Alesha didn't really process what he said.
Her mind was going fuzzy, and strange thoughts crept in, accompanied by an unfamiliar, surging desire.
What if I just … reached into his chest and plucked out his heart?
I wonder what it would taste like.
I think it would be delicious.
I like raw meat.
Hearts are raw meat, too, so what's the harm in trying it?
Suddenly, she realized what she was thinking and, in a brief moment of clarity, shook her head, muttering words only those with excellent ears could hear. "Can't, no, not like her, this is too far!"
However, as if influenced by an outside force, her lucidity soon passed.
The man had started backing away slowly, hand clasping around the hilt of a long knife in his vest.
Then she attacked.
Lunging forward with her spear, she aimed for his throat.
Shouts rippled through the cafeteria.
A flash of surprise crossed the rough man's face, but it passed quickly. He twisted slightly, seizing her spear and yanking it past him with his left hand while he unsheathed and struck with his long knife with his right.
Alesha simply took the blow, letting the knife plunge deep into her chest. Her usual pain sensitivity was nowhere to be found, replaced by an eerie, frenzied calm.
Spear still held by the man, his knife in her chest, Alesha's left hand tried to reach towards the man's chest.
Abandoning his knife and his hold on her spear, the man kicked Alesha away.
She slammed into a table a few meters away.
The man eyed her warily, allowing her space to recuperate. When he saw that the strange look in her eyes hadn't passed, he reached into his boot and drew out a pair of throwing daggers.
Alesha rushed at him again and, as he deftly avoided her strikes, he tossed the daggers at her, one striking her in each eye.
She stopped in confusion. Then, shuddered slightly and yanked the daggers out of her eyes, carelessly dropping her spear.
The man did not wait for her to recover this time.
He leaped forward, drawing a pair of long knives from sheathes at his waist. With a pair of impossibly quick strokes, he cut off her hands, which still held the daggers he'd thrown at her eyes.
She screamed in pain.
Then, with a quick motion, he lopped off her head.
That was when the tables turned.
At the moment he severed her neck, a few things happened at the same time.
First was that the illusionary Alesha dissipated.
Immediately after her hands were severed, Alesha had activated a skill she hadn't used yet, which she had been saving as a trump card: Phase Shift, a skill that Captain Swallow had Plundered from the Crimson Displacer Beast back during the Hero Summoning Story. This skill allowed her to leave behind a tangible, sound-producing illusion that wouldn't dissipate until attacked.
Second was that Alesha, who had teleported behind the man as part of the skill's activation, bit him in his trapezius muscle.
Third was that the man, who was suddenly bitten from behind, began to transform.
Alesha, who does not often have cause to bite people, had long since forgotten about her Feral Bite skill that she'd mistakenly purchased from the System before its functions had been largely suppressed.
She had simply acted on instinct.
Of course, because this night happened to be one of a full moon, the skill's effects immediately began to manifest and the man expanded, transforming into a hideous, monstrous humanoid frog. His teeth twisted in all directions and mucusy poison oozed from his newly moistened skin.
He then proceeded to attack those around him without prejudice, resulting in a cafeteria-wide brawl.
Meanwhile, Alesha was returning to her senses.
Pain was the first thing to return to her, of course, which meant she crumpled to the ground, screaming in agony at both the pain of her chest wound (which still had the knife lodged in it) and her slowly-regrowing hands.
Tearfully, she attempted to grip the knife between her forearms to pull it out, oblivious to anything beyond her own pain.
She didn't even notice the blood which was dribbling from her mouth.
After successfully removing the knife, she collapsed backwards, lying down on the dirty floor, gritting her teeth against the pain.
All while unaware that the werefrog she'd created was slowly being subdued by a group of Participants who had formed an impromptu subjugation squad. A few of them had already been killed by the man turned beast, either by his ferocious kicks and teeth or by the poison he secreted from his mucusy skin.
By the time Alesha recovered, the werefrog had been slain, along with a dozen or so Participants who had gone down in the confusion.
Her memories of what she'd done were hazy, and it wasn't until Rogork reminded her of her Feral Bite skill that she realized the whole thing was her fault.
She retrieved Kalszoth and went back to wait in line again.
Silence filled the cafeteria, choking the mirth out of everyone as they stared at her with hate-filled eyes.
For Alesha, however, the unexpected was just par for the course.
When all was said and done, no matter what crazy stuff randomly happened, she still needed to eat.