Horrifically

Verdi's mouth went dry as he reached to his waist and grabbed his canteen, downing a mouthful to wet his mouth before using the remaining water to cut the lid off one of his water barrels. As he refilled his canteen, he looked at the ground and focused on literally anything but the screaming faces embedded to the arena's walls. Every cell in his body was howling to get away from the nightmarish angel smiling at him before his face became a part of the arena, but sheer pride kept him from surrendering without landing a few hits. Licking his dry lips, Verdi reached to one of the water barrels and stuck his hand into the open top as Evangeline took a deep breath. Her eyes seemed to shimmer with a holy light as she placed her left index finger into her mouth sideways, gently biting down on the middle joint while her fingertip and knuckle remained outside her mouth.

Blood dribbled down her hand and flowed down her wrist as her teeth broke skin, the angel biting down harder and harder on herself as Verdi swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his own finger gently tingling by the display. He knew that sitting back and letting her continue doing whatever it was she was doing was dangerous, but he also knew blindly charging in with no idea what she was capable of would be nothing short of suicide. With that in mind, he continued to brace himself as Evangeline began grinding her teeth against her finger, her ivory white teeth ripping into the tendons and slowly ripping them away one fiber at a time. Eventually, she chewed herself down to the bone, the exposed nerves and tendons undoubtedly painful while blood spewed from her gushing hand into her mouth. Her face was stained red as she took her finger out of her mouth and looked at Verdi, puzzled as her blood began pooling on the ground next to her.

"Oh, um, sweetie, the fight's already started. You're supposed to stop me from doing this." She advised, noticeably concerned by Verdi's inaction. "Do you want me to start over? I have 9 more fingers, so it's really no trouble at all." She offered, holding up her undamaged right hand to redo her previous battle ritual.

"No, no. Continue. I just thought it would be rude if I interrupted you. Ladies first." Verdi said, more interested in finding out just what Evangeline was doing than boldly going into the unknown. Due to the Disruption effect, she couldn't alter his body into pink slime unless he ran out of magic power. As terrifying as the prospect of becoming fleshy furniture was, it was impossible unless Evangeline had some trick up her sleeve. As Verdi studied his opponent, Evangeline flashed a smile, her once ivory white teeth and pink lips stained crimson.

"You are so cute! I could just eat..." Evangeline grabbed her half chewed index finger with her right hand, gripping the flesh while leaving the exposed bone untouched. "You..." A soft crunch echoed through the arena as she twisted the finger, a crack forming at the base as bone marrow dribbled out of her. "Up!" A deafening crack filled the arena, deafening the wall of flesh as Evangeline tore off her own finger. Though Verdi had been dismembered repeatedly in his journey, he felt sick at the masochistic sight, feeling a slight throbbing in his own finger as Belsach yelped from the stands. Without even looking, Verdi could detect that the goblin was using their movie camera to record the battle, fulfilling his promise to record the fights of the coliseum. He blushed red in embarrassment as he realized that the first movie in Ruyanei was going to be of him getting the shit kicked out of him by Evangeline.

"Okay sweetie. I'm almost done preparing." Evangeline said, the angel maintaining her kind, gentle demeanor as she pointed her severed finger at Verdi as though it were a lance. "I'm going to count down from 3 then attack, okay?" She said as Verdi nodded, reading one of the formulas he engraved on a barrel and bracing himself for what was to come.

"3!" Verdi clenched his fist, his eyes fixated on the severed finger as his own finger gently throbbed. He could sense Evangeline's weight shift with his heightened senses. Judging by how she was shifting her weight, she was going to leap forward.

"2!" He could sense Evangeline's toes tense up, gripping the ground as if they were claws. She was going to leap at him like Fenri.

"1!" The moment of truth arrived as everyone in his party began shouting at him, demanding he surrender or attack. As Evangeline reached 0, her smile seemed to grow wider as she uttered a single word, her melodic voice echoing through the city itself.

"Inventory."

