I slid to the right as the flying humans fired their beams. Samsara stayed in place as the beams passed by where I was a moment ago. I let go of Aisling and she became visible again.

  Without even needing my guidance, Aisling’s jaw unhinged, unleashing a glob of thick, corrosive saliva. At the same time, the small lure dangling from the fleshy appendage attached to her forehead opened its mouth and fired a second stream.

  “She’s learning,” I noted. She was copying the same strategy we used against the Aberration.

  The acid arched through the air, forcing the flying soldiers to break formation.

  “My turn,” I thought. I activated [Ink Toss] across my hair tentacles and finger tip tentacles. Black and red ink flew from my body towards the flying soldiers above.

  Simultaneously, Samsara’s hair snakes hissed, their eyes glowing with a yellow light. [Petrification Rings] caused bright golden halos to be shot from both Samsara’s eyes and her hair snake's eyes. They zipped towards the humans in the sky.

  But these Monster Purifiers didn’t stand still. Or rather fly still. They rolled in the air, their jetpacks flaring as they dodged the ink and rings.

  “They’re fast,” Samsara complained, ducking as a mech fired a projectile the size of a mouse at us. It was probably closer to the size of a large truck for a human. It slammed into the dirt behind Samsara, showering her lower scales in debris. “Too small to hit easily, too fast to catch.”

  “We need to try something else, then,” I replied.

  The Monster Purifiers and their mechs continued firing. Some of the shots from the humans grazed Aisling’s shell. She twitched a bit, but managed to keep moving and shooting acidic saliva.

  “We need to box them in,” I analyzed. “Aisling, move forward.”

  Aisling moved forward while continuing to shoot at the humans. I bent my knees and leaped to the right while Samsara slithered over to the left. We formed a perfect triangle around a cluster of eight Flying Latex Suit Guys. Yes, that was their nickname now.

  “Now!”

  We fired in unison.

  I launched a volley of sticky and corrosive ink, while Samsara fired her [Petrification Rings]. Aisling sprayed a wide cone of caustic spit from both mouths as the humans tried to escape.

  The Flying Latex Suit Guys screamed as the spit landed on them. From Aisling’s eyes, I could see her spit start to rapidly dissolve their jetpacks. One of the humans tried to turn around to shoot at Aisling, but a globule of my red corrosive ink hit him in the head. He screamed and veered off course, colliding with another Flying Latex Suit Guy. Their jetpacks blew up, leaving a cool mini-explosion.

  Another human was about to fire on me. I dodged as Samsara fired more [Petrification Rings].

  “Gotcha,” Samsara hissed. Three rings slammed into him. The screaming cut off abruptly as he froze up. The acid finished dissolving his jetpack, causing the thrusters to sputter and die, sending him crashing towards the ground. I made sure to catch him with one of my hair tentacles, and stuffed his paralyzed form in my mouth.

  To my surprise, he tasted pretty sweet. Was that a side-effect of the [Petrification Rings]? Meanwhile, my sticky black ink from my hair tentacles wasn’t as tasty—it was tasteless just like water. It did seem to counteract the acidic effects of Aisling’s saliva, though.

  The other five panicked as their jetpacks also gave out. They screamed as they fell to the Earth. I lunged forward, catching the two falling Latex Suit Guys with my hair tentacles. I then tossed them into my mouth at the same time.

  My teeth chewed, easily pulverizing my prey. Samsara’s hair snakes snatched the last three out of the air as they fell. Injected venom sent them to sleep quickly right before the snake swallowed.

  "Fan out!" a voice crackled over the radio frequency I could hear. "Do not let them surround you! Maintain altitude!"

  The remaining dozen or so humans shot upward, putting distance between us. The two mechs also flew higher.

  “Cowards,” I grumbled. “Come down here and get eaten.”

  “They’re adapting,” Samsara warned. “They want to get out of range.”

  “Then let’s see if they can handle us being partially invisible.”

  I activated [Color Camouflage II]. But not on my whole body. I focused only on my hair tentacles and Samsara’s hair snakes.

  They shimmered and vanished from the visible spectrum.

  I released my control from Aisling and she roared. Her two mouths began lobbing gob after glob of acid at the distant figures. They easily weaved around the slow-moving projectiles.

  “I’m going to jump,” I told Samsara. “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  I coiled my legs, muscles coiling with power. I poured strength into my calves and jumped.

  The ground exploded. A crater the size of a swimming pool formed instantly as I launched my two-hundred-meter frame into the sky. Samsara’s tail went taut as she was dragged upwards with me.

  "Watch out!" a Flying Latex Suit Guy cried out.

  They scattered, confident in their speed. They moved just out of reach of my hands and Samsara’s claws.

