Lisanna stood atop the large hill, looking down on the town, or base as Boudica called it. Standing beside Lisanna were her, for lack of a better word, companions. Boudica herself, Sael, and some of their followers. Boudica had also mentioned that others would be joining them soon. She hadn't explained in detail what exactly the plan was here. Boudica had mentioned that the town below was called Catena, but not much else about it. But Lisanna knew that the intention was to attack this place. Lisanna turned to Boudica.

"Excuse me, Boudica. I need to ask you something." Boudica turned towards her, and approached. "What is it, child?" she said. Lisanna noticed she tended to call people "child". Not Sael or the other two though. They were different.

"Who exactly are these people? I know you said they're enemies, but why? What did they do? I mean, I'm just not sure if this is something I should be… taking part in." Lisanna actually wasn't sure if any of this should be happening.

Boudica put a hand on Lisanna's shoulder. "I know things are still a little confusing for you. I probably should have taken more time to explain things to you. But things have been so busy, so much to do. Just know this: the people down there are evil. Not all of them mind, but the ones in charge certainly." Lisanna looked down with uncertainty.

"You're not planning to destroy the town, are you?" she asked. Boudica laughed. "Why would I want to do that? What would that accomplish? As I said, it's the people in charge that are the problem. I would like to liberate the town, and welcome them to our cause. But a certain amount of violence will probably be necessary to accomplish that. Does that bother you?" Lisanna tilted her head a little while thinking about this.

"I'm not exactly a pacifist. At least, I don't think I am? Fighting bad people is one thing, but… I don't want to kill anyone." She said. Boudica slowly nodded at these words. "I understand. Really. But let me just say this; there are times when we all have to do things we don't want to. But as long as its for a greater good, you can rest with a clean conscience. Having said that, no one is going to force you to fight if you don't want to. But it would be greatly appreciated if you contributed." Lisanna nodded, still looking unsure. "Okay. I'll try to help." She said quietly.

"Lisanna, I believe this will make more sense for you soon enough. Just be patient." With that, Boudica left Lisanna and walked over towards her followers, seemingly instructing them about something.

To Lisanna's surprise, Sael came over towards her. He was in his bronze throne/chair. At first, she thought it was odd she never really saw him out of it. But then she realized it was because he couldn't be out of it. He was unable to walk. She didn't know the specifics, but she'd been told it was some sort of disease that afflicted him when he entered adolescence. This chair had been built for him to allow him to move around. It was powered through magic and technology, just like Sael's own machine creations. It currently allowed him to hover a foot off the ground as he approached her.

"Hello Miss Strauss. Are you ready for this whole mess that's about to happen? Don't get me wrong, I agree with what Boudica says, but I've no doubt this will be messy." Sael addressed her. He adjusted his spectacles to see her better. Lisanna was surprised that he came up to her like this, since they hadn't spoken much before. Whenever she saw him he always seemed more interested in working on his machines, or discussing things with Boudica and the others.

"To be honest, I don't know. I'm not sure what's going to happen. I feel like I'm getting involved in something I shouldn't." Lisanna said. Sael waved a hand.

"Nonsense. You belong here as much as any of us do. We all came from different places originally you know. Yoshimoto came from far in the east, and Boudica wandered around… er, Bosco, for quite some time gathering followers, not staying in one place. And I came from a place very different from where we are now." Sael said.

"What was that place called?" Lisanna asked, curious. Sael paused a moment, as if he was deciding whether or not to tell her. "Duram. It was a small country, but beautiful. I wish you could have seen it." Lisanna noticed his use of past tense.

"What do you mean, what happened to it?" she said.

"It's a long story. Let's just say it doesn't exist anymore."

"Hmm. Maybe you could tell me about it sometime. When there's time for a long story." Lisanna replied. Sael put his hand to his chin. "Really? Well, yes. I suppose we could do that. I think I'd like that. You're the first person who ever asked." He said. In that moment, Lisanna actually thought he looked kind of cute. Not in a romantic way, but more like how her brother Elfman looked as a kid. Some people thought he was a dork, with his stuffy clothes and meek personality, but she thought he was cute. Wait, I didn't remember that before, Lisanna thought to herself.

Her memories of her siblings, and Fairy Tail as a whole, were fragmentary at best. But she suddenly had this clear image of what Elfman looked like as a kid, and even what he sounded like. Lisanna's thoughts were interrupted by Boudica walking up to her again.

"The others should be here any time now. Then we'll get this done. Are you ready?" she asked. Lisanna stared for a moment. "What's wrong?" Boudica asked.

"I just remembered something about Elfman, my brother. I couldn't remember before, but I just recalled something from childhood. I can see what he looked like and everything." Lisanna explained. Boudica frowned.

