We headed back. Thankfully, with my mental map, we easily knew the way to get out of the forest. I walked forward into the darkness, following my mental map. My [Serrated Tentacles] rotated like blades in front of me, cutting any Collum Tree in my path. Light shone through, allowing us to see as some trees fell.

  I decided to take a bite out of the wood. It tasted stale. But very crunchy. I munched on a few pieces as we went through the forest.

  I spotted another faint glow in the darkness. My mouth watered, saliva pooling around my teeth. Another Kaiju fish girl with a lure. We knew how to take her down, and we could eat its juicy, tasty Core with all those souls.

  “Finally, a Core I can eat!” I cheered, sprinting towards the lure. I activated [Color Camouflage II].

  As I got closer, I saw another floating fish girl that violated the laws of physics. She remained stationary in the air. This time, I didn’t try grabbing the lure. The main body should be behind it.

  I [Focused] on my left arm. I drew the [Incantation] for [Sacrificial Limb Bomb] in between the two rings of mana. My left arm detached, pain surging through my shoulder. A searing heat severed flesh and bone. I gritted my teeth, welcoming the agony. It would all be worth it.

  My detached arm began to glow, and the Kaiju fish girl revealed itself. Both her and the other Kaiju fish girl I ate must have been invisible before appearing. She probably had something similar to [Color Camouflage II].

  I hurled my severed glowing limb at the Kaiju. She snatched it out of the air and began shoving it into her mouth.

  Boom.

  A shockwave echoed throughout the forest. The explosion eviscerated its jaws, and the Kaiju girl fell to her knees. Her flesh quickly began regenerating. She started trying to stand up.

  Nope.

  I began [Focusing] on my right arm, forming the [Sacrificial Limb Bomb] [Incantation]. I clenched my teeth, and Samsara winced as my arm detached. Blue blood spurted out, and my right arm began to grow. My hair tentacles grabbed onto the severed limb and tossed it at the Kaiju girl’s chest.

  The arm hit her in the chest. The Kaiju girl was slow to react, grabbing the arm. It exploded moments later.

  I rushed forward, my tentacles scrambling over the gore. My tentacles ripped open the ruined chest, shoving aside blood, steaming lungs, and rib cage bones. One tentacle grabbed the Core as the other [Serrated Tentacles] kept the cavity open. I dragged the Core out of her body, and she slumped over.

  I tossed the Core immediately into my mouth, slurping the gelatinous orange sphere down my throat. I began taking large chunks out of the Kaiju fish girl’s corpse. It was like eating a giant load of garlic bread mixed with lemonade. A weird combination, yet still incredibly tasty.

  “You think everything is tasty,” Samsara said.

  “Am I wrong, though?” I asked her telepathically while chewing on a chunk of the Kaiju’s corpse.

  “Okay, okay, I find it tasty too,” she said. A smile formed on her face. “Plus, it means you get to heal your arms faster. So it’s a double win for me.”

  Warmth spread throughout our bodies as I absorbed the Core. I let out a contented hum as I devoured another piece of meat. Samsara [Tracked] our souls. We had gone from 3,100 souls to 4,800 souls. Some of those souls were the monkey girls, while the rest came from this Kaiju fish girl. I ate the rest of the body.

  "We can evolve," I realized, the thought echoing loudly in our shared mind. "Samsara, if we eat the Core you’re holding, we will hit the threshold. Don’t you want to grow again?"

  “Nope,” she simply said.

  She slithered her upper body around, clutching the first Kaiju Core tightly to her chest, shielding it from me. Her eyes were hard. "This is for Aisling. You can wait. If I let you eat this, then we might never have a Core for Aisling herself, since you would always convince me to eat the Cores. So Nope."

  Ouch.

  She slithered over to me. “You can eat the rest of the corpse, though.”

  I consumed the rest of the flesh and blood. Wiping my mouth, I [Tracked] our mana. It had gone back to 20,000/20,000. Our excess mana had increased to 10,000. Damn. A lot of mana was wasted on regeneration.

  The trek back to Lateo was quiet. And that was with our enhanced hearing. We could have stayed to fight another Kaiju, but Samsara said that we could always do that later. Best to revive Aisling now so Samsara doesn’t have to worry about carrying and protecting a Core.

  We arrived at the valley, and once we crossed the village threshold, everything inside appeared. The homes on the mountains, Aisling’s upper body, and the scraps of Mech Sparkles.

  Samsara slithered over to the corpse. She placed her hands on Aisling's plastron, right over the sternum. I randomly searched up facts about turtles and turtle girls on my phone one day. The underside of the turtle’s shell was the plastron. In this case, it was the front of Aisling’s torso.

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  "This will work," Samsara whispered, her voice trembling. She was speaking out loud. "It has to work."

  She extended a claw. With surgical precision, she sliced a square into the shell. The bone-like scutes gave way with a sickening crunch. She peeled back the protective layer, revealing the still, silent cavity of Aisling’s chest. Dried, red blood was inside, accompanied by all of Aisling’s organs.

  Samsara placed the glowing Kaiju Core inside.

  We waited. Nothing happened. The Core sat there, a glowing sphere in the dead cavity.

  "Why isn't it working?" Samsara panic spiked. "Maybe... maybe we need to add mana?"

  I looked at the dormant body.

