"Hey, Miriam. Your crystals are glowing kinda weird."
Zangetsu pointed and blinked. Miriam glanced at her shoulder. She shrugged.
"It's nothing. They're probably just in Restoration Mode."
But it was something. Miriam suddenly gasped as the alchemical runes on her body turned black. Her eyes turned red. The magical jewels acted with a power of their own and consumed her body, causing her skin to break out into small crystal hives. Her frightened expression changed to a cold and empty scowl. Her new form was devastatingly lethal and devastatingly frilly.
"Miriam, what happened to you?" Zangetsu gasped.
"The name of this flesh vessel is of no pertinence to me," she replied in a dark, sinister voice. "You shall address me as Helmær Lacudra."
"I think I'll call you Freak Girl instead!" Zangetsu said while he was drawing his katana.
Ever the heroic samurai, Zangetsu swiftly swung his blade to fell the obscene demon. Always the graceful black swan swimming the River Styx, Miriam sidestepped his sword and vaulted over his head in a weightless pirouette. As soon as she landed behind him, she thrust a jagged crystal spear through his back. That should make him think twice the next time he feels like being in his own 8-bit spinoff game where Miriam is only a supporting character.
The spear's mangled amethysts resonated in a dull hum while they were still sticking through Zangetsu's rib cage. The weapon unleashed an energy burst that tore up his body like it was the continuity of Code Geass combined with Split Decision from Viper. He dissolved into a cloud of faint red mist before he even had a chance to scream.
Zangetsu's beating heart remained levitating in the air. Miriam's gem-covered fingers crackled as they slowly wrapped around it. She studied the heart in her palm for a brief moment, then crushed it into pulp in her clenched fist. Twinkling red spirit embers traveled up her arm and faded into her alchemy markings as she absorbed Zangetsu's life energies into her own.
Author's note: Keep the change ya filthy animal.
Author's note 2: Is it just me or does Voyage of Promise / Sunder the Night sound sort of like A Whole New World from the Aladdin soundtrack?
