Juan Herina, or so this stolen skin had once been called. His pale flesh gleamed under the light of the sun, taut over corded muscles, his eyes now a piercing emerald that flickered with primal glee. A jagged scar ran across his chest, a relic of his past life's violence, and his lips curled into a smug. taunting grin.

  Eyeing Nier from head to toe.

  "Your form."

  He repeated, his voice layered with echoes of countless stolen lives.

  "Will be another masterpiece in my collection."

  Nier's annoyance increase, still from what he knows about Skin Walker, to defeat one, one would need to force it to shed its layers until its true, vulnerable form emerged.

  But easier said than done.

  'Still though, to beat this thing, I will need to continuously ripped it to shreds.'

  The boys, now halfway to the estate's edge, stumbled to a halt, their eyes wide with terror.

  Yet strangely awed.

  Daniel's voice cracked as he clutched Sam's arm.

  "He… he threw her through trees! But it's still moving?!"

  Neil, panting heavily, his chubby frame trembling, as he whispered.

  "That's not Ms. Rita anymore… that is a dude. We're so dead."

  Sam, gripping the drone like a lifeline, muttered.

  "We gotta run away… but I can't look away."

  Nier ignored their chatter, his focus razor-sharp as he faced Juan. The skinwalker's new form was faster, more agile, its movements fluid like a panther's.

  It darted forward, claws extended, slicing through the air with a speed that would've shredded a normal man. But Nier wasn't normal...not anymore atleast.

  Kaly's gift thrummed in his veins, Negative Energy begging to be shaped into something more than brute strength.

  He needed a form that could match this creature’s agility and hit harder, something unstoppable. An image flashed in his mind, a rhinoceros, a juggernaut of raw power, its horn a weapon of pure destruction.

  Without hesitation, Nier channeled another 300 units of Negative Energy to purchase the form, his Body Modification Magic surging to reshape his already hulking frame.

  The air around him crackled as his muscles contorted, bones lengthening and thickening with a series of sickening pops.

  His skin hardened into a leathery, gray hide, rippling with the texture of ancient armor. His head morphed, elongating into a blunt snout, a massive, curved horn sprouting from his forehead, gleaming like polished stone.

  His arms and legs thickened into tree-trunk limbs, each step shaking the ground as he grew to nearly eight feet tall, a monstrous rhino-man hybrid, negativity coursing through his Veins.

  The remnants of his shirt and pants was now shredded entirely, leaving only tattered scraps clinging to his transformed body.

  The boys jaws dropped further.

  "Holy crap!"

  Neil squeaked, stumbling backward.

  "He is a freaking rhino now?!"

  Daniel's eyes bulged, his burned hand twitching.

  "This is insane… with a form that big he could probably crush that thing!"

  Sam, still clutching the drone, whispered.

  "I hope so, 'cause that guy doesn't look like he is playing.' Still Mr. Augustus is holding his ground. Ha, could it be that he was a Hesta all this time?!"

  He questioned himself.

  But Juan on the other hand was in a even fiercer predicament. As hi grin faltered for a split second, his emerald eyes narrowing as he assessed Nier's new form.

  "So you can change your body too?!"

  He hissed, his voice, clearly that of irritation.

  "But a beast's skin won't save you. I've taken down worse."

  He lunged, his claws flashing as he aimed for Nier's thick hide, expecting to carve through it like paper.

  Nier's instincts roared to life. With a bellow that shook the nearby oaks, he lowered his head and charged, his massive frame moving with terrifying speed for something so colossal.

  The ground quaked beneath his pounding hooves, the ground dirt erupting in his wake. Juan tried to dodge, his stolen agility making him a blur, but Nier's enhanced senses, bolstered as his eyes became full black in the form, using the occultist eyes to tracked every movement. He pivoted at the last second, his horn catching Juan square in the chest.

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  The impact was cataclysmic. A sickening crunch echoed as the horn pierced Juan's athletic frame, impaling him through the sternum.

  Nier didn't stop, he kept charging, driving forward with relentless force. Juan's body flailed, his claws scrabbling uselessly against Nier's armored hide as he was carried toward a towering oak.

  With a final, earth-shaking thrust, Nier slammed Juan into the tree, the horn punching through flesh and bark alike, pinning the skinwalker like a grotesque trophy. The oak groaned, splintering under the force, its roots buckling as it tilted precariously.

  Juan's emerald eyes widened, blood, black and viscous, gushing from his mouth as he gasped, his voice fracturing into a chorus of stolen screams.

