“Alright. What do you want?” I ask, as she shifts in her spot until she lazily lifts herself into a different pose. “Good. I need you to go hunt down some sand worms… I mostly just want their hide… What happened to that friend of yours who went with you?” She asks, as I look at Kass.

“She’s busy. Kass, come on, I could use your blades.” I say, and she gives me a thumbs up. “Totally, let’s go.” She says, as we leave, and Stussy begins asking the princess questions again.

I jump out of the temple, and beyond the city using almost my entire strength to absolutely send myself hurtling like a baseball. I land and Kass does the same next to me. “So how do we find sandworms?” She asks, as I look around.

“I guess I’ll just go underground and look.” I say, as I begin to shrink down, and transform into a liquid of my own design. It’s a material Demistar taught me how to make, this way I won’t have to worry about dying because I stood next to something that’s too hot.

Specifically, it has a super high boiling point, and stays in liquid form at absolute zero. Things get pretty dangerous, when someone can just heat you up to, like, thousands of degrees in an instant. So yeah.

It’s a little discomforting though, so I like to just be water. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it. Besides, it’s horrible for my long-term health, if I continue to put it off like this.

I delve into the sand, just like with that beach a while back. I can feel the vibrations in the ground push through me, they would be painful if I wasn’t already prepared for them. Finally, after an hour of searching, I drag one out of the ground, or well, it drags ME out of the ground with it.

It shoots miles into the air, me on top of it as I enhance my size at intense speed! I latch around him, and land on the ground as I tear him out of it! I swing this thing’s body around as it writhes in the air, until I slam it to the ground, and jump over it, firing a giant spike at it, only for said spike to bounce off its skin…

I land on its body, and begin crushing until I tear it in half, and grab the living part. I tear that part in half as Kass watches in horror… “Demitallis… How strong are you?” She asks, as blood pours into the sand, and I only now realize the brutality of my actions…

“Sorry, Kass, I didn’t want it to escape. I’ll eat everything but the hide, so nothing wasted.” I say, as I begin to shrink- I can’t shrink. I instead just pull my essence into a fraction of my body, and let the rest wash away into this desert.

“It seems I can’t eat that!” I call out, as she walks over and looks at titanic worm. “Specifically my water. The worm is VERY digestible.” I say, ripping out a chunk of its flesh and partaking of it. “You’re so gross. Alright, finish it off, then come get me when you’re done.” She says, as I size myself back up, but instead with water. “Got it!” I call out as she walks away and begins building something, while I begin consuming the whole thing.

Usually I would just eat the whole thing, but now I have to tear it apart. It’s multiple times harder like this, I kept practicing techniques until I spun around like some giant saw blade, scraping away at it at high speed like sandpaper. Get it?

Anyways, it took me hours, but I finally finished it, without ruining the hide TOO badly… Who am I kidding, I tore the hide apart trying to figure out a good way to eat this thing. “I’m finished!” I call out, hoping Kass might think it’s okay, as she practices her martial arts against a dummy…

She turns around and her mouth drops at the horrible mess I made… “Alright, listen…” I say, as she walks up and around the thing… “How do you even DO this?” She asks, walking around it and looking at the other piece off the sandworm I dug into and out of.

The third half isn’t so bad, since I got to it last. ‘Did kinda ruin the opening though…. “Listen, I'll salvage what I can, you go find more.” She says, and I begin jumping on the ground, hoping for one to just come and pop out.

It doesn’t work, so I’m ultimately forced to just deeptunel, realizing my shredding skill is actually pretty good for digging too…. I try it the other way, spitting out sand and rock as I look around for the next Sand Worm, until I finally do find it, and this time drag it out MYSELF.

Once I have it out of the grounce, I jump down its mouth and shred through its innards until it finally stops writhing, and I’m left with nothing but the husk… I jump out, watching my color desaturate as I consume what’s left of the blood that got caught inside of me.

“Finished!” I shout, as Kass walks up and stares at it. “You hollowed it out… I think you could just take it like that, I’ve already finished up on this one.” She says, pointing her thumb at multiple bales of Sand-Worm hide…

I jump over and begin chucking the bales into the larger sandworm, using it as a bag as Kass stretches her arms. “Well, that wasn’t too difficult. Let’s head back now.” She says, as I lift the thing over my head. “Yeah, don’t wanna’ stay too long.” I say, as we begin crawling away from the now torn apart landscape.

