Using her tentacles to lift herself, Jenny got to her feet and summoned her hatchet. It slipped out of the angel's belly with a satisfying gush, and the creature buckled to its knees, screaming and howling. Her left hand squeezed the handle, and she grimaced as the angel screamed again, in a pitch so high that it felt like being stabbed in the ears.

She'd been so close. If she'd hit the angel with her right arm, that blow would've been immensely more powerful, and this would've been over. But still. This was good. The angel couldn't stand. All she had to do was land one more solid attack.

Even on its knees, the angel was enormous. It took up almost all the space between a ruined pillar and a broken table. Red goo from the crushed cocoon was glistened on its neck and chest. Blood rushed out of its navel despite its best attempts to stop the flow with two hands. A third arm held onto the pillar; the other was pressed firmly on the floor as the angel sucked in deep breaths, hissing and drooling and glaring. Its wings fluttered pitifully.

Jenny's right arm hung loose. It was useless from the elbow down, but she ignored it and marched right toward the creature. A Vital Throw to the head. She'd follow that up with Ignite and boil its eyes and then attack again and again and again.

The Potion has run its course.

All of a sudden, whatever was holding her up was cut off, and she cried out, losing her footing. Every ache, the hurt of every bruise and every scratch hit her simultaneously. Her head spun. She slipped on the glistening floor. She caught herself with her tentacles so that she hung like a ragdoll. Bile rose to her throat, burning her insides. Her arm hurt so much she almost wanted to tear it off.

She hissed, trying to stifle the pain. Tears streamed down her face and clouded her vision. She'd been so close. So close.

You need Energy, Jenny Huang. To heal. To reinforce yourself. Victory is within reach.

“How?” she whispered, straining against the pain. “The only angels left are the undead. And they don't give me shit.”

Eve didn't say the next bit. At least not in words, but Jenny understood. The three-headed figure flickered in her thoughts; she saw her mother's face, then Susan's, then Leslie's. She saw Leslie in the janitor's closet, hugging her legs, huddled with the others Jenny had saved from the web. They were right there. Waiting in the closet. Ripe for the picking. All she had to do was kill them.

Victory is within reach. You must claim it.

Jenny shuddered. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears escaping from the corners. Hunger rampaged through her, and she knew one bite would replenish her. One human kill would give her everything she needed. She swore at herself. Swore at Eve. Cursed this stupid game. Cursed what she'd become. What she'd always been. All she could think about was soft flesh between her teeth. Biting and chewing and swallowing, and again she remembered how soft Susan had looked, drained of all her strength and leaning against Jenny... How good she'd smelled. But something else caught her attention. Something immediate. Something right next to her.

It was sweet, and the more she focused on it, the more her tentacles went into overdrive, whipping uncontrollably. So this had been stirring her hunger and pulling apart the edges of her mind. She opened her eyes and raised her hatchet, staring at its obsidian face as her hand shook. She swore she could feel her every heartbeat. She'd caught this scent before. When she'd attacked its spine, but it had slammed her away before she could indulge.

The angel's blood was stuck to the obsidian like paint splattered across dark glass. It dripped from the sharp edge, and she shuddered when a drop hit the floor and splashed. She could hear it. Feel it. And she almost gave into the instinct of dropping on all fours and sucking it off the dirty tiles, but why would she do that when there was still so much left on her hatchet?

Inhaling deeply, Jenny flattened her tongue against her hatchet and licked all the way to the top. She ran her tongue side to side, from the handle to the sharp edge, and slurped when she'd drooled too much. A tingling spread from her tongue down to her chest and through her entire body, from her forehead to her toes, to the tips of her tentacles. Sweet, like biting into a freshly peeled clementine, the burst of flavor. All the world faded away and all that mattered was picking up that next piece and popping it into her mouth. This wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough.

She smiled as the angel howled again in anguish. It was moving away, crawling and limping, spilling more precious blood. No matter how strong it was. No matter how many levels it had on Jenny. A hatchet to the belly wasn't something it could just shake off.

