Oh, crap! Vari thought, her heart going into overdrive as she faced a creature she had no clue how to defeat.
"Why didn't you warn me?" Vari snapped at Arlet as she leapt behind a pair of dumpsters to avoid a vicious kick.
"Your detection abilities aren't that high yet and I sense most things in the external world though yo- Watch out!" Arlet cried, and Vari jolted, dodging another blow just in time thanks to the tiny spider's warning.
"Werewolves, werewolves, werewolves," Vari chanted under her breath as she parried a move and landed a few punches on Lester's snout. She tried desperately to recall anything she knew about werewolves, anything at all that could help her defeat this opponent.
Arlet swung from the thin web that connected her to Vari as Vari bounced around, putting all the training thus far into good use. She was holding Lester off, but barely. Feeling the burn in her muscles, she knew that she had to end this fight soon or she wouldn't hold out against the larger creature's stamina.
Too slow, she sidestepped Lester's lunge, missing getting mauled but receiving a large gash on her arm anyway. She hissed in pain as warm blood began to drip from the wound.
"Arlet!" She panted, "Is it true? Silver and werewolves?"
There was a pause as Vari threw herself to the ground and sprang up to avoid the snap of Lester's jaws.
"To my knowledge, it is," came Arlet's uncertain voice, small and just beside Vari's ear, "It's worth a try. Use your weapon upgrading ability, please!"
Vari cursed in her head. She had been saving that hard-earned ability for a special occasion because she had had to disarm a highly weaponised target for it. But at the moment, her life was on the line and Vari had to make the call.
Dropping to the ground and rolling, she pulled the knife she had tucked into her boot for emergencies and straightened.
*Enabling Weapon Upgrading X 1*
Taking a quick glance to make sure that the material of the dagger had turned into silver, she made a quick swipe at Lester and got a snarl in response.
She had to move fast if she wanted to take advantage of this.
"Hang on," she told Arlet, and then swung into a series of kicks that forced the werewolf into defense. Taking a running start, she jumped and lifted the knife high, channeling the momentum into her diminutive frame.
Then she plunged the blade down into the side of Lester's furry neck as she landed, allowing gravity to drive it as far in as possible.
With a gargled roar, Lester shoved her to the side, sending her crashing into the dumpsters and tumbling to the ground. But the damage was done. She watched from her place on the ground, tense but still, as he sank to his knees and then slumped, dark red spurting from around the knife.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Vari took a moment to sag into the wall behind her.
*Ding!*
*Supernatural detection unlocked*
"Now?" she groaned, "Shouldn't this have been before?"
A moment was all she had, their fight hadn't been a quiet one and she knew that she had to get moving if she didn't want to get caught. Swiftly pulling the knife out and wiping it on Lester's tattered shirt, she stepped neatly over the body and then flipped up the hood of her jacket. Darting a glance at the street to see if it was empty, she strolled casually out and crossed the road before taking the train back home.
Back in her kitchen, she took deep breaths as she applied a healthy amount of antibiotics to the wound. Arlet sat on the counter, perched on a roll of bandages, watching her anxiously.
"I'm sorry I couldn't warn you about Lester," Arlet said quietly.
"It's not your fault, and we got out all right," Vari replied, reaching for the bandages and binding her wound efficiently with one hand.
"Do you ever regret accepting the system?" Arlet asked, her voice tinier than it had ever been.
"You mean just let myself die?" Vari raised an eyebrow, "You saved my life. I made a stupid decision without thinking it through and I got a second chance."
She took a deep breath as scenes of her old life played behind closed lids.
"I miss it sometimes, my old life, a normal life," Vari murmured, "Sometimes I miss him."
A tear slipped down her bruised cheek. As it passed the corner of her mouth, her lips lifted in a rueful smile.
"But then I think again and I know I couldn't have stayed like that. Not with him, not in that life. I miss my friends, my family, I miss my home and my job," she wiped the tear away with the back of her hand, "But I was stagnant back there. Now that I'm here, it feels like I wasn't really living until I started living for myself."
"Living for yourself?" Arlet asked, climbing into the first aid kit and peering up at her.
"In my old life, I never realised but all my decisions were built around what I thought people wanted me to be, what I thought I should be: a good daughter, a good sister, a good wife. But now that I'm here, I'm making decisions for me."
Arlet bobbed up and down in what Vari interpreted as a nod.
"I see," came her musical voice, "Well, I'm glad you're happy with this decision!"
Vari smiled fondly down.
"I am, and now you're my family."