360. Full Circle

His hand sunk deep into the soft, pale, translucent flesh. Ike drew in, as if he were sucking in aether, but he drew on the baby’s energy instead. It wasn’t a real thing, whatever this pale-fleshed construct was. It was a conglomeration of dead flesh and the strange power that existed in this place. Right now, that power belonged to something…somethings else, but something else that had once been part of the same being Ike had been part of. They had the same origin. Came from the same place. He just had to call out to that mutual part of them, and he could absorb them once more.

True, he’d won the King’s trial and beaten the Prince to get his skill, and had to negotiate with the King some afterward to get consistent access to the King’s skill. But the baby wasn’t one thing, but a conglomeration of many infants, who had so little of the greater being in them that even when they combined like this, they still barely had any connection. They barely had the will to oppose him from drawing their power in, and he highly doubted that they had the force of will to prevent him from using whatever skill they had, assuming they had one.

“Come on. Give in! You’re just a big baby. Go home and cry!” Ike shouted.

Wisp ran over and started kicking the baby while it was on the ground. “Yeah, that’s right. Fall apart and become part of Ike! Stupid babies!”

The baby kicked and clawed. Wisp skittered back, dodging its wild attacks, while Ike took the hits. They hammered into him, heavier than he’d expected. His feet slid back in the muddy earth. Even so, he just stepped forward, refusing to take his hand off the soft, pale flesh. “Give up! Give up already! Why are you so stubborn?”

“Ike! I figured it out!” Wisp shouted.

“Figured what out?”

“Suck it up! Slurp it up like gelatin!”

Ike stared at her in disgust. “No!”

“What? Why not?”

“No! I’m not a cannibal!”

“It’s not a human. It’s fine!”

Ike looked at the giant, translucent baby under his hand with its big silver eyes that reflected the moon. No, it didn’t look like a human, but… it was shaped like a baby, at the end of the day. He still couldn’t bring himself to try to eat it, of all things! “That’s disgusting. I won’t do it.”

“What if I slurp it up, then spit it into your mouth like I’m momma wolf and you’re baby wolf?” Wisp suggested.

Ike shuddered. “I think you found a way to make it worse.”

“Birds do it, too!” Mag chirped.

Wisp glanced up. She was in spider form, but somehow, she still grimaced. “Hey, don’t ruin it for me! I didn’t want to imagine a bird doing that.”

“No, please do ruin it for her,” Ike muttered. The image of a giant spider puking into his mouth came to the top of his mind, and he shuddered again, almost losing his grasp on the baby. Gross, gross, gross.

“Wolf is a type of spider. I’m okay with being a wolf. I don’t want to be a bird.”

“Bird is a type of spider, too.”

Wisp startled. “Really?”

Ike nodded, but before he could go on, the baby twisted under his hand. It broke free. Ike sighed, annoyed more than anything, only for the baby to transform. It punched at Ike, but its pudgy arm extended. Smaller arms emerged from the lengthening arm, and it punched Ike hard. He bounced over the ground, accumulating scrapes and cuts.

“Whoa!” Wisp bounded back, but couldn’t avoid a kick as the baby did the same extend-thing with its leg. She tumbled head over spinneret, blurring as she smashed into the dirt over and over.

The baby’s limbs extended. Arms and legs both, shooting out dozens of feet. It climbed to its new, over-long legs’ feet, and roared at the sky. Its roar still sounded more like an infant’s scream, but it was trying.

Ike climbed to his feet. He still wielded the scepter, and there was plenty of fog around to absorb. The baby couldn’t win this battle. But it still fought on, despite hopeless odds, despite being torn to shreds. Do I have to beat this thing down until all the fog is gone?

A second later, Ike frowned. Was that it? Sure, he was sure it would work, if he just kept beating it until it stopped getting up, but was that the real solution? Like how he’d had to negotiate with the King and appeal to the Prince, was there something he had to do to get the infant on his side?

He hopped a swipe. It punched him with its other arm, and he pushed aether into the Hungry Sword, fully activating it. He parried, and the Hungry Sword took a chunk out of the baby’s arm. Bright red blood flowed, in opposition to its translucent skin, which seemed unable to hold such bright blood.

The baby cried and retreated. It cuddled its arm, hurt and sad, big eyes staring at him in fear and despair, and Ike lowered his sword.

That’s it, isn’t it?

He tore his aether back and sheathed his sword, much to the sword’s dislike. The scepter, too, he dismissed. All the aether around him died down, and the fog dispelled. Approaching slowly, he offered his hand to the baby.

The baby’s eyes went wide with rage. It galloped across the field, opening its mouth as it closed in on Ike.

Ike stood there, holding his ground. He stared it in the eyes. “I know what you want. Don’t I?”

“Ike, if you’re trying to get eaten, let me do the eating!” Wisp shouted.

The baby howled. It loomed over Ike, several times larger than him. Its jaws gaped around him, strings of thick spittle clinging to its toothless gums.

Ike held his ground, hand still offered. He stared straight ahead. This was it. Do or die.