Eliz rubbed her temples and thought. Haidi circled her anxiously, looking in all directions, and Miel watched the alleys and rooftops warily. The fact that they had ended up trapped here was quite a problem.
Miel wondered if they could try to find temporary refuge in one of the houses, but it would also make it harder for them to escape if something happened. If people were turning into monsters, they would probably find them eventually anyway. Of course, that would also depend on how long it took to resolve the situation that way.
But Eliz felt very angry.
Eliz didn't feel any guilt for causing this. She was just frustrated that her efforts had come to naught. Eliz had tried to save things, but it hadn't worked, so it wasn't her fault that things had turned out this way. After all, even if monsters flooded the city, it wasn't her place to deal with these things. That's what warriors and heroes are for, and the Royal Family would surely do something if they didn't plan on moving out.
Eliz was also thinking about what to do. She wanted to escape. She could get herself killed and fix all this somehow, but she didn't feel like dying. And as long as none of their people died, she didn't even feel the need to play hero and save the day. After all, Eliz had already tried that once, and this was how it had worked out. She should remember not to worry about anything but her interests.
Eliz stopped dwelling on her slight pang of guilt and swatted it away like an annoying fly.
Now she had to figure out what to do. Running away wasn't an option at the moment. Hiding again seemed like a waste of time to her. If she ended up dying, there wasn't much information she had right now. Eliz should get as much of it as she could. And could also try to figure out a way to escape, and well... the problem was that with her power, or lack thereof, Eliz couldn't really move as she wanted. She'd have to use Miel to do that and make him her personal mule.
Eliz lowered her hands and looked at Miel. "We'll go back," she finally said firmly.
Miel blinked and looked at her. "To Mr. Holm? Is that a good idea?" he worried.
Eliz nodded. "I mean, at the very beginning. The square. It's possible it could be a loose end. After all, Sun Alley has two exits. Plus, honestly, that's probably where it's safest. Most people were running in one direction. There'll be no one, or almost no one, in the square. It's probably the absolute safest place," Eliz mused.
"What about the one pretending to be a prince?" Miel hesitated. He seemed to be the leader, so wouldn't he be the most dangerous?
"It's not like there's nowhere to hide. I also think it's worth checking to see if maybe they were sloppy and left the other side open," Eliz wasn't too sure about that.
None of the fools seemed like geniuses arrogant enough to count on everyone running in the direction they assumed. If they were some boogeymen who overthought themselves, she'd think there was a pretty good chance that would be the case, but she couldn't really tell. Fools may or may not be careless.
"So, I'd go back one by one and tell Holm, Alarr, and Raiana where we're going so they can catch us when they're done," Eliz looked at him.
Miel blinked and frowned. "You're pretty sure they'll win," he mentioned but doubted it. How are they supposed to win if they can't kill the enemy?
Eliz shrugged. "They're tough guys. They might not win, but they'll survive for sure." Eliz chose to believe it. She didn't want to depress herself with other thoughts. After all, she hadn't hired any weak losers who cared about their surroundings. Alarr had made that clear. Even Holm, though he was more subtle, still did what he had to do. Some righteous heroes would rather stay at a disadvantage than hurt the innocent. Those three knew how to survive and fight.
Miel would have liked to think so too, but he was more skeptical. However, he decided to keep it to himself. He wasn't entirely in favor of them coming back.
"I don't think we should go back. What about finding shelter in one of the houses?" he suggested the plan he was thinking of, and while it had drawbacks, it seemed better than the idea of going back to the source of trouble.
Eliz shook her head. "Who knows how long it will be before rescue comes? And I don't think that ordinary houses will provide much security. I mean, you've seen them tear down houses like they're nothing, right?"
Miel hesitated. "If you don't want to go hide, but I'm going," Eliz said; seeing his doubt, she decided to play a little dirty. She turned on her heel and started down the street.
When Miel saw this, he panicked a little. As a gentleman, he couldn't let a lady move alone in such a dangerous situation. Moreover, he had also promised to take care of her. "Wait!" he called, rushing after her.
Eliz smiled briefly before turning to him, reaching both hands out to him as he approached her. "You'll have to carry me." This was different from the last time she'd been forced to be carried. Now she was demanding it herself. This was different!
Miel looked at her and then smiled. "Sure." He took her in his arms. 'At least I got something out of it, too,' he thought as he held her soft body in his arms.
"Wait for me!" Haidi squeaked, rushing after them.
