Aisling kept eating the Kaiju deer girl, ignoring the new pink eldritch entity.

  [Hello?] the entity asked. Aisling kept eating. [I see you are busy eating. For some reason, I missed when you became a Kaiju. Because of this, it will require at least 10,000 excess mana instead of 3,000 to mutate.

  Additionally, let me congratulate you on evolving into a Kaiju. While no ability or physical evolutions are available at this time, your body has now grown to a massive height. Your new strength can help you against any foe that’s smaller than you. Your mana capacity has also increased to 10,000.]

  “Should we tell them what happened?” Samsara asked. “Maybe they might be able to help out?”

  “I could try making Aisling speak to them,” I suggested.

  “Or maybe instead of controlling Aisling, we can try speaking to them out loud,” Samsara suggested.

  I playfully bowed. “Be my guest. Although I’m not sure if they will be able to hear you.”

  “Hey, Misericordia!” Samsara called out. Her voice was being drowned out by the growling of Kaiju deer girls pathetically attacking Aisling’s shell, as well as Aisling’s chomping and chewing of her prey.

  Misericordia continued to speak to Aisling, ignoring Samsara. [Even though you may not mutate right now, if you finish eating this Kaiju, you should be able to gain enough excess mana to mutate.]

  Were the sounds too much for Misericordia? I could clearly hear Samsara’s voice in Aisling’s ears. I decided to remove two of the noise makers just to be sure. My hair tentacles lashed out, wrapping around the waists of the two Kaiju deer girls. They pulled them over to me.

  Each one squirmed in the air. I brought the right one up above me. She tried to kick me, but I just latched onto her foot with my mouth and began chewing. Chomp by chomp, her leg disappeared into my mouth.

  “Hello?” Samsara asked, slithering right next to Aisling. She put her hand on Aisling’s shell “Can you hear me, Misericordia?”

  A warmth spread through Aisling’s body as she slurped up the orange Kaiju Core inside the feral deer girl. The deer girl’s body stopped regenerating.

  [It seems that you have reached 10,000 excess mana,] Misericordia said. [I can help guide the mana into one of two paths. Please let me know which mutation you prefer, or you can request I not interfere with the mutation process.]

  [Lure Control]: You can control the imitation lure as if it were an extension of your limbs.

  [Double Lure]: Double the amount of imitation lures you have.

  Aisling ignored Misericordia and continued eating the legs of the now dead Kaiju deer girl. What would happen if she didn’t respond? I stopped chewing on the legless deer girl and decided to take matters into my own hands. Or rather thoughts.

  “Hey!” Aisling said under my control, no longer eating the Kaiju deer girl. “I would love to pick my own mutation.”

  “What should we make her choose?” I asked, turning to look at Samsara.

  “Scratch that, ask if they know anything that can help,” Samsara said. “We can worry about Aisling’s mutations later. Actually, let me handle this.”

  I released my control from Aisling.

  “Also, I was wondering if you had any magic that could heal the brain,” Aisling said. I felt Samsara focusing on her.

  [I can teach you magic,] Misericordia said. [However, as a warning, I do not have any kind of magic that could heal the brain.]

  Samsara’s heart dropped. But she didn’t give up.

  “How about magic that could turn back time?” Aisling asked. “Or magic that can restore memories?”

  [I’m afraid that is outside of my purview.]

  “Look, I’m just going to be honest,” Aisling said. “This isn’t actually me speaking. Another Kaiju is currently controlling my body so they can speak with you. This is because the Monster Purifiers experimented on me and destroyed my brain! I just need anything you could give to help me. Please.”

  [Oh, I’m deeply sorry for that,] Misericordia stated. Its pink tentacles stopped wiggling, and its eyes seemed to convey sorrow. [That explains why I couldn’t hear any thoughts from you. Unfortunately, I can’t see or hear this other Kaiju, only you. Furthermore, none of my magic will be able to help you. I truly am sorry for your undesirable circumstances.]

  “No…” Samsara let out a choked sob. I felt her grief flood into our shared mind.

  Her hands slipped from Aisling’s shell. She covered her face, her shoulders shaking as she wept. I hated this. I hated seeing her cry.

  I didn’t really care about Aisling’s mind as long as she worshiped us. But Samsara? If she was hurting, I was hurting.

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  I reached back. My arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to me.

  “I’m sorry, Samsara,” I thought, sending waves of comfort through our link. “I really am.”

  I was sorry that Samsara had to go through this. I wished the Monster Purifiers hadn’t stolen Aisling, and I wished that Misericordia had a solution to fix Aisling. That way, Samsara wouldn’t be sad.

  [Excuse me,] Misericordia started. [I still need a decision regarding the mutation. If I do not intervene, a random mutation will be applied shortly.]

  “Samsara,” I said in her mind. “We need to pick. We can’t help Aisling’s mind right now, but we can at least make her stronger. If we make her stronger, she can survive until we find a real cure.” And if we don’t, then at least we have a strong Kaiju at our side.

  Samsara sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “You’re right. We can’t give up.”

