Bloom

Mishra sniffed the air delicately, scenting the fear of her prey.

The great Tree had requested three things of her upon summoning.

One, kill all enemy forces.

Two, gather as much information as possible.

Three, do not damage any of the machines, or walls, or ceilings, or really anything except for enemy bodies.

When she’d asked why the sudden concern over non-living creatures, the Master had responded that he wasn’t sure what form computers would take in this strange new world. He wasn’t sure they even had computers, yet was benevolent enough not to damage anything just in case.

As such, to prevent accidentally destroying what he was looking for, care needed to be taken with the surroundings.

Mishra grinned as her tail twitched, the humans hiding behind their barricades down the corridor hallway from her were very unlucky.

She could smell they had ‘guns’ and ‘armor’ which made them in her opinion, ‘enemies’ as of now!

None of Tree’s rules protected them.

“The last good workout was that dragon in the lava mountain.” Mishra mumbled to herself as she started pumping her Inner Flame throughout her body. “This would be a boring exercise if Tree hadn’t said their armor is excellent.”

Mishra really wanted to see armor that her Master considered dangerous enough to use her full power on.

Boosting herself to the highest tier of power she could currently reach, Mishra took a step forward moving at inhuman speeds.

A squad of twelve men holding strange guns appeared in front of her, and without giving time for them to react she struck the closest one.

Shock rippled across her face as she realized the armor didn’t take a single iota of damage, which was then followed by relief.

The armor was fine, the human inside it was nothing but bloody meat pulp.

The scent of blood was easily discernable from the dead human that collapsed at her feet.

Mishra instantly realized why her Master had ordered her to go full power.

Without a full power strike, this armor could likely shrug off the hit enough for the humans to bring their strange energy guns to bear.

Taking no chances, Mishra flickered among the remaining eleven bodies reaping a brutal harvest. If the armor was this strong, she had no intention of testing the damage the guns could do to her!

Once all the enemies were dead Mishra paused staring at the last one under her feet.

This armor was good.

Very good.

Sighing, she flexed a hand revealing razor sharp claws.

Clearly, the forces arrayed against them were more used to dealing with things that had guns.

Therefore, she shouldn’t let such wonderful armor go to waste.

Although it couldn’t stop the transfer of impact from her physical prowess, that wasn’t a problem. She’d trained extensively on Vespar to improve her strength, pushing her limits further and further. While her fur might be stronger than orichalcum, and her bones harder than diamond, there wasn’t any reason to expose herself if an alternative existed. If the enemy’s armor could be used to prevent those ‘guns’ that gave her a feeling of danger from being effective, she’d use it.

After suiting up in the slightly damp armor that smelled, Mishra used her Inner Flame to instantly crisp the inside. With the odor of bloodscent obliterated, she took out a small stone from one of her spatial pouches.

“Ninja Kitty, reporting.” Mishra said. The ‘callsign’ Tree had given her seemed a bit…

“Worldeater here, report.” Tree responded from the other end of the communication stone.

Apparently the stones used some weird magic to synchronize and communicate. She’d listened to Tree explain it, but had gotten a splitting headache after only twenty seconds of being explained too. After that she’d stopped listening and just taken it at face value that they were magic stones that allowed everyone to talk without interference.

“Twelve dead, they smelled like guards. I’m using some of their armor, since they don’t need it anymore. Orders?” Mishra said as she tapped her foot.

Her body seized as a massive map of the installation was pushed into her mind. Corridors, rooms, and miscellaneous passages all became part of her memory as if she’d been here for years. The power that her Master commanded with a casual swing of a twig was impressive.

“Take the East. Remove all threats. Above all, be safe. If you sense a threat you cannot handle, retreat. Understood?” Tree said, his tone calm.

“Understood. Ninja Kitty out.” Mishra said, resisting the urge to salute snappily.

“Good. Worldeater out.” Tree said, his voice going silent as the stone went inactive.

Mishra put the stone away in her pouch, and then stretched.

Taking a deep breath she crouched down placing both hands and feet on the floor.

Reaching deep within herself, Mishra activated the first Art she’d created from her personal understanding of Inner Flame.

Mazza.

The first form was nothing impressive, at its most basic it did a single thing.

Speed.

Complete, utter, and overwhelming speed.

Power compressed and flowed through her body boosting her speed into the realm in which, it was almost impossible to see her physical form when she attacked.

It was a level of speed that forced whoever she was fighting to react within nanoseconds. Only the very best of the races she’d fought, the dragons, humans, elves, and others could keep up with it.

Smiling, Mishra’s form rippled like water on the surface of the lake before disappearing.

It was time to hunt.