My body was different now, and I could feel the power coursing through my new form. My plates became much thicker, and my body extended longer and wider than it had before, returning me to my long centipede body.
A claw snapped around, but my armored body stopped and then cracked it. Ursula screamed a horrible noise, trying to let go of me, but I latched on and started climbing up the creature's arm.
“Get off me, you creep creature!” Ursula screamed, trying to shake me off, but there was no getting rid of me now.
I crawled up to her arm joint and then sliced it off with a razor whip made from water. The creature screamed and flailed, but I just ignored her and moved on to her legs.
“Stop! What do you want, mortal?! Let me do whatever it is you want, and I will leave you be!” Ursula screamed, and I stopped just before I was about to cut off another leg.
“What could you possibly do for me?” I asked after switching to Mary’s form and swimming out in front of the stupidly giant crab.
“I… umm, can… well, what is it you want? I suppose if you want, you can take my arm you just cut off?” Ursula asked, but her body was starting to shrink.
“Your arm?” I asked, and then swam over to the forty-foot-long arm and then put it into my inventory, making it disappear. “That was already mine, and your meat isn’t anything special. I think the Giant Jade Sea Turtle was better. You are going to have to do much better than that.”
“I… I don’t know what it is that you want from me. Whatever you are, you are much stronger than I am, even if you don’t look it,” Ursula said, her body one-fifth its normal size, but her face was starting to change.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTo say it was changing might have been an inapt description of what was actually happening. The face stretched out into a bright pink-skinned body with an extremely modest chest.
Ursula’s chest was so small to the point that I could only tell that she was a woman due to the fact that her vagina hadn’t fallen out into a penis. Everything from her hips down was crab, but this did make her a bit easier on the eyes, but none of that mattered.
What I needed to figure out was what to do with this strange creature. Ursula had crushed Philly’s sand shop, but I still wasn’t sure if he was dead.
I had just assumed from the way that she had landed.
The thing was, this was kind of lucky in a way if you discounted all the people I killed and Philly getting squished. I was looking for Old Gods, even if this one seemed pretty weak, but I needed to know how to bind her.
“What kind of powers do you have? I mean, you have to be more than just a giant crab, right?” I asked as I waved for her to follow me.
We had fallen to the sea floor, so there were at least a hundred feet between us and the shelf. It was easy to discount distance when you were fighting a monster that was as wide as that was tall.
“Where are we going? Is this it? You are going to let me live?!” Ursula asked as she stopped on the rock face she was climbing up, and I stopped swimming, turning around.
Before answering, I used my Water Force Pact to create a blue band of water around Ursula’s neck. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but this would prevent her from messing with me.
That was what I assumed, but for all I knew, this human body that was sticking up was just like another arm. Cutting her head off could be no worse than a hand, which she would grow back right away.
“I haven’t decided what I am going to do with you yet. I don’t trust you, so I placed that band around your neck if it will even do any good. You haven’t done anything that terribly wrong in the bigger picture, other than letting your son use Xeno, but that is kind of a gray area. I know that you all hate Demons, and many wouldn’t think twice about doing the same to others, so I kind of get it,” I explained, and Ursula put her hands to her neck.
“You aren’t going to let me go?” Ursula asked in confusion.
“Nope. Not a chance. You either die here, or you come with me. You tried to kill me, and now you have submitted to me, so like the Demon, your life is now forfeit. Unlike Xeno, I am not going to lock you into a small room and let men take advantage of you,” I said and then stretched out a hand to Ursula. “Take it so I can swim us back up to the ledge faster.”
Ursula took my hand, albeit hesitant, and I dragged her along.
“I can’t use magic because it was sealed away by Thesta long ago. I can create things, though, so that might be of use to you. I would prefer not to be used as a food source,” Ursula said as we rose higher.
“Oh? What can you build?” I asked as our speed slowly picked up.
“I was the one that made the domes up on the ledge for my son and the others. I am normally not as nasty, but you killed my son. I shouldn’t have been surprised that it happened, but I am still upset that you killed him,” Ursula explained, and I nodded.
“I understand that, and that is why I didn’t kill you. Your son tried to kill me because he would not give me Xeno, one of my people. Even though many Demons are bad, they are still my people underneath that. I need to purify them all before I can leave this planet, but I will not have people treating them like slaves. I am sure they do that, but that is why I am out here in the ocean right now,” I replied, and Ursula became silent.
I did understand where she was coming from, and I sorta felt bad for what I did. I possibly could have spared Sebastien, but he had told the bar to kill me, so I remained silent as well.
I kept going, but it was still slow. I should have just got Ursula to grow big again and climb up, but I could see the ledge now getting closer.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe crab body wasn't as heavy as it was a drag making it a bit harder to swim but not impossible. It was like trying to swim with something like a parachute attached to me.
Once we reached the ledge, I set Ursula down and then swam around the big dome that had no noises coming from it. I guess that everyone was either being very quiet now, or they had just left altogether.
On the other side of the bigger dome, I could see the crushed remains of Philly’s shop, and I let out a sigh.
“You are still alive?!” Philly asked me, and I smirked.
“I feel like I should be asking you that! You are the one that got stepped on!” I exclaimed as I swam over.
“Me? I am pretty hard to kill, and I was in the far back of my store working on the Jade you had given me. I had just crushed it all up, and now it is all gone,” Philly said with a sigh.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Have you decided if you want to come and work for me? Because I will just give you more and whatever else that you need. I have to retrieve the girls from my ring,” I explained, and Philly sighed.
“I was going to say yes anyways. This place has always been nice to stay, but we live under the rule of that ter-”
“You think that I am terrible?! I gave you a shop and let you live under my protection!” Ursula complained as she walked over to where I was floating just off the ledge.
“I am sorry! I just mean that you are always angry! I know that you are not really terrible, or you wouldn’t protect all of us, but you do have a very bad temper,” Philly explained, flinching back.
“Well, I am no longer looking after this area, so you and the others should go with this one if he is offering you protection,” Ursula said, crossing her arms over her mosquito bites.
“I suppose that you are right, and that is a good idea, but I don’t know how the other two feel,” Philly said.
“Good, let's go talk to them, and then I will load everyone up and head back to my ship. If you would, Philly, do you mind introducing me to them?” I asked.