A traveling caravan of powerful vehicles rushes by, the head stopping next to us as we stop. “Mighty fine catch ya’ got there!” A Camel Demihuman calls out to us, as I drop the corpse on the ground, and move between it and the caravan…

“Yeah, took me all day.” I say, as Kass walks up next to us.”Would you be willing to trade for it?! Been looking for one for days, it’s hard to find them underground!” He calls out to me, as Kass folds her arms…

“Sorry dude, this one’s mine. Gotta’ hand it off to some dumb princess, you see. I’m trying to get into the underworld.” I explain as he nods, and stands up. “Funny, I’m headed there too. How about this, I’ll challenge you for this thing.” He says, surprising me as he jumps onto the back of his vehicle.

“Saul, get out here, I got you a fight!” He shouts, and an object shoots out of the back of his vehicle… “Hey dad! Ya’ find the worm- Oh.” He says, as he looks at us, and the worm. “What the hell is that?” He asks, as he equips his sword and Kass walks over to him.

“I accept the challenge. What are your names?” She asks, and Saul realizes what’s going on, while Kass just DECIDES she’ll bet away our friggin’ prize. “I’m Gull, he’s my nephew Saul.” Gull says, pointing at his aforementioned nephew…

“So you’re just going to bet away MY prize, huh?” I ask, spitting a small metal bearing at her. “Don’t worry about it.” She says, as I grab MY kills and back away with them, so as to give my sister room to be a jerk about stuff that isn’t HER’S…

Looking at Saul, he’s a sandstone elemental. ‘Had me confused the moment I looked at him, since it makes little sense how he’s the nephew- Adoption. I should have thought of that. Anyways, his parts give him a tall, yet lankier build, with a shield made from the very hide of these very creatures I was hunting.

I tore them apart with negligent ease, I guess it goes to show how far I’ve come, if they’re worth making shields out of… “How much use do you get out of that shield?” I ask. “O-Oh. I get relatively good use out of it. Got me out of a few scuffles.” He says, as he looks at his sword.

“I get a lot more use out of my sword, though. It’s called The Sword of Giro, it vibrates at high enough speed to penetrate anything.” he says, as I stare at the gauntlet shaped hand-guard of the sword. “I got it from a kindly little robot, you see.” He explains, as Saul looks at him.

“Right, I actually met him, Uncle Gull, he was in bad shape.” Saul says, as Gull folds his arms. “That’s a pity. I wonder what he’s doing now?” Gull asks, as his nephew squares up in front of Kassinkamble again, ready to fight.

“Count us down, old man?” He asks, looking at his uncle. “I’m only sixty-eight, boy. Anyways, no. Now fight already.” He says, and Kass uses the surprise to get the jump on Saul. She blasts him with water, and he’s thrown back, surprised.

“Where’d that come from?” He asks, as her hands are covered in water. “Mythical water magic, I’m a martial artist.” she says, as he stands up, and they switch between poses for a minute, while Gull’s jaw drops…

“She’s a Megalodon Demihuman too, and she knows four different elements already. He’s doomed, ha.” I chuckle, as they look at me, and then at her. “What do we win, again?” Kass asks, as she looks at Gull. “I didn’t think of that…” He says, as Saul takes this moment to get a surprise hit on Kass-

“Ha! Gotcha!” He says, as she falls on her hands and somersaults backwards onto her feet. “Okay that’s just showing off.” He says, as she rests her hands on the ground, and the mana-water flows through and out into the ground.

Wind begins to form around her hands, and she waves them around, picking up sand as they go. “Yeah, and now I’m going to tear you apart for that.” She tells him, as she moves into a strange pose, she’s lowered, but her hands are ready to strike.

He stares at her, as the intensity of the wind around her hands grows ever more intense… He tries to step to the side, but she swings her body around, flipping into the air as she uses the momentum to kick up a major wave of sand.

