White Flower, Black Feather

Shallow Cuts, No More

After saying goodbye to the plants, and taking a couple of small Terror Stones, Miriam went north taking a different route than the woman and instead of finding creatures to eat, she found bushes filled with berries… at first

All of them didn’t do much to satiate her hunger given her new size, but the sweet smell attracted some bugs that helped with the rest, even if she disliked the idea of eating those…

Trying to forget about the bugs, once she reached a clearing, Miriam used the stones to prepare a sleeping spot near a tree on the edge of it

When Sunny asked why she was going to sleep like that, she answered by saying that she was afraid of being too heavy for the branches… everyone around her avoided talking about that topic, but she didn’t paid attention to that…

And woke up the next day feeling… relaxed… for some reason that she couldn’t put her finger on. She was sure that the Terror Stones weren't the reason… but wasn't sure of how she knew it…

‘Good morning…’

Buzz~

While Sunny was talking, one of the trees made a fruit and threw it at Miriam, that she caught in her mouth and swallowed with ease

‘Thanks, good morning to you all’ she waved to the trees around… seeing a bubble coming out of one of them as they waved back…

“Hello” a bubble that sounded like a gender-less voice once it popped

Leaving her frozen for a few seconds, until she tilted her head

‘Oh… I… I thought I was hallucinating… when I heard those before…’

Buzz~!

Sunny and the trees laughed while Miriam shook her head and moved to a nearby rock, before coiling around it to break it. Confusing the ladybug on her head as she organized the fragments next to her

‘To go against Porkus I need a sturdier weapon’ she explained ‘I still remember that he is immune to magic… I wonder if that means to absolutely all magic, or just… up to some level, but it’s so high, that is easier to just say immune…’

Buzz?

-Unknown…- she could tell that the buzz meant far more than just a word…

‘Eh… anyway…’ but she ignored that, looking at the sharp fragments she had selected ‘These are… I don’t think they are good enough…’ she felt bitter while grabbing one of those ‘I wish I knew more about magic… about what it does when I Imbue’

The stone fragment glowed with her magic…

‘Will this be enough to cut him…? I remember those metal weapons bouncing against my scales…’ she also could remember that liquid staining her-

Miriam shook her head to stop her trembling hands from that bloody memory… and stopped her magic

‘Ugh…’

Buzz…?

-Very shallow cuts…-

Buzz~!

‘Ah…?’ Sunny buzzed again ‘I cut him…?’

-Empower…-

‘Ah… well… the fight happened months ago… I can’t remember the details…’

She moved to where she placed her creations and grabbed the earth one, before moving to the fragments while Sunny talked

‘I might be stronger now, but I have no idea of how I’m compared with him’ the ladybug made an annoyed sound ‘The fight against the bat was heavily in my favor… I had the perfect arena to…’

That, gave her an idea…

But first, she used her handle to make another single edged blade, and placed all the fragments on top of it

‘Reshape’ to merge them with the dirt along the cutting edge, starting to take some practice swings with it

Those swings started slowly while she moved to the middle of the clearing, but picked speed as she got used to the weight, then she grabbed the back of the blade to split and reshape it into two swords

That she used to attack and dodge an imaginary Porkus for a few seconds. Then, merging them by the handles, spinning the long weapon around her while doing the same, before folding it like a pair of scissors to cut in front of her a couple times

Buzz…?

‘No idea! I just want to see if “Formless” is more about surprising them! Or being unpredictable!’

Miriam hit the ground with her weapon, dragging more dirt to it and letting it behave like a whip. That she swung around her in the clearing, before letting the dirt fall and using her Magic Hold

‘Whirling!’ and what little she knew of wind magic to spin the sharp rocks like a twister, not having much control on that attack, which meant that the rocks often collided against each other

She finished her exercise by touching the loose dirt on the ground with the handle, and pulling all of it, plus the stones, into a two handed blade…

‘I hope… that this is good enough…’ she looked around in the clearing… ‘Is there another clearing nearby? Eh, wider?’ finally paying attention to the smell of the destroyer on her tongue, that was there since she woke up…

Buzz?

‘Ugh… then… after I’m done with this place, you will need to let him get close Sunny…’

Buzz?!!!

