The crash of the waterfall above him was deafening, a never-ending roar of nature, but to Bahamut it was nothing more than background noise. His breaths were deep and steady, fogging faintly in the chill as water cascaded down his shoulders and chest.
Inside, however, his world was chaos.
He sank his consciousness inward, focusing past the aches of torn flesh and cracked bone, past the gnawing hunger that never seemed to leave him. What he found was a body seething with fragments of raw, unrefined essence — the scraps of every beast he had devoured. Crimson vitality, burning and brutal, lurked in every corner of his flesh like fire behind thin paper.
So, this is what it feels like… the essence of the body.
Bahamut could feel each piece of himself like never before — the trembling fibers of muscle, the threads of tendon, the pounding pulse of blood in his veins. Every scar, every fracture, every imperfection blazed under his awareness. He was a patchwork beast stitched together by battles. And yet, he had to make it whole.
The Circle of Body required integration. Flesh, blood, marrow, skin — all bound into one seamless current. Not a body of parts, but a body of one.
He clenched his jaw as he pushed his will through his veins. Essence surged like molten iron, tearing at him as it went. He guided it down his arm — where the phantom pain of his once-severed limb still lingered — and felt his body reject it, like fire trying to weld broken steel. His muscles spasmed. The urge to vomit rose sharp in his throat.
No. You will obey.
Bahamut's thoughts sharpened into command. The crimson essence thrashed against his control, but he bent it, forced it into the scar tissue, knitting broken threads into the flow of his body. The pain was unimaginable — like being flayed alive while molten lead was poured into the wound — but he endured.
This was brutality.
Every heartbeat slammed like a hammer against an anvil, ringing in his skull. The essence of beasts he had devoured tried to tear free of him, snarling with the echoes of their last moments. Bahamut roared inwardly, dragging them down, forcing their vitality into the current of his own flesh.
You are mine now. Your strength is mine. Your essence… is me.
Slowly, painfully, the fragments began to align. Threads of crimson light stitched themselves into the outline of a circle. It was incomplete, jagged, hissing with instability, but it was forming.
Hours bled away under the waterfall. His lips cracked, his skin grew pale from the strain, but Bahamut didn't move. He pulled at marrow, at blood, at skin, at the breath in his lungs and the strength in his bones. Piece by piece, he wound it into the circle.
Ren, watching from his place as a wisp, felt shivers crawl through him despite his incorporeal form. He could see Bahamut's aura convulsing, crimson waves clashing and grinding as if the boy was being torn apart and reforged at once.
Finally — a shift.
Bahamut felt it too. The chaos condensed. The circle spun. For a moment, his entire body seemed to ignite from within, a sphere of crimson essence flaring into existence deep inside his core. It pulsed once, heavy and final, and then it closed — complete.
But nothing ever went the way you wanted it. Out of nowhere, a crimson fox appeared, its fur glowing slightly under the setting sun. Its eyes were a deep red, almost purple and its tails were three, instead of two.
Ren recognized it right away. A Tier 2- Blessed beast. Just the kind luck for them. Looking towards Bahamut, he could see that although he wasn't splitting up, he had yet to stabilize himself. The blood pouring from his orifices were too gory to see. Plus, he seemed to be vomiting... guts?
'What the hell?! And why is the blood black?'
Grroarr!
"To hell with you!" Ren shouted back at the beast that had started to advance towards Bahamut, its aura brushing out in waves.
"What do I do? System! Don't you have a way?" Ren was nearing ripping his hair off, if he had one to begin with.
[There's a way but...]
"But?"
[It will depend on you]
"What is it?"
[I place you in a body and you fight it. But it is permanent]
"You mean I can't change bodies afterwards?"
[Exactly]
"The only body around is a fucking rabbit! God dammit!"
[A bunny, actually. And it's not all bad. You are a special soul, so you can evolve]
"Are there any other advantages before I do something I regret later?!"
[You get to become a direct follower of the host and gain a variant of his B. E. A. S. T essence. There are many more that I can predict, but I can't be sure unless you try]
"I swear. If this fucks up, I'm going to fuck you up!"
[Sorry, but I'm already taken]
"What the... just do it already!"
[Right away]
"Err, is the bunny a male or female, because you know... and what level am I going to fight at? That beast is a Tier 2!"
[Male. As for your level, I can help elevate you to Tier 2, but it won't last long, and it won't be a true Tier 2. But it should be enough for you to buy time until the host wakes up and you escape]
"Do it."
There wasn't any explosion of power or any sort of time-stopping shit. One second, he was floating in front of Bahamut, the next second he was waking up in a small body. The body of the bunny. Ren was legally a bunny! And a cute one at that, though he didn't look really cute. Not with all the blood and fangs?
Without thinking, he pounced at the crimson fox, his aura flaring, exhibiting the presence of a Tier 2 beast.
"Take this, mongrel!" Ren shouted as he delivered a kick at the beast's snout.
PAH! BOOM!
The battle of a millennia had begun, and it was between a cute but ferocious bunny and a big bad crimson fox.