He’s of course stopped short by this display of power as she physically catches and guides the wind again… “Okay, I’m not going that way…” He says, as he goes the other way, and the same thing, narrowly missing me…

“Okay, head on…” He says, narrowing his eyes as she rests into that pose of hers… “I get it now…” He says, able to see whatever I can’t apparently. He slowly approaches, his shield up in front protecting him from any head on attack… She flips around sending a huge current past him-

“Ha! You missed!” He shouts… “Dude, obviously she hasn’t.” I say, as she whips her arm back, and it hits his back, shoving toward her as she kicks his shield with her heel, the blade on it sliding right through as he twist the shield and it’s suddenly stuck in-

“Oh-” She says, and he rushes the sword at her neck, only for her to swing her entire body up and uses her crazy flexible body to spin herself around like a top and slam a huge current into him, pinning him against the ground as he struggles to get up while she pulls her foot out of the shield-

He pulls his legs in and launches the shield up, using the small opening in the giant current to knock her away and INTO said current! They’re not both pinned to the ground, until she releases it, and they stand up…

“Careful now, boy. Shark Demihumans are especially dangerous.” Gull says, as Kass considers bringing out her blood high for an easier win. She’s been overpowering him pretty hard this whole time, so she ultimately decides against it…

Still though, stats are nice, but this guy still seems to be much older than us, and I don’t want to see what happens when he’s done prodding her defenses… I really hope she’s not just underestimating him…

They stare each other down, sand has gotten everywhere thanks to Kass’s horribly powerful wind currents… “Hey Kass, finish this up already, I wanna’ see Helvetica already.” I say, as she looks at me then rolls her eyes.

“Don't you roll your eyes at me. They’re not even YOUR kills to lose.” I say, and she stands up straight. “I give up.” She says, throwing her hands up. “ARE YOU VEYTA?! What the hell is this?!” I exclaim, as she folds her arms. “I can’t win if you keep distracting me.” She says, as I sit here and rage…

“The princess didn’t ask for just the skins, she MAY just want the rest. Do you want to risk running out here again?” Kass asks, as Gull stands up and walks over to the bodies, looking at the perfectly cleaned out insides…

“Who even has the time to do THIS?” He asks, placing his hands on his hips. “Me. I can eat anything, you see.” I say, remembering my new ability to taste food…

The food here is really good, I binged on so many different things that day, oh my goodness. I WAS expecting everything to taste amazing here, it makes sense all things considered… Anyways, it’s an active skill I can use, so I didn’t have to taste the sand worms…

“I doubt the king would want something like this… That’s too bad.” Gull says, as I look at it, and realize that yeah, I probably should have saved my worm bodies for LATER…. “Do you know how to kill them quickly, with minimal damage?” I ask, and he looks up at me.

“Yeah, here wait, I have a diagram you can look at.” He says, running back over to his caravan, and making us wait for about an hour before he finally comes back out with it… “Alright! Got it!” He shouts, looking at Kass and Saul, who’ve been sparring.

I was right about Saul holding back, he’s actually really strong, and has been sharing stories with Kass and I while fighting with her. “Finally, alright, let’s see.” I say, as I jump over, and he holds it up to me, showing me exactly where the brain is…

“Now they’re not as dumb as you might be thinking, there’s a matriarch around here, so they can sense the death of their kin… They’re preparing for you as we speak.” Gull explains, surprising me as I swing my vision around.

“I didn’t know about that, thanks.” I say, as I begin drilling into the ground. “I’ll get us another two, we can just say you’re with me!” I shout, as I dig through the ground, looking for more worms until I find one and tear IT out of the ground.

I burst forth, technically already multiple times larger than the worm as I throw it to the ground and land on it- It explodes and I barely manage to hold myself together under the pressure as I move over top of where its head should be, and drill into the head until I dig out the brain!

I do pretty much the same with the fourth one, but this time it actually manages to fight back, tearing into me as it writhes with all its might… It takes about five minutes before I finally grab and latch onto it, lifting it over my head and slamming it from side to side as I can’t help but be so tired of fighting sand worms…

I finish, wheezing as I slam it down next to them, TECHNICALLY not horribly ruined, as all the pieces are in-place! “You said she’s your little sister?...” Saul asks, looking at Kass as I pick up all the carcasses… “Saul, she’s not even half a year old…” Kass says, looking at him, as I personally roll my eyes.

“Oh please. I’m still a glass cannon.” I say, as Gull hops on his caravan, prompting Saul and Kass to follow. “So wait, that’s a caravan right?” I ask, as I look at him and he shrugs. “No, it’s just a line of vehicles that follow behind me.” He says, as I watch it start up and move forward…

“Well, let’s GO already.” I say, before jumping with the dead worms gripped in my mass. I continue moving forward, watching as the high speed caravan rushes forward at surprising speed before slowing down next to me again, while I perform another jump.

