--- Kat ---


    "This is the one," stated Hunter.


    "Are you sure?" asked Kat wanting to make sure. Meg on the other hand had already pulled out her ’knitting’ needles and was ready forbat.


    "Yes I’m positive. I can smell a number of ovepping scents and if this isn’t the door to the hideout it is the final corridor before it. We should be prepared forbat," stated Hunter.


    Kat nodded a bit as she got ready, shaking herself out a bit while Lily fought back a yawn. Meg and Hunter didn’t look great. They weren’t tired but the regrly digging andck of Subus genes meant the two were covered in dirt. Kat and Kamiko were fine, and Lily was mostly alright, though with a few bits of dirt visible on her fur that Kat hadn’t quite managed to brush off.


    "Anything we need to know before we go inside?" asked Strdl.


    Hunter nced backwards. "Truthfully it would likely be best if you all waited out here though I understand we need witnesses at this point,"


    "I say we leave the prisoners with the three weaklings and just take Strdl with us," added Meg.


    "They are good men of my unit Ma’am. I would be happy with them at my back!" insisted Strdl.


    Meg shrugged, "That’s sweet and all but they simply aren’t on our level. You aren’t either, not really but you can fake it well enough that the rabble of bandits we’re about to fight likely can’t tell. Even still just based on the enchantments we’ve seen Pebbles is going to crush you if he engages you in a fight,"


    "Still, I am happy to put my life on the line for the cause! These bandits must be removed, and it is more important now then before that they are dealt with," argued Strdl.


    "Right, yes, I do get that, and I’m not saying you’re pathetically weak. In fact, for being in such a small town and clearly without a teacher you’ve done well on your exceptional natural talent… but we really are more than just a few steps above you. Even Kamiko the second weakest of us could defeat you quite easily," stated Meg.


    "Why mention only the second weakest Ma’am?" asked Strdl.


    "Eh well Lily’s in a bit of a weird spot in the team and while she doesck in raw power… we’re about to head into arge fight with overwhelming numbers so her crowd control skills naturally mean she’s going to be useful even if she’s weaker then Kamiko," exined Meg.


    [Rude but true.]


    I’d love to defend you more… but I can’t disagree. You and Kamiko are both new Rank 3’s and the demon advantage is quite real.


    Enjoy more content from empire


    "Are you sure neither of you want to like… shower or something?" asked Kat.


    "Why? The mission object is quite close by and we took a break not long ago after clearing out that elevator. I feel quite invigorated," stated Hunter whilepletely covered in rocks and dirt. Even Kamiko was giving her a slightly odd look at that response.


    Meg nodded along though, as if this waspletely reasonable. "Yes better to just get this done with now and washter,"


    "Alright then…" said Kat with a shrug. "Any changes to the n?"


    "Not other than leaving the prisoner’s back here with the police. Strdl can eithere along or stay as she wants, but everything else is the same. We go in, everyone distracts them while Hunter looks for the crystal then we all clean up. The crystal is…" Meg pulled out thepass and checked the heading, "Approximately 86 degrees from our exit by the looks of things. Sort of close but not too close based on this…"


    "Alright then… I guess I’m ready…" said Kat slowly.


    "Excellent," announced Meg as she strode forward and jabbed her needles into the wall. A quick twist and the entire rock face just exploded into pieces, with Meg charging forward right after them. Kat followed her into the newly revealed corridor. This one even had lights set into the walls.


    Kat charged forward, Lily in her Kimono, Meg in front of her and Kamiko and Strdl behind. Hunter had vanished as expected and soon they came to another wall. It didn’tst long, one kick from Meg and they broke into a massive chamber. It was truly extravagant with fancy looking houses lining the streets in a tiered system.


    They’d broken out somewhere near the bottom but this clearly wasn’t the main entrance. Arrayed around them were a number of people lined up on top of houses and behind multiple stone palisades that had risen up out of the ground. The houses acted like a funnel and surrounding walls, keeping them locked on the main street. Arrows, stones, and fireballs rained down on them. Notably, that was the only two types of magic so far.


    Megughed storming forward as she danced between the projectiles gracefully, none so much as scraping her as she quickly started to dismantle the people on the ground. No concern at all with being boxed in, it wasn’t long before she was able to simply jab her needles into one of the various weak spots she could see causing the person to spasm and drop to the ground. Sometimes they’d get back up and Meg would kick a stone at them, encouragement to stay down.


    Kamiko was moving simrly, if a bit slower. She’d deflect some projectiles with her sword but many of those went right back to their attackers. She was making good work of the bandits she managed to get her hands on, especially as more spilled out from inside of the houses.


    Kat felt like she was falling behind. She’d jumped up to the nearest roof and was knocking out anyone she could get her hands on as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop but it was slow. She didn’t really know how strong any of these people were nor how much force she could safely use. It meant she was horrifically slowpared to everyone else on the team… including Lily.


    The little Memphis was breathtaking to Kat in that moment. Lily had left the safety of Kat’s kimono as soon as she’d noticed how weak everyone they were currently facing was, and jumped for the roofs on the opposite side of the street.


    Lily was a whirlwind of carnage, tearing her way through the people up on the roof at nearly three times the speed of Kat… with a few more injuries as well. Kat only noticed with a single nce over where she saw one individual get thrown into his friend and collide into a chimney. It was definitely on the rougher side, and while Kat didn’t have a chance to really look, too busy dealing with her own people…


    The truth was Lily wasn’t shy about applying a bit of blood. Her giant shadow hands, of which she had multiple attacking, all had sharpened fingers. Lily’s instincts had decided this was a hunt, and while nothing lethal was eptable, something she did still understand in thisbative trance… a bit of damage was just to be expected when ’roughhousing’.


    @@novelbin@@


    Kat was really tempted to start breaking out more lethal abilities, pulling out her fans to use as weapons or just turning into water and washing as many people away as she could. This feeling only got stronger when the street behind Kamiko and Meg opened up to disgorge more people from the earth as a nking manoeuvre. The desire to jump down into the middle of that melee and cut loose a bit was strong…


    But Kat quickly shut that urge down, especially when Meg threw some sort of sk into the group. The point wasn’t even to take out the enemies, instead the n was to try and cause a distraction for Hunter instead. The fight was for Strdl, and to take out the bandits a secondary objective.


    *Speaking of… where IS Strdl?* Before Kat could get an answer from Lily a crystal dome spread out over the group Meg had gassed. Trapping the sleeping potion’s vapours inside along with all of the people. Strdl moved back into the nearby houses, and now that Kat was paying attention to the officer, she could hear the asional sound of shattering alongside quite a lot of fighting.


    Kat’s distraction with Strdl was enough for someone with a sword to walk up behind her and stab her through the chest Or well, try anyway. They’d hit muscle and stopped as they were just a mortal, or perhaps Rank 1. They didn’t even need topete with Kat’s regeneration, just her basic constitution was enough to stop the de. Kat turned around to re at the person who panicked, dropping the sword and trying to run.


    Kat’s tailshed out, tripping the guy and then pulling him into a chokehold with her tail as she sighed. *Well… that killed thest of my interest inpeting for takedowns. This isn’t really a fight it’s basically just bullying.*