“Human. Tell me what the dwarf and the black-haired one did by the wall.”

In an instant, the Warden had sprung toward us and wrapped a claw around Bran’s throat, lifting him up off the floor. Bran struggles to peel the Warden’s hand away but it’s no use—the Warden is far too strong. The elf guard, Ginger, scrambles away from the scene on her hands and knees, tears in her eyes from being thoroughly berated by Bran for seemingly no reason.

Apparently, despite being in charge of this whole prison, the Warden has no idea what's up with the mist and metal bunnies either. He seems to think we might’ve done something to make them appear though. I thought it was just the horned rabbits getting their revenge on me, but... I’m starting to think Mei-Mei messing with that panel really did set off that mess after all. Now the Warden is desperate to find out exactly what it was she actually did. And the one he’s trying to strangle that information out of is...

“I... didn’t see...” Bran croaks from underneath his grasp.

Sniffing the air—the Warden’s eyes narrow.

"That was a lie," he growls, tightening his grasp on Bran's neck. "I told you, no more lies."

“....” Bran silently gurgles back, hanging helplessly at the mercy of the Warden.

“It seemed like you remembered something in your talk with my subordinate, so I’ll ask you one more time. What did those two do by the wall to cause the red mist and the metal creature to appear? And if you lie to me one more time, you will regret it.” The Warden loosens his grip just enough to allow Bran to squeak out a reply.

“... I’ll... regret it...? Of course I will... Nothing good ever happens to me... I feel like every decision I’ve ever made ends up with me regretting it in some way or another...” Bran croaks, somehow still finding a way to complain despite the position he’s in.

“So if I’m going to regret it either way...” Bran returns the Warden’s fiery glare with a glare of his own. “I’d rather regret siding with the gorilla and the zombie.”

Unlike the Warden’s glare, Bran’s is full of fear. Tears stream down his face and snot runs from his nose. He’s scared—terrified of the Warden. And yet...

“Pepper and Mei-Mei... didn’t do anything,” he lies.

Lame...

Super lame. How lame can you get? How could you even let this happen? How can this crying, snivelling, snot-nosed weakling of a human be just so... so...

So much damn cooler than you right now, Pepper?! I won't allow it!

The Warden snarls, tightening his grip on Bran's neck—the fur on his thick, muscular arm starts to stand and prickle outward.

“Human, you—”

I bite down on the Warden’s arm. Hard.

“—!” He drops Bran in surprise at suddenly having thirty-two tiny daggers tear into his fur and flesh.

“Fwahaha!” I laugh, a mouth full of blood and fur. “Bebba Braff iff a woma— Fweh!”

Before I can deliver my super cool signature line, the Warden has already started beating down on the top of my head with his free hand. Each strike feels like it could shatter stone. Luckily for me, Pepper Black is a woman who is very hard-headed!

Quickly realizing his strikes are doing nothing but pushing my little razor blades deeper into his arm, he grips the top of my head with a huge paw, digging his claws into the sides of my head in an attempt to crush my skull.

Unfazed—I bite harder. As far as skull-crushing goes, I've had worse noogies from my sisters.

The Warden is strong. Very strong. But he’s holding back. I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose or if he even realizes he’s doing it but muscles don’t lie. And the Warden’s muscles are telling me that there’s a lot more crushing power in there somewhere.

Finally reacting to the situation, the other guards surround the two of us with weapons pointed. They don’t look like they want to make a move just yet though. I guess they’re scared about getting in the Warden’s way.

“Tch. Get her off. Hurry up.” The Warden clicks his tongue and holds his outstretched arm out in front of him—a clingy little demon still hanging off of it.

“Y-Yes, sir!” A guard steps forward and thrusts a spear at my body—before tripping and falling to the floor. “Guh—!? What the...?”

“Keh-heh-heh!” Mei-Mei cackles as she holds the guard's foot from behind. “The taller they are...”

Mei-Mei! She tripped the guard before he could attack me! Fwah~! I don’t need that cute elf anymore! This dead dwarf is the only woman for me!

“Disgusting freak!”

“Kuh—!”

Another guard runs over and punts Mei-Mei off of his comrade, sending her rolling across the floor. Seeing that, I immediately tear myself off the Warden’s arm and he grunts in pain. With my mouth still full of fur and blood—I spit. Aiming at the one who kicked Mei-Mei, the gore-dart slices through the air, splashing through the opening in the guard’s helmet. He immediately collapses to the floor, clawing at his eyes in pain.

“Nobody kicks my future wife!” I shout, blood dripping from my mouth.

“I’ve made no such future arrangements!” Mei-Mei complains from somewhere behind the crowd of guards. From the sounds of it, she seems uninjured. She is a corpse after all...

A third guard rushes in from the side, intending to take me by surprise. As he lunges with his spear, a glass bottle suddenly shatters against his helmet—seemingly out of thin air—drenching him in a strange yellow liquid. The guard instantly collapses to his knees, retching on the floor in disgust.

Sniff sniff.

“Fwaha! It’s pee!” I laugh, sniffing the air. “It’s Bran’s pee! Nice one, Bran!”

