Alien Evolution System

"Gob…what?" said Thokk. He looked to the elder, and the elder simply shrugged.

"The martial ways of our people. The way of the our flesh that changes to any land whether it scorches or freezes." Goromir rolled his four shoulders and exhaled, his body growing more limp and more fluid. "You see it now. With proper flow of mana and keen, trained senses, I utilize [Shifting Form], dodging your clumsy blows with the full breadth of movement afforded to me with this blessed body of mine."

The Collector understood what Goromir spoke of. The goblin accelerated an even amount of mana flow around his body while maintaining all of his honed senses on his enemy.

By not explosively charging any one part of his body and coupled with his training and sharp observational skills, the goblin elite could respond to any attack, dodging with his extreme agility and flexibility.

Like water that changes its form to fill the container within which it is placed, the goblin could shift his movements at a moment's notice to any attack from any angle.

The Collector noted the drastic difference in martial skill the elite known as Goromir observed as contrasted to when he had fought the Collector as a summon of the goblin lord.

Then, when the specimen known as 'Goromir' was mostly mindless, he did not possess the adequate access to his memories and control over self to fully show his strength.

Had both the twin specimens Goromir and Kandak fully possessed their martial skills in that fight with the Collector, the Collector would have spent significantly more time dealing with them and, as an extension, been less equipped to deal with the appearance of the golden winged humanoid.

"Fancy jumps and spins." Thokk grumbled. "But no punching. Just running. Fight!"

"You believe [Shifting Form] has no fangs of its own? I will show you how misguided you are." Goromir was the one that rushed in this time.

Thokk grunted and kept his arms forward, ready to strike or intercept anything that came his way. He was like a wide oak rooted into the ground whereas Goromir's leaner, more lithe body shot forward like a bullet meant for precise, lethal killing.

Thokk, pumped up with anger and adrenaline as he was, fueled by the shouts of a swarm that had been his brethren for most of his life, did not shell up in a guard, instead, he struck again. Two twin punches converging on Goromir's head and two other punches leading to the body.

The crowd swelled in excitement as the strikes shot forwards, boosted by yet another burst of chaos mana, but then a collective gasp spread among them. It almost appeared as if Goromir had simply disappeared with Thokk's twin strikes striking only air, wind whistling across his arms as his fists flew past nothing.

The Collector's sharpened senses, however, had easily perceived what had happened.

Goromir was on the ground. He had slipped down backwards onto the ground, lying almost completely flat on his back to evade the strikes. Two of his fists were planted behind his head on the snow, and through these, he lifted himself up into a quick handstand.

With his other pair of arms, Goromir struck two precise strikes on Thokk's exposed ankles, buckling his knees and sending him spilling forwards with a pained grunt.

Goromir pushed up powerfully with the arms supporting his handstand while straightening his body like a whip of energy, sending out a double kick that drove right up at Thokk's chin.

The blow sent Thokk flying half a dozen meters in the air, his head snapped back with shards of shattered and flecks of blood flying everywhere.

Thokk landed heavily on the snow face down, the black Grain particulates growing even darker as the blood pooling from his mouth started to paint it.

Goromir supported himself fully on one hand now, and then, to show off even more, one finger, holding his body completely upright upside down and vertically through nothing but the surface area contact made from that single digit.

"This is the might of the [Shifting Form]," said Goromir. "React to any attack with movement. As our flesh shifts to match any land that comes before us, so too can our flesh arts react to any move, any strike."

The crowd of the swarm was silent at first, marveling at the sudden development, but then they began to cheer and shout, excited by the display of martial superiority. However, they bated their breaths again when the carrier unit rose up again.

Thokk spat out shattered teeth chunks with a mouthful of blood. The liquid, now a near black shade of blue due to the Breath of Life altering his physiology, did not freeze like regular blood, retaining its liquid state of matter even in the extremely frigid temperatures of this environment.

Aside from a mouth lacking proper dentures, slight lacerations in the cheeks and lip, and a fractured chin, Thokk was still conscious and capable of fighting.

The full force blow should have by all rights nearly knocked his head off his neck, and the Collector had been watching with close intent to quickly heal the carrier unit in the case that it had sustained a near lethal injury.

"How he get back up!? His head should be gone!" came a questioning voice from the watching swarm, and many agreed with it and spoke among themselves.

Goromir narrowed his eyes in analysis, and the Collector perceived that the elite had understood what had happened.

"I thought my blow had struck strangely light," said Goromir. "You swayed back at the very last moment instead of resisting the blow, reducing damage to yourself greatly."

He nodded in respect. "Impressive. One's instincts tells them to tense up when they see a strike coming their way, and that only makes the blow worse. But you instinctively flowed back with the attack with little to no training at all.

Your martial instincts are sharp. Your attunement with your flesh is high. You have great potential."

"Kind words will not stop me from fighting!" said Thokk. He flashed a broken toothed smile and started to edge forwards, his rippling musculature tensed up as he readied to battle again.

"Good." Goromir smiled too, battle lust overflowing around him as his green aura surged. He charged in with accelerated mana flow, and Thokk raised a brow in surprise.

Goromir closed the distance between them in an instant and then started to go down low.

Thokk saw this, and the Collector agreed that Thokk's martial instincts were sharp. Thokk would not fall for the same attack twice.

The Collector predicted that Thokk would counter the same type of blow from Goromir as before.

Thokk shot out his burly leg in a fast low kick, but he did not lean into it.

A non-committal move where he could easily move backwards or sideways to dodge unexpected attacks.

An optimal strike in a situation where he did not know the full capabilities of his opponent.

Goromir going low was a feint, however.

When his hands touched the ground, instead of going up in a handstand and taking the low kick, he instead pushed up from his hands and flipped in the air, generating rotational momentum that drove into an axe kick towards Thokk's head.

The sudden transition from going low to a jumping axe kick was lightning fast, but Thokk was more prepared this time.

Thokk used his upper two arms to form a guard above his skull, condensing red mana on them in a solid [Guard].

Goromir's heel slammed into Thokk's arms with the solid crack not of flesh hitting flesh, but rock crashing against rock for both goblins' flesh were enhanced by mana and further reinforced by Breath of Life ice crystals.

Thokk's lower two arms thrusted and grasped on Goromir's leg at the calf.

"Now you die!" shouted Thokk in pure excitement as he pulled backwards, using his prodigious size and strength to swing Goromir back, planning to then swing him forward, dashing him against the ground to crush him.

Goromir became a blue-white blur as Thokk swung him backwards with high speed, but when Thokk roared and slammed him down, the Collector clicked its mandibles in understanding.

Thokk looked down to the ground in pure surprise.

When Thokk had swung Goromir back to make more distance to slam Goromir down, Goromir had taken this chance to snake his legs around Thokk's lower two arms.

Goromir's lower pair of arms then circled around and pinned Thokk's upper arms, and finally, Goromir's upper pair of arms wrapped around Thokk's neck in a tight lock.

This all happened in the span of a single instant.

A complicated series of movements and maneuvers performed with almost rote efficiency – a telltale sign of having been practiced and honed from years of training.

Thokk gurgled as he stumbled forwards, the breathing cut from his neck and all of his limbs completely bound by Goromir.

Goromir's muscles swelled and tensed as he put as much of his power possible into the submission hold, especially with the arms around Thokk's neck.

"You fought well. Accept your loss," said Goromir.