Daily Life of Monster Girls in Alabama

by GoatManofAnime

It's time for a MonMusu fanfiction that takes place in sweet home Alabama, nuff said.

61. Story of the Beast

Chapter 56: Story of the Beast

…1 hour earlier…

Inside a small house, located along the Tallapoosa river, Nanaja could be seen lying on a large futon with a 'For Sale' sign hanging on the wooden railing. As she came back to reality from unconsciousness, her eyes immediately shot open and she jerked herself upwards into a sitting position.

She shouted in panic, breathing erratically before a familiar Tengu girl rushed to her side.

"Hey! Hey, it's OK, it's alright," she assured the Wyvern who looked confused by the situation. She also noticed the Elf and Werecat girl right beside her as well. She slowly calmed down, taking in her surroundings, realizing she was no longer in the battle.

"Thank the gods, you're awake. We were worried for a moment," the Elf woman said in relief.

"You're those three we rescued earlier. Where am I? What happened?"

"You were fighting that…fire lizard woman and got thrown into the river. We managed to pull you out before it was too late. Then we found this house along the bank. It looked vacant so we brought you both here to recover," the Elf woman answered.

"Both?" Nanaja raised an eyebrow before realization hit, "Wait! WHERE'S VOLTAIRA?!"

"S-She's right over there," the Tengu woman pointed to the other side of the room where the Thunderbird lay on the floor with a blanket and pillow as cushioning, "Don't worry, she's just unconscious but all her vitals appear to be stable. I checked and she had a few nasty second-degree burns but I managed to patch her up with what little was available. The same for you but to a lesser degree. Likely from your draconian ecology."

Nanaja noticed bandaging on one of her legs then said to the Elf woman in surprise, "Whoa. Are you some kind of doctor or something?"

"Nurse, actually. I used to work at an interspecies medical site under ICEP's green card program! I mean…before they kidnapped me..." she informed, ending in a somber voice as the Werecat and Elf despondently averted their gazes.

"Well, still, thank you for the help, Miss…" Nanaja trailed of, not knowing her name.

"Ermala, ma'am, and this is Nelilel and Minori," Ermala gestured to the Elf and Werecat respectively.

"Nice. You guys can call me 'Agent Nanaja'," Nanaja said, putting a little extra respect on her name.

"Glad to officially meet you!" Minori stated, her cat tail swaying happily.

"Errr… I'm sorry for earlier when we were trying to-" Nelilel tried to say, only for Nanaja to interrupt her.

"Nope, you have nothing to apologize for me and my teammates have lots of experience with those enslavement collars and know what you've been put through-" Nanaja assured, then it hit her that her team hasn't heard from them, "SHIT! That's right! I need to contact Lovelace and the others and warn them about that Salamander."

Nanaja tried touching the communication piece in her ear only to notice it was missing, "What the-? My earpiece! It's gone! Did one of you see it?"

"I-I didn't see anything like that on either of you when I examined you. It is possible they were swept out by the river," Ermala regretfully said.

"Dammit. Who knows how far the psycho has gotten?!"

At that moment, the sound of low groaning coming from where Voltaira was caught their attention.

"Agh, my head. Nanaja, can you and Pyra keep it down?" Voltaira muttered, raising up and touching her bandaged head with her wing.

"Voltaira!" Nanaja cried, rushing over to her friend's side then wrapping her in a hug with her wings.

"Ack! Nanaja! What the he–wait a second. Where are we? And what are THEY doing here? Last thing I remember, I was fighting that Salamander and–" Voltaira stopped, as her memory finally came back to her, "THE SALAMANDER! WHERE'D SHE GO?! HOW LONG WAS I OUT?! HOW'D WE GET HERE?!"

"HEY, calm down already! OK, deep breath," Nanaja said, shaking the Thunderbird by the shoulders, forcing her to settle down and she took a deep breath of instructed, "Now…where do I begin?"

...Elsewhere…

The drugged up Red Oni swung her arm like a sledgehammer, destroying multiple stone pillars shooting from the ground to Terra's shock.

"It's no use!" Terra shouted, slamming her palms into the ground, creating large stone hands that grabbed the Oni. She grunted and thrashed as Terra clenched her hands, tightening the stone hands' hold.

With a roar of indignation, the Oni, using all her might, started forcing the stone hands open as Terra tried to maintain control. It proved futile as cracks quickly quickly propagated through the stone structure before the Red Oni explodesd out, shattering them to pieces as Terra stumbled back from the shock. Her opponent, not even taking a second to recover, rushed at the Rock Lizard.

She delivered a devastating kick, striking Terra with enough force to send her flying back several feet. She managed to defend herself but the weight of the attack made her stagger a bit.

Her opponent, on other hand, kept up the pressure rushing at her with a flurry of punches. Terra put up her fists in a boxing position, covering them in solid stone, and activating her 'Rolling Stones' technique. She quickly weaved through the hits while getting in a few licks herself. However, the Oni was just taking them as if they were nothing, much to Terra's annoyance.

Adding to her frustration, any attempt so far to restrain her had just ended with ripping herself free from the stones she summoned.

'What will it take to keep her down? How is she so much stronger than before? It's like she received a shot of pure adrenaline or something,' Terra thought as she and the Oni continued their ferocious boxing match.

Above them, Pyra and the Giant Hornet could be seen zooming around.

The Hornet zoomed right, slashing her four sharp claws at the fire element who gave her an unimpressed and annoyed look.

"Oh please! What the hell kinda moves are these? You're like a wild animal backed in a corner or something. Get the FUCK out my face!" Pyra trash talked the Hornet while effortlessly dodging every hit then, after covering her whole fist in fire, bitch-slapped her opponent hard across the face, leaving a burn imprint shaped like her hand.

The Hornet recoiled from the hit then, as if uncaring towards the pain, she rushed towards Pyra again. She alternated slashing with her claws and trying to stab Pyra with her stinger. All the while, Pyra kept dodging.

"You know, I don't really wanna be your enemy but you are making this difficult. You are LITERALLY a bug to a flame! I can light your ass up like a Christmas tree," Pyra remarked, swiping her arms up and creating a plume of fire that burned the Wasp girl's arms, sending her reeling back, "See? You're lucky Lovelace is a merciful master and I have to just RESTRAIN you."

The Hornet, once again ignoring the pain, rushed at Pyra, claws, teeth, and stinger ready.

Pyra rolled her eyes then, forming her hand into a pistol, fired a concentrated beam of blue flame, burning a hole through her wings. No longer aerodynamically stable, the Hornet fell to the ground.

Despite the damage she had just taken from both the fire and the fall, she just got right back up as if nothing had happened and released a scream of pure rage,

"You are just making this worse for yourself. Just lay down and take a nap for a few hours and when you wake up you will have that collar off, doesn't that sound nice?" Pyra said as she formed a cage of fire around the Hornet, trying to raise her body temperature enough for her to go into heat exhaustion and lose consciousness.

That was until, to Pyra's shock, she tried ramming herself into the bars made of fire. She would have suffered severe burn wounds if Pyra hadn't dispelled a few on the bars at the last second, letting her fall to the ground.

She snarled at Pyra, rushing at her on all six limbs since she couldn't fly.

Fortunately for Pyra, she could levitate upwards with a veil of flames around her legs as the savage Hornet leaped up, clawing while trying to grab her, only for Pyra to levitate out of reach.

"Geez don't you have any sense of self preservation?" Pyra said in disbelief, then looked to Terra still battling the Red Oni, "Hey! Terra! You wanna trade?!"

Terra blocked another hit and was sent skidding back. Ordinarily, she'd chastise her teammate's lack of professionalism but this particular fight was beginning to irritate her.

"Sure. Why not?" Terra stomped her foot, making a large stone pillar shoot out of the ground, jabbing the Oni right in the abdomen, stunning her. She raised her arms, levitating several large stones and launched a barrage of them at the Hornet.

The Hornet woman tried to shield herself from the flying rocks striking at her, but she was easily knocked on her back to the ground.

Terra then summoned several large stone hands from the ground beneath her and each grabbed a tight hold onto one of the Hornet's limbs. The Hornet woman thrashed around, trying to free herself but it was to no avail.

Terra smirked, securing her first win for the day. She then turned to the Oni.

The Red Oni screamed after recovering from the initial attack and tried to lunge for the Rock Lizard but was quickly stopped by a large fireball landing in front of her, creating a pillar of flames.

The fire immediately took the humanoid form of Pyra, but made of pure orange fire, who wagged her finger in an 'uh uh uh' style at the Oni.

"Careful, play with fire and see what happens."

The Oni roared and threw a punch only for her fist to not only go through Pyra due to her intangibility in that form, but also burn her hand up to the wrist, forcing Oni to quickly withdraw. Pyra shook her head in disappointment.

"Burns," Pyra remarked before turning herself into a sentient ball of fire and circled around her opponent, trapping her in a burning ring of fire. The Oni went down on one knee, finding it harder to breathe, as the flames went higher and Pyra called, "Setting ya up, Terra!"

"Coming at you, Pyra!" Terra yelled as she charged towards the two with rock armor formed around her body to protect her from the flames.

The Oni desperately tried to force herself to her feet again but only for her other leg to give out, forcing her on both knees as she used her hands to keep herself up when a rock fist pierced through the flames, uppercutting her in the face with enough force to launch her backwards through a hole Pyra had made as she rolled across the ground until she finally came to a stop on her back and too exhausted from heat and beating to even move her fingers.

"How's THAT for elemental damage, scrub! Job well done, partner," Pyra said, retaking her physical form, attempting to high five Terra who walked up to her.

"Job's not done yet. We still need to get back to the commander. Ms. Marequine, her host, and his other homestays are still in danger until we deal with the rest of the pursuers," Terra classified, as the stone armor crumbled apart from her body.

"Alright, fair enough. What do we do with them?" Pyra relented with a shrug, looking at the unconscious Oni and restrained Hornet.

"Hmm…I got it. I borrowed a couple of these from that Drei girl," Terra said, taking out two small green balls as Pyra raised a curious eyebrow.

A few minutes later, both the Oni and Hornet could be seen inside of a large stone tent bound to the walls, hands and feet, with sticky green goo. The Hornet still screeched violently at them while unable to move.

"Seriously, what is wrong with these guys? Why are they acting so feral compared to how we last saw them? Did the collars do this?"

"No, this is something else. Look at the black veins in their faces and arms, their dilated, their hyper aggressiveness and the way they're breathing…they're acting like those addicts we arrested," Terra said in realization.

