Stolen Hearts: Chapter 16 (Patreon)

I practically rocketed towards the grimm the moment I finished my sentence, sprinting towards the massive bastard even as it shrunk back in fear. I noticed almost immediately that I was faster than I could ever move by myself, just barely slower than that time that I had experimented with Ruby’s semblance during our spars.Luckily, there wasn’t a tree or wall to run into this time. Just a big ass grimm who wasn’t even able to move more than a foot away before I reached it, skidding to a stop right beside it and leaving a trail of fire in my wake. As it flinched away from me in surprise and fear, I thrust my hand out towards the evil creature, flexing my power and causing a torrent of magenta flames to come forth like I was some sort of flamethrower. The torrent slammed into the grimm and immediately began burning its way into the creature’s armor, causing it to scream in pain even as it used all of its limbs to scurry away from the fire. Not wanting to give it any chance to escape my wrath, I added my other hand to the mix, sending another stream of fire towards it and causing it to shriek loud enough to shake the cavern around us.Eventually, it managed to escape the effective distance of my attack. As it did so, It whirled around towards me, crimson eyes now filled with the familiar rage as its fear was washed away by pain. It lunged forward and struck out with a leg, intending to skewer me but I was already long gone, dodging the deadly limb before it was even in motion as I once again flitted around its side at incredible speed.As I ran, I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face despite the circumstances. The power filling me was like nothing I had ever felt in my life! It was like all of the strongest semblances I had ever come across in my life had been rolled up into one, hyper-caffeinated package! My heart thudded in my chest and my blood rushed through my veins fast enough that both sets of ears were constantly ringing, energized just like the rest of me as my entire body was forced into overtime to keep up with this incredible power flooding my soul.What the hell was this stuff, that it was able to make me feel like this!? I felt like I could take on a hundred-no a thousand beowolves and just as many ursa at the same time and still come out of it only slightly winded! It was absolutely incredible!I knew in the back of my mind that the moment this power left me, I would be more exhausted than I had ever felt in my life but as it stood, there was no use in worrying about it right now. With this much power, there was no way that this monster could beat me. I would incinerate the evil abomination that called itself a grimm and avenge all of the researchers that it had killed. I would save Henry and make it back to Ruby!As I thought this, I came to a stop directly behind the grimm. It almost immediately realized where I was and began to turn to face me, but I jumped up, using my powerful legs to clear the dozen feet easily and landed on top of its tail.It tried to shake me off but I easily ignored its struggles, keeping my balance as I began to run up the length of its armored body, dodging and swerving around the spines jutting up from its back as I trailed a path towards its head. As I reached it, the grimm bucked its head in an attempt to buck me off. I rode with the movement, jumping upwards as it lifted into the air, sending me soaring towards the roof cavern.At the apex of my leap, gravity took hold of me once more, sending me soaring downwards. I grinned ferally, rearing a fist back and filling it with energy until it was full to bursting, “I’ve got a present for you!” I shouted down at it as I rocketed back towards it, leaving a streak of bright pink in the wake of my fist.It tried to turn its head to look at me but it wasn’t fast enough. With a shout, I slammed my fist down on its massive head. A massive burst of flame exploded outwards at the point of impact, cratering the armor around my appendage and sending its head rocketing downwards just as fast as I had been falling towards it. It wasn’t even given a chance to scream or make a noise as its face slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the stone below it. It moved so fast that I was left trailing in its wake, suspended midair above it for a moment before I fell back downwards towards the grimm’s back. I rolled as I landed, before hopping to my feet and beginning to run down its massive body towards its tail just as I had run up it.As I ran, I leaned down to trail my fingers along its bony back. Instinct guided me as my powers pulsed, leaving tiny pockets of the energy filling me on top of its armor. The energy almost immediately seeped inwards, like seeds being sowed in fertile soil as they sank deep into the white bone and settled there, waiting for a signal from me.As I reached the tail, I jumped off, my leap sending me soaring several meters away to land on my feet. I turned back towards the grimm as it struggled back to its full height, pulling its face free from the floor and shaking its head in a daze before looking around the room for me.It didn’t take long for its numerous eyes to lock onto my position, standing a few feet away with a shit-eating grin on my face. The grimm’s features had been badly damaged, the bony faceplate that protected its eyes sporting a large diagonal crack along its face from which more cracks spread out.