"Are you sure those are real memories? It could be your mind trying to create comforting thoughts for you. Which is understandable, but don't mistake that for reality." Lisanna shook her head. "I… don't think so. It seems real to me." Boudica grabbed both of Lisanna's shoulders, which caught her off guard.

"Yes, it seems real. But remember that Elfman killed you. And remember what your sister was like. I know you care about her, but she was called the "she-devil", wasn't she? That was for a reason. They weren't good people, Lisanna." As Boudica explained this, less pleasant images came to her mind. Elfman as a beast, and Mirajane gleefully fighting and hurting people for fun. Boudica continued. "That's not all. Why do you think Natsu left the guild? It wasn't just for you and Erza. He left because he was disgusted with what Fairy Tail had become. People hurting and killing for fun and personal gain. Villains. I didn't want to say this earlier, but Fairy Tail is not a place you want to go back to."

As Boudica said these things, Lisanna could visualize some of what Boudica was saying. She felt anger. Especially when Boudica spoke of her brother and sister. When Boudica talked about how evil they all were, Lisanna felt this anger within her rising up. It made her head hurt. Is this how I really feel? Is this how I've always felt about them? Are they really so horrible? Do I hate them? This anger… These confused thoughts swam around Lisanna's head as Boudica spoke. But before this could go any further, a loud noise interrupted. It was loud but guttural screaming.

Boudica and Lisanna both turned towards the town where they saw a few armored soldiers running up towards them. They appeared to be wearing some kind of wooden and copper armor. They carried spears. As they charged, Boudica looked annoyed. Sael spoke up. "Looks like they decided not to wait for us to come down. Should I send my-" he said, but Boudica cut him off. "No, I'll handle this."

Boudica raised her hand, in a motion as if she was calling something up from the ground. Seconds later, a bright beam of light burst up from the ground under the soldiers, leaving a crater and knocking them to the ground. One of them was unfortunate enough to be in the center of it, and was badly burned with steam coming off of him. He wasn't moving. A second was only caught in part of the blast, but was knocked to the ground hard. He was moving, but appeared blinded from the light. The third, the commander, had managed to dodge most of the attack. He rolled and brought up a crossbow and quickly fired it at Boudica. This caught her off guard, and hit her in the shoulder. She appeared annoyed rather than angry. The commander attempted to reload his crossbow, but something quickly moved towards him. It was one of Sael's mechanized beasts. In this case, a mechanical crab the size of a bear. It moved surprisingly fast towards the soldier, who quickly pulled out a dagger to defend himself. But the machine used its large pincer to crush his lower arm, cracking the armor. After a second it then cut off his hand, leaving him screaming on the ground. The machine finished him off with both its pincers, rather forcefully.

Lisanna had watched all of this play out, and was uncomfortable with what had happened, for various reasons. The commander died a rather violent death, although he had injured Boudica. Lisanna then looked to the other woman, concerned. But Boudica just pulled the arrow out, and pressed her other hand to the bloody wound. It healed within seconds.

"Are you alright?" Lisanna asked. Boudica still looked at the area the wound had been. "Yes, I'm fine. But I shouldn't have let that happen. How careless of me." She then turned upwards to see someone else approaching from the side. Lisanna thought it might be another attack, but she recognized some of the people coming towards them.

Arnok the barbarian king. He was half naked as usual, but also wearing a cape and something on his head. It was an animal skull with antlers. It sort of looked like a deer's skull, only bigger and more menacing looking. Maybe some animal she never saw before. There was also Yoshimoto, wearing his full armor, including helmet. He was accompanied by some of his soldiers. And there was also a woman Lisanna hadn't met. Lisanna had seen her once before, and learned that her name was Angel. She was wearing white feathers, and Lisanna noticed that she also had white hair like herself. She didn't look friendly though. In fact, as soon as Angel saw her, she sneered. Lisanna didn't know how to react to that. Regardless, she wasn't expecting all of them to be here for this fight.

"I was wondering when you all would show up." Sael said. Arnok scoffed. Yoshimoto looked down at the base. "I can't stay here long. I have other matters to attend to." He said.

"That's fine Lord Yoshimoto, just help us break into the place." Sael said.

"You can just stay up here and provide support. You won't have to do any fighting." Boudica added. The samurai stiffened, sensing a slight, but he said nothing.

Boudica turned to the group. "Everyone, prepare yourselves. We're about to begin.


Boudica and the others made their final preparations, setting marks and performing rituals. Lisanna stood there without much to do but wait. She felt a gentle wind blowing through her hair, and observed the half cloudy and half sunny sky. She could almost feel that it was a sleepy, quiet day. Except she knew about the violence that was about to happen, so she just felt tense. She decided to try focusing on her different animal forms, and see how many of them she could remember.

