Alienation

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6) Digital Devil Saga 2, Gale/Serph: xeno - going berserk for the first time.
- note, they’re taking it better than Argilla

Gale considered himself extremely fortunate to have been born… to be a member of Serph’s tribe. Harley relied too much on plans and fortifications and when he was blindsided he’d always panicked. Jinana had done all the work herself and let her tribe become undisciplined. Mick had grown weak, ‘safe’ behind those walls. Varin had been Colonel Beck, whoever that was. Lupa was a combination of Serph’s strengths and Jinana’s fatal flaws. He led, but he didn’t take care of himself either. He’d both been willing to die (a death sentence, in the Junkyard) and not eaten.

For a long time, Gale had been uncertain as to whether or not Serph had changed. It wasn’t clear until he realized that it wasn’t just eye color that signified it, but strange black dots appearing in the middle of each eye.

Serph’s eyes had stayed grey, but he’d gained those strange circles that widened and retracted eerily as Gale watched them.

It was much better than listening to Argilla be overly emotional. He wished Heat or Cielo were here. They were the best at dealing with these ‘emotions.’ Heat would force her to look at reality until she saw that this expanded power was a good thing despite the greater demonic nature that came with it and Cielo would distract her, allowing the reality to sink in while her irrationality had a different target.

Serph needed the other half of his command team. Without Heat he was as crippled as without his right arm. Gale, thinking about it, realized that he was, yes, one of the legs, and rubbed his transformed one against Serph, snaked it around him. He would get him to Heat and Cielo.

Actually, the probability was that Cielo would come to them. He was certainly the faster of the legs.

Yes. Gale relaxed. Serph was indeed pleased with the strength of his right leg.

When would this wear off? Most likely at minimum Solar noise, most aliments did. Although this felt almost like that strange hunger Varin and Angel had used on them. They needed to locate Sera urgently.

However, at the moment Gale had no idea how to go about that. Well, obviously, get moving towards where this Roland was after letting Argilla reassure the children that no, they weren’t monsters.

Could this status be controlled and deliberately induced? It would be the most useful for Cielo and Serph, whose agility would compensate for the lower control over their bodies. Although this lack of control could be a good thing. Without it, Gale would never have experienced the sensation of Serph’s blade running across his back. It wasn’t a massage to relieve strained muscles, but there was an equivalent sensation as sweat and other things were scraped off the skin.

If it weren’t for the fact that they had urgent priorities, like getting the children to safety and locating their comrades (he was feeling naked without the meat shield and vulnerable without the healer) this would be as important an experience to study and, well, experience, as his demon and physical selves seemed to think it was.

They had always viewed the body as simply a tool, but when they ignored the data it presented that tool was allowed to rust. Massages increased combat efficiency considerably, and Argilla, who was a sniper and not used to hand-to-demonic-quasi-hand combat, claimed that she could not go more than a few fights without them.

There was probably a reason he’d tackled Serph and they’d rolled around until Serph was mostly beneath him. What was it?

He arched his back again for that very welcome blade and waited for Serph to figure it out. Serph was the head for a reason, after all. Argilla should have also come over and grabbed him to make sure that he was protected until he figured out how to fix this instead of going over and curling up in that corner.

Serph was the only one who hadn’t drastically changed. He’d been the first to change, but he’d been used to studying, to saying nothing unless it was to contribute, to keeping the others stable. His level of input had in fact been lower than usual, unlike Argilla’s, Heat’s, and Cielo’s explosion of meaningless chatter. He’d been focused on watching and learning them and this as Gale had looked to the strategic situation.

Those eyes relaxed now, nodding, as Gale’s arching back caused an interesting sensation strong enough that Gale finally noticed it. It was not a frightening sensation, but the effect it had on him made him worry: it was intense, it damaged his ability to maintain control and he was the one who had to stay sane and rational.

Serph, however, seemed to be of the opinion that Gale’s attempts to draw back and ignore the sensation were counterproductive: those alien eyes with rays coming from a black sun narrowed and the blade pressed just a bit against his back, not enough to hurt but enough to remind Gale who was in command here.

The sensations were frightening, but if Serph thought that he should relax and, and enjoy them, then he would trust his judgment.

Oh.

Now he comprehended this! With demon form had come the hunger that had to be sated: the hunger for flesh. This hybrid form seemed to have another hunger. Luckily Argilla would not object to this one as she did the demon hunger.

No, she seemed to be very willing to sate this hunger. Good. There would be no more Lupas, especially not among his tribe. She inched closer as Gale released control to allow his body to sate this hunger by instinct so that he could study it. Serph had understood, now it was his job to comprehend. As soon as this hunger was sated and they had accomplished the other objectives… He hoped they found Cielo soon. He was the healer: ailments were his problem. Since this activity was pleasurable Cielo would be doubly interested in it. Luckily the ease with which they were inflicted on him helped him be motivated to master the necessary mantras to become immune to aliments. Although, given how relaxed and otherwise stat-boosted his body felt after the hunger was sated, he didn’t think immunity was something desirable. In fact, he now wanted to be able to trade weaknesses with Cielo even more. All the rest of them could do was cease to be weak. Cielo could gain outright immunity to his weakness, confounding their opponents, and quickly.

Was there a mantra with a skill that would inflict this status?

Yes, they needed to find Cielo. Urgently.

Although once the majority of the hunger had been sated, it appeared that like they hungered for flesh they were also always hungry for this. Examining the strange eyes that had come around the same time as their atma seemed to trigger this hunger. Perhaps this was a hunger of whatever creature had those eyes, as the hunger for flesh was the nature of demons? He would have to examine the eyes of Fred and make inquiries as to if there was such a creature.

Becoming part demon had been difficult to comprehend enough. If there had been two such changes to their natures at once, then no wonder the others had been behaving irrationally.