Now finally at her feet, she could see the titanic wall in front of her.

Mia just barely beat the moon-face ganado only a while earlier, and now another colossal enemy stood in her way. With her Captain gone and her Lieutenant on the verge of death she was all alone. How could she possibly manage to face such a hurdle?

–

The beast wound up another set of attacks, not aiming to kill, but to simply play with its food.

WHAAAAAP!

It seemed every few seconds a tendril would come flying in her direction, either slamming and sending her flying or just destroying the buildings around her.

“IS THIS ALL YOU GOT?! YOU CAN’T BE THAT PATHETIC!”

The beast howled a slew of insults at her, wearing down her morale and berating her emotions.

She couldn’t respond, not that she didn’t want to, just because her insides were utterly crushed that simply taking a breath caused a burning sensation.

BLEGH! She coughed up a mixture of vomit and blood, “damn it all to hell! I-I can’t do anything against this guy. He’s been beating me around for at least twenty minutes… At this point I’m gonna end up dead…”

WHAAAAAP!

WHAAAAAP!

WHAAAAAP!

The beast's relentless assault continued.

Mia’s body was repeatedly flung around, crashing into buildings, slammed on the ground, she was truly beaten and bruised.

–

All hope seemed lost.

–

“Shit… If only the Captain was here…” Her eyes struggled to stay open, the heaviness of her torment descended on her and her will to fight slowly faded away.

“Heh, I guess if I die here I’ll be able to see Aira again… That’d be nice”, she chuckled, “I’m sorry Nomi… Hikaru… Captain. I guess this is it”.

…

“Agh! Her eyes are closed… Guess she croaked”, the beast cracked a crooked smile. “Well then, time to enjoy a snack!” It reached out its arm and picked Mia up by the leg, her body dangling from its large claws.

It slowly retracted its hand so Mia was right about to fall into its gaping maw.

…

“God, you’re so pathetic”.

“Don’t call her pathetic… She did everything she could with her current abilities”.

A male and a female voice bickered.

“Oi! Wake up girl”.

Mia’s eyes slowly began to open, revealing a vast blue sky and an endless floor of the sea.

“My inner world… Why am I here?” She got to her feet and looked around, in front of her stood Nishi and the beast that dwells deep inside her soul.

“Isn’t it obvious girl? We pulled you in here because you were about to die to that loser”, he said with an uninterested demeanor.

“Can’t you say it more nicely? But he is right Mia, we brought you here because of your fight with that beast”, Nishi walked over to Mia and patted her head, slightly disheveling her hair. “Mia, at your current level you have no hope of defeating an opponent of his magnitude, in fact I’m surprised you killed that ganado earlier”.

“But then… What can I do? That bastard took out Hikaru, and the Captain isn’t here either… I’m lost…”

Nishi stayed silent and looked over at her beastly companion.

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“Girl, remember what I said before? If you lose I’ll take over and dominate your soul? Well, right now you’re on the verge of losing your life, and we can’t have that… So I’ll make you an offer right here and right now”.

The beast walked over to Mia, “I’ll grant you my power in exchange for your soul”.

“What the hell? No, that's a terrible deal… My soul? As if I’d hand it over to one of your kind!” She protested the proposition entirely.

“I see… Nishi, don’t interfere… Well it’s not as if you could anyways. Girl, I’m going to sever your soul from your body right here and right now… Prepare yourself”.

He contorted and transformed his right arm to resemble a sharp blade and lunged at Mia.

“Taste my wrath girl, sleep in my hatred and bask in my torment!”

He shot his arm-blade forwards at hyper speed, creating afterimages with each movement.

“Damn it, I can barely dodge these!” She back-stepped and moved around to avoid his onslaught, but with each passing moment the attacks seemed harder and harder to avoid.

“Are you getting tired already? Are you giving up so easily? What was even the point of you becoming a huntsman? Is such a little hiccup causing you so many problems? Tell me… WHY ARE YOU STILL HOLDING BACK?”

The assault ceased.

“Ahh, ahh, ahh”, Mia’s breathing was ragged. Blood dripped from various cuts on her body and sweat dripped from her head.

“Holding back? No… I-I, no”. She paused, “am I holding back?” She wondered.

“In the short time you’ve been a huntsman you’ve changed greatly, for the better… But, your emotions regarding the past have started to crumble. Tell me girl, where is your resolve to avenge your friend? Why are you struggling against such a weak opponent?”