"The ones doing Gluttony fang? Yeah, now that I think about it they are acting just like them, especially Bumblebee over here who keeps grinding her teeth at me."

"What did they DO to these girls!" Terra angrily expressed, clenching her fists hard.

"Terra?"

"That's it. We're catching up to them. And, if possible, taking down whoever drugged these two," Terra said, creating a stone door, partially sealing them inside and creating several air holes for the two inside, "They should be restrained enough to not hurt anyone or themselves. Let's go!"

Terra created two stone boots at her feet then started skating along the road at a decent speed.

"Right behind ya!" Pyra flew after her, both on their way to assist their friends.

…Present…

"TAKE THIS!" Ember screamed, slashing her red hot claws at both Zwei and Drei.

Zwei and Drei nimbly dodged her claws as both quickly moved around at high speeds. She tried to get a lock on them, becoming more frustrated and angrier by the second.

"Hold still, you stupid rats!" she yelled as she slashed in every direction, releasing powerful waves of heat with each slash.

"Rats? Come on. I get people mistaking us for cats, but RATS?! You're not even trying!" Zwei said while she and Drei dodged every hit. She then positioned herself in front of Ember and gave her a toothy smirk. Ember snarled, slashing at the cheeky weasel only for said weasel to somersault backwards. Ein used the distraction to appear behind her, scythes crossed over, forming an inverted 'T'.

"CAT-2 BREAK!"

A powerful shock wave ripped through the heated air towards the Salamander who reflectively blocked the attack with her molten hot claws, dispersing the energy from it much to Ein's shock. But she didn't relent and fired three consecutive shockwaves at her with Zwei joining, in firing a barrage of compressed air blades from the opposite side.

Ember slapped her tail against the ground, creating an explosion of fire as she backflipped out of the crossfire of both weasel attacks, both intercepting each other. She landed, skidding away, subsequently grabbing two fistfulls of loose gravel, gripping them tightly and superheating the stones.

"TAKE THIS!" Ember screamed, chucking the flurry of superheated stones at the weasels.

Ein quickly formed a veil of pressure around herself and charged forward, with Zwei right behind her, as any stones were deflected.

She made a dash as Ein and Zwei closed in. Ein went for a air pressure powered spin kick which Ember easily dodged but not the pressurized air blades that slashed into her knees, courtesy of Zwei.

Ember screamed, heated blood gushing from her knees as her legs trembled, trying to keep her standing, before Ein delivered a strong shockwave powered punch right into her abdomen, making her cough out.

"THIS. IS. FOR. DREI. YOU. BITCH!" Ein shouted, hitting Ember with five powerful strikes: stomach, chest, face, uppercut and kick to the chest combo, knocking her back.

"THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR ME!" Zwei yelled, zooming past the Salamander, slashing deep into her arm joints and cutting the tendons.

Ember cried out as her arms went slack while blood poured from her wound, boiling on her skin. Her legs wobbled, finding it difficult to stand from her injuries.

At the moment, Drei came in from above, spinning like a ball, brandishing her scythe which she had coated in her own improvised blend of deadly neurotoxin. She aimed at the nap of Ember's neck, ready to end her.

Ember sensed the attack from behind and, in a moment of sorrow and unbridled fury at all she had lost, she let it explode.

She roared as flames erupted from her like a volcano and generated a shockwave of intense heat. Drei, shielding herself from the heat, was sent flying and slammed her back against the door of a nearby digger.

"DREI!" Zwei exclaimed before Ein scooped her up, putting them both a good distance away from the heat radius.

Ember stood back to her feet, her wounds on her wrists and knees seered closed, as she glared at the pair with burning yellow eyes in a vicious and horrific visage of pure rage. It was as if the devil himself had stepped into the fight.

"YOU THINK THAT CHEAP TRICK WILL STOP ME!?" Ember bellowed at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing throughout the area as the stone around her slowly turned into molten lava.

Waves upon waves of flames from her tail and body were so hot that concrete and even steel bars were starting to melt from just her presence.

"Ow. OK, traditional tactics are a no go. Plan B it is then," Drei picked herself up, rubbing the back of her head and observing her opponent before looking around. Her eyes landed on a large water truck.

"YOU'RE ALL DEAD! THIS IS MY POWER: SIXTH LAYER OF HELL!" Ember roared as the intense heat waves spread out causing the air to gradually become less and less dense.

"This isn't good! At this rate she'll melt down this whole area. Plus, with all that molten rock around her, we won't be able to reach her for a killing blow!" Ein spoke, a sweat forming on her forehead and her breathing becoming laboured.

"Forget about a killing blow for now sis. The way this temperature is rising we'll get roasted alive! It's already getting way harder to breathe!" Zwei said, fanning herself and panting.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU VERMIN! YOU DESTROYED OUR HOME AND TORE APART THE FAMILY WE MADE TOGETHER! ONCE I KILL YOU BITCHES I WILL FIND THAT HUMAN AND CARVE EVERY NAME OF THE PEOPLE WE LOST INTO HIS FLESH BEFORE I KILL HIM TO BE AN EXAMPLE FOR ANY WHO EVEN DARES TO THINK TO EVER STAND IN OUR WAY AGAIN!"

The sisters, while feeling the heat, didn't truly notice it as something else took their attention in their minds. Ember's words had awakened a protective instinct in them; one they didn't quite understand but nonetheless took hold of it. No matter what, they collectively decided, this bitch died there.

Ember charged towards the Karmaitchi through the molten rock, yellow-hot claws bared.

The Zyklons quickly leaped upwards, generating a small whirlwind at their feet only, to their shock, for it to quickly petter out. They immediately fell back to the ground, landing on their feet.

Ember targeted Ein, rushing at her with a flurry of claw swipes and punches. Ein barely managed to dodge, as the intense heat of her attacks burned the fur of the Karmaitchi and made it unbearable to be in close proximity. Ein was forced on the defensive, trying to maintain her distance. She tried to defend by generating a pressurized air shield but it quickly dissipated much to her shock.

Ember threw a fierce punch, forcing the larger Karmaitchi to block with her scythes alone. The impact sent Ein flying back, slamming into a stack of metal pipes. She fell to her knees in agony. She tried to bare the searing pain from the intense heat traveling through her body but her attention was immediately interrupted as Ember slowly approached, her claws brandished and reptilian magma footprints forming with every step.

"Whirlwind-style: Buzzsaw!" Zwei leaped up, firing three blasts and high-velocity rotating compressessed air at the Salamander.

Ember gave her a deep scowl of irritation and, with a few swipes of her claws, instantly deflects all three blasts simultaneously, dispersing the pressure in each much to Zwei's surprise. The resulting dispersion sent a powerful heat wave at Zwei, forcing her to shield her face from its intensity.

'Dammit, not good! The heat is so intense it's making the air around less dense. It's too hard to breathe so we can't channel our Ki for techniques! She's like a walking inferno devouring all the oxygen around her. At this rate, we'll either die by her hands or suffer from heat suffocation!' Ein thought, standing to her feet with laboured breath.

"What's the matter? Can't take the heat? You little shits wouldn't survive a DAY where I come from! BUT DON'T WORRY, I'LL SEND YOU SOMEWHERE MUCH HOTTER!" Ember said with a satisfied grin before charging at Ein, arm extended like a spear while Ein crossed her arms to defend herself.

Zwei, through laboured breath from the heat, tried to quickly generate air pressure around her scythes but it petered out to her frustration and despair. Taking a chance, she sprinted towards the Salamander to protect her sister while shielding her face from the flames.

At that moment, a torrent of water struck the Salamander, knocking her away from Ein as steam billowed all around them. The magma rapidly cooled, forming even more steam

"WHAT?!" Ember gasped as the flames on her were mostly put out, once again changing her scales into a hideous black but her tail was still burning. It was then she saw through the steam, Drei standing atop a large water tanker truck holding a long gray hose with yellow bands, "YOU!"

"Thirsty, bitch?" Drei glared coldly before turning on the hose and blasting a torrent of water as the recoil knocked her back a little.

Ember sprinted away as Drei followed her path, trying to hit her while Zwei and Ein picked themselves up, relieved at the decrease in temperature and taking a deep breath, charging up their Ki.

Ember ducked inside a large concrete tube, panting as her tail burned brightly, illuminating the darkness inside. She clenched her fists refusing to be defeated by them and started concentrating all the fire from her tail.

"Looks like she's trying to hide now," Zwei remarked, levitating on a swirling cyclone of air and water vapor.

"Not a lot of good it'll do her. Let's do it Zwei! Combo Five!"

"Starting to think that goat girl had a point about the attack names but yeah!"

Drei, who had the hose pointed at the concrete tube that the Salamander had retreated into, kept her eyes on two possible exits, though she had the feeling that she wasn't going to use them to get out.

Ein and Zwei positioned themselves at both points of the concrete tube with their scythes crossed and raised as pressure built up around their arms.

"JET!" Ein shouted.

"STREAM!" Zwei followed.

"BREAKER!"

The concrete was quickly demolished. Half sliced to pieces by high velocity air blades, the other half reduced to dust by powerful shockwaves. The second the two met, they combined into a small but deadly tornado, destroying everything at its epicenter. Drei shut off the hose, sure the deed was done.

However…

A pillar of fire erupted out of the ground from the epicenter of their attack as all three were taken aback. Then, to their surprise, they notice a large, smoldering hole.

At that moment, the ground cracked beneath them, spewing out intensely hot flames.

"What the-?! She dug herself underground?!" Zwei shouted as she and Ein moved to avoid the flames as the cracks moved toward Drei and the water tanker.

"Fuck," Drei said as she dropped the hose and jumps away just as another pillar of fire went straight through the truck. It exploded in a ball of flames, sending parts flying everywhere while evaporating any trace of water.

Drei landed near her sisters then turned to face the enormous roaring flame, watching Ember climb out of the earth like a demon straight from hell.

Ember panted slightly then noticed the the Zyklons. She clenched her fists, squatting slightly, as her scales glowed brightly and her abs radiated yellow light and immense heat. It was at that moment Drei noticed the flames on her tail were no longer present.

"This isn't good! What's she doing?!" Ein asked.

"I don't know but we gotta get outta range while the air's still dense!" Zwei said, beginning to levitate upwards.

"Zwei, wait!" Ein said, realizing what was coming.

Ember's eyes turned a pure yellow fiery glow as she opened her mouth.

"TAKE COVER!" Drei warned.

Ember fired a beam of concentrated plasma that ripped through the ground towards them.

