LUCEM
Chapter XXXVIII's

"Not for a long time, don't whimper the bird girl," said a large mouse with a human body standing on Moonflower's head lying on the rocky ground, in pain.

"They're here?" ask the creature.

Moonflower was speechless, only grimacing withstanding the pain as the pointy nails of the huge rat pierced through her skin.

"Farmers" said the creature in a pitched voice. At a glance, he turned his pointy nails that were still stuck on Moonflower's skin.

Moonflower surprised. His skin became transparent, the bright and strange veins on his pale face. He's almost blue, ready to crack. A low-level hum emanated from his body, a rush of energy, a hum of strength. Moonflower could not help but shout this time.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargghh," he cried.

"Yes, great... Nice...," said the creature, and stood cleaning his nails with a black cloth from under his clothes.

The patrolling Jiso watched the incident from the bushes protecting him. Seeing that there was not much he could do, Jiso immediately alerted his troops and ran to meet Marbella.

"He's coming, right?" Asked the creature with no intention of asking for an answer from Moonflower.

Moonflower attempted to grab the creature's arm and within half a second it was thrown into the air. Moonflower hit the ground so hard that she could barely breathe, and when she was finally able to lift her head, she saw Marbella's arrival, her eyes narrowed withstanding the unstoppable pain.

The creature stared at Marbella with a grin. "Akh rrghh—," his sentence was stuck in his throat. A second later the big mouse held his neck and clawed at the air before finally a long scream came out of him with his body floundering on the rocky ground.

Marbella just stared at him, and the tormented expression in the rat's eyes told her everything Moonflower and the witnessing rat troop needed to know.

"It looks like he's going to die," Jimmy shouted those words spontaneously. Jiso looked at her annoyed.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Marbella has turned into a cat and stands at the side of an army of rats, surprising the unwary Jiso. " What is the feeling of pity?"

Marbella's question hurt Jiso's ear. "Not the least," he replied firmly.

"Do we have to help end it?" Jiso offered himself.

"Hows it? Marbella asked.

"We can bite the back of his neck to the end" Jiso said with certainty.

"His blood will fill your mouth, if he has it," Marbella wagged her tail.

"Should we try to pick him up?" jimmy asked pointing at Moonflower.

"I doubt I can raise his arm above my head, let alone his entire body. My own body was still trembling, so strong that I could barely do my part for it" Marbella said as she walked towards the fence leisurely leaving Moonflower and Jiso and his troops.

Jiso did not know what kind of crazy thing was flowing in his veins at the moment, but he still ordered the entire army to prepare to attack the half-mouse creature that continued writhing on the ground. He looks half alive.

"Do it!!" Jiso's orders are loud.

The rat troops simultaneously crawled all parts of the body of the large rat towards the nape and launched the action there.

Moonflower could barely keep up.

The pain in his arm began to radiate to his shoulder and back. The disgusting sight before him added to his suffering. Moonflower begged herself to become stronger.

Moonflower did not know how to do it, but through a miracle, she managed to stand up and stagger away from the disgusting crowd, but she stopped and stood limping.

Jiso just watched the girl survive so hard earlier, without a fight, and Jiso was pretty sure he had not seen the girl give any attack on the big rat until finally Marbella came. But Jiso wanted to laugh a little now, seeing Moonflower trying hard just to resist the urge of liquid from her hull and put her hand hard on the mouth. Jiso did not know how long the girl was able to hold it.

*******

"Quick clean yourself, it makes me unable to stand it" Moonflower said. He opened the spray tap by holding his eyes on the rats.

The rat squeaks happily under the water.

Moonflower limped into her room and found Marbella there.

"Sit down. You look messy."

Marbella took Moonflower and sat her down. "It's gonna hurt."

"Hmmm.." Moonflower closed her eyes.

Marbella put something on the tear in Moonflower's skin. The pain caused Moonflower to bite her lips hard.

"Stop! I'm not preparing a potion to restore your lips if it gets hurt" Marbella said.

"I just refrained from cursing at this pain" Moonflower replied.

Marbella laughs.

"How's Mars?" Ask Moonflower.

"He won't hear anything, James handled it well. So recover quickly, "pinta Marbella.

"What does it end up like?" Marbella asked as she swept the yellow liquid all over Moonflower's back.

"Akh, the process is disgusting.I didn't expect his physique to be tampered with like that and draining the thick dark red liquid, they live close to real. But.. As you guessed, at the end of the creature evaporated into black smoke and disappeared in the air."

"That's enough for the master to know" said Marbella.

________________

"What consciousness is this?" my taunts to James who asked me to accompany him devoured the green vegetables on the large plate that was lined up in front of the white rat.

James pushed a plate of salad with peanut sauce in front of me. I ate it without objecting.

Finished with the vegetables, James asked me to watch him train physically.

"You sure about twenty pull ups? many doubt.

James asked me to stand guard downstairs as he hung his body on an iron bar about the height of my waist. And as I thought it fell on the third pull.

"You don't have to force yourself to exercise, remember your age" I suggested.

"The cat is watching me, don't relax my spirit with your care" James said with a serious face.

"Yes," I replied with a shrug.