We stood completely still as the feral Kaiju cat girl slowly approached us from below. Crap. I didn’t account for the fact that she could sniff us out. Surely, she would just leave us alone since we were invisible to her?

  She continued taking steps toward us as she sniffed the air. Please go the fuck away. You don’t see anything. There is no reason to come here. The Kaiju cat girl ignored my wishes and arrived at the base of the Collum tree. Her claws dug into the tree's bark, and she slowly began to climb. As she got closer, I saw that she had both a pair of human ears on the side of her head in addition to the two pointed cat ears on top of her head.

  “Should we run?” Samsara asked.

  “Not yet,” I said. “She would hear us, and then attack us with her Wind Skill.” I didn’t have the actual name for the skill mutation, so Wind Skill it was.

  “Are we just going to wait until she’s right on top of us?!” Samsara panicked. “You’re in front of me. She’ll cut you to pieces.”

  “I’m not switching places with you,” I said. We would get cut up by the wind skill. “Just trust me on this.”

  Six of my tentacles stretched downwards and toward the left. The other two continued hiding Irene and the chimera girl behind the leaves. Each of my six lowered hair tentacles pointed toward the Kaiju cat girl. Two of my hair tentacles aimed at her eyes, two at her nose, and two at her mouth.

  I considered stabbing her with [Serrated Tentacles], but unless I killed her in one attack, she could pull and slice at me with her claws. Better to go with a ranged attack.

  I [Focused] my mana on all six of my tentacles and created [Blood Spikes]. The feral Kaiju's eyes widened as it saw them form in midair. As soon as they reached one meter in length, I [Focused] my mana on making the [Blood Spike Launch] [Incantation]. My [Blood Spikes] soared towards the Kaiju girl. She growled and swiped at the air with her claws, but not before my [Blood Spikes] pierced her. She let out a guttural scream. Gusts of wind emerged from her claws and hurtled towards my hair tentacles. I tried to move them out of the way, but the gusts of wind quickly hit my tentacles. It pulled my hair tentacles forward and me along with it.

  Samsara let out a yelp as we were flung off the branch. I felt our bodies crash into multiple leaves and branches, slowing our ascent. We fell back to the ground and landed with a thud. A huge crater formed around us. I pushed myself up off the ground and pulled Samsara’s hands to bring her up.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  The Kaiju cat girl’s growl echoed through the air, followed by the sound of her pawed feet stomping on the grassy floor. Her two tails swished in the air as she approached us. Crap. I should have targeted her ears, too.

  “Stay still,” I told Samsara. We froze as the Kaiju cat girl came into view. She was way taller than we were. I was only as tall as her stomach. The spikes that were pierced by her mouth were gone. Did she eat them? She tried scratching at her nose and eyes. The spikes broke apart, but that just left her blind and anosmic as she clawed her eyes and nose. She let out a guttural scream. I was so grateful she was feral.

  What I was not grateful for was what she did next. She began swiping at the air in random directions. Bursts of wind exited her claws. Two of them hit me, one in each arm. Samsara and I winced as hot pain seared through my shoulders. The sound of wood splintering from the feral Kaiju’s attacks distracted the Kaiju as we flew deeper into the forest.

  We rolled across the floor as we landed. I wanted to scream in pain, but knew I couldn’t. The Wind Skill had cut off my arms. Blue blood leaked from my stumps. Mana quickly went to clot up my wounds.

  “Stay down,” I told Samsara, struggling to concentrate under all the pain. I felt tears form in her eyes due to the extreme pain.

  I dropped [Color Camouflage II] as the Kaiju cat girl growls got closer to us. We made a small crater as we stopped. She had stopped swiping at the air. She made a few more swipes, but luckily, since we were down close to the ground, the only things she hit were the Collum trees.

  We had to end this now. There was no way we were going to outrun her with that skill.

  My hair tentacles quickly went around to encircle the sides of the feral Kaiju. Oblivious, the Kaiju continued clawing at the air, releasing gusts of sharp wind. Four aimed at her cat ears, while the other two aimed at her human ears. I [Focused] on making a [Blood Spike] on the tip of each tentacle. [Blood Spike Launch] sent them flying towards her pointed ears. She screamed in pain as her ears got pierced. She clawed at her ears.

  “Should we run now?” Samsara asked, her body still hugging the grassy floor.

  “No, she can regenerate,” I said. “I’ll end this.”

  The Kaiju cat girl turned in a circle, swiping in every direction. How long until she had the bright idea of aiming towards the ground? I couldn’t let that happen.

  One of my tentacles poked her right arm and darted away. She turned towards the right and began swiping in that direction, her Wind Skill hitting nothing but timber. I activated [Serrated Tentacles] and had my six free tentacles encircle her. One dived in and cut off a piece of her cheek. The tentacle brought the fresh Kaiju meat to my mouth. I quickly chewed on the sweet and metallic-tasting flesh. I swallowed as my tentacles each took turns digging into her.