“Ooh, that looks like it hurts.” I taunted, grinning as its eyes locked onto me, “You want a bandaid for that?”I didn’t know that it was possible for a grimm to get angrier than it already was but this monster’s body practically shook with rage. It opened its damaged mouth, letting out a scream just as bone-chilling as the one before but I didn’t budge, instead just raising a single hand and beckoning it closer.As it charged towards me in a blind rage, I grinned, staring into those livid crimson eyes that had caused me so much fear just a few minutes ago. I raised my right hand, burning brightly with the flames that it seemed to hate so much. I waited until it was close enough that I could see the inner rows of teeth lining its mouth, before putting my plan into action.“Boom, bitch!” I snapped my fingers, the sound ringing out in the cavern with a tone of finality. The moment that it did, dozens of bright explosions burst from the parts of its armor that were housing my power. The explosions flared upwards like a tower of flames, sending the grimm rocketing to the ground as it roared in unexpected agony.I darted to the side as it went crashing to the floor, sliding past me as the pain it was feeling overcame its balance and I almost laughed as I saw what my attack had done to it.The armor that even Trick had trouble cracking had been completely decimated, blown apart by my power and revealing the much weaker black flesh underneath that had been scorched and burned by my power. What was left of its armor was cracked and scorched, barely hanging onto its ravaged flesh which pulsed grotesquely as it was bared to the air of the cavern.I turned towards it fully, mocking words on the tip of my tongue, only to pause as I caught sight of a shock of red hair nearby and was reminded of part of the reason I was doing this in the first place.As the grimm curled up in pain and rage, I ran over to where Henry was still lying prone on the ground. The man was still passed out but his face was curled into an expression of distress, grimacing in either pain or fear as his unconscious mind processed things that he himself couldn’t. I looked him over, relief filling me as I found no injuries from the scuffle between the grimm and I. “I’ll get you out of here, Henry.” I promised him, keeping a bit distance from him due to the heat currently roiling off of my body as I watched the grimm slowly recover, “Just give me a few more minutes to beat this big bastard into his grave and we’ll get out of here.”As if it had heard my words, the grimm turned towards me with an angry snarl. I thought it was about to charge towards me again but instead it leaned down, opening its mouth wide, before literally taking a bite out of the ground, carving a several foot long trench into the solid stone with its razor-sharp teeth.My eyes widened as it suddenly reared backwards, allowing me to catch a glimpse of its unarmored stomach glowing a dull red. Before I had any chance to figure out what the hell its plan was, it shot forward once more, opening its maw as dozens of stones the size of large boulders came soaring towards both Henry and I.“Fuck!” I cursed as I stood in front of the unconscious man, “Of course it has some sort of ranged attack!”Unsure of what else to do when faced with the veritable rain of several tons of rock, I held my hands out, forcing more energy inside of them. In short but powerful bursts that pushed my shoulders back from the recoil, rockets of flames shot out at the oncoming debris like I was some sort of anti-aircraft cannon. To my relief, even the short bursts of flame were enough to reduce even the largest of the oncoming rocks into nothing. I kept up the flow, reducing the oncoming boulders into nothing but tiny pebbles and molten slag that fell just short of our position.By the time that all of the boulders were gone, I was panting lightly, feeling the energy within me beginning to wane. It seemed like this power wasn’t endless, no matter how incredible it made me feel.The moment that I thought that, my eyes widened as the grimm came barreling through the cloud of detritus left by my defense. It roared, blind rage filling its body for causing it so much agony as it shot towards me . Its mouth was wide open and its dozens of spiny legs were completely focused on getting it towards me as quickly as possible, making it clear what it was intending to do. This fucker was gonna try to eat me.I cursed as the thing approached. I couldn’t move out of the way with Henry behind me and touching him in my current state would doubtlessly burn him. At the moment, I was just as hot as the dust itself had been, sizzling and scorching the ground that I was walking upon. There was only one thing I could do.As its massive growling maw fell upon us, I surged forward and reached out with both of my hands, grabbing it by its mask as I dug my heels at the same time. I growled as I slid back slightly, my boots actually cracking the rock beneath me as I was forced to bear the several ton grimm with just my comparatively tiny body.I managed it though. With enough effort and thanks to the incredible amount of power still filling my limbs, I managed to bring the massive grimm to a slow stop. My arms actually hurt from the effort that I had to exert, the first bit of discomfort I had felt since I took in the powers and I panted lightlyIts eyes stared down at me from above and its mandibles snapped, trying in vain to reach me from its disadvantageous position. Its legs skittered along the ground in an attempt to push it forward but all they did was move in place as it was held back myFrom my position, I was looking straight down its throat. It was even more horrific up close, lined with innumerable sharp teeth that jutted out of the black flesh like some grotesque meat grinder. As disgusted as I was, I couldn’t