  "You… can't…

  His body convulsed, the impaled skin cracking like dry clay. With a wet, tearing sound, Juan’s form began to shed, sloughing off in chunks to reveal another beneath: a wiry, older woman with graying hair and clawed hands, her eyes a blazing amber. Another life burned away, another layer stripped.

  The skinwalker, now in the guise of an elderly woman, writhed in agony, her amber eyes blazing with defiance.

  With a guttural snarl, she tore herself free from Nier's horn, black ichor splattering across the splintered oak.

  She lunged forward, her clawed hands stretching into razor-sharp talons. Nier, still in his hulking rhino-hybrid form, swung his massive head to counter, but she was faster than he anticipated, ducking low and raking her claws across his underbelly.

  His thick hide split open like overripe fruit, dark wisps of negative energy leaking out as pain seared through him.

  Undeterred, she pressed her attack.

  With a feral screech, she scrambled onto his back, her claws sinking deep into his leathery skin, tearing away chunks as she clawed her way toward his neck.

  Nier roared, bucking wildly to dislodge her, but her grip was unyielding, fueled by the desperation of her unraveling existence. Her jaws unhinged grotesquely, revealing rows of jagged teeth, and she clamped down on the base of his horn, crunching through bone and sinew.

  Blood...all his own, now tainted with the skinwalker, foul essence, poured down his face, momentarily blinding him.

  At the edge of the estate, the boys stood frozen, horror etched on their faces.

  "He is... he is getting ripped apart!"

  Daniel stammered, his voice barely audible over the chaos.

  Neil peeked through his fingers, trembling.

  "This can’t be real…

  Sam clutched the drone tightly, whispering.

  "Come on, Mr. Augustus, fight back!"

  The boys had no idea what Nier was, but given they had a common enemy, they instantly think him off as a powerful Hesta.

  Either way, Nier thrashed, slamming his bulk into another tree, but the skinwalker clung on, her claws now tearing into his throat, severing arteries in a spray of crimson, his blood flooding everything within range of the great spray.

  He staggered, his massive frame collapsing to one knee, the ground quaking beneath him.

  With a final, savage twist, she ripped open his chest, exposing ribs that snapped like brittle twigs.

  Her hand plunged inside, seizing his still-beating heart. Nier's vision blurred, the world fading into a haze of pain and darkness.

  The organ pulsed once, twice, then it was torn free in a gruesome arc.

  His earth look burnt, as it was hard and alien looking.

  Meanwhile the skinwalker leaped off, holding the heart aloft like a grim trophy, her graying hair matted with the gore of the battle.

  Her cackle echoed with the layered voices of countless stolen lives.

  "Another skin for my collection... Now let's get to peeling."

  She rasped, dropping the heart and grinding it beneath her heel. Nier's body slumped forward, lifeless, his rhino form dissolving in wisps of negative energy, reverting to his now broken, bloodied human shape.

  "But before that lets take care of those boys, a d destroy that damn drone."

  She turned away, wiping her claws on her tattered clothes, confidence swelling. The fight was over, or so she believed.

  A faint presence filled the air, like static from a glitching screen.

  Instinct took over as she looked dat Neir, and what she saw scared the shit out of her.

  As Reality around Nier's corpse began to fracture, his form flickered, edges breaking into pixels that scattered and reformed in erratic bursts.

  The grass beneath him warped, colors inverting briefly before snapping back. With a sharp crackle, like a system reboot, his body reassembled, wounds sealing seamlessly, flesh knitting together without a trace of damage.

  Nier gasped, bolting upright, his eyes wide with disbelief.

  He stared at his hands, flexing them experimentally.

  "So this is what Kaly meant by resurrecting me, whenever I am killed."

  He muttered, a mix of awe and grim realization in his voice.

  In that moment, Silence's began to speak, it's word calm and instructive in his hands.

  The veins twitching at the arrival of the message.

  [The most effective way to destroy a skinwalker is with fire. You should acquire and create an attack spell capable of incinerating the entire field, and everything in it]

  'Any suggestions?'

  [Yeah, do you want me to create a powerful fire spell]

  "Please do, I just want to end this fight already, and I really don't care what the price is."

  With that said, Silence began making the spell, converting Negative Energy into the new attack magic, detailing a potent fire spell: one that summoned black and purple flames, unnatural and voracious, treating all matter as fuel and burning indefinitely until nothing remained, unquenchable by water or wind.

  [The cost is 5500 Negativity Points to acquire]

  Silence intoned, then continued.

  [Each casting consumes 80 Negativity Points]

  Nier didn't hesitate.

  'Purchase it.'

  He commanded inwardly.