The soldiers below began coming out of the front gate. Catena was surround by low walls, and to the sides of the town were two large opaque domes in the ground. A small group of people not dressed in armor came out front. They were not soldiers, but mages. Three of them. Boudica knew that this place, for certain reasons, didn't have any mage guilds, but she was still expecting at least a few mages like this. After the mages were outside, the gate was resealed behind them.

As Boudica watched them, Angel walked over towards her, with something on her mind. Boudica turned to her. "What is it, child?" Boudica asked. Angel paused, and looked back at Lisanna, several yards away near Sael. She turned back to Boudica. "Why does she need to be here? She's… a demon." Boudica smiled.

"Part demon, yes. Although she was born human." She replied. Angel scowled. "It doesn't matter. She's still disgusting. Besides, isn't she related to that other woman from Fairy Tail? The one who…"

"You ran from?" Boudica suggested.

"I wouldn't put it like that." Angel said defensively. Boudica looked amused. "Its fine. I don't blame you. I'm sure she was terrifying. And yes, they are related. Sisters actually. Is that the problem?"

"I'm not afraid of her, I just don't want her here." Angel said.

"I understand. But Lisanna can be helpful to us. Yes, she is part demon. But she can still serve a good cause. After all, you cooperated with dark magic when you were with the Oracion Seis. It's a tool. Sometimes you fight fire with fire, darkness with darkness. But light always prevails in the end. And we will prevail, because we are the light." Boudica then hugged Angel, which the latter was not expecting.

"I uh, y-yes. I understand. That makes sense." She stammered. Boudica released her. "Go Angel, and help us cast out the devils." Angel nodded. "Yes, Boudica." Angel went off to take position. They then spent another minute preparing. The soldiers below did not send anyone else up. Instead, they waited just outside the town, maintaining the homefield advantage.

"Apparently they're not that stupid. But it won't change the outcome." Boudica said. She began marching forward and waved the others along, Arnok and Angel following. Lisanna hesitantly went along with them. She was unsure what they expected her to do. She was aware that her strength had increased from the "modifications", but she was never the best fighter in Fairy Tail. She knew that much at least. As for Yoshimoto and Sael; the samurai lord stayed on the hill and prepared spells through chanting. Sael went down the hill, but kept his distance from the others. His machines went ahead of him.

The group, including Lisanna, approached the front of the gate to the town. Lisanna thought this was a strange and risky way of approaching, since the town was walled, and they had crossbows and at least a few mages. But she decided that her companions must know what they're doing. It was obvious that at least some of them were quite experienced at combat. She just hoped this wouldn't turn into a bloodbath.

As they approached the gate, the mages from Catena stepped forward to meet them. The one in the middle held up a hand and said, "Okay, that's far enough." Lisanna sensed that he was the leader of the three. He was a youngish looking man, with dark hair and silver streaks that looked like lighting bolts. He wore dark pants and a sleeveless white shirt, and long wristbands on his arms. His fashion sense made him stand out from everyone else here.

"And who might you be?" Boudica said. Lisanna wasn't surprised that out of all of them Boudica would be the one to speak up, since she seemed to be the closest thing they had to a diplomat. The man answered.

"I might be called Strike. And for good reason. But trust me, you don't wanna find out why. And what do you call yourself, lady?" Boudica smiled at him. "You can call me Boudica, as everyone does." She looked like she was about to say something else, but one of the other two mages interrupted.

"My name is Luchuk, and she's Pagan." The young mage to the right of Strike said this, referring to himself and the female mage on the left. Strike, without turning around, said, "I didn't tell you to introduce yourself. Let me do the talking here." This was directed at Luchuk, who looked slightly embarrassed. Lisanna looked at him and the other mage. Luchuk looked like a teenager, maybe the same age as Lisanna herself, if not younger. Compared to Strike he was dressed in more shabby clothes. Brown leathers and grey cloth. He also had messy blonde hair and freckles.

As for Pagan, it was hard to tell how old she was. She wore a green cloak with a hood, and a somewhat short brown dress. She had rustic jewelry, like charms and pendants hanging from necklaces. She also had pale skin with white and red paint on her face, along with bright green eyes. She just stared from under her hood.

"So, I take it you three are the defenders of this town?" Boudica resumed. Strike looked at her, and folded his arms. "We're the first line of defense, but there's plenty more behind us. Not that you'll get past us."

Boudica spread her hands. "We don't need to fight. We can just talk."

"Oh, you want to talk? Is that all? Then what's with the death machines and soldiers behind you?" Strike said.

"They're for protection. In case you decide you don't want to talk, and turn hostile. After all, we have had several unfortunate encounters with your soldiers before. You even sent some up to attack us before we even came near a few minutes ago." Boudica said. Strike narrowed his eyes.

"Uh huh. Look, we know who you are."

