The divine slime, John, made a strange noise which could only be described as a cross between the hissing of a snake and the bubbling of a fish. But, despite its strange noise, it was startling and aggressive enough to catch our attention, which had previously been resign on a slime whom had been slain by our co-operation.

As we stared at John dumbfounded, he (I presume) made another noise. This one was closer to that of a whistle, but, nonetheless, it was sort of frightening.

All the other slimes perked up at this sound and started moving towards him, slowly.

We could most likely have attacked them, and we probably should have, but the thought of “how can a slime whistle, having neither lungs nor lips?” kept distracting me.

Before me and Hans' eyes, all the slimes started crowding and piling up upon John.

It reminded me closely of American football-players piling atop the dude who has the ball, except for the fact that these American football-players piling atop the dude who has the ball were all melting into the dude who has the ball.

It was quite the surreal sight.

All the slimes had soon merged into a single, humongous blob of goo. It still closely resembled a cell, but I didn't point it out. It was about the same size as the hole behind it, no... it was exactly the same size as the hole behind it. Perhaps it had used this form to do that? Hm.

The differences between this humongous slime and the regular “Light Slime” were three, not counting its size.

First up, there was not a single core, but many. I didn't count them, but I imagined them to be around the same amount of cores as slimes that merged. The rational conclusion would be that no cores appeared or disappeared, but merely joined the humongous slime without merging.

The second this was that instead of the usual core that the slimes had, what floated unnaturally in the middle of this slime was John. It was rather hard to distinguish between a core and John, but I successfully did so by way of thinking “does it look strangely angry?”, to which the regular core would answer “no”, but John would answer “yes”. Plus, John has a weird halo thing behind him.

The third thing was the state which the other, smaller cores were in. They were all constantly orbiting around John, like the electrons of an atom, the yes-sayers around a man of power, or... The planets orbiting a star.

I didn't know what to think about this situation, but the truth was that we were utterly outmatched. I didn't even want to ask Voice about it. Voice showed it to me anyways. Whether this was done out of worry or malice, I don't know.

- Name: Genesis (Petite)

Species:

Health: 150/150

Mana: 200/200

Energy: 100/100

Energy Recovery Rate: 0.0/P.S

Speed: 5

P. Strength: 20

M. Strength: 50

Characteristic Abilities:

Absorb Lv.10, White Magic Lv.MAX (Light Heal, Light Pierce, Light Mass Heal, Evil Bane, Purifying Gaze, Heal, Mass Heal, Pierce, Evil Destruction, Revive(Lesser).) Acid Spit Lv.5, Divine Magic Lv.5 (Righteous Judgement, Divine Punishment, Evil Banishment, Reveal, The Will of Good.), Holy Aura Lv.5, True Halo Lv.2, Magic of All

Personal Abilities:

None

Resistances:

Evil Nullification, Magic Nullification.

Titles:

Spirit of the World -

Wh-, What even-, No.

If I just stammer in disbelief I will never be able to beat it!

“Hans!”

“No... No? I don't...”

Hans looked... Confused. No, it was more that her face was the idea of a conundrum incarnated. Her lips were curled up in glee, but her eyes radiated fear and disbelief above all else. It was quite the staggering sight, and I couldn't help but freeze solid at this.

“Whats wrong?”

Hans turned to me, and fear coloured her face a ceramic pale of white.

“Th-, they're coming...”

“No time!”

“B-, but-,”

“Must fight!”

I clenched my fists to show my resolve, and she gulped audibly.

“We-, we have no choice, do we?...”

“No! Must fight!”

“I-, I understand...”

__

I did it. Or, rather, I redid it.

My most sacred trump card.

Genesis.

Ive only done it once, and that was when I first evolved from “Holy Slime” to “Divine Slime”, which was also when I first got this form.

Its rather hard to control, but in a situation such as this, ive really got no choice!

I steeled my resolve and eyed the two from top to bottom.

The girl wore the face of conundrum, whilst the Arachne was in disbelief. However, they did not succumb to despair, but instead did as I did, and steeled their resolve.

If I had a tongue, I would have clicked it.

It would have been so easy had they just succumbed and let me eat them withput a struggle...

Ah, though, then again, the struggle does make it so much better...

A human that doesn’t struggle is just a corpse, after all...

Im already droo-, what...

What am I saying?

Eating a human?...

What in the...

Th-, this...

However, the pair in front of me didn't give me the time to think, but instead attacked. Well, the girl did.

Her sword cleaved the air and attempted to cut my belly in two, however, thats not what happened.

Instead, I thrust my body into the sword, letting it stab me.

A stab does not hurt this body. What truly hurts is magic and slashing attacks.

And so, I accepted the sword into my body.

With a mental smirk, I activated my strengthened Absorb and saw how the sword started cracking and disintegrating.

If I could just pull a little more and get her hand in...

Shocked at my own thoughts, I lost concentration for a second, during which the girl pulled the sword out with an unexpected force, allowing her to retrieve the cracked blade without a hitch.

The small wound in my belly started spewing out the translucent blood which made up my body, and I hissed as the Arachne started closing in with its root-scythes, ready to pounce. However, I did not allow this either.

