The corridor was too open. Nikeila had no cover. She took an abrupt turn and entered a room with the bed still lowered. She had no more places to run.

He followed and his muscles tensed, ready to attack. She turned, facing him. With a glee of assured victory in his eyes, he pounced. His expression surprised her. She saw a shadow of the old Kaivel in his confident gaze.

She raised the spear. He reacted fast, his blackened hand slapping the spear tip away. What he didn't expect was the other blade waiting for him to fall on.

She thought her wrist would snap when the spear was smacked. But she held onto the other weapon and prepared for impact. She didn't try to keep standing, the damage on her would be greater if she resisted. She fell back, a hair's breadth away from his furious purple claws. She used the floor to support the short spear and his weight did the rest.

She fell hard on the floor and ducked to the side. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough. She rolled under the swinging bed and stood up on the other side. Limbs trembling, she looked down at the three gashes on her side.

Her whole body was in pain and exhausted. But there was no time to relax and recover. She grasped the side of the suspended bed and pulled it.

Kaivel stared at his torso for a second. He grabbed the spear handle and removed it. The metal passing through the flesh wasn't smooth. He had to exert strength until he was free. As he threw the spear, it clanked on the floor. Dark blood poured out of his open wound.

It was like he didn't feel the open wound and only felt annoyed. The stabbing surprised him and he was still disoriented. The hole in his torso was already showing signs of healing. Thenebre's regeneration speed was no joke.

Before he could stand straight, a flying bed knocked him down again, the slippery bloody floor not helping him keep his balance.

Nikeila looked at her inventory. She still had a dagger. It was the perfect moment to cause real damage to him. But… What would happen to him if he was so wounded he couldn't move? Would he really, truly die? Should she gamble with his life believing in the thenebre's recovery potential?

She took a moment to look at him. The extremities of his limbs were dyed black. The skin was hardened and glossy in some places. Those were characteristics of a stage 3 thenebre.

"You upgraded."

That meant he got crystals from somewhere. Probably from the thenebres and efulgens he killed on the way.

Sadness filled her chest.

She didn't waste any more time hesitating. She took the long spear and aimed it right below his nape. She didn't have enough strength to pierce through the other side. But that was better. This way it'd be even harder for him to take it out.

She got out and closed the messy room door behind her. There was no lock. It wouldn't hold Kaivel for long. She ran all the way while pressing her bleeding side. There were still stragglers in the halls. She passed by an evacuation station. It wasn't her sector. She tried her luck and entered. Most of the pods had already left. There were very few people there, and some free escape pods.

"Go quickly!" She warned the few people still there, "thenebres will be here soon."

They hastened their movements.

It wasn't nice of her to take a pod that wasn't hers, but it was an emergency. The starship shook again and dipped. They had to hold on to the walls to keep standing. They hurried and entered the escape pods. She got into the nearest one. She knew how it worked and needed no assistance. She selected the commands for emergency departure, so the short procedure would be shortened.

The capsule doors closed.

[Passenger on board]

[Analyzing passenger condition]

[Passenger injured]

[Analyzing the wound]

[Not life-threatening]

[Undergoing first-aid treatment]

Gas filled the small container and her eyes began to shut. The latches opened clacking, and the pod disengaged.

Her last vision was of a furious thenebre rushing and killing the workers helping with the evacuation.

From the large luxurious starship, thousands of escape pods flew to space.

Nikeila's consciousness resurfaced slowly, still drowsy. She was in a tightly closed space. Right. The escape pod. Not the safest transportation method. She was uncomfortable all over. Did she arrive? Since they were very close, she should have landed at their original destination.

She checked the simple control panel. The energy wasn't being replenished. It should be perpetual. The power generator was damaged.

[Passenger awake]

[Analyzing passenger condition]

[Passenger shows signs of incomplete infection of Thalzev]

[Unknown consequences]

[Will the passenger progress with the infection?]

Nikeila's mind took a moment to process what was happening. "No…" She answered after a long pause.

[Recommended process: disassembling and reconstruction of the physical body]

[The process will be painful and may take an unspecified amount of time]

[Proceed?]

Was that an option? Thinking back, if they could transform their bodies, couldn't they get rid of Thalzev? But Kaivel and the other thenebres didn't recover when they turned into humans. She had heard Thalzev was very aggressive and resilient. Was her case possible because the infection was incomplete?

After a deep breath, she answered, "Yes, I want to proceed."

[Operation confirmed]

[Calculating the power required]

[Sufficient remaining energy]

[Insufficient material]

[Scanning for alternative composition]

While the system made its preparations, Nikeila's thoughts wandered.

She experienced body reconstruction, but it was performed carefully with a lot of consideration and post-care in a designed environment. She was unconscious and felt nothing before, during, or after the operation. It seemed it wouldn't be the same now.

She closed her eyes. When the system informed her it was painful, by its standards it meant it was excruciatingly agonizing. She needed some mental preparation. She had the option of aborting the operation and letting the infection follow its course. It was an incomplete infection, whatever that meant. Maybe she'd be okay? Maybe her body could fight the parasite off?

Did she want to risk it?

She was unwilling.

She could do it!

She survived multiple fractures while fighting thenebres. And there was that time she challenged Javillen'an and won with perforated internal organs and broken bones.

She survived all of that!

How bad could breaking her body apart, rearranging it, and putting it back together be?

The escape pod's door clinked open and a cold white cloud leaked through the narrow gap. A tiny paw pushed the door from inside and a small body fell on the dirt ground.

Nikeila was limp on the ground.

She regretted everything.

She had no strength to even blink. Every breath grazed her throat and burned her lungs. No mental preparation could facilitate that operation. She fainted in the middle of it, and nightmares tortured her. Keeping conscious or passing out, it was hard to tell which was worse.

She allowed herself a short sleep to recover a bit.

When she opened her eyes again it was brighter than before. She took in the surroundings with her senses. The green and fresh smell of vegetation. A soothing warm breeze blew through her fur. White cottony clouds dawdled around. It was early morning. And there was no one around.

Did no one come to investigate the unidentified object that fell from space? Ah, she forgot. Unless they were in the landing's vicinity or staring in its exact direction, the pod would be undetectable by radar and unfocused perception.

She called the status window, but nothing happened. As she feared, without Swavira, they were without objective support and detailed information.

Could they retrieve Swavira from the starship?

Well, that was not her problem to solve.

But this was troublesome.

She closed her eyes and examined her body. Without the exact information from the status window, she could only guess her condition. It was terrible. Her attributes were definitely lower now. Only as a young child had she been so weak. It was the penalty for the body reconstruction. And her elemental power was downgraded all the way to stage 0, Detector. She could feel her element, water, but could not manipulate it. The disconnection with Swavira might be the cause.

She stood up slowly, testing her limbs. She wasn't human anymore. Her body was lithe and covered with orange soft fur, and her big pointy ears and paws were magenta. She was on all fours and her line of sight was very low. Like, seriously low.

She was so short! So small! She'd be stepped on if she didn't pay attention!

She took some steps and looked up.

Everything was threatening. The trees around her weren't particularly tall, but they looked very imposing at the moment. Mortality had never been so discernible in her life. Strangely funny. When she had her body broken, she didn't feel as vulnerable as she did now. Was it because she was alone and had no one to rely on?

This change of perspective and her current abysmal stats depressed her.

How could small living beings deal with this anxiety and vulnerability their whole lives?

She was genuinely moved.