Stuck

Willow's hammer slammed into the sludge's head. It started to bobble from the impact, but Willow knew she didn't do much.

Although her hammer sank deeply into the sludge, it was met without resistance: there were no bones or vertebrae within the creature, at least in its head.

Willow gripped the handle of her hammer firmer and attempted to yank it out of the beast, but its viscous black slime held it in place. Then, she tried to pull her legs free, but they too were trapped in the slime.

She looked up and met eyes with Spright before helplessly smiling and beckoning him and Blood to her aid. With Lyle out of critical condition and safe enough to leave, the two boys hopped off the wall and ran towards the sludge.

Blood attacked first. He immediately took advantage of the lifeless corpses splattered in front of the lab and ripped the remaining blood from their veins.

Their arteries popped, ripping their remaining flesh apart and spewing a blood red mist into the air. The mist condensed, forming raindrops of blood around the laboratory.

They hovered in the air, unmoving, anticipation swelling in what little life remained in the red blood cells. Then, simultaneously, the blood drops flattened and spiraled in the air until jagged, pointed spears covered the battlefield.

Blood snapped his fingers and the spears flew. They plunged into the black beast, sinking deep within its flesh until the spears were no more.

Its body jiggled in response and as its flesh vibrated the holes from the spears sealed themselves and closed completely. Blood clicked his tongue as he watched his attack do little to nothing.

He pulled more blood from the battlefield and constructed his second arm, but he made it wide and thick and specifically changed the shape of his fingers, making them long and sharp like that of a demon.

He arrived at the laboratory entrance and plunged his arm into the beast's body, his sharpened fingers slid into the creature like it was butter but as he yanked back to strike again, his arm was caught.

A tentacle emerged from beside Blood's shoulder and wrapped around his crystal forearm. The tentacle slowly melded with the creature's flesh again, pulling Blood further within its grasp.

He quickly relinquished control over his blood arm resulting in it returning to liquid and spilling onto the floor. Blood leaped back then constructed another arm. He turned to Spright who was standing next to him, clearly signaling it was his turn to try something.

Meanwhile, Emile inspected the properties of the various saplings he had absorbed on the way here.

As it turns out, the tree's on this planet do a lot more than meets the eye.

For one, the single-leafed, transparent rainbow infused oddity he grew earlier is known as a Pearl Bell and it's one of Madame Mercy's personal research projects.

The reason Mercy carried it with her is due to one of its unique characteristics; blood transfusion.

[Name: Pearl Bell]

[Rank: King]

[Growth Time: 800 - 1,200 years]

[Abilities: Blood Transfusion, Camouflage, Elemental]

[Blood Transfusion: Convert blood into essence]

[Camouflage: Become undetectable]

[Elemental: Able to control all elements]

The reason Mercy carried it around is due to its ability to create essence, the topic of Mercy's lifelong research and now Emile possessed it. And Emile didn't just have one, on the contrary, Emile now had many.

In fact, there were three other trees Emile hadn't even looked at yet: the Red Dollop, the Slip or Fall, and the Royal Present.

Although these tree's didn't possess any supernatural characteristics, they were the three fruit trees Emile and Blood had encountered in Underneath's gardens.

The Red Dollop produced small, bite-sized orbs that grew in clumps and only from the bottom leaves of the tree, making all of its fruit easily visible and pickable.

The Slip or Fall was another fruit tree and this one produced elongated, oval shaped fruits. The fruits were yellow and grew off the tree's trunk rather than from its leaves making the tree look like it was covered in loose scales.

Last is the Royal Present, a fruit tree that grows not only fruit, but also a nut. The crescent shaped nuts sat neatly atop the cone shaped fruits and they grew from the tree's branches. The fruit cones grew pointed down and resembled ornaments that hung from a Christmas Tree.

Emile palmed a sapling, his thin fingers unable to contain the white sheen the sapling radiated. Willow, still trapped in the sludge, recognized the perilous glint from its two previous uses.

Emile chucked the pearl towards the sludge and hit it directly. The sapling stuck to its body, caught in the slime of the beast before exploding into action.

The sapling unfurled and it's see-through stem crashed into the laboratory walls, penetrating the thick stone with ease. The roots latched onto the sludge, wrapping around it and holding it still.

It's own, black tentacles collided with the tree's roots. The two aggressively consumed one another, colliding with ferocious tenacity.

Willow remained unhurt, but the tree's roots persued her nonetheless while the sludges tentacles guarded her. Loud snaps erupted within camp, the two opposing tentacles continued to wage war on one another and brought catastrophe to the surroundings.

The laboratory walls crumbled, the floor shattered, and the minced meat flesh from their fallen soldiers sprayed into the air, painting their surroundings red.

Eventually, the Pearl Bell's roots thickened enough to overpower the sludge. The transparent arms plucked the tentacles off the creature, ripping it apart over and over and flinging its appendiges wildly into the sky.

The rainbow veins pierced the sludges body and began to pulsate in rhythm as it sucked the beast dry. Soon after, it's wet and slimy exterior hardened.

It's bulbous body thinned and it's outrageous appetite diminished. Willow finally ripped one of her legs free and summoned her hammer once more.

Wielding it within her arms, she swung it over her head and into the beast. Instantly, the creature shattered like glass.

It's body split apart into thousands of different pieces and it's insides were finally exposed, but to everyone's disbelief, there was nothing within the beast. All of its victims and their armor, Lyle's shield, none of it survived the acidic slime that occupied the creatures innards.

Willow landed on solid ground, a wave of relief washing over her, but just as her sigh finished something grabbed her ankle and pulled her up.

The Pearl Bell's roots wrapped around Willow's legs and crept up her thighs. Before they could reach her hips though, Emile appeared beside her and placed his palm on the back of her shoulder.

She felt the cooling sensation of his essence pouring into her and the tree's roots lessened their grip enough for Willow to slide the roots off like a pair of pants.

"Thanks," she said.