“Light Heal!”

The wound started closing up as if it had a mind of its own, and the blood stopped flowing.

Before the wound had completely closed, something popped out.

“Clinc”

A small, warmly glowing ball plopped out of my rapidly closing would and fell to the ground with a “clinc”.

S-, Sandra!

The blood that had started to pool on the floor started crawling towards Sandra, who glowed vigorously in anticipation.

But before even a single drop could touch her delicate core, a foul, white slithery, twisted thing lashed out and grabbed her in its disgusting tentacles.

The Arachne smirked.

The disgusting tentacles started twisting about her beautiful core, tainting her with its desires.

And before I could shout “Divine Punishment”, she was gone. Just like that. Without the chance to regain her lost form.

My blood boiled in searing rage.

The wound had closed, but that would hardly be the end of my suffering.

-

I smiled as Voice announced how my level of Absorb had risen to Lv.12.

Hans had almost lost her sword, but she had been able to pull it out of that humongous slime as if retrieving the lost sword of Excalibur.

The sword looked cracked, but it was all worth it, considering the weakness we had found.

All the other cores within him.

I wasn't sure if destroying all those cores would allow us to defeat him, but if they were in there, orbiting all fancy-like, then they must have a reason, yeah?

“Hans!”

“Y-, Yes?”

“Destroy cores!”

“The small, or?”

“The small!”

“Right, ill cut 'im open!”

And so, Hans pounced on it, all former hesitation and fright blown away like dust in the wind. Her sword flashed a slash arched through the air, cutting open a rather large wound on the slime. However, before the goo even started being shed, the wound closed, as if Hans' slash was amere illusion.

I heard something.

In my head, a voice said something.

(Judgement.)

(Alignment has been decided.)

Then, silence.

Back to square one.

But,

“B-, Bob?... Did you hear that as well?...”

“...A voice?”

“Yeah... A deep, mechanical voice... What was that?”

“Don't know. Must fight!”

“R-, Right!”

So, it wasn't an illusion...

Then...

What was it?...

-

“Righteous Judgement”.

Ive also only used this one once, and that time I used it on one of my fellows.

In short, it evaluates someone and chooses an alignment.

The alignment of the fellow I chose, Jacob, was Neutral.

I don't exactly know what this means, but... Im pretty sure that the Neutral means how he generally acts. Jacob usually doesn't do evil or good stuff, and sticks mostly to “What'll allow me to live another day?”, and, thus, I believe he could not be aligned as evil or good. Its kind of foul to use such a black-or-white thing, but... Its useful for one thing.

Most people are not Judged. In fact, few are.

Thus, as my strongest attack only work on people who have the “Evil” alignment, I have to “Judge” people.

The down-side is that I don't know what alignment they are. I only know Jacob was Neutral thanks to making him tell me.

And so, as these two fellow have now been judged, I have to check what their alignments are.

“Evil Bane”.

My weakest attack. Well, in the category of “Defeating Evil”, at least.

Five circles of pure light appeared around my body and started orbiting slowly. After a second or so of deciding who the targets were, two of the circles disappeared in a flash of light whilst the remaining two shot out at the two.

For a little while, the circles simply floated above the heads of the pair.

The two halos started shining a white, pulsating light in rhythm with each-other, and soon the alignment of the two shone brighting. Above the head of the girl, a small, white gloria pulsated, and on her back two small, glowing wings flapped weakly. On the head of the Arachne, two small, pinkish, crooked horns protruded.

I smiled in savage glee as white, ashen fumes started rising from the small Arachne as she writhed in agony.

The girl turned to the Arachne with a surprised yelp.

Well, since I've successfully determined their alignments, only one things left to d-,

AAAAAAARGGHHHHHHH

-

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH

The pain was unendurable. I writhed in agony, my entire body on fire.

The white, ominous circle above my head pulsated with a white, cold light, which constantly prickled at my skin like the needles of a rose thorn.

My only consolation was that out of the corner of my eye, I could see the humongous slime, or, rather, John, writing about as well. On his head, two small, almost invisable horns poked out from the smile.

It was rather satisfying, seeing the ominous circle hover above not only our heads, but his as well.

Hehehe.

-

After a minute or so, the pain subsided for both me and that wretched Arachne.

Had I miscalculated?

Why did it attack me as well??

/ Evil Bane acts on all parties, regardless of caster. /

Right, right...

Wait, why am I of the evil alignment!?

/ I cannot provide an accurate explanation. /

Right, right. In conclusion, I cant use my most powerful magic, or?

/ Those of the Evil alignment cannot use Evil-Destroying magics without being destroyed themselves. /

Right, right.

So... Im fucked.

No, not quite, I still have my normal attacks, like Pierce and Divine Punishment.

Well, Divine Punishment is sorta...

...Ill just use Pierce, then.

...But I don't want to kill them...

I just want to ea-, eherm.

Both of them look rather hesitant to move, so...

Ill make the first move, then.

“Pierce.”

Right beside my head, a long streak of light emerged from the darkness.

And then another.

And another.

Soon, ten streaks of light hovered ominously beside me, awaiting my orders.

