Killa was the first to make a move as a large tidal wave of yellow tentacles spread out from her towards the cats.

The cheetahs jumped to the side, avoiding the tentacle wave, while the lions and the cougar braced against the wave, took the hit, and were restrained. The tigers, however, were caught mid-leap and were smashed into the ground.

Shadara aimed her bow at one of the tigers and fired. Her arrow dug through the huge animal’s skull, blowing out the back. I rushed towards the two cheetahs as I brought my arm blades up. With a swing, I forced both of them to retreat from me. They’re fast—almost as fast as me.

The second tiger was able to right itself and attempt to claw itself out. But Shadara’s arrow punctured a hole in its neck. It whined as it started bleeding to death. The lions and cougar tore through their restraining tentacles.

A cheetah swiped at me with its claws extended. I crossed my arm blades and took the blow, but the force of it still threw me backwards. I had my stinger arm pierce its paw at the time of impact, causing me to twist and half-tumble as I stayed attached to its paw.

It let out a pained yowl as it scurried on three legs while I dangled from the fourth. I extended a leg scythe from my calf until it reached past my foot. With a twist, I brought it up and severed the cat’s foot. Blood sprayed from the wound as I tucked into a roll, withdrawing my arm blades and leg scythe.

The second cheetah pounced, but I rolled to the side to avoid it.

Killa’s magic restrained the two lions again, but the cougar avoided the second batch of yellow tentacles. The massive cat darted right for Shadara, who dropped her bow and pulled out her quarterstaff. She was able to deflect the first swipe of its claws, but the second slapped her across the cavern floor.

My cheetah recovered and jumped towards me. I was too slow to react and was slammed onto my back with its paw on my chest.

I couldn’t get my stinger blades in position to counter, so I extended the blades in my arms and stabbed it. It let out a pained cry as it withdrew its paw and swiped at me. I was able to roll out of the way as it dug deep gouges in the stone.

I tried to swipe at it with all my arm blades and stinger arms in a whirlwind of rotating blades. Unfortunately, it was always just a step ahead. The first cheetah scampered off, yowling in pain and leaving a trail of blood.

That’s one less problem for now.

So I kept my focus on the cheetah, who always kept just out of my reach, but was quickly backing itself into a corner. I infused my muscles with my mana to speed up. Even with the sudden burst of speed, all I managed to inflict was a minor cut on its leg.

Just as its tail tapped the wall behind it, the cheetah bounced away and onto the wall. It used the wall as a springboard to jump over me. It landed behind me and pounced on me. I hopped to the side. I tried to twist around to stab it with my leg blade, but the cat swiped its paws around me and forced me to lean back and duck underneath it.

The cat then lowered its head and chomped down on my leg. It threw its head back and threw me into the air as it let go. Somersaulting in the air, I glimpsed Killa strangling a lion in a massive tentacle field while keeping it between her and the other lion.

Shadara wasn’t doing as well. She was in the midst of dodging the cougar’s claws and was only able to keep it at bay. Her staff was the only thing keeping the claws from shredding her. I noticed she was moving faster than usual, and her body was larger than normal too.

The cheetah raised a paw to slap me. I turned and tucked my legs in so that, just before the paw hit me, I pushed off the pad. The resulting momentum had me careening through the air at a nearly incomprehensible speed. I managed to aim myself at the cougar as it kept swiping at Shadara. I extended every blade, spun myself like a saw blade, and split through the cougar with a shower of blood and viscera.

Regrettably, I didn’t consider the landing. I tried to use my stinger arms to stop me, but they bounced off the ground with little effect. The same happened when I tried to use my leg scythes. My arms were the last attempt to fail before my face collided and slid across the stone floor. Parts of my face peeled off down to the bone. It took me hitting the wall to stop. A protruding crystal clipped my eye and split it.

Shadara ran over to me as I rolled over. “Rina, you okay?”

Half my vision was white, while the other half was inverted. Somehow, the impact disrupted the orientation of my vision. It took a second to fix the calibration. “I’ll be fine. Just need a second to put myself together.”

A notification at the bottom of my vision signaled that I earned five stat points and seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty shards.

The cheetah I had been fighting sprinted over to us while Killa was dissolving the second lion as she wrapped herself around it. My nanites were still rebuilding my face and repairing my dislocated neck, which I didn’t know about.

I shoved Shadara away just before the cheetah’s claws dropped on her. Instead, the cat’s paw got me and folded me in half at the waist. With all my arms pinned, there was nothing I could do.

Shadara shouted and swung her quarterstaff. The cheetah backed off to dodge, releasing me. She yanked me to my feet and pulled me away from the cheetah’s swiping claws. I took the momentum Shadara gave me and circled back around towards the cheetah.

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I swung my arm blades at its face. It skittered back and hissed at me.

As it kept its eyes on me, Shadara ran to pick up her bow.

An idea popped into my head. I stalked to the side with both singer arms aimed at it. Keep your eyes on me, kitty.

While the cheetah stalked in the opposite direction, I held up one finger for Shadara to wait. The lion was firmly in Killa’s grasp. My eye also finished repairing itself, restoring my vision to normal. Shadara pulled back an arrow but didn’t release it.

Once its back was completely turned to her, I dropped my hand.

She let loose her arrow. It dug into the cheetah’s neck. The creature flinched and swiped at the projectile, opening the wound further. With all the blood squirting from the opening, it had to have struck an artery.

