Nermal

That muck of good feelings makes me sick. I can feel I'm getting hungrier by the second.

Nermal is the very strongest megafelis the world has ever seen, and the main antagonist of the game.

Before being brought back to modern times by Joly Biggs' time powers, he first lived in prehistory, which he dominated and where he ate almost all the dinosaurs single-handedly, nowaday, people call him the emperor of the beasts, he unknowingly invented the concept of domestication by enslaving kobolds and he's also the very first animal to have walked on his hind legs in history.

He ate a flesh star, which brought SkullCat's consciousness to life in the form of a skull tattoo on his belly and gave him all the powers of the planet.

He's notorious for stealing Gatto's feelings and putting them into some of her loved ones for entertainment, but the group eventually confronted him to return home. He's also responsible for the deaths of Fineas, who he stomped to death and Joly Biggs, who he incinerated.

Distinctive traits

Innate bestiality

Nermal grew up in prehistoric times and when he was young, started out as an easy prey for most dinosaurs, like other megafelixes, but after he got SkullCat, as he hunted and grew in power, he got more and more like a feral beast, his fangs and claws reddened and grew in size, and he began to crush his preys when he was hunting, always overdoing things to an absurd point beyond all the other superpredators in his ecosystem, because he never wanted to fear being eaten again, and so, he began to really get feared. Soon, to assert his superiority, he devoured practically his entire species and ended up preying on his own predators. Nermal is the first member of his species to get that powerful, to achieve so effortlessly what usually takes other megafelixes years of labor because he constantly overdo everything.

Nermal is an unstoppable force of nature, impossible to tame or subdue by any law or modern social construct. He constantly considers he has the upper hand over everybody else because it's almost always the case, so much so that even the few people stronger than him usually end up forgetting it completely.

He's a natural master of intimidation. He instinctively finds the right body language and choice of words to force others into submission by playing on their instinctive fear of being eaten by a predator, by growling, or by shoving their heads into his open mouth, nobody dare to disobey.

Deep love of food

Nermal loves to eat above everything else because his metabolism is extremely powerful, and the flavor he feels on his tongue is millions times that of an ordinary person, which is why he eats almost incessantly, sometimes other foods than meat, fruit and vegetables, simply out of curiosity, he spends all his spare time devouring vast quantities of meat that his servants kobolds hunt and cook for him, and due to the astronomical energy demanded by his strength, he's constantly hungry.

When someone he doesn't know wishes to speak to him, he asks his weight of meat for payment to earn easy food, and even with that, usually ends up eating his interlocutor in the end anyway.

When he met Gatto and she gave him his first taste of chocolate after he kidnapped her, it changed a lot of things for him, he discovered new flavors and meat wasn't the only thing for him anymore, and that's when he decided to send his kobolds out into the modern world to bring him back new things, even if he remains extremely attached to the taste of meat because he grew up with it.

Unfair cruelty to prey

Nermal spends a lot of time laying on a tree from which he can watch his kobolds when he's not eating or hunting.

Nermal had been prey all his youth, had to hide constantly and feared for his life many times as he grew up surrounded by dinosaurs, which motivated him to one day become a superpredator, so that he would no longer fear being eaten.

He enjoys psychologically torturing his prey before eating them, because that's when he really relishes being a predator, he loves the feeling of power it gives him because he feels like he won't have to suffer being a prey anymore and can spend the rest of his days enjoying the predatory position he's worked so hard to achieve.

He sometimes sees himself in the behavior of some of his prey, which disturbs him. He usually lashes out at them in particular and dangles death in front of them before crushing them.

Hatred of the modern world

Nermal doesn't understand the modern world in which he was brought because it's fundamentally different from prehistory, which constantly shows him predators and preys fully assuming their role in the food chain without being afraid of dying, whereas Nermal believes that terrorizing the prey and playing cruelly with it is part of what makes a predator because that's how he grew up and bieng that kind of predator has always been his goal.

Nermal believes that animals in the modern world are hypocrites whenever he sees them cohabiting, because he can't imagine that anyone would think differently, he believes that they're holding back their true nature and secretly long to be cruel.

He hates the fact that modern times doesn't allow him to live the way he's so used to and wants to prevent him from devouring random people in the street, because he doesn't want modern times to influence his lifestyle in any way. However, he does like some aspects of modernity, especially all the modern flavors he couldn't even imagine before tasting chocolate for the first time, which is why he doesn't destroy everything yet.

He also likes the fact that his species has evolved into cats, which are frailer, softer and, above all, easier to swallow in one go than megafelixes, he somehow recognizes the prey he was in each of them.

He usually sends his kobolds to explore the area and bring him contemporary things to experience on his own without being polluted by the rest of society, instead of getting down to it himself, out of laziness.