"Do you?" Boudica said.

"Yeah. Or at least, we know who you're supposed to be. 'Shadow Kings'. But I don't believe in those fairy tales." Boudica smiled again, showing her teeth. "Fairy tales?" she said.

"That's right. Now look. I've got nothing to say to you, and you've got nothing to say that I want to hear. So here's how it goes. I'm going to give you thirty seconds to get out of here. Away from my town, and then get out of my country." Strike replied. Boudica's face darkened, despite retaining her smile. "It was my country long before it was yours, child." She said.

"Twenty nine, twenty eight…" Strike began counting. At that point Arnok stepped forward. "Enough of this!" he said, as he threw his large fist right at Strike. Strike dodged it and stepped back, preparing himself. Arnok's fist had left a small crater in the ground. He then threw another fist at Pagan, who didn't have time to react. His fist hit something solid. But instead of the girl, he hit a shield, magical in nature. Luchuk had summoned the shield to protect her.

"Get away from her." The young man growled. He was able to expand the shield a little, forcing Arnok to back off, and giving Pagan time to move back to a safer spot. Arnok pounded against the shield several times, until it broke from the force.

"What?!" Luchuk said, not expecting this. Arnok, having demonstrated his immense strength, advanced on them. Strike called down a powerful lightning bolt from the sky towards Arnok, narrowly missing his opponent. Seconds later, Sael's machines advanced, and Luchuk called up several shields in midair to slow them down.

While all of this was happening, Pagan went back several feet, and put her hands to the ground. In a voice that sounded like a hoarse whisper, she began reciting an incantation. "Forces of nature, heed my call, come to my aid." As she said that, the ground rumbled and split open. Something began growing out of the earth. It was two trees, growing larger by the second. They had what appeared to be faces. Large fangs, and glowing eye slits. The two tree monsters then sprouted something like arms. Not just two, but several. They were forces of nature that managed to look quite unnatural.

Sael sent a few smaller machines that resembled hawks over to the trees, but they were quickly grabbed out of the air and crushed. Witnessing all of this, Boudica turned to Lisanna and Angel. "I think now would be a good time for you two to get involved. Show them what you're capable of. What we're capable of."

"Of course, Boudica." Angel said. She pulled out a celestial key, and summoned Scorpio. Scorpio quickly fired sand bursts at the trees, while Pagan hid behind them. Scorpio concentrated on blasting one tree, which didn't seem to be doing serious damage, but at least it kept the creature occupied. Seraiisa, who had accompanied them down here, decided to help Angel by using her mental force magic.

"What should I do?" Lisanna asked.

"You have animal soul. Use it." Boudica said, as if stating the obvious. "Right." Lisanna said hesitantly. She hadn't used her animal soul since that time she turned into a bird. The experience had unnerved her. But she was being called on to fight now, so she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. "Here goes nothing." she said. She concentrated. This time, instead of a bird, she tried something a little different. She decided to change into her harpy form. Part bird, part human. It was one of her more effective forms for combat, and at least this way some part of her would still remain human, instead of looking like a complete demon-animal like before. It made her feel a little more comfortable.

Lisanna assumed that her Harpy form would look similar to her bird form, with black feathers. She was mostly right, although the tips of her wings were red now. She turned to look at her tail, and noticed that it now had large spikes attached to it. "Yikes. I should remember not to sit down in this form." She muttered to herself.

"Excellent." Boudica said, putting her hands together as she admired Lisanna's new form. "You know what to do now, right?" she said. Lisanna nodded, and took flight. As she got to the air and scanned around, she noted there were several targets to attack. The trees were obvious, but would be hard for her to take on with her abilities. Although, I did knock that one tree down when I was a bird, she thought. She sometimes had to remind herself that not only had her appearance changed, but her powers as well. The truth is, she still wasn't entirely sure what she was capable of, and what her limitations were. She would rather not have to find out what her limits are during a life or death battle, so she was being a little cautious.

Scanning further, Lisanna observed the mages. Luchuk was raising his magic shields, and taking him out would make things easier. Then there was Strike. He was calling down lighting bolts at the machines and Scorpio. But she noticed that he was only calling lightning from the sky, none of it was coming from his own body. So he can only cast lightning from the sky, she thought. That will definitely limit what he can do. But as she thought this, he noticed her and began aiming his attacks at her. She was able to dodge in midair, but it did come uncomfortably close.

Flying up here does make me more of a target. She noted to herself. She decided to divebomb towards Strike. Halfway there one of the tree monsters grabbed her, halting her assault. It squeezed her in its "hand". She struggled with all her might, but she knew it was unlikely she would be able to break free with how huge the creature is. But to her surprise, she did exactly that. She broke the trees appendage to splinters with a loud crack, pieces of wood flying about. Guess I don't know my own strength, she thought.

