Out of The Pan

After our close call in the theater, Eden and I walk slowly down the employee corridor.

Eden glances at me with an odd look, "...Eira, can you not do that right now?"

"dawh wahht?"

"I can't understand you with your mouth...full."

I remove my fangs, "Do what?"

"Could you not summon a corpse from thin air and start drinking its blood?"

I purse my lips, "I'm hungry! Besides, you can't say anything; I can see you drooling. You sure you don't want any? The ring kept it nice and warm." I hold the body toward Eden and smirk.

Eden pauses for a second and wipes her mouth, "No...I'm fine."

"Your loss. Oh, by the way, is this the first time you've used a saber?" I move to finish my meal.

"No, my mother was a professional fencer in Germany until she got pregnant with me and immigrated to the US. She was very adamant about teaching me fencing...that and she wanted me to learn to sing."

Finished with my snack, I toss the body to the side, "Fencing and singing, that's an odd combination."

"Yeah, I always disliked the forced lessons. Did you never have to do something like taking lessons?"

"Do I look like someone who's parents made them take lessons?... Although I'm decent at the keyboard and piano."

More specifically, Robert was pretty good at it. A keyboard was one of his most prized possessions, which was a memento from the Adam's, and for years he carried it from foster home to foster home. Unfortunately, it eventually ended up getting lost at the airport, never to be seen again.

After the keyboard was lost, he started saving up for a piano, and when he legally became an adult, he bought one. In his first apartment, the guy didn't even have a bed just a small cot, but he had his piano; it almost makes me burst out laughing thinking about now. For a while, he actually thought about being a music major, but he also wanted stability for the first time in his life, so eventually, he chose to major in engineering.

"You can play an instrument?" Eden gives me a rare look of surprise.

"...No need to act too surprised. But let's drop it for now, how much farther until we can exit the corridor?"

"I've only been down here a few times, but there should be an exit up ahead, and then we just need to walk down a few flights of stairs."

"Okay, we probably shouldn't talk much more from here."

Eden nods, and we quietly make our way to the engine room; however, I have something else on my mind.

'System, if Eden has fencing experience, why didn't that show up under her status?'

[Host, for a skill to appear in an individual's status, the skill must be acknowledged by the cosmic mana stream. As of this moment, the only known individual to currently have a consistent connection with the cosmic mana stream is the Host.]

'...but what about her talent, stats, and other information?'

[When the Host uses <Analyze>, this system interfaces with the cosmic mana stream, which immediately uncovers simple information such as an individual's name, gender, physique, etc. As for talents, as the Host is aware, a talent once awakened is entwined with an individual's soul, making it possible to recognize immediately.]

'Well, I guess that makes sense.'

After leaving the employee corridor and walking down several sets of stairs, we finally make it to the engine room. The door that would normally require a keycard is propped open, which gives me a bad feeling. I take the lead and slowly push open the door with a loud creak. In the background, I can hear the sound of machinery, most likely the pistons, generators, and other related machines.

Together Eden and I walk between the large machines in search of the engine control room. We spot a set of metal stairs that leads up to a space overlooking the room. We carefully walk up the stairs, and it isn't long before we hear the sound of someone yelling.

I peek around the corner to discover two familiar faces along with a scared and ragged-looking young man.

'Judgment, Punishment, and it looks like one of the engineers.'

"Idiot! Moron!" Judgment yells at Punishment

"It's not my fault who knew it would break so easily!?"

"All you were suppose to do was pull the lever, and the ship would have stopped, but instead, you broke the lever, got angry, and then smashed the controls!"

"I pulled it a little, then it got stuck, and besides, you are the one that killed everyone in the engine room except this guy who was hiding in the closet. We could have used them right about now, but all we have now is this intern."

Judgment looks toward the intern, "Are you doing that, right? Do you even really know Morse code?"

"Ye...Yes! I know it. I don't know why they aren't answering the phone, but they should see the light."

"Good, and if you don't convince Mother to come down here, then you know what will happen."

'...I've heard enough. I'm leaving.'

I take a step back to leave when I feel something cold and metallic brush against my skin. I freeze as a coin falls from my shirt and plummets to the ground. The coin hits the ground with a sound significantly louder than you'd expect and rolls into the room with the two Crawlers. The control room becomes quiet as everyone watches the coin noisily bump into the wall and fall flat.