It was headed for the darkness. Where more Tarnished Angels crawled out, hissing and hungry. But the Desecrated Angel was even hungrier, and it grabbed them and fed.

Jenny groaned. The angel was doing what Eve had wanted her to do. Eat the others. Grow strong enough to win. Jenny willed herself forward and stumbled as pain shot through her ruined arm. Pain that burst into her head like fireworks. Forcing her to stop and hyperventilate. She'd been through worse, but that didn't make this any more bearable. Her dominant arm was useless.

“Okay,” she said, spitting. She pulled up her stats, glancing at how much Energy she had left.

Jenny Huang

Human (stage ii) (level 26) (blooded)

Stats:

Power: 30

Stamina: 25

Durability: 20 (+30)

Agility: 25

Stat points available: (0)

Energy available: (1494)

Hope wasn’t lost. She’d been lucky. Killing off the angels in the cocoon had given her so much to work with; she could’ve laughed with joy. She couldn't heal her arm right away, but she had enough for what she needed to win right now. Another Major Potion of Fortification shimmered into existence in her left hand, and she downed it in one go.

She threw the container over her shoulder. That familiar surge shuddered through her, and again she felt like she could do anything. Pain dulled slightly, but then spiked all of a sudden. She gasped and nearly face-planted. Pressure formed in her lungs, a tightness that caught her breath, and she choked. She smacked her exoskeleton-covered chest Then again, hard enough to make a crack, and she coughed up blood and whatever was in her stomach.

Using performance enhancement creations without rest will result in bodily rejection.

“I figured that out,” said Jenny, swallowing hard and trying to ignore the lump in her throat. "You couldn't tell me that before I made it?" She could've healed her arm instead and tried to figure something else out.

You have 5 minutes before this potion loses effect.

Five? She blinked repeatedly as her body relaxed. Five minutes? Half of what I’d gotten last time, but alright. All I have to do is kill this thing and then I can relax. Then I’d have all the Energy I need to do whatever I want.

She looked at her ruined arm. The whites of fractured bones jutted out from torn skin. Her elbow was crushed to nothing, and looking at her own exposed tendons made her feel even sicker. At least the pain had faded to a dull throbbing. Healing it would have to wait. But she was sure she could do this. She was sure she could defeat the Desecrated Angel.

Concentrating, she shifted her exoskeleton, peeling it back slightly from her forearm to thicken around her elbow. The red covering melted and jiggled around, sealing in the cracks and reinforcing it, before hardening once again, making her shudder as it took hold in her ruined flesh and bones. She didn’t bother with the scales this time. It looked as monstrous as she felt.

Satisfied that it would hold her arm together, she snaked one of her tentacles from her shoulder down to her wrist. By moving the tentacle, the arm moved well enough to at least defend herself. Her fingers still worked. She closed and opened a fist, but it didn’t feel strong enough to hold her hatchet. Much less attack. She’d have to keep using her left for now.

Alright. I’m losing time. With one cursory glance at her stats to make sure they were actually doubled and there weren't more adverse effects from using the potion again, she set off, rushing toward the Desecrated Angel whose enormous form took up the center of the cafeteria.

Excitement filled her thoughts like a beehive, an endless buzzing. She wanted more of its blood with every fiber of her being. She quickened her pace, half running, tentacles swishing. The angel turned. It was hunched over the darkness, and its blue eyes flashed. A Tarnished Angel was in its mouth, feet first, its arms swinging as its back arched. The frail angel let out a final scream, reaching desperately before vanishing behind the Desecrated Angel’s lips.

Once it swallowed, the Desecrated Angel roared, shaking out its wings. It spat up flecks of blood and flesh and bone. Blue light flashed, and its navel wasn’t bleeding any more. But it was still a mess. Raw pink and red flesh, torn open and exposed.