*****
Holm growled, raised his arms, and grabbed the feline beast that landed on his back, tearing at his armor. He flipped the beast over himself, and as it flipped in the air, he hit it with his mana paw. Instead of landing gracefully, the beast hit the ground hard.
Holm let out a long breath and growled. The fight lasted less than ten minutes but felt like an eternity. The feline beast was tenacious, and even though it dealt blows, it still looked unharmed, so he couldn't tell if it was causing any damage at all.
On the other hand, Holm had cuts and bruises all over his body that weren't protected by his armor. The beast's claws caused them and blew from its tail. None of the wounds had been fatal, but he suspected that some of them were more than just scratches. Some of the wounds stung strangely, and he feared the feline beast had some poison in its claws.
The beast was back on its feet and sent a tail strike towards him again. Holm raised his arms and sent mana into his hands, blocking it and catching one of the tail strikes.
"Hmph!" he bellowed as he tensed his muscles and ripped the piece of tail off.
"Wwwrrraau!" growled the feline beast in pain, probably the first time anything Holm did hurt it.
Holm dropped the black tail. Or at least tried to. But the thing stuck to his hand like it was chewing gum. He waved his paw, trying to get rid of it, but he froze when he saw that the black stuff had become more liquid and was moving.
"Haha. Idiot." The cat began to taunt, sitting on its butt and looking as if everything was already done.
"What? What's that?" Holm gritted his teeth and tried to wipe it off, but the black mass started moving up his arm. He quickly tried to send mana into his hand and repel it. It worked, and the thing bounced away from him, but he frowned in concern when he saw what was underneath. One of the shallow wounds was utterly black as if someone had painted it black.
Holm's heart raced with apprehension and a terrifying premonition.
He looked at the feline beast that sat there with an evil grin.
"What have you done?" he asked slowly.
The cat lifted its paw and ran it over its beard. "Since it's too late for you, I might as well tell you. You're going to be one of us. Maybe. See how you manage to keep your sanity. If not, you'll just be a puppet."
Holm grunted and looked at his hand again. He wondered if he should cut it off. However, Holm didn't know if that would help. It would be unnecessary and painful if the thing were already in his bloodstream.
Holm thought about it for a second before deciding to ignore it. For now, he could only do one thing: try to beat the annoying cat up as much as possible.
He took a deep breath and started sucking all the mana from the mana pool, determined to leave just enough to stay conscious.
The two mana paws that hovered at his side grew brighter and grew larger until they were bigger than Holm himself.
When the cat saw this, he stood up again.
"Haha. Do you want to try one last attack? Go ahead." But Holm thought that if the cat were so confident, he would have stayed seated.
Holm could feel his mana pool draining. It was a similar feeling to pouring water out of a kettle; even if you can't see how much water it's taking up, you can feel it. When both mana paws were as big as the wall of a one-story building, he poured the rest of the mana he had in his body to strengthen his defense and charged forward.
The cat crouched down and watched him. Holm sent the first mana paw towards him, which flew forward like a bullet fired. The cat jerked in surprise, not expecting it to be so fast, and jumped out of the way.
Holm came running towards him, though, and despite his size, jumped up behind him and tried to grab him. The cat twisted its body and escaped Holm's grasp.
He struck Holm with his tail, the blow sending him down hard, but at that moment, a second mana paw came crashing down on him, hitting him so hard that his body flattened.
The cat crashed into the ground, and before he could stand up, the mana paw struck him again, pinning him to the ground. The mana paw was half transparent, so you could see its body stretch and flatten until it had no shape but only the form of a molten black puddle.
Holm picked himself up from where he had landed, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. He approached where he had kept the feline creature pinned to the ground. He sent a second mana paw as well and struck again.
Holm thought he heard muffled cat sizzling. The mana paws balled into fists and began pounding the black puddle with such force and speed that the ground began to shake.
This was Holm's strongest attack, and he continued until his mana was utterly depleted. The mana paw strikes grew weaker and weaker, becoming more and more transparent before finally disappearing.
Holm looked at the hole the strikes had caused, and a pool of black matter quivered at the bottom of it. Holm closed his eyes. "Damn. You son of a bitch, can't you die?" He growled before wearily sat on his ass and fell onto his back. He didn't lose consciousness but didn't have the strength to stand. He turned his head and looked at his arm, where there was a black wound. It had spread.
