Austin and his squad continued their run up the hill. They did not allow themselves to slow even a little. They could not let any of the beasts catch them, or they risked fighting Chet with less than their full strength. If the reports were right, he was much stronger now, and they needed all their strength to fight him.

  Beasts started to chase the group until they realized the speed at which the squad moved. They skidded to a halt and shifted their attention to Natasha’s and Jess’s squad. The beasts were more interested in what they considered easy kills than putting effort into chasing Austin and his squad.

  That was until the squad ran past a group of especially large cats. They did not give up on their pursuit of the squad like the other beasts. Instead, they continued to pursue them up the hill and even started to gain on them. The group knew at that moment that the only way they could stop the pursuit was if they fought the cats.

  Zoe was the first to move to stop their pursuers. As she skidded to a halt, a large shield formed around one of her arms. She quickly twisted around with a pivot of her foot and slammed one of the pursuing cats with the shield. As the cat reeled backward from the force of the blow, Essence formed in Zoe’s free hand and created a spear.

  “Come at me!” Zoe roared as she smacked her spear and shield together.

  Other members of the squad quickly followed Zoe’s lead. As the rest of the cats continued their charge, Zack was the next to move. With a wave of his hand, a wide arc of orange flame shot out in front of him. While the attack did not land, it forced the cats to stop and jump backward.

  As the cats jumped backward, Katie and Sean were the next to spring into action. Katie brandished the short sword that she won. As Essence flowed through her, an exact copy of the sword appeared in her other hand. Water droplets formed in Sean’s hand until they formed a deep blue katana. As they formed their weapons, the pair jumped over Zack in pursuit of the cats. Katie’s swords stabbed downward on the backs of two of the cats, pinning them to the ground before they broke apart into dust. Sean’s katana came down like a guillotine as it separated a cat’s head from its body. For a moment, the head rolled on the ground before it faded into dust.

  Katie and Sean quickly recovered from their attacks and pointed their weapons at the rest of the pursuers. The group of cats still outnumbered them, but they were not deterred. In fact, the group felt confident as they readied their weapons for their enemies.

  “The rest of you, get going!” Katie called back to Austin and the rest of the squad. “We will handle these guys and catch up!”

  “Thanks! Be quick!” Maya called back as she continued to run.

  “Oh, I will be,” Katie said to herself as she smirked. She quickly turned to the rest of the group. “Sean and Zoe, you handle the frontline. Zack and I will provide you with support from the back.”

  The group nodded at Katie’s direction and moved into battle. Sean was the first to spring into battle. He swung his sword in calm slashes as he dashed through the cats. After each slash, he twisted his body around to slash at another cat. His goal was not to kill but instead to draw attention. His goal quickly worked as he found himself surrounded by four cats. This was part of his plan, though. With the cats surrounding him, he just had to worry about making small movements to dodge and attack.

  Zoe moved with considerably less finesse than Sean. She raised her shield in front of herself and pivoted her body until she had multiple cats in a straight line. Once she did, she kicked off the ground into a charge. Her shield slammed into cat after cat as she ran forward. She, too, managed to draw the attention of four cats with her charge. Once her momentum slowed, she threw the other side of her body forward and skewered one of the cats with her spear. The rest of the cats tumbled to the ground from her momentum as the skewered one fell limp.

  The cats were not deterred by Zoe’s charge. Instead, they scattered around her and cracked their tendrils against the ground. Once they were in position, they did not pounce. Instead, their tendrils shot through the air like whips at her. She managed to block the assault from one of the cats with her shield, but the tendrils of the other cats cracked against her skin. As the stinging pain of the tendrils accumulated, her shield began to lower and let more strikes through. She soon found herself in a torrent of pain.

  Katie knew it was her turn to help as her best friend was holding the attention of their enemies. Even with her friend in trouble, she could not help but smile. She finally got to see what her new weapon could really do. As the cats were distracted by their attacks on Zoe, Katie flung one of her swords at one of them. The cat was not as distracted as Katie thought and quickly jumped backward from the blade. As the blade pierced into the ground, Katie’s body started to cover itself in purple smoke and sink into the ground. She emerged from the shadow of the sword and quickly tore it from the ground. She quickly followed up with a lunge forward and stabbed the sword into the cat’s head, letting go of the sword as it landed.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  As the remaining two cats shifted their attention towards Katie, a new sword formed in her hand. Now that it was two on two, they could easily deal with the beasts. Zoe smiled as her partner covered her back. A sense of relief washed over her now that Katie was there. Then Zoe and Katie each charged at one of the cats.

