Chapter 25

"I see them!"

Nayeon raised her head to the grey eagle flying above her. On her back is Sana, hugging the brown-blonde haired young girl from before while clutching her antlers tightly as they speed through the barren soil of the No Man's Land. Running behind Nayeon are her other friends, all in animal forms, racing with time to reach the fight between the beasts.

It was unknown how the woman they met earlier was able to teleport them all to the gates of the NML. The last Nayeon knew, they were standing in the throne room, and the next moment they were already inside the NML, with the young girl, Sunny and the woman both absent. Without wasting any more time, Tzuyu had flown in her eagle form to lead the other girls across the land. Her heightened eyesight was proven useful as she's able to catch the fight happening miles away.

"How much further, Tzu?" Jeongyeon shouted.

"About ten or fifteen miles– woah, look out!"

Just then, a harsh wind colored with white and blue blasted around them. The Anihumans all stopped, crouching to protect themselves from the debris carried by the wind.

Right after the wind stopped, Nayeon just barely recovered her footing when Mina dashed.

"It was Momoring's aura! She's in danger!" the she-wolf howled to her friends, leaving them behind as she kicked dust along the way.

The other quickly followed her. Mina somehow gained velocity as time passes, fueled by worry over her other canine counterpart. Blue sparks of her aura were fallen all over her path she took. It doesn't take long for her to finally able to see her friend, and her aquamarine eyes widened.

Momo's nine-tailed fox form is head to head against a black Dragonoid form, skin dripping blood, bravely holding the lizard from reaching the ground. Behind Momo's trembling hindlegs is Jihyo's Phoenix body, unconscious. Mina also saw Yuri holding Chaeyoung's hunched figure, but her focus was entirely on Momo as the vixen slowly being pushed to submission.

The only thing occurs to Mina's mind is how she should alert Momo. "MOMORING!"

She didn't expect the vixen to open her eyes, panting, surprised at her long howl and took a step back from the Dragon who also moved backward. "Mina?"

Mina screamed when the Dragon slashed Momo's face with her claws. "MOMORING! NO!"

The older Anihuman let out a pained yowl as she staggered, blood dripping from another wound on her cheek. Mina wanted to come to Momo, but the Dragon had turned its attention to the approaching team and roared, loudly it made Mina stopped. The Dragon then flapped her wings to attack the newly-arrived wolf.

It never reaches Mina as Momo jumped to the wolf, paw protectively tucking the smaller Anihuman into her chest as she falls to the ground, back facing the Dragon after she hit the Legendary beast with her whole body. Momo swiftly spun on her other three legs, still clutching Mina in her hold, and leaped to maul the Dragon's open throat.

She missed the Dragon as the larger beast moved back, then headbutted Momo with her skull head. Momo shook her head once to shed her dizziness and lashed her tails to the offending Anihuman.

When the Dragon decided not to fight the vixen further, Momo put Mina back on the ground and snarled.

"What are you doing here?!"

Mina bit the vixen's paw to show her anger, even when Momo couldn't feel it at all. "I'm here to save you! How could you leave without telling us about this?!"

"Wha–" Momo swallowed her words when she sees her other friends in her peripheral. "Holy you're all here!"

"HIRAI MOMO YOU BRAINLESS IDIOT!!!" Jeongyeon yelled and Momo cringed. "YOU'RE ON TO SOME THOROUGH WHOOPING TONIGHT MOMO!"

"SON CHAEYOUNG YOU TOO ARE SO DEAD TO ME!!" Dahyun yelled as well, even when Chaeyoung could only wheeze in pain.

Answering the tiny Anihumans' yells is Taeyeon's roar. Momo whipped her head, growling at the Dragon. Taeyeon's fire veil has disappeared, but it doesn't make her less terrifying and she's certainly mad at her foiled attempt of killing her opponents. The white-furred vixen stepped over Mina, shielding the wolf behind her foreleg as she prepares herself for another physical scuffle with Taeyeon.

"You stay behind me," murmuring, Momo nudged the other canine softly. Her breath is coming in harsh huffs as the wounds and exhaustion take the toll on her body. "I'll do my best to protect you."

"No need for that, Hirai."