The beast continued to berate her with questions.

Mia collapsed to the ground, causing ripples in the watery floor. “Tell me, what do I do? This guy is just too strong…”

“Girl you’re unbelievably frustrating… You have obtained huntsman abilities, but also something else… Us”.

“Odd for you to be so kind”, Nishi walked over to Mia and consoled her, “he may be an asshole but he’s right. Mia, you’re such a special girl. You became a huntsman so quickly, you have amazing potential for growth, and you have untapped resources at your disposal”. She smiled, “you just have to call on them”.

“But-”

“Enough, girl, I’ll give you one more chance… But I can’t having you dying to such a low ranking piece of garbage like him”.

“Low ranking?”

“Think of it out of ten… He's one… And I'm ten”.

“But I kicked your ass relatively easily when I was at Alli’s place…”

“Oi… don’t remind me… But that doesn’t matter… Just for now, I’ll open the well only a little bit, I’ll permit you to have one sip… And girl… What's my name?”

Mia stood silent for a moment, I know it”. She smiled.

“Ugh… You’re such a pain”, he turned around and vanished.

“Mia, good luck, we’re both always gonna be on your side”, Nishi waved and disappeared.

“I guess I better not let them down then”.

–

…

–

Mia’s quiet body dangles over the beast’s mouth.

“You’ll be mighty tasty”, It opened its jaw further.

“Perhaps, but you’ll never get the chance to find out”.

SCHHHHLIIIICKKKINNNNG!

The beast watches as its hand is eviscerated, a wave of blood gushes out and its fingers fall to the ground.

“GAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! YOU DAMNED HUMAN! AGHHHHHH! IT HURTS!” The beast roared in agony as it grasped its brutalized hand.

“You little bitch! How dare you”. It looked down, seeing a brand new Mia.

–

She stood there as cool as a cucumber. An entirely new air swirled around her, one that emanated confidence.

–

“Writhe in fear; TERRAMIR!”

Suddenly, a black pillar of energy circled and wrapped itself around her blutklinge, altering its form and strengthening it.

“You know beast, you’re the first person to see this. For a while now I’ve been a bit jealous of the fact that Hikaru’s blutklinge can transform, and I never did figure out how to do it, but I guess all it took was getting my ass kicked”.

The black energy began to disperse, leaving Mia;s blutklinge looking rather different.

What once looked like a zweihander had gone under a serious transformation, it was now thick, almost as if to mimic a greatsword.

Mia looked at her new sword, admiring it, “nice”.

The beast watched her, “that’s it? Your blade got fatter? THAT’S NOTHING!” It scoffed at the seemingly disappointing transformation.

“Fat blade? No, no, no. Just watch and you’ll find out soon enough”.

Mia held her blutklinge forward and pointed it towards the beast. Part of the “sheath” shot forward, leaving half of it behind.

“You see the sheathe isn’t actually a sheathe, it’s an addition to the blade, making it longer and much more powerful. You know beast, I reckon with this upgrade I can easily shear off those pesky tentacles of yours… Why don’t we find out?”

Mia shot forward, blade in hand, ready to strike. Her expression showed fierceness and pure animosity.

“YOU SHOULD LEARN YOUR PLACE YOU DAMN HUMAN!” The beast reached out its non-mangled arm hoping to crush Mia. “DIE!”

“You should learn your place, you disgust me”.

SHHHHHHHIIINNNGGGG!

With a clean slice Mia severed the beast's arm, as well as the ground and building behind it.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She screamed with laughter, “HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT BEAST!”

A massive wave of blood splashes out of the wound, repainting the ground around the beast.

“DAMN IT!” The beast roared and screamed in pain.

“Let’s continue shall we? This is fun!”

–

A fair distance away.

–

“Ah, good job Mia. I knew that if I left you two alone that you’d adapt and overcome”. The Captain stood with his back against a rock pillar. “Hikaru is definitely gonna yell at me for ditching them, I better make him look good in front of the villagers so he calms down”. The Captain raised his hand to his chin and wondered how to smooth things over.

“Well, I guess I’ll just watch her for now, that was the deal wasn’t it? Lightning princess”.

“Keep watching her Gurren, my spirit can only do so much inside of her”, a female voice echoed around him.

“Don’t you worry, everything will be fine… Though the secret division issues in Seiren could impact her growth…”

“With each fight she fights she will grow, my precious Mia will not fall, afterall, she has all the potential in the world”.