Borderlands: Unnatural selection

Immediately flames burst in existence along the carapace of the big fucking bug.

"I fucking knew it!" I yelled with a wide grin seeing this.

For context I had thought it odd that the bug had such a bright red coloration and yet not a hint of fire and if anything seemed more like a physical fighter than anything else what with the charging and scorpion stinger and all. For some weird reason(universe rules I guess) the creatures that got elemental traits took on a different coloration related to their element, red was typically fire related hence my confusion.-

"Ah I see! I had to warm you up first before you started to use those flames right?" I said more a statement then a question.

"SKKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEE!" the bug screamed angrily and I was forced to dive to the side as it launched itself at me far faster than before. Naturally I wasn't planning to let the living pyre get anywhere near me as fire resistant as I may be I was not fire proof. "BANG! x3" I fired three shots at the bug and it barely even reacted when they cracked it's hard carapace where the bullets struck.

'It's speed and defense raised from flaming up? I call hacks!' I thought annoyed as I was forced to evade yet again.

Clearly the bug wasn't done showing off as the flames suddenly grew in intensity turning blue as the heat started to bake the floor and ceiling and the air became stifling. It didn't stop there but jumped up and slammed down three time sending a ring of blue flames expanding in every direction with each impact.

"FUCK!" I cursed as I contracted my leg muscles and leapt high up to avoid the flames but leaving me vulnerable as well.

The bug seemed to almost teleport as it went from the ground perfectly still to mere feet away from me midair with clawed legs stretched out but DEFINITELY not asking for a hug.

'Shit! Blue flames made it even faster!' I thought in horror as I realized that this bug was considered highly dangerous by the Eridians for a very different but equally valid reason than the Colossus. Unable to dodge since I was mid air my mind raced with possible escapes and I found only one but it sucked balls, I had to let it hit me.-

I felt the heat start to strain my shield and with gritted teeth lashed out with my gun held hand straight into the waiting claws. The shield broke immediately and my right sleeve burnt away shortly afterwards as the claws ripped into my flesh but the impact thankfully pushed me away before I suffered catastrophic damage in it. I hit the ground hard and rolled but got to my feet immediately while ignoring the vicious burns and weeping gouges in my arm. All my senses heightened as adrenaline FLOODED through me and a massive predatory smile crossed my face not unlike the snarl of a tiger or jaguar.-

THIS, this was my element! The dance at the tip of a blade that made me feel more alive than ever, the chilling wisps of deaths breath on the back of my neck was intoxicating. I entirely failed to notice my tattoos glowing in response to my emotional state nor that my eyes were practically blazing green as I locked my entire focus on the bug. There was no missed beat as the instant the bug landed it's legs tore apart the ground as it turned it's forwards momentum into sideways momentum.-

It was slower now that my senses were firing at full fucking capacity but still moved like a slightly blurred image. I could see HOW it got so motherfucking fast too as the flames were shooting behind it much like a thruster pushing it forward. I pushed off to the side mere moments before it would have barreled into me and noted immediately that all that speed came at a cost, control. It's couldn't turn without serious effort and that gave me some ideas. I located the nearest wall and began to sprint towards it while keeping an eye on the bug that was working to cancel it's forward movement.-

I reached the wall just in time as the bug was positioning itself to charge me once again and I crouched priming my legs for a full force vertical jump. The bug blurred towards me but I remained perfectly still. It drew near but still I refused to move. It was within two meters of me when I launched myself up and over it as it slammed head first into the wall at full speed.

"BOOM!" the room shook from the impact and the bug half buried itself in the stone leaving it stunned and more importantly, vulnerable. I emptied my gun into the joint in the center of it's back as I went up and once more on the way down for a total of fourteen shots. I had no intention of landing on the still flaming bug though and kicked off the wall to roll behind it instead. The strain made my arm bleed again by pulling at the scabs my regeneration had already created to stop the bleeding previously. The bug did NOT like my fourteen "gifts" and screeched in agony and rage as it tore itself out of the wall even at the cost of worsening the wounds.-

"SKKKKKKKRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" with a loud screech it became clear that I had entered the "final stage" mode of this boss battle as the flame grew brighter and brighter into it clearly passed a threshold and wisps of white began to appear in it. 

