40 Fight in Flight

[Congratulations on completing the task, Host. Although this System feels your performance could have been better, both the Mana Pulse Earring and a novice shadow magic spellbook have been placed within your storage ring.]

I internally frown, 'Just shut up! I'm doing the best I can with what I have...just whatever. Pull up my basic status.'

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire {Pseudo True God}

Level: 3 (0/50)

Health: 187/330

Mana: 2/150

Essence: -119

'I don't even have the mana to use shadow magic...Well, at least the bleed damage has stopped.'

While I have a moment, I start running through my situation. Right now, most of the group is hanging from the chain nearest the helicopter. Below them is the disgusting Phil, who is hanging upside down. Currently, Phil is trying to drag Eden and me up to him via the chain attached to Eden's hand.

I need to kill Phil, but the only way to kill a Tar Demon is to break its core; however, the problem is finding where the core is in Phil's body. I have a vague idea of where it is thanks to all the threads of blood I ran through his body, but...the only thing I have right now that is strong enough to break it is my claws.

"Eira, watch out!" I hear Eden's hoarse voice and turn my head upward to see Phil reaching toward me with his gross tar hand.

"Did you forgot about me already, little mosquito?!" Phil shouts.

My eyes grow wide, "Don't touch me, you smelly moron!"

I raise the saber I took from Eden and swing upward at Phil's hand. With a splat, the sword runs through the tar hand. The hand splits in half, begins to wiggle until small strands of tar start to shoot between the two sides and reconnect the two pieces.

"Those kinds of attacks won't work on me."

I ignore Phil and glance down at the ground, 'Well, here goes nothing, I suppose.'

I sigh and take one last deep breath of fresh, untainted air. First, to buy a little more time, I swing the saber once more, whacking his hand into two pieces yet again. Eden gives me a look of concern as I swiftly climb up her body and place my feet on each of her shoulders.

I balance and prepare myself, 'My agility is much better than his, so I'll use it to my advantage.'

Phil scoffs, "Just because my hand is split doesn't mean I can't still hit you with it!"

Phil swings at me with his wiggling hand, but I don't wait around for him and instead use Eden's shoulders to jump up and toward Phil. I reach out my arm and grip the sickle stuck in Phil's thigh. I look back to see Phil's punch fly over Eden's head as the force of the punch causes the chain and helicopter to sway a bit. I can feel the cold sweat forming on the back of my neck as I realize how much damage a hit from him would do.

I quickly calm myself down and raise the saber to chop at Phil's other arm. The saber slices into Phil's arm, but unfortunately only runs partway through before it gets stuck in the sticky tar. Luckily, however, Phil shouts in anger and releases the chain, which was ultimately my goal anyway.

Eden's eye grows wide as she realizes what's about to happen, "Wait!" Eden yells before immediately dropping dozens of feet back down to where we were before Phil dragged us up.

'Good now I don't have to worry about Eden getting hurt.'

"Stay still!" Phil shouts.

"Oh, okay. I guess I have to now since you told me to." I respond with sarcasm.

I draw the saber out of Phil's arm and chop at it once again. This time I just barely manage to slice through severing Phil's arm and sending it tumbling toward the ground below.

"Dammit, I'll fill your lungs with tar!"

While I'm preparing for my next move, Phil unexpectedly reaches around with his other hand and grabs my leg, 'Not good!' I cry in my head.

Phil grips my leg, which such force I can almost hear the sound of my bones creaking. Phil yanks at my leg, forcing me to let go of the sickle and causing me to flip upside down.

He holds me upside down, causing my skirt to flip up, "Eh? Hahahaha! I gotta say little mosquito I never expected you to be one to wear underwear with little butterflies on it."

Hearing his words, I can feel rage mixed with embarrassment start bubbling up from the depths of my soul. Phil lowers me to bring our faces closer together, "Oh, are you shaking, are you scared? Don't worry; you aren't my type."

"...you," I whisper.

"What's that? No point in begging for your life now."

"...I'm...I'm gonna break your core into tiny pieces and use it as a seasoning!"

Suddenly three gray veils of mist appear around Phil and me. Three familiar women float in the air wearing ragged and bloody dresses with a feeling of sorrow and anguish. The figures of Kanna, Martha, and a girl from the religious group, that I never actually got the name of, all stare at both Phil and me with contempt.

Phil looks around in surprise, "Banshees? Why are they here? They couldn't possibly know the truth, could they?"