‘Not right now, I’m going to wait for my Trait to finish evolving… Status…? Traits?’ she hissed in annoyance when that screen didn’t opened ‘What is taking it so long to finish…?’

/////

Brenna had constant nightmares involving yellow eyes since the meeting…

‘Ah!’ and of jaws closing around her ‘Ugh!!!’ after just two nights, she was already very tired of having her sleep interrupted by them

-Good morning…-

‘Ugh… good morning…’ she ate the fruit that the tree provided ‘Can I live without sleep?’ before asking that

-No. That would just kill you fairly fast-

She sighed and rubbed her head against the bark of the tree… Brenna had already revised her shield spell, but she couldn’t think of a way to improve it: the first six layers blocked and dispersed either the kinetic, or the magical, energy that impacted them, letting the last layer take that dispersed energy to make sure nothing got pass it…

‘How is she so strong…?’ but, if she was interpreting what she felt during the impact correctly, Miriam’s attack was almost entirely kinetic… and the magic she felt probably… was there just to hold the shape of the dirt…

Feeding her fear was the fact, that the attack was too fast, for her last layer to use much of the dispersed energy…

Brenna felt useless, because she couldn't just add more layers to the spell, it already used a lot of her magic, when it wasn't being destroyed with. Just. One. Hit…

‘Ah…?’ she felt attacked by that message ‘So, I’m a bad person and she is punishing me for that?!’

-It’s natural to feel proud of something you do well, but don’t let an unfavorable result shake your confidence- she almost screamed at the previous message, but her Helper managed to calm her a bit

‘What was it meant to affect…?’ Brenna asked, not expecting an answer

But the Trickster gave her a blank message…

-Oh…- and she stared at her Helper, waiting for an answer -She… hmm… there is an experiment going on, related to the bat… it’s not going well, but Pridebreaker has an… Obsession… component added to it… this add-on is meant for… for those that fight her and survive, to continuously try to attack her… turning her into a nightmare that they need to kill-

‘Why?! Why did she got that?!’ she was horrified by what she read…

-Because, even after what happened, she wants to be strong enough to protect you-

And Brenna almost started crying when she read that…

/////

A sword of dirt was resting on the ground in front of her, her arena was ready and she had practiced some of the movements she wanted to use… even her magic had recovered quite a bit, from the work she had done the last couple hours. The only thing she was waiting for…

Ding

‘Finally…?’ came after a notification and a shiver that went along her whole body ‘Status’

‘…’ she looked at that message… ‘Ugh…’ feeling embarrassment ‘A bit corny…? I mean… I can see where is coming from, but… I don’t want to rule over anything…’

Miriam covered her eyes with her hands taking a deep breath

‘Sunny-’

Buzz!

‘I know it’s a stupid idea. I was the one that had it…’ she uncovered her eyes ‘Just as much as I know… that I need to do this, I understand that it’s going to take time, for you to cover this area again… but now that he has my current scent, he is going to annoy me until I get out… and I really prefer to fight on my terms…’ she gestured to the clearing on front of her

Sunny didn’t liked what she said, so she took flight in front of her face. Loudly telling her everything that she thought about what she was doing… making some sparks due to her anger…

‘Hey…’ making Miriam realize something… ‘Helper, my electricity is biological… right…?’

-Yes…-

Hiss!

Miriam laughter confused Sunny, but she still landed on her finger once Miriam offered it. Looking at her while she lifted most of her long body, resting her weight just on very specific spots ahead of her, that she had memorized while preparing and practicing on the location

‘Sweetie, I have been capable of fighting Porkus…’ she pointed to her head with her other hand ‘Since I got my horns~’

They stared at each other for a few seconds

Buzz…

‘I’m not going to get a lethal injury’ the ladybug didn’t say anything else

She flew up and moved away from the clearing… and while there wasn't any visible cue, she knew the exact moment when she stopped being protected

Miriam pulled the nearby sword towards her with magic, while considering to scream a challenge at-

Slam!

‘Hehe…’ but a distant sound told her that it wasn't required… and she released her aura making the beast squeal before he landed

Right where she wanted him to land…

Crack!!!

Squeal?!!!