The angel's piercing blue eyes met hers. And she stared back wondering if it could sense Jenny's blood lust. Wondering if it was afraid. Wondering if it even understood. When she'd been an angel, her mind had been an incoherent barrage of despair and hunger, but this angel had pupils. Eyes that looked almost human. It had tended to the other cocoons. It understood rage.

She remembered back in the chem lab when it had chosen her for feeding. How it wanted her blood; and now how she wanted its blood. She licked her lips. She wanted more than just blood. She wanted to bite through its fingers and chew and swallow. She wanted to bite through its throat and drown its final scream in blood and watch the blue fade from its eyes. Every inch of her tentacles wanted more.

The angel roared and flapped its wings, rising to tower over Jenny, guarding its navel with one hand and attacking with the other three. Blood spilled from its torso, and with its back injured so badly, its movements were even slower.

Its size was still a problem, enormous and furious. Jenny slapped away two arms with her tentacles, twisting and turning to dodge the third. She rushed right for its belly, trying to get another strike in. But the angel didn’t move the hand over its core once. Blue light flashed. It hissed with rage and swiped her legs, and she realized it was trying to catch her again. Eating her was the only way it could win now. The Tarnished Angels must not have given it nearly enough to recover fully.

Jenny switched up her approach, painfully aware of how little time she had before her the potion ran out again. Then it would be game over. She couldn’t exhaust herself in a futile fight, just dodging and failing. She kicked off the floor and launched herself backward and away.

The angel blinked. It hadn’t expected that. Then it bared its teeth and spread its wings, knocking through a ruined pillar and pushing a table away. Another Tarnished Angel emerged from the darkness between them, but neither of them glanced at it. Jenny was locked onto the Desecrated Angel, and it was solely focused on her.

Jenny launched her hatchet at its oversized head. Before the handle even left her fingertips, she was dashing forward. Instant Acceleration. Her arms crossed in front of her face, she burst through the Tarnished Angel and slammed into the Desecrated Angel's hand-covered torso as hard as she could. Her hatchet bounced off its face, leaving another crack on its nose, then skittered away.

The Desecrated Angel bellowed in pain, nearly doubling over as blood spurted out from underneath its palm and claws. It swiped viciously for Jenny, but she was ready. Her shoulders ached from the impact, and her reinforced right arm felt like it was about to tear off, but she caught the creature's large arm with both hands and used it to hoist herself up. She leaped into the air and was already swinging her left arm as light flashed and her hatchet appeared. But before the edge could make contact with the angel’s face, the creature raised a hand and blocked her attack.

But this was the hand Jenny had burned before. She'd attacked it several times already. Cracks lined its metallic covering, and her hatchet sliced through its four fingers with ease.

+50 Energy

The angel's forearm struck Jenny on the chin, and she was thrown away, landing on her back and sliding across the floor. Her jaw and neck hurt, and she heard a crack as she straightened up. Her injured arm hurt even more, but she couldn't help grinning.

Her attacks felt more decisive. She was getting quicker and quicker, and it was becoming second nature. Maneuvering. Twisting. Attacking. All the while, the angel was getting slower and weaker.

It was huffing hard, dropping again to its knees with enough force to shake the entire cafeteria. Its blonde hair fell in front of it, and Jenny remembered when that angel had attacked her before. When it had been Wretched, it bit into her thigh. It chewed off her fingers. And it would have killed her and Susan if it wasn't for Mrs. Monique and the others from the library.

But she'd gotten her revenge, hadn't she? She'd cut off its fingers now. She only wished she'd done it slower. One finger at a time. But there were still three more sets of fingers.

"Is that all you got?" shouted Jenny, her throat hoarse. Her tentacle tightened around her right arm. She heard an ugly click where her elbow used to be attached, but that didn't matter. This was about to end soon. Then she could heal up with all the Energy she'd get from killing this bitch.