  The veins in his hand pulsed, glowing faintly as they formed a message across his skin once more.

  [Creation successful]

  The skinwalker look at Nier vividly puzzles, her amber eyes narrowing in shock.

  "Impossible… you were dead!"

  It intoned it's frustration and shock, as Nier rose to his feet, a faint smirk curling his lips as he tested his new power.

  Black and purple flames ignited in his palm, spilling forward into wave in his palms, scorching the air. The skinwalker instinctively retreated, fear flickering in her gaze for the first time since the battle began, as she recognized the flames relentless nature.

  Because of the uncertainty of life, fear rationalize her decision, as her desperation overpowered her caution.

  Causing her to lunged forward, and ber claws extended for a killing blow, aiming to end him before he could wield his new power.

  Nier however was quicker on the uptake, as he raised his hand, unleashing the flames like a flamethrower, arcs of black-purple fire surging across the clearing.

  The spell's name resonated in his mind...Black Scorch.

  The flames struck true, engulfing her wiry form. She shrieked, her skin blistering and charring instantly, the fire spreading like a living entity, consuming cloth, flesh, and bone, and even the air itself.

  In a panic, she shed her current layer, her body convulsing as it peeled away to reveal a new skin.

  A sleek falcon with iridescent, razor-tipped feathers. With a piercing cry, it took flight, wings beating furiously as it sought to escape the inferno below.

  "SHIT!!"

  Nier shouted as he watch the Flux get away, taking for the skies above.

  It knew whatever chance of beating Nier had all fled through the door.

  But he wasn't going to let up.

  Because a second later, Nier channeled another surge of Negative Energy to reshape his body. His form contorted, shrinking and streamlining into a massive eagle, the same one from yesterday, its wings broad and powerful.

  And like before his eyes yet again shifted to void black as the Occultist Eyes activated, piercing through the distance and tracking the falcon's thermal signature in the sky.

  He soared upward, talons flexed, pursuing the falcon with predatory precision. His own form faster than the falcon. And as he closed in, he invoked Black Scorch once more, this time focusing it.

  Drawing an additional 180 Negativity Points, he reshaped his lungs into draconic chambers, capable of compressing and expelling fire with devastating force.

  He remember watching a video game interview how the game Dev explain how his Dragon shoot fire.

  The information fantastical, but his power did the impossible as Nier utilize the condition of Unlimited activation to his advantage.

  Brining fort a lung that existed in the dragons of that person Video game into his own chest.

  The flames churned in his throat, black and purple swirling like a vortex.

  With a roar that echoed the area around him, he in his bird form, unleash a tint version of a dragon's breath, and as it unleashed... A searing beam of Black Supernatural Plasma was seen slicing through the air like a laser, covered in black flames.

  The falcon veered erratically, but the flames grazed its wings, igniting feathers in an unquenchable blaze.

  It plummeted, screeching, shedding its skin mid-fall in a desperate molt. Fear consumed it now, raw and primal, as the charred remnants hit the ground, revealing its next form. A squat, slimy frog, no larger than a fist, its mottled green skin pulsating with stolen vitality.

  Escape was its only recourse. The frog leaped into the oak forest's underbrush, using its small size to vanish among roots and leaves, hopping erratically to evade pursuit.

  But Nier's Occultist Eyes saw through the deception, its heat signature glowing like a beacon. He dove in quick as the ground was within reach in less than three seconds, opening it's sharp talon, it began snatching the frog in his talons with a grip firm but not crushing. Right after he soared upward, wings pumping as he climbed through the clouds until the estate below was a distant patchwork.

  At the peak, miles above, he released it out of his grip. Causing the frog to plummeted down below, it tiny limbs flailing in the thin air, accelerating to terminal velocity. It struck the oak forest with catastrophic force, splattering into a wet crater, limbs shattered, skin ruptured, organs pulped into a viscous mess, and it's bones reduced to shards embedded in the dirt alongside a majority of it's squash innards. Black ichor pooled around the broken form, twitching faintly with the last traces of life.

  With no options left, the skinwalker shed its skin one final time, the mangled frog husk sloughing away in grotesque folds.

  What emerged was its true, vulnerable form...a pulsating mass of tentacles and warped grey flesh, threaded with glowing, sickly blue veins that throbbed like exposed nerves.

  Scattered across its surface were amalgamated teeth, chattering in random order, the entire form was writhing like an eldritch octopus, an abomination, abstract in it's physical form and utterly devoid of humanity.

  Nier soon landed, returning back to his human form, as he looked over the thing and said.

  "Ahh, you damn skin walker sure are a ugly bunch."