She took the opportunity to fly straight at the creature's eye, and slashed at it with her talons. The thing let out a roar, signaling its pain. It attacked her with its limbs. Initially she dodged, but one of them batted her away, back into the open air. Before she could recover from that, arrows flew towards her from the wall. The soldiers saw her as an obvious target and took advantage. One of the arrows hit her in the wing. Lisanna grimaced, and did a slow fall to the ground with her good wing. She managed to avoid a hard landing. She changed back into her human, or semi-human, form. She noticed Boudica standing a few yards back, watching everything, but not doing much.

"Boudica, I think we could use your help." Lisanna said.

"I'm waiting to see what you do first." Boudica replied. Lisanna didn't know how to respond to that. Is this another test? Doesn't seem like the best time for it. Since the sky was too dangerous, Lisanna decided to try a ground assault. She transformed into her cat form. She only vaguely remembered the cat form. In this form, she was still humanoid, but with some feline alterations. And such was the case here. She looked down at her body.

"This seems familiar." She said to herself. The color scheme wasn't that different from before this time. She didn't suddenly have black fur with spikes. But there were a few changes. Her claws were bigger and sharper. And she had gained some muscle too. She more closely resembled a large wild cat than a house cat. She noticed there was something different about her vision too. Although she couldn't see it, her eyes were now closer to a cat's than a human's, albeit with the same colors (right blue and red left).

"I feel… stronger." She said. Boudica was watching her, and chimed in. "Yes, and you look it. Although, that is an… interesting choice of outfit." Her commentary caused Lisanna to look down at her attire, such as it was. Her clothes consisted only of a bikini. Her memory was still very faulty, but she had a hard time coming up with an explanation for why she'd be wearing a bikini in this form. She shrugged. "It keeps me cool?" she said.

"I'm sure." Boudica said. She then pointed to the battle going on behind Lisanna.

"Right, I'm on it." Lisanna said, and ran back into the fray. Lisanna wasn't sure how she felt about fighting. While she couldn't remember much of her past, she felt that she wasn't morally opposed to fighting. Although she didn't remember being in any specific fights before. Unlike her sister, whom she knew loved to fight, and was quite good at it.

Half the reason Lisanna was reluctant to go along on this mission (for lack of a better word) was because she wasn't entirely sure what the fight was over. And even now, it still wasn't fully clear to her. But she decided to trust Boudica and the others, and hoped that that trust would be justified in the end.

She was also reluctant because she was afraid. Or at least, she was expecting to be afraid. Again, Lisanna couldn't remember fighting before, and she felt that if she was suddenly thrust into a violent situation, then she would be too scared to do anything, even with her enhanced strength. But now that she was here, she wasn't scared. At least, not nearly as much as she thought she would be. It was certainly an adrenaline rush for her, and was a lot more exciting than being stuck in the valley all the time. She felt like she wanted to see what else she could do.

Lisanna started running back towards the tree monster she had been fighting. She started running on all fours, which may have looked a little silly, but she found it was faster. Two of Sael's machines, both humanoid in form, were fighting the monster. They were quite large, but were still having trouble with it. Lisanna arrived in time to see one of their heads get knocked off by a tree limb. She wasted no time in testing out the power of her cat form, and began clawing at the trunk of the creature. As she slashed at it, large chunks of bark came flying off. The monster reacted, and made efforts to smash her into the ground. But she was faster, and could outmaneuver it. She ran around its base slashing at the trunk, leaving large claw marks and slashes. The tree was very limited in its mobility, while Lisanna was very fast and agile in her current form. She took advantage of this. She clawed at it again and again, scoring the wood, while the creature roared above her.

Lisanna's attack on the tree lasted about a minute. After that, she got winded and had to stop. Did I do any real damage? She thought. She looked at the creature, and saw that she had actually done quite a lot of damage. About half its trunk was torn away. Sap oozed out of it as if it was bleeding. It used its remaining limbs to support itself. But it was still standing, so to speak.

The tree-creature turned its full attention to Lisanna, despite the one machine still attacking it with bladed limbs. The tree reached out a "hand" towards her. She moved to run, but was out of breath. I need to improve my stamina, she thought. Her next thought was less coherent as the thing's hand came directly towards her, and she didn't think she could dodge it this time. I can't die here, she thought. The next thing she heard was a cracking sound. It was the tree's arm, broken off. The person responsible, to her surprise, was Arnok, the barbarian king.

Arnok tore its limbs off with his bare hands, one by one. He then tossed the now inert wood aside and ran straight towards its mass. He reared back his arm, and slammed it fist first into the weakened area Lisanna had been attacking. This turned out to be the finishing blow. It toppled over and fell to the ground with a tremendous impact. Fortunately, it didn't fall on Lisanna, but Sael's machine man was crushed.