help but stare down the things throat as it continued to try to literally eat me. I had an idea.Slowly and extremely carefully, I pulled one of my hands back, grunting as I was forced to support its immense weight on only a single hand, “You wanted to eat me so badly, right?” I grunted, pulling back my right hand and putting all of the power I could into it. My hand glowed like a star as I pointed the appendage down into its throat, illuminating the disgusting tunnel a blinding magenta as I grinned like a crazy person, “Well here’s a little appetizer!”A stream of fire, brighter and hotter than anything that I had produced thus far was sent screaming down its throat. It was so hot that even I could feel the heat despite my apparent resistance to it. My hand was hurting too, likely because I was forcing so much energy through a single limb but I didn’t care. I had it this time.The grimm screamed loud enough to make my ears pop, its throat convulsing and vibrating as its body flailed around angrily behind it. Its many legs dug into the stone floor as it tried to pull away but I had long since gone from merely holding it off to actually holding it in place, using my enhanced strength to root it to the spot as I poured all of my rage down its throat.The smell of burning flesh invaded my nostrils as it was cooked from the inside out, whatever organs this thing had melting and boiling from the sheer heat I was producing. The screaming grew louder and it tried even harder to escape me but I just grit my teeth, digging my fingers into its boney mask hard enough that the digits pierced through the rough armor.Even as its screams slowly died off and its thrashing ceased all together, I kept the stream up for several more seconds, pouring all of my anger at the fear this thing had caused to me directly down its fucking throat. The glow of my fire grew bright enough to actually blind me, forcing me to close my eyes as I went about my task of making sure this thing wouldn’t be recognizable as a grimm.After nearly a minute of this treatment, I let up, cutting the flow of energy to my hand and letting the torrent of flames die off.I stepped away from it, pulling my fingers from the indents that they had created as I did so. I stared at what was left of the grimm. It was clearly dead and not just because of the fact that its crimson eyes had literally melted inside of its skull nor the black smoke curling from its form as it faded away like all grimm tended to do.Apparently I had overdone it just a bit. The grimm’s head wasn’t even attached to its body anymore, instead laying against the ground in front of me while the rest of it was burning happily several meters away, pushed back from the force of the flames that had melted through its throat, decapitating it without me even noticing it. “Serves you right…” I grinned slightly as part of its mask fell to the ground, shattering on impact. I shuddered suddenly as I was filled with a tangible amount of exhaustion. It appeared just as suddenly as the huge burst of energy had and as I panted, I couldn’t help but notice the way that the glow that had been surrounding me this entire time faded away alongside the grimm. Already, the flames covering my body had fallen to virtually nothing and the pumping of my heart slowly returned to its original pace as the energy empowering me faded away. I looked down at my hands, wondering if I had used up all of the energy in my last attack, only for my eyes to widen in horror as I took in my right hand. My entire right arm, from the elbow down to the tips of my fingers, was covered in harsh burns. The skin was almost black, blistered and scorched from the head while the glove that I had been wearing was long gone, the remnants of the fabric having literally melted into the flesh of my hand. I attempted to move my fingers only for nothing to happen. It didn’t even twitch.And then the pain caught up with me as the power within me stopped whatever it was doing to numb my injuries.“AHHHHHHHH!” I was immediately sent to my knees as my entire being practically pulsed with white-hot agony. I clutched my arm to my chest, sobbing as every cell in my body screamed at me that something was wrong. Behind me, Henry shifted at the sudden increase in noise but didn’t wake as I shook from the sudden pain racing through my body.The feeling of my broken ribs and even the excruciating burns in my arm was nothing to the pain that settled in my veins in the wake of the energy as it faded away. It seemed to be getting worse with every passing moment, increasing in depth and vibrance and leaving me breathless as I swayed in place, falling to the ground with a dull thud. By the grace of some higher being, I wasn’t forced to deal with the pain for very long. Almost immediately after I hit the ground, my vision started to go fuzzy and a wonderful numbing sensation spread throughout my body as the pain grew to be too much for my brain to bear.The last thing I managed to make out from the waking world was an orange glow making its way in my direction from the darkness of the cavern. My sight was too blurry to be able to discern what it actually was before everything went black, but I found a smile slipping across my face at the feelings the glow produced, warm and comforting as it spoke to the most primal parts of my mind, lulling me into unconsciousness with a much more gentle hand that the pain and exhaustion had been.‘It feels like home.’ Was the last thing I managed to think before my sight and consciousness faded completely. A voice followed me out, filled with an equal mix of worry and sadness.“Oh, Rei… What have you done?”