On top of a false spot that couldn't resist his weight and he fell to his waist, on top of many stone tipped spikes, but she didn’t had time or interest to discover if those had done any damage-

HISS!!!

Miriam’s skill let her get close and score the first hit against the Destroyer, causing a cut on both of his arms while he tried to block her upward slash

The blood she drew with that attack, made difficult for her to hold back her Berserker

‘HAHAHA~!!!’ and made her brought the weapon down gleefully to meet the squealing beast's attack

SQUEAL?!!!

Letting that sword turn back to dirt that got inside one of his eyes, while she moved backwards pulling her stone edged sword from under her right wing. Laughing while he squealed again and charged out of the hole towards her

‘Collapse!’ letting that spot fall under him and use [Boundary Break] to appear behind him after leaving a nasty cut on his neck as he fell

SQUEAL!!!

Completely enraging him into activating his Berserker while that cut rushed to heal

Miriam used her skill again, this time to move away from him-

SLAM!!!

Towards to the only truly solid area of ground, left in the clearing. That got deeps crack after he punched it to jump towards her

Which was the main point of anger that Sunny had towards her plan: she only had a plan until he lost control…

[Boundary Break]

SLAM!!!

SQUEAL!!!

‘HAHAHA!!!’ but as she used her skill to move at the last moment, while leaving a cut on a leg, landing on another memorized spot…

Miriam understood that her Style wouldn't work if she had plans. So, she split her sword in two and dodged the next punch without her skill

Letting the arm sunk on the soft ground below her-

CRACKLE!!!

And giving the beast an electric discharge that made all his muscles seize, opening him to receive twin slashes on one side of his stomach as she used her skill to get away

The lack of control on his muscles made him fall forward into the shallow pit trap, getting hit by the spikes at the bottom and losing an eye due to them

SQUEAL!!!

But it wasn't a wound that mattered to his madness, or regeneration, and he quickly got out of the hole charging towards her again

Miriam had enough time to transfer all the rocks to one of her blades, turning the other into a rapier, and use her skill twice. Once to move away from another punch while leaving another gash on his stomach, and the other to get back right next to him and sink her rapier inside the wound-

CRACKLE!!!

‘Ow…!’ getting away before he could recover, smelling her own blood inside her mouth ‘C-can’t use that…! That often…!’

While it was effective against the sheer size and amount of muscles of the Destroyer. She was taking a lot more damage than him from her electric attacks

HISS!!!

‘Come on!’ but she shook her head as he started to charge again, using her skill to get behind him to do a cut on the inner side of a leg ‘Bleeding?! Or starving?! How are you going to die?!’

Miriam hoped that his regeneration worked like hers… giving her a… slightly easier way of taking the beast down…

/////

‘Ah?’ Brenna was confused by the sudden message while she tried to relax, and got surprised by another one appearing above it, just to drop on top of it with a loud smack, making it go away

‘Eh… let Miriam deal with it…?’ for a moment she wondered if they were helping her with the problem she was facing…

‘Hmm… Grimoire…’ she didn’t understood what was happening… ‘Something that pierces through Magic Resistance, or an Immunity…?’ but as she was still waiting for her last level, this project would give her something to do, until that happened and she figured how deal with Pridebreaker-

Caw!!!

‘Ah! This is the dangerous thing that Miriam is doing?!’ Brenna realized, but didn’t got an answer… ‘Tell me!!!’ nor she was able to fly towards Miriam…

Even after she started flapping her wings, her claws remained gripping the bark of the tree

/////

Her arena was becoming smaller, mostly due to him falling, or punching, every weak section she had made. The other reason was his blood making the ground difficult to move on

‘DIE ALREADY!!!’ she hadn't been counting the wounds she had inflicted on him, but she was already exhausted and sick of fighting him. His regeneration barely showed a slight slowdown after fighting for so long

SQUEAL!!!

The most annoying part of it, was that his Berserker was still active, which seemed to help him even while slipping on his own blood

‘AAAHHH!!!’ forcing Miriam to keep using her skill over, and over again, to dodge and keep cutting him… the effort of doing that, caused her a pain that overcame her resistance with ease

Miriam coughing blood, every now and then. Was one of the things that screamed to her to finish the fight already…

The other one…

[Sword Wave]

While blocking her skill with his arms, he got a cut from it and was pushed back… where he lost his balance, almost falling backwards to one of the holes. Miriam used the opportunity to appear slightly above him delivering a downward slash-

[Boundary Break]

CRACK!!!

