That Time I Got Isekai’d Again and Befriended a Slime

Blood splattered against the tile, crimson pooling at her feet.

"Hm." A shadow was visible in the steam, his form clearing as the superheated vapor cooled and dissipated. "I was aiming for your heart and head. Your reflexes are incredible, I must commend you."

Octavius stepped forward. Bits and pieces of his body were missing. Some flesh, part of his left shoulder, a chunk of his thigh, one of his ears…

All of which were healing, the telltale red glow of his regeneration knitting his body back together, though noticeably slower than before. But none of that was most important here.

What mattered was his right arm. It was gone, blown off entirely. Replacing it was a massive gout of semi-solid blood, stretching and curling around him like a series of sentient whips.

Four of those whip-like extensions tore past her, one impaling her through her right shoulder and the others cutting past the inside of her forearm, the outside of her bicep, and the right side of her forehead. 

Tanya tried to glare at him, her head and body tilted awkwardly. Any slight movement sent fiery jolts running down her arm, the buzzing burn along the side of her head so painful it was nearly impossible to get her thoughts straight.

"Forgive me for abusing this, but the Scylla's ascension draws near. I wish to end this battle as we are now, at our current levels. As soon as the ritual is complete, we will no longer be able to fight on equal footing as we have been. I can only-"

Octavius rambled on, expressing an odd combination of pride, joy, and sorrow over their bout.

Tanya couldn't bring herself to listen or care. If he wanted to waste time rambling again, then that was his prerogative.

Level… Four…

Her barrier snapped into place, cutting through the tendrils of blood stabbing through and past her. The blood nearest her liquified and dissipated, no longer connected to the main body.

"Shut up already."

Tanya slashed her good arm forward, a massive wave of blue flame engulfing the entire space in front of her.

Octavius raised his right shoulder, his own blood surrounding him in a cocoon of maroon. The flame continued to swirl around him, the cyclone of fire reaching to the ceiling and the air rapidly warming up to an uncomfortable level.

Tanya let her direct control of the cyclone fade, quickly turning her attention to herself.

It wasn't looking good. She attempted to wiggle the fingers on her right hand, hissing in a mix of irritation and pain as the motion tugged at the damaged flesh.

One of the leather straps to her bracer had been sliced, its clean-cut ends dangling and the bracer itself loose on her arm. Beneath that, a deep laceration slashed across the inside of her forearm.

She attempted to close her hand, to little avail. Her fingers could barely form a fist, and her thumb wouldn't move at all.

The tendon's cut.

Depsite a flash of desperation, Tanya resisted the urge to activate a pain-relieving formula. She couldn't tell the full extent of the damage if she did that, so it would have to wait for a moment.

Hurry, hurry.

Her gaze moved higher up.

The outer edge of her bicep had been grazed. It wasn't too deep, but it was still bleeding angrily, the torn pieces of her green sleeve sticking to it and stained nearly black. The least important of her wounds, she concluded.

Tanya moved on. Her shoulder, as far as she could tell, had been stabbed clean through, just above the armpit and just under her shoulder socket. This was probably – no, definitely – the worst of the bunch.

Missed the bone. If it's just the flesh, then-

Tanya winced, shutting her right eye tight as blood dripped into it. Just that motion was enough to tug at the gash on her head, a fresh stab of pain scraping her nerves.

Right, the head wound. Not very deep either, but painful and bloody enough to be an extreme nuisance. It felt like half her face and part of her neck had a sticky, metallic-smelling paint smeared across it. Really, her entire right side felt like that.

She imagined this is what it felt to be the side character in a horror show, a victim of Jason Voorhees and all that implied.

In truth, it was only her years of experience dealing with injury and pain that allowed her to keep her composure. Even with that, the thought of moving was the farthest thing from appealing right now.

Her left hand reached for her belt, before freezing.

You left the flask back at the inn, remember? Dammit.

She reached across her body instead, her mouth a thin line as she waged internal war against the pain washing over her.

