"I'm serious. A drain-type boosting another drain-type to the point of achieving multi-ability integration. There's no precedent. No documentation. The theoretical models don't even account for that level of Essentia transfer between compatible ability types."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that your ability. ESSENCE DRAIN. It's not just SS-rank." She paused. I could hear her processing even without seeing her face. "It might not have a rank at all. It might be something else entirely."
Mera's head came up. Her eyes were still wet but her expression had shifted to something I recognized.
"We need to move. Now. Before the NEA gets here and starts asking questions we can't answer."
"Agreed."
"Can you walk?"
I tried to push myself up. Got about three inches off the ground before my arms gave out.
"Define 'walk.'"
"Define 'Rome gets carried through a portal like a sack of extremely attractive potatoes.'"
"I resent that comparison."
