"It was hiding in one of the corpses!?" Anzel cursed as the girl's body began to deform, a sight that he would preferably never wish to see again.
The girl's seared face suddenly exploded in a fury of blood and brain matter as a black mass growing like that of a tumor extended to form the creature's neck. It was long and slender with many wrinkles and folds spotting the skin.
Next was its body which came forth in a similar manner. It had a long thick tail with a sharp pointed arrowhead spike at the tip and a fairly bulky body, all of which were a deep shiny black. Its legs were of a thick, tough material. If this creature held the same biology as most Class-Y's it would mean that its armor was around ten times tougher than that of metal. The legs were sharp and bold with tipped ends unlike its neck and underbelly made of some sort of skin-like substance.
Damn! It's already in stage two. Anzel cursed to himself.
A havok. Anzel had seen many of them before but this one did something that nearly made him shit his pants. It ripped a large slit across the front of the rounded-off area of its neck, the part Anzel could only assume was its face, and it grew multiple rows of human-looking teeth extending into the back of its throat.
"Hehe! Peek-a-boo looks like you found me!" It said in an inhumanly high-pitched tone resembling that of a little girl.
Anzel wasn't a particularly religious man, but hearing that thing speak made him regret disregarding that Ethereal priest's words last week. Then again, what use would it be praying to the very god that had created these things in the first place?
He launched his good arm behind his back to pull out the bulky black handgun at his waist. Disregarding the rag he had picked up earlier, he aimed directly at the creature. He then gave a quick glance to his left to see the boy falling to his knees, absolutely distraught.
Anzel gave him no attention as he had a decision to make, one that would involve his life. Run away or stay and fight. It was a simple choice. One thing that he had learned when fighting these creatures was that running would just get you killed. They were much faster, stronger, and far more durable than humans. The only way to survive an encounter with one alone was to outsmart it.
A fury of thoughts bounced around in Anzel's head for a few seconds before kicking up the pavement beneath him and, in one fluid motion, he began to charge at the creature.
He quickly glanced at his wrist. That was when he made the decision to activate his Axis gear. He moved his right thumb over to the small round panels located on the control glove of his tactical uniform. He clenched his thumb, activating one of the panels. A shock of vibration suddenly sparked throughout his entire body as he began to feel the immediate effects.
The world flipped on its end. What was once the city street suddenly became a wall to him as he was swept off his feet, falling down into the city below. It was a disorienting feeling to shift his field of gravity. The first time he had done it he nearly killed himself by smashing into a tenement a few hundred yards in front of him.
He aimed his gun below and fired at the creature still stuck on what was previously the ground. The shot cracked through the air like lightning but the creature dodged out of the way at the last second. Anzel halted just short of the havok as he readjusted his direction using the gear, landing back on his feet. He cursed under his breath and shifted his gravity once more, this time jumping up onto the side railing of a nearby tenement.
The creature let out an eerie giggle before charging up towards him, its dagger-like legs digging into the fleshy sections of the tenement. Pipes and tissue ripped free in the havok's wake as it charged toward him at an incredible speed.
Anzel flipped backward off the tenement, barely missing a stray swipe from the havok before shifting his gravity slightly upwards to break his fall and landing on his feet just below the havok. He quickly drew his combat knife with his injured right arm, ready to defend himself against the charging creature while at the same time whipping the gun back behind him so he could man the Axis gear with his left control glove.
Shit, if only I had a graft! He thought as the creature bounded off the tenement toward the spot Anzel was standing. Anzel leaped out of the way at the last millisecond. Before he even had time to think, the creature barreled toward him and they collided in a flurry of claws and blades, each trying to gain the upper hand.
Anzel's gear allowed him to move with ease as he unconsciously shifted his gravity in intervals, dodging the creature's attacks and landing several blows of his own. However, the creature's thick armor made it difficult to penetrate. One wrong misstep and he would end up dead in an instant. He needed to switch up his tactics and fast.
Anzel then suddenly skipped back away from the creature before shifting his gravity once more, this time sending him hurtling toward the creature from above. He landed on its back, his knife at the ready. The creature let out a deafening screech mixing in with an ear-piercing laugh as it tried to shake him off, but Anzel held on tight.
He plunged his knife into the creature's neck, but it only seemed to anger it further. It thrashed about wildly, slamming Anzel into a nearby dumpster. Anzel groaned in pain but refused to give up.
He shifted his gravity again, this time propelling himself off the dumpster and into the air right before the creature came smashing into him. He turned back down to face the creature, his gun raised once more. With a loud roar, the creature charged towards him, scaling the tenement beside him with ease.
Anzel took aim and fired, but the creature seemed unfazed as the bullets pierced its skin. Anzel sore higher and higher until he could see the top of the massive tenement's cylindrical structure. He crested the top, resting on its upper platform which he could only assume to be used as a helicopter pad. The havok followed and lunged at him in a frenzy. Unprepared, it slammed into Anzel with the force of a truck and brought him to the floor. The creature whipped its head around in a blur before launching it straight at Anzel's neck. His body moved on its own as he brought up his left arm to block the attack. The creature's jaws snapped shut around it and Anzel let out an earth-shattering scream.