"I won't let you win!" Misha's voice thundered in his ears, her words filled with defiance and resolve.
She didn't understand much, but she had suddenly been jolted awake by freezing pain, forcing her slumbering consciousness to awaken.
"Give me my body back!" She roared, wrestling to regain control of her limbs and trying to locate the bug.
"Shut up, idiot! It's already too late. I meticulously changed your brain structure for twenty-eight years, all to control you." Ignatius roared with rage as he found the culprit. Then he added, "If I can transfer my consciousness here, I can also expel yours!"
With a swift command, the brain chimaera began its work and gathered specific brain cells and neurons in its small pincers, causing Misha to panic.
Decisively, she decided to collapse her body and kill the monster before being expelled. Gathering her focus as her sensations diminished, she forcefully broke down her own genetic code and rewrote it, combining various beasts' parts into a chaotic mishmash.
Alerted by the starting transformation, Ignatius screamed in hate, "I made your body, bitch! Even if you burn your genetic code to the ground, I'll rewrite it in seconds."
Misha's fading voice mockingly echoed as the brain chimaera gathered the last cells. "I wonder how long it'll take you to untangle the mess I made."
"AHHHH." With a terrifying roar, Ignatius' body convulsed and swelled grotesquely as bestial features combined in a horrifying patchwork.
Amidst shattering sounds and a rain of ice shards, giant paws took his legs' place. Multi-coloured fur grew along with claws and talons in a bizarre fusion.
"You'll pay for that, MISHA!" He yelled with bloodshot eyes, his mind focusing on controlling the process the best he could under Adam's astonished gaze.
Dangling his head to the right, he watched the scene with interest, wondering if the soul damage he inflicted had driven his enemy mad.
His glowing eyes widened as he witnessed the human's torso swelling and contorting. Thick layers of leather, covered in scales and hairs, sprouting. Yet, even in his deranged state, he struggled to comprehend what followed.
Long, violet tentacles emerged from the man's arms, culminating in large, shining black and red pincers. Yet, the most disturbing sight was witnessing Ignatius' head expanding into a giant, secondary torso.
Clawed gorilla arms sprouted from it in a disgusting shower of putrid liquid as twelve wings, mixing leather and feathers, extended and flapped on his back, causing dust and ice to rise everywhere.
Lastly, to his horror, a monstrous head emerged, featuring a mix of a bear's jaw covered in scales, shark teeth, and eagle eyes, completing the grotesque metamorphosis.
Immediately, he abandoned all thoughts about possessing this seven-meter-tall, disgusting body. His subconscious couldn't accept it. Scratching his head in disappointment, he noticed the monster shove a finger in his ear and retrieve a minuscule insect.
"Witness your failure, stupid girl. How do you feel after even your last effort proved vain?" The monster said, his voice filled with hate. Then, he added, his eyes burning with wrath, "Wait for me to be done. I'll find you a new body and experiment on it for years."
As the dust settled from Ignatius' grotesque metamorphosis, Adam's attention shifted swiftly, his interest on the insect. Chaotic thoughts collided in his mind as he wondered why the monster spoke with it before a realisation struck him like a thunderbolt. He was sure he had seen it exiting the infuriating woman's ear earlier.
"ImPoRtAnt?" He questioned, dangling his head to the left as he reviewed the previous events carefully. Before her transformation, he was confident he spotted an object leaving the hybrids' leader's ear, too.
"InSeCt StEaL BoDy." He said, his eyes glowing with delight as a new solution appeared.
Not wasting a second, he bent his knees and destabilised the atoms under them.
Two explosions resounded as he propelled himself towards the angrily screaming monster. The soles of his feet burned, and the wind howled in his ears. Yet, he was unfazed, his gaze fixed on the insect. Reaching his target in a flash, he snatched the bug mid-air from Ignatius with his left hand.
"Annoying pest! I played with you a little, and you think you can do whatever you want?" Ignatius' ugly face contorted in rage. Everything spiralled out of his control, and he hated it.
With his eagle's eyes fixed on Adam's body, he lashed his tentacle, cutting the wind like a whip and breaking the sound barrier.
The red pincer passed through the thief's right arm, slicing it at the shoulder as bright red blood cascaded from the amputated limb.
However, Adam nonchalantly caused a minor explosion to detonate, using the blast to push his body to the ground and cauterise the wound.
Then, with intense joy filling his heart, he gazed at the creature and swiftly guided the insect towards his ear, shoving it inside.
"I WILL HAVE A BODY, TOO. HAHAHA!" He roared in laughter, his deranged mind convinced his long quest was finally over, and unaware Ignatius gazed at him in confusion.
"What is this fool doing?" He asked, his lips stretching into a devious smile as an idea formed in his mind. "Misha, my dear Misha. I found the best way to punish you." He added as he clapped his giant hands.
Responding to the clap, the brain chimaera began its work, moving its little pincers to integrate Misha's consciousness into Adam's brain. After all, what better punishment for someone who cared for her friend than to make her occupy his body?
However, the procedure wouldn't be as swift as it had been for him. He estimated the parasite would take approximately five minutes to adapt the man's brain to her.
In amusement, he said, "Let's play a bit more," swinging another tentacle towards Adam's left leg. After all, he only needed him to be alive, not in one piece, to torture Misha and force her to analyse the man's strange energy.
"We really make the best duo, my dear Misha." He said, laughing like a madman, his eyes burning with a mix of anger and perverse joy.