Sea Slime

Emile rolled on the violet stained gravel, dodging an attack from a Sea Crawler. Over the past hour, his black cloak had absorbed so much of the creature's blood that it was now a midnight purple.

His body glistened in the light and his clothes stuck to him like glue. Covered in slime and sludge, blood and guts, Emile beheaded the last Sea Crawler on this street.

But he didn't have a moment to spare, so he quickly found the bell tower and began making his way towards it. He ran through the alleyways, trying his best to avoid Willow's fight with the black slop.

But it was unavoidable. As Emile was passing the ruins of Rising Tide Willow caught sight of him. She hammer-jumped past the slop and stopped herself before Emile.

"Hey!" She called out, "I think I figured out how to kill that thing, but I need your help."

"What do you need?" Emile asked, stressing his voice to imply he's in a hurry.

"I'm gonna launch you—" she said as she pointed to the sludge, "and you're gonna pierce right through it."

Glassy-eyed, Emile looked at the black beast in the distance. It was slowly trudging its way over a building, sucking in and dissolving ice and stone alike.

"That sounds like a terrible idea." Emile retorted.

"We'll consider it your initiation!" Willow replied with a radiant smile, "And you heal anyway, don't be a crybaby."

With a sigh, Emile lowered his eyes and reluctantly agreed to her request. Willow laid her hammer down on the ground, the flat edge facing up like a seat.

Emile jumped on top of the hammer and crouched down, wrapping his fingers around the corner of the flat edge. He held his scimitar close to his body, Emile tried to tuck everything as snug as possible so the force of spinning the hammer didn't accidentally send him flying into a wall.

Emile nodded at Willow, giving her the okay to begin, and begin she did. Without hesitation or concern for Emile's well-being, Willow instantly picked up the hammer and began spinning it around her body.

Had she been on Earth, she would have easily dominated the hammer throw category of the Olympics, unfortunately for Emile, she was here instead—hammer throwing him.

"On three, let go!" Willow yelled.

Emile's grip on the hammer gradually loosened. The world around him was replaced by a blur of overlapping colors. Every second, a sick sensation of nausea attacked Emile, but then his Gift silenced the sensation.

Trapped in a limbo of almost puking and then not, Emile was desperately waiting to get off this terrible ride.

"Three!" Willow roared and Emile blindly listened.

He let go of the hammer and immediately rocketed through the air. He tried to raise his arm, tried to point his sword forward to pierce the sludge, but the wind resistance was too great.

Before he knew it, his hair was drenched. Then all he saw was black. He tried to take a breath, but his mouth was filled with a cold, thick substance instead.

And then the pain hit him. An anxiety attack, a bad sunburn, a rug burn, there are a lot of things similar to the sensation Emile was experiencing.

His body was dissolving. His skin was burning. His pain receptors were screaming. Like a thousand needles constantly striking his body or sliding down a wall made of sandpaper, every skin cell, every receptor was activated to its greatest extent.

The pain lasted for only a couple of seconds, but for Emile it felt like an eternity. And then the light returned and the wind peeled most of the purple blood and acid off his body.

Emile's shoulder slammed into the gravel and he tumbled across the floor like a rag doll. Recognizing he was out, he opened his mouth and more sludge flowed from his lips to the ground.

While sucking in air, Emile forced himself to look back at the black mass. Since being run through, its body expanded higher into the air and then folded like a towel.

[Perfected Sea Slime Slain]

Before its body crashed into more buildings, the Sea Slime cracked and shattered into essence. The typhoon of essence swirled in the air and then plummeted down into Emile.

Across the ruined plains, past broken pieces of buildings and destroyed landmarks, Willow came running. Her hair flowed in the air, her golden armor rattled with every step, and her hammer bobbed on her shoulder like a seesaw at a playground.

She stopped in front of Emile and with excitement in her voice she said, "I told you it would work!"

Emile struggled to raise his shaky arm to grab hold of Willow's hand. She pulled him up, but his body was still healing.

Emile's skin was bright red and all across his body flaps of skin hung off, begging to be pulled. His cloak mostly vanished, now only about a foot of cloth hung off his shoulder.

It wasn't only his cloak that dissolved; Emile's entire suit was riddled with acid burns. Even though his body was healing, his mind was still struggling to process the overbearing amount of pain he received in such a short amount of time.

He looked towards the bell tower and with the rest of his energy asked Willow for a favor:

"Take me there." He said in a low whisper.

Willow followed his gaze and found the tower.

"The bell tower?" She asked, "Alright."