A foreign voice halted Momo's movement. Surprised, she blinked rapidly when a beautiful woman walked in front of her, placing herself between the two different colored beasts. What caught Momo's attention is her brown hair that shined blonde when the sunlight hits her in an angle. The woman is lean, clothed in a simple green shirt, tight jeans and a pair of boots. She winked at Momo who scrunched her nose, then turned her attention to the lioness gaping at her.

"It's been such a long time, Yul."

Yuri gasped. A lone tear escaped her eye as she covers with her hands. "N-no way..."

The woman smiled and looked at Taeyeon, who was staring at the woman with flashes of faint recognition in her red eyes.

"Hi, Taengoo."

Taeyeon growled.

"I left you for two eras and look at what you've become," the woman smiled wider, whipping her blondish locks over her shoulder. "A demon."

The Dragon roared but took a step back, seemingly hesitant.

The woman then turned to raise an eyebrow at Momo. "Kitsune."

Momo blinked, pointing at herself with her tail. "Me?"

"Yeah, you, who else?" the woman chuckled softly. "Are you up for the task of holding Taeyeon down? I need her to be stationary for at least ten seconds."

The vixen ripped her gaze from the woman to look at Taeyeon. The Dragon has somehow become silent, eyes boring to the blondish woman in caution. Taeyeon also grew tense as if she's feeling threatened by the woman's arrival. With a knowing look, the woman smiled wider and gestures for the young girl with blonde streaks on her hair to come closer.

Momo looked back, seeing her friends behind her and exhales. "I- I don't know if I'm... strong enough."

Another soft laugh. "You have nine tails for a reason, you know."

A pat on her paw made Momo look down. A Red Panda grinned at her before strutting away, approaching the still stunned lioness and nudged her.

"Sunny!" the woman beneath Momo called and the Panda looked over her shoulder. "Wake Fany. She should be awake if we're going to do this."

Sunny only giggled. "Sure. Just do whatever you're going to do."

A nod.

"So, Kitsune?"

Momo was startled when the woman addressed her again. Clearing , Momo leaned her bloodied face closer to the small woman. "I'll... I'll try. But.. tell me who you are?"

The woman gave a soft smile to Momo. Her hand flew to touch the vixen's whiskers, running it over the fur matted with sticky red liquid.

"The name's Jessica."

Momo needs no more reassurance.

She lifted her head, lips pulled back as she shows her rows of sharp fangs to the Dragon. Momo let out a roar on her own, claws glinting through the soft expanse of fur of her paw. Taeyeon answered her roar before both beasts took off, meeting each other in a clash of claws and fangs.

Taeyeon caught Momo's nape with her fangs but Momo didn't relent. Utilizing her smaller stature, Momo ducked under Taeyeon's long neck and shot an aura ball to the Dragon's chest. The explosion as it meets Taeyeon's chest plate pushed the Dragon backward. Momo slapped her tail to Taeyeon's face, pushing her further before starting to use her claws to injure the Dragon.

Seeing Momo trying to overpower Taeyeon, Tzuyu flew into the fray and started shooting her own attacks to Taeyeon. It might not worth much, but it certainly annoys the Dragon as she tries to catch the small eagle into , but failed because of Tzuyu's size and Momo's relentless assault. The five other Anihumans helped her to create even more disturbance to the Dragon's focus.

Outside the fight, the young girl with the blonde streaks sat down. Jessica sat beside her, the girl's long hair.

"B."

The girl smiled and nodded. "Ne."

After that, she closes her eyes and raised her hand, palm facing Taeyeon and Momo. Jessica took the cue to whistle loudly. Her whistle was surely heard by Momo because the vixen snarled, and her tails are all moving at the same time to grab Taeyeon's limbs.

Taeyeon snarled in anger as she feels arrested by Momo's many tails. Two coiling around her arms, two binding her legs together, three wrapped around her body to prevent herself from flying off, one keeping her tail in place while the last one creating a muzzle around Taeyeon's mouth.

Momo stood up on her hind legs again and thrown her arms around Taeyeon's shoulders, holding her close against her body to further hindering Taeyeon's movement. Taeyeon could only snarl as she thrashes wildly to try to free herself from Momo's grip. But the vixen is not giving up easily, despite her many wounds, and stubbornly presses Taeyeon until she's unable to move anymore.

