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As Zoe's hands met the surface, she knew she didn't have enough power to break through quickly enough, that she wasn't realistically making it out like this - but she knew there was nothing she could do but try. And then for a brief moment, not even a second, her mind was somewhere else.

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She was standing on the surface of a completely calm ocean. It was deep, powerful, and completely unknowable, but somehow she almost felt connected to it. She knelt down and placed her palm on the surface, she felt a little of that power starting to move towards her. It was meant for her somehow, born from her refusal to die even when things were completely hopeless.

But something in it changed, just as it reached her. It was touched by something dark, something wrong, just as the power spread through her.

The power was tainted - and so was she.

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Suddenly she was in the same place she had been before, never really having left, standing with her hands on the surface of the stomach. Slightly bewildered, she was caught off guard as the walls of the creature's stomach contracted. Losing her balance as a result, she found herself stumbling back a few steps before falling as she regained her bearings.

At the same time, she could feel the acid's effects getting a lot worse to the point where it was really difficult to ignore, although scratching at it would no doubt just make the problem worse to deal with. It was bad enough on the surface without her risking breaking the skin. More worryingly, it meant the creature was probably starting full-on digestion. All too quickly, she was running out of time.

Oh, and the mouths. Apparently the thing had noticed she was alive, because she didn't think things usually had mouths in their stomachs. Still, Zoe couldn't let that stop her. She could feel the newfound power inside her, and just let it flow to her hands. With a glance, she saw that where before there were thin veins, they were now wrapped in thick lines of black that almost resembled tattoos - although they seemed to shift and move around, indicating that they weren't anything nearly so normal.

Struggling to her feet, she charged once more at the wall, grasping onto it and deciding to see what her new power could do. It took her by surprise, however, when a thick, black mist rose almost as soon as her hands made contact. The creature's flesh rotted so quickly it was almost melting in her grasp. For a moment, she tried to spread this new power further, but it wouldn't go beyond where her hands were touching - apparently it needed skin contact to work.

Technically, she supposed that meant it'd work better if she wasn't wearing clothes, but she'd save that one for a last resort. As much as anything, it'd take a whole lot of explaining. At least she didn't have sleeves most of the time, so that was helpful - but she'd probably need to think about her choices at some point.

Trying her hardest to ignore the biting of the mouths, she drove the right side of her body into the wall, pushing her whole right arm against it - even letting the power spread through the side of her face just for what little contact she was making there. She figured tearing its stomach open would do a hell of a lot of damage to the creature, if not killing it. With her left arm, she continued to launch punches into it. Partly for whatever damage she could do there, and partly because it made her feel better the more the thing was hurting she, wanted to hurt, wanted to do some damage, wanted to make the thing regret attacking her. Or maybe her Stigma did, she couldn't tell at this point.

Of course, while she was in a pretty good position to do damage, she knew she was also pressed up against the wall, so she couldn't help but worry about the mouths that had started appearing. Seemed like that was just how this new ability would have to work, though, and it was her only chance at a way out. It was frightening, but whatever happened she'd just have to deal with.