Lily glanced around the room at the remaining people; they were all battered, bruised, and defeated. They were clearly on the losing end as most of their members were already on the ground, knocked out, or dead.
The ones that remained were barely standing; even the leader was running low on energy at this point and was injured from Lily's constant throwing of people and things at her.
They were planning to retreat, but how could Lily allow them to do that— she had to devour them to gain their abilities.
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that. While this has been fun, I no longer need to waste time here."
Lily had been fighting them for as long as she had, purely because she wanted to train and experience physical fighting before she got involved in fights that required it— with stronger people.
Essentially, she was using these weaker people to experience physical fighting, and now that they wanted to retreat, she no longer cared to indulge them.
With a swift motion, Lily moved towards the remaining mutants who had begun their attempt to retreat. The battered mutants, already on the brink of defeat and riddled with exhaustion, tensed as they saw her approach.
The scar-faced leader, despite her injuries and exhaustion, attempted to summon forth another surge of electricity to attack Lily— unfortunately, she was far too burnt out, her body faltering as the electricity she called forth fizzled out in failure.
She knew they were no match for Lily in their current state, but she had nothing she could do.
As Lily closed the distance between them, the mutants prepared for a last stand, knowing that retreat was no longer an option. However, Lily wasn't going to give them any more chance to breathe; she planned to end this quickly.
Unleashing a flurry of precise strikes— Lily didn't hesitate for a second to end them. Her claws slashed through their bodies with ease, aiming for vital points to optimize her lethality.
The mutants, already weakened from the previous onslaught, could do little to defend themselves from her. One by one, they fell under Lily's relentless assault, and the leader could do nothing but watch as her people died.
In the end, in a matter of minutes, the scar-faced leader was the only one remaining. They stood defiantly at Lily as they knew their end was coming, but they refused to beg or cower in fear.
She knew her fate was sealed— but she would go down a warrior, not a coward.
"You have probably been one of the better mutants I've fought."
Lily said as she turned to the lady and spoke.
She knew the lady couldn't fight back— not anymore, at least. She didn't have the energy to keep going; even Lily could tell that the front she was putting up was just that, a front.
"Truly, you were impressive, and you allowed me to learn about places I lacked; for that, you have my thanks."
Lily was serious; she wasn't making fun of the girl or even taunting her— the girl's way of fighting and leadership had allowed Lily to learn how she was lacking and improve upon it.
Namely, she lacked good defensive or offensive means to deal with long-range attackers— at least any proper ones.
She had won this melee fight purely because she had the bodies of others to use as shields against the electricity. Otherwise, she would have had to rely on her other abilities.
But while thankful for that— that was all she was willing to do.
She would not spare the leader as she was very interested in the electric ability she had, and she wanted it for herself. Dashing forward, she slashed her claws against the leader's neck.
It was swift and unstoppable for the leader— ending their life in one quick motion.
The room soon fell into silence as the fighting came to an end— bodies and blood decorating the floor.
The battle was over, and she had won— she had achieved her objective, and she would claim her prize soon enough, but she took a moment to catch her breath.
Lily had to admit— she enjoyed that.
It was a situation she had rarely put herself into before, a fight that had stakes— one that caused the adrenaline in her body to course through her veins.
It made her feel alive— it awoke the instincts within her, and she felt good— she felt like a predator.
She surveyed the scene around her, the bodies that had covered the floor, the blood that had decorated herself and the walls, and the broken pieces of the building lying around.
It was a mess— but it was her mess.
It felt satisfying, but what was even more satisfying was what came next— devouring and gaining new abilities.
This time around, Lily didn't spare anyone— she had no reason to.
She already had a base in mind that she knew would hold important information— and her hive units had found more information she could use if that failed.
So, with that in mind, she had no reason to scry or allow them to live. Instead, she straight-up devoured them all.
It took a few minutes, but in the end, she had eaten all of them, gaining a total of 8 new abilities and improving some of her existing ones.
Pleased, she decided it was time to leave— starting a fire to cover her tracks once more, she slipped out into the darkness of the city to move on to the bigger hunt.