WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The courtyard shuddered with each impact. Vanderznak stood over the crater and drove his fists downward like pile drivers. He pounded Zareth deeper into the earth with a rhythm that bordered on ecstasy.
"Yes! Yes! I never knew!"
Vanderznak screamed like a madman and raised his fists high for another strike.
"I always thought of physical combat as the act of barbarians! A crude method for those without intellect! But I admit it now... I was wrong!"
CRACK!
He slammed his fist into Zareth's chest and felt ribs give way.
"Fighting is fun! The adrenaline! The dominance! It is exquisite!"
He panted as saliva dripped from his serrated teeth.
"Don't die on me yet, Priest. I need to satiate this thirst. My blood is singing!"
The henchmen watching from behind the rubble trembled. They had feared the old Vanderznak for his mind, but this new creature was a god of violence.
Vanderznak pulled his arm back to deliver a finisher that would turn Zareth into paste.
CHOMP!
"GAAH!"
Vanderznak shrieked and abandoned the punch to clutch his neck. Something small and feral had latched onto his jugular.
He reached around and ripped the attacker free. It was the boy. The child growled and thrashed in his grip while blood dripped from his small, sharp mouth.
"Well, well, well."
Vanderznak held the boy up by the scruff of the neck.
"You delivered yourself right into my palms. Truly, you lack basic intelligence for a sentient Homo sapien. I see the Priest didn't teach you basic discipline."
The boy snapped his jaws at Vanderznak's face.
"Allow me to teach you a lesson."
BAM!
Vanderznak swung his arm and slammed the boy into a stone pillar. The masonry cracked and dust enveloped the child.
To Vanderznak's surprise, the boy didn't die. He rolled to his feet and shook the dust from his hair. He hissed like a beast.
"Remarkable physique for a brat," Vanderznak noted. "I'm going to enjoy dissecting you piece by piece."
He took a step toward the child.
GRIP.
A hand locked around his ankle. It wasn't a human hand. It was hard, cold, and bearing immense pressure.
"Not so fast."
Vanderznak looked down over his shoulder.
Zareth crawled out of the crater. But the man who emerged was no longer the retired Priest. The mutation had claimed him.
A hard, black shell encased the left side of his face like a phantom mask. His teeth had sharpened into rows of needles. His torso was a tapestry of dark scales that ran down to his legs. His right arm, though not swollen, was now armoured in black chitin. His left arm crackled with raw, blue electricity.
ZZZ-ZAP!
But the most striking change grew from his back. A long, fleshy protrusion extended from his back. It elongated and twisted until it formed a chaotic, serpentine head. It resembled a dragon, with piercing blue eyes and a maw that breathed purple fire.
Vanderznak stepped back. He felt a flicker of fear, but it was instantly drowned out by scientific curiosity.
"I see that you've finally abandoned your weak human caricature and embraced evolution."
Vanderznak's golden eye dilated. He scanned the monstrosity before him and his mind raced with data.
"Fascinating. That hardened exoskeletal frame... it suggests a hyper-dense carbon structure. And those scales on your torso... the pattern matches the Placoid scales found in deep-sea predators, specifically the subclass Elasmobranchii."
He pointed a claw at Zareth.
"The Mellontikos Batch 007 contained a volatile cocktail of X-factors, but I never expected this result. Your regeneration is likely due to the saturation dosage I injected directly into your neck. But that..."
He gestured to the dragon-like limb writhing over Zareth's shoulder.
"That protrusion is unmistakable. It reminds me of an ancient aquatic specimen I dissected years ago. A group of fishermen found its corpse washed up on the northern coast. It had eight heads, though two were severed. We called it the Hydrarch Abyssal Devourer of the Eternal Seas. Or H.A.D.E.S. for short."
Vanderznak began to pace, ignoring the battle for a moment.
"It was rumored that the beast claimed many lives at sea, but its biology was a mystery until now. I mixed a synthesized extract of its DNA into the batch, hoping for durability. But in you... it has manifested a sentient limb! And look at the flames!"
The dragon head snapped its jaws and released a puff of purple-blue fire.
"Those flames radiate a unique spectral signature," Vanderznak mumbled rapidly. "It appears the H.A.D.E.S. gene has intermingled with your Gospel. The holy fire of your faith has mutated into a bio-luminescent combustion agent! This requires immediate study! I am very motivated to crack you open, Zareth!"
Zareth didn't respond to the lecture. He simply stood there and let the electricity arc along his arm.
"Theory time is over," Zareth sounded like grinding stones.
"Then let us test the hypothesis!"
Vanderznak roared and threw a punch empowered by twisting wind energy.
WHOOSH!
Zareth didn't move his arms. The dragon head on his back lunged forward on its own accord.
CHOMP!
The H.A.D.E.S. limb caught Vanderznak's fist in its mouth and stopped the blow cold.
"What?" Vanderznak gasped.
Zareth clenched his left fist. The electricity surged.
"My turn."
KRAK-BOOM!
Zareth unleashed a thunderous uppercut. Vanderznak blocked it with his forearms, but the force was overwhelming. He launched backward like a cannonball.
CRASH! SMASH!
He flew through the wall of the servants' quarters and buried himself deep within the structure.
The watching henchmen dropped their buckets. Their jaws hung open.
"Is... is that the old man we were supposed to capture?"
"What the hell has he turned into?"
"His evolution is ten times stronger than ours!" one guard shouted.
"Why did the Boss make his enemy so strong?"
"Idiots! Get back!" another yelled. "We can't stay too close. We might get incinerated!"
They looked at the hole in the building where Vanderznak had vanished.
"He sent Vanderznak flying with that punch. Do you think he's dead?"
"I'm not sticking around to find out!"
Panic broke the ranks. The cowardly ones turned and fled into the dark, abandoning the fire and the prisoners. The loyal ones screamed at them to return, but fear was a stronger master than duty.
In the distance, Wenamor peered over the hedge.
"Is that thing... Zareth?"
Zareth took a heavy step forward. He glared at the gaping hole.
'The mutation has taken hold.' Zareth's vision was swarming with red and black static. 'My Gospel can no longer contain it. I feel like I'm about to lose my mind. I must finish this quick.'
"Hmm?"
He felt a weight on his leg. The boy scurried up his mutated body like a monkey and settled around his neck.
"Papa."
The dragon head hissed at the boy, but the child slapped it on the snout. The limb recoiled.
Zareth grumbled. "Brat, you're my unlucky star."
BOOM!
A shadow erupted from the ruined building. Vanderznak shot out and slammed into Zareth. The impact knocked them both across the courtyard.
Zareth dug his claws into the dirt to slow his slide. He looked up.
Vanderznak stood tall. He cracked his neck. But he was in bad shape. His wings were tattered, his arm was bent at an odd angle, and blood oozed from his chest.
"I need a recharge."
Vanderznak looked to his right. A terrified henchman was cowering behind a statue.
"You'll do."
SWISH!
Vanderznak lashed out with his tail. The stinger impaled the man before he could scream.
"Gah!"
Vanderznak pulled the man close. "My theory suggests that your vitality should be compatible fuel."
SLURP.
He began to drain the man. The henchman shriveled instantly; his skin turned grey and tight against his skull.
HISS...
Steam rose from Vanderznak's body. His broken arm snapped back into place. The holes in his wings knit together. The bruises faded.
"Ah..." Vanderznak shivered with pleasure. "That felt good. Vitality absorption confirmed."
He tossed the dried husk of the man aside like a piece of trash.
THUD.
Vanderznak turned his golden eye back to Zareth. He spread his fully healed wings.
"Now then, Priest. Shall we commence Round Two?"