HUNTED BY THE ANGLERFISH.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY 12:10 am.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a DeathTech soldier standing guard before it. Noche grinned and held up her left hand – a charging Dead Light Cannon hovering before her wrist. The soldier dashed towards her; she fired.

No one waited for results. They ran into the hall as the monster was held in place by a vacuum of wind. A moment later an explosion of lightning echoed behind them. Noche laughed before falling into a coughing fit. She spat out some blood and grimaced.

"Bruh, I warned you about using Create after forced recovery," Mary said.

"Shut up – I've done it before."

"OH! Yeah! Cause it worked so well before!" Mary snapped. "You are the dumbest person alive!"

Noche rolled her eyes. "Come on bitch, at least admit you loved my cannon."

Mary scoffed.

"N-Noche, y-you are ok? Right?" Tak asked.

"She will be! If she STOPS regenerating drive a literal, fucking second before using create!"

"I'm fine," Noche stretched the truth. "Totally fine."

"Bull-headed stubborn mada fucka," Mary spat. "Yuh ongle a guh learn yuh lesson wen yuh dead."

Tak and Noche stared at Mary and her eyes went wide.

"I-It's my old accent – shut up!" Mary coughed. "Anyways, Owl seems like a cunt."

"Spoiled... Teenager," Alice whispered.

"H-He seems inappropriately named," Tak muttered.

"YO BOOTS!"

He sucked in some air between his teeth. "I'm right here, Noche. No need to yell."

"You said Edward has every bird guarding a floor?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think they're all guarding their elevator?" Noche said. "I don't know what Edward's game is, but I know how he gets his sick kicks — so would he order that?"

Boots scowled and swore under his breath.

"I take that as a yes... Guess this is gonna be a trial by combat," Noche grinned.

"I did tell you the weakest bird, Owl, the one we just ran past. Yes, well, he can lift a million tons and create a nuke," Boots said. "And you're out of Drive and can lift what, two tons?"

"Thank you for remembering."

"You're welcome... Idiot."

She ignored his insult.

"I mean, worst case scenario we have you and Vida," Noche said. "You're a quarter general and she's a half gen... So the only two birds stronger than y'all are Albatross and Raven?"

"Have you been listening?" Boots raised his voice. "I'm not helping you. When this adventure fails, I don't want Edward to say I betrayed him – and have an excuse to harm Spark."

"I'll fight Albatross, but no one else," Vida grinned. "Don't want to waste my energy before the big game."

"You both say that, but I figured if I was actually in danger, one of you would come to my aid."

Vida's grin widened. Boots opened his mouth but no words came out. He scowled and looked to the side.

"Don't depend on it," he whispered.

Noche smiled and nodded.

"Even if I wanted to help you, I can't fight Raven," he said. "Vida couldn't fight Raven — he's too powerful."

"Ohh?" Vida smirked.

"He's the strongest bird of death for a reason. He's stronger than all of us combined," Boots said. "We didn't beat Dreg, the man was unmotivated to fight. Raven will be very motivated — and he will use corruption."

Noche scoffed. "There are ways around augment."

"But no easy ways," Boots said. "Suffocation, poison, energy attacks... All difficult with his guard is up."

Noche's eyes widened. She summoned her sword — Boots flinched.

"No easy ways around augment," she muttered.

She rested the Omni-Oar on the wall and the dark blade cut through metal-like air. Vida's grin expanded to take up her whole face. The blind girl approached the blonde, grabbed the blade, and Noche pulled back.

"Vida! What do you think you're—"

Noche didn't finish that sentence. Her eyes went as wide as Boots when Vida held up her bleeding palm.

"You said I'm half-gen?" She said. "If it can cut me — then it's a sharp sword you got there."

"It hurt Vida? But she's twice as strong as me," Boots muttered. "It ignored the augment of a half-gen."

Noche raised the black blade to her eyes and narrowed them. "It's almost as if it can cut anything."

An image popped in her mind; her eyes went wide. She couldn't believe how obvious the answer was. The explanation for the sword's supernatural sharpness.

"TAR!" She shouted.