But her sword just passed through a red and black blur and hit the wet ground…

‘…!’ she quickly followed the blur to her side-

Where she saw bleeding wounds everywhere on the skin of the Destroyer, that was screaming and trembling in pain… bleeding even more than ever before…

‘He learned [Boundary Break]’ she didn’t needed an explanation for what had happened ‘EMPOWER SELF!!!’ Miriam just needed to use her spell-

And let her Berserker take control of her glowing body…

She didn’t have the time to think, the beast had just become more dangerous than the bat in her mind making her act recklessly

What followed were 30 seconds, in which the Destroyer used the skill non-stop to avoid Miriam doing the same thing. He was still trying to kill the girl, swinging his huge arms at her, as he turned into a blur to dodge…

But the continuous use of the skill didn’t let his wounds close, and he needed to use the skill in order to not receive a lethal wound… barely keeping Miriam’s attacks from becoming serious wounds, while failing to cause one…

His Berserker had finished once the pain that came from using the skill registered… and when her magic became low, her body overreached due to that and-

Crack!

Both of them screamed on the face of the other

Miriam, because she had taken a glancing blow on her left arm and wing, breaking all those bones, scales and taking heavy damage to many of her organs

The Destroyer, because she stabbed him in the chest and one of the rocks on her weapon got stuck inside, right next to his heart… causing an unending cut with every heartbeat that his body kept trying to heal

SQUEAL!!!

He lifted his right arm with the intent of crushing her, but while her own Berserker ended, Miriam still had her Empower. So, she fired one of the stones in her sword to destroy one of his eyes and pushed away from him

CRASH!!!

Using her Empower to counter the side effect of using Berserker, and dodge the attack. Sinking her long body in the ground, forming a long serrated blade along it

‘GROW!!!’ seeing his other arm about to move towards her, she sent her will and some of her remaining magic to the blood on the ground. Where it met hers and from it green, spiked vines sprouted and coiled around his left arm, destabilizing him for an instant-

HIIISSS!!!

CRACKLE!!!

Letting Miriam use that moment to attack with her electricity and body, hitting him on the right armpit with the serrated blade and thanks to the wounds caused by the skill, she slashed with her whole body severing that body part-

Making the Destroyer scream… and run away after the electric shock, made the plant release his arm

‘N-no!!!’ much to Miriam’s consternation… ‘G-get…! Ugh!!!’ even if her body wasn't in shape to keep fighting after that third discharge, and had to cancel her spells to not risk another Magic Drain… ‘AAAHHH!!!’

He was going to survive that wound…

She knew that…

SQUEAL!!!

But Miriam couldn't chase him, her body was in too much pain and could just see him run on the same direction he came from…

‘Get b-back!!!’

HISS!!!

The trees rustled and the still moving vines coiled around the hoof of the severed arm, squeezing around some of the wounds, until it managed to remove the sharp part from the rest of the limb

‘Ugh…! T-thanks…’ and Miriam understood that there wasn't a thing she could do but eat…

Ding

And prepare to eventually hunt the nightmarish boar…

/////

After swallowing the huge limb, she focused on resting and recovering her magic. Now that her body had more fuel for her regeneration, the only thing she could think of doing besides waiting, was to align the broken bones… and wait while talking with the vines that were still holding to what she hadn't eaten

‘Are you all trying to break it…?’ the vines were the same plant, but each of them had their own “Voice” and one of the vines wiggled to answer her ‘Ah…? Fertilizer…?’ they were like Sunny and the trees, she had a general idea of what they meant… ‘Ugh… is the rest of him like that…?’ the same vine wiggled again

Miriam couldn't understand everything, nor the reason why the vines called her with the same… “Word…” that Sunny used to call her…

‘The blood tastes bad…? So, I’m going to get an… indigestion…?’ suddenly, she looked east…