Arnok admired his handiwork for a moment. Lisanna wondered if he had deliberately tried to save her, or if he just wanted to wreck the creature. As she looked at him with his blood red cape and animal skull headpiece, she decided it was probably the latter. The huge man then stalked off to find another opponent., further away.

Lisanna crouched near the fallen tree, taking a minute to catch her breath. There was still a battle going on, but she needed a minute to recover. She heard footsteps nearby. She turned and saw Angel, accompanied by a timid looking pink haired girl she had never seen before. Notably, the girl also had horns sticking out of her head. Is she part demon like me? Lisanna thought. But then she realized the girl was probably another one of Angel's spirits that she summoned for help. Angel suddenly noticed Lisanna crouched by the tree and gave her a dirty look. Maybe the fact that I'm part demon bothers her, she thought.

"Aries, what are you doing? You're supposed to be protecting me! Use some defensive spells, and stay close to me. Be my shield." Angel berated Aries, and Aries apologized to her mistress. Or maybe she's just a bitch, Lisanna finished her thought from before. Lisanna couldn't help giggling at her own mental comment, since she knew she wouldn't say something like that out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Angel asked, annoyed. Lisanna stood up. "Nothing at all. In fact, I should get back to the fight." She said, and quickly turned and ran over to where the main fighting was happening. Lisanna thought she heard Angel saying something derogatory behind her, but she ignored it.

Lisanna couldn't help but notice that, aside from the trees, it didn't seem like either side was going all out so far. They both seemed to be holding back. She wondered if that meant that there was a chance that this could be resolved before things went too far. Maybe neither side really wanted to fight. Or was there another reason?

She found Strike, Luchuk, and Pagan holding off a few samurai and barbarian warriors, belonging to Yoshimoto and Arnok respectively. The three of them were surrounded by an array of metal poles. Strike was calling down lightning that was striking the poles, and Luchuk created a large shield that surrounded the poles. The electricity combined with the shield to create a seemingly impenetrable barrier, protecting the three of them. At the same time, Pagan , kneeling and with her hands to the ground, summoned more allies. Just outside the shield, several creatures rose out of the ground. Not trees this time. Much smaller. They were spriggans, about the size of a man. The were humanoid in shape, but obviously plants. They were androgenous in appearance, with a few looking more feminine. Several of them rose, and quickly assumed a hostile stance towards the group of outsiders.

Vines grew from their bodies and attacked Arnok's warriors, as well as Arnok himself. Arnok was strong enough to break the vines though, and could take care of himself. Other spriggans ran towards the group. Two of them moved on Sael, who currently didn't have any machines to guard himself. He had sent them all into the fight earlier. Their vines wrapped around his chair, immobilizing it. Lisanna saw this and pounced on one of the spriggans, straddling its back. It tried to grab her, but instead Lisanna grabbed it's head and ripped it off. It got to its knees, but the vines were still attached to Sael's chair. She slashed them with her claws. The other spriggan used its vines to grabs Lisanna's arms, and approached her. Lisanna struggled, but the vines were tight. It opened a mouth full of teeth on its "head". It intended to eat her. It lifted her off the ground, but she began clawing at it with her feet. She did this frantically, shredding its entire front side until it dropped her. She landed on her feet with knees bent, and slowly rose. Lisanna looked over to see that Yohimoto still had two samurai with him that could have helped. They were still guarding their master though. Boudica again chose not to intervene either. Lisanna wondered if Boudica was willing to let them die, or if it was another test. Or maybe she just had confidence in me? I want to believe that. "Thank you Lisanna. I appreciate your help. I really should carry something with me for self defense." Sael said.

Lisanna shrugged. "You don't have to thank me. I'm sure you'd have done the same for me." Sael didn't respond to this, and just sat there. Boudica finally took this moment to step forward.

"Everyone listen to me." Boudica said to those nearby, including Lisanna and Sael. "I can help, but you need to believe in me. Believe that I can stop Strike's lighting. Believe in it. Then we can take them." Boudica said this quite insistently. Sael closed his eyes and appeared to be reflecting, or… praying? Arnok, hearing her, had stepped back from the fight and also appeared to bow his head. This struck Lisanna as odd, since she never got the impression that Arnok had much reverence for her. Boudica's followers (she had brought about a dozen of them) were also praying, but more fervently. They were on their hands and knees bowing to her. Angel was still busy with the other tree, so she wasn't there, otherwise she probably would have joined in.