There were many words Verdi wanted to say at this moment. In fact, he had several phrases he wanted to say more than anything else. The one thing he wanted to say the most was "I surrender", but that was out of question despite how much he wanted to say it. The second thing he wanted to say was "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!", but the audience and his party were busy saying that as they recoiled in horror. The third thing he wanted to say was stolen by Fenri at that very moment, denying Verdi even the most basic of pleasures as he just stared at his opponent in silence.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Was what the hero shouted as Evangeline's body shifted and twisted before the crowd's eyes. Her skin tore open like paper, thick fist sized cables of muscle fibers and flesh spewing out like sludge as her body deformed. She moaned as bones shot out of her body, the calcified tissue serving as a framework as meat encircled it for her growing body. One by one, the white feathers from her wings fell away as bone spikes shot out from the tip of her wings and reshaped them into massive clawed hands sticking out of her back. Verdi's sense of touch detected that the bone spikes were hollowed out and connected directly to her lungs, pumping an endless stream of air in and out of her body to maintain the incredible respiratory rate for her body. Her lungs were equally modified, thin strands of flesh filling her lungs to maximize surface area to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Every inch of her skin save for her face and torso was ripped apart by her growing body, leaving only exposed pink human muscle as Verdi saw the muscles twitch and contract with every breath she took. With his heightened perception, he could see thick, protein rich slurry spawn in Evangeline's intestines only to be instantly absorbed by her bloodstream, her inventory serving as the source of the increasing biomass. Unlike Verdi who obeyed the laws of physics with his regeneration, Evangeline had no such limitations.

"I hope you're ready~" Evangeline said, her blonde hair glowing as Verdi trembled in sheer terror. She stood at an insane 11 feet in height, yet the only skin she had left was on her face. Her arms dragged on the ground like an ape's while her back was hunched forward. Exposed muscle twitched and throbbed as new blood vessels endlessly spawned within her. Her once white feathered wings were now nothing more than two massive clawed hands jutting out of her back. Throughout her mutation, she still clutched her severed finger as though it were vital for her survival. Resisting the urge to surrender, Verdi watched as Evangeline gripped the ground with her fingers, toes, and wings. An audible crack was heard as she dug into the ground, building up power for her next attack.

"She's 300 yards away. Fenri's top speed is about 40 yards a second. Olskroya's debuff means I have at least 20 seconds to watch and think." Verdi thought as he planned out his next move. At that moment, Evangeline bound forward, the sandstone shattering underfoot as she traversed 30 yards in a single leap. An audible rip was heard as Verdi saw her muscles literally tear from exertion, scraps of flesh and blood trailing behind her only to regenerate through the use of her healing magic. She left a trail of discarded meat behind her, only to restock her biomass from her inventory. Wasting no time, Verdi looked to one of the equations he inscribed upon the wooden water barrels he brought and prepared to cast the spell.

"She's still clutching her finger." Verdi thought as she reached the 200 yard mark. As she landed, the ground quaked as she pointed the severed finger at Verdi. Verdi looked up to see a frenzied smile greeting him as he began firing ice spikes at the insane angel. Rather than dodge the attacks like Fenri or deflect them through sheer **** like Varrick, Evangeline took them head on.

"Look at this folks! A real trooper Verdi is, standing her ground and sending a barrage of ice against Evangeline! Watch out, this is a girl with a real pair on her!" The harpy announcer said, doing his best to sound excited rather than disgusted by the entire sight of Evangeline's body.

"Ahn~ So deep~" A pleasured moan escaped Evangeline's lips as a meter long spike found itself lodged within her arm, severing several vital tendons as it went slack. Rather than remove the spike, Evangeline just continued charging forward as the ice spike melted in the blink of an eye, her flesh crowding over it as she continued her charge.

"She's overclocking her metabolism with life magic. Respiration, physical strength, and body temperature are increased to maximize speed and strength. She's not dodging like Fenri." Verdi thought, burning up more magic power as he lowered the temperature and increased the thickness of his ice spikes as he frantically tried to stop the living meat tank that was Evangeline as she trounced forward like a savage ape on her overgrown arms. Some shots were enough to send her slamming face first into the ground while others missed vital joints and only served to pleasure her. Despite his constant attacks, he was only delaying the inevitable as his hand went dry, the first barrel of water already depleted.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I've already burned a barrel and I just look like a fucking moron wasting everyone's time!" Verdi thought as Evangeline got within the 100 yard mark, losing 1 of 8 water barrels doing nothing but delay the inevitable.