Laziness

The way Nermal behaves towards others shows that he's quite content ordering kobolds (and SkullCat) around, since he became the strongest of his era, he only spent his time eating and sleeping and became too lazy to hunt by himself anymore, so he stays in his cave eating, because his pet kobolds treat him like a king. Which is a distinctive trait found in a large number of felines since then, who are all descendants of Nermal in some way.

When he has nothing to do and gets bored, he looks for a tree branch strong enough to support his tremendous weight, and observe his kobolds activities to pass the time.

Relationships

SkullCat

It was SkullCat's advice and magical powers that set Nermal apart from the other megafelixes and allowed him to dominate prehistory, no one else had the magic of the flesh star and Skullcat helped Nermal to develop, he virtually owes his entire way of life to him, and without him, he wouldn't be anything he is today.

Nevertheless, Nermal treats SkullCat simply as “a kobold more important than the others”, punishing him like the others, rewarding him like the others, but allowing him to manage his kobolds too, he straight up call him “his pet” and is largely indifferent, and SkullCat doesn't like it.

Even through SkullCat is supposed to have a privilegied relationship, since he talks directly into Nermal's head, Nermal finds him annoying and clingy in some ways, SkullCat talks too much and is always too sassy, to the point of Nermal looking for a way to separate him from his belly.

After he got his own body, SkullCat, who just wanted his master's love, considered that getting one was the biggest mistake he's ever made, as Nermal stopped treating him any differently from a kobold, especially since Nermal was infatuated with Gatto at the time, who provided him with something SkullCat couldn't, which made him dead jealous of her.

When SkullCat got his robotic body much later and Nermal started dismantling the modern world, they stopped seeing each other because SkullCat had been separated from Nermal and Nermal had other things to do than find him. When they met again, their relationship changed completely, Nermal seeing SkullCat, who had by then been integrated into modern society, as nothing more than a nuisance.

Then SkullCat finally defeated Nermal and their relationship changed again, because Nermal had never been defeated before, at first, Nermal just couldn't accept that his pet SkullCat was stronger than he was, he defied SkullCat and threatened him as if nothing had changed in their relationship, but kept a deep frustration inside him at having been defeated, and so SkullCat played along, because he didn't actually want to hurt Nermal, and as long as Nermal focused on him, he wasn't trying to destroy everything around him.

As the years passed, SkullCat, who had only been Nermal's pet, gradually tamed Nermal, crossing thresholds until he could finally call him HIS pet without his former master getting extremely angry right away.

Gatto Levigato

Nermal met Gatto when Joly brought him back to the present with her magic because she thought Nermal could give her powers, discovering her memories and what a lovable person she was, and how unlucky she'd been in her life with her parents, the street, he found her some charm when he heard her purr, as well as finding her extremely appetizing thanks to her sweetness, and gradually fell in love with her, considering that if all cats were like her, then cats were the diamond his species had been the coal of.

Gatto was curious about Nermal at first because he was huge and showed some interest in her, so she was nice to him as she is to everyone, and they talked a lot together when he kidnapped her, but when Nermal started killing people close to her to keep her for himself, she began to reject him and ignore his advances, despite everything he could do, he went so far as to devour her, and flatten her, but she remained steady, so much so that Nermal grew tired of her, and decided to give up.

Drake Biggs

Nermal knows little of Drake, only that Drake is trying to protect Gatto from others and acts as her watchdog, and as a result, Nermal killed him as soon as he got strong enough to knock out SkullCat.

There's probably a form of jealousy behind his actions, seeing how much Gatto can love Drake, that makes him want to keep Gatto to himself.

His kobolds

The kobolds flocked to Nermal when he defeated the argentinosaurus that had stomped on his mother, seeing how overpowered Nermal was at his early adulthood as he could already kill dinosaurs much bigger than himself, they threw themselves at his feet and all started bootlicking, hunting for him, doing everything he said at a glance, and preparing his every meal. Nermal took them in because he couldn't get rid of them at first, but quickly started to like being treated as a king.

Nermal loves to be worshipped and appreciates their obedience as it allows him to be lazier, but he likes to be feared by them as well and terrorizes them on purpose, because he feels powerful doing so, rewarding those who are helpful and crushing those who are disobedient.

When Moustapha destroyed his cave with a nuclear bomb, all the kobolds died, and Nermal took it very hard. Because of SkullCat's robotization, he could no longer bring any of them back to life.

Rikzazz

Nermal met Rikzazz when he heard about him on the news and tried to force him to join the gnolls to fight alongside him. Nermal eventually defeated him, but was very surprised that Rikzazz could withstand his attacks. It was the first time Nermal had met someone of his level in the modern world.

