"Block the gates, do not let them escape!" Daemon ordered, pointing his sword toward the singed remains of wood chips and rusted metal scattered throughout the bst area.

  Felix and KuliKuli shot up and spun around, spotting their friends in their troubled conditions. Syri was frantically tugging and cutting away at the net which entrapped her older sister within. Na'Vi was fending off one of the guards from interrupting Syri, kicking one away and being met with another. Dimyri struggled to help speed up the process, finding it difficult to wiggle her arms around and guide her cws toward cutting at one precise angle. Felix and KuliKuli shared a quick nod and sprang into action, jumping over a few toppled guards and finding a few more standing in their way.

  As one man stabbed his give toward his midsection, Felix felt his heart stop and his eyes widen. The trajectory of the bde would pierce through his belly like a knife slicing through butter, if he continued running forward or failed to back away. The guard grinded his teeth and lunged forward, his gloves firmly grasping his spear. He expected his give would strike, but to his surprise, Felix twisted his body as if turning sideways with reflexes he was unaccustomed to. It was like his mind screamed that he dodged and yet his body obeyed without his consent. Felix turned his eyes back on the guard's shocked face, grabbing his spear with one hand and swinging his backhand at the man's head in turn.

  He groaned painfully as his hand struck the guard's metal helmet first, spinning the headgear around. In his clumsy attempt of retaliation, he came out with a bruised hand as the guard was left temporarily blinded by his backwards helmet covering his vision. KuliKuli jumped in and swung her legs at his feet, toppling him on the floor as she followed up with a downward swing of her leg to his head, banging it against his helmet as the man's body went limp. He stared at the man with a questionable gnce before looking down at his hands, lost in his thoughts as he look back and forth between the man's weapon and his own hands.

  "Felix!"

  KuliKuli pulled him back on his feet, ushering him toward her siblings. He mindlessly followed, snapping out of his trance one step at a time. The sound of screaming men and monstrous roars became an unwelcome reminder of where he was again. He kept his eyes on KuliKuli as she told him to pull at the net before she herself sliced through the net to free Dimyri.

  The Nekomata emerged from her tethered prison with a grateful smile, only for the four to duck and cover themselves as another helpless guard was flung over their heads, his unconscious body hitting the ground with a thud.

  It was then that KuliKuli picked up a familiar fluttering rhythm that made her ears twitch. She followed the noise and looked to the skies, finding a shimmering star gently making its decent before hovering in the center of their group.

  Felix squinted his eyes, unable to see through its brightness. "What in the-"

  "Tootsie! You're here?" Syri squealed out, relieved to see the fairy.

  As if on cue, the ball of light dimmed until they were met with the fairy herself in her tiny form, spinning around gracefully with a beautiful smile before waving her little hand.

  "Oooo-hohohooo! Is this the human we're here for?" She giggled and zipped through the air and nding on his nose in the blink of an eye. She leaned in, prying his eyelids open with her hands as she fshed a toothy grin. "I see the binding process is on its way! Such beautiful eyes, your little ones will be oh-so adorable!"

  "L-Little ones? Hey!" Felix jumped back as she flew around him leaving a trail of glittering pixie dust around. She sat on his head, feeling around his brown hair with her foot before ying down with her hands crossed behind her head.

  "Aaah, such a puffy head of hair. I can adapt to this, mm-hmm."

  "Tootsie!" KuliKuli shouted with a stomp of her leg, pointing at the raving werewolf battling away at the guards at the far side of the pit. "We need help!"

  "Right-o!" The fairy combed her puffy pink hair back, her four wings spread out and fpping like an insect as she flew toward her Nekomata friend. "Nihja sent me through and near, figured you were out of the frying pan and into the fire! I'm here to be your pitcher of water."

  "What? Who?" Felix blurted out, ducking as another guard was tossed aside with ease. "H-How do we save Reta?"

  Tootsie rubbed her chin and hummed in contemption, snapping her fingers as she lit up with glee. "I can lead the Wolf astray or py the guards as fools instead!"

  "How?" He asked.

  KuliKuli lit up with realization and turned to her mate. "It's like at the Hub, she can make things look different than what they really are!"

  "They're called illusions, sis." Dimyri corrected her.

  Felix seemed lost, his eyes fixated on the fairy. "What, you can use magic?"

  Tootsie smacked her lips and crossed her arms, offended by his accusation. "I don't use magic, I am magic. Magic of the Mind is my little trick, observe!"