“So who’s this Giro?!” I ask, calling out to Gull and Saul as we slowly make our way forward, since I don’t want to ruin the goods any further… “I didn’t know him all too well, but I talked to him and he listened to me! He broke his sword right off his arm, gave it to me!” Gull says, as Saul looks at his sword.

“The sword’s handle was remade to have a finger guard! Bulk, right?” His nephew asks, as the young elemental looks at him. “Yeah. Giro was a good listener! Weirdly fixated on the sun of all things!” He says, as I look at it myself, thankfully having no eyes to be damaged.

“After that, he headed straight for the Cade Forests, located in the southern sector of Pandora!” He explains as Saul looks at him again. “Right, you got that sandworm from Pandora.” Saul says, as his father nods. “Yeah, they’re much more common there. Population was taking a hit, so I moved my hunting ground down here.” He explains, as I realize I can hear him just fine whether he shouts or not…

“I don’t know what happened between that time, but the Cade Forest must have hit him hard, he was practically falling apart, his body rattling and humming almost rhythmically with every step!” Saul says, surprising me as his uncle allows him to take over the story.

“We entered a dungeon, it was named Apollo, Giro and I convinced him into a peaceful outcome, before he gave the giant his hand. Giro never said anything, but Apollo took it as a sign. Either way, he seemed pleased, then I never saw Giro again.”

“So I’m assuming he was some kind of robot?” I ask, since they never actually confirmed it or not. “Oh. Right, he was. Aiy, he was!” Gull says, as we finally arrive at Dune-Town, and I drop the carcasses, then jump over the wall and consume my mass again.

“Task complete! Four whole bodies, my friends and I can get in already, right?!” I ask, having well passed the point of any real care to see the rest of this place. I guess being given the opportunity to see it right away has kind of enticed me…

“Well… A deal’s a deal… But I’d have thought you would want to go collect your friends.” She says, as Stussy sits on the arm of the chair, staring at me as I prepare to go find my friends. “Dammit, alright. Where are they?” I ask, as I consider throwing a bearing shot at her.

“I dunno’. Probably got eaten by a sand dragon for all I care.” She says, making Stussy stare at her, as I prepare to jump once more. “I’m going to go find them, you better hope they’re okay, or I’m tearing the whole place apart.” I say, surprising her and Stussy as I shoot into the air again.

They can rebuild, and this little shit needs to learn not to screw with people like this. I hurdle through the air, getting a good look at the place, in case I really DO have to tear it apart. I finally land next to Kass and my new friends. “I’m heading off to find Celest and Orval, you guys talk to the princess.” I say, before speeding off, because I have no time to waste.

It takes hours, until I finally teleport to Genesis Haven and ask around for Steriya’s help, since exploring the entire desert is stupid… “Steriya, I need help!” I call out, as I find her and Demistar washing the weird creature- “I’m scarred forever!” I shout, jumping away as she teleports out of there next to me.

“Okay, Steriya, I can’t find Celest and Orval, help me look for them.” I say, as she folds her arms and teleports us back down to the desert. “So where do you think they are?” I ask, as she looks around. “I’ll scan the area from above.” She says, teleporting away again, most likely teleporting too high into the sky for me to see her.

After a while longer, we finally find them as the sun begins coming down. I got to smack a sand worm with a bearing shot, knocked it clean out before it could get to Celest and Orval, then Steriya teleported it away…

“Hey Celest. How come you don’t just teleport away ALL our problems?” I ask, landing next to her as everyone looks at me. “Because running from your problems is stupid.” She says, surprising me. “Oh. Fair enough.”

“Huh, yeah… Where WOULD we be if you had just teleported Sirius to like Mars or something?” I ask, making her chuckle. “Yeah. See?” She asks, as the emissary walks up to us. “Thank you. I was worried we might be eaten.” He says. He’s a scarab demihuman.

“No worries. Anyways, let’s get back to Dune-Town now. Don’t wanna run into another one of those worms.” I say, as Steriya teleports everyone over again. “Alright! We’re here!” Steriya calls out as we all walk over the princess, and she shifts her legs.

You know, it’s actually pretty hard to tell which species of feline demihuman someone is. They’re still mostly human, so distinct features like size and build don’t carry over.

She stares at us, and rolls onto her back. “Nah.”

End of Chapter: 54 “An unknown friend.”

Thank you for reading.

“Aiy, thanks.”

“Totally dude! Thanks so much, everyone!”

“Please, I’m very sorry, but I’m also very busy~...”