Hiss…

Something… was getting closer…

‘Be right back…’ something… that highly irritated her… ‘Sunny needs more time to cover this area again…’ she looked at her broken arm and wing… ‘Later… I might need the magic I have left for… this disgusting thing…’

All the vines shook, almost releasing the hoof

‘Sorry… I’ll find all of you a better place to be, after this…’ she could feel her anger at whatever was coming, increasing… ‘I’ll try thinking about names then…’ one of the trees flung a rock at her, making her turn and catch it…

Her confusion from the gesture didn’t last long, once she realized that it was one of the Terror Stones she had taken from the ruins, and after thanking the tree, she hid the stone under her healthy wing and moved away…

Miriam felt bad while moving and trying to ignore the vines calling for her… but she needed to know…

‘Why do I hate… this…?’

She moved ignoring the pain on the left side of her body, considering picking up on her way the handle of her weapon, that fell when the Destroyer started running… but left it there, her Instinct didn’t believe that she would need it…

And about one hundred meters from the clearing she saw two humans…

‘A Doll…’ flanking that… ‘Yes… I don’t need my sword for this…’

“So… this is the Fourth Ruler of Death… a white snake…” the puppeteer removed the robe from the Doll and dispelled the illusion covering it too “I wonder if you understand how insulting that name is for us…?” the echoing voice of the Doll seemed strained…

But Miriam was more interested on how the two humans weren't surprised by the reveal… and it was easy to see that they were more scared of her

None of them was the… thing… she was tracking…

‘Running away…’ her right hand clenched with anger as it glowed ‘A third human…’ the smells coming from the two humans told her of the existence of the other one… but she couldn't just ignore the monster in front of her to do a chase…

The Doll mumbled for a moment while the two men took a few steps back

“Yes, I’m that close to the tree…” but those words made Miriam focus her anger on it “What are-?! Ah-!”

In an instant she grabbed the Terror Stone under her wing, and used her skill to shove it inside the armor the Doll was wearing

Making the puppeteer howl in pain through both his body and the burning Doll

Miriam pulled her glowing right hand backwards and rushed to grab the skull-

SLAM!!!

‘REST IN PEACE!!!’ and slam it against the ground while her scars burned with her magic…

But unlike a true Undead, this time… something different happened: she found a connection in the burning Doll-

HIIISSS!!!

Which she pushed against and it opened. Letting her follow it… until she was seeing another man in front of the puppeteer’s body holding their shoulders… she could hear how her action made the puppeteer suffer even more

Her body pulled the skull back, at the same time the scars on her hand burned themselves in the clenched fist of the puppeteer-

Her body slammed the skull against the ground again-

At the same time she punched the man in front of her…

CRACK!!!

In the instant after the skull shattered she saw how the face of the man vanished… revealing a pitch black skull under that illusion…

Miriam only noticed how she broke his jaw before the connection snapped. Flinging her awareness back to her body

CLANK!!! CLANK!!!

Unable to control her body, as in that mindless state, killed the two stunned men with one hit each

‘AAAHHH!!!’ her return was painful… no, in the seconds were she was punching that other monster, she couldn't feel the pain in her body. So, once she came back, Miriam was surprised by it ‘Ugh…!’ but managed to recover after a few seconds…

Before she could think about what she had done to the men, she got that message-

HIIISSS!!!

Then, the singing started…

/////

While Brenna was thinking about the last couple of days she froze when a puddle of water formed on the branch she was standing on

‘Ah…?’ hearing the trees move around her

-Sing!-

But she didn’t question it, no matter how odd everything was getting, and did as the message said. Starting the second song they had practiced, even if the teachers had been adamant about only having time for just one song. Carmen had insisted that everyone was going to ask for another song once they were done with the first…

It was a song about separation (In the middle of a battlefield…) and the hope of meeting again in the future (After the battle was over…). They all agreed that a corny song like that, would make the teachers nod and pretend they planned it… as long none of them realized what the song was really about

Still… even with its true meaning, it was one of their most uplifting songs

And while Brenna sang the water in the branch rippled, moving through the trees until it reached a similar looking puddle near Miriam