Ein grabbed Zwei, pulling her down and ducked behind a stack of bricks while Drei tucked in and rolled into a nearby dugout trench for cement.

The beam panned around, ripping through the entire area, vaporizing anything that came in contact and causing an explosion of a lot of equipment.

When the beam dissipated, Ember closed her mouth as the flame returned to her tail. She coughed furiously, clenching her throat at the excruciating pain she felt.

"Ack…gods. I hate using that technique, the strain…on my throat fucking sucks!" Ember painfully muttered, holding her throat. She then looked around, seeing the destruction around her and smirked widely, "Can't argue with results though. Looks like that finally put those vermin down, now I can focus on-" Ember said to herself as she turned to leave.

"Ergh.." came the voice of Drei, catching her attention.

Ember walked towards the sound of it and, to her irritation, as her eye twitched a little, she saw the smaller Zyklon attempting to move a small cement mixer off of her.

"Why…are you still ALIVE?!" Ember bellowed, clenching her fists then grabbed her throat in pain, coughing, "Damnit, still hurts. Ahem, fine. At least I can pay you back for that stunt you pulled on me and Hush," Ember said as she kneeled down and grabbed Drei by the throat, deliberately controlling the heat in her claws to not burn her as she threw the cement mixer away from them.

Meanwhile, Zwei could be seen surrounded by rubble, shaking Ein who had been knocked unconscious in the blasts.

"Come on, Ein. You gotta wake up," Zwei coughed as the intense heat shortened her breathing. She could then hear the sound of Ember and peered over the partially destroyed bricks. To her horror, she saw the Salamander holding Drei up by her neck as she struggled to get free.

"Honestly, if I wasn't in a hurry to clean up the mess you made. I would bring you back to Hush to let her finish what she started. I guess I will have to find her a gift as an apology," Ember smirked as her free claw radiated intense heat and stabbed Drei in her stomach. The weasel violently gagged, trying to cough up blood but found it difficult from Ember's choking.

"You say that your healing is broken? Let's test that and see how long it can keep you alive against this!" Ember remarked in amusement, ready to stab her in the skull next.

Zwei's eyes widen as her breathing becomes erratic, not from the heat, but from the anxiety of her little sister being killed in front of her. Her body was trembling, the rising temperature made it difficult to breath and control her Ki while her body was losing strength. She had to do something. Anything! She had think of something to stop her!

... Flashback...

'W-Wait!' a younger Zwei could be seen in a bamboo forest, leaping through the tall stalks after her target. As she was closing in, an object soared towards her and she reacted with lightning fast reflexes, dodging the projectile which turned out to be a small bamboo stalk.

Zwei grabbed hold of a larger bamboo tree, only for it to be sliced through at the trunk and fell down with her. She backflipped, landing on the ground as the tree fell with a loud crash.

"You're dead," spoke the chipper voice of Zwei's target in her native tongue, while pointing her dainty, but sharp blade at the back of her neck.

Zwei whipped around to face her, only for her opponent to vanish completely out of sight.

"Dead again," she giggled, reappearing behind Zwei with her wrist right beside her jugular vein; she only needed to extend her scythe.

Zwei leaped away, generating a gust of wind only to find her opponent had once again vanished. Not about to fall for the same trick, she whipped around again, in a defensive stance. And again, thinking she'd go for her backside.

She then felt a finger tap the top of her head. Zwei looked up to see her opponent, her mother, dangling upside down from a bending bamboo stalk, arm behind her head.

"Do I even need to tell you that you're dead for this one?" she playfully teased with a grin before extending her incredibly sharp scythe from her wrists then backflipping off the stalk. In a blink of an eye, she made a few dozen precise slashes on the stalks, reducing it to bite-sized pieces falling into a little pile. She gracefully lands on her feet with a cloth sack much to Zwei's astonishment.

She then turned to her daughter with a playful grin, then hold out the bag showing inside was a freshly caught pheasant and eggs , "Lunch break?"

The two could be seen around a small fire in the forest and a pot boiling the bamboo shoots and eggs while a small spit roasted the now cleaned and plucked pheasant. Her mother added ginseng and pepper, stirring them up.

"Now tell me what mistake you made that caused your death?"

"Facing you in game tag?" Zwei said, causing her mother to chuckle.

"Good answer in general but also, in this case, wrong answer. No, I was referring to your last one."

"Umm…I guess I thought you'd try the same trick so I wanted to be prepared for that so I didn't notice you coming from above?" Zwei answered with hesitation.

"Not quite but you have the right idea. Your mistake was that you let yourself be manipulated into doing what your opponent, aka me, wanted," her mother told her.

"Huh, but how?" Zwei, now confused, looked at her mother for an answer.

"I knew that if I got you from behind, you would become paranoid of getting attacked from there again. So, then you would take a more defensive position to protect your back no matter what and focus on that so much that you wouldn't think you'd get attacked from above. I gave you tunnel vision by creating a false perspective that made you play right into my hand."

Zwei pouted, "That is not fair. You trained me. Of course you would know how I would react."

"True, but that excuse won't really apply when you're out on your own on missions, Zwei. The enemy won't ever stop trying to get the upper hand so you should always be a few steps ahead. As the speedster of the trinity, our sisters and clan rely on our abilities, be it recon or quick kills…or running errands."

"In that case, why do I need to train my reflexes if I can just always keep my distance? I'm super fast, even by our standards. My enemies won't ever catch me!" Zwei boasted, puffing her chest out.

"What if they do catch you? What then?" her mother plainly inquired, stirring the bamboo shoots and turning the pheasant as Zwei frowned in thought. She picked up a shoot with a pair of chopsticks, "Not only that, what if you are pushed to a point where you have to face an enemy head on? Be it to save yourself or…someone you love."

Zwei looked down at the boiling pot in thought, letting the question sink in.

"Despite being blessed with great speed and expert precision, we suffer from poor physical defense and endurance. In that circumstance, we'd be much more vulnerable to physical attacks. One really bad hit and we're out," her mother emphasized, pressing her chopsticks on bamboo shoot, causing it to break in half.

"So, we're like the glass cannon of the trinity? That kinda sucks."

"Who taught you that term?"

"Baba."

"Figures. Anyway, yeah pretty much. However, that only means when we go to face an opponent, especially one far stronger than us physically, we have but one goal: Don't. Get. Hit. Obey that rule and you'll find you can topple opponents as powerful as a Ryu," her mother confidently said.

"A Ryu?! Solo? No way! Those guys are WAY too tough!"

"True, they may be incredibly tough but, just like anyone else, they're not invincible. You just need to turn that toughness against them, while holding to our goal," she told her daughter as she grabbed another shoot.

"How are you so sure?" Zwei picked up a bamboo with the chopsticks guiding it to her mouth, only for her mother to snatch it out of her chopsticks faster than she could react.

"Experience, sweety," her mother replied cheekily, waggling the bamboo around then putting it back in the boiling water, "Not done."

"Wait, did you fight a Ryu alone?!"

"Only once, and it was because I was careless on a mission and nearly got Mama Lin killed," her mother said in a listless tone as Zwei stared at her in surprise.

"D-Did she die?"

"Tragically, yes, but she LIVED!" she exclaimed, pointing her chopsticks up for dramatic effect, "And it was all thanks to a special technique I invented at that moment. One that could take down even the durable Ryu!"

"Special…technique? Cool! What's it called?! How does it work?!" Zwei excitedly asked, bouncing.

"One word, sweetheart: poison."

Young Zwei tilts her head, "Poison?"

"Poison," her mother nodded assuringly, "A special kind that only a speedster like us can use. I used it to take the Ryu down from the inside out!"

"Whoa. I wanna learn it!"

"You will when you're ready. Speaking of which…" her mother chuckled, picking up two small bowls, placing some freshly cooked eggs, pheasant drumsticks, and shoots in them. She handed it to Zwei, "Looks like lunch is ready!"

"Hmm…what if I can't learn it?" Zwei cautiously asked as her mother looked to her inquisitively,

"You can invent your own technique or, heck, create your own spin on mine."

"What if it's not as good as yours?" Zwei said, casting her gaze down only for her mother to lift her head up by the chin, giving a warm grin.

"Zwei, everything you do is good enough for me," she assured her daughter, "OK, eat up now. We'll get to training soon! Maybe I'll–"

"YŪ JIN! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN SAYING TO EIN!" cried out the irate voice of Ein's mother in the distance behind them.

Zwei turned to her mother, only to find she had completely vanished, along with the rest of the pheasant, leaving the now empty bowl on the ground. There was a note on the bowl that read: 'We'll pick things up later.'

She simply giggled to herself before enjoying the rest of the meal.

... Flashback end...

Zwei was unsure why that memory suddenly came to mind but, now, she felt a rush of resolve as she glared at the Salamander. She then noticed she could breathe better with her face lower to the ground.

Realizing that the heat was making the air rise, she crouched low to the ground and sharply inhaled. She felt the slightly cooler air filling her lungs and charging Ki within.

"Now, SAY GOODBY–" Ember shouted, ready to split Drei's skull open, only to be cut off when a flash of green zipped by her.

At that instant, the index claw she was going to stab Drei was sliced clean off.

"AHHHHHHHHH! MY FINGER!", Ember cried out, throwing Drei off to the side as she cradled her bleeding hand. Drei coughed on all fours while rubbing her throat before Zwei appeared, standing between her and the Salamander with scythes bared.

"Are you alright, sis?!"

"Ack, aside from nearly awakening something I was not prepared to address, fine," Drei responded.

Ember quickly cauterized the wound with her free claws, gritting her teeth at the pain then turning a furious gaze to Zwei.

"You…little FUCK. Can't wait your turn huh? Fine," Ember spoke, bearing her fangs as her claws, tail, and feet were engulfed with yellow flames.

"Sis, I got this. Get to Ein, she needs you," Zwei said, her eyes narrowed on the Salamander. Drei noticed that from her sister's tone and lack of references, jokes, or insults, that she was in dead serious mode. A rare occurrence, "Let me solo her."

Drei paused before shaking her head with a little smirk, "There it is."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just don't die," Drei said, running over to Ein's location.

"Cocky bitch! Think you can take me alone?!" Ember lunged for Zwei, shattering the ground beneath her in a burst of flame. Zwei crouched down, taking in a deep breath as her scythes faintly glowed with white energy. She vanished with blinding speed, surprising the Salamander before reappearing behind her.

As Ember pivoted around to slash Zwei, two deep cut wounds opened up on her right thigh, spraying blood onto the ground.