  “So, options,” I mentally listed them. “[Double Lure] or [Lure Control]. [Double Lure] sounds useless. Having two imitation Aislings dangle from her head won’t do much. It just means two baits floating around aimlessly when one would do.”

  Samsara looked up at Aisling’s head, or rather, the clone of Aisling hanging from her stalk. The small clone of the turtle girl dangled limply.

  “Ramona,” she said, her voice steadying. “If she can control the lure like a limb... maybe she can use it to interact with Nara. So when we find a cure, Aisling would at least be able to interact with Nara better. Like, give her a hug. She can’t really do that as a Kaiju, but with this new mutation, she can hug her with the Aisling clone.”

  I didn’t really have a position on that, since I didn’t have one on Aisling and Nara’s relationship. But if it made Samsara happy, then I approved. And this seemed to lighten Samsara’s mood.

  “I choose [Lure Control],” Aisling said.

  [Understood,] Misericordia replied. [I will guide the mana into that mutation then.]

  I released my hold on Aisling’s mind.

  Suddenly, I could feel the small Aisling clone’s eyes twitch open. A new set of eyes flooded me with images of the small deer girls beginning to run away. The lure turned around and moved its limbs. It seemed like the feral Aisling was testing out her new mutation.

  Acidic drool began to drip from Aisling’s mouth onto the grass below, dissolving it upon contact. She growled and thundered off towards the small deer girls.

  I turned my attention to the two Kaiju deer girls I still had wrapped in my tentacles. They were struggling, kicking their hooves in the air. The Kaiju deer girl, whom I had been eating, had slowly been regenerating her legs. I resumed chewing on them.

  The sweet and citrusy flavor returned to my tongue. I hummed contentedly as I tasted the minty blood. I devoured the rest of her body, savoring the citrusy tang. It was just like eating the mechs back at the outpost, except these prey were full of flavor. Plus, they had lots of mana and a sizeable amount of souls that I would make sure to [Track] later.

  Crunch, crunch. I enjoyed the sound of my teeth breaking their bones. The Kaiju girl I was eating went limp from the pain. A minute later, and I had entirely devoured her. It took me another couple of minutes to finish off the other Kaiju deer girl.

  Warmth had spread through our bodies, so I decided it was a good time to [Track] our souls and mana. Our souls had increased from 4,003 to 4,405. Each deer Kaiju had about 200 souls.

  I watched Aisling. The massive turtle Kaiju was fast. She lunged forward, scooping up three normal-sized deer girls in one hand. She shoved them into her maw, chewing with reckless abandon. A blend of vanilla mint ice cream and orange flavors hit her taste buds. The lure was also moving. She was reaching out, grabbing a deer girl trying to escape over Aisling’s shoulder, and biting into her. The deer girl tried to escape from the Aisling clone, but the lure’s grip kept her in place as she ate her.

  “The mutation works,” I noted. “She’s using the lure to help her eat.”

  Samsara watched the carnage, looking sad. She needed a distraction from the sadness.

  “Hey,” I said, nudging her mind. “Do you want to hunt with her? We promised the village food. I’ll capture half the deer girls. If you help Aisling eat the other half of the deer girls, we can get this done faster. Plus... it might make you feel better. Blowing off steam by enjoying the hunt?”

  Samsara hesitated. She looked at the fleeing herd, then at Aisling, who was having the time of her life.

  “Okay,” she told me. “Okay. Let’s hunt.”

  I sprinted forward. My steps quickly brought me next to Aisling. The feral Kaiju turtle girl glanced at me, but didn’t strike. She continued hunting the fleeing deer girls.

  Samsara’s hair snakes lashed out. They were fast, easily catching a trio of deer girls. Each hair snake bit into their prey, delivering a dosage of venom that sent the deer girl to sleep before swallowing.

  “Such a weird flavor, vanilla ice cream and oranges,” Samsara said. “It’s kind of crazy that we remember all these foods and flavors before becoming monster girls, but I’m glad to have those memories.”

  Me too.

  Samsara’s mood began to lift, the adrenaline of the hunt flooding her with excitement.

  I decided to help out. We needed bodies to carry back. Plus, now that I thought about it, keeping our new worshipers well fed was important. Eivor and Halinka were currently telling the villagers about leadership changes and that they should worship us.

  Had it just been me, I would have eaten all of the feral deer girls myself. It was a good thing that Samsara was here.

  I activated [Serrated Tentacles]. My hair tentacles dashed through the air. I targeted the deer girls furthest away. My tentacles proceeded to cut off heads with surgical precision. Each of the deer girls fell over as they became headless.

  Soon, the horde of deer girls was a pile of meat for us to take back. I made sure to step in so that Aisling wouldn’t eat any of the corpses.

  I held a massive bundle of deer girl corpses in my hair tentacles. I couldn’t have them with my hands since my red finger tip tentacles produced corrosive ink that would eat away at the village’s new food supply.

  “Ready to head back?” I asked.

  Samsara nodded, retracting her snakes. She looked... lighter. “Yeah, but let me do something first.”

  She went over to Aisling and wrapped her in an embrace. Aisling stared at her. And then she vanished from view, leaving only her clone floating in mid-air.

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