So that’s why he was collecting empty bottles in his room! I started to think it was because he didn’t want me following him into the bathroom anymore but it turns it he was purposely weaponizing his own bodily fluids this whole time! Smart!

“How?! How do you know it’s mine by smell alone?!” Bran complains croakily as he crawls away. “And that wasn’t me! I mean, it is mine, yes, but I didn’t throw anything! Don’t pin that on me! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

Fweh? If it wasn’t Bran, who’s throwing bottles of Bran’s pee around? Fwah! Maybe it’s some kind of guardian angel of Curse Ward or something! If it is, I bet she’s cute!

Wising up, the other surrounding guards all shift to an attack stance at once—and then promptly lower their weapons again. A sudden wave of fear washes over their faces as they step back nervously.

“Fwahaha! Giving up already? Even goblins have more guts than you weak—!”

“Enough!”

I duck—a wave of hot air rushing over the top of my head.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Sensing an attack behind me, I ducked on pure instinct. My back muscles are starting to twitch with uncontrollable anticipation. It looks like he’s finally taking this a little more seriously...

I turn around to find the Warden—on fire.

“... Fweh?”

I watch as fire slowly spreads its way up his arm—the one that I had bitten—and stop at his shoulder, licking at the scar across the side of his face. A very unhappy face. One with a very nasty snarl. Hm? Or maybe he’s not snarling? Maybe he’s smiling? It’s hard to tell when he looks like a wolf. Maybe he’s actually really happy? Happy that—

I duck again—avoiding a furry, flaming claw slicing across the air above me.

Yup! Definitely a snarl!

Hopping backwards, I give myself a quick body check. My hair’s a little singed but my clothes are undamaged. Phew! I don’t think I could take another super cute outfit being ruined...

Fweh? What am I supposed to do about the Warden though? I don’t know why he suddenly burst into flames like that but I don’t like the look he’s giving me. It’s the look of someone who doesn’t care about ruining somebody’s super cute outfit. Looking at the state of his uniform doesn’t exactly reassure me either. His jacket and shirt are nothing more than a smouldering pile of ash at his feet at this point...

“Ah!” I point at the Warden with both of my pointing fingers. “I can see his nipples! That’s sexual harassment, right? Nipples are sexual harassment, right? Hey, Mei-Mei! Are nipples—!?”

I’m interrupted by another flaming fist, lightly grazing the tip of my nose as I nimbly duck back to avoid it. The Warden’s claw slams into the floor in front of me—sending large cracks across the stone beneath our feet and snaking up the walls.

Taking a quick look around—the other guards have backed away from the flaming wolfman and are nervously inching their way towards the exit on the other side of the room. Bran is crawling along the floor, trying to take shelter underneath a table. And Mei-Mei is sitting against a wall with a blank face, seemingly unfazed by the sudden— No, wait. She’s... She’s playing dead! She’s pretending to be a corpse to not draw the Warden’s attention! Well, she isn’t really pretending, I guess...

Pulling his fist from the floor, the Warden prepares to swing at me again.

Mm! Guess I have no choice!

“Fwahaha! Pepper Black is a woman who never backs down from a fight! Bring it!”

The Warden charges—and I swiftly turn around and run the other direction.

Fwahaha! Pepper Black is also a woman who values the importance of fashion! There’s no way I’m letting my cute sailor uniform anywhere near that burning cloth-killer!

Pumping my legs, I start doing laps of the huge circular prison wing—the Warden literally hot on my heels. It’s a good thing the Curse Ward is so spacious. It gives me a lot of room to work with!

As I get closer to finishing another lap, I notice I’m coming up on Mei-Mei again, still playing dead against the wall. Perfect!

I undo the ribbon around my collar and toss it to Mei-Mei as I pass by her.

One down!

I keep sprinting around the room, my flaming pursuer not letting up one bit. As I complete another lap of the prison wing, I undo my belt and toss it over Mei-Mei’s unmoving body as I pass by her once more.

That’s two!

I’ve decided, if I want to fight the Warden, I can’t do it with clothes on. I can’t risk losing them to those flames. Once I hand off all of my precious clothes to Mei-Mei, I’ll finally be able to turn around and beat the heat off of this guy!

Now... What’s next?

Coming up on my third lap—I jump, leaning forward into a somersault as I slip both my skirt and panties off in one swift movement before landing back on my feet, hitting the ground running. I toss the pair on top of Mei-Mei as I pass by her again.

A double! Nice! Just one left!

I feel a rush of hot wind at my bare butt cheek as the Warden takes a swing at me—just barely out of reach.

Fweh! He’s a lot closer now but all that’s left is my shirt. If I can get that off, I can finally go all out! Just one more lap...

Nearing my fourth and final lap, I pull my shirt off and hold it out in my clenched fist.

Fwah~! The rush of cool air feels nice against my bare chest!

Approaching Mei-Mei, I toss my shirt onto the pile and... Hm?

Feeling an uncomfortable niggling in the pit of my stomach, a sudden realization crosses into my thoughts. Words once uttered by my own mouth echo around in my mind.

Nipples are sexual harassment, right?

I look down at the little pink nubs standing tall and unashamed on my own exposed chest.

