg over his  shoulder and grabbed my foot on the other side, trapping his neck in the  beck of my knee in a textbook triangle choke.

I  winced as one of his spikes stabbed into the junction of my leg and ass  but I held on. We fell backwards and he struggle to try to get away for  about a minute before he finally tapped out. I hissed in pain as I  dragged myself away, my blood smearing the ring. I pulled myself up on  the ropes. Walyon glared at me. "Triangle choke. Showy." He sounded  disapproving.

I  just shrugged at him, unable to hold back a laugh. "What else was I  supposed to do. I couldn't fit my fucking arm around that column you  call a neck. Not if I wanted any leverage." He glared for another second  before finally bursting into laughter of his own. I helped him up and  patted him on the back. "On the upside, it shouldn't be hard to buff you  up a bit, which I assume you'll need soon. Because I'm about to make  your girlfriend just as strong as you are. Maybe stronger." The smile on  his face dropped off pretty quick.