Maddy's skin bubbled and split, pushing out hands, arms, and faces; limbs swelled where they shouldn't exist, a torso twisted along her side, a second jaw opened across her ribs. She was no longer something the mind could accept.
She had become a living nightmare—a demonic creature wrapped in the same red and black energy the Chief once claimed as his own. The Chief's jaw dropped as he stared up at her.
"W-what… are you? Th-those faces… those bodies…! Th-that's my family…!"
Every mouth on Maddy's body opened at once. She screamed. Not one voice but dozens, layered, overlapping, some deep, some shrill, some broken, and the cavern shook.
Maddy screamed, a terrifying sound, and the other mouths across her body screamed with her. She began chanting the same incantation the chief ogre had used. The faces of his fallen kin twisted across her flesh those he had called failures now joining her as they invoked Demonic Blood Art together.
Arms burst from her side. Ogre arms, twisted limbs, clawed hands… all lunging forward to seize him. They grabbed his shoulders, his legs, his throat. He thrashed wildly.
"NO—! NO, NO, NO, WAIT!! I TAKE IT BACK! I TAKE IT BACK! I'LL LET YOU LIVE, BE MY P-PET! NO— I'LL BE YOUR PET!"
A hand covered his mouth. Another forced his head back. His thoughts broke into pure panic.
"This isn't a worm… You're worse than me… you're a true monster… a chimera of pure horror!"
"DΣMӨПIᄃ BᄂӨӨD ΛЯƬ: HELLMOUTH!"
Maddy's main mouth split impossibly wide, her jaw unhinging into a black, abyssal void lined with spiraling rows of teeth.
WHOOOOOOOOM!
The chief ogre let out a shrill, cracking scream as he was pulled in, along with everything around them being drawn toward her gaping maw.
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
His legs kicked uselessly in the air.
"DEMONS, SAVE ME!!"
Her jaws came down, swallowing the once boastful chief ogre whole. The monster who had considered himself the strongest in the cave was now being ripped apart inside the mouth of a creature he had called the lowest life form.
[System Notice]
[Congratulations! You acquired a skill: DΣMӨПIᄃ BᄂӨӨD ΛЯƬ: Hellmouth]
[DΣMӨПIᄃ BᄂӨӨD ΛЯƬ: Hellmouth: Unleash a nightmarish, abyssal maw from your body, drawing in everything nearby with irresistible gravitational force. Can swallow enemies whole, tear apart defenses, and consume even the mightiest foes in a single bite. Effect scales with the size of the maw and the user's demonic energy.]
Maddy crushed the Chief Ogre in her hellmouth, savoring every bite as she ground him down completely.
[System Notice]
[You have ingested an object containing a trait.]
[Trait acquired: Enhanced Strength and Stamina: … Tool/Weapon Use: … Demonic Blood Art…
[Trait Acquired: Demonic Ogre Body Parts]
[You may now manifest any portion of the Demonic Ogre's anatomy—arms, legs, or the entire physical form with perfect precision. These examples are not limiting; any part can be used.]
[Note: You can use a voice command to check how many of each body part you still have.]
Maddy screamed not from anger, though she was still angry but from the sheer horror of her new form.
"What… what did you do to me?! I… I'm… I'm not even me anymore! I'm a monster… more than any of you could ever be… and—"
She caught sight of the extra faces sprouting from her body and shrieked,
"EEK! SO GROSS! GET… GET ALL OF THIS OFF! ALL THE BODY I MEAN… NOW!"
[Response: As your command… removing demonic ogre body parts…]
Intializaing…
Poof!
[Done.]
Maddy shrank back, her monstrous bulk collapsing until she returned to her original form: that adorable, chubby, beige little worm, fat and round, with six wide, curious eyes.
"Yeah… I'm definitely more okay with this form… I would definitely NOT put everything in my body… GAHHH—"
Maddy puked.
After a minute of dissociating, she finally realized what she had done.
"D-did I… just massacre a whole clan!? Whoa… am I that powerful? I mean, those minerals literally changed the game for me—the durability, the magic resistance, and now the Demonic Ogre traits… oooh… even I'm terrifying myself thinking about what I'm about to become!"
After taking a shaky breath and calming herself, she snapped back to what really mattered.
"Oh sh*t… I almost forgot about her! The princess!"
Maddy dove into the soil, her body cutting through the earth. She tunneled back toward the area she had been originally before, her senses on high alert for any remaining threats. As she neared the Princess's location, she felt a small, lingering presence nearby.
"Is there still an ogre… left?"
She burst through the cavern floor, ready to strike, but her anger fizzled out the moment she saw the scene. The small Demonic Ogre baby was crawling slowly across the cold stone toward the Princess. Maddy's heart softened as she watched the tiny creature reach out with a trembling hand to touch its mother's face.
"Aww… look at him. Checking on his mother… You know, Princess… I always dreamt of having a child. In my past life, our God took that away from me. Women like us… we're measured by what we can give life to."
She crept closer, watching the baby begin to cry, its small chest heaving with silent sobs. But as Maddy looked at the Princess, the warmth in her heart turned to ice. The woman's skin wasn't just pale; it was translucent.
"Wait... something is wrong. No, no, please no…"
Maddy lunged toward the Princess, nudging her, then pressing her entire body against her as if to hold her alive. She traced the woman's form, hoping, praying—but it was too late. The skin was cold, rigid… a corpse.
"This can't be… it can't be happening!"
Her six eyes went wide with disbelief. Her body shook as a guttural, broken wail ripped from her throat. She clung to the Princess, pressing herself tighter, desperate for some sign… but the lifeless weight in her arms confirmed her worst fear. Tears streaked down her face as a sob tore through her chest.
"No… no, please… wake up! Please!"
She pressed her face against the Princess, trembling as the baby's cries cut through the silence. The world blurred around her, leaving only the cold stillness and that tiny, helpless sound. Her heart felt shattered.