Now that it had dropped, Jenny was almost level with its massive head. Even if she couldn't get to its belly, she'd already cracked its face. She'd thrown a table at it. She'd hit it with her hatchet. She just had to puncture its exoskeleton again. Break through and slash and slash and slash.

The angel beat its wings. Wind shuddered through the cafeteria, and it snarled, leaping at Jenny. It kept low to the floor, staying on its knees and two arms like some sort of giant humanoid insect. Its claws scratched the air, inches in front of Jenny's face. Its fingerless hand swung at her. Jenny misdirected that arm by knocking it back with her tentacle, giving her an opening to swing.

She wanted to catch it on the cheek or cut off its nose, but it hissed and slammed another arm on the cafeteria floor, destroying the floor and causing Jenny to lose her footing in the explosion of tiles.

The angel slammed its head into Jenny's chest, knocking the breath from her lungs. But it kept its head pressed to her, and pushed her back and upward, lifting her body off the floor. Her hatchet bounced harmlessly off the angel's ear, and it flapped its wings so hard that everything around them, rubble and tables and bodies, blew away in a storm of mist and dust. It smashed Jenny into the ceiling with enough force to crater the entire thing.

She threw up blood. Her hatchet slipped from her hand, and she saw stars bursting behind her eyes. The three-headed figure appeared and blinked away. Darkness rose like twin tidal waves from each side and spilled through her head.

Out of desperation, she grabbed a fistful of its blonde hair and yanked. Hair tore off, ripping out of its scalp, sticky with sweat and blood. The angel screamed and snapped its head side to side, tearing at Jenny. Claws raked her exoskeleton. Claws pierced her tentacles and left deep gashes. It was trying to rip her apart while pinning her to the ceiling with its giant head.

Trying not to scream, and trying not to pass out, Jenny forced air into her lungs, breathing through her bleeding tentacles as well as her nose, storing up as much as she could before expelling it all with one rageful shout. Ignite!

The angel shrieked as its hair caught fire. As flames engulfed its head completely to its shoulders. Its onslaught of attacks slowed as it grabbed its face with multiple hands, trying to pat out the flames, giving enough space for Jenn to slip away.

She was falling, just barely holding onto consciousness. But her body reacted the split second she saw her opportunity.

A flash of light brought her hatchet back to her hand. This time, she did what she'd been aiming for all along. She buried the hatchet into the angel's navel and swung upward. The sharp edge sliced further into its belly, slid up its navel, then through the creature's sternum. Its exoskeleton crackled and split, and Jenny collapsed as blood spurted out and sprayed all over her.

+50 Energy

Blood that she accepted with an open mouth, like trying to catch raindrops at the start of a storm. Her tentacles swished as the angel's cries vibrated through the floor and through each of her tentacles until she couldn't hold them back anymore. There was no stopping the impulse. The absolute need that took control.

Each tentacle, even the one she'd wrapped around her ruined arm, latched onto the angel's belly. Each one slid through the wound and squished through the angel's insides and began to slurp.

She pumped the angel's blood into herself, four greedy swallows at a time. If the precious few drops she'd licked off her hatchet had been a surprising gush of flavor, this was a supernova. Her eyelids grew heavy and dropped. Her breathing deepened, and her heart rate slowed, and new blood flooded through her, swirling into her bloodstream and pumping through her heart.

It ached. It ached in the way a bruise would ache, but she'd still press down anyway. It ached in the way she'd touch herself and try not to make a sound but come completely undone. How she'd claw at the sheets and wonder if she'd ever feel someone else's lips pressed to her own. How badly she wanted to feel loved and whole. This agony was sweet and delicious, and wave after wave of shuddering pleasure spiraled up and down her spine.

Warmth spread. Pain faded and blurred into joy, and she dismissed the notification that her second potion had run out.

She didn't need any more potions now. She didn't want anything else. This blood was richer than the other angels. The lesser angels. The undead angels. This blood had power to it. Something ancient and remarkable. Something divine. And it was inside her. Moving into her.