Nipples are... sexual harassment, right?

Ah! But I’m only into women! In a room full of men, it’s not sexual harassment if I’m not interested in them, right? Mm! That’s how that works! And Mei-Mei’s fine because we’re already on the same level as sisters who even take baths together! Not that we’ve actually done that though... Yet.

So! As long as no other woman sees my nipples, I'm fine! It's not sexual harassment! Because there are no other women in—!

From the corner of my eye, I notice a cute elf guard, staring wide-eyed in shock at the scene in front of her. It’s Ginger. A woman.

“N-no, wait! It’s not like that!” I splutter, waving my hands in front of my chest as I run past her. “These aren’t sexual harassment nipples! These are self-defense nipples!”

“You already crossed that damn line when you took your panties off, you naked idiot!” Mei-Mei suddenly complains, bursting out from underneath the pile of my clothes. As she does, a pair of pretty, yellow panties flies out in front of her—cute little bears printed on the front and back. “Ah...”

I glance behind me. Without breaking stride, the Warden swats the delicate fabric away with a flaming claw. I watch as the yellow turns to black and then explodes in a mist of ash. Just like that, the panties were no more. Cute little bears and all.

...

Unforgivable...

I flex my calves to their limits, pumping them even harder than before as I continue my sprint around the room—gaining more and more distance on the Warden at my back. The ground cracks and crunches beneath my toes, kicking up pieces of the stone floor behind me. With every stride, my steps become more and more forceful as the anger builds inside me. Taking a quick glance at the Warden far behind, I notice something else shifting slightly in the corner of my eye. Something in the ceiling.

Unforgivable...

Making a sudden sharp turn, I sprint towards the centre of the prison wing instead, leaving the Warden in my dust. Darting over tables and chairs, I make my way to a certain, oddly-empty space in the middle of the room. Shooting a glance up at the ceiling, I confirm that I’ve run in the right direction. Flexing every muscle in my leg to its absolute limit—I take one last step.

“Unforgivable!” I bellow, slamming my foot into the floor.

The room shakes as cracks instantly spread across the entire floor, creeping up the walls and reaching the ceiling. Spinning on my planted foot, I grind to a stop and turn to face the charging wolfman as he recklessly scrambles into a turn, making his way toward me in the distance.

“Bran!” I call out across the Curse Ward for the frail human man.

“... W-what?” a meek voice replies from beneath a nearby table.

“Oh, there you are... How many ribs does a wolfman have?” I ask, eyeing the ceiling above me as the Warden charges closer, swatting away the obstacles in his way.

“E-eh? T-twenty-something, I think...? Why?”

“Twenty, huh... Ah. It’s finally falling.” Not taking my eyes off the ceiling, I feel the heat of the Warden’s flames close in. Roaring, he lunges toward me with a fiery claw. As he does, I hold my arms out above me and grip what should have been nothing but empty air. Except...

Descending from the ceiling, something wide and metallic plants itself firmly in my awaiting hands. Flexing all the muscles in my upper body to their limits—I swing it around.

BONK.

The Warden is flung across the room in an instant, his body barrelling across the floor and into an empty cell, bending and snapping the metal bars in the path of his collision course and hitting the back wall with a heavy thud. A mist of blood hangs in the air momentarily, before being swept away by the resulting wind pressure of the impact.

I look over the metal object in my hands—a table. One of the large metal dining tables that litters the main room. More specifically, it was the one in the ceiling. The one I had suplexed on my very first day here. I noticed it budging slightly in my chase with the Warden from the corner of my eye. It must’ve come loose when he punched the floor before, so I slammed my foot down to dislodge it the rest of the way out.

Sure, I could have just used any old table. But it was way cooler this way! It felt better too!

I set the table gently down on the floor and give it a light pat—ignoring the weird, wolf-shaped indentation moulded onto its surface.

“Oh? Is it over? Did you do it?”

Mei-Mei wanders over to me and hands me my clothes while glancing across the room towards the Warden’s cell. Taking them gratefully, I get dressed again. Re-tying the ribbon across my shirt and buckling the belt around my waistband, my outfit is back and as cute as ever! Minus the cute yellow bear-panties, of course...

“Don’t ask that!” Bran complains, crawling out from underneath his table. “On a list of things you should never say after a fight, that line is number one! Do you want the Warden to get back up again?!”

“Keh! How stupid! As if me simply asking that is going to... Ah...”

Mei-Mei trails off mid-sentence as she gazes over into the Warden’s cell. The flickering orange glow of the Warden’s flame hasn’t gone out. In fact, it’s getting brighter. Brighter and brighter—the Warden’s flames eventually cover the entirety of the single cell, licking at the entrance as if desperate to escape the confines of its cage.

A fiery claw emerges from the fire and grips hold of a metal bar. The metal bends and melts under the heat of the wolfman’s flame as he pulls himself from the debris, a burning rage clouding his eyes—more intense than the flames now engulfing the entirety of his body.

Ah. I should’ve realized it sooner. It’s only just hitting me now. Who I’m really fighting...

Clawing his way out of the cell, the Warden—no, Wrath—lets forth an ear-splitting howl.