The entire group turned to Noche.

"Sorry... My sword is as black as tar," she said.

Everyone's faces revealed confusion, until Boots went wide-eyed and pale.

"Noche — you don't mean," he paused.

"It's not impossible. The planet lance is made of the stuff," Noche says. "I know it has a liquid and gas form... So why wouldn't it also have a solid?"

"I've only seen it as a fast, white fire... And a slow, black tar," Boots said.

"Bruh! What are the two of you talking about?"

They both turned to Mary. A grin emerged on Noche's face and she raised her sword so the blade was horizontal and parallel to the floor.

"Corruption!" She said. "I think my sword is made of corruption — just like the planet lance."

"In its most potent form, corruption appears like a white flame," Boots says. "As it slows down, the color darkens and its destruction decreases... It even changes states of matter. From gas, to liquid, to solid."

"It would explain why the blade cuts everything so effortlessly — Like Vida's augment," Noche said. "I mean, look at it. It's the same color as the planet lance. Almost as if it absorbs all light."

"L-Light reflects off surfaces," Tak stuttered. "If the lightwaves are destroyed the instance they touch corruption, they wouldn't reflect and we wouldn't see them."

Mary pondered. "The stronger the corruption, the more destructive it becomes — probably causing chemical reactions to the atmosphere around it, thus producing pure energy as a byproduct... Like a white flame."

Noche dangled her sword and let it drop straight down — it sank into the floor with zero resistance. Stopping when the ground met the gold hilt.

"A weapon made of corruption," Noche said. "Holy fuck."

A grin appeared on Noche's face and she raised her head to Boots.

"What was that you were saying about us not having a chance?"

He scoffed.

"This doesn't change anything — Raven is a corruption user," Boots said. "Unless you are too, having one magic sword isn't going to help."

Boots paused and his gaze became distant. He began murmuring to himself at a low volume. Thus, he missed it when Noche crossed her arms, filled her cheeks with air, and pouted. All of which stopped when a loud crash echoed from ahead.

The seven of them turned the corner to a hallway with flickering lights and a caved-in ceiling. Various pipes hung above, hissing steam and broken. From one large pipe emerged a brackish, oil-like liquid and chunks of metal... something.

Everyone's eyes went wide when the liquid came alive.

It shifted like a rising snake and took on mass. As the form gained bulk, the chunks of metal collected together — assembling something. Before everyone had a chance to leave this liquid became an entity.

The anglerfish solider. Its Gatling gun now recognizable as tendrils of flesh finished reassembling it.

Noche paled; she was thrown into ice water.

Someone called her, but she didn't hear who. She bit her lip — she had a magic sword that could cut anything. This monster was no threat to her. At least, that's what she told herself to stop trembling.

She howled and charged forward; the hall around her burst into flames. The screams of her fishing village echoed from all angles as she ran. The world became a strange fusion of DeathTech's halls and memories of her home. Prismatic energy glowed around the Gatling gun as the barrels began spinning.

Noche enlarged her sword into its ultra-greatsword form and used it as a tower shield. A hail of bullets slammed into the giant weapon. Prismatic energy appeared below Noche's feet and she slipped on oil — something slammed into her sword, causing her to lose her grip and send it flying.

Her eyes widened at the Anglerfish soldier's fist hovering in mid-air. Noche grit her teeth, resummoned her sword in short sword form, and swung — the arm came off easy. A smile emerged on her face, she could do this, she could kill the monster.

Meat tendrils extended from the bleeding stump and shot towards her. If it wasn't for the fact Noche trained like a madman and honed her instincts to an ultra-fine level, she would not have dodged as well as she did.

The flesh-whips latched onto Noche's hand — specifically, the pointer and middle fingers of her left hand.

Her blood chilled into sludge as thousands of millipedes crawled under her skin. They pushed and ate at the meat and bone as nerves flared up with pain before being extinguished. Flesh warped and fused together — it was trying to absorb her.

Noche grit her teeth and acted before she could think about the consequences of her actions. She swung and, like always, the Omni-Oar met no resistance. The dark blade severed her fingers.