About a minute passed when the black puddle crawled out of the hole and began to re-form into the shape of a large black cat. It took another thirty seconds or so, forming rather slowly. Holm figured the bastards were somehow limited after all. Maybe the black mass could only hold a certain amount of damage?
Lady Elizabeth said they were immortal and wouldn't die unless the Light Force was used. But maybe they could be tortured? This malleability of their bodies must be taking energy from somewhere. Holm had a feeling he'd figured it out. They have to take enough damage to tire them out. Now just... what good would it do him now? He began to wonder if he could manage to leave a message somehow.
"Damn, bear, that was quite an attack. You almost squeezed the shit out of me. But only just," grumbled the cat sullenly as he was complete again.
He walked over to the prone Holm and struck him with his paw. Holm's large body toppled over twice, and he just held back a groan.
"Too bad you're so exhausted. Hmmm..." the cat said, leaning down and sniffing him, then wrinkling his nose before pulling away.
"Tss... you're starting to smell like one of us. Plus, you're all muscle. I prefer softer meat." His ears twitched, and he smiled.
"Oh yes. Kitty! Hehe, how do you think she'll look when I show up? Will she be devastated to know you lost? Desperate? Maybe she'll be so scared she'll throw herself into my arms with glee." He wagged his tail happily and turned in the direction the three had run.
Holm squinted at him. He hadn't known Lady Elizabeth that long, but for all he knew, she would kick him in the crotch rather than willingly give herself to him.
There was nothing he could do now. He needed a few minutes to regain some strength. There was something else he could do... He stopped his thoughts when he saw that Puss was heading in the direction Miel had escaped with Elizabeth and Haidi.
"Wait! Are you just going to leave me here? Don't you want to watch me turn?" he tried to hold him back.
Cat looked back and snorted. "Why would I want to watch you? You're not funny anymore and not fun to eat either." He refused and jumped onto the roof of the house.
"Hey!" Holm called to him and tried to sit up, but he could only lift his head so far.
"Shit! Damn! Alarr's going to kill me!" Holm cursed, feeling incapable. "If only I were a little stronger... huh?" he muttered as he saw the feline beast jump off the roof again and swim into the alley.
Holm cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "What?" He didn't understand what he was doing.
"Holm!" He jerked when he heard a familiar voice. He saw Miel descending from the roof with Lady Elizabeth in her arms.
Holm's eyes bulged. What the hell are they doing here?
"What? What?! What the hell are you doing here?!" he yelled angrily. Had all his efforts been for nothing after all?
*****
Miel jumped over rooftops with Eliz in his arms, and Haidi followed them more slowly but was never far away. When they were in place, Miel was the first to check the area cautiously, but all he saw was a prone Holm and considerable signs of a struggle.
"Looks good," Miel said. He didn't see the feline beast or any other monsters.
"Holm!" Eliz called out as she watched the giant lying worriedly. To her amazement, he raised his head at her call. She didn't understand why he was alive, but it was good. Could he have chased the beast away? Miel and Eliz jumped to the ground and rushed to Holm.
"What? What?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Eliz heard Holm shout angrily. Eliz relaxed; if he could scream like that, it was no big deal, and he hadn't even turned into a monster.
"Let go," she demanded of Miel, and he set her on the ground. Then they both rushed over to Holm.
"Why the hell did you guys come back? The beast is still here!" Holm strained until the veins in his neck swelled.
Miel immediately looked around but saw nothing, and neither did Eliz. "The road is blocked. Those freaks have put a barrier around the entire Sun Alley. No one can get out," Eliz explained.
Holm's eyes blinked rapidly. "Oh shit..." he muttered, flinching as his arm hurt.
Eliz leaned in close to him. "How are you feeling? Is it mana depletion? Do you have any... oh..." She fell silent as Eliz saw the black wound on his arm. At that moment, it was enough to spread, and if it weren't for the hairs of his bearskin, they could see that his arm was black as ink almost up to his elbow.
"Yeah," Holm sighed bitterly. "Apparently, they can turn people into monsters," he admitted, noticing her look.
"Yes. Not just the living, but the dead become the Dark Ones as well," Eliz nodded, frowning at his wound. She wondered. Should she give it a try? It was true that she hadn't done anything about this whole thing. She just let herself be carried and protected. Now she had the perfect opportunity to test what her supposedly miraculous blood could do. She slowly pulled out the dagger she had prepared earlier.
Meanwhile, Miel watched Haidi approaching them and kept an eye on the surroundings. Holm looked up at the black sky, which was dotted with stars.
