Soldiers rushed in and surrounded me with guns. Some ran to the grey haired man and attempted to cut the vine with knives. They couldn't leave a mark on it.

“Leave me. Physical attacks won’t work on the rose.” The man grabbed the vine with his right hand. 

[Ignite!] His hand glowed bright red. *BOOM!* There was a small explosion in his palm, and the vine snapped. He stood up and pulled the cut piece of vine out of his stomach.

“Tsk.” I missed. I had intended to pierce his head, but due to my unfamiliarity with controlling this thing, my aim was off. No matter. I’ll just try again.

More black vines grew from my back and propelled towards the man. However, his soldiers swiftly moved in the way, blocking them with shields.

Get out of my way! The vines crawled behind the shields and stabbed the soldiers from under their throats. However, the force was so great that the vines pulled them upward, nailing them into the ceiling. 

I was immediately showered with bullets. The first few caught me off guard, and my left arm and thigh were hit.

“AAAHHH!!!” I screamed. It was painful, but nowhere near as much as what they had done to me before. I made even more vines, which swirled around me and covered me in a cocoon. The barrage of bullets continued, but they couldn’t pierce through the vines.

The moment they ran out of ammo, the cocoon unwrapped into hundreds of thin vines that spun wildly like blender blades. The soldiers didn’t have time to respond as the vines slashed them into pieces like mincemeat, while their blood painted the walls in red.

As the soldiers splattered all over the room, the vines began to slither on the floor, seeking for blood and bits of flesh.

Suddenly, I felt a massive surge of power. The vines were sucking up their blood and giving it to me. No, not just blood, but even the fat and other body fluids as well. Before long, the flesh on the floor was sucked dry, shrinking into clumps of dried meat. 

…For the first time in my life, I killed someone. Born in a country without violence where murder is a major crime, I should’ve felt guilty. But what is this…tingling sensation I’m experiencing? Joy? Satisfaction? Fulfilment? 

“Ahhh…Haha…Hahahaha!!!” I feel great! I laughed maniacally, aroused by the overflowing power.

More soldiers stormed in, and were immediately horrified by the scene before them. The room was covered in blood, ground meat and a network of bloody vines. And in the middle of it was a girl as white as a ghost, with a bright smile from ears to ears.

“M-Monster!!!” They shivered, and some even vomited. Before they could fire their guns, my vines quickly snatched their weapons and threw them away. They ran. The vines stabbed them from the back, and all their body fluids were sucked dry. Their dried corpses crumbled to the floor.

“Hahahaha!!!" More! More! My power rose and I was ecstatic. But it wasn’t enough. The main dish had not arrived. The one I wanted to kill the most. The grey haired man. Where is he?!

I looked around for the man, but he was already gone. I twisted the vines around the chain that tied me to the wall and tore it off. Then, gathering the vines into groups and knitting them into a bigger form, I threw them at the wall where the door was. They immediately smashed the wall into bits, and I staggered out into the hallway, still limping because of the bullet wounds.