Chrysalis

I had to give it to Tiny, he'd tried. He'd given it a red hot go. His untameable hunger for battle is well known. I can still remember him as a not yet full sized ape when he threw himself onto a giant rabbit that reeked of the putrid scent of un-death. Even then, his face had been alight with the joy of battle.

I just wish that he'd be better at choosing his battles.

Tiny bellowed his rage at the giant Croca-Commander and smashed his fists into the earth and struck himself on the chest in a fearsome display of physical power. There is no doubt that he has some serious pecs on him. The musculature on this gorilla has always been potent, there has never been any question of that. If only his mental attributes were given a small slice of that pie, I wouldn't have to worry so much.

Confronted by this obvious challenge the Croca-Commander turned its hideous double mouths toward my dim-witted ape pet as it's triple tails writhed through the air behind it. The Croc was a fearsome sight, it's scales glittered in the surface sunlight like hardened gems. Beneath that hard defensive exterior it bristled with physical might, massive shoulders and chest muscles that provided power to the four arms, each of them powerful in their own right and tipped with those razor sharp claws than glinted as they reflected the light.

Atop all of that rested the sickening double mouthed head. One set of jaws rested atop another, each one studded with razor sharp teeth that poked out here and there. A phenomenon that caused the Croca-Commander to appear as if it had two sinister grins at the same time. Smug, in a word.

I hurled my just completed gravity bolts at the commander and turned all of my minds toward assembling a mind mana transformation construct as with all the haste I can muster. If Tiny is going to go in and duke it out with this damned monster then he's going to need all of the help he can get, otherwise I expect roasted gorilla will be on the menu for these remnants.

Mind magic in combat has been something I've been forced to experiment with since I wasn't able to select Gravity Magic affinity after reaching a sufficient level in water magic. In order to make full use of the skill I decided to focus on using it to distract and trick my opponents in battle.

is quite simple: use the attributed mana to construct a bridge between your own mind and that of your enemy, then you can craft little 'packages' of sensation or understanding and blast you opponent with them, distracting them, cause them to feel pain that

crackle around Tiny as he started his charge, electricity writhed over his body inn thick ropes and flickered and shifted constantly. The Croca-Commander watched his approach,

dammit, dammit! My emotions roiled in the back of my mind but deep within I continued to be locked in the calm of the mediation skill. My three minds operated inn harmony as they weaved and folded the construct into place. Not

and desperation slid along the outside of my awareness as Tiny continued to charge

were those flames. When my vision cleared, Tiny was

refuse to accept

The giant beast turned toward me next,

was giving me a

I looked up.

And Tiny crashed down.

out in his direction he must have leaped straight over it, achieved the kind of air time that Jordan could only dream about, before he

BOOOOM!

an overhead smash. Taken by surprise the Croc could only weather the blow as

in their full glory, his body rotated like a pro to transfer his weight into every strike. Each time his fist contacted Croc scales, electricity danced