I'm not going to lie.

Gymnastics is a lot more impressive than I thought it would be. I'm not really that used to watching this, I've barely even paid attention when the olympics were out but now that I'm seeing it in the flesh, I can't help but admit that I have absolutely no idea how these little kids are managing to do all these flips and jumps and hanging from the bars and rings and what have you.

And as for why I'm watching?

Well, I had to check on the new teacher of this gymnastics school, see if I have to take care of another one after I helped the previous one take his erotic auto-asphyxiation to the next level.

New one's clean as far as I can tell. I observed him for a couple days while Marina and Reiko were training together with the goal of being ready to face the Corruptor when it finally did emerge, and so far he's immoral, but not a degenerate, since he is vastly more interested in banging his students' mothers than he is in the students themselves.

No objections on behavior either. Absolute master of spotting and has reflexes I'm starting to suspect might be on par with mine, because he's caught three kids that bounced off with his hands and managed to help them land on his feet, caught a few more and bled off their momentum with his own body and managed to move the safety mat to catch five bad jumps.

I'm also starting to realize just how incredibly dangerous gymnastics is, especially with rambunctious schoolchildren that hadn't had good instruction.

Either way, with the monster destroyed and the replacement apparently clean, I moved on and went on to check on Marina and Reiko, who, again, were hanging out with Marina's friends. I followed them for a while, but they were just buying things.

Pedophiles don't grow on trees and contrary to the fears of some crazed people, there isn't one every few steps waiting to hound children, so there wasn't much for me to do and I had no interest in their talk about the latest pop starlet who had a scandal when it was revealed he had a girlfriend.

When I was about to turn to leave, however...

It began.

A man crashed out of a jewelry store, hands on his head, his scream of pain turning into an angry roar as hands and then arms burst out from his back, tearing through his shirt and cheap suit jacket, his skin turning green, his body lifting in the air as six hands acted like legs, turning him into a spider monster.

People started screaming and running away, but as Reiko and Marina nodded at each other, diving behind a dumpster in a nearby alley, the monster was followed by a screaming woman coming out of a well known fast food restaurant, rolling on the floor before her chest opened up into a massive mouth and she fell on her back, her arms and legs twisting into spiraling knots as she began to crabwalk, spitting fireballs from the mouth in her chest, while her tongue in her mouth came out like a spear.

Reiko and Marina burst out already transformed into the alley.

They've both changed, I notice, what they looked like from before.

Marina is the most noticeable, her previous attire was a dress not really suited to fighting, but it had since become an armored dress, with a vest that looked somewhat like the flak vest of Reiko's costume, and the diadem on her head had become a visor, while her hair was no longer flowing freely and instead was tied behind her head in a ponytail when she transformed.

Reiko, meanwhile, had added a few frills to her bodyglove, including a short but effective skirt, and the edges of her armor on her arms, feet and shins had been rounded out and there were a few patterns in silver decorating her armor now.

All their training together is paying off, as well, because the two immediately leap into action, Marina no longer just staying back and taking potshots, instead, they fall into lockstep and Marina manages to never fall more than one step behind Reiko, and Reiko always knows exactly when to wait to give Marina that one step of time to catch up.

Dodging attacks from the spider monster, Reiko rolls under it and spins around like she was a capoeira master, her weapon swinging like a whirlwind, choping the monster's extra hand-legs off, rolling out from under it just in time for it to come crashing down, while Marina leaped above it, her hands swinging her staff directly under her, and when she was in position, she launched a pink laser that struck the enemy and sent her flying high in the air, while the monster was slain on the spot, already shrinking back into human form.

A spear tongue almost went right through Reiko, but while that was happening, Marina fired from high up in the sky, which the crab monster reacted to by swallowing the beam with its huge mouth, only for Reiko to take that opportunity to rush in and put her bladed polearm through the monster's back slicing it nearly in half with a powerful spin.

The monster lit up and again began to shrink into the form of a human.

Reiko continued and finished her spin, slashing at the heart shaped crystal that appeared from the monster's corpse and Marina came down with a stomp on the other monster's crystal, crashing it like it was made of glass, which turned into light and was absorbed into her foot.

"Two at once... that's not normal."

I licked my paws and observed. The entire thing had lasted less than a minute, they had moved like a well oiled machine, but I could notice a slight hesitation... Marina should've had enough firepower that her attack should've ended the enemy outright. Reiko, on the other hand, was too willing to put herself at risk, going so close to her enemies, when she had a polearm that could put her in a more safe position.

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Perhaps their trust in each other could produce that sort of mistake? It's good to rely on each other but if they're too reliant on one another then they won't be able to trust that the other will finish the job.

Thoughts for later, because more screams erupted, and the storefronts began to burst, and even some of the people who were fleeing crashed to the ground, clutching their heads or chests and then bursting into twisted, disturbing monsters, more spiders, more crabs, huge musclebound red giants, masses of spiked tentacles, etc.

Well then.

The girls were shocked at the sight.

I...

Felt liberated.

A weight was off my shoulders.