Ember screamed in pain then shot a glare at the Kamaitachi. She let out an infuriated roar as flames erupted from her tail, causing powerful heatwaves to bombard Zwei.

Zwei crossed her arms in a defensive stance while shielding her face from the heat. She inhaled deeply, focusing her energy.

Ember rushed at her with a flurry of claw swipes as Zwei skillfully dodged, each of her hits moving with the grace of a seasoned acrobat. Ember went for a fiery spin kick and then a lash from her flaming tail. Both of which Zwei evaded with an acrobatic flips, while just barely avoiding direct contact with the flames, she landed on the ground and took a deep breath.

She stood up and moved with blinding speed, slashing deep into the Salamander's upper torso and lower back, making her clench her jaws at the pain. She also started to feel an odd discomfort in her chest, yet still continued assault.

"You're pretty slow. Where's that fire you had before?" Zwei taunted, dodging each of of Ember's attacks then leaping high up, standing atop a slanted, partially melted steel beam.

"Oh, I'll show you FIRE!" Ember venomously spoke before slapping her tail against the ground, creating an explosion that rocketed her into the air. She tucked into a ball, rotating her body and creating a fiery wheel with her tail as she descended on the weasel girl.

Zwei leaped off the beam, dodging the attack as an explosion of flames and molten metal ripped a crater in the ground. Zwei shielded her face at the burst of heatwaves. Ember launched herself back at Zwei, yellow hot claws extended, prompting the weasel to curl to a ball, somersaulting backwards out of the way. The second Zwei was in range of the heat radius, she took a deep breath, focusing her Ki as the lava lizard landed on the ground, instantly reducing the rocks at her feet to magma.

"YOU'RE MINE, RODENT!" Ember rushed at her with bared claws. Suddenly, a sudden, sharp pain shot through her chest and she stopped, in her tracks coughing violently, the flames in her tail diminishing slightly, "What the hell?!"

Not letting up, Zwei vanished, appearing behind her opponent and prompting the Salamander to quickly protect the back of her neck. She vanished again, reappearing in front of her, much to the Salamander's shock.

"Wasn't aiming for the nape."

Blood splattered to the ground as Ember's abs were horizontally sliced.

"GAHHH! YOU FUCKING LITTLE SHIT WEASEL! YOU THINK THESE PAPER CUTS WILL AFFECT ME?!"

"Oh look, you finally called me a 'weasel'," Zwei remarked, standing just several feet out of her heat radius.

All the while, Drei observed from the sidelines. Her hands, pressed on Ein's head, were glowing with green energy.

'I see. The heatwaves interfere with our abilities so she's keeping her distance from the Salamander to charge her Ki before attacking. At least she's being cautious but still, if she can't land a fatal hit…' Drei thought to herself.

"I. AM. DONE WITH—" Ember shouted before coughing violently, her vision becoming blurred, chest burning in excruciating pain, flames on tail diminishing more, and her breathing becoming erratic. She coughed into her palm, shocked to see blood in her scaly claws.

"Well, looks like it's finally taking effect," Zwei spoke.

"W-What the HELL did you to me?!" Ember snarled, her throat burning.

"The poison," Zwei said, wiggling her finger.

"P-Poison?!"

Drei's eyes widen at the word as well, not remembering giving her any poisons. That's when it hit her, "It can't be. Mama Yu Jin's..."

"Haha, no! It's more interesting than that. Those cuts from earlier weren't meant to kill you. They were just to get the bubbles into your bloodstream, pure oxygen bubbles. All I had to do then was to get you moving, your blood circulating faster, and the oxygen concentration increasing," Zwei informed, with a taunting smirk, "You're dying from your own air bitch."

Ember gagged up more blood as it trickled through her claws. Her chest pain worsened as each breath she took felt like razor blades tearing up her insides.

She clenched her trembling hands, glaring at Zwei, "You…don't think you've won yet. I swear I'll kill you…all of you. I had a family, children, once…but I lost them because I was CARELESS! Satella…was the one who gave me and the others a greater purpose. We were…a family I never thought I'd have again! And you…BASTARD TOOK THAT AWAY!"

Zwei gave her a cold look and plainly asked, "So what?"

Ember's eyes widened in shock and rage.

"We've all got dead people. You're the only one who lost a spouse or children? What about the OTHER families that yours ruined? What about OURS?! If you were in our shoes, WOULD YOU ROLL OVER AND LET A GROUP OF MURDERERS KILL OUR FAMILY?!"

Ember fell to one knee with laboured breathing as every muscle twitched uncontrollably. The flames of her tail diminish even more and the temperature of the surrounding area gradually decreased. She knew her body was reaching its limits.

At the same time, Ein had regained consciousness thanks to Drei's healing.

"Ugh, Drei? What going on?! Where's–?!" Ein stated raising up, before noticing Drei was looking at their sister facing an injured looking Salamander alone.

"That means nothing coming from you…Karmaitchi. The amount of blood on your people's hands? The...years of suffering you put Hush's people through! You all deserve to burn in hell, you air-bending DEMONS!" Ember spat, the flames of her tail rising up again as she shakily stood up, "I don't care what it takes…none of you…ARE LEAVING HERE ALIVE!"

Ember clenched her fists and crouched down in a squatting position as flames erupted from every scale on her body and the center of her stomach radiated intense yellow light. Heatwaves bombarded the area, raising the temperature to unbearable levels and metal and stone burned red hot before melting. Zwei kept her distance as much as possible to avoid burns from exposure. She could see Ember charging up that same plasma beam as before but much more intense.

"Shit! How does she still have this much power?! Just die already!" Zwei said, shielding her face from the intense heat and crackling embers, "It's too hot! I can hardly breathe. I can't use my Ki to escape!"

"Goodbye," Ember whispered through clenched teeth, orange flames spewing from her mouth, eyes filled with determination.

With a mighty roar, she unleashed a devastating orangish-yellow beam of plasma at the panicking Karmaitchi. Her sisters looked on in horror.

"Zwei!" Ein shouted, eyes widened in pure shock as the light of the death beam filled the area. She was then taken aback, seeing a slender dark figure amidst the beam.

Zwei, while crouching on the ground, shielding herself and surprised she hadn't been vaporized yet, looked up to see a humanoid figure shielding her from the blast. Not only that, they appeared to be absorbing the energy completely. She eyes widened upon realizing it was the Ignis, Pyra.

"OH YEAH, BABY! THIS IS WHAT MAMA LIKES! FUCKIN' SCRUMPTIOUS!" Pyra manically shouted, physically grabbing the plasma with her hands. She then opened her mouth, sucking in all of Ember's plasma attack. She burped loudly, bellowing a puff of fire and rubbed her stomach, "Yummy!"

Ember's jaw dropped, unable to find the words to express her shock and demoralization. Her shoulders simply slumped down in defeat and her scales slowly darkened from the flames dimming.

Zwei, seizing the opportunity, inhaled deeply and vanished, zipping past her, slicing through Ember's windpipe. The Salamander gargled and gags, blood spilling from her wound as she clenched her neck. The increase in oxygen concentration also blurred her vision to the point of blindness and she began to suffocate.

"It's about time you shut up," Zwei said in a cold voice as the Salamander bled profusely, every muscle and her lungs burning painfully, "Oh, and I lied…"

Before Ember could turn around at her voice, a powerful blade of air cleaved right through the back of her neck, propelling her severed head upwards.

"I was aiming for the back of the neck," Zwei venomously spoke as the Salamander's head fell into a pile of molten metal, dissolving slowly as the body fell to the ground.

"Damn, weasel girl! Going full fatality huh?!" Pyra remarked, stepping up to the Kamaitachi,

"Not unlike you going full Kirby," Zwei replied, "Thanks for the save though."

"No prob, heck, I even got a free meal out of it!" Pyra laughed, rubbing her stomach.

"Hopefully you didn't fill up. We can't let these fires spread even more," Terra said approaching them.

"I'm on it! Hot diggity, seconds, baby!" Pyra stated levitating in the air, proceeding to inhale any fires she saw.

"Zwei!" Ein called, running up to her along with Drei.

"Hey guys! I soloed her!"

"Uhh, Pyra literally Kirbied that plasma blast for you," Terra pointed out.

"Mostly. Mostly soloed."

"I'm sorry, I don't think we met," Ein said, looking at the Rock Lizard with confusion.

"I'm Terra and the flying fire vacuum is Pyra. We're part of the Elements team. Nice to meet the reason several workers on this site were running terrified for their lives. Though, I guess you were too busy to notice," Terra pointed out, looking around at the destruction.

"Hey! It's not like we INTENDED this. There weren't any workers around as far as we could tell!" Ein said, slightly offended.

"Don't worry about it, WE made sure they were safe," Terra brushed off to Ein's annoyance.

"Fires are put out! Not as tasty after being left out a while but passable," Pyra said, rejoining the group, "What do you guys wanna do with the body? Leave it here among the collateral or…?"

They looked down at the headless cadaver of the Salamander.

"We'll deal with the consequences of our actions later! Right now, we have to get back to Ms. Marequine," Drei spoke, reminding them of their true mission.

The group proceeded out of the construction site, heading for Mirabelle and the others.

…. Meanwhile…

While all of that was happening, Lovelace and Marnie could be seen outside the van frantically searching for Mirabelle.

"No! How could this happen?! She was right here sitting in the back! We would've noticed her shuffling around, let alone getting out!" Lovelace said, pacing around and trying to make sense of things.

"She can't be too far and I doubt she'd want to be anywhere near that Salamander assassin. Still, I have no idea where she could be. Gods, first Ms. Fantina, now her? On top of that, no word from Nanaja or Voltaira!" Marnie replied, clenching her arm to her chest, deeply worried about the missing girls.

Lovelace grabbed her by the hand.

"Marnie, we can't fall apart now. We have to focus on finding Ms. Marequine. She can't be too far, so let's get her back first then take care of the others. Besides, I still have faith in our rowdy, tough-as-nails girls! Don't you?"

Marnie wiped her eyes, "Yes!"

"Right! Then let's–"

"DARLIIIIING!" cried out a familiar voice, catching their attention. Lovelace and Marnie looked to see a black van approaching and their Dark Mage teammate hanging out the back window, waving at them, "We found you!"

Caleb blowed the horn, signalling to them as well.

"Jill!" Marnie happily greeted as the vehicle slowed down before coming to a stop, parking just along the curb.

Jill flung open the door as she rushed up to her commander and teammate while Caleb and the others quickly got out as well.

