Sliding the axe out from my heart felt like a far heavier choice than anything else I've taken out. Like pulling a heavy dumbbell from a rack. It feels important, more than just a weapon to use...

Once I pulled the striking gray, silver, and red axe fully free, a rush of strength filled me, then almost dropped the thing because it was surprisingly heavy. I can really feel a difference with this one against the dagger I looted off the assassin.

This feels far more impactful than using my stat points, but I increased it by the same amount? I have so many questions. It was about the length of my arm and felt more heavy than the hawks, but it was being offset by the increase of strength the axe was giving me.

Wow, this is going to be great to use. I felt giddy about the axe in my hands, like something in me loved the ornate axe and I didn't feel any need to resist the feeling even if I didn't remember or know why I liked it so much.

It's infinitely better than craving blood and flesh, I don't want to be picky on non dangerous feelings right now. I put my feelings aside for a moment and focused on what was going on in front of me.

HighJack was not having a good time against the roots, and it wasn't like he was in danger, but anytime he tried to move forward, a new wave of roots rushed to push him back. He seemed to be getting absolutely livid at the scenario. Let's get started before he blows a fuse.

I brought my axe up with both of my hands, lining it up with a cluster of 4 roots that were currently as assailing him.

I felt powerful as I swung the heavy axe down with the most force I had ever used before.

The axe whistled through the air before it slammed into it's target, cleaving into them.

The blade only stopped after severing 3 of the root and leaving the last one dangling by shred.

I pulled my axe free and quickly backed up, getting as far as possible from any of the writhing the roots might do.

I absolutely didn't want to get accidentally killed or knocked unconscious by some roots throwing a tantrum.

The nearby roots did exactly what I thought, wildly slamming against the concrete structure and railing in a fit of rage at the unsuspected attack.

The absurd amount of force it was using that could easily snap me in half if I got in the way made me shiver.

Concrete dust sprayed everywhere, and the railing snapped like a toothpick before they slowed to a stop, and then hurt roots started retracting back upstairs. Maybe to heal or something.

The concrete dust spread all over where I was and couldn't help but breathe it in.

My lungs all of sudden didn't feel great as I breathed in the dust, setting my lungs on fire and sending me into a desperate scramble to get out.

I couldn't see through the sheer amount of dust, and my eyes started watering as well. Annoying roots!

I covered my mouth with my sleeve and stumbled downstairs to escape the dust.

"Mera? What the hell?!" I blinked away the dust and saw HighJack holding a limp root. I couldn't see his expression underneath the helmet he was wearing, but he sounded really confused.

I coughed a few times before I managed to speak. "What, Never seen a chimera before?"

He let out a poorly restrained laugh and let a sigh of steam escape his helmet. "Nice that you're in one piece and cracking jokes, but you should get downstairs before the Rootcap tries to hurt you again. Oh, Narg, that looks like a nasty concussion! How are you walking?!"

My free hand reached up and brushed away some hair getting in my vision and felt a warm, sticky liquid covering it.

I pulled hand in front of my face to see what was, even though I almost certainly knew what it was.

A silvery white, metal like substance soaked my fingers and shimmered a dull light. This can't be blood. Can it?

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The substance seeped down my fingers and pooled in my palm, like mercury. I brought it up to my mouth, and- "Mera?"

I turned my attention to HighJack and let my hand fall down, letting the blood fall to the ground.

"I, um... My skill healed me somewhat." A itch in my chest built, and I coughed to alleviate it.

A small cloud of dust erupted from my mouth. "I still feel awful, though."

HighJack flinched a bit at the dust and looked around for something. He started to go downstairs, ushering me to go with him. "Follow me. I'll get you a potion when we get to the lobby."

I wordlessly nodded and walked beside him on the way, I noticed the roots were blocking the space we were leaving.

The scent of pumpkin pie lingered in the air as we went downstairs, and a weak pang of hunger followed.

I gulped, pushing the feeling down. The curse of hunger at least partially healed my concussion, so my hunger probably spiked like it did with my lungs earlier. Why the hell does it smell like that?... Wait.

I recently smelled pumpkin pie just 30 minutes ago, and it also told me why it would smell like that. "Is Den hurt?"

