Flesh poured out of the discarded husk in a never-ending line. Noble hacked at the mass of flesh, sending more blood onto the battlefield. The few other creatures, both Others and spiders, fled from the outpouring of fat and blood.
No matter how much Noble slashed with her sword, the monster only continued to grow.
Noble had to abandon her quest to vanquish the mountain of flesh. It was grotesque and without form, oozing over the battlefield. It covered the mounds of thread, bodies, and ruins like cooling lava.
How could so much escape from the confines of the spider? It was impossible!
Looking at it from above, Noble furrowed her brow.
'It is too big.'
Like a wave, the monster rose into the air to splash upon the Master. If she didn't act quickly, Noble would suffocate beneath the unbearable weight of the boneless monstrosity.
Yet the floating Master refused to move from her place in the air.
She had seen the blood, felt the force of her blade hitting the flash, and smelled the hideous stench of the rot. Her senses told her this thing was real.
But she refused to believe it.
This, like everything else she had seen from the devil, was a lie.
And Noble would discover the truth.
Pushing aside everything else, Noble focused on the ever-growing monstrosity. Soon, it would spill over the spiked walls where the humans were. She had to stop it before it reached that point.
The landscape around her changed into a world of unnamed colors as Noble let her second sight take over. The outline of the flesh was still visible, but she wanted to see past that.
Flint had taught her about the distribution of heat and its relations to weak points. Just now, she hoped she could use her second sight in a similar way.
Sure enough, inside the growing mountain, a second form came into her vision. It wavered, but at last Noble honed in on what she wanted.
'I'm going to hate this...'
Taking a deep breath, Noble surged forward, aiming for halfway down the corrupted mass. Her eyes swirled as she made her Zenith heavier than any cannonball.
'Incoming!'
The sharp tip met with the flesh and parted it, making way for the Master to press her way through. She held her breath, ignoring the disgusting feeling of what was passing around her.
Her eyes clamped shut as she relied solely on her intuition and the vision of her second sight.
'Keep going.'
Her momentum waned, but her determination did not. She pressed into her speed, calling on the Hummingbird's Wings to help her get through the impossible task.
Her sword collided with something hard. It took everything in Noble to keep going instead of coming to a complete stop.
She could hold her breath for a long period, but not forever, and Noble did not want to find the limit of her lungs.
The end had to be near. Even with how fast it was growing, Noble was sure that she should be making it out of the other side.
Finally, the cool air replaced the stifling heat. Opening her eyes, Noble gasped. The fractured moon overhead had never looked more mesmerizing, but Noble was staring at what the light was illuminating.
At the end of her sword was a creature made of shining string. The monster was no bigger than her torso.
Behind her, the flesh began to dissipate. The lie had been thwarted, so it melted away into the earth with only a steamy fog left behind.
The creature wriggled helplessly, impaled on the Zenith. Even the poison didn't seem keen on touching the strange parasite of twine.
For that is what the monster was: a parasite. For all its bluster, the strange anomaly was most effective when it had a host. That was why it decided to protect itself instead of attacking when it was released from the spider's form.
"You are the one causing all this trouble?" Noble furrowed her brow.
It was almost cute, but the floating Master was not fooled.
Small or not, any corrupted thing was a reason to be wary. It whimpered, and it took everything in Noble's heart not to sympathize with it a little.
"You need to die quicker. I have lots of things left to do."
At her words, the little minx glared at her. It wriggled to the end of her sword, trying to climb off.
"No, you don't!" Noble held it in place, feeling a bit like a bully for pushing it back on her sword with her powers.
But there was no way she was touching that creature with her hand. Parasites had a sneaky way of finding ways to get under the skin.
As if reading her thoughts, the ball of twine grinned. It opened its mouth and chomped down on the Zenith. A small nick appeared in the poisoned blade.
"Stop that!" Noble ordered, pressing her emotions onto the little monster.
But it didn't listen, biting again with teeth that seemed to be made of impossibly tough thread.
Either it was trying to destroy her blade to free itself, or it was trying to make the blade into its new host.
...Or it simply liked the taste of metal and poison.
Noble didn't care which one was true; what did concern her was the preservation of her blade.
She shook the Zenith like a battleaxe, dislodging the creature right as an Awakened Monster leapt at her from the blood-soaked ruins. Noble turned in time to stab the spider before it could reach her body.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, a Thread.]
'Yeah, that's nice,' Noble clicked her tongue. "Oh no, you don't!"
The ball of twine was already almost to the ground when Noble caught it with her levitation. She lifted it as she came close to examine it. Her sword was still dripping with its blood. Would cleaving it in two kill it, or just make two new parasites?
Noble was about to find out!
But before she could bring down her blade on the annoying little beast, a purple creature came running full speed.
Noble raised her hand. "Leo, no!"
The echo wrapped opened his jaws wide, breathed in deeply, and gulped.
Just like that, the ball of twine was gone.
'Does that count as a hairball?' Noble's eyes opened wide.
It wasn't a hairball. It was a parasite! And her beloved echo had just eaten it whole!
She watched the purple mammal hesitantly. Would he look any different if the creature took over his body?
Helio's stomach rumbled. She had seen Kosi go through a terrifying bout while ingesting poison, and now she waited to see if the same fate awaited the echo.
"Vomit it up, now, boy. I don't want to have to kill you a second time!"!
Noble's own stomach clenched at the thought. She wasn't sure she could handle the loss of her friend again.
Helios opened his mouth, his belly rippling.
But instead of gagging or retching, a single sound escaped the Transcendant Demon's mouth.
A single, spectacular burp.
Helios smacked his lips. Noble's eyes widened in disbelief as the Spell whispered in her ear.
[You have slain a … Fallen Devil, Entwined.]