Blessed by Night

Appearing in his apartment, he had a slight headache that was made worse by the frightened screaming of his girlfriend.

"KYAAA!"

Boof!

Before Mal could even respond, a pillow was thrown into his furry face and he was robbed of the opportunity.

Eventually, Sei realized that this large furry cat monster was carrying too very familiar looking girls.

"Ah... Honey?" she asked hesitantly.

In response, Mal flashed her a toothy grin and placed Serana down onto the couch. "I gotta say love, you have a hell of an arm. Must be from all that time you spend baking, huh?"

Sei smiled sheepishly in return and slowly put down the remote that she was going to throw at him next.

She went beside her daughter and brushed the hair out of her face before asking about the status of the gate break as well as his new look.

"What happened in the mall and... why are you white?"

"Come again?"

"She means your fur." Anna said gently.

The young woman had yet to move from Malachi's grasp as she was still a bit traumatized and more comfortable than she wanted to admit out loud.

Malachi finally noticed his winterized new look and attributed it to the climate he was just in.

After taking a peek in a nearby mirror, he realized that he looked a bit like the main villain from the first karate koala movie.

'Cool...'

Anna finally realized that Mal had been trying to put her down for the past few minutes and crawled down from his arms with a slightly reddened face.

"Sei, can you grab a few spare clothes from my room?" He asked.

"Oh? Okay honey, one moment."

She quickly slipped into Malachi's room and left the two of them alone, allowing Malachi to show Anna where the nearest shower was without embarrassing her.

He had to help her since she was still limping quite a bit, but since he could not follow her all the way into the bathroom, they had to separate once she closed the door.

"Once you're finished, tell Sei about your ankle and she'll get you some ice or even drive you to the doctor if you need it. I'll bring the clothes and put them outside."

Anna said nothing for a long time as she let her body sink into the warm crystal clear water.

"Thanks... You're going back, right?"

Malachi let out a monstrous chuckle as he looked at his clawed hands. "Kinda have to, don't ya think? These murder mittens ain't exactly made for sitting on the couch."

Anna let out a dry laugh as she slicked back her wet hair. "Whatever... just be safe kid."

"Always am." Malachi said as he sank into the floor once more.

Before he left, he couldn't help but feel like he'd misjudged his new friend quite a bit.

'She acts all tough on the outside but she's quite the softie, huh? That's cute.'

-

When Malachi reappeared in the mall, the first thing he did was double over in pain.

The headache that was only mild a few minutes ago was now much more intense and felt like it was traveling throughout the entirety of his brain.

"What the hell... is this...?"

In all of Malachi's life, he had only felt pain like this once before.

It was when he'd first received all of his blessings and they ran uninhibited across his mind and soul.

For the first time, Mal pieced together the absurdity of everything that he'd done today.

Never before had he been able to use two of his blessings simultaneously, but just a moment ago he had been using shadow movement on himself and others without even realizing it.

And he still had yet to deactivate Bastet's blessing that was making him so monstrous.

He scoured his mind for any sort of answer to this sudden development, and he very quickly was able to reach a conclusion.

Monster meat.

After eating the flesh of the scorpion woman and the ice giants, his body was flooded with a new energy that he hadn't ever felt before.

At first he'd thought that there were no additional benefits other than increased speed and strength, but now it seemed like there was much more to it than that.

Irregardless of his current predicament, Mal knew that there was only one logical course of action.

Moving back to his feet, he ventured back into the ruined store where he'd first found the girls.

Picking up a piece of a shredded ice giant, he placed it between his monstrous teeth and began to chew on it to prove his theory.

While his headache was relieved, he did not gain the traditional rush of power that he normally would from eating dungeon beasts.

"Been dead too long, huh..."

Whatever magical substance gave him such a large energy boost, it seemed as though it was time sensitive.

Making hunting for fresh food his only viable option.

Returning onto all fours, Malachi bounded throughout the mall while searching for more giants.

After a round of nonstop running, Mal found the enemies that he was searching for but… he very nearly wished he hadn't.

The good news was that Mal had reached the source of the gate break and there were only three monsters in his way.

The bad news was that their was very clearly a boss monster among them.

Seated between two snowy white dire wolves was an ice giant that was different from the rest on almost every level.

It was considerably larger, almost twelve feet in height.

The muscles on it's body were much bulkier and taut than it's brethren, and Mal knew at a single glance that his daggers were going to bounce right off it's skin.

The ice giant boss finally noticed something was approaching and stood up while pulling out an enormous icy hammer.

It smiled and revealed teeth that were stained red and contained pieces of what Mal only hoped was beef in between.

Malachi recognized that the beast seemed to be anticipating his challenge and dropped onto all fours so as not to keep his new friend waiting.

Just as he prepared to have this creature for lunch, a soft and sultry voice that he knew all too well began to tickle his ears.

"You weren't thinking about taking that thing on by yourself, were you?"

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AnathaShesha