There's no way I'd risk a full potion falling into their hands, but I almost wish I'd taken the chance. Ugh.

She ran her left hand along her arm, the soft green glow of her healing spell illuminating the bloody mess of muscle and tissue.

I know the extent of the damage, so this should work for now.

It was important to note that the one healing spell she knew was only useful for more minor injuries.

For example, if Octavius had broken her rib earlier rather than merely cracked it, the spell would have barely helped, unless the broken ends were still connected. And even then, she still had to worry about possible bone shards.

That being said, flesh wounds like these, as bloody as they were, could certainly be healed. To an extent.

Self-healing was notably difficult, especially when one considers that such magic requires powerful focus and a high number of magicules. Both of which were more difficult to come by when severely injured. It's also worth noting that this is not the same as regeneration. Regeneration is an internal ability; healing magic generally worked from an external source, though exceptions did exist.

The spell in question was also annoyingly draining, taking far more magicules than was feasible for a normal mage. Luckily, Tanya was far from an ordinary mage, but the point stood. Not cost effective and relatively weak to boot. An incredibly inefficient spell all around; she'd have to surmise a better alternative using formulae sometime in the near future.

At the very least, right now stopping the bleeding should be possible-

"Grck!" She collapsed to her knees, bile scratching the back of her throat.

What-?

Fiery pain lanced through her wounds anew, each hole and gash feeling like they'd just had razors drawn across them. The laceration across the side of her forehead flared worst of all, her vision blurring and her thoughts scattering to the wind. The spell faded from her hand as she narrowly caught herself, blood draining at an even faster rate than before.

Tanya closed her right eye tighter, dark crimson painting the inside of her eyelid and across her cheekbone. Her sleeve was more red than green by this point, the fabric soaked and the remaining leather strap of her forearm bracer slick and slimy with blood.

Which... formula…?

Two magic circles spun into being, one around her right shoulder and the other around her right wrist.

Tanya sighed, the fog over her thoughts fading.

Pain-relieving formula. Ironic that the pain was so great I could barely even activate it. And even with that formula targeted over my entire arm twice over, it still hurts.

She pushed off the ground with her good arm, painstakingly making her way to her feet. A deep grimace adorned her face all the while, dry mouth, stabbing headache, and the taste of blood bothering her in equal measures.

Not nearly as much, but enough to be annoying. That shouldn't happen. My magic flow is too streamlined for my formula to not take full effect. Is it his blood?

Far in front of her, the flames finally dissipated. Octavius stepped from the former inferno, his blood unraveling from its cocoon. Spots of soot dotted the red surface, waves of heat dancing in the space between them.

"Confused?" Octavius rolled his shoulder, the gout of semi-solid blood reeling back in and forming the shape of a regular arm. "I don't have a Unique Skill, but I'd argue my blood is unique in its own right. I cannot convert it to rays of energy like my cousin, but that is no real loss."

I was right. Fantastic.

The arm of blood tightened and coalesced, the red glow of regeneration overtaking the false limb and slowly regrowing it into a real one.

"My blood is mine alone. It doesn't play well with others, as your attempt at healing no doubt showed you."

Yeah, no shit.

Tanya blinked.

The back of her neck tingled, a buzzing trickling across the back of her skull. A wave of something – some energy that raced along her spine and lit up along the faint edge of her senses – rushed past, invisible yet nearly tangible.

Octavius noticed it as well.

"As I'd said." He sighed. "The time of Scylla's ascension draws near. Concede, Tanya. Give up, and I will spare your life. I'll even grant you a share of our collected energy, and we can fight again on a far greater level."

"You," Tanya reached up with her good arm, wiping away just enough blood so she could open her right eye again. "Don't get me at all, do you?"

He sighed again, apparently deeply distraught by her response.

"I wish you wouldn't be stubborn. Right now, my blood is keeping your wounds open. Any attempt to heal it or wash it away would be futile. Unless you cooperate with me, you will die from blood loss. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not." Tanya coughed, wincing, "But what would you know about dying?"

