Leta had no words to describe the shrieking, agonizing sound that was ripped from the beast’s lungs, but she was sure that when a stone god was murdered, it probably sounded a lot like this.

The dagger still wedged into the ogre’s skull acted like a lightning rod as she channeled her storm, the red hot metal sizzling against the ogre’s blood and muscle as her electricity set the beast on fire from the inside out.

Just as she had with the minotaur, Leta kept up the stream of power as the ogre’s body seized and buckled, dropping with the weight of a mountain to the ground and nearly breaking through the carpet and concrete to the floor below.

Cradled between a literal rock and a hard place, the fall rattled Leta’s teeth as black spots swam in her vision.

She could feel something break -probably another rib- and distantly heard Gada telling her she’d taken damage, but she didn’t let up as she shoved more and more lightning down its gullet.

By now, its throat was all but ash as the heat of a sun liquified and evaporated its blood. The muscle that had been encased in an impervious shield of rock-hard skin was now like meat in a pressure cooker, its sinew separating and breaking apart under the intense forces.

Its eyes had liquified and boiled from the heat inside its body, and the last thing it saw was blue eyes filled with elemental fury and the white snap of electricity crowning her white-blonde hair like a circlet.

Black oil that had once been fat and brain bubbled out of its eyes as the creature gave one last exhausted rattle before it finally died.

Leta took deep breaths of air as the high of battle began to ebb. Her hair settled around her shoulders, and the sparks of electricity dancing around her faded as the storm within her was calmed by their victory.

[Corrupted-Ogre. Inert Nanites: 2,001,203. Absorb Inert Nanites? Yes/No?]

“Don’t mind if I fucking do.” Leta’s grin was almost vicious as she felt the new influx of Nanites entering her bloodstream and mingling with her own.

Her sigh was almost pleasurable as her cuts and bruises healed, the crackled rib and broken arm that had ended up taking most of her fall healing as the ogre’s body began to disintegrate.

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Sheets of granite detached from its body and broke apart into smaller and smaller dust fragments until all that remained was a massive skeleton that, too, was nothing but granite dust and a thick collar chain.

“Oh,” She rolled her head, her neck cracking, “That’s much better.”

Leta blinked up at the men watching her cautiously.

Allister shook his head, at a loss for what to do about this crazy woman who seemed to grow both in fearlessness and insanity by the minute.

“Well,” He chuckled awkwardly, “That’s going to make clean up a lot easier.”

“Indeed.” Atreus groaned as he rolled the sore shoulder he’d landed on, looking over at the body of the Drow that had turned into a puddle of liquid during the battle.

Leta wrinkled her nose as she put her dagger away, “Oh, that’s gross.”

“Atreus.” Hayato drew their attention to the sound of sirens steadily drawing near.

They went down to the ground floor and pushed through HiTec’s back door just as a police van circled the block.

Leta wondered what the authorities would make of a pile of granite dust and a pool of gross fluids but then shrugged.

People saw what they could understand, not necessarily what was truth.

A vagabond’s hovel was much easier to explain than the remains of mythical creatures.

Leta wasn’t even winded as they finished running the several blocks to the parking garage, something she noted as they piled into the car without a word.

This fight had felt different.

She felt different.

It wasn’t so much a lack of fear but instead a lack of lingering fear.

When the ogre appeared, her heart beat wildly in her chest, but for reasons she was still surprised.

She’d been excited.

Nervous, yes, but excited all the same.

It was the feeling of someone in a plane who knew that the door would open any minute, and they would jump.

It felt like the fear had washed over her like an ocean wave, lingering just long enough to experience it with her whole body before it sloshed off her to be replaced by a bloodthirsty giddiness for a fight.

She’d liked it.

She had been thrilled at the idea of fighting such a massive beast, which she felt was decidedly not her.

Where was the scholar? Where was the college student who dreamed of discovery and knowledge?

What had happened to the young woman who had never touched a weapon? Had never been the reason something shed blood?

“Lass,” Allister’s eyes caught hers in the car’s mirror, “Your hair.”

Frowning, Leta looked down to see that her blonde hair, which had steadily been lightening since she’d received the system, was now completely white, its length now coming to rest well past her shoulder blades.

“Oh, wow,” Her lips twitched in amusement as her fingers pinched some of the white strands and held them up for inspection, “Would you look at that.”

Maybe it started when she saw that first nixie.

Maybe it happened on that cab ride from hell as they outran the hellhound.

But it didn’t matter when it happened, did it?

Not in the grand scheme of things, anyway.

All that mattered was if the person she was now - this new stronger, faster, impossible Leta - was strong enough to survive in this unbelievable, screwed-up world.

‘I guess we’ll find out,’ She thought as the car lurched backward and out of the parking garage, racing the sun towards their next target.