  "We should try [Sacrificial Soul Transfer] first," I suggested, crossing my arms. “Maybe it might need our souls to work. It will also help if there are any negative side effects. Like if the Core makes her aggressive, we can help restrain her.” That last part was important. It would be a bad idea if we resurrected Aisling as a Kaiju and she began attacking us. We would be at a severe disadvantage since Samsara wouldn’t want me to kill her. So it was best to eliminate that possibility.

  Samsara hesitated, then nodded. I placed my hand on Aisling’s cold forehead. I focused on the [Sacrificial Soul Transfer] [Incantation]. And then we fell to the ground. It wasn’t just pain; it felt like our Cores were being hollowed out. It was as if someone had reached inside both of our Cores with a razor blade, trying to cut it out in the most grueling way imaginable.

  We writhed in the dirt. My vision blurred, and Samsara screamed.

  Eventually, the pain subsided.

  “Are you okay, Samsara?” I asked her.

  “Could be better,” she said. “But it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  I decided to double-check by [Tracking] our souls.

  Crap. We went from 4,800 souls to 3,227 souls.

  Well, at least we learned two things here. The first thing was that I was now more confident that we could revive Aisling. The second thing was that we should avoid doing this because it hurt like fucking hell.

  “Okay, I’ll try reviving Aisling now,” Samsara said.

  “Go for it,” I said. This better be worth it, losing all those souls.

  Samsara placed her hand on Aisling’s chest and activated [Sacrificial Mana Transfer]. Thankfully, this skill mutation wasn’t painful at all.

  The reaction to the skill was instantaneous. Flesh bubbled around the incision Samsara made, sealing the Core inside. Massive shifts occurred under the shell. First, the two stumps at the bottom of her torso elongated. Bone cracked and lengthened with muscles weaving rapidly as two thick reptilian legs burst out of her bottom. Samsara slithered away to give her limbs space. I could spot a small turquoise tail forming.

  But the regeneration didn’t stop there.

  From the top of Aisling’s head, a flesh stalk shot up. It thickened, roped with muscle, and dangled in front of Aisling’s face. The tip of the stalk swelled, flesh and then skin piling up. It was transforming into a… girl. An exact replica of Aisling, except way smaller. The Aisling clone began to glow.

  "What the..." I stared. Did Aisling get the Kaiju fish girl’s mutation?

  Aisling’s eyes snapped open. Our hearts beat faster as we realized what that meant. Aisling roared and lunged. Her massive jaws snapped shut millimeters from Samsara’s face as Samsara leaped back. Then, Samsara froze, paralyzed by heartbreak and terror. Aisling recoiled for another strike, caustic drool dripping from her mouth and onto the ground below, obliterating the grass.

  Nope. Cut that out.

  I reached out through our soul link. I slammed my will into Aisling’s now feral consciousness. I seized control of her nervous system, locking her muscles rigid.

  Aisling froze mid-lunge, her jaws wide open, and her arms reaching out for Samsara. I could feel her fighting me, but her body was mine now.

  I had Aisling sit. She sat cross-legged next to us.

  "At least she's alive," I said. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "And look on the bright side. We have a Kaiju we can control. Isn’t that amazing?"

  Samsara didn't look at me. She stared at the feral monster wearing Aisling’s face. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  "This isn't..." Her voice cracked in my mind. "This isn't how it's supposed to be. She wanted to eat me, Ramona."

  “Well, now I am making sure she isn’t eating you,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “Aren’t you glad about this?”

  “Glad?” Samsara cried out loud. “Why would I be glad? This isn’t Aisling. Where was the outgoing turtle girl who was happy to defend us? She’s not here. Aisling’s mind has been destroyed. And all we have left is this shell of what she was.”

  I nearly giggled as she said shell since Aisling was a turtle girl, but I held my laughter in. Bad timing, I know.

  “Devotio?” Samsara asked. A red flash blinded us, and Devotio appeared, superimposed over the sitting Aisling.

  [Yes?] they asked her.

  “There has to be a way to restore Aisling’s mind, right?” she asked, desperate for anything.

  [As I said previously, within the domain of self-sacrifice, I only have two methods of healing. The first is [Sacrificial Mana Transfer]. The other is [Sacrificial Soul Transfer]. If they do not work, then there is nothing that can be done.]

  Hmm, whatever the scientists at the outpost did must have permanently damaged Aisling’s mind and made her feral.

  Samsara started to sob. Her sadness poured into my mind. I reached out, wrapping my arms around Samsara. She buried her face in my shoulder, weeping. I rubbed her back. While I was fine with the way Aisling was right now, I knew that Samsara wasn’t.

  Footsteps approached from the side. Nara skidded to a halt at the bottom of the mountain. Her eyes went wide as she took in the scene.

  “Aisling!” Nara called out. “I’m so happy you’re alive!”

  Nara ran forward, beaming. She went up to Aisling’s massive shin and tried to hug it. Since I shared Aisling’s senses, I felt Nara’s cool skin rub against Aisling’s leg. Nara didn’t even reach the top of Aisling’s leg, and it was more like she was shoving herself against Aisling’s leg. She was so small.

  Wait a minute, Aisling can’t speak. If she weren’t feral, then she would have been happy to see Nara.

  This might be a problem.