Food!

I jumped onto my prey, biting into its neck, and as I did with the deer, I entered its body through its wound.

The creature which I was eating was known as a black flame wolf, something that even an experienced adventurer would be afraid to face without any preparation.

Once in I started to eat its flesh and organs, turning the poor creature into a pile of literal skin and bones.

I slithered out from its mouth and gathered up the stuff I left on the ground when I liquified.

“Now that I have eaten, it’s time for me to go.”

I put some of my stuff into the moth and tied it together, then I threw it over my shoulder, using the beast as an improvised bag.

Lucky that this guy doesn’t have back holes.

“How did it go again? Right, I need the circle.”

I put my index finger on the ground, liquifying its tip and I drew it, while I murmured the incantation, making it glove with red light.

Once I was done, the whole formation started to shake, and the forms of creatures started to show up in it.

“Here I go.”

When the first monsters showed up, I jumped into the circle, grabbing onto the first thing that came out.

“QUACK!”

“…You have to be kidding me.”

It was a giant duck.

“No extra features or deformities, it was just a big ass duck with bright yellow beak and webbed feet.

“Damn it, Ducky. Screw it!”

I kicked the animal’s side making it quack in pain and fly up in the air.

“AAAAArrrrggg!”

I looked down at the ground, seeing an entire army of monsters getting out of the circle and going on a rampage.

“I might have overdid it. Bah, who cares, it’s not my problem.”

I soared on the back of the duck, the sun slowly setting on the horizon.

We will fly like this for a while. Surely, we will pass by a city or a village. Once there, I will figure shit out!

Boom!

As we flew something hit my ride’s side, almost making me fall over.

“The hell?!”

“BIG DUCK!”

Crawling up on its side, a black poodle got on the seemingly unbothered monster, slowly taking over the form of a black duck.

“That voice. Ducky? Is that you?”

“Hmmm? Original? You look funny!”

“It’s because of you, you feathered bastard!

I grabbed him by his throat and lifted him up.

“What are you doing here? Is the other with you? Why are you a duck?”

“Others have been mean! I left!”

“You…Left? Just like that?”

“Like that! It was easy, with Pointy-Sword there!”

“Pointy- Sword? Who’s that?”

“You know! That scary guy, with the sword we give him! The one who is always playing with us.”

“Sword we gave…The SAMURAI?! HE IS HERE! FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!”

In my frustration, I hit the back of the bird, breaking, and killing it.

With the sound of a choked quack, we crashed into the middle of the forest, but I was too angry to care.

“HE’S HERE?! HE’S HERE! OF COURSE, HE IS! WHY WOULDN’T HE? EVERYWHERE I AM, HE IS THERE! HE ALWAYS THERE MAKING MY LIFE HELL! HEHEHEHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Somehow, Ducky managed to get out of my grip and flew a few feet away from me.

“Original lost it. Again.”

“NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NAY! NIGHT! NUN! NADA! NO FUCKING WAY! THIS TIME, FOR FUCKING ONCE, I WILL WIN! SCREW HIM, THIS TIME IT IS I, MELINO WHO WILL WIN! I WILL FUCKING KILL HIM AND MAKE SURE THAT THIS TIME IT WILL STICK LIKE GLUE!”

“But you always lose!”

“Shut up Ducky. Rather, come here! Telekinesis: Pull!”

Using my skill, I pulled the bird towards me.

as he was coming to me, I pulled my deer head- mask, thing, opened my mouth, and swallowed the duck whole.

It was disgusting, feeling the thing fighting in my stomach, but I endured and soon, I absorbed him,

“Let’s see.”

I flexed my shoulder muscles and soon, a pair of blackbird wings grew out from my back.

“So, you had my wings.”

As I said that, I felt my body keep on changing. I grew a black beak, and my feet became webbed and disk-shaped.

I turned into a human-duck hybrid.

“Seriously?”

‘I like it!’

“I don’t.”

I concentrated and slowly changed back to a humanoid form, keeping only the wings.

‘Oh no! I want to be a duck!’

“Quiet!”

I flapped my wings a few times to get the feeling, then with a powerful humped, I soared up in the sky.

‘At least call another duck!’

“I literally have no time to do that. In case you didn’t know, I am on a death clock and if I don’t figure out how to heal myself, you are coming with me.”

‘Ya sure about that? At this point, we might be two different creatures.’

“I have no idea, but do you want to risk dying before you can see more ducks?”

‘…’

He finally shut up.

It was lucky for me to meet this guy, now I gained back one of my most used abilities.

“By the way, do you know what happened to the others?”

‘Pointy-Sword Killed them!’

“DON’T SOUND SO CHIPPER, YOU-No. no. Keep your cool, Melino. Deep breaths.”

Calming down thanks to the cold air, I tried to think through my options.

The samurai killed them, meaning I might have lost those powers forever, or until I learn it again.

In any case, I can see only two possibilities.

One of them is that the samurai believes that I am dead, and left or he is still hunting Ducky, now an extension, me.

“I need a human body. Shapeshifting into one or taking over, it doesn’t matter, I need to find one to hide.”

‘Why not a duck?’

“When ducks are able to talk, work, get paid, and are able to use high-level magic, THEN I will turn into one. Until then, we are staying humanoid.”

‘Are we even humanoids?’

“I am. You are certainly not.”

‘You’re mean.’

Not listening any longer, I continued flying through the sky which got quite dark.