"What's this folks? Is our ice princess getting thirsty? Since it looks like she needs some water!" The harpy announcer said as Verdi bit his thumb and swung his wrist, a micron thick blade of blood slicing the lid off another barrel. As soon as he finished cutting the lid off the barrel, Verdi looked up to find Evangeline's face beaming back at him, her imposing body only 10 yards away. Panicking, Verdi looked to one of the wooden barrels and read the equation he wrote on them, summoning an ice wall from one of the water barrels as Evangeline raised a fist larger than Verdi's body and swung it at him, his clear wall of ice doing nothing to hide his impending **** from sight.

"The ice wall was a horrific idea. I'm a moron and Belsach caught how stupid I was on camera. Everyone's going to spend all day laughing at me for this." Verdi thought as he flesh met ice, the sound of the two clashing akin to an explosion as every muscle Evangeline used tore from the exertion. Even with the **** of a freight train slamming into the ice wall, Evangeline couldn't even crack the magically reinforced ice, the compounded effects of Verdi's Final Enoch, Ice elemental infusion, and the inherent advantage alchemists had in defensive magic making it nigh unbreakable. That wasn't to say Verdi left the exchange unscathed.

The taste of iron filled his mouth as his ice wall was sent flying into him at 50 miles an hour, every bone in his body shattering as he bit his tongue. He felt a tinge of pain in his back as he slammed into the wooden cart carrying his water barrels, sending his precious water rolling in every direction away from him. Rather than give Verdi a single moment to gather his bearings, Evangeline continued the **** as she leapt forward, her figure even more imposing than before as she coiled her arm back for another punch. Her already imposing figure seemed to grow as Verdi's heart sank, realizing that her growth wasn't just the result of his growing terror.

Evangeline started the fight at 5'6.

With life magic bolstering her muscles and body, she was now a behemoth standing at a whopping 11 feet in height.

Verdi started the fight out at 5'3.

The size disparity was 6 feet before Evangeline punched his ice wall.

Now the size disparity was 6.5 feet.

Evangeline was still roughly 11 feet.

Verdi was now 4'10.

Losing 5 inches was terrible for someone as short as Verdi. Losing 5 inches and 2 feet, however, was terrible. Looking behind Evangeline, Verdi could see a snail trail of his blood left in his wake as everything below his ankles were scraped across the arena. Even with his superhuman regeneration, there was little it could do to an attack of this nature as he lost another inch of height. Just as he slowed to a halt, he found Evangeline's fist preparing to pulverize him. His heart sank as he realized what would happen the next time she hit his ice wall. At best he'd be scraped across the arena's floor. At worst he'd become a part of Evangeline's lovers when he slammed into the arena's walls at 50 miles an hour. Wasting no time, Verdi placed his hand on the wall of ice and focused, ignoring the pain to reshape the ice.

"Please work. Please work. Please work." Verdi thought as Evangeline's fist shot forward. Instead of crashing into a perfectly square wall of ice, her fist made contact with an oversized pinwheel. An audible whirring was heard as the wheel spun faster than the eye could track, the inertia behind Evangeline's blow giving it power far beyond anything Verdi himself could muster. Grabbing the axle, Verdi swung the spinning blade upwards into her still outstretched arm. He shut his eyes as blood and torn muscle fibers drenched his body,

"What's this folks!? Verdi has counterattacked with a Pain Wheel! Look at that blood! And Verdi's fighting through the pain! Folks, we've got someone with real grit!" The harpy announcer shouted as Verdi felt a gentle throbbing in his right arm as his makeshift weapon chewed through Evangeline's arm, severing the limb as it fell to the ground. Instead of remaining dormant like a normal dismembered limb, the lost right hand flailed about like a lizard's tail as Verdi dropped his makeshift ice weapon and raised a hand.

"I sur-URK!" Giving the alchemist no time to announce his defeat, Evangeline threw an uppercut into Verdi's chin with her stump arm. His neck snapped, crippling him in an instant as his body frantically worked to repair the damage. The taste of iron returned as Evangeline's ulna and radius pierced Verdi's chin and impaled his tongue, her healing magic already hard at work at regrowing her lost arm. Before the bone could punch into his brain, Verdi kicked what remained of his legs up and reoriented himself. He heard screams of horror as everything went according to plan.