I don't like killing. Enjoyment of the act is not why I do what I do. I hate predators, I hate monsters, I hate those that would prey on children, I hate the worst of man, that would devour and spit out the innocent and vulnerable. I hate those who are like the people who took away the only good thing there was in my life, when I died then I made a promise that I would take as many down with me as I could.

But these?

These aren't my prey.

These don't create complicated feelings in me. These don't make me think about whether I should or shouldn't enjoy myself, nor do they cause me to become conflicted about whether I should be upset or glad not to find them when I hunt. But that didn't matter now, not with these monsters.

These monsters?

They won't die if I kill them.

So as Marina and Reiko are steeling themselves to the challenge of the dozen or so monsters that have taken over the shopping district, I leap off the rooftop I was observing from, and then dash into the gathering horde of monsters.

As they noticed and turned to attack, I turned it up.

No need to hold back anymore. One, two, three, four bounds until I was in melee range of the first monster, a fifth bound saw me jumping up to roughly face level of one of the large red skinned hulks, and then my claws went right through its thick, reinforced red skin, splitting it and causing a gushing rush of black and bright red blood to horrify onlookers before my claws went right through its chest and on the way out ripped its crystalline heart out.

I planted my back legs on the soon to be corpse that would return to being a normal and kicked hard, sending it flying away even as I did the same in the other direction, letting my claws out and spinning around, slashing the incoming rush of spike tipped tentacles to shreds and then continuing to go right through another monster.

A spider came close, while a crab rushed to me, and they quickly found themselves no match for my claws.

I don't like killing.

It's not something I enjoy.

But the hunt excites me.

This body is built for this. I am the true predator. They are nothing but prey.

I can feel myself growing with every splash of blood on my fur. Cutting through, slashing them, breaking them open and exposing their hearts, slashing, slicing, crushing, breaking.

They are nothing to me.

Humans overcome by their own desires, become monsters when they are overwhelmed by their own darkness. They are corrupted, some were even good people who suppressed and repressed everything until it burst out.

But to me they might as well just be wheat for the scythes that were my claws.

It became increasingly easier, even as more monsters appeared from all over the place. I left behind me a bunch of people, bodies, some naked, some covered in shreds of clothing, others bloodied as the spray of blood and guts and gore got all over them.

Weak!

Pathetic!

Just like all the rest!

Not one of them is a challenge, not one of them can offer even a momentary stop. The spiders are barely up to eye level as I catch one in my mouth and drink its blood as I chew on it, my jaws tearing through its weak, rubbery flesh before I spat it away.

A hissing and screeching roar heralds my leap into a throng of creatures, and my tail my claws and my head smash into all of them, shattering all of my enemies and leaving nothing in my wake but crushed bodies and broken hearts.

"Kuro!!"

I turn to face the small things...

I'm wreathed in the blood of monsters, my heart is thrumming in my chest and beating like a drum in my ears, every bit of movement is making me react, I find myself as twitchy as one can be.

The two girls approach me, their weapons in hand, Reiko resting her bladed spear on her shoulder, Marina using hers to poke at a pair of bodies. They were warm and breathing, I could tell.

I snorted, and blood came out through my nostrils.

"Are you okay?!"

Marina suddenly rushed like a bolt of lightning to my side, grabbing me by my shoulders, or at least close to them, and pulling me up to inspect me, heedless of the yucky gunk I was covered in. "They didn't hurt you did they?! Why I oughta-"

"He's fine, we're fine, and that was unbelievable... you were like a ball of fur and claws and destruction!" Reiko said, her eyes twinkling. "That was soooo cool!"

"Yeah! You were flying everywhere, leaping from monster to monster, cutting through them like a knife through butter! A very hot knife!" Marina said, standing up and raising me so that I felt like Simba. "You saved so many people, that was incredible!"

Did I?

Well, usually I kill people to save other, smaller people. But I am a superior being, it's only normal that humans recognize my awesomeness after all.

Speaking of which...

"Mewww..."

"Still... this was terrible," Reiko said, "with this many monsters coming out at once, the Corruptor must be about to awaken..."

Marina pulled me up to her chest and formed something of a basket with her arms, that I could sit on. The pink haired girl nodded. "This many monsters... it can only be the product of the Corruptor's power right?"

"Yes... it accelerates the development of the monsters by corrupting the hearts of the people. Anyone affected by it should go back to normal once the Corruptor is killed."

Marina nodded.

I got the feeling there was something I was missing here, something I wasn't privy to. I didn't eavesdrop on their private conversations, so I don't have any idea what it might be, but I have some suspicions.

Either way...

Thunder roared on a cloudless sky, and supernatural gray and black clouds began to form high above us. Near the far end of the shopping district was one of the oldest buildings in town, which from the rumors I've heard is a hotel that also houses a gambling den and might possibly be involved in prostitution.

The clouds were circling that building. Of course.

A corruptor, a creature of forbidden desire... would be in the place where those desires are allowed to run rampant, and where people are consumed by them more than anywhere else.

The end of it all was in sight, the eye of the storm was before us, and it was time for the girls to face their greatest challenge yet.

I could feel my fur standing on end, and the sense of danger is growing as I realize that what awaits us is absolutely nothing like the monsters I could fight with such ease.

It might be time for me to really embrace my role as these girls' guardian beast.