Nier yanked the sharp debris from his hand in one swift motion, the shattered stone, coated in his blood having lodged deep into his padded flesh.
But no sooner had he pulled it free, more just came hurtling his way: rotating edges whistling through the air, each fragment of varying size, propelled as fast as bullets by the powerful repulsion of gravity.
Instinct took over. His arms swelled once more, drawing on the natural iron in his blood to morph into a giant pair of dual blades with rigid edges.
Gaian energy coursed through his veins, infusing the clustered, heavily morphed bones, now iron, and the blades themselves.
Reinforcing the natural elements to surpass anything born of nature.
CLANK!! CLANK!!
The clash of his slashes against the incoming projectiles echoed across the area. Stones shattered on impact as Nier sliced through them in rapid succession.
Yet a few slipped through, leaving their marks, his upper right shoulder was blasted open mercilessly, as another large chunk of stone was lodge deep in his neck, and two jagged shards piercing his agile legs.
But as quickly as the wounds appeared, he shapeshifted his entire body back to its default form, healing them almost immediately.
But the Fulcrum spared him no respite. As he recovered, more debris came hurtling forward, each projectile launched with intent to kill, maim, or cripple.
"These damn debris are quite annoying."
Nier muttered.
"And from what I've seen, its main attack pattern seems to be long-range assaults."
Since the battle began, the beast hadn't moved an inch from its spot.
"Very well."
He said, eyeing the latest barrage heading his way.
"Let's see how you handle a fight when your projectiles are taken from you."
Just before they reached him, black fire erupted from his mouth. Like a dragon, he unleashed a wave of matter-destroying flames. The instant they touched the debris, it vaporized, leaving not even ashes behind.
He expended eighty units of Negativity to cast Black Scorch, and then sent another wave.
FWOOSH...
The roar of burning flames filled the air as an incomprehensible surge of heat poured from his mouth, spreading outward and annihilating everything in its path...trees, grass, air, bacteria, everything and anything vaporized in an instant.
The massive wave targeted the great beast, incinerating all caught in the Fulcrum's gravitational field, leaving it with nothing to wield as weapons. The cows and sheep were not spared; they disintegrated instantly, as did the old man and his dog.
The process was so swift they had no time to scream, much less register the pain.
The Fulcrum itself remained unharmed, not because Black Scorch couldn't torch it, but because the flames never reached its body. The massive inferno halted inches away, repelled by the beast's gravitational aura, which formed an impenetrable barrier.
In the next instant, the flames dissipated as gravity pushed everything outward. The aura expanded in all directions, as blue light expanded omnidirectionally catching Nier off guard and hurling him backward with such force that he crashed through trees, splintering them into a thousand pieces under the explosive impact.
Then, the gravity reversed, expansion turning to contraction. Nier was yanked back toward the Fulcrum.
"SHIT!"
He shouted at his fuck up, because with no ground or surface to brace against. The beast's power left no room for an immediate counter.
For the first time, the Fulcrum moved. Its muscular lower horse-half kicked the ground, charging forward as Nier was pulled inexorably toward it.
Its weight shook the earth, leaving massive hoof marks that cracked the soil beneath. Despite its monstrous size, it moved with unnatural speed and strength.
It clenched its fist, swirling repulsion and contraction gravity around its massive hand, then punched straight into Nier as he hurtled into its path.
His body exploded into pieces when the beast powerful punch hit home.
It's punch combined with its blinding speed and opposing gravitational forces, tore through his natural durability. The fist, as large as Nier's own torso, punched clean through, shattering his form into six gruesome chunks of flesh.
Blood splattered everywhere. Intestines and ruptured organs dropped to the ground; bones splintered or turned to powder from the impact.
But as swiftly as he was torn apart, he began to reform, shapeshifting into an armada of small armored eagles, each clad in the natural body armor of a hippo's hide.
No bigger than mice, each contained a fragment of his mind, yet they worked in unison, connected by a unique hive mind. They soared upward, out of the Fulcrum's immediate range.
High above, hundreds locked onto its form from different angles. They opened their mouths, each possessing a miniature dragon lung. Channeling their full power, as a waves of matter destroying black fire erupted from there mouth, followed by a torrent of black plasma beams raining down, creating a laser prison from which the beast could not escape.
PEW! PEW! PEW!
The sounds thundered from above, bathing the ground in flames. Each volley devoured massive units of Negativity, depleting his reserves by the hundreds until about 10,160 units were spent just on the attack alone.
Yet the Fulcrum took zero damage. Light curved around it, disrupting the attacks aim. This defensive feat was only possible due to its natural gravitational aura, which distorted space at all times, redirecting the plasma beams into the surrounding forest.
