A while ago. Before the assault on the Rabbit Village. A rabbit hurtles into the hut, her fur bristling with worry.

"Master," the HuntMaster rasped, ears flat against her skull, "I bring grim tidings."

X writhed with a surge of cold dread. "Speak quickly, HuntMaster. What have you found?"

She took a ragged breath. "Five of them. A well-rounded party. Level 29 Priestess, a Mage at 35, a damned Hero at 39..." Her voice trailed off as she met his gaze, a silent apology hanging in the air. “Level 42 BeastWarrior and Level 48 Scout”.

"A Hero at 39, you say?" X forced the words out, the weight of the title pressing down on him. He had expected them to come, but the sheer disparity in levels is a punch to the gut, even with the hero not being the highest. Unique classes were a nightmare to level, that much he knew. But quadruple his own power? This wasn't a fight, this would be a massacre.

"HuntMaster," he twirled, his tentacle tight with despair, "can we possibly...?"

Determination hardened her features. "We have to!"

"Right," X conceded, the gestured word hollow. "We don't have a choice, do we?"

The HuntMaster nodded curtly and darted out, the frantic thump of her hops echoing in the tense silence. X swivelled his heavy form towards the ever-present RabbitMaid.

"Is there nothing I can do? Should I go and try to help," he tentacled, his frustration as thick as the despair.

The RabbitMaid let out a frustrated snort and stomped her foot, a defiant glint in her eyes. "Denied! Not while that infernal sun burns!" She jabbed a paw towards the ceiling, where the unseen sun is hanging heavy.

X's tentacles slumped further. Some curses were just cruel twists of fate, especially the one he has. He was condemned to impotent worry while his loyal rabbits faced an almost certain defeat. Horrible, just horrible…

"RabbitMaid," he twirled with a heavy tendril, " You should go and support our fighters. They could use your Care skills. I think…"

She cut him off with another resolute stomp. "Denied! My place is by your side, Master."

Indeed, the other rabbits insisted on the maid staying with him too. He swivelled his many eyes towards Xul’Goth the resident Horror. Its sleek form wriggled with many tendrils, tendrils filled with resolve.

"Xul," X called, a flicker of hope sparking within him. "How about you? Why are you here and not with Shazara?"

The EldritchHorror rumbled, its undulating tendrils seeming to writhe with suppressed power. A tendril brushed against X, sending a jolt of icy energy through him. Was it a warning? A promise of unseen aid? Either way, Xul was staying.

"Not you too..." X flicked in defeat. He knew both the maid and Xul would be invaluable in the fight. And yet… they were here protecting him instead. A low, mournful rumble escaped his maws, a sound that resonated with despair and a strange, unsettling beauty. "Actually," X admitted, a tremor of something akin to selfish relief in his tentacle, "I'm glad you're here with me."

The RabbitMaid hopped closer, her ears twitching with concern. Her lips parted to speak, but her words were cut short by a thunderous explosion that rattled the very foundation of the hut.

"So it begins," X squirmed, a multicoloured eye focusing on the small peephole he'd created just large enough for him to see the battle raging outside. He saw the rabbit hunters, warriors and tamers, their frantic movements a stark contrast to the disciplined advance of the attackers. But it was the creatures by their side that truly captured his attention. A fluffy squirrel bristled with defiance, a lumbering toad charged with surprising speed, and a tiny hedgehog leapt forward, nipping at the ankles of the invaders. These were no mere pets – they were warriors, no, knights even; their loyalty shining brighter than their mismatched fur.

"Look at them go," X coiled, a hint of pride in his tentacle. “These noble monsters, they charge so bravely.”

"Of course they do, Master," the RabbitMaid's voice was steady, a hint of awe in it. "They may be low Level, but they are our protectors nonetheless."

X's fleshy mass pulsed with a dull ache. “Our precious tamed pets… Their sacrifice will be remembered…”

Perhaps X spoke too soon, jinxing it, because another thunderous explosion reverberated through the air. A guttural growl escaped him, a sound that shook the dust from the ceiling. In the corner of his vision, a hundred worth of messages demanded his attention: [MonsterSoul: Lesser was retrieved].

"These monsters," he flailed, his tentacle gesturing a mix of anger and sorrow, "to so brutally cut down creatures who have only known love and loyalty… our precious companions… These heroes are the lowest scum!"

The RabbitMaid placed a gentle paw on his quivering tentacles. "It's alright, Master. Their sacrifice is not in vain. Their souls found peace… here, with you." She bowed her head, her voice a soft murmur as she whispered a small prayer.