The three banshees ignore Phil and open their mouths with a distorted expression. All at once, they begin to howl, but unlike Eden, their wails are much more one-directional. The tar of Phil's body begins to tremble under the screams of the three banshees.

Under the intensity of the banshee's screams, Phil releases my leg, however just before he fully releases, I crash the saber into Phil's chest. With the saber firmly planted in Phil's body, I flip back upright, only barely managing to maintain my grip on the saber.

I can feel blood beginning to run from my eyes and ears, but I disregard it, and instead, I stare at Phil's body. Finally, I notice a small abnormality toward his gut. I grow my claws to their maximum length and smash my hand into the tar with such force I can feel the skin of my fingertips begin to peel away.

Between maintaining my talent, the intense smell, and the wailing of the banshees, I can feel my consciousness slipping. However, I force myself to continue and finally feel something around the size of a baseball deep within the tar. I grab onto the object and squeeze with all my might.

For the first time, Phil screams out in pain, "AHHHH! Wait, don't!"

I grit my teeth and begin to giggle hysterically, "For what you've done, you die here!"

"NO! Don't you want to know who I work for? Why I'm monitoring that girl?" Phil struggles and tries to grab at me, but the wails of the banshees are disrupting his body's control.

"Of course I do."

Phil sighs with relief and is about to speak before I interrupt him, "And I'll make sure I find out from someone else."

Suddenly the three banshees disappear, and a sound like glass shattering echos through the night. For a moment, even with a face made of muck, I can see the disbelief in Phil's expression.

[43 Essence Acquired]

Phil's body begins to destabilize and crumble into pieces. I smile beneath my mask with satisfaction, as I watch as bones and other bits of the original Phil begin to slip from the tar of the demon Phil. As my vision turns blacker and blacker, I again realize I've pushed myself too far. I can feel the saber starting to slip from Phil's unstable corpse.

I glance downwards, and my thoughts turn toward the worst case, '...I can maybe survive a fall from this height, but with my health already being half of what it usually is, not to mention the Crawlers that are now on the loose, I'm not so sure.'

However, at the last moment of consciousness, I feel someone grab me. Eden's voice rings in my ear, "Don't worry. Even though you smell bad, I've got you. Just sleep for a bit and let me carry some of your burdens."

Like that, I lose myself to the darkness once again.

_______________________________________________

--Eden POV--

While carrying Eira's unconscious body, I climb up the red chains Eira made using blood and her magic.

'Everything Eira does is crazy...but also incredible.'

**Sigh**

'Of course, even in the short time I've known her, I've learned I should never tell her that, or it would go to her head.'

I glance at Eira's unconscious body and try to sort through the feeling this insane girl gives me.

'Even covered in horrible smelling tar and old dried blood, why does it feel almost blasphemous for me to touch her? These feelings are so confusing.'

"Eden! Where are you going?" I look up to see Aponi staring at me.

I gaze at the other girl who has also been giving me odd feelings of closeness, "There's only one place I could go, right? I'm going to talk to the people in the helicopter."

Aponi points at the sickle dangling below me, "No fair! None of us can go anywhere, unlike you."

"Yeah, well, it's only because Uncle Phil's...the demon's body fell apart that I could start moving around freely."

"That's great and all, but can you please go tell them to land? Bryans ass has been right against my face this whole time."

"I can't help it! I can hardly move dammit! But none of that matters anyway Sam needs medical attention ASAP!" Bryan shouts.

I don't really know what to say to them, so I just continue climbing. As I climb, I accidentally step on Audrey's face, and she gives off a little distressed squeak, 'Eira once said Audrey has a stepable face, and I never really understood it till now.'

Finally, I climb up into the helicopter only for a short girl with shoulder-length hair to run toward me, holding up a camera.

"Miss, can you tell our viewers what exactly is going on?! That was incredible; it was like a movie!...also you both kinda smell."

I look at the girl's camera, "Are you filming?"

"Yes! We are streaming live on Tremble.tv right now! Our channel's goal is to look through the lies of the government and bring truth to the internet and the world!"

I blink a few times as I stare at the girl, 'What would Eira do in this situation? Hmm, probably something like this...'

I take the camera from the girl and fling it out of the helicopter. From below, I can hear Audrey's voice, "Aw! Who hit me with this thing!?"

"Why did you do that?!" the girl yells.

"No cameras. Please tell the pilot to find a clearing in the forest and land immediately."