“Heather, how do you recognize me?”

“Heather? nO No no NO. Heather died. Rose rose I ROSE!”

“Wait… Rose? But we saw that you died!”

“Heather tr-tricky. Name not mine but is.”

“She swapped your names?”

Rose began to vigorously nod.

“What happened to you?”

“FEAR”

“Is that a skill?”

I was going out on left field, but she began to nod vigorously again.

“How did you get it?”

“Devour and Savage Beast Evolve. FEAR was gifted.”

“So, it’s a merge of both skills?”

“YEAH!!!”

“Thalia, Amy, and Ausar are here too.”

“ARE?”

“Yes. Could you help me save them?”

“Traitor Damien has them, doesn’t he?”

“You said that clearly.”

She nodded.

“Some clear soMe not.”

“I… see. Can you help?”

“Cour-of-se.”

“Wonderful, they are in the clearing that you took me from… by the way, what was that web.”

“Ate SPIDERs aWHILE ago. Ga ga ga gave me skill… wEB.”

“I see… Is it hard to speak?”

“While hungry yes.”

“I see…”

It was then that I began to notice her drooling while looking at me. Then she smashed her head on a stone.

“NO, FRIEND, NOT FOOD!!!”

She went chipper again and picked me up.

“SAVE FRIENDS, EAT FOOD!!!”

I was minorly concerned, but I was happier that Rose wasn’t an unthinking monster.

She ran back to the clearing and I nearly vomited due to the speed.

When we arrived, we saw the sight I was fearing. All three of them were bound and hung by their hands off of the tree. They were cut up and bruised.

“Damien did this.”

It wasn’t a question. I looked over at Rose in surprise only to begin shivering. She was infuriated. I could feel her raw power pummeling me.

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“Rose, let’s get them down, they are still alive.”

“Please you… I’m scared…”

I nodded, she didn’t want to lose control and eat them. In fact, she smashed her head on a rock 3 separate times as I was taking them down.

“Alright, they are down.”

“Good, now I hunt.”

She leapt into the trees, clearly with one target in mind.

I began checking them, as I expected, they were still alive.

“Thalia, Amy, Ausar, wake up.”

“D-Dallel?”

“Yeah, I’m here, wake up.”

Amy sat up with a wince.

“The others are out, but they left me awake.”

“I see, well, Rose is on our side.”

“Do you mean H-“

“No… Heather swapped names with her…”

Amy contemplated and then a tear rolled down her face.

“I see, then she is truly gone this time.”

“I’m sorry, Amy.”

“It’s fine, let’s just make sure that the God Slayers can’t take anyone else from us.”

“Agreed.”

“Let’s head back to the portal and wait for Rose there. I don’t think we can do anything else right now.”

“I agree.”

We froze. I turned and saw Damien smiling.

“Surprised you lived, but it seems that the beast isn’t entirely mindless.”

He kicked my gut before I could react, knocking me down and causing me to yelp in pain.

“Come on, did you really think I’d let you leave… without me?”

I realized his meaning and he grabbed Ausar.

“Now the thing is, I can kill him, and you know I can, so show me this portal before I do so.”

I realized that we could trick him.

“Fine, follow me.”

I began to walk and Amy looked at me in shock but remained quiet.

But I had a plan.

The portal was in the same direction of course,

But so was Rose.

_

“Goodness is the portal much farther?”

“It’s coming up soon.”

“This deity is annoyingly heavy.”

“Then why don’t I hold him?”

“And I lose my leverage? Nice try.”

“We’re here.”

“I see, that’s the handywork of Mark.”

Damien dropped Ausar and walked to the portal. He reached out his hand, and then someone dropped in front of him.

“Worrried. You not Show. Damien, AH.”

Rose stood up to her full height and smiled at Damien who glowered.

“Clever.”

Rose and him kicked at each other. Both kicks blocked the other, and a massive shockwave was made.

It took all I could to prevent Thalia and Ausar from being thrown away by the wave. Amy grabbed onto a tree and held on for dear life.

“Well, little beast, how about I end you here?”

“NoT fool. Can’t win.”

“At least you maintained some intelligence.”

“DallEL, PortAL THROUGH!!!”

Both me and Amy grasped her meaning as the duo entered another clash.

I picked up Ausar and Amy picked up Thalia.

We entered the portal and fell down the moment we got through.

“Dallel, what happened?! Are you okay?”

“Mark, hold the portal for now!”

“Understood.”

Then, as he emboldened the portal Rose came flying through the gate. She snarled at the gate, so I yelled.

“Hurry, now shut it!!!”

“Got it!!!”

It began to close, but then a hand burst through it and stopped the closing. Damien poked his head through it.

“Don’t tell me that you actually thought that you could get away from me!”

Then Rose smiled and shouted,

“SYSTEM OVERRIDE!!! LOCK INDIVIDUAL DAMIEN FROM PANDORA AND ALL AFFILIATED WORLDS!!!”

Damien’s eyes narrowed and then he seemed to be pushed back.

Then Luma spoke.

[A banned individual is attempting access to a blocked world, leave or you will be punished for violating the System Rules.]

Damien snarled.

“You win this time.”

The portal slammed shut, and I fell to the ground.

“Rose?”

Then I froze and remembered how much magic that would require. And sure enough, Rose was drooling uncontrollably. Even those who were relieved to see her realized that at this point, she was dangerous.

“Rose… calm down. Friends. Not Food.”

I could see her struggle to maintain her composure.

“Hun-hungry… fo- no… GRH!!!”

“Heather!”

Amanda looked at her in a panic.

I reached out and blocked her.

“I’ll explain later, but right now, we need to figure out how to get her out of that state. Luma, any ideas?”

[The System barely realizes that it’s a skill. I don’t have any counters right now.]

“Well crap, so just try to keep her calm.”

Then she looked right at me, and I froze.

“Food…”

Then I remembered who was behind me… Amy who was bleeding from her wrists.

“GIVE IT TO ME!!!”

Rose leapt for Amy, but this time I was ready. I grabbed her and grappled.

“ROSE, CALM DOWN!!!”

She was far stronger than me, but somehow I was able to stop her from moving.

“HRAAAHH!!!”

She began clawing my back causing me immense pain, but I maintained my grip.

“Rose. CALM DOWN NOW!!! please…”

The moment I said please quietly, she began to slow down. Her claws retracted and she began shrinking.

“Her eyes!”

I looked and sure enough, her eyes and mouth had returned to normal. When she returned to her normal size she stepped back and looked at me with a smile.

“Dallel, you saved me.”

Then she fell back and collapsed.

“ROSE!!!”