'This whole building is a fucking illusion.'

The realization hit me so hard that the tears I had so far managed to keep in check despite all the pain rushed to my eyes. The thugs hadn't backed me into a corner; I hadn't run into a dead end, I... which one of those bastards was it? Wait, what was the name the little fat male used before?

'Stom! That was him, wasn't it?'

That was the name of the illusionist, the one who got out of that damn alley. 'Wasn't it enough that he tried to kidnap me once?'

»You fucking weasel!« I growl, trying to get up and use my might. Right there, beyond the illusion, was my way out. All I had to do was stall the humans for a moment, to strike fear into their hearts for a few breaths.

None of that happened, though.

For whatever reason, despite all my desperation and rage, not an ounce of my beast might fell on the street, nor did I get back on my feet. Instead, I threw up and watched in utter helpless horror as both humans, Bouncer and Workhand, landed on me, pinning me to the ground.

»Get off me!« I screamed in pain and despair, doing my best to get out from under them, but their weight and my burns were too much.

"S-stop str-ruggling, cu-nt!" the big human growled, clearly pissed, smelling of shit, still bleeding and having trouble speaking. All the scratches and bites I gave him weren't enough to make him understand that he shouldn't mess with me.

"Yeah, stop, miss. We don't want to hurt you," the younger added, the sincerity in his voice quite startling. 'Was he serious?'

»Then let me the fuck go!« Of course, they didn't understand my snarl. The least of my problems, though.

"I s-said st-top!" the big stupid human barked, pounding his fist into my back, nearly knocking the wind out of me. "Bo-oss, we g-got her."

"Yeah, boss."

"Fucking finally," the fat little male growled, his squeaky voice drawing my attention to him and especially the accursed thing in his hand, glittering as if the light of the magic lamps itself were drawn to it. Just my imagination, for sure. Seeing him approaching, however, with the collar - well, something primal shifted within me, and it wasn't the beast.

'No! No, no, no, no! Please!'

Fear. A fear so powerful flooded my body that I wouldn't have minded turning into a full beast right now. Even for good. Better than having that collar around my neck again.

»No! No, leave me alone!« Yet, no matter how much I struggled back, my fangs and claws stayed out of reach of the two human males lying on top of me. 'Come ON! Please!'

»Come out, you stupid beast!« But not even the roar made my inner ferocity take over. Instead, like before, my stomach turned upside down, and I barfed a little.

"Ba-lls! Wha-t a sten-nch... can y-you hurr-rry up, boss."

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'Why? Fucking why?'

"Don't fucking tell me what to do!" shrieked the little fat human male, almost tripping over his chubby little legs in his rage. "Or is that little wench too much for you?"

'Was it the tail? The way the young male yanked me by it?'

"No, b-boss. Just..."

'Sage?' Once the realization hit me, I didn't wait a second. Even though it hurt, the aftermath of that yank and burns, I shifted my tail up along my back to the heads of the two humans and farted. My tail glands may not have released as much of the poison as they did after holding back my farts all day, but it was enough to engulf me and the two of them in an apple-scented orange cloud.

* You were poisoned

"Wh-what t-the...?"

"Apples? Poisoned?"

"Fucking idiot, take the antidote," the big male growled at the young one, the vial of liquid, what I could only assume was the antidote appearing in his hand. My chance had come. The moment he raised his hand to his mouth to uncork the bottle with his teeth and the same bottle appeared in the hand of the young human, I slammed my mind with [Indomitable Will] to keep myself from throwing up and mustered all my remaining strength to wriggle out of their grasp.

»Yes!« I squealed when, to my great relief, it worked like a charm. Better, actually. In my painful defiance, I practically shoved the bottle of antidote into the workhand's mouth, making him choke on it, and knocked out the one in the big human's hand without a drop wetting his lips.

"You cun-nt...!" He shouted before abruptly going silent, his hands shooting up to his neck, which I slashed with my claws. For a heartbeat, the urge to finish the deed came over me, to make sure he didn't take another breath, but as the young one rolled off me, coughing out the antidote he'd inhaled instead of swallowed, I jumped to my feet and without a second thought ran against the wall.

'Illusion.'

As I thought, I didn't hit the bricks face first. Instead, the whole house, or to be exact, the illusion of a house, rippled like a water surface and I found myself on the street I wanted to run away down in the first place.

»You!« My growl carried so much hatred that it caught me off guard, let alone the illusionist standing there. Already pale from the effort it took to keep up the illusion, he turned even paler when he saw me growl. Rightfully so. My blood boiled with rage.

'It was him. The illusions-wielding human from back then!' All of this was his fault. He was the one who kept the streets empty; he was the one who stopped me from escaping. 'If only I hadn't let him get away then.'

»ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!« No meaning behind the bestial roar, just pure rage coming from the very depths of me, the depths I remembered from my escape to freedom, a freedom I now stood to lose because of him. Misplaced rage? Perhaps. But one that pushed aside whatever was keeping me from shifting further. Instead of puking in my rush at him, I could feel my body embracing bestial change, my mind giving way to the ferocity slumbering within me.

"Tits! Hey! Hey, guys!" the human mage shouted, hastily releasing his magic and trying to hide behind it. "Don't let her near me!"

Of course, even though taken with rage, I wasn't stupid enough to stop just to kill him. Not when I had a bunch of thugs on my tail. That didn't mean I couldn't give him a few life-threatening grazes running past. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do that at all.

Just a few steps away from him, his legs already hidden by the illusion, mine shifted knee-high in bestial ones, the hairs on my entire body bristled, and I instinctively jumped aside with all my might. Had I done so a heartbeat later I would have tasted the scorching heat of fire once more. A ball of fire exploded where I stood.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I'm on fire, you dickhead!" wailed the illusions-wielding human, trying to extinguish his clothes.

But my attention was on the fire-wielding human, moving incredibly fast, cutting off my escape route, his hands on fire. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come to this. If only you all..."

»Fuck you!«

"...just listened." When he finished his words, he moved again. Instead of the magic I expected to come, however, he appeared by me, his fist striking me in the face before I could even react. A hurt whimper escaped my lips as the searing pain seemed to penetrate all the way into my skull. Thankfully, my mind was taken by the darkness as he punched me again.