Malkuth and the melty hand

“Full of surprises,” Malkuth mused, tone unchanging. “I suppose that was your Kavacha, huh…? I suppose it’s only fitting, if you intend to challenge my Kundala again, Keter. But it’s still not good enough; look how easily you come apart. I feel like if I touch you too hard, I’ll break you—like this.”

He extended a hand towards me and his arm bulged disgust, matter flood into the limb to shape it into something new.

I made to dodge, knowing better than to just stand around and take a hit from someone who could warp natural law to his whim. I Fluctuated to the side and then, just to be safe, Fluctuated back twice, putting as much distance between Malkuth and I as possible within the bounds of my Sanctuary. As an added bonus, it put my back to the edge of my barrier, leaving me the option of either backing or firing through it. Already, I was crunching numbers, mentally mapping out paths of assault for another barrage. Any shot fired through the edge of Sanctuary’s sphere would immediately reappear on the opposite side, meaning I could hypothetically hit him from anywhere and I only needed a moment to do so.

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.

The other options, however…I could see it. Whether my recognizing the abrupt relocation of matter or seeing how energy moved around him, it was possible. Not even my teleportation was instantaneous; it was limited by how fast I could activate the skill, after all. That was just a fraction of a moment for me at full Acceleration, but it still meant that time had passed and that might give him enough to follow me.

That…could make things tricky.