The cheetah tried to run away. It made it only a few steps before falling over. It tried to stand up again, but its foot slipped on the rapidly growing puddle of blood. The cheetah’s movements grew more sluggish by the moment.

Shadara walked up to it, another arrow nocked, and fired into its heart. The animal went limp.

The lion Killa was dissolving was still thrashing weakly. Eventually, it stopped, and Killa formed her head again.

“Please excuse me. He took a huge bite out of me earlier.” She smiled and tilted her head. “He’s the last of them, as far as I can tell.”

I pointed at the trail of blood heading further into the dungeon. “One of them got away.” Another notification for five stat points and seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty shards flickered in the corner of my HUD. “Nevermind. It bled to death.”

Shadara groaned as we watched her visibly deflate to her normal size. Her magic had increased her size by about ten percent and kept her perfectly proportioned. “Oh, that’s a new sensation.” She ran a hand from her shoulder to her elbow. “My class pulled at my magic and was using it without me trying. Letting that magic go was—it’s hard to describe. But I think I need to take a rest. That took a lot more out of me than I was expecting.”

She headed off to a section of the cave where there wasn't blood pooling. Killa began coalescing her body, but I held up a hand as I watched Shadara sit down against a wall.

“I’ll go sit with her. You can join us after you finish eating,” I said before heading over to the panther woman.

The sound of something dragging behind me caused me to turn around and see Killa dragging the lion’s body as she followed me. She gave me an innocent smile. “What? I can eat and talk at the same time. She’s my sister too.”

The whole talking with your mouth full thing doesn’t apply to her. She neither eats nor talks with her mouth. I couldn’t help but smile at her. Nobody could ask for a better sister.

When we caught up with Shadara, she was panting and downing both a bottle of water and a mana potion. She let out an exasperated sigh.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

Shadara took a deep breath. “Mostly. I just got really tired all of a sudden.” She glanced at the bow that sat next to her. “It’s because I used up so much mana in such a short time. If that fight went on too much longer, I’d probably run out.”

Killa sat on the disfigured lion’s face as she slowly consumed it. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Your arcane stat is the lowest of the three of us. You’re a little fatigued. If you use magic more regularly, this won’t be much of a problem in the future.” She turned to me. “Magic is like a muscle. Exercising your control over it will help you use it faster, easier, longer, and in new ways.”

I frowned. It’s been a long time since something like that happened to me. How come I’ve never really had problems like this?

Your first use of a magic gun left you unconscious, remember? But as long as you don’t use your entire pool and battery, the effects of mana fatigue won’t affect you. Your body has acclimated to the use and presence of mana faster because of us. We have also helped you recover from such effects faster.

I got used to having four arms in a matter of days. I guess getting used to having mana quickly isn’t that far-fetched. There’s literally a mana battery in my chest right now.

Shadara stared at me. “Just give me a little bit to recover, and I’ll be fine, and we can continue.”

I waved my hand. “Don’t rush it. We’ll wait for you to feel better. Take all the time you need. We aren’t in a rush.”

“Okay.” The panther woman lowered her eyes and ears. “And thanks for saving me back there. Those animals were so fast and strong. It took every ounce of effort just to keep my defenses up.”

“Yeah,” Killa added. “But their defenses were quite low. So we stood a chance.” She waved at the other corpses. “But these animals are more solitary hunters. Why were they all together?”

I shook my head. “At this point, what does it matter? The Nexus makes up the rules as it wants.”

Shadara tilted her back against the stone wall as she closed her eyes. “I’m with Rina on this. It doesn’t matter. But that was an entire level for me. There’s just one problem: how do I distribute my points now?”

I almost flinched at the question. “What do you mean? Why can’t you keep going as you have?”

Shadara took another deep breath. She looked like she was feeling a little better. “My class benefits me from having stronger magic. And let’s be honest, both of your magics are far better than what I can do with weapons. Something tells me magic will be what makes the difference whether we reach the top or not.”

I slumped my shoulders. “You don’t have to change just because magic has been working for us. Killa’s used magic for…” I have no idea how old she is or how long she’s been using magic.

“Three average human lifespans,” Killa answered my unasked question.

That doesn’t narrow it down much. What’s an average human lifespan, sixty or a hundred years? Either way—"a long time. Then there’s my expanded system and nanites. I have advantages you don’t. Don’t push yourself further than you’re ready.”

Shadara held her hand up for me to stop. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m not using my transformation magic to be someone I’m not. It was so that I would finally be useful in new ways.”

I sat down next to her and pulled her closer to me with my stinger arm. “And you will be. You already are. A cherished sister is never useless.”

Killa hummed. “If you are that eager, you could do what Rina did to learn how to use her extra arms.”

I raised an eyebrow. “She can’t do that. My nanites make that tactic possible.”

Killa waved her hands. “No, no. It’s the concept I’m talking about.” She held out her hands. “Give me your weapons. For the rest of the dungeon, use any natural weapon you give yourself through your magic. I’d also suggest you put your points into arcane.”

Shadara turned her head to her bow. While her hand rested on it, there was a tremble in her fingertips. Before I could ask if she was alright, she snatched the bow and thrust it into Killa’s hand. Followed shortly with her quarterstaff.

Then she turned to me, her eyes bright red. “I will keep up. And when I reach the top with you, I will have a wish of my own. A real wish, not some excuse to run away.”

Killa put Shadara’s weapons in her bag of holding. “There’s no doubt in my mind that you will.”

I hung my head. This is crazy. I might be a bad influence on these two. A smile spread across my face. But I love them all the more for it.