Over half of the lion girls followed their Kaiju, leaving a small portion of them behind. A cacophony of growls echoed in the air.

  The Kaiju rushed towards Aisling. She turned towards the galloping lion girl and spitted out a torrent of acidic saliva. The lion girl stopped mid run, crying out in agony. Her screams morphed into a gurgle as the liquid dissolved her golden fur and ate into the flesh beneath. She stumbled, her paws losing traction on the grass, and crashed to the ground.

  The other lion girls were still behind her, so they were spared from her collapse. Still, they continued chasing Aisling mindlessly. We dropped our invisibility mutations since they clearly weren’t a threat.

  Aisling didn’t hesitate. The massive turtle Kaiju lunged forward, dashing towards the crying lioness. She planted a foot next to the lion girl and lifted her with both hands. The lion girl thrashed, her claws scrabbling uselessly against Aisling’s thick plastron.

  Aisling clamped her jaws onto the lion girl’s shoulder. There was a delightful crunch as bone gave way. Because of our soul link, it was like I was directly biting into the lion girl. Aisling tore a massive chunk of the meat free. She chewed, savoring the unique flavor. She grinned, drool and blue blood dripping from her maw.

  “She tastes weird,” Aisling said, wiping her mouth of the Kaiju blood. She took another bite, this time ripping into the exposed neck. “Weird, but good.”

  I agreed. The fur and skin tasted like a high-quality steak, but the insides… they tasted exactly like pork.

  “Steak and pork?” I wondered, watching her chew. That was weird. Cows tasted like steak, and pigs tasted like pork. Lion girls were neither cows nor pigs. Then again, most of the flavors I tasted from monster girls weren’t associated with the actual food.

  Some of the smaller girls ran towards us, even though Aisling was closer. I licked my lips. Hey, at least breakfast is coming towards us. My hair tentacles reached out, grabbing a swath of lion girls. I tossed a couple in my mouth, tasting their fur.

  Crunch. The taste of porky blood flooded my tastebuds. As I swallowed, I made sure to feed Samsara’s hair snakes. Each one pounced on the restrained lion girl. Venom knocked them out as they were sent down the snakes’ undulating bodies.

  Some of the lion girls attacked Aisling as she was eating, but they weren’t able to do anything against her reptilian legs and feet. I scooped more of them up with my hair tentacles, and continued to feast.

  The rest of the horde panicked. After ferociously trying to kill us, they each scattered off into different directions.

  One lion girl tried to scramble up a ridge. I lashed out with my hair tentacles, snagging her and others around their torsos. She yelped as I yanked her into the air. Unlike with the Monster Purifiers, I didn’t bother with flair. I popped her into my mouth and crunched down.

  “Aisling was right,” I thought, savoring the meal. “This is gourmet stuff.”

  I actually hadn’t ever been to a gourmet restaurant before. Mom couldn’t afford it. And neither could I after I started living in Utlond. Plus, as a monster girl, I had no reason to eat human food.

  Samsara’s hair snakes struck out, each one engulfing a fleeing lioness. The venom acted instantly. The lion girls went limp as they were swallowed.

  “Here,” I thought, grabbing two more lion girls who were trying to hide in a thicket. I lifted them toward Samsara’s snakes. “Open wide.”

  The snakes hissed, and I took that as a sign of gratitude.

  “We should save some of them for the village,” Samsara called out as Aisling finished devouring the last of the Kaiju lion girl.

  Sure. At least my worshippers will gain souls, and so half of them will go towards me via worship.

  “Sure!” Aisling chirped. “I bet Nara would be so proud of me after I bring her some food.”

  We chased down the rest of the lion girls. Aisling got down on all fours, letting her lure capture lion girls. She picked up a lion girl with her imitation clone, and brought it up into the air. Her clone bit into the head of the feral monster girl, leaving them unconscious after she ate their brain.

  I went with a much ?simpler approach. My hair tentacles whipped through the air like blades and sliced through the necks of the fleeing pride. Several bodies dropped to the ground.

  Minutes later, we had hunted down the rest of the lion girls. Aisling caught up to us, as I scooped up the corpses with my tentacles. She was carrying a dozen lion girl corpses in her hands.

  I turned my head and planted a firm kiss on Samsara’s lips. She stiffened for a microsecond before melting into it, her eyes fluttering shut. Our hearts raced as the kiss went on.

  “I love you,” I projected into her mind.

  “I love you too,” she replied, a flush rising on her cheeks as I pulled away.

  Meanwhile, Aisling was intently staring at us. I didn’t turn towards her since I shared her senses with the soul link. Her clone mimicked her expression perfectly. It wasn’t disgust, but it wasn’t a good feeling either.

  “Is she jealous?” I asked Samsara. “Or is she just staring?”

  “I think she misses Nara,” Samsara said, her mental voice heavy. “Seeing us like this... physically fused, always touching, sharing a mind... it probably highlights how far apart she is from Nara physically. They have such a huge size difference, and she can only hug Nara with her lure. We’re lucky, Ramona.”