Blood gushed from the stumps that used to be her two most important fingers. She fell on her ass as she was separated from the monster — yet it didn't falter in launching itself forward. Noche planted the sword into the wall and used instant riptide; she escaped its tackle.

The blonde slammed into the wall with such force that it knocked the air out of her. She forced her eyes open and stared at the blood. Her hand gushed like a kitchen faucet with both knobs twisted off. She attempted to create a tourniquet — she was out of Drive.

Cursing she gripped her bleeding hand and applied as much pressure as she could. Before she had time to think of a better plan, something on the floor moved out the corner of her eye. It was the anglerfish soldier's severed arm; it had grown tarantula legs.

Noche screamed, summoned her Omni-Oar, and swung. The insectoid limb split in two and both pieces writhed like a snake. It didn't take long for the new twins to form more legs and slither towards her.

After a few more screams Noche swung some more. Slice after slice she cut the abomination into tiny cubes. Gradually turning one body part into a horde of roaches eager for blood.

"Why won't you die, WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" She yelled.

Noche didn't understand — her sword was made of corruption. It spread as a tar. It spread as a white fire. Why wasn't it spreading now? The answer hit her the same way a street curb would to an alcoholic.

"It's too weak," she thought. "Corruption is strongest in gas form and weakest in solid."

The anglerfish soldier loomed over her. Noche drew her sword and swung — extending the blade mid-air and cleaving the monster in half. She rolled out of the way before the upper half fell on her.

"Corruption in solid form can only destroy on direct contact," Noche thought. "It doesn't spread like spilled tar or expanding gas when it's in solid form."

Fire slammed into Noche's shoulder and jaw — she transformed her Omni-Oar into its ultra-greatsword form and blocked the bullets.

From behind her, a horde of insectoid flesh writhed towards her. To her side, the anglerfish soldier's legs melted into a puddle and slithered towards him. Ahead of her, a barrage of bullets which were never-ending.

Noche was out of Drive, she was bleeding profusely, and her ultimate weapon was useless. But worst of all, she was facing the nightmare that stood dead center at every traumatic memory of her childhood. The anglerfish soldier. Her heart rate sped up and her breathing became rapid, yet she couldn't get air.

For a moment she was a child again. 

The fires surrounded her — smoke suffocated her;  the village screamed as her home was burned to ashes. Despite the heat, her skin was cold and drained of blood. Her stomach churned as if she swallowed the vilest of poisons. Noche trembled.

"Sombody, save me, please," she whispered.

The bullets stopped; a green rock rolled up to her.

It wasn't a rock.

Noche's eyes widened at the drive-metal grenade.

Jack swooped down like a hero of legend. He grabbed the grenade and threw it with all his might — it exploded a second later. The walls and ceiling came crashing down, breaking Noche out of her hallucination.

Something grabbed her arm and adrenaline rushed into her veins. Despite that, she was unable to move — she was shaking too much. A wave of calm washed over her when the softness of the grip revealed no harmful intent. Jack helped Noche to her feet and led the two of them into a hallway.

The anglerfish soldier's legs weren't regenerated yet — while it had the upper torso of a man, the lower torso was more of a snake's tail. Granted that tail was regenerating from liquid to solid, so it drenched the floor in fluids that had the viscosity of a tadpole. Launching buckets of goo in all directions with each twitch, it slithered after the pair.

If it wasn't for Jack, Noche would have died. It was impossible to move of her own accord — childhood trauma had paralyzed her. The whizz of bullets and inhuman sounds of their pursuer forced Jack to run faster. They reach an intersection, made a decision, and by sheer luck their predator chose the opposite path.

Jack let out a profound sigh.

"How," Noche muttered. "How were you able to move?"

He stared at her. "Pardon?"

"Weren't you terrified?"

His smile was warm, if drained of energy.

"Of course!" He said. "More scared than I ever been in my life!"

"Then how?"

"Because — Well, because if I didn't, you would have died."

"Why does that matter?"

Jack blinked and leaned back, as if he suffered a physical blow.

"Noche! I — I'm not gonna stand around and watch someone die!" He said. "Not if I can save them!"

