1031 A Cruel God Rowan had a peculiar notion about size. It could not be helped, he was a cosmic being, and as far as he could tell he was the only living dimension in existence, that gave him a unique perspective on the matter of size. From the start as an Empyrean Ouroboros Serpent, he had always been a massive individual, and most of the beings he came across and fought were usually gigantic. Old Man Seed, who was nearly fourteen feet tall, did not raise even an eyebrow from him. After becoming a dimension, his true size was like multiple galaxies in scale, and so, humans, planets… they were all so small, and it was hard to even tell the difference between them if he did not focus his sight on them. Rowan had become used to walking around people with his shrunken size, but the awareness of his real size had colored his perspective, and he liked things big. The bigger the better. Boosting the size of the Shiik was something easy for him to achieve and when it finally reached the Heroic Rank and aided by Rowan's quick absorption of the vitality it produced, the size of the Shiik had exploded, but for Rowan, this size was still relatively small according to his cosmic standards standing at two thousand thousand feet. He would have made the Shiik two thousand miles tall if he was able to spread out his true influence in this world, but he had plans for that later on. Forgiveness was for mortals, for immortals, blood would be repaid with a greater amount of blood. This world had incurred his ire, and those at the top would fall, and he would paint the entire horizon until the ends of existence with their blood. Pushing the thoughts of future vengeance away from his mind, Rowan viewed this new form of the Shiik as acceptable because it was constantly growing and its growth had not yet neared its limits… A limit that he would always be pushing upwards. However, what Rowan considered important was the energy levels of this creature and its peculiar ability to digest death and produce life that had been further boosted to a great degree with the advancement towards the Heroic level. A mass of meat would dominate the lower levels, but the true winner in the higher realms was energy and concepts. The ability to eat death was the reason why the Shiik who had barely been fifty feet tall after becoming a Heroic Ranked calamity exploded in size. Its stomach suddenly expanded to ten times its previous volume and this expansion did not stop as with every moment that passed, the stomach kept slowly increasing as the temperature inside it kept plunging lower, leaving the only area of warmth to be around Rowan's body. There was also a third presence with him inside the stomach, it was a single red rune that resembled a withered palm. Rowan quickly recognized that it was this rune that was the foundation of the ability of the Shiik. Its stomach would not have this incredible ability if not for this one rune. 08:46 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 There was also a third presence with him inside the stomach, it was a single red rune that resembled a withered palm. Rowan quickly recognized that it was this rune that was the foundation of the ability of the Shiik. Its stomach would not have this incredible ability if not for this one rune. The cries of the giant Shiik as it evolved rang with exultation and intense hunger. Its new stomach and increasing size needed fuel, and the tendrils from Rowan were not nearly enough. It opened its growing mouth, inhaling tonnes of flesh, bones, and blood that entered its stomach in a deluge of gore that did not last a second inside its stomach before it vanished. Rowan hardly had the time to begin processing the mystery of this rune when a tremendous wave of vitality flooded his body. He groaned and his mortal body passed out, shut down by the infusion of energy being generated by consuming hundreds of Shiiks at every moment. His new brains resting inside his spine were not as frail as the one in his head and they stayed awake, transferring the fresh wave of vitality into every cell in his body and creating a stable foundation along his designs. He was not going to change the essence of this body like he did with Andar who was essentially a fusion with his Empyrean Ouroboros skin and a mage. He would be following the power systems of this world, but he would be breaking every limiter placed in this flesh. Before long he appeared as a seven-year-old child whose long red hair now touched the nape of his neck. His bigger form able to hold and process more vitality was a boon to the Shiik who had now grown big and powerful enough to shrug off the mounds of body suppressing it to the earth and then it began to slaughter its kind without remorse, it needed energy for its growth. Each of its limbs grew sharp claws that grew red hot as its acid attack empowered by the energy of death sliced through the Shiiks as if it was curing through water. Strangely the silence of the Shiiks was never broken even as they perished in great numbers. It was as if a part of them was both awed and horrified by the monster that had emerged within their midst. Perhaps a small part of their consciousness that recognized the presence of a higher power would feel as if they stood before their god, and gods were known to be cruel. Hundreds fell to a single limb, and the Shiik, except for balancing its growing bulk with ten of its legs, used the other twenty both sliced around and delivered the bodies directly into its open mouth, and in less than a few seconds, nearly every Shiik remaining in the crater had been killed. Such tremendous growth in this beast could only be supported by Rowan, and their symbiotic relationship reached a brand new level when the dead mind of the Shiik who had no business gaining sapience sprang to life. Rowan's last edit finally coming online. The first thing it latched onto was Rowan's mind. He had been expecting the birth of a mind in this creature but Rowan had not imagined how quickly it was formed, and the direction it took. This creature was… cruel. It was a good thing he had already placed aside a single brain node to deal with this blooming consciousness as he focused on understanding the entire changes that had just occurred in the Shiik. Without his intervention, this blooming consciousness would have taken decades for it to actualize itself, but this process happened nearly instantaneously, and the myriad of urges that governed this monster transformed into a dark intelligence that was eerily focused on a single objective alone—grow stronger and destroy everything in existence. It would seem the nature of Calamities truly followed their names. They were living disasters. This new mind captured the sight of the screaming body of an Explorer falling into the crater and quicker than any conscious thought, a limb snaked upwards and gently caught the Explorer in his back, and only the tip punched through the spine of the Explorer and emerged from his chest. He might have survived this wound due to his constitution, but the death energy mixed with the acid on the limbs and claws of the giant Shiik killed him instantly. The growing mind of the Shiik caught the platform escaping the crater with two other Explorers, and they might have escaped if not for the bright beam of light being projected by their suit. Digging dozens of legs into the side of the crater it moved after the ascending platform and in a single bound it reached it. Getting better... Will push for a second chapter. Thanks for all the goodwill messages. BRICKTRADER