  She flew high over everyone's heads and danced around, sprinkling magic dust all over the pit. Reta shook the glittering yellow dust out of her hair, while some of the guards collected the dust with the palm of their hands. Some of them sneezed and coughed, with Daemon even rubbing the dust off his eyes and looking above. Na'Vi pulled away, watching the guard she was fighting as he turned away to sneeze. He caught the motion of something flying around, thinking it to be some sort of bird at first. A strange bird that happened to be flying in little circles, only for the sight to fade at a blink and reveal a little fairy instead. The disguise recovered itself as Tootsie's magic was beginning to take hold of them, but Daemon gasped and snatched a crossbow from a nearby guard before firing a crossbolt at her.

  The fairy spun around in time to see the bolt fly towards her, barely having time to gasp as she found herself falling from the air. Dimyri hopped off the wall and caught her in her paws, rolling around in the floor all curled up. When she opened up her paws, she saw the little fairy rubbing the side of her head and turning to her. Her little wings were trying to fp in fast speed enough for her to buzz around, but she fell back on the cat's paw.

  "Are you okay?" Dimyri asked, sitting up and keeping track of the other guards to ensure their safety.

  "Had the wind knocked out, me thinks." Tootsie nervously replied. The others huddled around her, helping Dimyri up as the guards began to shout and run for their lives. Their metal weapons would drop to the ground, flung or tossed aside as one by one, every man or woman would lock eyes and release a blood curling scream as they trembled with fear.

  "What did you do?" Felix asked almost in a whisper, watching every guard in the pit abandon their post and follow through the gates as if their lives were in more peril than just the werewolf herself.

  KuliKuli's tails tugged at Felix, bringing his attention to their friend. Whatever magic Tootsie used on the guards was struggling to leave its effect on her. She sneezed and rubbed her nose, sniffling and gring, squinting and growling as she locked eyes with the group. To them, she appeared to be a werewolf struggling to peer through a cloud of smoke with nearsighted vision. But in the wolf's eyes, she was staring at four monstrous entities, mishappened bck forms that would form cws, fangs and tentacle-like appendages as some sort of getinous being that one would see in their nightmares.

  Tootsie leaned back, resting in Dimyri's paw as she turned to acknowledge their cursed friend. "Pyed them all a fool, I did. Made them see what I want them to see."

  "Shouldn't she be running too?" Syri asked, scooting behind the others as she feared of what the answer may be.

  They watched as Reta rubbed her eyes and shook her head, falling to her knees and pounding her fists into the sandy dirt. Felix stepped back, keeping his arm over KuliKuli and the others as Reta would repeatedly squint her eyes and wiggle her nose. She would sniff like a dog tracking one's scent, her wolfish ears springing up as she looked to them. From her parted lips emerged a ferocious growl with salivating teeth drooling down her chin as the wolf stepped closer and closer toward them.

  "She's not running..." Syri realized, whimpering from behind KuliKuli.

  "Why isn't it working, she should be scared!" Dimyri shouted.

  Felix shook his head. "To anyone else, yes. But scaring her isn't so easy."

  Reta raised her head and howled up into the night sky as the three full moons shined down on them.

  Felix was suddenly pushed away, falling to his side as he helplessly watched KuliKuli charging to meet Reta. "Kuli!"

  Ignoring his pleas, KuliKuli ran after to her friend on all fours, meowing loudly before sliding under Reta's body and grabbing hold of her busy tail. Reta yelped and spun around with the Nekomata making use of her shape shifting abilities to climb atop her head. Returning to her humanoid form, she pressed her legs into the back of her friends' head and kicked Reta down, pinning her into the dirt headfirst. She looked up to see her friends watching helplessly with opened mouths, growling in return.

  "Don't just stand there, get out of here!" She demanded, only for Reta to spin around and meet her with a backhand.

  Syri felt her fur fre up at the end of her tails, but her feet were firmly pnted despite her instincts to flee. She turned to Dimyri and Felix, each one eyeing up Reta with a sense of determination. Each of them was caught by surprise when another Nekomata fled past them to join the fight.

  "Haaaaaaaaaa!!" Na'Vi cried out, sliding down and kicking Reta's leg, knocking her out of bance. KuliKuli looked up and gasped, recovering from her bruised face as she clung onto Reta from behind and yanked her hair back. Reta screamed out, spinning and thrashing as KuliKuli bucked and hung on, screaming and closing her eyes to fight off the dizziness. Fearing the injury her cws would bring if she sank them into her friend's back, she opted to let go at the cost of injury. She crashed into Felix's arms, catching her albeit not in the way he hoped for as he too was sent against the wall.

  "Ouch!" He groaned, feeling his head throb after it bounced from the brick wall on impact. Suddenly, he wasn't in a hurry to get up and join the others for now.