Cough.

“Pierce their limbs, however, do not cause any vital damage.”

The streaks of light shot forwards at speeds so fast not even I could see them. All that was left of the streaks of light were the trail of blood following in its wake.

Six streaks had pierced the Arachne, leaving holes in her arms, leaves and stem. From these holes, red blood gushed. I was startled by how red the blood was, standing out vividly against the Arachnids white body.

The girl, on the other hand, had only been pierced by four. The holes left were rather small, however, what they left on her arms and legs were four charred holes, devoid of any blood to speak of. The scent of her charred flesh enticed my hunger, and I started drooling, despite not having nay mouth.

The girl, sadly, did not scream. Instead, she grit her teeth and took the pain head on.

I was disappointed at this.

The more I battled them, the hungrier I grew.

The more... Inhuman I grew.

I didn't want to think about it, so I didn't.

The more I thought about it, the more terrified I grew of myself.

I took a few breaths and calmed myself down.

The Arachne didn't have the same attitude as the girl, and wailed on the spot, crimson tears flowing down her little, cute face.

I wonder how she will scream when I digest her?

I discarded the thought and tried to focus on the two.

I could just continuously throw streaks of light at them, but the ability has several drawbacks.

For the first part, its not instantaneous, but required an incantation when you tell them what to do. During this time, the prey can go hide behind something (although this seldom works) or put up a shield.

Plus, it uses a startling amount of mana.

Sure, I might have far more mana in this form, but... Just a single Pierce (on top of Evil Bane and Righteous Judgement) brought me down below the 100 mark.

Therefore, it'd be better for me to try to conserve my strength and instead use something that might damage them more...

Sadly, one should seldom take the time to think in battles like this, and during the time that I spend thinking, the sword was already cleaving through my flesh.

“H-, Hea-,”

Something shot into me.

Something long and gross.

Something wiggling.

Something... White...

“Heal!!”

The wound closed imminently, however, it was already inside of me.

I turned my attention to my insides and saw the long, white string-like snake slithering and wiggling and twisting about inside of me.

At first, neither of us did anything, however, soon, it became apparent that I would not win this battle.

-

I gave a silent thanks to the gods as the wound closed on my root.

John flinched as my root wiggled about inside of him, but I didn't mind it.

I knew that it was now a matter of who could activate absorb first, and, as someone who uses absorb fairly regularly, I won.

The goo inside of John became E and I felt myself get replenished, as well as how my wounds melded themselves and stopped bleeding.

I could even see how John started slowly shrink under the pressure.

This shrinking stopped the second that a burning sensation ran through my root, indicating that John was now fighting back.

But I already knew what to do about this.

I activated grow as well.

My root started spreading out, becoming larger and thinner, and, consequentially, absorbing more.

- Absorb has reached Lv.13. -

However, it was a stalemate.

I wasnt absorbing too much, and John kept hindering me.

And so, I went for the cores.

Several of my roots gripped the crystal balls and focused all their absorb on them.

Energy surged through me and I felt myself getting the upper hand.

- Absorb has reached Lv.14. -

Several of the glowing globes disappeared in a puff of light, and soon, several became many, and then...

Many became all.

Inside of the slime in front of us, a network of white roots hindered our sight. You could barely even see John himself.

And so, I did the final stroke.

I absorbed every single drop of the goo.

-

They were all gone.

Charles, Emelie, Franklyn, Jaqes, Augustus, Phenilia, Minny, Fanny, Mae...

All gone, in a puff of light.

I couldn't see anything.

My vision was filled with white, string like roots.

I couldn't even try to absorb them anymore.

I had lost.

I could almost hear the Arachne shout “finish it” as the last of my blood was sucked straight from my bloody carcass, leaving only me...

All the roots fell around me, and, although they didn't more, I knew they were alive and ready to pounce on my defenceless body the second their master ordered them to.

I accepted my defeat.

This was it.

It had been a nice run.

I had so many friends, but...

I...

I don't want to die like this...

Not like this...

If I'm gonna die...

I felt the mana surge through my heavy body.

Before me, a giant circle of strange runes and script took form.

It constantly moved and shifted, possessing no true form.

I knew this was it.

This would take my life.

But, at least, I'd bring my killer to the afterlife with me.

And not only the Arachne, I'll bring that little girl, too...

Its a shame I'll never get to taste her...

Never feel her struggle inside of me...

Never hear her scream and shout, begging to be relieved of the searing pain that will tear her delicious body apa-,

What am I saying?

Am I seriously going to try to take her life?

Have I truly become that inhuman?

No, no...

That cant be...

I must...

I must talk to them...

But...

How?...

/ I know of a way. /

M-, Mercury?

/ But it is perilous. You may not survive. /

A-, anything...

I don't want to die...!

/ Very well. /

My body grew hot.

And hotter.

And hotter yet, until my body was on fire.

My body melted like gold, and shifted, and moved.

I could feel all the mana directed at ending the two of them flowing back into me, no...

Into something else.

Something on me.

Something that both is me and isn’t.

That something moved and shifted, feeling its weight, testing its movements...

I opened my eyes.