"But how can you save them if you're afraid!"

"What are you saying?"

"How are you able to face your fear!"

There was a long pause where Jack stared at her without blinking.

"It's called courage," he said. "Facing your fear even when it's overwhelming."

Noche's expression was frozen. The word rang in her head, but she couldn't comprehend it. Courage.

She was a person who could take a shotgun blast to the face, rip a knife out of her hand, and kick a vault door off the wall. Yet she couldn't face her fears — and Jack, who looked like he'd struggle to lift a stapler, did so without effort. It was like he was the exact opposite of her.

For a second her heart fluttered and her face flushed. When she recognized the sensation for what it was, her brows furrowed and a scowl appeared on her face. A decent part of her was filled with anger — but a smaller part was full of admiration. Maybe more.

The blonde relented. "Well, I guess I like that about you then... Your courage."

Jack's beamed, and with his smile, the world seemed a little more bright.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"What was that?" He asked with a smug grin.

Noche punched his shoulder — the security guard clasped his bicep, stifled a scream, and fell sideways to the floor. Noche chuckled. Jack's sat back up and the smile slid from his face. As his expression was replaced with stark horror.

"NOCHE! Your hand!"

His gaze turned down to his palm — he paled at all the blood.

"Oh my god! I didn't mean to grab — "

Jack's face went white and his eyes went distant. He turned around and vomited. Noche perked up an eyebrow and crossed her arms as pea-green puke spewed out of him.

"You done?" She asked.

His eyes were full of tears as he stared at her. "Doesn't it hurt!"

Both her eyebrows raised; her gaze fell on the wound. It lingered there for a few seconds before she spoke.

"Why yes. Yes it does."

"H-How are you not screaming? How can you handle that!"

"I've grown accustomed to pain."

"Y-You... You're, uhh, much tougher than I thought."

Noche chuckled. "Thank you. But pain is small in comparison to what I really fear."

"The anglerfish soldier?"

"No!" Noche scowled. "No... Failure."

Jack frowned. He walked over to Noche, ripped off some of his shirt, and tended her wound. After a second or two a decent tourniquet was made.

"Can..." He stopped.

Noche's eyebrow twitched. "Well go on."

"We're stuck out here by ourselves," he muttered. "Can... You win against the anglerfish soldier?"

Her eyes went wide and her skin paled white. She snapped her gaze away from his eyes. After an eternity of silence, she spoke in a voice that was weak and trembling.

"O-Of course I can..."

He put his hand on her shoulder; she flinched away.

"Noche — if you don't think you can, that's ok," he said. "You've gotten insanely strong, but this is Anglerfish soldier we're talking about... Even Boots seems scared of the thing."

Noche bit her lip. Her eyes darted in small instances from side to side. The fingers of her good hand tightened into a fist.

"Besides, running may be the better option anyways." Jack paused. "Cause I think it's hunting you."

Her eyes locked onto Jack's as she furrowed her brows. They flickered in place as they tried to grasp his expression.

"W-What are you saying?"

"When it reappeared, its focus immediately went to you and stayed there," he said. "It used that Create ability to keep us at bay — Ang was prepared for us."

"It planned to separate me?" She whispered.

Jack nodded. "If I wasn't so weak, it would have paid more attention to me... I don't think Ang will ignore me again."

Both went silent as footsteps echoed around the corner. Noche's heart beat faster and faster, like a sledgehammer desperate to break down a brick wall and escape.

For the first time in her life, the thought of fighting never entered Noche's mind.

Her breathing began to speed up. She had to stay silent but the world was buzzing and her ears throbbed. Sight was beginning to blur. She couldn't endure this — it was making her sick.

An arm wrapped around her and everything calmed down.

Her vision cleared to Jack, with an expression no less terrified than her own, peering down the hall. Despite his own evident fear, his gaze was stern and focused. He swallowed as beads of sweat dripped down his face.

"We need to leave," he whispered.

Noche, who was in no condition to fight, nodded. She turned to the only path they had and froze — a gut feeling told her to stop. Something slithered down the back of her neck and filled her with such dread that, for the briefest of instances, she considered retreating towards the anglerfish soldier.