"You too Lisanna. I need your support right now." Boudica said. Lisanna didn't want to get on her hands and knees, so she just bowed her head and thought about how she believed (somehow) Boudica could stop Strike's lightning. She thought about this, but felt silly. She didn't believe praying would help. But she tried anyway. She did believe in Boudica, who had brought her back from the dead, and used magic she had never seen before, and commanded respect from her followers. And then then she felt something. And saw something. A golden glow, coming from Boudica. She looked up, and saw the woman, radiant. Boudica raised her hands to the sky, as if she could touch the clouds. She parted her hands. But that's not all. Lisanna noticed that the clouds in the sky began to part as well. It had been fairly cloudy, which was where Strike had drawn his attacks from. But the clouds were moving away, leaving bright sunlight around the area. The lightning stopped. Strike, for his part, looked dumbfounded by this.

"This would be a good time to attack them." Boudica said. Arnok wasted no time in running back into the fray. Three of the spriggans moved in Boudica's direction. Boudica responded by raising her hands again. As the three moved closer, her hands shook, and something materialized in from of her. It was two large spheres of light, but formed into the shape of her hands. She clapped her hands together, and the 'light hands" also came together, crushing the spriggans. The three of them were squeezed, and began smoking form the heat. Finally, the magical light departed, dropping the three of them to the ground, crushed and burned. Boudica looked a little spent after two such displays of power in a row.

With the lightning field gone, Arnok and his warriors were able to break through the shield fairly quickly. The mage trio quickly separated, spreading out from each other. Strike was unable to call his lightning for the moment, but he was at least able to use his magic to give himself a boost of physical power. He then grabbed one of the poles out of the ground to use as a weapon. Arnok went after him alone.

Meanwhile, Lisanna tried to decide on her next attack. She was still in cat form, but could only maintain that form a little longer. She had to act fast. She looked at Luchuk, who was already throwing up more midair shields. But then she noticed Pagan, who was pulling something out of her clothes. It was some kind of weapon. Pagan quickly pulled it up and aimed it, and several arrows launched from it. It was a variation of a crossbow. Lisanna narrowly dodged one of the arrows. She could hear it go by in her ear. She rolled, and prepared to counterattack. But out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Boudica down on one knee. Lisanna looked over, and saw an arrow sticking out of Boudica's throat. She had been hit. Blood was pouring out. Lisanna quickly ran over to her, as Boudica fell to the ground. Lisanna wanted to help her. But her instincts told her to keep her guard up, and she turned back to Pagan, who was readying another shot.

Lisanna got up and ran towards Pagan as fast as she could. Luchuk threw up shields to block Lisanna, but she used her cat-like agility to jump over and on top of the shields, bounding off of them. She could move faster than he could raise his shields. Lisanna leapt high, and came down directly towards Pagan, who put her arm up defensively. At the last second Luchuk rushed over and pushed Psgan out of the way, so Lisanna landed on him with her outstretched claw instead. She crashed into him, her feet going into his midsection and her hand pushing his head into the ground with force.

Lisanna reared up her other hand to follow up, but then paused. He wasn't moving, and didn't seem to be a threat anymore. She touched his head, and heard a crunching sound. She looked closer at him, and realized his neck was broken. He wasn't breathing either. Lisanna realized that he was dead. She had killed him. Lisanna recoiled in horror. She tried standing up, but stumbled and fell backwards onto the ground. She sat there staring at Luchuk's corpse. This was the first time she had ever killed someone. At least, she couldn't remember ever killing anyone before. I never did anything like this before… did I? I don't think so. I would remember, wouldn't I? I… I didn't mean to kill him. Lisanna thought all of these things to herself as she stared at the body. When she landed on him, the impact was greater than she had intended. She still wasn't used to the enhanced strength of her new body. She had only intended to wound him, maybe knock him unconscious. I think that's what I was trying to do, I didn't mean to kill him, she thought to herself.

As Lisanna sat there on the ground, Pagan had come over to Luchuk's body. She knelt beside him and placed a hand on his head. Lisanna barely noticed. But then, Strike came running over screaming and brandishing the pole he had grabbed. He was aiming it, point first, at Lisanna. She did notice this, and quickly rolled out of the way as he ran at her. He narrowly missed her, burying the pole into the ground instead of Lisanna's torso. She scrambled to get up, but found that she was slower than before. She noticed that she was no longer in cat form, and realized that she must have changed back just after killing the boy. She had used up so much magical power that she found she was unable to transform again, so she had to do what she could in her current form.

She managed to get to her feet, and Strike stood there several feet away looking angry. "You killed him you little bitch. Now I'll kill you!" Lisanna edged back a little, knowing full well he meant it. She couldn't use animal soul for the time being, which left her at a disadvantage. On the other hand, he couldn't use his magic either. Maybe I can take him like this, she thought. She hadn't tried fighting in her "normal form" since her resurrection, and wasn't really sure how combat capable she was like this. As it turned out, she didn't get the chance to find out in that moment.

