Back at the haven, Commanders Chase and Lucy along with the generals on Soran, were all in the meeting room. They were discussing the situation that had arisen from Anna's departure and were deliberating on what to do.
They were seated around a large oval table and there was a projection of the wert base coming from the center of the table. The current condition of the wert base and its surrounding environment could be seen with the help of the projection.
"How do we tell the monarch his daughter died a few hours before she was supposed to return to Veda?" a general asked.
"It appears the boy and girl who went to attack the base are skilled." another general said, looking at the projection in front of him.
"Why did Anna go to the wert base?"
"Enough!" Commander Lucy shouted. "We're wasting time. Instead of sitting here and talking, we need to come up with a way to rescue her. She can't deal with the werts there on her own, and neither can those kids, no matter how skilled they are."
Turning their attention back to the projection, everyone in the meeting room could see Anna and a blond teenager arrive at the wert base and stop for a while before going inside.
"Okay everyone, listen up." Commander Chase said. "Our number one priority is to get Anna out of the wert base and we do that by any means necessary."
"A full-scale confrontation might be impossible to avoid but we must accomplish our objective." Commander Lucy said. "If we are able to destroy the wert base, that will be a bonus."
"We can't leave with all our soldiers because the haven still needs to remain protected, but we will leave with a force strong enough to go to the wert base and possibly return without a high number of casualties."
"We'll be leaving with five generals." Commander Chase said. "One general and a couple of brigadiers should be enough to hold the fort here till we get back. Go and get ready, we leave in ten minutes."
___
The tails of the five-tailed wert in front of them were extremely long and thin, with one spike being on each of them. The wings on her back were folded up elegantly and she walked towards Sky with gusto, elegantly placing one leg in front of the other.
"Well well, aren't you a good-looking stud?" the five-tailed wert said as she walked round Sky in circles, using three of her tails to stroke his body while the other two trailed behind her.
"Thanks I guess." Sky said, still holding the four blades in between his fingers. "Though I'm not really into receiving compliments from beasts."
"Beasts? That hurt." the five-tailed wert said as she stopped in front of Sky. "My name is Zia. Tell me human, do beasts have names?"
"Only the ones with a little bit of intelligence." Jake said.
"Silence." Zia said and used one of her tails to hit Jake on his face which made a gash. "I thought you were good-looking but this other human is more good-looking."
"Ain't that the truth." Jake said, paying no attention to the wound on his face which had almost healed completely, along with his now not-broken ankles.
Looking at Sasha, Jake saw her nod at him which signified that her mana had been replenished. "You know what? I'm tired of staying on the ground."
"What are you going to do about it?" the four-tailed wert that had dragged Jake into the building asked.
"That's a very good question." Jake said and using super speed, he gave the wert an uppercut which sent him flying away and without wasting time, he kicked the four-tailed wert next to Sasha which sent it flying in the direction of the other wert.
Jake had secretly mimicked the magic of the four-tailed wert and combining it with the magical strength of the super speed magic, he was able to move a lot faster than before.
"Wrong choice." Zia said, looking at Jake who was now standing with Sasha. "I might have spared your life and kept you as a pet."
"A pet?" Jake scoffed. "Thanks but no thanks."
"Your loss." Zia said and was about to jump on Jake but was stopped by Anna who was holding onto all five of her tails.
"Get lost bitch." Anna said in a raspy voice as she hurled Zia across the room, making her collide into the werts that had surrounded them.
"What are you waiting for?" Zia shouted angrily. "Get them."
In an instant, all the werts that had surrounded them began flying towards them and they were doing so as fast as they could.
Sky, Jake, Anna and Sasha were doing their best to fight the werts but with at least seventy werts flying towards them from every direction, it was impossible to win.
"We need to get out of here." Anna said as she used her paws to grab onto an incoming two-tailed wert and chomped down on its midsection, killing it on the spot.
"Tell us something we don't know." Jake said as he zoomed from one place to another, taking out the one and two-tailed werts.
Sky was killing the werts with little problem. He would stop time for two werts then control all his blades to kill them and still try to weaken other werts by cutting them.
Seeing Zia spread her wings, Anna knew she was ready to attack and quickly shifted into another large beast with four legs and a horn made out of fire on its head.
"You guys try not to get killed." Anna said. "I'll handle the five-tailed wert." She was about to jump at Zia when she saw Jake run towards her and stop in front of her with his hands on her head.
"Thanks." Jake said after mimicking Anna's magic and continued running at an even faster speed.
Due to being distracted by Jake, Zia had flown towards Anna and had punched her out of the building.
Regaining her balance after breaking through the wall, Anna got up and was standing on two feet when Zia flew towards her again.
Timing it perfectly, Anna jumped and punched Zia onto the ground then landed on her. She brought out fire from her hands and directed it to Zia but with a single flap of her wings, a powerful wave of wind hit Anna and sent her skidding back.
Controlling the air around her with her hands and turning it into sharp waves, Zia sent them towards Anna who was able to dodge a few but was cut by some.
Due to how thick and strong Anna's skin was, the air strikes couldn't do much damage but she now had multiple cuts and scratches on her body.
Putting both of her hands together and running towards Zia, Anna released a large and powerful fireball.
Putting her wings in front of her, Zia used all her strength to control the wind and direct it to the incoming fireball.
While the fight between Anna and Zia was going on, Jake, Sky and Sasha were trying their best to not get killed. The four-tailed werts had yet to join the others in attacking but they wouldn't stand by for long.
The building they were in had broken and now they were fighting the werts in the open. The three-tailed werts were toying with Sasha and Sky as they hit them from place to place.
Jake had ran to the wert that was about to punch Sasha and kicked it away. Running to Sky, Jake caught him mid air and was finally able to mimic his magic.
"Guess you got what you wanted after all." Sky said to Jake as he got to his feet, knowing Jake had mimicked his magic.
[Condition to mimic magic has been met]
[You have successfully mimicked Unknown Magic]
[You will lose mimicked magic after 48 hours at your current level]
[Stat points: 55]
[Mimicked magic 1: Shapeshifting Magic]
[Strength of Mimicked magic: 250]
[Mimicked magic 2: Unknown]
[Strength of Mimicked magic: 35]
[Total Magic Strength: 285]
"Yeah and now will be a good time to tell me what your magic can do." Jake said, focusing hard and using his mental moxie to shapeshift into a three-tailed wert.
"I can control time." Sky said. "For now, I can only stop time."
"You can manipulate time?" Jake asked, amazed. "That's crazy. How'd you get that kind of cool magic?"
"It's a long story. You want me to tell it here and now?" Sky asked.
Jake, Sky and Sasha were standing with their backs facing each other in a triangular position. The werts had surrounded them again and this time, they were more than before and looking up, the second five-tailed wert could be seen flying in the air.
"I thought Zia had this under control but I had to get involved in the end." the five-tailed wert said lazily as its wings beated in the air.
"We're screwed." Sky said. "We can't beat that thing."
"We might not have to. Look." Jake said, pointing at the ground.
All around, magic circles were appearing on the ground and coming out of them were humans clad in military uniform.