Helping both of them to relax…

Until a vine grew from the branch where Brenna was and tied around her beak

‘AH?!!!’ she got so scared that she almost didn’t saw the message

-Someone is coming!- and froze. Trying to free herself from the vine, until the tree moved their leaves in the same configuration that they used to hide her

‘Ah…?’ causing her to stop ‘…!’ and notice the woman wielding a glowing blue sword

Her hair was braided and she was scanning the branches around… not seeing Brenna’s stunned form when her eyes woman passed over the bird

After some moments the woman walked away and towards the cities, and she sighed with relief as the vine let her go

-Oh! Pridebreaker isn't affecting you anymore!- getting good news a moment later

/////

Her weakened state, stopped her from activating her Berserker again and she got scared by the fire around her coming from the Doll, but the singing helped her to notice the fact that the fire wasn't harming her… and she relaxed seeing it slowly turn to ashes…

Both the fire and the Doll’s remains, vanished at the same time, making the glow on her hand vanish too… the only thing that remained was the Terror Stone, whose eye had a red tint

The other two corpses were already being buried by roots, but she only cared about listening to the music

‘Singer?!’ getting scared when the song stopped suddenly after a couple of minutes, and the trees started rustling ‘Ah…?!’ she started to move north, almost colliding with a blue barrier as the trees kept talking to her ‘Ah… someone got close, but you… hid her…?’

When she finished listening to them, the barrier went away…

‘Thanks all of you…’ she looked in that direction, feeling her gratitude growing inside her ‘Thank you Singer…’ but she didn’t try to go north anymore ‘I wish I could help you… like you have helped me…’

Instead, she moved back to the clearing with the stone, once she noticed Sunny’s protection around her again… surprised that the ladybug hadn't collided with her already

Buzz~

But seeing her playing with the vines, with all of them acting like springs while Sunny jumped on them, made her laugh and rest against the ground…

/////

It took her a while to recover enough magic for her to heal her wounds, and once they had played for a while, both Sunny and Tina got really angry at her… at such speed she almost got whiplash from it…

Every vine had her own personality, but the seven of them were the same plant, so, they asked for a general name with the intent of picking their individual name later

‘I choose my name too, so I have no problems with that…’ Tina wasn't trying to break the hoof anymore, but now Miriam felt a connection to both Sunny and Tina… and she guessed they had stopped, because she said that she was going to transplant them ‘How about you, Sunny?’

Buzz~!

‘Glad to hear it’ she took a moment to relax, while the ladybug buzzed on top of her head and the vines coiled around her left arm and wing ‘Give me a moment, Status’

‘Ugh…’ she didn’t liked what she saw… ‘At least it isn't evolving for free… wait… five? Why?’

-Affected by Titles…-

‘Hmm… thanks… but this doesn’t explains why I didn’t get it before today’ Sunny buzzed ‘No, I… ugh… yeah: Water plus Earth equal Plants, that makes sense, but… I didn’t get it because my brain was smoother before…?’

-Yes…-

Buzz!!!

‘Relax Sunny… the Helper meant “Probably” with that one…’ she hoped so… ‘Remember that they are supposed to be… eh, restricted…? At first’ she didn’t wanted to say “Unhelpful” because she was grateful at what the first stage of her Helper had done for her

Tina, as a whole, asked something that Miriam didn’t understood, but by the way Sunny answered, she realized they were talking about how the Helper compared to them…

‘Ah…?’

-Ignore them…-

She could feel annoyance coming from that message… somehow…

‘EP Shop…’ but decided to- ‘UGH!!!’ distract herself with something bad…

‘Why?! Why it’s so…?! Exotic…?’ that wasn't what the next Tier for any of her toxins was called before

‘I… I do…’ she hissed softly ‘I really need to figure out how to get that many points… or how to get another free upgrade…’ she looked at Tina ‘Can you wait until tomorrow? Or is better for you if I move you now…?’

Both Sunny and Tina gave her the same answer, while pondering if they should mention to Miriam about the backup Sunny had gotten for her…

‘I… fine… I’ll rest for today…’ she keep quiet for a moment ‘Sunny?’ she got a buzz ‘Where should I take Tina? The lake? The ruins?’

There was a long moment of silence…

Buzz…

‘Ah… ugh…’

Sunny suggested, the place where she killed all those humans…