A pitch black darkness that seemed unending, an eternal shadow, or bottomless abyss.

Mia’s eyes danced underneath her eyelids. They bolted back and forth, in the rhythm of a grandfather clock.

While being out cold, she felt the same feeling as before. The feeling of being dragged to another place, another dimension, a closed off space deep in her soul… This time however… Felt more malicious than normal.

Her eyes slowly opened, her thoughts expecting the eternal sea and endless blue sky… Her mind was mistaken.

The space she was in was completely different, what was once a peaceful sea was now a floor of bones and flesh. The ceiling was too far away to note, but she suspected a deep dread echoing from above. Her gaze was drawn to the massive rib-cage scaling down a pathway of viscera. The walls, a depressing crimson, had darting eyes and grinning mouths sprinkled about.

–

“What is this place? This isn’t my inner world… It can’t be”. Nervousness filled her mind, her thoughts now in a frenzy.

She looked back and forth, panicked, afraid, saddened.

“Welcome girl… To my domain…” An all too familiar voice echoed around her. Terramir’s monotone vocal patterns wisped around her.

“Girl… Due to you relying on my power, I have granted you entry to my space”. A cloud of sinister smoke appeared in front of her, its form contorting and molding into a humanoid shape.

Mia’s uneasy expression remained, but for some reason, her thoughts began to calm.

The beast inside her took form, his short black and white hair, the dead look in his eyes, even his pale gray skin, all was the same.

“Why did you bring me here? Where’s Nishi?”

“Where’s Nishi?” He asked sarcastically, “that annoying woman won’t be able to enter this space… Which is good”. Crrrrack, he cracked his neck and stared at Mia, intentions unknown.

He remained silent for a moment, “girl, I brought you here to make you aware of something… Aware of your powers, your abilities”.

“My abilities? Like how my sword transformed when I called out your name?” Her worrying look dissipated, and shifted to confusion.

“Ah, yes. You were only able to wield that blade because I permitted it, as well as your wound being healed… Through my help you gained strength… Although I preferred it to be temporary… It seems your own soul has absorbed it entirely”.

“What’re you talking about? My power? My soul? I don't understand”.

Terramir pointed to the ground and a slight rumble shook a mound of nearby flesh.

A humanoid figure began to form from the viscera. A human form identical to Hikaru, and his released blutklinge.

Terramir directed his fingers to the flesh-statue.

“This ability that the huntsmen use, this blood-tax. You’ve seen this human use it multiple times for a plethora of uses. This transformation is referred to as geben(give), it allows the blutklinge to take a step closer to the beast that once resided in its effigy”.

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Mia got to her feet and looked at the Hikaru flesh-statue, “so you’re saying that when I called your name… I achieved geben?”

“Precisely… Though for a normal huntsman it’d take many years of training to attain this ability… But for you… You are special… You have something all the other huntsmen lack…”

“You know, I hear that a lot. I'm special, I’m talented… But I don’t understand why? Why do I, a girl who grew up in a shit-hole of a village, have such talent? I don’t understand”.

“Perhaps it’s the world's way of rewarding you for your harsh upbringing, perhaps it’s something more… But nonetheless, you possess me”.

“Kinda narcissistic are we?”

“Be quiet”.

He continued, “when a huntsman goes through the blood-effigy process, they lack the capability of fully controlling it, this applies to all huntsmen. The ability known as geben, partially makes up for that. By offering a portion of blood to the beast that is connected with your soul you can achieve its power”.

“So now I can use your power… Right?”

“Ehhhh- No. I said before that you were special, special in the fact that your blutklinge ignores me, the beast intertwined with your soul. Girl, your ability is unique. In regards to that, I’ll show you the power that dwells within me, the power that I used to become what I am now, the power I used to slaughter those who approached me in malice”.

He held his hand up and it began to twitch. Within seconds the flesh that made up his hand was morphing and moving in ways that were never supposed to be. It grew large, growing at least ten times the size, and looked horrifying. Scattered across his arm were a multitude of eyes, darting back in forth, accompanying them were a handful of mouths twirling their tongues in a nasty fashion. His skin color, what was once a pale light gray, was now a deep crimson.

Mia’s eyes widened, horrified, “what the hell, what is this?”

He twisted his arm around, shifting its shape into a large tentacle with rows of sharp dagger-like teeth. “Girl, you’ve seen this ability before, a simple allocation of the quelle within me and I can manifest a portion of my original form”.

“Are you saying… That at some point I’ll have this ability?” Her disgusted look remained, her face went dark, the mass of flesh in front of her made Hikaru’s blutklinge look pleasant.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. That’s all on you. The more you fight, the more powerful you’ll get and a deeper well of abilities will open to you, from me, as well as that annoying woman”.

Terramir scoffed, just thinking of Nishi’s face annoyed him.

“It’s just… So vile-looking”.

“You truly are a rude little girl. I’m surprised anyone would want to be around you”.

He warped his arm back to normal and took a few steps towards Mia, “one more thing girl, from now on… Don’t get so easily beaten… Your foes will only grow in strength”.

“Oddly considerate for someone who looks like the final boss”, Mia snickered with her hand to her mouth.

Terramir just rolled his eyes in response, “Be gone”.

–

Everything went black.

–

Mia’s eyes slowly began to open. A sliver of orange light slipped through her eyelids and made direct contact with her retinas.

Ughhhhhhhhhh, she groaned.

A couple seconds later, she finally opened her eyes, “Ugh, where am I? This ground doesn’t feel as rocky as before”.

“It’s because you aren’t on the ground… Can’t you tell the difference between a rocky ground and a comfy warm bed?” A mockingly sour voice replied.

She tossed her head to the side, meeting an interlocking gaze with her companions.

“You’re finally up!” Nomi said as she sat a few inches away from Mia.

“Ah, Nomi… As well as Hikaru, a woman… And-And- The son of a bitch who ditched us”, she said groggily.

“How rude”, the Captain folded his arms and pouted, the fact that Mia was unaware of the reasoning for his departure slipped his mind.

Hikaru walked over to the bed, “You slept for twelve hours Mia… Time to get up and prepare to leave, we have to get to Seiren”.

Mia slowly sat up, her energy sapped and her movements slow. Her eyes drifted across the room, avoiding the bright morning rays.

“Ugh! I feel like shit”.