A whimper escaped her lips. She pressed a fist against her belly button as the urge grew stronger and stronger. She felt it with each breath she took. She felt the angel's breath on her face. Felt its needs and fears, and it felt good. Its breathing was ragged. Smoke rose from its burned scalp as it collapsed onto the floor, right over the darkness that connected worlds.

Some blood spilled into the darkness below, and it soaked up every drop like a sponge. Jenny gnashed her teeth and adjusted her tentacles. She wanted it all. It was all hers. She'd done all this work. Come all this way. She spread the angel's belly open further. The skin tore like cloth. The muscles snapped apart. The exoskeleton cracked like an eggshell. It was losing all its strength. All its durability.

One of its wings lay flat. The other was half unfurled. Up close, it looked like thin, stretched skin. Veins ran through them like webbing, and they were slightly translucent. Its leg twitched. The blue light of its eyes dimmed, and she knew it was almost over. It was dying. Its power was flowing into her, and as soon as it was dead, she would level up tremendously. She would gain enough Energy to do whatever she wanted.

Its large head was starting to remind her of a deflating beachball. The blonde hair was almost completely gone. Only a handful of ashy strands clung to its ruined scalp. She pressed her hand to the creature's chest, pushing it onto its back. Its breathing was shallow and quick. Its chest rising and falling as it struggled for each breath, and a whimper slipped out of Jenny's lips as a new pressure took hold of her.

Her exoskeleton shimmered and grew. The scales reemerged. She dropped to her knees beside its head, her tentacles attached to its navel like several umbilical cords. She was losing it. Losing control. Blood wasn't the only thing she wanted. Just a drink wasn't enough to sate this hunger. Her legs went weak. Her shoulder blades cracked, and two more tentacles exploded out of her back and latched onto the angel, worming deeper into the abdominal space and sliding and squeezing everywhere they could.

Blinking away tears, she stroked the angel's skin before pressing her palm against it, her exoskeleton retracting so she could touch the creature directly, skin to skin. So she could feel its racing heartbeat. Jenny couldn't stop salivating.

She pictured biting through its chest, imagining the angel's breasts to be soft under the exoskeleton. Where she could split its ribs open, get to that frantic heart, and sink her teeth into it as it pumped blood into her mouth and...

It raised an arm as if to attack. But it dropped helplessly with a thud. She looked into its eyes without blinking. The strange, blue eyes. Blue and glistening. The pupils shook as they stared back into Jenny's, unblinking. Was it crying? Was it suffering? She didn't care.

She was hungry. Maddeningly hungry. Like she hadn't eaten in ages. But just as she was about to take her first bite, a series of cracks snapped through the air. Green light flashed from the direction of the entrance, and she heard screaming. Many people screaming.

The front of the cafeteria exploded just as Jenny turned her head. She glimpsed Leslie and the others from the janitor's closet, running and shouting. And then someone stumbled toward them, a big toothy grin on her small, blood-covered face.

Jenny’s jaw dropped. It was Miriam. Her shirt was cut and torn. She was bleeding from a gash in her side. Her hijab had come undone and fluttered behind her. And she dragged a boy by the arm. He was limp on the floor, his head lolling, hanging onto his shoulders by a bit of skin.

Miriam smiled, and red-stained saliva dribbled down her chin. "Hi, Jenny. I was looking for you." Then she pointed a finger at Jenny, and a green bubble of light took shape at her fingertip. Light surged around Miriam’s arm.

"Run!" came another scream. A voice Jenny recognized. A voice that made Jenny’s tentacles stop slurping. She turned and saw Susan, covered in dust, limping toward them with a frantic, fearful look on her face.

She was just about to call back to Susan when green light flashed. Something hit Jenny right in the chest. A burst of heat and force, an explosion that shattered her exoskeleton and flung her way. Her tentacles were wrenched out of the Desecrated Angel, and her head bounced off the ruined pillar before she rolled to a stop on the floor.