"Moonpie!" Caleb said, rushing up to the other van.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Darling! Those mean old monsters didn't hurt you did they?" Jill said in a cutesy voice, pressing herself wantingly against him, mushing her breast to his chest. Marnie looked over her shoulder with a displeased scowl.

"It'll take more than a few maggots to bring me down! I'm a man of strength and passion!" he heartily stated.

"Ooh, guess that makes me soft and wet, then? Hmm? OOF!" Jill huskily spoke before Marnie mushed her face away, trying to shove the overly affectionate, Dark Mage off of him.

"Stop STEALING my lines, Jill! And what did we talk about boundaries?"

"Thaaat they were meant to be crossed? Otherwise, why have them?"

"No, that is the EXACT opposite of what we discussed!" Marnie spoke in annoyance, shoving her off then hugging Lovelace's arm, shooting a glare at Jill who shrugged.

"Anyway, glad you guys are alright! Where are the others though?"

"Terra and Pyra are… occupied and we haven't heard from Nanaja or Voltaira. Staying positive though, no point worrying right now. We still have a job to finish," Lovelace said to her, looking at Caleb as he and his homestays frantically searched around for their friend.

"Where is Señorita?" Camilla asked, looking around.

"She was in here! Her scent is all inside but…for some reason it stops at the edge. I can't smell her trail from the outside," Lyca said, gesturing to the vehicle's outside edge.

"Moonpie?! Where is she?" Caleb inquired to the lead agent.

"You must be Caleb Beazell? Pleasure to finally mee–" Lovelace extended his hand only for Caleb to slap it away. Marnie and Jill shot a glare at the younger, dark skinned human.

"Don't gimme that shit! WHERE is Mirabelle?!"

"Ju said she was here!" Camilla added, getting up in his face.

"Hey, back up, calm down and let us explain!" Marnie said, stepping up to the slightly taller Elder Devil who glared back.

"Explain what?" Caleb said, looking to them expectantly.

"Well, not point sugarcoating, we lost track of her. We were attacked earlier by Malones liminals THEN Komanda Monstra assassins and after that she was just gone!"

Caleb took a moment to process, "Gone? WHAT DO YOU MEAN GONE?! YOU JUST HAD HER!" he shouted, grabbing the agent by the collar.

"Hey, Chief, wait, I–"

In a swift motion, Lovelace broke Caleb's hold, twisting his arm and pushing down on a pressure point on the back of his neck, forcing the young man down. Caleb grunted in pain as he was forced down on one knee, trying to break the hold.

"Son. Imma need you to CALM down now. We're not the enemy here. We're trying to help but ONLY if you stop and think for a minute."

"STOP IT!" Lyca shouted, fangs bared.

"Get off of him! I won't have you ju harm him!" Camilla stated, her protective instincts taking over, prompting Marnie and Jill to block her path.

"He isn't. He's just bringing him back to his senses," Marnie with a steely gaze, as the Elder Devil stared back, seeing how empty yet calm her eyes felt.

Caleb clenched his teethm breathing sharply then calmed himself. He then begrudgingly said, "Alright! Alright! Damn! I'm calm!"

Lovelace released his hold as Caleb stumbled on all fours to the ground.

"Good. I understand your frustration but don't go swinging on the hands that are TRYING to help you! You young bloods are too flip and fast!" Lovelace berated him.

Caleb clenched his fists on the hard ground and grit his teeth, "Goddammit! I'm so tired of this shit! Every time we get close there's SOMETHIN' else! I just wanna see her!"

Camilla and Lyca understood his frustration, as did Loveslace and his teammates.

"If that's the case..." Lovelace spoke, stepping up to Caleb and kneeling on one knee, "Then get up and do it! You came this far just to give up now?! 'Tired' shouldn't even be in your vocab if you're willing to go through this for her! If you have a goal you're trying to reach, GET UP AND MOVE!"

"But we don't even know where she is! She could be anywhere by now!"

"Do you have faith, young man?" Lovelace asked rather demandingly.

"What?"

"I said, 'Do you have faith'?!"

"I…I'm agnostic! What does THAT have to do with anything?!" Caleb said, not following his reasoning.

"Well that's too bad because, like it or not, actions are a byproduct of faith and vice versa. It's the reason you, your girls, and my team and I are out here fighting with ya!" Lovelace fervently stated, slapping a hand on Caleb's shoulder, "We'll save her! Have faith in that and salvation WILL come to you! Stand up!"

Caleb pondered his words raised to his feet as Camilla stepped past Jill and Marnie.

"I'm OK. I'm good," Caleb assured the Elder Devil.

A small breeze suddenly blew by, out of seemingly nowhere. Lyca's nose twitched, catching a small hint of a familiar.

"Wait! I…I smell her! I GOT MIRA'S SCENT!" Lyca shouted as she quickly tried to get hold of what direction her scent was coming from.

"Wait, how could her scent be here? She didn't take a step out of the van before she disappeared?" Marnie questioned as others thought when it hit Caleb.

"The wind!" he yelled catching everyone's attention as he continued, "Lyca only got her scent after that weak breeze of wind happened which means that she can't be that far from here and she has to be somewhere elevated for her scent to carry on wind like that," Caleb explained as others were getting what he was saying with Lovelace speaking up.

"So, if we combine that information with your Werewolf homestay telling us what direction the scent came from and getting a bird's eye view from your Devil homestay we could pinpoint her location. If you two don't mind lending us your help for a little bit longer?" Lovelace asked Lyca and Camilla.

"Heyyy, I can help too, y'know, Darling," Jill pouted at him, arms folded and cheeks puffed cutely.

"I know you can and it isn't that I doubted you couldn't do that as well," Lovelace said as he turned to her, "But we're probably heading into a hornets' nest, so we're gonna need every bit of power we have to spare if we're gonna save Ms. Marequine and put down the ones who took her. You're key to this mission."

Jill blushed slightly then give a mischievous smirk, "Well, you make a good point. As you wish, Commander Darling."

"And you can count on me and my nose!" Lyca confidently stated, raising her fist in the air.

"Just so we are clear, I am ONLY doing it for Señor and Señorita Mirabelle. I obey NO man's orders," Camilla asserted sternly, glaring at the agent.

"Regardless, appreciate you, ma'am," Lovelace politely said, offering his hand.

"Hmph, let us hurry, Señor. Señorita Lyca,' Camilla scoffed, dismissively turning away, focusing on Caleb and Lyca.

"There's no need to be so rude, ma'am! We're all in this together, fighting for the same thing!" Marnie chastised, not liking the Elder Devil's attitude.

Camilla looked over her shoulder at the Undine who glared back. Caleb then stepped in between them,

"Listen, don't take what she says to heart, alright? She is helping, that's what matters! We have to get going RIGHT now!" he urged.

"He's right, Mar. We gotta get a move on while the sun's still out," Lovelace added, gently touching her shoulder.

"No, not until she says we're a team. I don't work with anyone I can't trust. You know this," Marnie demanded much to his, Camilla's, and the others' shock.

"Are you fucking…" Caleb sighed then looked to Camilla, "OK…Camilla, please."

Camilla looked to him then back at the awaiting Undine, who wore a stern gaze like a mother demanding a child's apology. Swallowing her pride, she turned to Marnie and Lovelace.

"We are a team. Are ju satisfied?"

Marnie's stern expression softened into a warm smile, "Yes."

"Alright! Let's get to it! Move! Move! Move! Mr. Bazzell, you're with Marnie and me!" Lovelace urged the others to go to his vehicle.

"Aight, and it's BIZZELL!" Caleb emphasized in slight irritation.

As they scrambled to take their positions, a few miles away, several of Ivan and Boris' black vehicles could be seen travelling down the road.

….While all of THAT was happening…

"So, this is the creature that has been causing so much trouble for my organization," Mama Rosé, spoke glaring at Mirabelle who couldn't help but tremble. Several more of Rosé's men stepped through the portal. In only a few seconds, Mirabelle was surrounded by Russian gangsters in black and red suits. A red slime girl taking humanoid form next to Mama Rosé folded her arms.

"Well technically, it was her host Mr. dark and chubby, that has been cockblocking your operations. But given her abilities and their relationship with each other..." Acula said as she walked up behind Mirabella before she suddenly jumped on her back, startling her as she grabbed at her breasts from behind. "I think she will be perfect for paying back that debt he RACKED up with you. Get it? Rack! Hahaha!"

"N-No! Stop it! Get off me!" Mirabelle cried out, too stunned to do anything as the Gazer squeezed her breasts roughly while tugging at her shirt.

"Come on, little Centaur. You may as well get used to me since we're gonna be seeing way more of each other soon," Acula teasingly spoke before hooking her fingers at the buttons of her shirt. A few of her tentacle eyes snaked around, looking at her from different angles and freaking Mirabelle out even more, "Why not give Rosie's boys a little glimpse of what you got, huh?"

Mirabelle's eyes widened in shock at hearing that as some of Rosé's men snickered at the comment, enjoying the little show.

Fantina looked away, biting her tongue in disgust at the scene.

"P-Please…stop!" Mirabelle uttered, clenching her eyes, feeling the Gazer's fingers snake into her bra.

"Are you done?!" Fantina shouted.

"Ohh? Did I upset the goat Loli? Craving a little attention from the boys too?" Acula smiled widely as two of her eye tentacles focused on Fantina, writhing around like oily black snakes.

"No. I just didn't go through the trouble of trying to get her here JUST for you to get your kicks off, you red eyed freak!" Fantina asserted.

Acula shot her a nasty glare, her large eye glowing bright red, "Ha! That's funny coming from you! So funny…I could just blow your head off."

"Enough!" Mama Rosé stated, her voice making some of her men straighten up and Krasni ready herself. She then shot a warning glare as Krasni stepped up to the Gazer from the side, "Get off my merchandise, Acula."

Acula ceased her groping, giving an indifferent look before shrugging and levitating off the Nightmare prompting Mirabelle to hold her chest tightly, trembling and feeling humiliated.

"OK, OK, just hazing the newbie," she said, smirking wickedly at the Baphomet.

"I have no time for 'hazing'. I am simply here to claim my property," Mama Rosé stepped up to Mirabelle, looming over her, "She's quite the rare specimen. From what I understand, there aren't any other Centaurs like her in ICEP's program. I can only imagine how much she'd be worth on our overseas market. But I have more…lucrative ways to make use of her…special power. Soon, we'll reclaim our organization's former glory and more!"