It made no sense because the only thing ahead of her was pitch, black darkness with a flickering, fluorescent light guarding it. Yet every hair stood on end as she peered deeper into the abyss.

A grinning maw emerged from the black.

It almost resembled a human face, but something was slightly off. The skin seemed stretched too tight across the skull and the size of the facial features were just a bit wrong. However, it was the length of the mouth that was most surreal — something so large should not have been on a creature so tall and thin.

Quick as it appeared, it vanished. A moment later, the flickering stopped and the rest of the hall lit up one light at a time.

The whole event happened so fast, Noche wasn't sure if it was real or if she imagined it up. She didn't have time to decide, Jack lead her to the light. The smell of rotting meat filled the air and the temperature dropped to frigid cold near the spot where the face was.

However, what most caught Noche's eye was the intense level of decay isolated to one, small area on the otherwise pristine tile floor. The exact location of where it would have stood.

The cold which seeped its way into Noche's veins made her shiver. The sooner she got out of this hall — the better.

Her good hand tightened around Jack's as he lead her hall after turning hall. The place was a maze and without him, she had no clue how she'd get out. After a dozen turns and countless corridors, a familiar sight came into view. The most powerful cowlike in the world — an orange spike of hair.

"BOOTS!" She shouted.

For a split second, a smile came on his face. It lasted as long as a static shock before the expression was replaced with a glower.

"Noche! Have you lost your god damn mind!" He shouted. "The next time you go charging off like that I'll — I'll!"

The man bit his lip and his face went dark. He trembled and glared at her. At the moment, Noche didn't have the willpower to meet his eyes; she looked away. That took some of the steam out of his anger, for his eyes and brows softened.

A massive explosion occurred upstairs.

The entire hall shook — dust fell from the pipes and a few lights exploded, making the room darker. In a matter of seconds, the chaos died down.

"Shaylin! What the fuck is going on up there?" Noche shouted.

A noise filled the air. It was a deep, guttural sound that grew in strength like that of a dying caribou and it lasted twice as long. It was Boot's groaning.

"Boots? Everything ok there bruh?" Mary asked.

"Dove is going to know we're here now," he moaned. "There's no way she wouldn't look into that explosion."

"M-Maybe it's unrelated to us?" Tak said.

Boot's expression made the immortal fall silent.

"Now... What?"

A few faces turned to Noche. This expedition was her idea; in a way, she was in charge. The blonde forced her nerves to calm and bottled her fears.

"We go on," she grinned.

It was not the most convincing of smiles.

"Your hand — BUMBAKLA! Noche! Your hand!" Mary shouted. "Holy shit, bring that here right now."

The blonde raised the bleeding stumps and Mary winced. Prismatic energy surrounded the black girl as she formed a standing table and various medicines.

"Having a high pain tolerance doesn't mean you should be doing STUPID things where you get yourself hurt!" Mary snapped. "Dumb, fucking, blonde, dumbass motherfucker."

Her mutterings grew fainter as she became more absorbed in her work. Noche's grin widened into something more genuine as Mary bitched.

"What can I say — I have a really sharp sword," she chuckled.

Mary stopped what she was doing, raised her head, and locked eyes with the blonde. Her silent eye contact lasted a full two seconds.

"Ya don't say?"

Mary's tone indicated she was well aware of the sword's sharpness.

When the treatment was done Noche's hand was almost usable again. Granted all that remained of her left hand was her ring finger, pinky, and thumb. Noche grimaced at the lack of a middle finger — the most important of all her fingers.

However, if Shaylin had a cybernetic arm then surely she could get cybernetic fingers. Right? Noche shook her head, now wasn't the time for idle thoughts.

"Noche, we're close to Dove's elevator," Boots said. "We better find a safe room and regenerate some Drive... We have a difficult road ahead."

Noche closed her eyes and felt her lack of Drive. She was running on zero. With a sigh, she nodded. The party left the hall, found an isolated area, and prepared to face the next Bird of Death.