  But they didn’t account for the reach of our invisible appendages. I lashed out. My invisible hair tentacles whipped through the air, snapping around waists and ankles.

  "What the—?!"

  "Something's got me!"

  Samsara’s invisible snakes were even faster. They struck quickly, sinking fangs into the necks of the flying soldiers. I felt the vibration of the bites through our connection. The venom pumped in, and the soldiers went limp instantly.

  We reached the apex of our jump. I had six humans in my tentacles and Samsara had six in her snakes’ mouths.

  “These are some nice snacks,” I thought, gravity taking hold.

  The snakes swallowed their prey immediately. I began stuffing the soldiers one by one into my mouth. I chewed quickly and swallowed. My prey may not survive the landing.

  We crashed back down, aiming carefully away from the hidden base to avoid damaging the stealth generator that was underneath. The impact shook the ridge, throwing up a cloud of dust and pulverized rock.

  When it cleared, I admired the massive crater that formed from our landing. It was so fun soaring through the air. If only we had wings so we could do this constantly.

  Two heavy impacts hit my chest. Or rather, it felt like that. Instead, the mechs had hit both my chest and Samsara’s chest. I looked down to see a scorch mark on my bare skin, the black ink evaporated. A second later, the ink came rushing out of my pores, hiding my bare skin.

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  The two mechs. They were hovering at a medium distance, their heavy rifles smoking.

  I growled as Samsara winced. “That actually stung.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Let’s try the triangle again,” I suggested, stepping forward.

  I went to the right this time, and Samsara went to the left. Meanwhile, Aisling snuck up from behind.

  "They're trying to flank! Keep moving! Don't let them set up!" the pilot yelled. This was the first time I could actually hear the pilots inside of their mechs. Prior to having an Influence Level of 2, the only time I could hear the pilots was when I tore open their cockpits to grab them and stuff them in my mouth.

  “Smart,” I admitted. “Annoying, but smart.”

  “What should we do?” Samsara asked. “They’ve gone even higher in the sky. I don’t think we will reach them.”

  “Okay, new plan,” I decided.

  I forced the turtle to activate her camouflage. She vanished. I ordered her to hold her fire and circle around to the side of the left mech. Meanwhile, I moved over to Samsara.

  Samsara and I stood our ground, looking like easy targets. We did make sure to dodge the projectiles, but we didn’t move too far.

  “Samsara,” I told her. “We’ll try hitting them from the sides while Aisling invisibly attacks them from behind.”

  “Got it!”

  I [Focused] on making [Blood Spikes]. Dozens of hardened blood projectiles formed on us. I coated half of mine in thick, viscous black sticky ink and the other half in my potent red corrosive fluid.

  I held out my left hand and Samsara dipped her blue [Blood Spikes] in my liquids. After that, we performed [Blood Spike Launch] on all of our [Blood Spikes] at the left mech.

  We unleashed a storm of spikes. The mech pilots tried to dodge, banking hard to the left.

  From empty air, a torrent of green sludge erupted. Aisling, positioned perfectly in the mech’s blind spot, vomited everything she had.

  Completely oblivious, the mech didn’t dodge Aisling’s attack. Aisling’s acid hit the jetpack on the mech’s back. As the mech turned around to fire on Aisling, we launched more [Blood Spikes].

  The spikes pierced the mech, with the black sticky ink obscuring the cockpit, and the red corrosive ink tearing at the armor, eating through the plating.

  The metal groaned, and then melted. The jetpack’s engine exploded. The mech flew sideways, spiraling out of control. It crashed into the dirt with a satisfying crunch of tearing metal.

  The second mech hesitated.

  “What just happened?” I heard a male voice inside cry out.

  “I don’t know!” another male voice said. “Just keep firing!”

  We dodged another shot from the mech’s rifle.

  “Same trick,” I said to Samsara.

  Even though the mech shot further into the air, our fast projectiles overwhelmed the mech from all three directions. Sticky ink blinded the mech, while corrosive and acidic fluids ate and tore at the jetpack. The mech froze mid-air and dropped to the ground.

  I noticed the airship’s bottom door had been closed some time during our fight. The engines roared loudly, and the airship zoomed out of the warzone.

  One day, I’ll be big and fast enough to eat you.

  I walked over to the mech on the left. My hair tentacles picked up the rifle. I chewed on the bayonet first, the metal easily crunching under my teeth. Piece by piece, I shoved the rest of the rifle into my mouth. So crunchy and yummy. Okay, metal wasn’t that yummy.

  I released my mental grip on Aisling. The feral turtle dropped her invisibility and charged the second mech. She didn't bother opening the cockpit. She just bit down on the entire helm.