"Haha! I love a woman with ambition and big dick energy!" Acula laughed, clapping her hands.

Mirabelle gripped her shoulders, feeling as though walls were being closed in around her. There was no escape. This was her life now.

"That's great, now can we please just move it along, it's already getting dark? Besides, today's been a literal pain," Fantina urged.

"Hmph, I suppose you're right. Take the Nightmare through. And contact my son and his team at Komanda Monstra base," Mama Rosé commanded.

"Right!" the men stated in unison before three of them approached the Centaur.

"Get up," one man ordered while taking out a black pistol, cocking it once as Mirabelle trembled in fear, still kneeling on the ground. He then moved it towards her head, "Get up! NOW!"

Mirabelle visibly jumped, tears forming in her eyes, as she slowly stood up, her gaze fixed to the ground.

"Move!" another shouted at her, as she flinched again, gripping the hem on her cloak with tears rolling down her face

"I hate you, Fantina," Mirabelle muttered as the others looked to her curiously.

Fantina turned to her in surprise, "What?"

"I said…I hate you! I thought there was at least a SLIVER of good in you. That's why Drei healed you and kept your identity from Lovelace. I thought, maybe, she saw something in you that I can't see with my powers right now. I wanted to believe it…but we were wrong. You're no better than THESE people or Komanda Monstra! I'll never see the man I love again because of people like you! You're a monsters! All of you! I HATE all of you!" Mirabelle shouted in despair and anger, tears falling, her eyes glowing brightly for a moment as the tiny crack on the collar propagated a little more.

Fantina was taken aback, not even sure how to respond. It had been a long time since she had felt guilt like this. All the other times she'd assisted in sending liminals to meet a grisly and terrible fate at the hands of this organization, why…did it hurt so much now?

Mama Rosé then started lowly chuckling before going into a full hysterical fit, quickly joined by the rest of her men and Acula. Krasni simply mimicked the laughing gestures, not actually knowing how to produce the laughing sound.

"Hohoho! Well, it seems she does have a mouth after all!" Mama Rosé spoke before looking Mirabelle in the eyes, "It does not matter how you feel. I am a businesswoman and you, like all the others, are the new commodity of this world. Like it or not, this world of Monsters and Men…is STILL run by capitalists."

"She's right, you either look out for own skin or you get a tag stuck to it now days and for you, that horse ass of your is going to get branded and let's be honest this was going happen one way or another. You would have ended up with us and I wouldn't be surprised if your host gave you to us, trying save his own skin," Acula added, giving Mirabelle a smug look as more anger flooded her mind.

"That's enough!" Fantina stated, having had enough of the conversation, "She gets it, alright? Let's just go already."

"Heh, guess we can't say anything without hurting your feelings too, Pedo goat and that dry pussy of yours."

"SHUT U–"

Suddenly, Fantina was interrupted by the sound of police sirens and three squad cars and a MON van pulls up on the scene. Out stepped a large male German shepherd type Kobold and a male ICEP agent in black.

"FREEZE!" shouted one of the officers as he and the others pointed their guns at the gangsters. Mama Rosé and her crew, Fantina, Mirabelle, and Acula gave shocked looks.

"What?! COPS?!" one of the Malones stated.

Mama Rosé scowled at the officers as Krasni placed herself in front of the old woman protectively.

"Lay down your weapons and get down on the ground!"

"Der'mo [shit]! How on earth did they find us in this place!?" Mama Rosé demanded, then looked to Acula, "And you! Why didn't you warn us they were nearby?!"

'Damn, I knew I shouldn't have focused too much on those Karmaitchi and Salamander fighting,' Acula thought, cursing her own carelessness.

"ANSWER ME!"

"I don't have INFINITE eyes! I can only use one Eye Spy at a time! Sometimes things are bound to slip though!" Acula yelled.

"Hutch, these are the guys?" the ICEP agent inquired to his partner.

"Yeah, Turner, I tracked the scent from that strange black liquid found at the motel off M&M road. Looks like we found the culprits causing all this chaos around the city," the Doberman Kobold said in a gruff voice, removing his sunglasses.

Everyone, except Mirabelle, glared daggers at Acula, as black liquid dripped from her tentacles.

"Oh, pardon my anatomy!" Acula scoffed.

"HELP! HELP ME PLE–" Mirabelle shouted before Acula levitated up, smothering her mouth as she tried to shake her off.

"One word, princess, and I make more holes in you than these boys know what to do with," she aggressively threatened in her ear.

"I advise you lot to make this easy on yourselves! Release that strangely colored Centaur woman right now," the male agent stated, pulling out his sidearm and his partner dawned a pair of brass knuckles.

"Fools," Mama Rosé muttered to herself before looking to Acula, "Clean up your mess!" She then turned to Fantina, "And you, hurry up and get this purple beast through the portal now!"

Acula shrugged, "Ha, no rest for the wicked, I guess."

"HEY! This is your last warning! Get down on the ground or–"

"Shaddup!" Acula cut him off, firing a powerful red energy beam from her large eye.

"TURNER!" the Doberman Kobold shouted, tackling his partner out of the way at the last millisecond as the beam cut through one of the police cars, causing it to explode. Acula fired her beams, cutting through the street itself and the other cars, making them explode, killing several officers. All with a sadistic smirk on her face. Many officers were sent flying to and fro as whoever survived scrambled for any cover.

In retaliation, the remaining officers proceeded to open fire on Mama Rosé and her goons. A few of her goons cried out as they were hit as the others returned fire on the cops while taking cover. Mama Rosé took cover behind Krasni who reshaped her body, making herself wider, shielding her master from any bullet, stopping them with her gooey body.

Fantina put up a barrier around herself, the few Malone men near her and the trembling Mirabelle, who was hyperventilating from stress she was under as more small cracks formed on her collar.

"MOVE!" yelled one of the goons, slapping the Centaur's back hard, making her cry out.

At that moment, an officer took aim, firing a round at the goon, hitting him through the skull. His blood splattered the ground as his body dropped in front of Mirabelle, who let out a horrified scream.

"Ublyudki! Umeret'! [Bastards! Die!]," one of the goons angrily shouted as he and the rest fired back at the officers, using the nearby storage crates as cover.

"Protect Mama Rosé!" another goon shouted, shooting at an officer trying to flee from the energy beams.

"HEY, watch your fire, remember there is a hostage up there!" the MON agent shouted at the officers.

"Come on! Get moving!" Fantina urged Mirabelle, who was too afraid to move at this point.

"Why isn't the beast in the portal yet?!" Mama Rose yelled.

"I'm TRYING!" Fantina snapped, pushing against Mirabelle's side, debating if she should try picking her up at this point despite the risk it presented.

"Are you so incompetent that you can't move a stupid horse few feet!" Rosé screamed as Fantina shot her a glare but just bit her tongue and focused on moving Mirabella.

"This ain't good! The assailants are trying to force that Centaur through some kinda portal!" the Doberman Kobold stated, still hiding for cover with his partner as red beams and wickedly playful laughter ripped through the area.

"Looks like we need to act now. You go high, I'll go low! Ready?" his partner said as he reloaded his gun.

"Hell yeah, baby! Let's do it!" Hutch fist-bumped the agent.

Immediately, the Doberman Kobold took off from his spot, dodging the beams path then scooped up a couple fistfulls of loose red soil from the roadside. All while his partner discreetly made his way behind Fantina and the others.

"Ahahaha. Run little bunnies! Run! Hahaha! I always forget how awesome I am. Dummy thicc AND deadly!" Acula laughed, shaking her hips flauntingly while levitating.

"Or maybe you're just a DUMMY!" Hutch retorted, getting her attention.

"I'd watch that tongue if I were you, mutt, before you get neutered the hard but fun way," Acula threatened, pointing four of her eye tentacles towards him as they glowed bright red.

"We'll see about that!"

The Doberman Kobold sprinted right for her at top speed, fists clenched.

"Eh, your funeral," Acula shrugged, shaking her head, facing him with all her eyes pointed at him, glowing red with menacing energy.

He leaped up at her and, right as she was about to vaporize him, he flung a cloud of red dust into her eyes, blinding her and stopping the attack.

"GAHHH! MY EYES! MY AHHHHHH!" Acula cried out in pain, clenching all her eyes shut before the Doberman grabbed her by the legs, slamming her into the ground hard. He then delivered a hard punch into her gut for good measure, making her gag.

"How's it feel to be defeated by dirt?" the Doberman quipped as the Gazer cradled her stomach.

Fantina, Mama Rosé and the others had seen what happened to Acula and immediately felt a rush of urgency.

"Bah! Useless! I am done with these games!" Mama Rosé stated before pulling out a long barrel revolver, pressing the metal barrel right at Mirabelle's head as her eyes widened at the sensation, "Walk!"

Mirabelle's heart raced at a hundred miles a second and her breathing turned erratic with every gulp of air, feeling as though tiny blades were ripping into her lungs.

At that moment, an object flew towards the group, first noticed by Krasni who immediately shielded Rosé.

It exploded into a thick cloud of white smoke, obscuring their vision.

"What now?!" coughed one of the goons.

Fantina's ears perked up catching the sound of something quickly approaching her from behind, tightening her grip on her scythe. She swiped at whatever was behind her, knocking away two tranquilizer darts.

Not letting up, the agent pulled out a small tazer gun and fired it. Fantina attempted to knock it away again but the conductors caught onto the metal blade and sent a strong electric shock through it and into her hands. Fantina let out a cry, dropping her scythe and inadvertently dispelling the barrier and the portal much to Rosé's irritation. The Baphomet tried to reach out and grab it but the scythe was kicked away towards the warehouse building by the Doberman.

"Don't even think about it!" he barked, taking out a large black revolver, cocking the trigger back.

"Give up! There's no escape! Reinforcements are already on the way!" his partner stated, "Release the Centaur!"

"FUCK you and your reinforcements! Krasni! Defend!" Mama Rosé shouted, prompting the slime girl to face the agents, whipping out her red tendrils and smothering their trigger hands in slimes.

The two cried out in pain as the tendrils started dissolving their trigger hands and their guns. It was an unbelievable burning sensation like acid that peeled off their skin, threatening to strip their hands to the bone.

Rosé pointed her gun at the human agent, taking aim as Mirabelle frantically looked around panicking at the chaos around her and Fantina retrieved her scythe.

Agent Turner quickly removed an object from his belt. It was a grenade, which he hastily pulled the pin out of with his teeth, startling Mama Rosé.

