The Thul that was left was the faster of the pair, which made it more dangerous, but the danger had lessened because I was fighting it alone rather than worrying about being attacked from two fronts.
It circled me, keeping its distance with wings half-folded against the thinning air, and it watched me, taking my measure, and I let it, because I was taking its measure too, but I could not delay too much before the second Thul returned, which I am sure this demon was counting on.
There was barely any air left here, and still the speed of the pyramid ascent made it almost impossible to release my domain without crushing myself into pulp.
I quickly took in several deep breaths before I held all the air in my lungs. I did not need much air to survive, but if I were fighting in space where there was no air, then it was wise to keep as much of it with me. Although I wondered if my Air Resonance was high enough for this not to matter much to me any longer, so that I could simply create new air in my lungs.
"Fallen Achon, this chance for life would not be given twice. Will you..."
I vanished with Stormstep, knowing a delaying tactic when I heard one. I released a compressed Edict blade for the throat of the Thul, burying the blade a few inches into its hide, and that was enough as I whispered, "Explode."
I did not know any flame spell, but my Fire Resonance added an extra oomph to the explosion that would have blown me back, if not for Force Resonance drinking all that kinetic energy.
The explosion was supposed to rock the head of the Thul, giving me an opening to continue my assault, but the Thul did a thing I had not seen that nearly drove the last breath I held in my lungs.
Its throat closed, as the flesh of its throat moved. The relatively soft hide that I had stabbed simply reorganized itself, the skin flowing shut over the minor wound that I made like water closing over a dropped stone, and armor made of chitin plate that reminded me of a Khaazim, but far denser, slid up from inside its throat to seal its skin, and my explosion washed over a wall of newly grown armor.
The Thul stretched its neck forward, and it stretched longer than it should, and then it grinned, "Fallen Achon, I shall luxuriate in your screams as I feast on your soul."
∞
I slowly blinked as I figured out the magic of the Thul. It could move its flesh, and watching the way it had extended its neck, the Thul’s body was as malleable as oil, basically a damned shapeshifter.
"Clever," I said out loud. "This could be a problem."
The Thul laughed as it flexed, and along its flanks the flesh rippled, new spines rising out of smooth hide, then sinking, then rising elsewhere, a body rearranging itself for the fun of showing me it could.
It was disgusting, and fascinating at the same time, as I finally saw a creature that wore its own flesh like clothing it could change at will.
I gave ground with Stormstep, while I thought fast, observing the demon, and my eyes lit up as I quickly figured out a weakness, although to call it a weakness would all depend on whether I could take advantage of it.
It could move its flesh, true, but moving flesh seemed to cost it something, as it was not instantaneous; there was a half-beat of delay before its shape took a new configuration, which I figured out was a small window between its transition from one shape to another.
It was not much of a weakness, but it would have to do, especially if I was no longer holding back.
The Thul charged at me, opening its mouth wider than it should be physically possible, as its fangs extended from knife-sized to spears, and I no longer retreated; I charged right back at it.
∞
A moment before we clashed, I opened up every channel connected to my skin and cast the Loom with nearly all the Anima I had packed in my channels.
At the Arcanist level, my Anima Depth was producing so much Anima that I could hardly use it, especially since my Anima was now incredibly dense, and I hardly needed a lot of it to accomplish great changes.
So, my channels were being constantly filled with crystalline Anima, and since the battle began, I hardly touched my Anima Depth except for the moment I blasted the first Thul off the pyramid.
My channels that were filled with Anima was all transformed to threads of lightning, thousands of them at once, and they blasted out of my body, even my mouth, and for a moment, it was as if I had transformed into a massive ball of lightning threads, hundreds of meters big, and my perception tied to the thread showed me that my thread formation resembled a gigantic bluish white onion.
The Thul was charging too fast to stop, and it crashed into my threads, and I wrapped the beast from every angle. By the Heavens, this demon was powerful, and it was shredding my threads despite them having the tensile strength to cut through a mountain.
I growled in anger and poured more power from my Anima Depth, creating far more threads than the Thul could cut, and I began to inscribe as much scripts of Sharpen and Break as I could with my threads, but knowing I could not hold this beat for mucvh longer, I pulled my thread taut, causing the demon tro shriek as ten thousand wounds tore all over its body, causing a flood of blood and flesh to pour out of my web.
It could close one wound, but it could not close thousands.
Only now did I understand the ridiculous vitality of this demon, as it still fought me despite the injuries it had suffered. Its flesh surged, sealing the deepest threads inside its body where its energy consumed it, while growing plate armor over its body, and making those near the throat and the wings extra compacted.
It could not shield its entire body, but I would not be able to behead it or cut off its wings easily, and its impossible vitality was already sealing the wounds that I made, but I could sense the Thul’s flesh magic starting to lag, unable to keep the whole surface armored while it fought against my threads, and it was only a matter of time before I shredded it to pieces.
Then it did a very disturbing thing.