Nina approached Damien slowly with her usual fearful expression. "I'm sorry I didn't help, I was going to fight but then I got so scared that I couldn't bring myself to hurt them." Nina sounded disappointed that she couldn't help and sad that she felt she had to.

"It's alright they were easy to deal with, three guys only gave me a flesh wound ha ha ha. Nina I know it's hard but for you to become stronger you need to be able to fight and kill for yourself." Damien finally decided to try and remove Nina’s weakness. He took her hand and walked her over to the last struggling survivor.

"Damien I don't think I can do it, it's wrong to kill others, I'm sorry I'm just too weak." Nina couldn't bring herself to kill someone, she couldn't see that if she didn't change she would probably end up dead.

"This is why Oliver left you and Seth chose death, they knew you wouldn't be able to adapt in this world, they knew you couldn't remove your weakness and become stronger. Silas, Rose, Roxanne and Brutus are already thinking of leaving you behind. Don't you want to prove them wrong?." Damien had the mind-set that being merciful would only eventually get you killed and it was a weakness through and through, therefore he believed being harsh to Nina was the only way to make her stronger.

"Little girl he is poisoning your mind don't you see he's just going to abandon you once your used up." The straggler thought he might have a chance to escape if he turned the girl onto Damien.

'Slzztt'

The straggler looked on in utter terror as he felt blood gushing from his neck, blood splattered everywhere, making him choke on his blood whilst bleeding out. Blood dripped from a blade, a blade of Wind that was in the hands of a small girl who had tears streaming down her face.

"You won't leave me behind will you Damien? I'll do whatever you say just don't leave me like everyone else has." Nina once again cried her heart out, except this time Damien embraced her and gave her comfort.

"You have gotten rid of your weakness, you can accompany me as long as you wish, I understand you do not like killing so you don't have to do it unless I say okay?" Damien showed his compassionate side, he had been hiding this side of him for awhile and thought he wouldn't need to show it ever again.

"You promise you won't leave me, I can't be abandoned again, my life would be empty knowing everyone just leaves me behind." Nina wasn't convinced she had started to think everyone hated her and thought she was weak.

"I told you as long as you wish to you can follow me, I won't leave you behind like those before me. Your strong now, remember that. Speaking of strength if you want more take this guys ability and the Kevlar Vest guys ability as well." After the fight had finished and Damien had convinced Nina to remove her weakness, The duo looted the three corpses with Damien taking the Bone Spike Gift and storing the Katana and Kevlar Vest. Damien felt like he had out lived that fatty's shirt so put on the Kevlar Vest. It was slim for a Kevlar Vest looking like a slightly more bulky black tank top. Whereas Nina picked up the Force Field, Smokescreen and Suppressed Pistol Gifts.

So I currently have 10 gifts excluding the Kevlar Vest and the Katana in my storage. Maybe I should try out the combination option on the Echo.

'What Abilities would you like to Combine?'

•Blade Creation

•Gun Summon

•Molten Enhancement

•Chains

•Fear Manipulation

•Bone Spikes

•Obsidian Skin

•Enhanced Body

•Healing Needles

•Quick Dash

Alright let's try something small, Healing Needles and Enhanced body Combine.

The Tattoos of the needles and Body on Damien’s arm moved into the Echo Device and combined together and then the empty space on Damien’s arm was filled by a Tattoo of a Body with a golden Aura around it. On the Echo’s screen a message was displayed 'Healing Needles and Enhanced Body successfully combined to create Regeneration'

Oh so it actually worked? Two level 4 abilities combined to make a level 10 ability, wow I'm gonna do some more of this.

After Several Combinations Damien had remodelled all his skills giving him new types of abilities.

Damien’s Gifts

•Armament Creation(Blade Creation + Gun Summon) - Create, share the senses and manipulate any form of weapon. Attack Gift with a Power of 18

•Obsidian Bone Armour(Obsidian Skin + Bone Spikes) - A full body armour made of a mixture of Obsidian and Bone. Armour has better Mobility than Skin Changing abilities. Defence Gift with a Power of 11

•Regeneration(Healing Needles + Enhanced Body) - Allows user to reach peak human form and to restore damage all over the users and a targets body in a small amount of time. Misc Gift with a Power of 10

•Molten Enhancement - Attack - 10 Power

•Chains - Attack - 9 Power

•Fear Manipulation - Misc - 7 Power

•Quick dash - Misc - 4 Power

Power level : 69

Damien’s entire right arm was now covered in tattoos. The larger the power the tattoo had the bigger it was therefore, his upper arm was predominantly his Armament tattoo being a mixture of different guns, swords, blunt melee weapons, bombs and generally just weapons from across earths history. The back of his upper arm and forearm was the rest of his abilities taking less and less space the further down his arm they were.

Alright it looks like I'm pretty powerful now, even more so than before. I should advise the others to Combine their gifts when they have more. Damien told Nina to do it with her abilities as well, remodelling her skill set just like Damien’s.

Nina’s Gifts

•Armoured Shadow Veil(Shadow Cloak + Amethyst Coat) - Shrouds the user in a strong and tough shadow veil turning them into an armoured shadow. Defence Gift with a Power of 14

•Force Field Creation - Creates a translucent purple force field, can be formed around objects or made into a wall. Defence Gift with a Power of 14

•Tempest Sword - Attack - 9 Power

• Smokescreen - Disperse a black smoke around user. Misc Gift with a Power of 7

•Silenced Pistol - A suppressed pistol that has infinite ammo. Attack Gift with a Power of 6

Power level : 50

"It's nice to see you becoming stronger, with your current gifts supporting me and the others and performing sneak attacks would seem to be the best job for you, what do you think?" Damien questioned Nina.

"If you think striking from the shadows, protecting you and providing cover as well is what I would be most helpful doing then I'll gladly accept the job." Nina had truly placed all her hopes on Damien, starting to completely rely on him.

"Of course, you will be brilliant as a support member you silly girl." Damien felt his relationship with Nina was like the one he had with his brother on earth. Damien would protect his little brother no matter what and do anything to make sure he would live a happy life. That feeling to protect was starting to appear between him and Nina.

Damien decided that it would be better to head back in the direction they came from as this city of ruins in the desert wouldn't be a great place to set up a base.

After making their way back to the city Damien and Nina’s Echo’s started acting up.

'Alert!' 'Alert!' 'Alert!'

"Whys the Echo freaking out what's going on?" Nina and Damien’s Echo’s were blinking with a red light and an Alert! message. When Damien looked at the message he displayed a disappointed expression however, Nina started crying and held Damien crying out "Why are people dying around me like this!"