"COVER YOUR EARS, MA'AM!" he warned Mirabelle, who hastily complied, before tossing the grenade right into the slime girl' head, lodging it in, much to Krasni's confusion. The grenade exploded with a bright flash and a deafening bang as the slime girl's body was blown apart completely, spraying red slime everywhere. The shock of the explosion sent everyone flying and tumbling to the ground. Mirabelle, who covered her ears in time, while shook, remained cognitive of her surroundings enough to stand. Red goo was splattered all over the ground, even parts of her clothes. Fantina, the agents, and Rosé were sprawled on the ground, their ears ringing, trying to regain their bearings.

"Mama Rosé!" one of the goons shouted, seeing the old woman on the ground.

Mirabelle, seizing the opportunity, made a break for it, clopping through the dirt-covered entryway before galloping down the street.

"Agh…" Turner groaned starting to pull himself together. He winced at the pain in his hand, seeing the skin partially disintegrated with hideous patches of exposed undertissue, "Hutch! You alright?"

"Yeah…soon as the ringing stops. FUCK! My hand!" he winced at the pain of seeing his hand in a similar state where even the fur had melted off. He then noticed the red goo under him moving on its own.

All the bits of red slime had begun accumulating together into a growing red mass of goo that quickly reshaped into Krasni's form. She ran over to Mama Rosé, kneeling by her side.

"Rosé…Rosé…" the slime girl spoke in a worried voice, helping the old woman sit up.

"I…I'm fine, Krasni," Rosé assured the red slime then noticed Mirabelle galloping away. "The Nightmare, she's escaping! After her!" Mama Rosé yelled as she struggled to get back on her feet with the help of Krasni.

The remaining goons slowly got up, following her orders only to hear more police sirens and see another MON van, more police cruisers, and three armored Swat vehicles in the distance heading down the road.

"Wowww, is all THAT for us? Must be my BIRTHDAY!" said Acula, who had finally cleared the dust from her eyes.

"Tch, Krasni! Armor!" Mama Rosé commanded the slime girl who nodded understandingly before reshaping her body in a large blanket-like form that covered Rosé's entire body, save for her face, shaping into a rippling, red mass of dense goo armor.

Mama Rosé examined herself then clenched her fists inside the goo armor, forming a large fist made of pressurized goo. Fantina, Acula, and the two agents look at her in surprise.

"Dammit!" Hutch said as he pulled out his backup revolver and, with a furious cry, shot five rounds at the old woman. She stood completely unfazed, much to the Doberman Kobold's shock, "What the-?!"

The bullets were stopped inside the layer of slime before they could touch Rosé's body. She tapped her chest, causing the goo to ripple then gave the agent a cocky grin. She made a finger gun with her hand.

The bullets launched out the goo finger at high velocity, piercing through the Kobold man's skull multiple times. His partner's jaw dropped in horror as he fell to the ground, dead.

"HUTCH! AGH!" Agent Turner yelled before Rosé, moving with great speed, grabbed his face and smothered it in her slime hand. His muffled screams could be heard as the acid melted away the skin and hair from his head. He flailed around, trying to get free as Rosé gave him a cold unflinching glare before crushing his head into a paste. The blood was quickly absorbed into the slime like a sponge, nourishing Krasni.

"Damn…well, aren't you a mighty morphin monstrosity?" Acula said.

Rosé then turned to Fantina, directing her glare at her before speaking.

"You have ten minutes."

"W-what?" was all Fantina could say.

"That's how long I'm giving you to get the Nightmare back here, and if you aren't back with her by then you can consider our partnership over and I will start settling your debt another way. Those witches of yours may be worth something besides being a pedophile's toys and if not, they can at least be test subjects."

Fantina's eyes widened in shock and frustration before grabbing her scythe, "Dammit!"

At that, Fantina's body radiated a red aura before levitating in the air and riding her scythe like a witch's broom.

"Hope you have better luck finding her then you do a man," Acula yelled to Fantina as she left their sight in the direction the Nightmare went, turning back around only to see Rosé glaring at her now.

"Acula, didn't I tell you to clean up your mess? Or must I clean it up and ensure that this kind mess NEVER happens again?" she threatened as her armor vibrated again.

"Alright, I hear you, don't worry. I'll take care of it," Acula said as she levitated toward where the vehicles were coming from. All of her eyes glowed a menacing red as crimson sparks of energy pulsated around her, "Optic…CANNON!"

A huge beam, formed from the concentration of all her eyes, of red energy fired towards the vehicles, blowing many of them apart as fiery explosions erupted in the distance, accompanied by Acula's manic laughter.

…Elsewhere…

Caleb, Lovelace and the others could be seen traveling down the road with Lyca running on all fours, tracking the scent. Camilla and Jill were flying above them, also following along while keeping an eye out for anything strange.

"Chief! Her scent is getting stronger! She's close!" Lyca said looking behind while running.

"Fantastic! Watch where you're going, though!" Caleb said from inside the back of the van.

"Anything up there, Jill?" Lovelace inquired speaking into his ear piece.

"Nothing yet. Keeping our eyes peeled," she answered.

Lyca sniffed the air then took a right on a two-way road and gestured at the others to follow after her. They did as instructed, traveling back on Mice and Men road. Sirens could be heard in the distance, catching their attention.

"What the hell could that be?" Lovelace spoke.

"Given today's events, it has something to do with us," Marnie plainly replied.

"Meaning there's good chance Mirabelle isn't far from it," Caleb said, feeling more uneasy by the second. If they harmed even one hair on her head, so help him!

"Well, it's alright because WE'RE on our way and if those sirens are telling enough we just got even more backup," Lovelace encouraged.

"I guess that's true. Still…" Caleb clenched his fists, his eye glowing purple for a moment as purple energy pulsated like electricity from his arm before quickly dissipating. He didn't know when it actually started, but he could feel his powers fading. They needed to get to her soon.

Above, Camilla caught a glimpse of something moving in the distance down the road intersecting their own. She focused her gaze, seeing a familiar purple Centaur galloping down the road.

"Señorita? SEÑORITA! I SEE HER!"

"Where is she? How far is she from us?" Jill asked, turning on her communication piece.

"She is running down the street cutting through ours! About five miles from here!"

"Darling we have eyes on Ms Marequine! She is currently five miles from us heading East! There is an street that intersects with ours. If we can beat her there, we could regroup and get her and others to safety," Jill relayed to her commander.

"Roger, keep your eyes on her," Lovelace said before turning to Caleb. "Alright, we have eyes on Ms. Marequine and know where she is headed."

"Yes! Come on, let's hurry," Caleb urged.

At that moment, Camilla noticed what appeared to be a red car speeding down the street towards Mirabelle. A feeling of dread overcame her when she could make out a figure getting atop the roof of the vehicle.

"Hey! You see that red car too, right?!" Jill said with a look of worry to which Camilla nodded, already knowing what was about to go down. Jill tapped her communication device, "Darling! We've got hostiles on her route! We're pushing ahead!"

"What?! OK, but BOTH of you be careful! Hold them off until we arrive, use lethal force as necessary," Lovelace said.

"Understood!" Jill said, giving him a little salute before speeding up ahead on her staff as Camilla's mana flared brightly, making her fly faster as well.

"God, don't tell me. Something ELSE happened!?" Caleb said in a dreadful tone as Marnie gave him a sympathetic look, "Fuuuck!"

Lyca looked up, seeing Camilla and Jill flying ahead of them. She slowed her stride a bit, running alongside Lovelace's vehicle.

"Hey! Why are Cami and Hat Lady going ahead of us?! Did they see Mira?!" Lyca asked.

"Yes, but it looks like the enemy might have found her too. We're gonna extract her while they subdue them so keep leading the way, miss!"

"Right!" Lyca stated before lunging on all fours, pulling ahead of them at great speed and getting some distance from them.

"Wow, she's fast," Marnie commented in awe.

"Exactly what we need in times like these," Lovelace replied.

As Caleb's heart raced, he subconsciously started imagining every horrible thing that could possibly go wrong.

He was proven right when he noticed through the opening of the van where the door used to be, a black vehicle came speeding up behind before rear-ending their vehicle. Caleb slammed against the wall of the vehicle from the impact and fell to the floor as it swerved out of control. Ahead, Lyca, who heard the sudden noise, turned around, shocked by what she saw.

"CHIEF!" Lyca shouted, running back to the vehicle.

"GAHH!"

"JESUS CHRIST!"

Lovelace could see in his rearview mirror that it was the Malones from earlier. One of them hung out the passenger window, brandishing a gun.

"DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?! AHAHAHA!" Boris chortled before unloading a clip on their vehicle, aiming for the tires.

"DUCK YOUR HEADS!" Lovelace commanded as he, Marnie and Caleb covered their heads. The bullet pierced through the metal, whizzing by. One of the tires in the back blew out as shreds of rubber littered the road and sparks flew from the axle.

"BORIS! Stop! The Nightmare!" Ivan shouted, irritated at the man's carelessness.

"A few injuries won't hurt? We just need it alive, not unharmed!"

"At this rate it'll be DEAD before we get it to Mama Rosé!" Ivan berated.

"Dead or alive, they're all worth something!" Boris retorted before stepping his foot on the gas.

The black Mercedes rammed into Lovelace's vehicle again, sending their vehicle into a tailspin, tires screeching against the asphalt as they skidded towards a deep roadside concrete ditch.

In the back, Caleb struggled to maintain his position as the remaining door was flung open, giving him a better view of the outside.

"Darling! We're gonna tip over into the ditch!" Marnie warned as Lovelace tried in vain to get some semblance of control.

"Dammit! I can't control it! Brace yourselves!"

Hearing this, Caleb acted fast, picking a distant landmark from what he could see outside. He quickly slided open the tiny window to the driver seat and thrusted his arm through, grabbing Lovelace's shoulder, to the agent's surprise.

"GRAB HER HAND! TRUST ME!" Caleb ordered before the agent did as told. He concentrated, purple energy rippling around his body and teleported all three of them out of the vehicle.

The vehicle flipped over a few times, landing upside-down in the concrete ditch with a loud crash.

Lyca stopped in her tracks with a horrified look, "CHIIIEF!"

At that moment, a sharp whistling sound caught her attention and she looked to see Lovelace, Marnie, and Caleb hiding behind an abandoned truck left on the roadside. She smiled widely, glad they were alright. The agent put his finger to his lips and gestures to her to come to him, which she obeyed while making sure the enemy didn't notice her.