  Na'Vi scratched Reta's waist and jumped out of the way, dodging her retaliation. But the wolf refused to let her get away, casting a shadow over her as she smmed her paw down, striking Na'Vi by her spine as she wheezed and shed out, curling up and grabbing her stomach as she was out of breath. Reta smiled and hovered over the Nekomata, turning Na'Vi on her back as she raised her fangs over the woman's slender neck.

  It was then that Felix arrived with a give in his hand, catching Reta's teeth over the handle while Syri and Dimyri held the opposite end of the spear-like weapon, preventing her from snapping her jaw shut. Na'Vi turned and watched Felix, wide-eyed as he wrapped his arm around Reta's and tried twisting it to her back. She cocked her head and swung her arm out, tossing him aside. He fell to his side, locking eyes with Na'Vi as he was left in awe of Reta's newfound strength. Syri yelped and climbed over and under her, focusing on keeping away from the wolf's cws and teeth while being in her cat form. She curled up and hid her face into her tail while between Reta's legs, feeling Reta turn around and eyeing her new prey.

  She yelped and whimpered away, rubbing her behind as Dimyri wiped her mouth and spat away.

  "Don't touch my sister!" She screamed out, keeping Reta's eyes on her. As Reta approached her, KuliKuli leapt in and restrained her friend's left arm. Na'Vi jumped at the opportunity and grabbed the wolf by her other arm, and then Dimyri gasped and moved in to grab her leg.

  Felix stood up and ran to grab the chains, only to rediscover that they were still nailed into the floor. "Damn!"

  "What?" KuliKuli asked, turning her head as Na'Vi screamed out. Reta swung in and tried to bite her paw, with the Nekomata pulling away only to lose her grip. Immediately, she was struck into the ground, with Syri finding herself as the next target. Syri remained in her cat form, cowering in fear when Reta raised her hand at her. Dimyri jumped in and held her sister in her arms, closing her eyes as she was knocked out of the way, rolling on the dirt with Syri safely in her arms.

  "No-uh!" KuliKuli yelped, feeling Reta pin her down with her foot on her chest.

  "Stop! Reta, please stop!" Felix ran in to protect her, stepping over his mate with his arms wide open, staring up into Reta's yellow eyes. "We're trying to help you, we-we can save you!"

  She bared her sharp teeth, ignoring KuliKuli and setting her sights on him. She lifted him effortlessly, digging her cws into his chest and dragging him across the pit before pinning him against the wall.

  "Aaah!" He dug his fingers into her paw, struggling to pry her arm away and finding his feet dangling in the air. He looked up and was met with her gaze, sweating under her gaze as she held her other paw against his face. "We're trying to help you... a-all of us!'

  Reta pressed him further up the wall, reveling in his screams and licking the blood that trickled from his chest down to her cws. Smacking her lips, she shook her head with a pleased smile, watching him grimace as he watched in fear.

  "Y-You're not... like thisss..." He coughed out, wheezing and feeling the force of her paw squeezing out the air from his lungs. "You made... a p-promise! To-o... protect usss..."

  Felix stared into her eyes, coughing breathlessly as he managed to squeeze out one final plea. "M-Mizuki... p-please-!"

  Reta hesitated, blinking and cocking her head. She watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek, feeling a sudden jolt of pain wreck her heart with guilt. KuliKuli spun around on all fours, raising her trembling head. Her heart was pounding mercilessly against her chest, fearing that she wouldn't hear Felix's words soon. But instead, Reta dropped him to the ground, wheezing and gasping for air as she clung to her head. She was thrashing and shaking around, stumbling as a whimpering mess of madness and pain. She looked down to her cws in horror, panting before turning to the wall.

  She then proceeded to smash her head against the wall.

  "Reta." KuliKuli cried out, struggling to stand up on her own. "Reta stop!"

  But she wouldn't, punching and banging her paws into the brick wall before banging her head a second time, followed by a third. Her forehead was badly bruised, but Reta turned back and gave KuliKuli a look of guilt and remorse, bowing her head shamefully before forcing herself to bash her head in one st time. She fell back on her side, lying unconscious as the others gathered themselves around her.

  KuliKuli fell to her knees and rolled Reta to her back, seeing her panting out of breath with a drop of blood rolling down her forehead.

  "She's breathing." She mumbled out, cradling her friend in her arms. "She's still here."

  Na'Vi stood beside her, reaching out to her shoulder. "We need to go-"

  "Not without her!" KuliKuli shed out, pulling away.

  Suddenly, the sound of appuse echoed across the pit coming from above. They turned their heads, looking up to see someone cpping his hands with delight as he stood at the edge looking down on them, a grin stretching across from ear to ear.

  "You have not lost your touch, Nityri." Perdilius chuckled to himself.