  One sliced her left eye socket, making sure she didn’t heal. Another one stabbed her forehead. I savored both her flesh and her screams. She started aiming her swipes upwards after her forehead was stabbed, but that didn’t stop my attacks.

  One by one, I ate chunks of her flesh. A new flavor hit my mouth. It was buttery. The flesh I had grabbed was wrinkly and covered in blue Kaiju blood. Was this part of her brain? I let out a content hum as I ate her mind.

  The Kaiju cat girl stopped swiping at the air. Her body stood still and then fell to the ground. Finally.

  I sat up and let out a giggle.

  “Are you alright?” Samsara asked, taking a look at my arm stumps.

  “Samsara, look, we killed it,” I giggled out loud, my hair tentacles pointed to the Kaiju girl.

  “Okay, that wasn’t a yes,” Samsara said. Her concern bled into me. “We should eat her so you can heal your arms.”

  “Oh, right,” I said. I stopped giggling. Why did I even do that? Was it an effect of losing so much blood?

  I felt a bit light-headed. Samsara did too. I [Tracked] our mana. [Mana: 64/10000]. Oh. That’s bad. Even though I had been eating the Kaiju girl, my injuries were so bad that my mana was nearly gone. [Color Camouflage II] probably didn’t help in that aspect either.

  My hair tentacles brought the Kaiju corpse over to us.

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  “You should eat it,” Samsara said. “It will be quicker that way.” Her hair snake tried biting the Kaiju cat girl’s fur, but the fur refused to break off.

  I activated [Serrated Tentacles], bringing our mana even more dangerously close to 0. I scooped out the rest of the meat and greedily gulped it down. It was like I was eating ice cream. Except the ice cream was made of blue blood. I fished out chunks of organs. Each one tasted sweet, just like ice cream. I wish I could eat ice cream. It makes me barf when I eat it.

  My mouth watered as I pulled something out that shone an orange light. This was it. I held onto it as I kept eating the rest of the feral Kaiju’s organs. Best to save this for last.

  I felt Samsara’s mouth also salivate as she saw the orange Kaiju Core. My tentacles finished getting the last chunks of bloody flesh from the Kaiju cat girl’s pawed feet. Now, all that was left in front of us was a furry costume. I wonder if I could wear it. Nah, it’s too big.

  I brought the Kaiju Core up to my mouth. It was about the size of a large mouse to me. I slurped up the orange gelatinous sphere. The warmth of mana spread out through our bodies. And then we felt a tingly sensation in both of our Cores. The cat girl’s corpse started to look smaller and smaller. It’s shrinking. Nope, we were growing. We both hummed as we grew.

  My arms quickly grew back. And soon, our growth came to an end. Aww. I wanted to grow even bigger. I checked out my arms and saw that my biceps had gotten larger. Strength was coursing through both Samsara and me. Samsara’s biceps had also grown larger, muscle bulging on her arms. I took a peek at her stomach and saw she had grown six-pack abs! Her cheeks turned red as I thought that.

  I was too distracted to care about that. I looked down at my stomach, which was covered in ink, yet I could still make out the lines of eight-pack abs.

  I picked up the pile of fur on the ground. Did the Kaiju cat girl also have a six-pack? It must have been hidden by the fur. Lifting it up into the air, I stretched it out with the help of my hair tentacles. It was about the same height as me. Maybe slightly larger. Or was I stretching it too much? I didn’t care too much for it and dropped it to the ground.

  As I dropped it, a red flash appeared in all of our eyes, blinding us. My shoulders tensed, and Samsara winced. Devotio reappeared, their red tentacles of indefinite length wiggling. It’s red eye focused on us.

  [Hello again, my Demiurge. I am here to congratulate you on your second Kaiju evolution, as well as a mutation due to excess mana (17,500). Each grants you access to a set of mutations, which means you have access to two sets of mutations. Your height has gone from 100 meters to 150 meters. And your mana capacity has increased to 20,000. Would you like me to guide you through your possible mutations? Or would you prefer if I don’t intervene?]

  “Definitely intervene,” I said.

  [Excellent. Here are the mutations due to your Kaiju evolution. Please let me know which mutation you prefer.]

  [Tentacle Armed Squid Girl + Venomous Snake Girl]: Your arms on your squid girl's body transform into tentacles. These can be manipulated just like your hair tentacles. Also, your snake fangs gain access to paralytic venom that can be used to stun and immobilize targets.

  [Centipede Hair Tentacles + Dual-Headed Snake Hair]: Your hair tentacles grow several smaller tentacles alongside them, making your hair tentacles look like centipedes. Also, your hair snakes grow an additional head.