  “I know,” I said, squeezing Samsara’s waist. “I’m glad we’re stuck together. I wouldn't want it any other way.”

  “It makes me feel guilty,” Samsara admitted. “We have everything we want. She’s stuck here out alone without Nara, being forced to watch us be lovers.”

  “She’s not forced to watch us,” I pointed out. “We’re not making her do anything.”

  “Still, it doesn’t feel right,” Samsara said, swiping away my semantic corrections. “We should go back. Let her see Nara.”

  “Okay.”

  We hauled the carcasses back to the village. Aisling and Samsara carried several in their hands, while I used my hair tentacles to hold the rest in a giant floating pile behind my head.

  As we crossed the invisible threshold into the valley, the sudden shift of empty wilderness to the new modern Lateo greeted us. The sun was at its peak, shining directly above the village.

  Nara was the first to spot us. She was waiting near the river, pacing back and forth. When she saw Aisling’s massive form appear, she let out a squeal of delight.

  “You’re back!” Nara shouted, waving her arms.

  Aisling smiled. She dropped the fleshy meat into open baskets at the entrance of the village. She bent downwards and dropped her hand to the ground. Nara didn’t hesitate; she ran straight onto Aisling’s hand.

  Aisling’s brought her upwards to her clone. Nara immediately jumped towards her, opening her arms for an embrace in midair. She wrapped herself around the imitation clone.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “I brought breakfast!” Aisling announced through the clone, returning the hug. “Though I probably ate more than I brought.”

  “That’s okay!” Nara beamed. “We’re just glad you’re safe.”

  We dumped the lion girl corpses into the rest of the baskets. Several of the villagers swarmed around, their eyes wide at the abundance of meat.

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara,” a group of them chanted.

  “I worship Ramona and Samsara.”

  The familiar warmth of mana flooded our Cores.

  Several of the villagers went back to their homes to eat their breakfast in peace. Meanwhile, a small group of monster girls approached us. Leading them was Irene. She looked different today. She wore a green dress that was open at the back, allowing her to fully extend her brown falcon wings.

  “Hello,” Irene said, looking up at us. Her wings ruffled, feathers shifting in the breeze.

  “Hey, Irene,” Samsara said, leaning down slightly. “Hungry?”

  “A little,” Irene admitted, glancing at the pile of lion girls. “But… that’s not why I came over.”

  Aisling stepped over, still holding Nara’s with her lure. “What’s going on?”

  Irene took a deep breath. “I want to go back out. Not for a hunt, exactly. I want to explore the Wild Lands again. I… I’m tired of being cooped up here. The valley is safe, and I appreciate that, but I can’t stay here. I need the sky.”

  Memories came flooding back. Halinka and Eivor used to have a curfew placed on the whole village. I knew why Irene and the others were here. They wanted our permission to leave the village.

  Samsara didn’t even blink (even though she could unlike most snake girls). “Sure. You’re free to leave.”

  Irene blinked, and then let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. You are so kind.”

  Kind. That was what I wanted others to see me as when I was pretending to fit in. As a Kaiju, I had less of a need for it, but it turned out to be still beneficial for me. I know I was quite unkind to Halinka and Eivor before, but at least the whole village was worshipping me. And thus, I never needed to be unkind to this village ever since.

  I also had no reason to keep her here. All I cared about was that I got the mana and warmth from their worship. What they did with the rest of their lives was of no concern to me.

  Irene turned to her group, talking eagerly, and they took off, dashing towards the invisible barrier to the Wild Lands.

  A thought rose up inside of me.

  “What if she gets captured again?” I asked Samsara as I watched her shrink into a speck against the blue sky. “Wouldn’t that be awfully ironic? We just saved her, and then she gets captured again.”

  “Ramona!” Samsara panicked in my mind. “Don't think those thoughts! You’ll jinx it!”

  “I can’t control my thoughts,” I retorted, though I felt a pang of guilt at her anxiety. “At least I didn’t say it out loud.”

  “Don’t forget, we haven’t seen any of the Monster Purifiers in a while,” Samsara noted. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

  Speaking of the Monster Purifiers, I decided to take a look at Seraphina through our soul link. Seraphina was lying on her stomach on the bed, her golden wings flickering casually behind her.

  She was reading another story. It was about a sentient female snake and her life with a female caretaker. It immediately reminded me of Samsara.

  “Do all snakes remind you of me?” Samsara teased.

  “Yes,” I said. “I just find it fascinating that humans would write a story from the perspective of a female snake.”

  “Who knows, maybe they are secretly being written by monster girls,” Samsara conjectured. “Pretty weird that Seraphina keeps reading these kinds of stories.”

  Tears started pouring down Seraphina’s eyes as the caretaker sacrificed herself to protect the female snake. “What’s even weirder is that she’s getting all emotional over these fictional characters.”