Give up? You don't really get humans, do you? You've lived such a long life, experienced so many things. There's an immeasurable disconnect between you and a mortal reality. 

Tanya held her good hand just over her injured shoulder.

I'm grateful for that, truly.

"That energy was our ritual going into effect. Scylla's plans are coming to fruition; the souls are being collected as I speak. I admit to being a little disappointed. But I imagine I will get over it, eventually."

Keep talking. Even if I'm too late, I'm still going to take you down. Then, I'll bring down this entire fucking building on top of Drake's head. And I'll bribe Milim into coming over, politics be damned, and have her salt the ashes. Just for good measure.

Octavius paused.

Tanya barely breathed, waiting for… what, exactly, she didn't quite know.

They were both waiting.

But…

Nothing happened.

"…That's odd." His brow furrowed. "The process is nearly immediate. The circle should have gone into full effect by now."

Something went wrong.

The thought was still occurring as Tanya acted. Blue flames burst into being, flaring out from each of the wounds Octavius' blood had taken hostage.

If I can't heal it with a spell or wash the blood out, then I'll just burn it into nonexistence.

Octavius turned his attention back to her.

"What are you doing?" His voice was confused. And inflected with something she couldn't be bothered to identify. 

Tanya shot him a pained half smirk, bits and pieces of her self-inflicted magical cauterization eking past her pain-relieving formulae.

"You would have been better off keeping the giant blood arm… whip thing." The flames faded, and a green glow took their place. "Whatever, that's your prerogative."

"That's likely true." Octavius watched her wounds heal with an odd look in his eyes. "But this was an honorable one-on-one bout established by blood. Ruining it is far beyond my 'prerogative', as you say."

"Honor?" Tanya rolled her eyes, the glow fading. "This is a fight to the death. There's no honor here. I can't argue with getting your money's worth, but if you treat this as anything more or less than a life-or-death battle, that's just suicide."

"You disagree." Octavius said simply. "This is so much more than that. Can you not see it? Is this not fun to you? Is your heart not racing in your chest as mine is in mine?"

He sounded entirely genuine, which just annoyed her even more.

You haven't experienced death, have you? What about the fear of it? That dark dread that creeps up in your throat, that wakes you up at night and gives you bags under your eyes. You could never understand.

"The only reason my heart would be racing right now is adrenaline." Tanya narrowed her eyes. "I told you twice already. You and I have fundamentally different ideals. You may have allowed your desires to overwhelm your common sense, but I don't suffer from that affliction. I know exactly what this is."

And because I know that I can treat this calmly and rationally, with the attention it deserves.

"Is that so? I'm not so sure." Octavius held out his hands. "But enough. The ritual has been delayed, or perhaps it has failed. It matters little to me now; in fact, I find myself oddly grateful. Shall we dance once more, Tanya?"

I know death better than most. I've experienced it twice, after all. But you… you couldn't understand. Not like me. I understand that dread, that fear, that feeling.

"I thought you'd never ask." Tanya slipped the bracer past her right hand and held it in her left, the darkened magisteel glowing with lines of bright teal as it slid under her fingers.

Because I have to deal with it every single day. That sort of aftermath might never... well, I'm human after all. I want to survive, more than anything else. And that's why, in this world, in any world or in any circumstance…

She reeled back, whipping her arm forward and throwing the bracer as hard as she could.

I'd never lose to you.

-=-=-=-

A Bit Earlier

Base Level, Strategic Military HQ

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

Well, this was just going swell.

A wave of earth swept past her. Mary jumped to the side, landing and stabbing the tip of her katana into the ground. Orange magical energy swept down her blade, a block of stone just above her height rising up and blocking a follow up wave.

She kicked forward, orange swirling around her boot as it impacted the block, sending it flying.

CRASH!

The block split apart at the seams, exploding in a shower of dirt and debris with red electricity sparking in the gaps. Nin could be seen through the dust cloud, reaching for the ground again.