  Wait a minute. [Armored Tentacles] would apply to both tentacles I grow, right? In that case, [Tentacle Armed Squid Girl] would be better for me. I wouldn’t have to worry about my arms getting cut off.

  “And I think [Venomous Snake Girl] would be better for me,” Samsara said, putting her clawed hand on her chin as if she were deep in thought. “Venom seems so much more useful than having a second snake hair.” Definitely. Although we would have to get close for her to bite opponents. This could work well with [Color Camouflage II].

  “Okay, we’ll take [Tentacle Armed Squid Girl + Venomous Snake Girl],” I told Devotio.

  [Excellent, I will guide the souls to form that mutation then.]

  I felt my arms shift. I clenched my teeth as my skin stretched and then turned inside out. The pink muscles are separated into different groups. A black rubber-like coating grew over them. Some of the black tentacles curled into my arms, leaving five tentacles to form my fingers. I tried separating the tentacles in my right arm. Each of the tentacles wiggled in the air, free from being bunched up into my arm. Unlike my skin, these tentacles didn’t make any ink.

  This was so cool!

  “Aww,” Samsara pouted. She poked her teeth with her claws. “I don’t feel anything different.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said, giving her a hug. “I’m sure the next mutation will be super cool for you.”

  Devotio’s eye flashed red again.

  [Here are the mutations due to the radiation of excess mana. Please let me know which mutation you prefer.]

  [Tentacle Eyes + Scale Eyes]: Each of your tentacles grows multiple squid eyes. Also, each of your scales grows a snake eye.

  [Red Inky Finger Tentacles + Greater Hair Snake]: Your finger tentacles each grow two red tentacles at the tip. These red tentacles are covered in red corrosive ink that you are immune to. Also, your hair snake doubles in size, and you can give mental commands that the hair snake will follow.

  Okay, it seemed like the second choice was the obvious one we would pick. We didn’t need that many eyes.

  “Yeah,” Samsara said. “Plus, I can get my hair snake to stop trying to eat Irene and the chimera girl.” Both of them were still in my other two hair tentacles. Lucky for them, they didn’t seem to be hurt. They were still unconscious. Samsara’s hair snake was currently trying to stretch towards them, but it was too short.

  “Got it, Devotio?” I said.

  It seemed like Devotio’s entire body moved up and down as if it were imitating a nod. Instead, it just looked uncanny for the sphere to suddenly start moving.

  [Excellent, I will guide the mana into that mutation then.]

  The color of my finger tentacles shifted from black to red, and I felt a painful stretching feeling in my fingers. Two small red tentacles formed on the tips of each of my fingers. Red ink started to coalesce around them. I wiggled all 20 of my new red tentacles.

  Samsara’s hair snake started to lengthen, growing longer and longer.

  “Can you control it?” I asked her.

  I felt Samsara’s mind concentrate on the hair snake. It moved up to my cheek and nuzzled it.

  “Yep!” Samsara’s said. “This is way better now. Although I have to actively focus on the hair snake to control it.”

  I nuzzled the hair snake back.

  [Congratulations on evolving. You will need 5,000 souls for the next evolution. You will also gain an extra mutation for converting 25,000 excess mana to radiation.]

  Devotio’s red eye flashed, and they disappeared again.

  I [Tracked] both my souls and my mana. I had 2,950 souls. Wow, that feral Kaiju cat girl had a slot of souls. My mana was at 20,000, with an extra 1,000 converted to radiation.

  “Honestly, searching for Irene wasn’t so bad,” I said. “Ignoring the fact that my arms got cut off by gusts of wind, we got an evolution and two mutations out of it, and we also got two potential worshipers.” Hopefully, they would wake up soon so we could get them to worship us.

  “I’m glad you are starting to like helping others out,” Samsara said. She gave me a hug, and her hair snake wrapped around my neck.“Even if it is for purely selfish reasons.”

  “Hey, it’s not selfish,” I corrected her. “I’m making sure you are also mutating and getting worshipers.”

  “Technically, I’m a part of you,” she said, wiggling her tail.

  “We still have different minds,” I countered.

  “Fine, I guess you win,” Samsara conceded. My word games had worked.

  “But since you’re a part of me, that means you win too!” I cheered.

  We both giggled as we left the forest.

  “Where did that airship go?” Samsara asked. She looked up at the sky. “Did it just leave after dropping those two mechs?”

  “Possibly,” I said. “Maybe it might come back with more mechs. I’d love to test our new mutations out on them.”

  “We should get Aisling and Nara,” Samsara said, disagreement echoing in her mind. “I want to make sure they are safe. And let them know we found Irene.”

  “Sure.”

  As I walked towards where we left them, Samsara’s heart dropped. The sound of the airship’s engines could be heard faintly in the distance.