"I don't know how long this will last. Maybe I'll be able to gather my strength and do something before I get possessed by the whole thing or whatever happens," Holm said, trying not to overthink the fact that he wouldn't be alive much longer. This wasn't exactly the death he wanted. Sure, better than dying of old age, but he thought he would die in direct combat and not lying on his back.
Eliz didn't answer him; instead, she brought the dagger's blade to her palm, holding her breath and slicing the skin on her palm. Blood began to pool, so she placed it over the black wound of Holm's arm.
plop
plop
plop
She watched the drops fall into the wound and imagined it would look mystical like she'd start pouring white paint on the black, and the whole thing would be cleansed.
Her fantasies quickly faded. It looked more weird than mystical!
The drops of her blood seemed more like they were stretching the black infection into themselves, swelling into round red and black sores the size of her thumb. Eliz wrinkled her nose in disgust. How neat... why was she sucking this thing in? Shouldn't it be repulsive? Isn't that a mistake? Eliz wondered if she was even doing it right, but the way the black spot was shrinking, and the globules of her blood mixed with the infection were falling off, it was working even though it looked disgusting.
"Huh? My lady, what are you doing?" Holm asked in amazement as he finally noticed what Eliz was doing, staring at her dripping blood and the black blight pulling off his hand. Miel also turned to look and froze when he saw Eliz's bleeding hand and even more when he saw what was happening.
"Ooohhh. How do you do that?" Haidi asked, gingerly poking one of the balls that had fallen off. It rolled away harmlessly.
"Just... trying something out. Don't think too much about it. I'll explain later," Eliz said evasively. She knew she'd have to explain, but she didn't want to right now, especially since she didn't exactly understand this herself.
"Ohh kitty~" Eliz stiffened when she heard that. She wasn't alone; everyone tensed up when they heard the call. Holm gritted his teeth, hoping the cat had left since he hadn't appeared.
They all turned, and at that exact moment, Eliz felt something touch her, and before she could react, she was pulled away.
"Ah!" She yelped in surprise as the force of the pull lifted her off the ground, and she was flying through the air.
Eliz only had time to glimpse the tar-like black mass she had crashed into and was completely engulfed in it. She closed her eyes.
"Eliz!" She heard Miel scream, and Haidi squealed in horror.
For a moment, nothing happened. Eliz expected pain or to choke. But aside from feeling like she had walked into a chilled room, she felt nothing wrong.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to see that everything was black and white and wavering strangely around her like she was under the sea.
Most importantly, she was being held by that horny cat. He smiled happily at her like someone who had won a dream prize, but even his originally bright eyes were black and white.
"Hehe. Now you have no choice." He announced to her.
Eliz opened her mouth to say something, but instead, he suddenly leaned in, pressed his lips to hers, and stuck his tongue in her mouth.
Eliz was momentarily frozen with shock. 'What the hell!' She swung and punched him in the face with a clenched fist.
The hungry cat flinched and pulled away. But that wasn't all that happened. The strange black and white surface seemed to churn, and the cat-man was jerked about and suddenly disappeared.
She was left dazedly alone in the black-and-white world.
*****
Miel stared in horror as the black tentacle pulled down Eliz. He immediately lunged for Eliz and tried to catch her but missed. The feline monster stood there, and as soon as Eliz pulled it towards her, its body puffed and expanded until it looked like a ball of liquid black tar. Eliz fell into the thing as if she had swum into water.
"Ah, no! Ah, no! It ate Lady Elizabeth!" Haidi cried, holding her head.
Miel wanted to throw himself after her but resisted the urge. Not knowing what might happen, he watched for a moment before making sure the black orb was doing nothing else and looked at Holm and Haidi.
"What are we going to do? Mr. Holm, can you move now?" he asked.
Holm moved his arms and head and tried to sit up, but it didn't go well. He felt stronger than he had a moment ago but couldn't stand up yet. He frowned at his hand, which was no longer black, but his shallow wound was still weeping little drops of red and black pellets.
"Another minute or two," he replied grimly, but he didn't know what to do either. Could he try using mana to reach into the mass?
"Something's wrong with it!" Haidi announced, and the three looked at the liquid sphere on which waves began to appear.
And then...
Out flew a black-haired man of the cat race, landing on the ground where he lay motionless for a moment before sitting up and rubbing his head in confusion.
He looked dumbfounded.
"What the hell..." he muttered, looking at the still present black tarball.
"She... kicked me out?" He muttered to himself, amazed.