Booming footsteps could be heard approaching. "We're not done, little man. If you can defeat me, then you can finish fighting the little girl." Arnok said as he approached. Strike turned towards the giant, and swung the pole at him, which Arnok caught with his hand. He casually threw it aside. Arnok stood there and said "is that all you're capable of?" In response, Strike used his power to summon lightning from the sky. It might have been a desperation move, but it worked. A bolt came crashing down and struck Arnok. The clouds had returned during the fighting, so Strike now had his favored weapon again. But Arnok still stood there.

Arnok laughed at Strike's attempt. Confused, Strike called down two more bolts, watching Arnok glow from the voltage. But he still stood there. His tattoos glowed, and he laughed again. "My turn." He said. He raised a hand and shot his own lightning back at Strike. This one came directly from Arnok instead of the sky. Strike was knocked back. Strike couldn't be seriously hurt by electricity, but the force of the attack still sent him flying. As he got up, Arnok rushed over and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him into the air.

"How!?" Strike said. Arnok smiled cruelly. "You'll never know. Just know that I'm the last thing you'll ever see." Arnok punched the man hard in the stomach, causing him to vomit. Some of it was red. The barbarian king then lifted Strike above his head and raised his knee.

"Don't kill him!" Lisanna called. But he ignored her, and drove Strike abdomen first into his knee. The sound of ribs breaking could be heard. Arnok then lifted him a final time, and slammed the back of his head into the ground. Strike lay there with a blank expression. He had now joined Luchuk. Arnok laughed at his easy victory. Lisanna stood there and watched as this giant wearing an animal skull, covered in another man's blood, stood there and laughed. Lisanna thought he looked like more of a demon then her.

Pagan had sat there watching all of this, and looked scared as hell. The three of them were supposed to be the best warriors Catena had, and now two of them had been killed in quick succession right in front of her. She got up and ran back towards the town gate. "Run, girl. You're next." Arnok spoke. Lisanna was shaken up by everything that had happened in the past few minutes. She felt coming here was a mistake. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She panicked and spun around. She found Boudica in front of her.

"Its only me, Lisanna." Boudica said. Lisanna blinked. "I… I thought you were dead." She said. The older woman laughed. "It will take more than that to kill me. Its good to see you're alive too." She smiled warmly at Lisanna. Lisanna noticed the wound in her neck had already mostly healed. Boudica noticed her looking.

"You know I have healing powers. There's no reason I can't heal myself too. Admittedly, if it had been a little higher things might be different." She explained. Lisanna looked over at Luchuk. "I killed him. But I didn't mean to. Can you heal him? You can do that, right?" Boudica followed Lisanna's gaze to the corpse.

"Maybe I could. But I won't." She answered.

"But why not?" Lisanna asked." Boudica looked at Lisanna seriously. "Lisanna, listen to me. You did nothing wrong by killing him. It was a good thing. Some people need to die. People like him. He would have done the same to you if given the chance."

"I know, but-" Lisanna began.

"But nothing. Look, I know that it can be hard the first time you take a life. But it gets easier. I speak from experience." Boudica said. It gets easier? Lisanna thought. Does that mean she expects me to do that again?

Angel and Seraiisa walked up at that moment. "Finally finished that other stupid tree." Angel said. She had two little blue creatures accompanying her. Lisanna didn't know what they were. They were in fact Gemini, the celestial spirit.

"Good job. Seraiisa, you helped?" Boudica said. Seraiisa nodded proudly. "So, what now?" Angel asked. Boudica looked over at the gate. It was opening. Pagan was standing in from of it, but was still facing her opponents. She got to the ground on her hands and knees. Even though she was several yards away, she was speaking quite loudly, so they could all hear her. "Protectors, here my call, rise up and protect us from these invaders!" The armored soldiers began coming out of the now lowered gate, armed with spears and crossbows, and a few even had magically enhanced items. But those weren't the protectors Pagan meant.

The two large domes at the side of the town began to shift, as did the earth around them. The domes slowly rose, gradually revealing something beneath. Something alive. As they rose higher out of the ground, it became clear what was underneath the domes: giant turtles. The domes were actually giant turtle shells. "Well, I wasn't expecting that." Angel said.

"Yeah, that's something you don't see every day." Seraiisa concurred. Lisanna wasn't sure what to think of anything anymore. Boudica just stood there and watched, folding her arms.

"Well, it looks like they're finally showing all of their cards." Boudica said. "So, I suppose we should too. No more playing around. Its time to show them what we're really capable of."


Endnotes: I was originally going to do this part as one chapter, but it ended up being longer than expected. So I'm splitting it into two chapters. It might seem like Lisanna is taking over as the main character here, but that's only temporary. Like I said, I intend for this story to be more of an ensemble, so different characters will get focus at different parts of the story. Although, some will obviously get more focus than others.