  Zoe raised her shield once more and blocked tendrils that whipped and cracked at it. When the cat realized that its tendrils were ineffective, it pounced towards her. Zoe focused her Essence into her shield arm as the cat’s weight landed against the shield. For a moment, the weight made her falter, but she quickly threw her shield arm forward and knocked the cat aside. As the cat landed on the ground, Zoe already pierced her spear downward into its head.

  As Katie charged the cat, its tendrils pursued her and tried to stop her from drawing near. Katie did not stop moving forward as the tendrils whipped towards her. Instead, she slashed with her two swords at the tendrils and cut them to pieces. She moved like a whirlwind of blades, creating something like a barrier against the tendrils. When the cat realized its tendrils were not working, it pounced at Katie. She quickly moved to dodge the attack, but one of her hands was caught by the claw of the cat. Her sword was thrown to the side by the attack, and for a moment, she lost her balance. The cat quickly tried to capitalize on the opportunity and slashed with its claws at her. She managed to block the attack just in time before the cat slashed with its other claw. As the claw came towards Katie, another sword formed in her now free hand. The sword and the claws clashed against each other; neither of the two gave any ground.

  Katie was strong, but she could not rival the pure animalistic strength of an animal. Especially an animal that could use Essence. She soon found herself toppled over, and the cat was on top of her. The cat’s sharp teeth bit deep into her shoulder as she landed on the ground. Flesh tore out of Katie’s shoulder as it brought its head back once more to bite her. Just before the bite landed, purple smoke surrounded the two. Katie’s body sank into the ground, and the bite struck the ground. For a moment, biting the hard ground left the cat in a daze.

  As the cat left its daze, Katie was already attacking it. She used the shadow of her thrown sword to emerge and charge the cat. The cat turned at the last moment towards Katie to see her charge through it with both of her swords. Even after the cat went limp, Katie continued her charge a little longer before she pulled her blades free.

  ***

  Sean managed to keep the attention of the cats in a completely different way than Zoe. As tendrils came at him from all directions, he weaved his body through them like a dancer. The blade of his sword trailed behind him like a ribbon, stretching as it did. Eventually, the blade surrounded his body like a cage. As the cats continued to try to hit him with their tendrils, they were torn to pieces by Sean’s protective cage. When the last tendril broke apart, he snapped his sword with a swing, and the cage unraveled. The blade moved in a wide swing around his body before it snapped back into its regular size and shape. The cats were just able to jump over the swing and avoid Sean’s counterattack.

  When the cats landed, a huge orb of flame fell on one of them. The cat was completely enveloped as intense heat radiated from the orb and filled the area. As the orb faded away, there was nothing left of the cat, not even the red and purple dust that typically appeared when one of the beasts was killed.

  The cats and Sean all turned to look at the source of the giant orb. Zack stood further up the hill and had his hand raised in the air. Wild flames were gathering in his hand before they condensed into an orb. Flames rose from Zack’s body into the orb as it grew larger.

  After watching their ally get incinerated, the cats recognized Zack as the main threat. They ran past Sean to attack Zack. In an attempt to stop the beasts, Sean whipped his sword in a wide arc. The sword stretched to hit all the cats, but only managed to hit one of their backsides. The attack barely scratched the cat, which it ignored as it focused on reaching Zack.

  As Sean’s sword snapped back into place, he ran after the cats. Zack’s attack was strong, but he could not do much when he charged it. It really only worked when their enemy was distracted. Sean had to gain their attention, or Zack would be in trouble. He desperately channeled Essence into his legs, more than he ever had before, to give him the burst of speed he needed to catch up.

  Even with Sean’s enhanced speed, the cats were able to reach Zack before him. Teeth sank into Zack as the cats pounced on him. Despite this, he managed to keep standing while cats hung off his body. Their teeth dug deeper and deeper into his body as he kept standing. The cats could not understand how he managed to keep standing and desperately tried to put more force into their bites.

  Sean looked at the sight with horror and tried to reach Zack to stop the cat’s assault. Despite Sean’s horror, Zack had a smile on his face. Sean could not understand how Zack was still able to smile.

  “Stay there, Sean!” Zack yelled out as flames stopped rising from his body. The massive orb was complete. “I got this.”

  “Wait, Zack! What are you doing?” Sean’s eyes grew wide with horror.

  Zack did not respond except with a wide smile. He lowered his hand, and the orb dropped on top of Zack and the cats. The orb dropped so quickly that the cats were unable to react. It enveloped all their bodies in intense heat and flames. For Sean, it felt like the orb burned forever as he watched his friend burn with the cats. When the orb finally faded, nothing was remaining in its place.

  “Zack!” Sean yelled out a pained screech. His eyes welled with tears as his usual calm demeanor broke.