The mute philodox smiled grimly at the two ragabash, before she shifted, growing slowly from her lanky homid form to a nine-foot-tall half-wolf killing machine with razor sharp claws and gleaming fangs. Mercy swallowed nervously, hand clenching her staff tightly. Sara took a step away from Mercy, muscle building up and growing about half a foot taller. A labrys appears in her hands, forming out of a tattoo that had been on her arm.
Mercy took a defensive stance, holding her bladed staff before her, as Sara charged forward, a guttural roar reverberating through the cavern. She hesitated to join Sara in combating the fallen Child of Gaia. Inside, she warred with her wish to not fight, the deep seated urge to live her own life and choose her own path...
Sara cried out in surprise as Shen's claws bit into her flesh and stayed there, new claws growing in their place. Mercy blinked, an epiphany striking her as she watched Sara try to pull one of the talons out, only to rip more flesh as she did so, the claws having become barbed like a bee's stinger. With a screaming battle cry not unlike Sara's own, Mercy charged forward, fur rippling across her skin as she shifted into her gray-furred crinos form, and her scream became a resounding howl of fury.
Together, Sara and Mercy had little trouble incapacitating their former ally. Mercy's bladed staff came down and severed a clawed hand from Shen's arm. Its mate soon joined it on the ground, cut off at the elbow by Sara's labrys. The fray ended almost abruptly, with a blade of Mercy's staff sticking through Shen's torso, and Sara neatly slicing the curved blade of her battle axe through Shen's neck.
As the fallen Child of Gaia's body slumped to the cavern floor, Mercy sagged against her staff, shrinking down to glabro and breathing heavily. Sara remained in glabro, but was staring at Mercy with an odd surprised expression. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the flash of light signifying an opened moon bridge.
"Tell me you saved some for us, Merce," Rowan said, his eye gleaming as he led the war party consisting of Winds of Change, Guides The Cycle and Dreamwalker. As though in response, grotesque figures melted out of the shadows, all smiling eerily.
"Nope, boss... Just warmin' up the party for you," Mercy replied cheekily.