“I find going for the head works on most, if not all of her kind…”

Calypso wondered to herself, as she listened to her professor and watch her hoist a nurse from the ground with her sword wedged between her eyes… Why does she still have periods of culture shock?

The girl heard this monster threaten, and she quotes, “gut [them] all with her tongues”. This isn’t a woman anymore, in any sense… But as the girl practically cowered along with her cohorts, witnessing their senior’s display of skill and power towards this skinwalker… Calypso was still stuck on how human they still looked.

“Eeeven if,” Mrs. Moses continued, lifting the nurse towards the ceiling now, “More likely than not, possessing no vital weak-points, it’s something easy to grab, aim for, and provides an easy counter for most Subsumed. Watch, now it’s going to try attacking out of desperation and—”

As if on cue, the Subsumed nurse gibbered to the point of saliva lanced out before the various tongues did.

Erupting from the creature’s mouth, the flexible muscles engaged in such speeds, it forced them to transform into whips. Pink, flesh-colored, wet whips.

Despite falling short, they lashed out at the girls first. Gale shrieked out, huddled closer to the gnat as she looked about, no doubt trying to figure out an escape route if this failed. Calypso was so worried for the others, she didn’t realize that one tongue flicked at the base of her bed, causing her to jump violently in her sheets.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

But it meant precious little. It was still too far away.

“See?” Mrs. Moses said with a confident cock of her head. “Restraining them in their human guise is always the way forward, much more easy to manage because we’re more familiar with the anatomy…”

There was a quick, yet familiar flash of light—and the forceful screams that came from nowhere confirmed Calypso’s quick suspicions.

Her professor whipped her water blade, forming into a spiral to snare the Subsumed nurse and settle into a whip of her own. Folding in on itself to become netting, forcing the creature down to the ground as it struggled. The series of tongues tried in vain to break the surge’s connection, but to no avail. It was like a child thrashing an active water faucet and wondering why the liquid doesn’t stop despite swiping at it.

In awe, Calypso looked at Mrs. Moses’ other hand, which sure enough, had her ring that housed her gem. The woman rubbing the band with her thumb, as the entire thing shined brightly.

“It’s so easy, to go on the attack, but these specks thrive on their enemies making the first blow…Or rather, cut.”

The professor pointed at her head, ceasing her rubbing of her ring. That clued Calypso in, as she looked at the nurse… Whose wound was sealed by a blob of water, that was lanced with darkness trying in vain to force itself out.

The nurse struggled, her entire dainty frame swelling unnaturally in size and girth with an arrhythmic pace. As if…

“Subsumed rely on ripping apart their hosts, it’s how they… ‘Transform’, if you will. Pressing the issue would result in them getting the necessary spark they need, and now the battle’s tempo is immediately changed, and you’re plunged in unfamiliar territory dealing with a body you don’t know, but they do.”

Calypso blinked.

It was official. Mrs. Moses would have totally killed her, had she not been so merciful.