Fineas

Nermal forces Fineas to submit and use his powers for him to create new physical supports for Gatto's feeling, such as the fear and its sons, even though it diminishes Fineas' strength. He treats him exactly like his kobolds, punishing him when he doesn't obey, rewarding him when he's useful and often threatening him to scare him off, because Fineas is small and lets himself be used. He eventually kills him when Gatto and Drake leave him to die, so that Gatto can recover her nostalgia.

Hector Ymper

Nermal hates Hector because Hector regularly tries to manipulate him and force him to obey, mocks him and makes him out to be an idiot. Nermal can't stand that a weakling like Hector thinks he's worth better than him and regularly threatens him as a result.

Hydronill

Nermal fears Hydronill because he's a predator unlike any he's seen since the Jurassic period, he's gigantic, and unlike the dinosaurs of his time, he has magic, and even if Hydronill isn't hostile to Nermal, he's very afraid of being eaten by him one day, as Hydronill is known to eat only megafauna.

Joly Biggs

Nermal met Joly when she brought him back to the present with her powers, looking at Gatto's memories, he found out about her and learned all her family history and it really interested him because he'd never seen such a complex story and he really wanted to know the outcome. Ever since, he's been fanning this drama for entertainment. He ended up killing her because Magus couldn't bring himself to do it, and was too weak.

Julia RockLiger

Nermal met Julia when she came to him after sensing the magic of his flesh star, and she obeyed him for a while in exchange for his tales of prehistory. After punishing Magus at his order, she returned to space simply because she was bored, Nermal never saw her again and forgot about her.

Lava giant

Nermal discovered the lava giant as a child and was curious about what it was, when the megafelixes of his pack worshipped him. As a teenager, he began to see it as a memory of his father, who had chased him away, and decided to kill him.

Magus Marthym

Like Joly, Nermal knew Magus through Gatto's memories, and sought to stir up his story because it entertained him, so he sent Mai. He tried to force Magus to kill Joly to conclude his affair, but Magus was unable to do so because he was too weak, despite nermal sending him people to threaten him, including other feelings. In the end, Nermal killed Joly and Mai killed Magus after Nermal put him back on his path.

Mai Coccolo

Like Joly and Magus, Nermal got to know Mai through Gatto's memories, when Mai came to Nermal to tell him to stop forcing Magus to hunt his mom, Nermal laughed at him and killed him in a single blow, just as he had done with Drake, Joly brought Mai back to life, but he's been afraid of Nermal ever since because he remember everything before.

Mia Mackat

Nermal ran into Mia when he came out of the House of Nostalgia after killing Fineas because she was in the way. We don't know exactly what he said to her, but she seems to have liked him, he appreciates that Mia is as big as he is because it shows him that there are still big animals in the modern age. They haven't seen each other since and Nermal forgot about her, because Mia hasn't tried to find Nermal again.

Nermal's father

Nermal hates his father because he kicked him out when Nermal swallowed the Flesh star because Nermal had become an aberration to him and his instinct was to get rid of him, and it's because of him that Nermal had to spend his childhood alone, so Nermal sought revenge. When Nermal grew up, he returned to confront him after killing the lava giant, eventually killing him and taking control of his pack of megafelixes, all of whom he devoured by revenge.

Nermal's mother

Nermal's mother protected him when he was expelled from the pack after swallowing a flesh star, she kept her close to him and defended him from the other megafelixes who wanted to kill him. Nermal relied heavily on his mother as a child, he let her do everything and was too young to take care of himself, until she was trampled by an Argentinosaurus, which Nermal only managed to kill as an adult.

President Moustapha

Nermal learned who President Moustapha was when he nuked him and killed all his kobolds to steal SkullCat and the power of the flesh star. Nermal survived and took revenge by attacking the cat country senate, killing everyone because he was furious.

Zalmi

Nermal met Zalmi when she was trying to kill him on the feather lore's command, Zalmi realized from Nermal's contact that he wasn't so dangerous as long as SkullCat was with him, because he kept him under his control, so she stopped obeying the feather lore. Nermal loves Zalmi's obedience and kindness, she is indulgent with him and does him favors that Nermal interprets as servitude, and treats her a little like a kobold as though she were his pet, finding in her a little of what he loved in Gatto.

Level of power

Main characteristics

Nuclear strength - Nermal has a grip thousands of times greater than the pressure of the earth's core, his bite effortlessly penetrates the most solid materials in existence, he can leave the earth's orbit without using even a twentieth of his strength, lift hundreds of thousands of tons, blow up 90% of a mansion with a single punch, and withstand the blast of a modern nuclear bomb from 100 meters away.