"Yeah... he got stabbed by the Rootcap. How did you know? There's no blood spots or anything to see about that."

I pinched my nose closed to try to relieve myself from the smell. It didn't work. "You can't smell his blood? It absolutely reeks of pumpkin pie. Oh, that's probably just me."

HighJack did a double take at me and let out a baffled 'huh' at me. "Are you serious? Blood smells like pumpkin pie to you?"

I shook my head. I probably shouldn't have talked about this, but I mentioned it already. I'll explain a little bit. "No, just Den. All of you have different scents."

"When would you. Oh, when we were paralyzed, right!?" HighJack and I got down to the second floor, where I could hear someone talking below us.

I nodded at HighJack as I tried to figure out who was talking beneath us.

"What do I smell like the then, Oh and what about Echo?" HighJack asked with a strangely excited voice. I gave him a strange look as we speeded up our descent.

The roots stopped following us as we crossed the threshold to the 1st floor stairwell, and both of us relaxed a bit. "Why... why would you want to know that?"

HighJack opened the door for me, so I walked into the main lobby of the office with 2 bathrooms. He was about to answer me when Echo spoke. "Just trust Jack he'll figure something out."

"Is he really going to get her? Rootcaps are notoriously hard to..." Den turned to me and blinked a few times before throwing his hands up. "Or I'm dead wrong, and he'll do it in less than 10 minutes!"

HighJack shut the door behind him, took off his helmet, and let out a long sigh. "I didn't do squat. She came down on her own."

I looked around for Pulse and found her slumped in a chair, groaning in pain as she held her head. Wasn't Den the one who stabbed?

Echo looked at me, and a look of horror spread across her face. She stopped what she was doing and rushed over towards me. "Mera, what happened?!"

Wariness grew in me at her rapid approach, and I backed away from her, raising my axe slightly as well. My heart started racing, and I surveyed the room for advantages.

Echo's expression shifted from horror to one of deep concern and slowed a stop just outside my reach. "Mera?"

I tightened my grip on my axe and... and...

My angel popped out from behind a desk. They saw me and let out an anxious mew and limped over to me.

I kept glancing at them and back to Echo as they went past my axe and pushed their head into my hand.

My hand glowed a deep purple, and their head glowed a soft yellow. The two a connection re-stitched themselves together, and feelings of concern and relief flooded in from it. What am I doing?

I glanced around another time. This time, it felt safer with my angel subconsciously assuring me. My whole body got ready to fight. If she didn't stop, or I might have actually swung at her.

I let out a long breath of air and let my axe fall down to my side. I couldn't help but look to the ground at Echo's stare. I was probably going to get scolded for this. "Sorry..."

"It's alright. You have to be stressed out of your mind." I looked up to meet her shimmering red eyes and nodded weakly. That makes sense. I think.

Den mumbled something, but my focus was on Echo, who was staring at my blood-soaked hair. "Can I check your injuries?"

"No." I said on impulse and scratched my arms at the thought of being groped.

She looked at my hands that were now digging into my arms and bit her lip. A long fang broke skin, and a small trickle of blood went down her chin.

"Please? I can ask you each time I intend to do something." Echo pleaded to me as the faint smell of red velvet spread throughout the room.

"But Jack..." I didn't finish my thought. He offered me a potion, but those were expensive, and I don't want to be indebted to anyone.

I reluctantly nodded my head and walked over to the girl's bathroom with Echo and my panther following close behind.

"So do you have any ideas for your and angel's name?" I paused and turned to her for a few seconds.

"I haven't had the chance to think of much. And I don't have a lot of memories to pull names from." I tilted my head slightly and recalled Elpis, and how that i gave them a name off the cuff.

She nodded and reached under her trench coat. "How about you and I go to a library after things calm down? The meaning of a name is important to saints and angels."

"But is Echo that meaningful of a name?" I realized how rude that sounded the moment it came out of my mouth.

"It is to me, and that makes it meaningful to the world as well." Echo responded with no sign of being offended.

I moved over to the counter in the bathroom and sat down on it.

Echo waited a moment for me to get a bit more comfortable down, then pulled out a syringe with a wide nozzle that was full of a grey fluid. "Alright, can I start?"