The sound of my stomach rumbling woke me up. I was starving. Next to my mattress was a tray of the same things I’ve been forced to eat for the last few months. I devoured them.

When I was finished, I threw the empty tray and bowl into the metal door in rage and frustration. It was then that I noticed the cuffs on my limbs and neck were gone, and so was the bandage around my chest. My ears were also healed and I could hear normally, though there was still a stinging pain in my eardrums.

I tried to grow my vines out as a test. They came out of my back without problem. 

As I sat there, confused by the sudden changes, The metal door creaked, and the man walked in along with two guards.

I immediately shot all my vines towards the man, while I myself lunged at him at the same time, ignoring the guards with raised guns.

[Magus’s Shackle!] He said, knocking his cane on the floor. Suddenly, I felt as if my skull was being crushed inward from all sides. It was like being tightly wrapped in barbed wires, which were slowly but painfully being tightened.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” Unable to bear the pain, I knelt down on the spot, hugging my head. Seeing that, the man knocked his cane again and the pain stopped.

*Pant* *Pant* “Gahhh…* I choked on air. However, once my breath returned to normal, I continued charging at the man.

…[Magus’s Shackles!] The pain returned. “GRRRRHHH!!!” This time, clenching my teeth, I endured it and tried to move forward. But at last, my endurance didn’t last long and I fell to the side, wriggling like a worm. STOP!!! IT HURTS!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!

The knock was heard, and so the crushing of my skull stopped. I didn’t try to attack the man any more, but lay on my side instead, too tired to move.

I tasted iron in my mouth. It seemed I bit my tongue but didn’t notice.

Seeing my state, the man laughed and knelt in front of me. “Good girl”, he said as he patted my head. I shut my eyes and clenched my teeth to endure the waves of shiver.

After a while, he stood up and signalled the guards. They put their arms under my armpits and pulled me up. Then they began to walk outside, with me being dragged along. I didn’t have the energy to struggle anymore.

×

We arrived at a large room that seemed to be a shooting range. On the far end - about 50 meters away, were practice dummies made of wood with targets painted on their chests. Near us was also a huge broken truck for some reason, whose design looked like it came straight from Final Fantasy. 

The guards threw me on the ground. I propped my arms on the floor to push myself up, but my legs were shaking too much for me to stand, so I just sat on the spot, looking at the man grudgingly.

He pointed at the targets. You want me to shoot them? I asked in my mind. Why do I have to follow your damn order?

Seeing me showing no sign of cooperation, he lightly swung his cane. “Tsk”, I clicked my tongue. It seemed I had no choice.

I looked at one of the targets, and threw a vine at it. The vine easily reached the dummy, but for some reason couldn’t pierce it. Even though they could go through a human without any resistance before.

“The dummies are protected by a barrier. You won’t be able to break them without applying enough force.” The man said.

Ignoring him, I grew more vines and knitted them into a big rope, with a ball of vines at the tip. At one point, it became too heavy to handle, so I wrapped some vines around my body to help with the weight.

This time, with much more force, I swung the ball at the target. There was a deafening explosion as the earth shook, then the lights went out and debris flew all over the place.  When the dust dissipated and the lights were switched back on, we saw a newly formed crater, with the dummies crushed into mush at the bottom.

I retracted the vine and looked at the man. He nodded, smiling in satisfaction. He then pointed at the truck, and made a gesture that seemed to tell me to lift it up. 

I sighed and began to wrap my vines around the truck. I tried to pull it up, but the truck proved way too heavy. Furthermore, the weight was making me fall forward.

So, I tethered some vines to the ground, the walls and ceiling to act as support, then tried again. This time, I was able to lift the truck about a meter off the ground, but that was it.

I thought that was good enough. However, the man shook his head and signaled me to keep going.

What more do you want from me? I complained in my head. Still, I had to continue, lest I have to experience the pain again.

“Gurrghhhh…” I clenched my teeth, using all my effort to lift the truck. I didn’t make much progress. It would only get as high as before before falling down again.

“Haah…haah…haah…” Out of breath, I looked at the man, shaking my head as my vision blurred. He sighed, and knocked his cane on the floor.

“GAAAHHHH!!!” I grabbed my head, writhing in pain. He didn’t accept my answer.

“Try harder.” He said monotonously. Cursing him in my mind, I had no choice but to keep trying, even though I was already exhausted.

Damn it, where the hell is all of that blood I sucked up when I need it? I Thought. At that moment, I felt my back getting warmer - the rose was heating up. Then suddenly, I felt blood burst forth from the rose, flowing into the vines.

*BANG!!!* We all looked up. I had forgotten that I was still trying to lift the truck when I released all of that power. The vehicle had crashed into the stadium ceiling, which was more than 10 meter high. It had lodged itself into the concrete, showing no sign of falling off as we stared at it silently.