  “I think that’s just you,” Samsara replied. I could feel memories bubbling inside of her mind when she used to read at her apartment. “Sometimes, it felt like I was living in those worlds when I read, instead of being trapped in our apartment. When a sad moment happened, it was like I was there experiencing it too.”

  “Huh, I had never seen you cry before about stories,” I noted.

  She stared into my eyes. “I only cried when you were gone—I made sure to wipe my tears and stop reading when I heard you enter.”

  Oh. A simmering of guilt rose up inside of me.

  A sharp knock echoed from the metal door of her room.

  Seraphina jumped—no, rather floated upwards. She nearly dropped her phone onto the bed. Seraphina quickly closed the app, floated back down, sat back up, and smoothed down her golden latex suit. She walked to the door and pressed a nearby panel to open it.

  A woman stood in the hallway.

  She was striking. Vibrant blue hair cut into a sharp bob and wore a deep purple dress that looked more like party wear than combat gear. She smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth.

  “Hi!” the woman cheered. “You must be Seraphina. Codename: Archangel.”

  Seraphina hesitated, leaning against the doorframe. “I am. Who are you?”

  “I’m Viola,” the woman said, stepping inside without being invited. “Another Unbound. My codename is Tesseract. Director Quinta sent me.”

  Seraphina stiffened. “Did the director come back?”

  “Nope,” Viola simply said. She scanned the room quickly, before focusing on Seraphina again. “She’s still dealing with issues at other sites. But she authorized my transfer here. Since you know… your last partner didn’t make it.”

  Partner? I didn’t know they were partners. They were clearly separate when I first met Seraphina. She didn’t meet him until she got back to the base.

  “Perhaps each outpost just has two Unbound?” Samsara asked.

  Perhaps. Or it could be that they only needed to send one Unbound, and kept another one to protect the outpost. They didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.

  Seraphina flinched. “Azar… er.. Lancelot.”

  “Right, Azar, and Lancelot was his codename,” Viola noted. “Unfortunate. But hey, a fresh start! I hope we can be friends. And I promise to protect you no matter what.”

  “I’m not the one that needs protecting,” Seraphina muttered.

  Viola tilted her head. “What was that?”

  Seraphina stammered. “I… honestly… I don’t have a good track record with partners.”

  “Well, I hope to change all that,” Viola said, bouncing on her heels like an excited child. Actually, that wasn’t quite right.

  Because Viola didn’t have any feet or heels. Instead, faint purple lights shimmered through the air where her ankles should have been.

  Viola stepped into Seraphina’s room, and then… went through her. Seraphina gasped.

  She turned around, and saw Viola exploring her room.

  Seraphina crossed her arms. “Is this your way of showing me?” She muttered another sentence under her breath. “Also, I didn’t invite you into my room.”

  “Yep! No Kaiju is going to hurt me!” Viola cheered.

  I was sure Samsara could petrify her.

  Seraphina spoke, dropping her hands to her sides. “How will that help in a fight though? We possess supernatural abilities, sure. But that just makes you invulnerable. It’s not going to actually help you kill a Kaiju. And it’s not the Tier 1 Kaijus I’m worried about. It’s the Tier 2’s and 3’s that scare me.”

  “She has a point,” I analyzed. “Unless this Viola girl is hiding something massive. Either she has stronger abilities, or she can make Seraphina stronger.”

  Viola smiled.

  She held out her hand. It began to glow with a pulsing, violet light.

  “Take my hand,” Viola said.

  Seraphina looked at the glowing purple aura. “Okay…”

  “Just trust me on this one,” Viola smiled.

  Seraphina stared at the hand. Anxiety rose up inside of her. Reluctantly, she reached out.

  Her fingers brushed Viola’s palm.

  A blinding purple light erupted in the room.

  Seraphina gasped, arching her back.

  Power surged through her. I felt it through the soul link. Her golden wings flared, turning violet. Her muscles locked tight.

  I was right, she was making Seraphina stronger.

  A voice answered her. Not mine.

  “Relax, Archangel,” Viola’s voice echoed in front of Seraphina. “We’re syncing.”

  A purple cube materialized in front of Seraphina, hovering at eye level. It rotated around, displaying images of different body parts on each of its faces. One face had a mouth, another two had eyes, and another two had ears. The last one had a nose.

  “This is… so weird,” Seraphina gasped aloud.

  I agreed with her. Another presence was inside of Seraphina’s body, and I could feel it. It was right next to the soul link, which was also weird since the link didn’t have a physical presence.

  A thought popped into my mind.

  I [Focused] the mana inside of Seraphina’s body around Viola’s presence. Two mana rings surrounded the [Sacrificial Soul Transfer] [Incantation]. Samsara and I both winced from the pain of losing some of our souls.

  The purple cube jerked in the air, freezing before falling to the ground. A moment later, a purple flash originated from Seraphina’s body. Immediately, she felt weaker.

  As the flash dissipated, Seraphina cried out. “Viola!”

  Viola’s body was lying on the ground.