'Oh shit that's a suicidal level of heat!' I thought with horror as I watched the carapace of the creature start to change color which indicated that it had started to get cooked by it's own power if only slowly.

Like most insects it became clear that now that I presented a viable threat to it's life and not just food that fought back it was going all out to survive. You might ask how that was when it was harming itself but the answer was pretty simple, between death and injury which is the better choice? While this heat was enough to hurt it, if it killed me and thus survived why would that matter? I barely managed to dodge as my instincts screamed at me and the bug's after image at it's previous location vanished as a line of flame scorched the ground it passed over that shot right past where I was just standing.-

Let me tell you that put my balls in my throat in instinctual terror as every instinct I had was screaming a single word at me, DEATH.

'Looks like I have to use THAT finally.' I thought reluctantly as I activated that aspect of my powers i had been avoiding since I got them, [burn].

The instant my lifeforce store ignited I stiffened as my body ballooned in size and all my senses reached ridiculous levels yet didn't overwhelm my mind that was fucking cranked up to five hundred.-

My wounds immediately bulged and healed in an instant as if they were never there and red energy coated my entire frame as if it were fire. The bug was clearly unaware of just how fucked it was at this point and went charging at me at it's ridiculous speed only for me to kick it in the face. It's body was forced to a halt with a sickening "CRUNCH!" as it's head and the bones and flesh of my leg shattered. Moments later the leg regenerated bones and all but the bugs head certainly didn't. -

The flames went out immediately on it and I hurriedly cut off the [burn] causing a crippling sense of loss as that godly feeling I just had slips through my fingers as my body deflates back to it's original size and my senses dull. 

'I knew that the boost would be significant but what the absolute fuck!? It was like all of my traits had been pushed to twenty! Is that what I will be like all the time if i go far enough?' I ponder seriously taken off guard by what I just experienced.

{Lifeforce: 377,110}

I hiss in shock when I observe my stores of life force as I had lost 126,468 units of lifeforce in that short span of maybe two or three seconds. I cursed like a particularly large vocabularied sailor at the loss and doubly so when I realized I was no doubt going to lose even more lifeforce by taking the traits of the bug. I sighed before opening my house and dragging the corpse inside while ignoring it's traits since I was sort of on a deadline before people start showing up to come at the vault.-

Leaving my house I hurry into the now functional vault portal and after a moment of disorientation notice it was a bit different than the last one I went into. Not much as it was just a big open pocket dimension with no real walls and lots of statues of Eridian design and of course the four chests in the far back of it. The real difference was that in the center where there was a single statue holding my house on Baal there were three statues in this vault holding the prize. Said prize was interesting as it appeared to be a person sized black tech cube with purple energy lines swirling along it's entire length.-

[Eridian data module

Level: Relic

Description: Knowledge is it's own reward, doubly so when it's about guns!]

"Oh fuck does that mean what I think it does!?" I exclaim in shock and more than a little greed.

Unless the description was lying this cube here was a motherfucking treasure trove as it contained the methods the missing alien race used to craft their weapons! This was huge as so long as I could crack and translate the information into something I could understand I could make my own corporation based on the tech.-

That might sound rather uninspired but keep in mind that corporations not only held monetary power but also military and political power as well. Before I could get caught up in my power fantasies though I reached out to grab the cube only to freeze the moment my hand touched it. The glowing purple energy of the cube surged into my arm and my eyes rolled back as knowledge was directly imprinted into my brain from the cube. This lasted all of two minutes before it finished and I slumped to the ground and my mind refocused itself.

{Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade}

[Eridian data module

Level: Relic

Description: An empty library waiting to be filled!]

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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro

_______________________________________________

Alexander Drake

Lifeforce: 377,110

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Rare grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4,[Superior bones-Rare grade],[Armored hide-Rare grade], [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare grade][Iron stomach-Uncommon grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade]

Stored traits: [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance],[Quick thinking], [Energy reservoir], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x4