When she did she practically tackled Caleb to the ground, nuzzling her head against his chest with a few tears escaping her eyes as Caleb gently pet her to help calm her down as they heard voices.

"Idiot! Didn't you hear a word I said?! Now you probably killed the Nightmare! Mama Rosé needed it alive!" Ivan screamed at Boris as their vehicles came to stop right before the ditch.

"Like I said before, I'm sure its body will still be worth something to the right buyer. I can even think of few who would be interested in a unique Centaur corpse with the right adjustments made to it, especially if it's female," Boris said with a straight face, "Besides, take a look, if it WERE in there we would have seen a trace of it by now."

"Radi Boga [For God's sake], there is something wrong with you. But, you are right. I don't see a trace of her. In fact, where's the driver?"

As they argued, one of the men from the Mercedes noticed four figures kneeling besides a truck in the distance.

"TAMA ONI [THERE THEY ARE]!" he shouted, getting Ivan and Boris' attention while pointing at Caleb and the others.

"It's HIM!" Boris shouted, pointing at them as well.

"Oh shit!" Caleb swore.

"Blast! Compromised!" Lovelace added.

"Don't just stand there, priduki [nitwits]! SHOOT THEM!" Boris commanded. A few of their men closed in and opened fire with pistols. The bullets ricocheted off the vehicle and Marnie created a wall of water to protect them. Luckily, the bullets didn't appear to be enchanted for some reason.

"Guess I'm fuckin' UBER today! Link arms, y'all!" Caleb ordered. They each linked arms and he grabbed them, looking ahead before teleporting several yards away. He kept this up, getting further and further away from the Malones, much to their shock.

"What…the fuck?!" Ivan said, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Looks like the rumors were heard were true. That man is no normal human," Boris bitterly spoke before going to the back of one of the black Mercedes, "We need to catch them!"

He opened the back of the vehicle, revealing the cougar-type Werecat from earlier snarling, black veins bulging from her neck and face, and manic eyes of an addict. He grabbed a chain and yanked it, prompting her to step out of the vehicle.

"Kill those four up ahead! Now!" he commanded prompting the rune of the collar to glow, sending a jolt of energy into her, forcing the cougar to comply.

She took off in a full sprint on all fours, letting out a cougar roar, heading for Caleb and the others.

"Great, so we're going after them but STILL don't know where the Nightmare is!" Ivan said.

"We shall deal with that fucking negro first. Then we find the Nightmare. Heh, who knows, maybe that red-eyed girlfriend of yours found it already."

Ivan shot him a nasty glare, about to retort and deny his accusation but was quickly cut off.

"Hurry up! Get in!" Boris ordered as he climbed inside the driver seat.

Ivan begrudgingly complied as they set out for their new target.

…Meanwhile…

While that was going on, Mirabelle could be seen galloping down the street as fast as she could. Where was she headed? She didn't know and she did not care so long as she was far away from them.

Suddenly, she noticed a red car up ahead and tried to move to the side of road to let it pass. However, she was surprised to see a figure kneeling atop the vehicle. The vehicle cuts its wheels, skidding to a stop with a loud screech as the figure leaped off the car in a spinning flip over the Centaur. They landdd several feet behind Mirabelle, whose eye widened in horror immediately recognizing who it was: the Mantis girl, Hush. The Mantis brandished her scythes, taking an offensive stance.

"Vell vell vell, I suppose fortune DOES favor the bold," came the voice of Satella, who stepped out of the vehicle.

"No…" Mirabelle spoke, shaking her head fearfully.

"Now, I vill make this very clear to you,l since I don't have any more patience left," Satella said completely calmly but Mirabelle could feel the killer intent in her words, "You will surrender to us, right now, and come with us or I will have Hush slice off your legs and I will bring you back myself. Which will it be?"

Satella slowly walks toward her as Hush also closed in, scythes at the ready.

Mirabelle looked between the two, clutching her hands to her chest as her heart pounded and anxiety rose.

"Stop. Just leave me alone!"

At that moment, sirens could be heard from behind the Vampire, catching her attention. Mirabelle looked to see three police cars come to a screeching halt.

"DON'T MOVE!" one of the officers shouted, pulling his sidearm on them as the others got out of their vehicles, pointing their guns at them, "You liminals are under arrest for a string of murders in this town! We have been authorized by ICEP's department to use deadly force if necessary!"

Satella didn't move an inch or even acknowledge the men and their little guns.

"Hush, it is too noisy. Silence them," she calmly but menacingly spoke.

Hush nodded in understanding before slowly walking past her and the Nightmare towards the officers. Some of the officers looked at each other in surprise. Hush, with an unreadable expression, slowly inhaled, feeling her body relax.

"This is your FINAL warning! Get on the ground or we wi–"

He stopped mid-sentence as Hush suddenly appeared behind him in a kneeling position, her scythes crossed. The other officered looked on in surprise at the display.

"Sergeant?" one of the female officers addressed.

Hush calmly stood to her feet. The second she straightened up, the Sergeant's head fell right off, followed by his arms and entire torso.

Mirabelle and the other agents were horrified at seeing the man's bloody body parts fall to the ground.

Not missing a beat, Hush moved with incredible speed, slicing through each of the officers as they tried desperately to shoot her. They were unable to track her movements and the Mantis had incredible enough reflexes to predict the bullet firing paths. Screams of agony filled the area as arms, legs, heads, and entire sections of bodies went tumbling around and blood painted the road and the vehicles.

Satella smirked to herself then looked to Mirabelle, gesturing her thumb behind her, "Best investment I ever made."

"G-Get ba–ACK!" an officer shrieked, firing haphazardly at the fast-moving Mantis then getting shanked through the heart from the back by her scythe blade.

Hush effortlessly withdrew her blade, letting him fall to his knees, before decapitating him. Her ears picked up the sound of movement behind her and turned to see the dark-skinned female officer from earlier. She approached the officer and frantically scooted away before grabbing a fallen officer's sidearm and proceeded to shoot at the Mantis.

Hush deflected the bullets away with her scythes, not even flinching, as the officer ran out of ammo, starting to panic.

"Please. I have a family," she begged to which Hush's intensity softens a little bit.

"Hush!" Satella stated looking over her shoulder, urging the Mantis to continue.

Using that distraction, Mirabelle whipped her body around, attempting to run away again. Only for the vampire to be right in front of her, proceeding to knee her in the stomach.

Mirabelle gagged, stumbling and falling to her knees, cradling her human stomach before Satella grabbed her by the hair.

"Looks like I vill need to carry you once Hush is finished both vith her and your legs," Satella said as Mirabelle trembled in terror that she about to lose her legs.

Hush narrowed her gaze and raised her scythes, about to finish the woman.

However…

A purple magic appeared below the Mantis, to her surprise, and erupted a strong purple cyclone that sent her flying high in the air.

"VHAT?!" Satella shouted, taken aback in surprise.

"Hohoho! Houston, we have lift off!" came the voice of Jill as she landed on the ground with grace.

Before Satella and Mirabelle, and the cop for that matter, could process what was happening, Camilla descended and delivered a powerful kick to the Vampire's face.

Satella instinctively blocked the hit from the Elder Devil, but was sent flying back several feet. Camilla rapidly blasted black and red energy balls at her, driving the Vampire further away as she guarded her face.

Satella lowly hissed, seeing the Elder Devil glaring her down, wings unfurled, with killing intent, while protectively shielding the Nightmare.

Jill then looks to the confused and trembling female officer, "You should probably skedaddle, hun. This is wayyy beyond your pay grade."

"Ain't gotta tell me shit!", The officers stated taking off in a full sprint, getting as far away from them as possible.

"C-Camilla!" Mirabelle stated both surprised but relieved to see her friend as tears started welling up in her eyes, "You're ok!"

Camilla smiled over her shoulder at her, "We all will be Senora." With Camilla then turning her attention to the vampire glaring at her with rage "Once we deal with this scum that dare thought to tear apart our family!"

Satella straightens herself up, glaring at the two of them. Hush descends down at an uncontrollable rate falling towards the Vampire.

Satella raises her hand, eyes glowing red, stopping the Mantis mid-air before dropping her to her feet, never breaking eye contact with Camilla.

At that moment, Fantina arrives levitating on her scythe and getting the attention of the others.

"And look who decided to join us.", Satella coldly spoke.

"I don't have time for you, I need that Nightmare now so if any of you values your lives then give her to me!" Fantina stated, panting little, having no time to waste.

Mirabelle gives her frightened stare, moving closer to Camilla.

"Sorry hun, but I can't let you do that. Those two are under the protection of my team and I.", Jill spoke levitating up to the Baphomet on her staff.

"I have no business with you, mage. Keep your nose and those bags of fat on your chest out of this!", Fantina spat, pointing a finger at her chest.

"If you think for even a second that I will let you take my Senora from our family then ju are ones with a death wish!" Camilla threatened as she formed multiple red magical seals around her aimed at her foes.

Hush takes an offensive stance as Satella body emanates menacing red aura. Her eyes burn ruby red, fangs and claws slightly elongate, and an oppressive weight fills the surroundings.

"Durni('Fools' in Ukrainian), I grow tired of this nonsense. Yet, I am so grateful it took this long…because now the sun is setting. So…I can go all out." Satella said as the last rays of the sun vanished as night took hold.

Satella clenches her fist and the oppressive energy in the area intensifies threatening to bring the others to their knees, sorta speak. It was as if something was trying to overpower their will to fight.

Hush looks at Satella feeling the crushing weight of her aura. She's never seen her THIS angry before.

Camilla clenches her fists refusing to give in, determined to destroy her enemies.

On the other hand, Mirabelle was visibly shaken, feeling her crushing aura deep in her soul. She then looks around at all these people ready to fight to the death over her. Why?! She didn't ask for any of this. All she wanted was to see her Dear and go back to their home together. Where did their beautiful and wonderful life go wrong?! She clutches her head just wanting all of this to stop!

More cracks appear on her collar accompanied by a surge of purple electricity.

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WN

Sup Fam! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be the finale of the Komanda Monstra Arc and golllllly I can't wait! I love story arcs but they always feel so constraining, especially when you have SO many other things you want to explore. But well, these are the necessary risk I take to build on the narrative. That being said, I hope to have this Arc wrapped up by Halloween. Special thanks to Sandshrewmaster for helping to continue making these chapters what they are so don't forget to show him the same love and patience you show me.

As always, stay safe, hug your parents, drink water, and I will see y'all VERY soon. Peace Fam!

'My mind' by ProducedbyMelv plays in the background.