  Metal sheared and sparked as her jaws worked. I could hear the two pilots inside screaming over the grinding noise.

  "No! Please! AHHH—”

  The screaming stopped abruptly, replaced by the wet sound of Aisling chewing.

  She ripped the chest plate off the mech, exposing the pulsating mass inside. The purified Synergy Source.

  She shoved her face into the chest cavity, tearing the meat blob free. Through our link, the taste hit me. It tasted like high-quality raw steak mixed with unflavored gelatin. Rich, meaty, but weirdly textureless.

  “At least it tastes decent for looking so awful,” Samsara said.

  “Good mana too,” I added, watching Aisling gulp it down.

  I turned to my own prey.

  The first mech was busted open, the cockpit glass shattered. [Blood Spikes] pierced the window. Inside, two pilots in flight suits were struggling to unbuckle their harnesses.

  I reached in with two hair tentacles, plucking them out by their straps. They dangled there, kicking and flailing.

  "Let us go, you monster!" one of them yelled, slapping uselessly at my rubbery black skin. Suddenly, his hand got stuck to my black ink. “What is this?!”

  I tossed both of them into my mouth at the same time.

  I didn't chew. Not yet.

  I closed my mouth, trapping them in the wet darkness. I rolled them around with my tongue. They were small, like hard candies. I pressed them against the roof of my mouth, feeling them squirm and thrash.

  “What are you doing?” Samsara asked, her hands resting on her hips. I could feel her disapproval radiating inside my mind.

  “Punishing them,” I replied, pushing the pilots from one cheek to the other. Their muffled screams vibrated against my tongue. “They tried to kill us. They hurt you and me. They deserve to stew in their fear for a bit.”

  “You’re playing with your food,” Samsara said flatly. “I thought we talked about this.”

  “First of all, it’s not playing,” I retorted, flipping one of the pilots over. “A more correct term would be punishing. Second of all, we did talk about it. But we never agreed on it.” Last time, I hugged Samsara to change the topic.

  “Punishing?” she asked. “That’s worse! You’re torturing them.”

  “Is it torture if it isn’t painful?” I asked back. “Besides, we punish them by eating all the time. It’s like I’m enjoying a lollipop right now.” Not that I have had lollipops since we became monster girls.

  “This is worse, Ramona,” Samsara sighed.

  I clamped my tongue down gently, pinning them. “Would you prefer I spit them out? Let them go run back to their airship?”

  “No,” Samsara admitted. “We can’t let them leave. They’ll just come back in another mech.”

  “Then what is truly the issue of me doing this?” I asked. “I know sometimes you have good points about me doing ‘cruel’ things, but I don’t see how this applies.”

  I felt Samsara’s mind go into overdrive, looking for a way to counter me.

  “Well, playing with your food is bad in battle,” Samsara said, her mental voice sharp. “It will distract you.”

  “Fair point,” I said, pinning my prey to the roof of my mouth. “But we aren’t in a battle right now.”

  “Still it’s a bad habit to develop,” Samsara said. “Better safe than sorry.”

  “Fine, I’ll stop sucking on my prey like they are lollipops,” I said. “I do miss lollipops though.”

  “I do too,” she said.

  I positioned the pilots between my molars, silencing them instantly. I chewed thoroughly, grinding the bones and clothes into a paste before swallowing.

  “Happy?” I asked, wiping a bit of drool from my lip.

  “Not really,” Samsara said. “I’m still worried about you being more cruel than necessary.”

  “I think it’s perfectly fine,” I disagreed. “Why should I treat my food with respect when it spent the last ten minutes trying to blow my head off? They didn’t respect us. They treated Aisling like a battery. They treat us like crap.”

  “Because we shouldn’t be more monstrous than necessary,” Samsara insisted. “If we lose our empathy for others, we’re no better than the Monster Purifiers.”

  “I have plenty of empathy,” I shook my head. “I protect and take care of you. And even though I have trouble relating with our worshippers, I haven’t eaten a single villager in Lateo. I haven’t threatened anyone recently there, either. I’m incredibly kind to the people who aren’t trying to murder us.”

  “That’s a low bar,” Samsara muttered in her mind.

  “It’s the only bar that matters,” I said firmly. “I am kind to you. I am kind to our worshippers. Everyone else that threatens us are just calories. Besides, you have eaten some Monster Purifiers too. Why not have some fun while eating? I’ll make sure not to do it during battle. And if you really want us to be safe, I’ll only play with my food when we’re in Lateo.”

  Samsara looked down. “We’re getting distracted. Let’s dig up the stealth field generator.”

  Sure. Who knows what might come through the rift?