"Eira." I hear Eden whisper.

"...It must have fallen inside my shirt in the casino."

"Who's there?"

"Is it you, Mother? Did you come, Mother?"

**Sigh**

'Well, maybe it's better to go ahead and get rid of this problem.'

I form my scythe and step around the corner, "I'm not sure who you're calling Mother, but I really hope it isn't me; that would just be insulting."

"It is! It's her, Mother!" Punishment yells.

"Ha! I knew it would work." Judgment shouts.

While the two idiots rejoice, I use <Analyze>, finding them both to be about the same as Revenge.

Punishment tilt's his head in confusion, "Mother, you don't seem excited to see us?"

"Yeah, why is that? Aren't you happy to see us alive and healthy?!"

"Why would I be happy to see you two? Anyways, let me guess you two have some kind of weird desire to eat me?"

Judgment and Punishment look at each other and then back toward me, "Of course! Isn't it only natural for us to want that? You know, in the animal kingdom..."

"Stop! First of all, it's very rare in the animal kingdom for offspring to eat their own mother's, so stop acting like its just common sense! Second, how can you two even talk about what's natural? All of you were created artificially; your very existence is unnatural."

Done with this conversation, I cut the palm of my hand and raise it, "Blood spike."

Seeing my aggressive movement, Judgment kicks the engineering intern and launches him toward me. The intern screams in pain as he is violently thrown in the path of the blood spike.

[7 Essence Acquired]

The blood spike is sent off-course by the intern's body, causing it to miss the two Crawlers, and at the same time, my vision is obstructed by the corpse.

"I promise we'll make it as painless as possible!" Punishment charges and moves within a few feet of me.

I dodge to the right, and Punishment slams into the rail, smashing it and just barely avoids falling over the edge to the ground below. Recognizing a good opening Eden and I take a step forward and raise our weapons to strike Punishment, but in my peripheral, I notice Judgment sprinting in our direction. I stop Eden, and we both step out of the way, Judgment apparently moving faster than he intended crashes into Punishment, sending him over the edge.

"Moron!" Punishment yells and grabs onto Judgments 'leg'.

"Let go, you idiot!" Judgment screams and stretches out to find something to latch onto.

Finding my foot within his reach, Judgment locks onto it with his claws. Feeling myself about to be dragged down with the two fools, I drive my nails into the floor in an attempt to get a firm hold, but my sharp nails easily slice through the thin metal floor.

In a last-ditch effort, Eden quickly clutches onto the damaged railing and seizes my hand, but the already weakened railing buckles and snaps sending all four of us dropping toward the mechanisms below.

**Boom**

Eden and I land on top of the two Crawlers, and the smell of burning flesh feels my nostrils. I look down to find us lying on top of a piece of incredibly hot machinery.

Punishment being on bottom tosses and screams, "Get off! Get off! Get the hell off me!"

I look toward Eden, "I'm gonna throw you."

"Wha..!?" I grab Eden by her shirt and fling her off the machine.

I stand and lift my scythe while changing its shape into something resembling a spear. I raise my weapon in the air to pin both Punishment and Judgment to the burning surface, but just as I'm about to bring my weapon down onto them, Judgment kicks his legs back, causing me to stumble.

I fall backward and catch myself with my hand, and at the same time, I can hear the sizzle of my hand on the baking machinery.

I wince in pain, "Ah! You two are, so dead!"

Judgment somehow manages to slide out from beneath me and jumps down to the floor below. Punishment tries to stand up, but his skin is burnt to the machinery; he continues to shriek and scream in pain.

"Ha! It looks like someone forgot to grease the pan!" I yell mockingly.

Peeling my hand off the burning hot machine, I move to stand on top of Punishment. My softened shoes stick to his torso as I raise my spear and slam it into his back. Not finished yet, I move to his head and start stomping it against the machine.

"AH! Mother! Stop! It Hurts! I'm sorry!" Punishment howels.

"Shut up! It's your fault for having such stupid ideas in that head of yours."

I keep stomping over and over as Punishment does everything he can to get up, but it only becomes more and more difficult. When Punishment's appearance is unrecognizable, a message finally appears.

[24 Essence Acquired]

I remove my weapon and hop down to the ground.