"I can't hold her much longer!" she exclaimed loudly to the two figure at the top of the hill.

Her eyes caught Jessica nodding when a bright light enveloped them both. Momo gasped in surprise, looking down to the ground to see a massive magic circle swirling under their feet. The ancient magic circle is filled with runes and words Momo didn't understand, but she could see the shape of a flower looking vaguely like a lily flower. The flower shines pale–almost white–while the other parts of the magic circle emitting a violet glow.

Momo felt the Dragon in her embrace shakes as the light grew brighter. Taeyeon's breath grew laboured, and her claws gripped Momo's arms as a support as her powers slowly drained, absorbed by the magic circle. But the vixen herself is also weakened, falling to her knees while still holding Taeyeon. Her vision went blurry under the strong violet light and Momo started to feel lightheaded.

"Hirai!"

A voice belongs only to Tiffany Hwang snapped Momo from her stupor. She didn't realize since when did she turned back to her human body, but Tiffany yanked her collar and threw her outside the magic circle, replacing Momo's body with herself. The vixen Anihuman was caught by Tzuyu and Jeongyeon, who immediately laid her on top of Mina's lap.

"W-what's happ–" Momo gasped, wheezed at the feeling of being devoid of her strength, cringing at the pain all over her body as she fights to stay awake despite her vanishing power. But Mina shushed her and her brown hair once, and it was enough to wipe out the remaining of Momo's willpower as she succumbs to the comfort of the darkness.

After Momo out, Mina turned her attention to the magic circle still going strong.

"Run, devil, run."

The small girl from before whispers. Her eyes are glowing rainbow, colors constantly shifting as her palm was illuminated by a pale yellow light.

"Pohyoga dulryeo–"

There's a long, pained cry from inside the magic circle.

"–meottaero hae heorakalkke–"

The violet light from the magic circle grew higher, creating a pillar of light into the sky following the crazed screams from inside it.

"–mortem, nox."

And suddenly, it all stopped.

The cries, the light, the glow from the girl's eyes, it stopped the moment she fisted her hand. Something about the abrupt stop seemed to froze the time, as everything stilled with not even a single thing, not even the air, moves. A second later, the girl collapsed into Jessica's waiting arms, and the clock started ticking again.

A breeze.

Soft.

And a gasp.

Softer.

Following the girl's condition, the pillar of light slowly crumbles and disappears, fading into the atmosphere until it was nothing more than simply a faint hue of purple in the skies.

When the hue cleared out enough, the only thing left is two women laying in the middle of the clearing.

"It's done," Jessica breathes out as Yuri dashed past her to the two unconscious figures. "Our work here... is done."

She then turned at the younger Anihumans, smiling. "You can go home."

"A-are you sure?" Jeongyeon asked carefully. She is carrying Jihyo's human body in her arms, keeping the younger girl close as she stepped forward, nearing Jessica. "Is it... is it truly done?"

Jessica shook her head. "No, not all."

She gazed at Yuri who returned with two bodies in her hold, one they recognize as Tiffany and the other one is a petite woman with black hair ends in blue tip. Sunny immediately ushered her, opening a gate and the two vanished into the swirling dimensional rift.

"There are... a lot of things I need to take care of."

Jessica speaks solemnly as she cradles the small girl within her embrace.

"And so are you."

Jeongyeon hugs Jihyo tighter, a gesture copied by Tzuyu who is carrying Chaeyoung and Mina and Sana who are hauling Momo.

"You have no idea how blessed we are to have you as our candidates."

The senior Anihuman smiled, bowed, and whispered softly.

"It's goodbye for now, Fated Ones."

And when Jeongyeon opened her eyes after a single blink, she was welcomed by the familiar view of Yongsun's front door. Along with the owner, who was watering her flower bushes and sent the nine younger girls a knowing smile, especially to her sisters Mina and Dahyun.

"I've told you."

Yongsun giggled, and Mina felt her power drained as she slipped from Sana's hold, letting Momo go as she falls to her knees.

"No matter what, you'll always be able to return home."

To be continued...