Rather than having her bones pierce his frontal lobe, he lost vision in his right side as Evangeline's ulna shot out of his right eye socket. He had a moment of terror as he made eye contact with himself, a solitary brown eye staring back at him from the tip of Evangeline's bone. Behind him, he could hear Citrinas screaming bloody **** alongside the rest of the crowd at the attack, puzzling him for a brief second. True, he couldn't see color anymore, but his sense of touch left him capable of perceiving the area in 360 degrees. If anything, the loss of an eye honed his senses further.

"Oh, folks, and she's out of the tournament! Another one claimed by the Collector! Give a round of applause for Verdi's bravery before her ****!" The harpy announcer screamed as Verdi felt his head throb. It was a weird sensation to say the least, the inside of his head gently pulsing as he felt the telltale warmth of his innate regeneration within his head. He looked down to see Evangeline had a puzzled expression on her face, as though something she expected to happen wasn't occurring. It was only after a minute of the two being connected that he realized just what was happening.

The Disruption effect was the reason he couldn't just freeze Evangeline's blood with his magic and why Evangeline couldn't just mutate him into wallpaper. They couldn't affect the other's body directly with magic unless one of them was significantly more powerful than the other or they ran out of magic power. Indirect application of magic, however, was fair game. Throwing a fireball at someone to burn them was fine. Placing magically produced ice against someone to cool them was fine. It was for that reason using healing magic on your own wounds and using another mage's body as nutrients was also fair game.

At this very moment, Verdi's innate regeneration and Evangeline's healing magic were fighting on a cellular level to devour the other, both freakish entities intent on feeding on the precious nutrients before them Though he took pride in his regeneration, Verdi could feel his flesh slowly losing ground to her healing magic as more and more of his head was converted into Evangeline's new arm. He knew what he needed to do to survive, but that didn't mean he would enjoy an iota of what was going to happen. Hooking his stump legs to Evangeline's arm and grabbing it, he braced himself as he tensed every muscle in his body.

"What the fu-folks! We've got a real fighter! Verdi's still in this! Folks, she's still in this!" The harpy announcer shouted as Verdi threw himself backwards, his face ripping open as Evangeline's forearm devoured his jaw, half his nose, and his right eye to regenerate her lost arm. Verdi, on the other hand, was left freezing his wounds shut. His innate regeneration meant that he could staunch the bleeding, but he needed calcium, phosphorous, and other nutrients to regrow his lost tissue. He also had to hide his regeneration to avoid arousing suspicion to his true nature, rigging the odds against him even further. Flopping helplessly to the ground on all fours, he looked up to find Evangeline groaning as she reverted her right arm to her original form and rubbed away at her face. There was nothing but pure arousal in her as hearts filled her eyes, as though she were ravished by him for hours on end by him.

"Dear, do you want to surrender? Please tap on the ground twice to say yes." Evangeline asked with a dazed voice, her mind in another place as she spoke. Verdi inspected himself, finding that he had nothing going right for the current match. The previous attack had scattered the remaining 7 water barrels throughout the arena. He was trying to maintain his cover as a normal human, so blatant shows of regeneration without magic was out of the question. Then there was the fact that Evangeline outclassed him in experience, talent, and even regeneration. Raising his left hand, he prepared to tap out and accept his defeat with dignity.

"Come on Verdi! Go fuck her up! I know you've got this shit in the bag! Tell that cunt to go fuck herself!" Fenri shouted at that moment, her cheers contrasting with the concerned demands Citrinas was giving him to tap out before Evangeline finished him off. He mentally cursed as he stumbled back to his two frozen stump legs, readying another clash against the meat behemoth standing before him. He was going to surrender, but he was still in fighting condition. A mouth wasn't something he needed thanks to his secondary body chanting for him while his feet weren't necessary considering he was mostly immobile during fights. Until Evangeline did any real lethal damage or he ran out of magic, he'd continue fighting to avoid embarrassing himself for joining the tournament in the first place. Sighing, he shook his head to Evangeline's question as he **** himself back to his feet once more.