Mary held up a hand, lightning sparking between her fingers. Her aura flared, massive bolts ripping forward, tearing trenches in the earth and electrifying the air.

Red sparked again, a dome of earth covering Nin's position. The bolts tore over the spot, carving swathes all around it. Mary let the magic fade, bursting forward.

Just then, the remnants of the dome burst outward, red sparks dancing between sharpened spikes of earth. She kept moving as they tore towards her, not hesitating in the slightest.

Mary breathed. Water enveloped her blade, pushing it forward and boosting the weight of her strikes.

Roaring Rapids!

She danced between the unrelenting attack, stepping forward, under, between, around every spike that came her way and slashing diagonally whenever they got too close. A typhoon whirled around her as she leapt, a spout of water boosting her forward and up as she pulled her blade back high.

SMASH!

A waterfall smashed into the earth, cratering it and sending waves of liquid spewing in all directions. The dome was disintegrated into mud, a puddle overtaking her boots as she landed.

But Nin wasn't there anymore. Mary looked around, shuffling to avoid slipping in the mud. She slipped anyway, the footing under her right boot disappearing.

Mary glanced down.

A hole?

She activated Magic Sense, jumping away as ground began to crumble. Her eyes widened.

Mary spun, her blade flashing horizontally. Nin, his hand nearly touching her shoulder, ducked and backed away. She slashed at him again, and again, water replaced with neon green.

Nin contorted unnaturally, his torso twisting and his hips shifting in order to avoid her strikes. After another swing, the tip of her blade missing his nose by mere centimeters as he bent backwards like a limbo champion, he swiped up with his hand, open palm reaching for her abdomen.

Her knee shot up instinctively, crunching violently against his ribs, and Nin went flying.

Mary didn't follow, using the brief separation to breathe.

That flexibility and speed can't be natural. Did he shapeshift his body to be like that?

She huffed, ragged breathing slowly evening out.

I only need one solid slash for this fight to be over. But the same is true for him. If he happens to touch me before I can sever his transfiguring ability, then it's over for me. Also, I can't help but feel he's stronger than Tanya said he was. Cause, what the hell?! He keeps blocking all my magic attacks with that runic tattoo and red thunder thing he's got going on. Did he learn that much just from fighting her?

A flurry of movement drew her eye. Nin rose up from the ground, a rectangular pillar of stone carrying him high into the air.

"Let's try this one!"

He stretched out his arm, pointing at her as he slapped his elbow with his other hand. His outstretched hand and forearm morphed and twisted, sharpening and swirling into a drill-like shape. With a sharp grin adorning his face, the drill began to spin, shooting off with a spurt of blood and black mist and rocketing toward her. His arm lengthened and became like rope, trailing after the drill and keeping it connected to the main body.

Mary sidestepped, letting the drill dig into the ground next to her.

"Well, if you insist!" She called back, reaching over with her left hand to grab at his arm. Her hand clamed down in a vice grip, her other raising her katana high.

SCRRSH!

Thin spikes shot from his lengthened arm, stabbing through her hand and wrist.

"Fuck-!" She flinched back, dragging the arm with her.

"AHAHA!" Nin pointed at her with his other hand, laughing uproariously, "You fell for it!"

Fucking asshole!

Mary tightened her jaw, closing her hand around his arm yet again even as spurts of blood trickled from her hand. She twisted, heaving and literally yanking Nin off his self-formed pedestal.

He flew towards her, slamming into the ground a few meters away. Mary yanked her arm up, her hand coming free from the spikes with a gush of crimson, and bolted for his downed form.

Nin pushed himself up on his normal arm. Mary sped up at this, her bloody left hand hanging at her side and her right hand tightening its grip on her katana.

Modified Style…

"Right," Nin's tattoos shone, crimson and shadow swirling around him. "I'm fucking done with this."

Neon Sever-

Right as Mary slashed down at him, the ground exploded.

-=-

That was about a minute ago. If you can believe it, the situation had only gotten worse.

Mary was launched back, barely recovering to her feet in time to dodge a wave of earthen attacks. From there, it was a game of cat and mouse.

