Melty

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to put any of those plans into motion because Malkuth, who hadn’t moved from his position since he took over Gilgamesh’s body, was floating right in front of me as I reappeared.

Before I could react—before I could react—he reached out, grabbing my head with on hand and power flashed over my skin, green-black. I felt a tremor go through my body that had nothing to do with physical reactions, the sensation bizarrely similar to laying on a massive, active machine, and then…

I melted. Not in pieces or parts, but entirely and all at once. For a moment, I was treated to the feeling of my bones, organs, and skin abruptly melting, coming apart and falling away—but at the same time, I felt my body remain whole, flesh still caught in Malkuth’s grasp and so the feeling of melting continued even as my HP steadily dropped.

Keeping my head, I Fluctuated again and wasn’t all that surprised to find that Malkuth had already followed. He probably hadn’t beaten me here—I was teleporting, after all—but he was either reading my mind, predicting where I was going to reappear, or he was just so quick to react that the distance I could put between us didn’t matter. While none of those, sadly, were impossible, the first didn’t quite seem to fit; he knew a lot, sure, but seemed more like he was a smug prick than a mind-reader, and I was confident that at least one of my skills could defend me.