Arcs of cutting black lasers, wreathed in similar flames, shot out erratically from the distortion points, severing everything in their redirected paths, ignoring physical durability as the heat and matter-destroying fire sliced through trees and rocks alike.
In response, the Fulcrum raised its hands toward the sky, its target the armada above.
In the next moment, a swelling ball of gravity formed. What happened next caught Nier by surprise, the cosmic orb fired skyward, surpassing the eagles' altitude. With a crushing motion of its hand, the ball expanded faster than he could react, pushing the flock off course, but as swiftly as it grew, gravity shifted inward, pulling everything caught into its center.
A puddle of blood formed quickly as the eagles were squashed together.
SQUELCH!!...
Wet sounds of flesh tearing and bones crumbling echoed under the immense contracting pull of gravity, offering no escape. Soon, only a small sphere of blood remained, held tightly by the gravitational grip, suspended in the sky.
The Fulcrum squeezed its hand tighter. The orb, no bigger than a beach ball compressed to the size of a basketball, then a tennis ball, then a marble.
Space and time around the highly compressed weight began to distort. With one final pull, a loud implosive explosion rang out as space collapsed into itself—a mini black hole born, destroying everything inside under the infinite weight of the singularity.
And finally, the battle came to an end.
Or so the Fulcrum thought.
From underground, a giant bone spear shot from beneath the earth, iron tips over bone, radiating a well of Gaian energy, and piercing its belly from below and drilling through its back.
It launched the beast skyward, lifting its immense weight seventy meters into the air.
Suddenly, a magic circle appeared beneath it. The last thing the beast heard was Nier's voice.
"That was a good battle, but this fight ends now."
With that, Nier expended 500 units of Negativity to cast Collective Existence on the Fulcrum. This was something not even its gravitational defenses could repel, as it was not a physical attack, but a mental one.
The darkness stretched outward, eternal and boundless, enveloping the mental realm in its inky embrace.
Empty shelves, vast and silent, floated in this surreal void, a space crafted by Nier's will that make nexus in his own to trap mind of others when hit by Collective Existence, now embedded deep within the Fulcrum's mind.
He strode forward, searching for the Mind Book of the Fulcrum. Instinct, or perhaps some unseen force, tugged at his senses, guiding him through the labyrinthine expanse.
After what felt like ten, maybe fifteen minutes of wandering, he found it, a lone shelf cradling the book that held the beast's essence.
A sly grin spread across Nier's face as he spoke, his voice echoing in the stillness.
"I knew this bastard has powerful gravity-based abilities. So, I played it smart. The only way to take it down was to divert its attention and wait for the perfect moment to strike. That became crystal clear when it stopped my Black Scorch with its gravitational aura...such a convenient trick. That is why, after I shifted into those mini eagles, I used their numbers as a distraction."
"Meanwhile, my main body transformed into a mole. It cost just one unit of Negativity to make the shift, but I bolstered its strength with Gaian energy while maintaining the hive mind at the same time. But with my new form thick claws meant for digger carried me downwards, as I burrowed underground, tracking the Fulcrum's movements. Using the eagles aerial perspective, I could coordinate my surprise attack from below with ease."
"I waited until I was certain it had burned through enough of its energy. That was when I struck, shapeshifting into a massive bone spear and piercing it from beneath. I wasn't sure if Black Scorch would even work, given how fiercely it protected its core. So, I figured the best move was to hit its mind directly. And that, well, that was a damn smart call. The Fulcrum's offense and defense are monstrous, but its mental resistance? Practically nonexistent. Hahaha… I'm a fucking genius."
Nier's voice brimmed with triumphant pride as he recounted how he outwitted the Fulcrum, securing his victory with cunning precision.
This was Nier's first true battle, and by far his hardest. One thing was certain, this Fulcrum was leagues above Rita in terms of raw strength.
But then again, Skin Walkers held infinitely greater potential than any Fulcrum, that much was undeniable.
Nier knew this, which was precisely why he wanted to keep the beast alive.
"You'll make a fine first meal for my own Skin Walker back home."
He mused.
"If I keep finding stronger Fluxes, I can keep empowering it...molding it into an unstoppable killing machine."
Nier stood before the Fulcrum's Mind Book at last. As he reached out, a quill manifested in his hand.
With clear intentions, he began to open the book, erasing memories, crafting new ones, and stripping away instincts here and there. Bit by bit, he reshaped the Fulcrum's mind until it became utterly docile, a shadow of its former ferocity.