Nuclear blows - Nermal's blows are so fast that his fists rise to several thousand degrees, the shock of the impact generates a white flash and hits everything in the surrounding area within tens of meters, shattering windows and killing people who get too close. He needs approximately 100 million calories to compensate for every blow, every effort he makes at maximum power without magic.

Sharp senses - Due to his feral nature and enormous experience in hunting, Nermal has developed incredibly sharp senses that make him impossible to surprise, in particular his unbelievable sense of taste, which he developed by constantly eating more and more caloric food. Nermal can distinguish ingredients separately, feel the flavor of something without even touching it, and the flavor he actually gets on his tongue is 5 million times that of a normal man, because that's the speed of his metabolism compared to a normal person, and as a result, he loves to eat and there's no greater pleasure to him. He can see hundreds of meters, in the dark, allowing him to hunt at night, and through matter by concentrating to see its prey through walls, hear the hand of a watch 30 meters away, and naturally has a sense of smell as good as that of a wolf.

Supernatural endurance - He recovers in seconds from a level of fatigue that would kill a man, and heals in minutes from virtually any wound as long as it doesn't require regrowing a limb and is therefore very difficult to actually injure. He has to be struck for hours by someone of his own level to start feeling the effects.

Stellar speed - Nermal can run faster than the earth's orbital speed around the sun, a sniper's bullet fired at 2000km/h seems to move at only a few centimeters per second to him, he can pin a fly to the wall with a toothpick, and despite his large size, his feline physiology allows him to contort himself enough to give the impression he has no skeleton.

Evolution of power

Each time Nermal's strength level has been known, and every time Nermal has faced and defeated an enemy stronger than he had ever faced before with their Zalmi scale at the time.

Nermal in his early teens kill a gigantic t-rex - 31.5 meters - Small House level
Nermal in his teens kills the lava giant - 102.4 meters - House level
Nermal kills his father - 161.2 meters - Large House level
Nermal's zalmi scale during the events of Kitty Pride - 224.3 meters - Mansion level
Nermal equalize and eventually defeat Rikzazz - 260.4 meters - Mansion level
Nermal's zalmi scale when SkullCat fight him - 474.3 meters - Skyscrapper level
Nermal's zalmi scale when Zalmi meet with him and SkullCat - 1273.2 meters - Village level

Main stories

Age of dinosaurs - Nermal's rise to the top of the food chain in prehistoric times, and his encounter with SkullCat.
Kitty Pride retold - The events of the quest for Gatto's feelings, but from Nermal's point of view, who is falling in love with her.
Urban feline - Nermal's journey into the modern world and his innate inability to coexist with today's species because he wants to eat everyone and doesn't understand people, which culminates in the destruction of the Cat country elysium after they've bombed him.
Holding back - A story about what would have happened if Nermal hadn't accepted SkullCat's offer of Gatto's feelings quest, and did what he planned instead, domesticating Gatto and killing all her loved ones.
Shadowcat - Nermal meets a talking shadow led by a cat who reminds him a lot of his kobolds, which moves him.
Memory mark - With SkullCat's help, Nermal discovers that very important memories have been stolen from him without him knowing, sets out to find them, and realizes that he has become a priority target for many people since he destroyed the cat elysium.
The cult - Nermal goes to meet the cult that formed around him after the destruction of the cat elysium, and in particular meets their leader, a saber-toothed tiger from a time close to his own with whom he sympathizes.
Paradox - Nermal crosses a town that has heard of him and is looking to get rid of him for safety, but Nermal is their only chance to get rid of a danger that threatens them, so he decides to enslave them.

Quotes

In many ways, Nermal can see that carnivores live side by side with herbivores in the same town.
SkullCat: So... what do you think of the modern world?

Nermal: That muck of good feelings makes me sick. I can feel I'm getting hungrier by the second.

Nermal: We are animals. Influence, money and status only matter if you play along. Don't push your underlings too far if you can't stand being reminded that you're a meat bag through and through.

Nermal: I can't figure out why you're all arguing about popularity and money. Has the world changed so much that all you have to fight about are made-up trifles? (To mai, before launching him in the ceiling of the wool crater)

Drake: There are billions of animals in the megafauna. When I asked mom to bring him back to our time, I didn't think he'd be such a problem at all, I was just interested in his powers. (Drake to SkullCat about Nermal, after their fight)

Trivia

Nermal's name is a reference to the Garfield character.
Nermal's personality and design are partly based on Kaoru Hanayama from Grappler Baki, and Zodd the immortal, from Berserk.
Mia's nickname for Nermal, “Unholy cat”, is a reference to the main antagonist in the rpg maker games Todd the grim reaper.