— Kat —

The muscly panther thing had a weird form of regeneration. Kat hadn’t been expecting it… but it did make more sense as to why it wasn’t concerned with all of the injuries it was taking nor the fact its face was on fire. After around a minute of combat, the top half of its body was all alight and glowing with purple flames. It simply wriggled a bit and then layers upon layers of skin and muscle just fell off. Like a mud sculpture collapsing in on itself in the rain.

Once the excess muscle, fat and skin had been left behind it started to freeze quicker… but some of that excess had managed to block the hole two kids had been huddled inside. Kat had to use up more mental energy ensuring that it didn’t extend further into the hole, just in case, and that was making it hard. Especially when, now free of much of its excessive weight and poor muscle distribution the beast was a lot faster.

It was faster then Kat. Sort of. The bracelet holding her back was a large reason for that but the other was that only the front of its body had gotten faster. It’s large, chunky back legs were still slow and heavy. Sure they moved with power but it meant the thing was dodging by bouncing around with its front legs as if it was a demented frog or something. The other issue was that it’s neck was longer then Kat had initially thought under all that muscle and it made good use of that to dodge any attacks Kat sent its way.

Something cracked and Kat glanced away to see a rock shattering against the ground. A mistake. Kat whipped her head back around but it was too late to dodge and a large clawed hand slammed into her, slicing through large tracts of skin and some muscle as Kat was launched away.

Someone screamed but Kat was pretty sure it hadn’t been her. Instead she hopped back up swiftly and transitioned into water and back a few times to see if that would heal her faster. It didn’t. All Kat managed doing that was to get her clothes back in shape while wasting demonic energy. Still, her wounds were quickly closing.

*Dammit. Should’ve transformed. There was no reason to let that hit me.* Kat hopped back into the fight after that admonishment and kept trying to land a hit. It was… not going all that well. *Am I really that used to overpowering the people I’m fighting? Well… no but I also tend to have the regeneration advantage where I can accept a hit or two in exchange for one of my own. Here, it’ll just knock me away and it has its own form of regeneration.*

Speeding her mind up helped but Kat was finding her martial skills to be lacking. A few more hits landed but they were light ones and the demonic fire was really doing most of the work… but it was eating into her reserves quite a bit to keep the flames on her fists constantly alongside the mental acceleration to keep taking things slow.

Just as Kat was debating potentially stupid ideas Char dropped down from the ceiling, a long knife that sliced right through the thing’s head. Kat relaxed “MOVE” hissed Char as the fae launched herself backwards. Kat hopped back a bit herself as the things stomach seemed to bloat and expand until, like a balloon popping the entire thing exploding in a shower of blood.

Kat blinked the blood out of her eyes as something latched onto her neck and bit down. Kat reacted instantly as water swapped places with flesh and the teeth slammed shut around the spot her neck had been. In water form Kat could see the panther-thing had shrunken down a good deal. It looked more like a normal panther now, though its feet were too big, it’s neck a bit too long and its eyes looked comically large in size… except they didn’t seem to move or blink. Though that might just be the slowed time.

Char was behind Kat and looked about ready to leap at the thing… only to notice halfway through the motion that Kat was probably fine. Kat debated what to do for a moment before burning away more demonic energy to rapidly add in more water to her form. It was costly, dragging her down to around forty percent of her reserves but that was fine. Soon the monster cat was completely covered in water.

Char backed up from her aborted jump and just sat back and watched. This probably wouldn’t have worked against the originally much larger monster but it was smaller now and struggling to escape. Its legs failed to find purchase against the water as Kat continued to churn it, keeping the panther thing spinning in place, disorientating it as much as she could.

Kat was able to keep this up as the seconds ticked by and eventually, the monster went still. “No stop yet,” stated Char. Kat raised a metaphorical eyebrow at the command but continued the motion. “Regeneration powerful. Might not be dead. Drown longer then I stab,”

In the end, Kat gave the whole ordeal five minutes. After that she started to slow the movement of the water and Char took that as her chance to stab the thing. Kat carefully opened up a section of ‘herself’ free of water leading to just above the thing and Char snaked her hand in to stab it right in the brain. Kat found she did not like the sensation of blood leaking into her watery form but a few stabs later and she sent the thing flying away as best she could while transforming back.

The monster hit the ground with a squelch. Kat had intentionally launched it away from the rest of its remained, and the par just… watched it for a few moments. After not seeing it twitch Kat decided to be extra sure and spat demonic fire over the thing. The fact it froze in only a few seconds indicating it was probably dead already… but better safe then sorry. While Kat was burning away and shattering the remains Char went over to the hole.

“You live still? Injuries anywhere?” asked Char.

There was some sniffling from the hole. “Um… er… err… ar…”

“I think they’re still in shock,” said Kat. The two in the whole had both been replying but they hadn’t exactly said anything coherent. “It could be injuries or just the adrenaline crash now the excitement is done,”

Kat moved over to the hole and noticed an issue. The panther had destroyed things a fair bit… but the hole was tiny. Kat herself was too large to slide inside, especially with her horns. Char might be able to make it… but that wasn’t a certainty. Depending on how deep it was Kat might be able to pull them out with her arms… but if they freaked out that could lead to more injuries.

Kat debated for a few moments before allowing her aura to expand outwards. Calm washing over everyone. The pair inside immediately burst into tears. *Not… quite what I was expecting as a response but I suppose… with everything.* Hmm… Kat kept her aura gently pulsing, not throwing her full weight behind it for the moment.

Char was looking over at Kat intently and the demon decided to sit down and explain… after shoving aside some of the ice crystals that had made up the monster. “I can project an aura of calm and it seemed like they needed it. I could ramp it up and put them to sleep… but I’m not sure we can get inside,” Kat gestured to the hole. “Would you like me to exclude you from the effects?”

“No. It is fine. Char enjoy feeling and monster dead,” whispered Char. “Char too big to fit inside hole. Char butt too large,” Kat glanced without really thinking… and found she didn’t really know what to say. Looking up at Char she seemed to have that sparkle in her eyes but no grin on her face.

“Alright so… do we wait for them to calm down and try to get them to come out themselves… or do I put them to sleep?” asked Kat quietly.

“Kat likely not have long enough arms. Kat backside also too big. And being horny likely not help,” whispered Char.

Kat rolled her eyes, having somewhat expected that particular joke. “Alright so… I guess we just wait then,”

“Yes,” said Char with a nod. “Best to let them cry as needed. We can kill monsters attracted by the sound.”

*Is… is she implying that monsters will be drawn to us because of the sound and we’re stronger enough to kill them? That any monsters that happen to be drawn in can be killed… or is she saying that she will enjoy killing the monsters that are certainly going to be drawn in?* Char’s smile did not seem to be giving away any answers.

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