She, unfortunately, was the mouse.

But of course, the mouse wasn't always helpless, was it? Things tended to work out in situations like these. Even if it didn't feel that way just yet.

The attacks kept coming, picking up in speed every second.

A column of stone of the right. A wall of dirt from in front. Metal poles snaking along the ground on her left. Then, stone from the left again. Dirt. Metal. A shot of magical energy. Metal again. On and on it went, Mary ducking, rolling, jumping, and diving, avoiding each attack by only the smallest of margins.

Too fast! A spear of metallic scrap was deflected, a piece of it chipping off a cutting her across the cheek. I'm stuck reacting instead of acting!

Her ears were ringing, her exposed skin crawling from the near tangible energy in the air. Every landing sent stabs of pain shooting up her left arm, blood trails following every jump and sidestep.

As soon as I see them, it's already too late to act. There's barely any time to find a path. Worse, the debris from his earlier attacks are obscuring my vision. Soon, I won't be able to see-

Mary's body moved on her own, her eyes widening as she ducked instinctively.

See? Am I an idiot?

Mary closed her eyes and activated Magic Sense.

Left.

Her blade flashed up, slicing through stone.

Front. Right.

She jumped, her blade slashing over to her left side as soon as she landed.

It's a pattern. He's forming them and sending them out in-

Her eyes opened, and she bolted forward.

"Oh, you're going to approach now?!" Nin laughed from across the room. Red electricity burst into existence, his tattoos glowing even brighter. "Fine by me!"

One. Her sword deflected the first strike, stone crumbling at her side. Two. Three.

A wave of dirt split in half. Metal sheared and stuck into the ground.

She grinned. The momentum of the battle shifted ever in her favor. Nin grit his teeth.

"Dodge this one!" The air electrified with crimson, a massive wave of earth bursting up from below. Walls of earth swirled and scooped up around her, surrounding and engulfing her position.

Or it would have. Instead, Mary leaped forward with as much force as she could, the ground cracking underneath her. She darted just past the attack, jumping over one last desperate wave of earth and shooting towards her foe.

Her bloodied hand shot over to her katana's handle, crimson staining the leather as she painfully shifted to a two-handed grip.

"You dodge for a change!" Mary powered through the pain, slashing downward with all her might.

Nin's eyes widened. He jumped backwards, the slash barely missing his chest.

Mary landed and brought her katana back up. Nin jerked his body to Mary's left, his palm slapping against his side as Mary's blade slashed down, closing in on his shoulder.

SPLURCH!

Nin's shoulder burst, his arm falling away. Crimson splotched bright green, Mary's blade carrying itself through the open space where Nin's shoulder had just been.

Mary's eyes widened, her slash missing entirely.

He blasted off his own-

Nin sidestepped, a wicked grin on his face. His right arm came up from his side, fingers splayed as his palm rocketed towards her chest.

It was almost in slow motion. Mary watched Nin's hand approach her left shoulder, shock slowly melting into a muted panic.

Move! Move! Move!

There was no time to hesitate.

She let go, her katana dropping from her hands as if through molasses. Her shoulders twisted, the left pulling back as she turned to face Nin head on. At the same time, her right arm lashed out.

It was in this moment that the battle shifted again.

And again, it was in Mary's favor.

It happened entirely by accident.

Mary swung her fist forward, eyes flaring neon as Nin's palm slapped against her sternum. In that exact same instant, that desperate strike of hers connected.

Her magic filled the blow to the greatest possible extent, at the last possible moment. Right as she was using her Skill, green neon zigzagging down her cheeks.

Space distorted. Her magic and aura flashed, sparks of neon and green scorching the air.

Nin, instead of merely being knocked away, blasted backwards, his chest and ribs caving in. A hole burst through his torso as he went flying, blood trailing after him like the tail of a comet.

Mary froze, her arm extended, and body awkwardly contorted. Slowly, she straightened up, holding both hands out slightly and staring at them in wonder and awe. The holes through her left hand and wrist were utterly forgotten.

