Chapter 22 - Death and Heartbreak

Devin only had a few seconds to start running and dive to the side as the giant goldfish bastard charged by him. Devin knew that the guns he had wouldn't even scratch that thing's hide let alone injure it. Devin started running for the other side to get enough space between them to start his transformation. Thankfully the fishy bastard was unable to turn and maneuver quickly. Devin could feel the power surging even more than the last time he had changed.

Soon he was covered once more in the red armor with green accents, hovering slightly off the ground, but with that power came that overpowering urge to kill. Like it was all that he wanted in life was to watch the light of life slowly fade from the eyes of all who stood before him. Devin knew that he would be in so much trouble if he lost control so he kept an iron grip on that impulse to kill. With a quick flap of his wings Devin reached head height for his opponent and waited for the creature to finally turn around. Once the giant did turn, Devin rushed forward swinging the transformed sword. The blade sliced through the orange-gold scales like they were made of butter. Even though Devin had managed to actually damage his opponent, it was like a paper cut to a human. Dodging a swing from his now annoyed opponent, Devin was unsure if magic would be enough to actually defeat this guy. Just cause he can cause big damage, it didn't mean it would be enough. Devin decided to continue just swinging and taking nicks out of the giant goldfish till he could decide what he could do.

Swing after swing lead to the chipping away at the massive individual. Like chopping down a giant oak tree one chop at a time. It was when the creature thrusted his hand into the ground and getting it's arm stuck for a moment that lead to Devin having an idea, but before he could even try to do so a back hand swing flung Devin into the wall of the hall before following it up with a haymaker that crushed Devin even further into the stone. The removal of the fist showed Devin lodged in the wall with numerous injuries showing on the exposed parts of his body. A rivulet of blood slowly ran down from his forehead as Devin himself spat out a mouthful of blood. The armor took the brunt of the impact but with his spirit being at level two there was only so much that can be blocked. Taking stock of his body's condition showed that he was heavily battered and his left arm wasn't moving when he tried to use it. If he was going to put his plan into action then it was now or never, because he wouldn't be able to take that kind of punishment again.

Devin reversed the grip of his sword in his hand and charged again, this time low to the ground. Gigantus threw a downward punch again and once again his hand got stuck in the stone floor. This time Devin flew between the giant's legs and up behind Gigantus to a spot on his back where he had sliced in an x pattern earlier. Devin charged his dragoon magic before stabbing the tip of his blade into the center of the cross shape wound. Devin activated his new dragoon spell that he got with his level up earlier, Explosion.

In the game the spell would start with the main character stabbing his sword into the ground. A line of fire magic would travel towards the enemy before a massive fire circle would form and a dozen or so fire bombs would erupt from the middle of the circle that would then explode on impact with the ground. So when Devin activated the spell instead of how the spell acted in the game the fire magic seared the insides of the giant before the fire bombs formed and then exploded inside the abdomen and chest cavity, effectively killing the creature. What Devin didn't expect was for the explosions to be so powerful that the entire upper half of the body to simply explode. Devin being thrown across the room before landing on the ground on his back as blood and gore splattered the ceiling before raining down onto the floor and Devin's battered form. The lower half of Gigantus was left standing for a few seconds more before toppling forward and shaking the ground with the impact.

"Finally! Damn that hurt." Devin said aloud as his armor disappeared. He chose to lay there for a small period to breathe and recuperate. Devin was exhausted and a quick check of his stats showed that he had exhausted his entire SP gauge and had lost over three-quarters of his health. What he wasn't expecting was for his level to jump up five levels and a new notification besides the notifications for the completions of the two missions. Opening the mysterious notification showed that there was a system update. Devin closed the notification and opened the inventory and withdrew a Healing Fog.

As Devin opened the blue bottle a giant cloud of glowing blue mist erupted out before swirling around him and absorbing into his skin. Giving the item a few moments to actually work before testing his body to see if it worked or not. A rush of energy coursed through his veins as every nerve he had felt turned all the way up to eleven. Jack knifing up on to his feet, Devin tested out his previously useless arm to find it back in working order before checking out the rest of himself.

"Not bad. A little OP, but with the scarcity of them it is kinda balanced. Though I do wonder how Healing Breeze and Rain would work." Devin said as he checked his joints before turning to the tunnel that the FF left down.

"Guess it's time for some catch up." Devin said before he took off at a sprint.

***

Sue wasn't sure what to expect when they chased after Mole Man, but it sure wasn't a massive Mushroom the size of the Baxter Building. The fungus wasn't like the ones Sue had seen previously as this one didn't glow with the bio-luminescence that the others had. This one was a pitch black and a green jelly looking substance could be seen hanging from the underside of the cap like massive green raindrops. They had followed the tyrannical duo to the place they were now, but once they entered they lost sight of them for a short moment due to the surprise of what they found.

"Eww, now that is disgusting!" Johnny commented on the giant fungus.

"What is it with this guy and supersized things? First that over sized guppy and now he's got more mushroom than a pizzeria!" Ben said as he scratched the top of his stony head. A beeping sound from beside them caused them to turn and look at Reed.

"Guys I believe that we have found the source we were looking for." Reed said as he tapped on the tablet he had pulled from somewhere.

"I'm getting similar signatures as the analysis that I ran on the mutagen." Reed said as he looked up at the goo.

"Behold! the crux of my plan to conquer all of you sun-lovers! Haha!" the voice of Mole Man echoed from somewhere. Looking around the team suddenly looked up and found the tyrannical duo standing on a platform roughly a half dozen stories above them.

"Soon all of the surface dwellers will be degenerate creatures that will cater to my every whim! Then it will be me and my lovely Kala to rule!" Mole Man ranted. The Four started forward to put a halt to everything when a massive energy blast exploded on Mole Man's back, causing him to stumble over the lip of the ledge only to grasp on at the last moment. Mole Man looked up at the blaster in Kala's hand with confusion.

"Kala, what are you doing?" Mole Man asked as the pain in his spine continued to burn.

"If I was to rule by someone's side then it certainly wouldn't be by your side. It would be by my true beloved's side." Kala stated as she looked down in contempt.

"But I thought that was me?!" Mole Man said in sadness.

"No you fool. My true beloved is much more handsome and competent than you you worthless runt!" Kala said as she turned away from the hanging man.

"Who could that even be?!" Mole Man screamed in anger and humiliation.

"Me."