I'm eating another mouse, and the taste is getting old.

The first time you eat something, it tastes amazing, but after twenty of them? Not so much. Spiders are barely giving any energy in comparison, so I'll stick with what I've got.

[Hey, Joule?]

[Yes?]

[How's it going?]

We thought it over and realized that 'emergency conditions' is probably the most powerful option we have, regardless of the fact that we have no idea what it actually does. As a result, Joule's been trying everything she can think of to activate it again, even going so far as to recommend I irritate a significantly larger animal than myself (I denied that option flatly).

[Not great. I've been searching your Void for anything out of the ordinary besides me, and I'm not having much success.]

[Why is it so difficult?]

[It's hard because your Void is bigger than the planet, and my sensors aren't exactly great at looking at nothing.]

[Fair enough.]

My home is coming along nicely, as I've decided to expand. I'm not getting larger at a rate anywhere near what I used to, but it's settled at a much steadier pace. I now have four rooms, an expanded storage room, and an escape tunnel. At Joule's request, I've even rigged up a self destruct. One bite in the right place and it all comes down.

[While you're at it, have you detected any creatures nearby?]

[Hmmm... There seems to be a lifeform directly above us, actually.]

[Let's go see what it is.]

Walking up the entrance tunnel, I stick my head out.

It was at that moment that I learned an important lesson: always make sure you know what you're getting into.

A beak closes directly around my head and hurls me into the air.

[WHAT THE-]

I twist midair and get a good look at the culprit.

It's a white, feathered creature with a yellow beak and a large red thing hanging from its throat.

[ROOSTER!]

A streak of fear goes through me. Chickens have no issue whatsoever eating ants, especially when they're as large as me.

[What do I do?] I scream as I start hurtling towards its mouth.

My mandibles darken with Void. [Bite it!]

As the rooster sees the light curling around my mouth, it backs away with a lightning movement. It clucks indignantly at the ant that dares to attack back.

I land without any injury and immediately right myself.

[How long can I maintain Void Bite?]

[About ten minutes - you'll run out of energy by then, so you've got to defeat this thing fast!]

[Got it!]

I go on the attack, mandibles snapping, and the rooster backs away. It's so fast!

[How am I supposed to beat this thing? It can run circles around me!]

[Get back to your home!]

I clack my mandibles one more time and then sprint for my entrance.

The rooster is much faster to react than I hoped it would be, and runs after me, beak open wide.

Ant bodies aren't really built for this, but I dive for the entrance. I almost make it.

Grabbing onto my back end, it yanks me out of my home and hurls me into the air.

It's at that moment that Joule yells, [I've got it!]

Rather than my mandibles, it's suddenly my entire body that's coated in Void, and the rooster bites down.

There's a confusing moment where I'm falling, and then I hit the ground. I know it's the ground because it's far from soft.

Rolling my sore body onto my stomach, I struggle to stand. Why is it so hard to stand all of a sudden?

The Void vanishes, and I'm left standing, exhausted. Whatever Joule did to coat my body depleted my entire reserve of energy. Time to see if it paid off.

I turn around laboriously, wondering as I did why the rooster hadn't attacked me yet.

I get my answer very quickly and tilt my head, curious.

[Apparently, that makes your body really sharp.]

No kidding. When the rooster had bitten down, I'd gone into its mouth, and then kept going without slowing down. In other words, the rooster was very, very dead.

[That's quite an effective ability.]

[It sure is, but... you're not going to eat it, are you?]

I eye the rooster's corpse. I've never eaten anything larger than that snake from earlier, and I'm interested to see how much void I can get.

[Of course I'm going to eat it.]

[Let's just get this over with.]