It was like the world had opened up to her.

It was like rediscovering her magic all over again.

Yet, it was oddly… familiar.

It was sort of like…

…After Tanya saved my life against Charybdis. That's what it feels like. I was so angry and blinded by pain and exhaustion that I don't really remember what happened next. Tanya said I send out a huge ring of magic and overused my Unique Skill. So, does that mean… I can imbue my magic itself with the power of my Skill?

The thought had never occurred to her before.

Much of magic is defined by intent.

Against Charybdis, Mary's rage and her intense desire to protect and avenge coalesced. It wasn't a perfect flow of magical and Unique energies, as evidenced by the intense backlashed experienced after the fact, but in that moment, her magic and the power of the Unique Skill: Ability Severance twisted together, combining in one singular, circular attack.

This time, the use of Ability Severance held a similar level of desperate intent – though this time in protection of herself rather than others – and this perfectly coincided with a different magical event. That is, the temporary stabilization of the flow of magic throughout Mary's body.

For the maybe the first time since her ability to use magic had been reawakened by Tanya, Mary Sue's magical energy perfectly, fully sync'd up with her physical capabilities. There was no lag time. There was no turbulence in the flow.

At the same time, the visual component of her Unique Skill was activated. The power of her Skill flowed in counter to her magical energy, imbuing both with characteristics of the other.

It was one big coincidence.

At least, that's how Mary figured it.

This whole time I've been imbuing my katana with my magical energy. Water, lightning, fire, all of it. It's the easiest way to conduct it all, since my magic's flow is so unrefined.  

She crouched down, grabbing her katana from the ground and standing back up.

I've pretty much treated my Skill the same way. Whenever I don't or can't use the visual component, I just imbue its power into my blade. The magisteel takes both energies really easily, so doing that every time just made the most sense. After all, I'm a swordswoman now, aren't I? I never really tried anything else.

Mary sheathed her katana, reaching for her belt with her good hand and pulling out Tanya's flask from a pouch. She shook it slightly.

Well, to be fair, I haven't needed to try anything else until now.

A groan drew her gaze forward. Nin slowly sat up, the massive tunnel through his chest slowly piecing back together.

Very slowly. Much slower than any time before.

Did I cut off his regeneration with that hit?

Mary sipped from the flask, wincing as her flesh knitted itself back together. She slipped it back into the pouch on her belt.

No, I can't have. Not entirely. Then, maybe it was a partial job? Some of the ability was clearly neutralized. If my Skill bled accidentally into my magic enhancement, then I'd bet it got… covered up? Diluted? Something like that.

"How dare you!" Nin yelled, getting to his feet. "Blasphemer! Heretic! You dare treat your new god this way?!"

Oh boy, he's back to this. Yay.

"Some god you are." Mary called back, shaking out her left hand to get rid of the pain, "Let me tell you, Nin Gen, I've met someone that might be called God, and you-"

Mary paused.

An uncomfortable buzzing trickled across her senses, a sharp shiver running down her spine. A wave of some strange, invisible yet vaguely tangible energy raced past her.

Her blood pounded in her ears.

"What was that?" She murmured, glancing around.

"Ha! Hahahaha!!!"

I hate him so much it's unreal.

Nin grinned maniacally, his chest finally filling in the rest of the way and blood staining his torso. "It's over! It's time!! It's finally here!!!"

"What's going on?" Mary snapped, utterly done with him, "What's here?"

"That was the ritual, you fool!" He cackled at her, "Can't you see it yet? We've won! My ascension has arrived!!"

"Ascension?" Mary raised an eyebrow. "Then, that was the ritual circle activating, right? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes! Yes, that's right!" Nin was too elated for snark, closing his eyes and leaning back, arms stretched out to the sides. "As we speak, Xerxes is dying! And into us, into me, it's power flows! Oh, I can feel it now! It's flowing into me! It's… it's…"

He stood there for a moment.