Then, his eldritch eyes spied the rabbits hopping frantically, forming a defensive line with their bodies. These weren't mere rabbits; they were the selfless defenders of the village, his precious creations – Hunters and Warriors. Veterans of countless hunts, their fur bore the faint scars that spoke of past battles, each a badge to their unwavering courage. The obelisk, bathed in the abomination-hating sunlight, pulsed faintly behind them, a silent guardian.

They stood resolute against the heroes wicked five, ears perked and spears gleaming in the light. The hero's party, a caricature of heroism, emerged from the wreckage of the gate. They kicked and stomped on the charred remains of fallen monsters, their faces etched with a callous indifference that chilled X to his core.

He strained his eyes to pierce the veil of fire clinging to their forms. An aura of sickening power emanated from them, a repugnant mix of violence and hatred that sent a tremor of disgust through X's many tendrils. Worse, their eyes held no heroism, only a cold, practised efficiency honed from countless battles. Seasoned killers, the lot of them!

Predictably, diplomacy wasn't on their agenda. With a snarl, their mage unleashed a torrent of vile magic, a swirling vortex of putrid energy aimed squarely at the heart of the rabbit line. It reeked of total destruction, magic capable of shattering the soul itself, a tangible manifestation of their malicious intent.

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Luckily, blessed with their inherent agility, the rabbits reacted with lightning speed. A blur of white fur as they dodged and weaved, the spell exploding harmlessly behind them, leaving a lingering stench in its wake.

"Yes! My brave rabbits, my precious creations!" X twirled and spun, his tentacles dancing. "Show them the strength that courses through your veins! You can do this!"

A fierce battle ensued. The rabbits, fuelled by a potent mix of Luck and EnergyBurst, hopped around the onslaught of brutal attacks. Each clang of spears against metal, each desperate dodge, resonated through X, his eldritch form straining against its confinement. He watched with bated breath, a tremor running through his tentacles with each fallen comrade.

The heroes, however, were formidable. Their movements were practised, their attacks precise, taking down rabbits with ruthless efficiency. With each soul that reached X's core, a wave of despair washed over him. It pained him beyond measure to see his valiant defenders fall, their young lives extinguished before their prime.

X's own soul writhed in a chaotic tempest. The human part, a relic of a forgotten life as a mercenary, whispered a cold, logical acceptance of loss. It was the price of war. But a far more primal voice, the abomination's essence, roared in protest with each fallen rabbit. It wasn't grief, not in the human sense – it was a raw, possessive rage.

“How dare they slay my minions!” X tossed, the eldritch fury boiling over. “My creations I toiled so hard to shape! These rabbits are mine! Mine alone to take! How dare they!” He surged towards the barred doorway, tentacles lashing out, the monstrous rage threatening to consume him. “I’ll KILL thEM!!!”

"Master, no!" The RabbitMaid's voice pierced through the haze. "The sun! You'll burn!" She was right. As a tentacle breached the gap, a searing pain ripped through him, the violent light blistering his flesh. A monstrous shriek tore from his maw again, a sound that echoed through the village.

Xul'Goth, the shadowy protector, lunged forward, its shadowy form grappling with X's wild tentacles, dragging him back into the darkness. The pain, the cries of his valiant defenders... they clawed him back from the brink.

He focused his eldritch gaze on the battleground, a vision of a nightmare painted in blood. The ground slick with crimson, the once pristine white fur of the rabbits now stained a gruesome red. Yet, amidst the carnage, they fought on. The HuntMaster, a blur of white fur, danced a deadly ballet with the merciless heroes, dodging blows and desperately seeking an opening. The RabbitGuard stood firm, a shield against the storm, her own body a bulwark against the relentless assault. Even the RabbitChef, her small frame wielding her kitchen utensils with surprising ferocity, mirrored the spirit of the entire village.

A twisted sense of pride welled within X, a dark counterpoint to the crushing guilt and the rage still burning. A simple chef, a rabbit born to cook not fight, fighting with such tenacity... Shame burned hot within him. He, the Master of this village, was nothing but a helpless observer.

Fury boiled over as he witnessed another atrocity. A vile spell, a swirling vortex of transmuted energy, ripped through the air, cleaving straight through the RabbitChef. Her lifeless form crumpled to the ground, a final, defiant glint extinguished in her eyes. The remaining rabbits, the HuntMaster and the RabbitGuard, their movements ragged with exhaustion, were cornered, facing a seemingly insurmountable foe.

"No!!!" X screamed a primal wail of despair and rage that shook the very foundations of the hut. But then, a new sensation. A tug, a pull at his very core, a presence more powerful than anything he'd ever felt before. The world blurred, a dizzying descent into oblivion...