“Shit. That fucking samurai. Why can’t he even die? Is he the protagonist of a novel or something? If so, the author is a horrible writer!”

‘Who are you talking to?’

“To myself, Ducky. To myself.”

*****

Samurai POV:

“Let us go!”

“I will kill you!”

“You bastard, get a fucking hobby!”

I watched through the blue transparent cube as the formless Melino tried to get out from it.

“…I should have killed him.”

“But you won’t.”

Sitting on top of the cube was an old man.

He had no particular feature, he had long white hair and a beard which covered most of his face, his eyes were closed, and wore a tattered brown clergy robe.

When I was about to pulverize Dealmaker, this man just showed up and with a snap of his finger, he canceled out my attack and encased Melino into that cube.

“Who are you anyway? I thought I was the only one who was sent here.”

“You were. I came here when I felt you arriving, and I was curious. As for who I am, people call me Father Time, but you can call me Oldman Tim.”

Father Time? Why does it sound so familiar?

“Are you a god?”

“Well, I am god-like. Similar to this thing underneath me.”

He tapped the box underneath him, irritating further the thing in it.

“Do you know what the difference between you is, me and the thing in here?”

The old man diapered from my eyes and reappeared next to me, his hand on my shoulder.

“…No.”

“Well, I believe that you know about demi-gods, mid gods, and high gods. But did you know that there are other members of this immortal family of ours?”

He let my shoulder go and teleported in front of the cube.

“There is you and the queen, accepted and raised by gods, the ‘real’ gods. You guys are the most known immortals in which everyone wants to turn. There are also the free gods, those who managed to become one without the approval of others. Then there are the spirits, living manifestations of the elements. And we couldn’t forget about living concepts, embodiments of ideas which make up our realities.”

“What does that have to do with him?”

The geezer now appeared in front of me, as he caressed his beard.

“My point is, which one is he? Real god, free god, spirit, or concept? The answer is neither.”

“…What do you mean? Is Melino something else?”

“I mean that the thing you tried to kill is not even Melino. Well not entirely. That thing-”

He pointed at it.

“-Is just a fragment of his being.”

“What?”

I stared at the formless mass of black goo.

“That thing is just the memories of his victims, taken from. There is not even a soul in there. Melino is somewhere else.”

Trying to process the information, I didn’t realize him, snapping his fingers making the cube disappear.

“I locked them off. I will give them back once the timeline is reseated. And speaking of the timeline.”

The air around Oldman Tim started to become heavy, with the slight sound of rumbling emanating from his body.

“I know that you want to kill the Melino of this timeline. I am warning you, if you change just the way he walks, I will make sure to make you pay in ways you wouldn’t believe to be possible.”

He snapped his fingers again, now definitely disappearing from my sight.

“Fuck!”

I have been tricked! Now Dealmaker must know that I am here and that Tim guy is keeping an eye on me! What do I know? How will I kill him while not changing the…past?

“My past self. I can tell him in secret and make him kill Dealmaker. This way I will not directly intervene with the timeline! I just need to remember where I was around this time...”

*****

??? POV:

“What was that?”

I looked up from the pile of bushes I tried to light up, peering into the darkness of the woods.

The merchant, who was tending to his horses, laughed out loud.

“You are paranoid! There is nothing there that can harm you!”

I didn’t listen and kept my ears and eyes peeled, looking for any sign.

Crack.

There was definitely something there.

“Skinless Imps.”

From the palm of my hand, a small blue light shouts out on the ground, from which four small goblin-like creatures came out, their red muscles bear to the world to see and their yellow eyes shining mischievously.

“Go and see if there is anything there.”

The little monsters shrieked and ran into the depths of the woods.

For a solid three minutes, there was no commotion, making me calm down a little.

Boom!

Suddenly I heard something hitting the ground with a tremendous force, scaring back my imps to me, quickly back into the blue lights!

“There is something there! We need to go!”

I ran back to the carriage and threw myself amongst the crates, as the merchant quickly sat back in the driver's seat.

Boom!

Now, the trees which were at the edge of our improvised camps got destroyed, and not just one, but a swarm of monsters poured out from it, looking quite famished, and determined to eat us.

“Drive, Drive, Drive, DRIVE!”

We were inches away from a claw of a green lion-looking thing when the horses finally reacted and started galloping like crazy.

“The hell is happening kid?!”

“My name is Desmond and how the hell should I know? I was reincarnated only three days ago!”

“What?”

“I said DRIVE IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!”

*

*

*

[

Name: None

Race: Broken Memory

Age: 1.345. 654

Job: [Mad Alchemist Master] [King of Crossroads] [Bain of Creation]

LV: 1/ 100

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 10/5000

STR: 4000

VIT: 10

SPD: 300

MRES: 2000

DC: 11 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes,

Skill PT:0

Physical attributes: [Dark Vision] [Liquid Body] [Madness Embodiment] [Immortality]

Skills: [King of Crossroads Contract Creation, LV: Max] [ King of Crossroads Wish Granting, LV: Max] [King of Crossroads Business Sense, LV: Max] [Alchemy Mastery, LV Max] [ Masterful Golem Creation, LV: Max] [Masterful Abomination Creation, LV: Max] [ Masterful Summoning Magic, LV: Max] [Divine Telekinesis, LV: Max] [Divine Weapon Summon, LV: Max]]

Titles: [Broken Soul] [Enemy of Creation] [Escapee of the Void] [Killer of worlds] [Taboo Breaker] [Eater of Kin]

]