"Nothing's… happening?" He opened his eyes, bringing his arms in and looking frantically at his hands. "Where- where is it?! That was it. That was the ritual, I know it! Everything was set up properly, so why is it not-"

"I have another question."

"What do you want?" Nin's head snapped her direction, "Can't you see I'm busy?!"

"This is important, I promise." Mary said, nodding, "So, all the Shades and the giant lines of blood running down the main streets. Those were part of the circle, right?"

"I-" Nin blinked, "Yes, they are part of the circle. Why does that matter now of all times?"

"Well, you tell me." She pointed down, at her white boots.

Nin looked.

Well, now that he was paying closer attention, the boots were mostly white. But a lot of that white was actually stained, especially near the bottom.

He tilted his head.

They were stained… with quite a bit of red… a dark, familiar red…

"No… no no no." His body shook ."What did you do? What did you do?!"

Jackpot, okay.

"Next time," Mary schooled her expression into one of cool half-confidence half-arrogance. In other words, she did her best Tanya impression. "Don't leave the completion of an incredibly important ritual circle to a bunch of shadow creatures. It wasn't even a challenge to break part of the line; I'm almost insulted."

Well, that, and I kind of sort of collapsed part of a small corner building and several fruit stands and stalls onto it right after. That probably helped. I bet Tanya would be impressed by my ingenuity.

"Good job, Mary. That was great thinking."

She coughed, ignoring the slight red in her cheeks. That was odd, when did it get hotter all of a sudden?

I hope the owners of that building accept my apology… via letter. Or maybe I just won't take responsibility at all. Yeah, that sounds good.

"No no no-" Nin clutched at his head.

"Why are you so surprised to find everything falling apart?" Mary rested her hand on the handle of her katana, "Isn't it 'what goes around, comes around'?"

Nin suddenly froze. He turned his head up, his eyes filled with such a level of hatred that Mary almost found herself stepping back. An aura of killing intent filled the area, nearly tangible.

"You… you're worse than Tasha- whatever her name is. She was strong. She nearly killed me. But you… I've decided, you don't deserve an act like this. You're not that level of strong. Not even close. You don't get to speak to me like that. You wouldn't even cut it as a clown at a third-rate circus."

That was… surprisingly hurtful. Mary shook it off, a narrowing of her eyes her only response.

"You have power, but… you're the same. I was wrong. I can see it now. You're just like the rest of these pathetic creatures. Petty, big talk, uppity, and pushing the mold to no avail. I hate it. You- weaklings like you… humans... monsters... they have been given some form of power. They've achieved what they believe to be strength, but it's all just a façade! And that façade appears bright, and wonderful, and happy, and that… that allows them to dream. They dream of a future where they can become something truly strong. But it's a farce. All of it! They are weak! Not one of them can grow beyond what they are meant to be. None of their futures can be overwritten by some illness of the mind that is a dream."

Nin looked to the sky, his body shaking and his hands flexing subconsciously. He laughed madly.

"I am neither human nor monster, and I am not bound by your shackles. It's funny! I can't help but laugh! Look at you! Humans don't regenerate; monsters hardly even exist without magicules. Creatures like you toil and claw at the dirt, desperately hoping beyond hope that your lives will be more than the meaningless scrap they truly are. It's unsightly! I can't help but be amused by it! How gross, how weak, how worthless you are!"

He froze, slowly dropping his head back down and staring at her.

"I will be a God, as is my rightful place. And you," The word was spit with such venom it might as well have been poison, "Are not going to stop me. I've decided. No matter if you pray, beg on your hands and knees and repent, I won't forgive you. I won't even give you the option to give up."

Mary readied herself.

Bring it on, then. I'll show you how strong us weaklings can be.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Known Skills List

Tanya:

Common Skill: Thought Communication

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra Skill: Voice of the World Communication

Unique Skill: Formulaic Casting

Unique Skill: Tetrabattery Limit Enhancement

Mary:

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra/Intrinsic Skill: Physical Enhancement

Unique Skill: Ability Severance