Rainbows and unicorns skipped merrily down the sunny lane beside a blissful bat. The cloudless sky above was as beautiful as a rose that bloomed during winter. Woodland creatures sang to her in harmony while wind sprites danced a heartfelt jig wherever she looked.
Caught in her own dreamlike Paradise, Bathilda was oblivious to what was going on as she sipped her cocktail through a straw, enjoying her own personal version of heaven. She felt as though she was God herself, with a great physique and a harem of pretty creatures.
Life was perfect.
But in the blink of an eye, all of her new wonderful friends vanished. The sprites, critters and unicorns were abruptly erased from Bathilda's fantasy world. With their disappearance, her mood turned sour and the liquid in her glass tasted bitter. Left feeling empty and alone, the rainbows melted away and the skies above darkened to black.
Thunder rang out and lightning illuminated the withering area, right as Bathilda spotted an unknown object speeding towards her.
Back in reality, Bathilda had drained the Brat dry. It only took her a matter of seconds. Unbeknownst to her fantasy self, the large barrelling object was actually one of the three remaining Brats.
As the monster reached the motionless human-turned-bat, it attempted to disable one of the dangerous appendages that had felled its kin. Slashing down through her wing with its claw, the Brat managed to tear multiple sections into the leathery membrane.
Bathilda didn't even have time to flinch as her mind snapped back to reality and pain cried out from the left side of her body. It didn't stop there though and the Brat's claw sliced into her flesh with enough force to send her hurtling through the air. To add insult to injury, the creature's filthy tail whipped her across the face just before Bathilda left the monster's striking distance.
"Are you fucking kidding me!?"
Crashing to the floor and rolling to a stop, Bathilda knew she had just taken some serious damage.
"I don't want to die, Bathilda!"
We're not going to die, Hiro.
Coughing up blood and bleeding from her stomach, Bathilda managed to right herself before standing up and reevaluating her situation. None of the Brats had closed the distance between them yet. Instead they had opted to guard the corpse of the fallen monster. Making sure the insane bat wasn't able to feast on it again.
Thanks to that little respite, Bathilda was quickly able to check the notification about the damage she had received and her heart dropped.
Unable to believe the notification, Bathilda brought up her status, but that only helped to confirm what she didn't want to believe. She had been brought down to single digits in HP and her second life was likely to not last much longer. The fact that she was only Level 3 also showed that her growth had slowly considerably since her last evolution.
Still, even though she was bleeding out and torn up on one half, Bathilda refused to go down without a fight.
I'm not running away this time!
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She declared, even though every movement caused more pain to shoot through her body. Not that she could have run away. Even if she wanted too, her left wing was in tatters. There was no chance.
"If you're going to go bat shit crazy every time that you see blood, we're fucked!"
I can control it.
Weakly, Bathilda tried to reassure not only her companion, but herself too.
"Bullshit! We're fucked. Fucked! That's twice you've done it now. We're going to die here and I'm going to have to see that stupid God and his stupid smug-looking face again all to soon."
If you're not going to contribute anything helpful, then shut up!
Annoyed at herself, Bathilda snapped at Hiro as she checked herself over one last time. All of her body hurt from being thrown across the room. She was bleeding from a few different places and one of her wings was out of commission.
Still, Bathilda had one wing left and her fangs. Although, if an enemy got close enough to bite, it would probably be game over for her and the miniscule remains of her health bar. She couldn't afford that.
With that in mind, Bathilda watched as the Brats carefully began advancing towards her. Spread out to avoid being attacked at the same time, the remaining rodents surrounded her in a trianglular formation.
With a bleak-looking future ahead of her, Bathilda was ready to give everything she had left to win the fight. There were only two outcomes.
Life or death.
Sensing her resolve, the Brats moved faster to close the distance and leapt at Bathilda the moment they got within range. She barely dodged the first rodent's claws and instead took another slap to the face by it's tail. The second brat missed completely thanks to that and Bathilda managed to jump out of the way of the third.
She didn't forget to release a (Wing Slash) on the way with her good wing either.
Fortunately for Bathilda, and the still panicking Hiro inside her mind, the force of her attack was enough to push her out of harms way. Two Brats stared at her, the third had been sliced in half from the attack and was no longer in the fight.
"Yes, Bathilda!"
Not creating the most distance and not receiving a Level up either, Bathilda landed unsteadily while trying to shoot off two more attacks in quick succession. One managed to connect, but it only served to sever a tail. Worse yet, it left Bathilda off balanced.
The tailless enemy was rolling on the floor in pain, shrieking loudly while the last remaining Brat rushed at Bathilda in outrage.
With her mangled wing held close to her bleeding chest, Bathilda steadied herself the best she could from her poor landing before the Brat leapt at her once more. The monster, full of hate and foaming at the mouth, shot through the air with rage in its eyes.
Out of reflex more than anything, Bathilda raised her wing to shield herself and a fine blade of wind was shot at the defenceless Brat. The rodent's body split into two separate halves that continued through air, passing the bat hiding her face and landing behind her with a splat.
The Brat's death granted her a brief recovery in the form of a level up. It also soaked her in blood from head to toe. Unlike the last few times, Bathilda's level up was not enough to completely heal her wounds. It did manage to stop the bleeding somewhat aswell as sewing the tear in her wing.
Bathilda has reached Level 4
Skill (Identify) has reached Level 3
Skill (Blood Sucking) has reached Level 3
Skill (Wing Slash) has reached Level 5
Skill (Wing Slash) has become (Wing Slash+)
Cost: 5MP
Twice as effective as before, tearing through enemies has never been so easy now that mana is infused into every strike
"Yes! Fucking Yes, Bathilda! Hahaha! That's what I'm talking about."
Twitching and shaking, Bathilda's eyes widened in delight. She was once again lost to the world of notifications as she licked the luscious nectar from her lips.
Hahaha.
Laughing maniacally, Bathilda stared at the tailless Brat. The only monster still alive. The rodent wasn't moving and appeared to be terrified of the monster that had just slaughtered its kin. She didn't even recognise it as the one who had caused her so much pain earlier.
All she saw was dinner.
"Bathilda?"
Dashing foward, Bathilda dove on top of the Brat as it attempted to flee. Wrapping it up in her wings, she gave it no opportunity and sunk her fangs deep into the back of its neck. With her victory assured, Bathilda began absorbing the sweet nectar of life from the victims of her small massacre.