…

Del's heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. One rabbit lay bisected, its charred innards staining the ground a sickly colour best not to be named. Two more twitched pathetically, their health bars hanging by a thread, 1 HP. And yet, a knot of unease tightened in her stomach, a cold premonition prickling at the edges of her consciousness. Something was wrong. Very wrong…

Her gaze darted back to the fallen RabbitChef. There were no signs of life, its face was a frozen mask of pain. However, a chilling realization dawned on Del. No quest update – the slain minion counter hadn't ticked up! The bisected rabbit, impossibly, was still... somehow...

"No way!" Del gasped, the word barely a whisper. “Is it alive?”

Khan, oblivious to the chef’s survival, was already mid-swing to deliver the final blow to the prone HuntMaster. His weapon connected and in that instant a gut-wrenching bellow ripped through the air, a detonation of raw, unnatural magic. The force of it slammed into Khan, flinging him back with a bone-jarring thud. Blood, but also something profane and foul lingered on his tongue. His vision was momentarily clouded by a swirling purple haze.

A shriek, ear-splitting and inhuman, erupted from the HuntMaster’s twisted form. It wasn't the panicked cry of a cornered creature, but a primal roar born of unimaginable pain and rage. Purple veins, like malevolent vines strangling a healthy tree, pulsed beneath the rabbit's once-pristine fur. They pulsed with an unholy light, spreading outwards, etching a grotesque sigil across her chest.

The HuntMaster's body contorted, horrific mutations seizing hold. Her right arm stretched and warped, morphing into a writhing tentacle, thick with pulsating muscle and tipped with a wickedly sharp blade. Two more sprouted from her back, glistening obsidian spears yearning to taste blood. Her legs, once light and nimble, ripped and swelled, her entire frame growing monstrously.

Her face, once with twitching whiskers and crimson eyes, was now a mask of pure nightmare. Flesh stretched, bone rearranged, revealing an alien visage. The status table hovering over the monstrosity confirmed their worst fears. The simple Hunter was gone, replaced by an AbyssalHunter – a creature ripped straight from the darkest corners of the Forbidden Forest.

Not a second later, the RabbitGuard finished her own monstrous metamorphosis. Her once robust frame bulged with an impossible mass of muscle, contorting her in a perversion of growth. Flesh ripped and tore, glistening obsidian scales erupting across her hunched form, a makeshift armour forged in agony. Her left paw morphed into a colossal bone plate, its surface a menacing array of jagged bone spikes. Her right arm stretched and twisted, not into a tentacle, but into an elongated claw, its spindly fingers tipped with wickedly curved blades. A lumbering behemoth, the very image of profanity made flesh, the ProfaneSentinel roared a challenge, the sound a guttural tremor that shook Del to her core.

Del's breath caught in her throat. This wasn't part of the plan. Panic gnawed at the edges of her mind, her movements jerky and uncoordinated. The stench of raw, corrupted magic saturated the air, a sickly sweet perfume of Taboo that made her stomach churn.

"Holly," she rasped, her voice barely a croak above the cacophony of shrieks and tortured roars. "What… what is this?"

Holly, her paladin armour dented and scratched, stared at the scene before her with a mixture of horror and disbelief. A cold dread seeped into her bones, a primal fear that transcended any enemy she'd faced before. These weren't rabbits anymore. These were nightmarish horrors given form, fuelled by a Chaos magic she couldn't begin to understand.

The transformation of the mistakenly dead RabbitChef, however, was by far the most horrifying. Blood-red tendrils erupted from her mangled body, stitching her split halves back together to a writhing distortion of life. Her diminutive form twisted and contorted, her spine stretching and pulling until it resembled a grotesque marionette controlled by unseen strings. Ribs tore through her flesh, jutting out like menacing claws, a macabre cage adorning her tortured form. Arms and legs elongated and spindled, the growth splitting her skin open to reveal a latticework of white bone. Sharpened spikes erupted from her joints, piercing the stretched and taut skin. Fur and flesh sloughed away from her hands, fingers fusing together into a pair of long bone-sickles dripping with crimson ichor. The transformation finally subsided, leaving behind a creature that resembled a starved ghoul more than a rabbit. A feral hunger burned in her lanky frame, her eyes were beady marbles of swirling abyss, so dark and shadowy it threatened to consume all light. She was now the CarrionButcher.

As the heroes stared in stunned silence, a chilling realization dawned on them. The monsters' health bars were gone, replaced by a single, horrifying word: Error.

The scales had tipped… This was now a fight for their survival.