The guy came down the hallway in a totally unhurried and unbothered manner. He did pause for a moment at the door to the storage room, and Zoe thought that he might be suspicious of something. But then he shrugged and carried on, until he stopped right below her.

He wore the same simple beige uniform as all of the others. He seemed to be psyching himself up for something — perhaps he had to tell the two pilots something but was nervous about it.

Well if that were the case, Zoe was going to be sure to relieve him of his stress. And other things.

Just as she prepared to drop down, the man glanced over to his right and then froze. Visually tracing the gouges in the sheet metal upwards, his gaze finally landed on Zoe.

She hissed.

Zoe expected the man to scream or attack or run. Instead, he just stood there, staring up in horrified confusion. His face had turned a sickly pale, yes, but his expression wasn’t exactly frightened. It was like he was so scared that all the fear turned into curious fascination.

Or at least, that’s how Zoe interpreted it.

He screamed.

Dropping down, Zoe coiled around his body with her own and stuffed his face into her chest. The scream immediately became muffled, and she set about trying to snap his neck. The key word there was tried.

Her thick, alien muscles bulged, and her talons cleaved deep gouges in the floor panels, but the man’s body refused to break. Her claws were able to draw blood, at least — but they weren’t quite cutting bone-deep.

The man continued to struggle, but he wasn’t actually that strong. With four arms, it was easy to keep him contained, and his strength was pitiful compared to Zoe’s. It was like cradling an angry kitten. An angry kitten who refuses to fucking die already.

It had only been a couple or so seconds, but Zoe was already pissed. This was quickly becoming extremely unsatisfying. Finally, she activated {Kinetic Enhancement}. With the ability supplementing her own ridiculous new strength, she was finally able to twist the man’s head around enough for him to go limp.

Once he did so, her claws suddenly tore into him like tissue paper and she accidentally crushed his torso. The unexpected change was bizarre. Perhaps it was some kind of passive ability that’s gone now that he’s dead?

As Zoe bit off his head, {Devour} confirmed it for her.

{+100 Mana}

{You have devoured an entity possessing a useful durability trait. Consume more similar enemies to gain a new trait.}

Huh.

Zoe didn’t have much time to consider the implications of that, because the people on the other side of the curtain were shouting and it was getting annoying. Ripping off the tarp completely, Zoe stormed into the cockpit, grabbed one of the pilots, ripped his heart out of his chest, and ate it.

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{+305 Mana}

{Devour has leveled up! Devour is now level 4.}

{You have leveled up! You are now level 31.}

Zoe was forcibly yanked backwards before she could repeat the same trick with the other pilot. It was probably for the best, given that she didn’t actually want them to crash yet. She had gotten a little carried away there.

Unfortunately, whoever or whatever was pulling her backwards was really strong. Even though Zoe herself was probably strong enough to counter it, the floor panels were not. Once more, her talons dug deep gouges as she was hauled backwards.

How annoying. Zoe was so preoccupied with the whole tug of war situation that she didn’t see the other pilot ready his rifle until a bolt of annihilation struck her straight in the chest. It hurt like a bitch and was more than enough to snap her concentration back to the other threat.

Threat. He was a threat now.

Another bolt struck her in the same place. Zoe didn’t look down, but she could pretty accurately guess that her pale white innards were now becoming exposed. Those same innards were probably far weaker than her tough scales and exoskeleton, so she really didn’t want to let him land a third hit.

Surrendering entirely to the force pulling her backwards, Zoe tumbled backwards as another streak of annihilation struck her in the thigh this time. It causes her muscles to spasm and her powerful leg to kick violently, but at least it wasn’t in her chest again.

Unfortunately, giving up her upright leverage meant that she was now being flung around by what she now realized was some powerful but limited kinetic ability. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling she smashed around the cockpit.

It didn’t do much damage at all — even when her head got hit hard it felt like a pleasant rattle in her skull. Even without max level {Pain Resistance} she wouldn’t have called it unpleasant.

However, the other asshole kept getting off shots all over her body, and those were really starting to hurt. She needed to kill that one as soon as she could, but she couldn’t exactly do that when she was being tossed around like she was in a washing machine.

It’s kinetic magic, so that means I can negate it… right?

It was worth a shot, at least, so Zoe activated {Kinetic Manipulation} and yanked back on the thick, coiling, rope-like force she felt snaking around her.

The opposing magic held firm — mostly — but there was a little give. Irritated, Zoe tried a different approach. Forming her mana into an extremely crude approximation of a blade — at least in her mind’s intent — she slashed through the cable.

She immediately went flying into the controls.

Thrashing herself to her feet, Zoe spun around. A terrified looking blonde woman had her hands outstretched. That’s the mage. She honestly looked kind of like Zoe — or at least, how Zoe used to look. Unfortunately, there could only be one.

But first, Zoe had the annihilation asshole to deal with. As she spun around to tackle him, she caught sight of the landscape outside.

They were headed straight for a mountainside.

The cockpit was now entirely destroyed. There was likely no saving it, and even if it could be saved, Zoe wouldn’t know how. Also, while she had survived a lot of damage with this new form so far, she didn’t want to test a full aircraft crash.

There was only one way out — and it was still dangerous. But on the upside, maybe she could bring a little healing with her.

Shattering the glass side panel with two fists, Zoe clambered outside. The mountain was still a little ways away, but it was definitely going to cause an impact. Of course, Zoe wasn’t the only thing now on the outside of the ship.

With her other two hands, she had grabbed the startled pilot, who was now screaming rather incoherently. Rolling her eyes, Zoe jumped.

Alright, let’s see if you survive this.

She meant the fall, of course. No way was she going to let free healing walk away.