<h4>Chapter 522: Be-Sides</h4>


    Kat watched warily, Chipped and Scratch were standing just outside of what was her easy attack range. They could react if she tried anything, and she could react if they did the same. For now, she was willing to take the chance to just wait it out. Her wing was getting close to beingpletely healed and her new set of wounds from getting back on her feet were not as serious as she''d first thought.


    Sure Chipped had gotten her back rather good but the muscles hadn''t beenpletely shredded. Quite a few had gotten cut of course, but a good chunk of them had been pushed aside. There wasn''t enough time for Chipped to… twist the knife as it were or ensure that the damage was deep enough to cause major issues.


    Her back muscles were working just fine and all the extra strength she had meant that Kat''s posture hadn''t suffered at all. *Maybe I should wait these guys out? Are they smart enough to recognise that I can heal? It''s not exactly clear… Can they even tell? No surely they must… but… hmm… maybe they''re not looking at the details?*


    Kat found herself, for the first time ever, slightly annoyed at the fact her body let liquids slide off of it. This meant of course, that the blood would quickly slide off once she''d been healed and never stuck of round. Theck of blood around wounds that by all rights should still be bleeding was a very clear indicator that the wound was no longer an issue. *I just have to hope that it''s not something they''ve noticed.*


    Chipped took a step forward and Kat started to bring up her arms in defence… only for the rat in question to instantly step back into position. The three stared at each other, and Kat tried not to let her relief show. A feint was much better then an attack, and the longer this went on the better she thought she''d be.


    *Of course… on the other hand this is burning a good deal of energy keeping my mind running at such high speeds. I wonder if the rats have the same issue? I''d guess not honestly. They probably just rely on instincts or whoever is controlling them. If Summoner can see through there eyes, they might be able to process things fast enough to react. I could believe that easily enough.*


    Before Kat could ponder that idea any long the air changed. It wasn''t anything clear, nothing physical, but she could tell something was different now. Kat pushed her aura into the air around her and found no resistance.


    *Dammit. I thought they must have activated an aura of some kind… but nothings there. It''s just mine. Should I press mine down?* Kat moved her own aura further trying to push it into the rats until she found herself hitting a brick wall.


    A normal sentient creature''s aura would be simr to a shroud. Something that is worn around the person slightly out from the skin. It can give way and push back and do many other things besides. An animal''s is simr to that, but wilder. Closer to either a me of protection that burns around the more predatorial creatures or a soft river that flows around the prey animals. Brushing aside concerns but ready to react to ripples.


    So when Kat''s aura met the metaphysical equivalent of a brick wall her instincts practically screamed ''bad thing'' at her. Unnatural. Unnerving. Immovable. Kat shivered slightly and the rats seemed to twitch forward in response but they still did not attack. Kat moved just a half step back, slowly, for their speeds at least, but before the move wasplete the rats had matched it. They stood apart. The exact same distance as before.


    Seeing this, Kat pursed her lips and tried to ignore the displeasing sensation she got from having her aura interact with the rats. She tried again, pushing into it but got no response at all. Like she was throwing a nket at a wall and watching it flop down afterwards. Steeling herself, she tried to hit it hard, mming the weight of her aura towards the rats'' own.


    They didn''t so much as twitch. But that was fine. Wasting time with this, was actually just more time to heal and Kat could tell that most of her damaged muscles were back. The skin would still be missing, but who needs that anyway…


    Kat drew back and tried a different tactic. Instead of repeated sharp hits, she pushed into the aura of the rats'' and just kept pushing, increasing the pressure, moment by moment, as much as she could. Nothing would give though, and the rats'' aura didn''t react in the slightest. It was as if she was nothing even worth mentioning. There had been no reaction at all. Even a wall being mmed at least vibrated slightly from the impact. There was no reaction at all.


    When that happened, Kat made, what she wouldter think was a mistake. Her shoulders slumped slightly, rxing just a bit as she reeled her aura back in somewhat swiftly. In this moment of lost focus Chipped and Scratch charged, using a speed as of yet unseen by any of the Guard rats.


    Before Kat knew what was going on, they were both on her, Chipped on the left and Scratch on the right. They had moved to trap her legs between their own sets and were now stabbing towards her at odd angles. Kat mmed her arms into them, trying to forced them off, but she didn''t really have any wind up, and the rats simply held on tighter to her legs.


    When her own arms made contact, the rats finished their own. Four distinct sets of ws dug into her sides causing Kat to let out a sharp hiss involuntarily. It wasn''t the damage that caused it but the air that was forced out of her in turn. Kat tried to turn herself, to spin and get the rats of her but she found her legs locked in ce far better then she expected. If Kat had the time, she''d see that the rats had actually shattered the stone and broken their own feet in the process to tie her and them in ce for this final showdown.


    With that n clearly busted, Kat wanted to say she didn''t freak out and acted rationally. Looking back on things, even with her memory though… she wasn''t entirely sure what happened. She sunk down into her instincts not trusting herself to make intelligent decisions at the moment as she panicked. Her instincts red with one goal in mind. Escape the trap.


    Kat burst into a flurry of movement, raking her nails across thickened fur and eyes, her body being torn up further as she struggled and moved in the rats'' grip. They simply took her abuse on the chin. Each digging in deeper, ripping and tearing more muscles as they went, and Kat''s ability to turn her upper torso for moment slowly started to fail her.


    Seeing that nothing was working, a new tactic was found. GO FOR THE EYES. A hand full of demonic energy impaled nail went straight for Chipped''s head. The rat didn''t do anything more than close his eyes. Kat''s hand entered the socket and didn''t stop. It wasn''t the eye that was needed, it was the squishy stuff beyond that. And the n worked… mostly. The brain was torn to shreds by the movement having only a very limited resistance being normally quite safe within a skull.


    That was one rat down… but it hadn''t actually removed the rat from her side, and Kat was in no state to actually question it. Still, she felt her mind clearing up just a little, enough to register Chipped was dead. Not for long though as the panic spread back in. Even if Kat didn''t fear dying in this moment, she did fear leaving the others behind to deal with everything or having the teleportation set off the crystal.


    Using what little remained of her muscles as Scratch started pulling upwards with his ws and doing yet more damage, Kat took both of her arms and mmed her hands across both ears stunning the rat and stopping further damage for just a moment. It was more then enough as both hands plunged into their own eye and Kat pierced Scratch''s brain.


    Seeing the light in the rat''s eyes go dim Kat came back to herself and back to the pain. She tried to breath in and gather her whits but felt blood in her lungs and couldn''t stop the cough that came out instead.


    *Shit I''m going to need a second here. I need to get these rats and their ws off of me and I need a moment to heal. There''s no two ways about it.*


    Kat proceeded to do just that, pulling the ws from her in a rather unsafe manner. Ripping them out and taking some small chunks of muscle and skin that had been nearby. Still, she didn''t care at the moment. They were out of her and the healing could really start. She was mostly just thankful in that moment, that she didn''t copse once the rats stopped supporting her.