Elemental Cats

Toz first met up with Scrael, who was on her way back to the house. Scrael led the way through the forest to her two victims. Toz could smell the blood in the air even before they got close to the corpses. The pirates who had encountered Scrael had suffered a fate completely different from the ones who encountered Lucy. The two pirates had been torn to shreds. Although there were several scorch marks and signs of lightning strikes on the bodies, it wasn't enough to stem the bleeding, and the two pirates had bled to death.

Since it was the first time Toz witnessed the aftermath of Scrael's fighting style, Scrael was worried he would be shocked at how gruesome and brutal it was. After Scrael had met and joined up with Toz and the other cats, there hadn't been any occasion where Scrael had to fight so intensely and where someone had seen it.

During Mindle's breakthrough, Toz and the other cats had been busy, so they hadn't seen Scrael dash around beyond their range of vision and tearing approaching beasts to pieces. And in Treblor, Scrael hadn't been forced to attack more than once per target. Then when they were in the Void, they had only been fighting against void beasts, who didn't bleed.

However, against two pirates of the same level as her, Scrael had to engage in a more brutal fight. A single attack hadn't been enough to bring them one. Scrael charged her body with lightning, and then with the speed she got as she nearly became lightning herself, dashed and flitted back and forth.

Scrael passed by the pirates and lashed out with her claws, tearing through skin and flesh. But since she risked breaking her leg if she pushed too deep or wanted to strike harder, Scrael had to make several shallow lacerations to bring down her enemy. Very few beasts could compare to her speed and sharp turns, so it was a battle style very well suited to her. But it tended to leave her prey in bits and pieces spread out over a large area.

Scrael was worried that Toz might be repulsed by how badly she tore apart her prey since it didn't match her notion of how refined Toz's battles were.

Though, Scrael's worries were for naught since Toz only left behind a compliment and a head pat before heading to the next cat. Toz didn't mind at all that Scrael had turned the pirates into fish food.

Scrael had a hard time hiding her joy at Toz's acceptance and recognition, so she didn't follow him and instead went back to the house, where she joined Lucy and Joshua.

Toz didn't get far before he saw Nil and Mindle. They had been speaking to each other, and it seemed like they were arguing. But as soon as they noticed Toz, they got awkwardly silent.

"Heey, boss-man."

"Hi. Toz."

Nil tried to play it cool, despite the awkwardness. And Mindle was so stiff she had practically turned into a golem. Toz didn't need to be a mastermind to figure out they were hiding something.

"Alright, spill it." Seeing their behavior, Toz was way too curious about what they were hiding.

The two cats looked at each other, none of them willing to answer and motioning for the other to talk.

Eventually, when it looked like Mindle was about to cry, Nil caved and started talking.

"Ahem. Toz, you remember how you told us to leave some alive?"

"Yeah." Toz could begin seeing where Nil was going with this, but he still let him talk.

"We kind of thought that the other would spare the pirates they encountered, so we sort of killed them all. Sorry."

Nil and Mindle expressed their apology by bowing their heads to Toz. And they anxiously awaited his response with drooping tails.

"Don't worry about it." Although Toz's words sounded like he disregarded their apology, his tone made it clear there really was nothing to worry about.

The two cats had worried for nothing. There was no way Toz would be angry at them for killing some pirates who had bad intentions.

"So, you killed two each?"

"Yep."

"Yeah."

Especially not when they hadn't killed all of the pirates. Eleven pirates had arrived with the boats. Each cat had killed two, and Toz had killed one as well. That meant nine dead and two survivors. And Toz knew where to find those survivors.

Toz had been watching when the pirates arrived and launched their invasion. And he had heard the orders and conversations of the pirates before they spread out over the island. He had also seen one of them get reprimanded by the pirate he killed. The reprimanded pirate stayed behind with the one in charge of guarding the boats. And if Toz was right, those two would still be at the boats, guarding them.

If Toz hadn't still been able to see the boat masts through the trees, he would have worried that they had fled, though. As long as the boats were anchored to the island, there was no way they wouldn't find the two surviving pirates. If the pirates tried hiding on the island, they would be found in no time, considering they had several experts on hide-and-seek with them.

Lucy knew all the best hiding spots, and Mindle was an expert at detecting sources of heat.

But it would be a waste to ask them to search the island for the pirates before checking if they were still by the boats.

Toz was accompanied by Nil and Mindle as he went to the place where the pirates had anchored their sailboats. On the way, he asked the two of them how it had gone with their pirate hunt.

The two cats had been wary that it might have been a trap and that Toz might hold a grudge against them for killing the pirates. But they forgot that wariness as they started competing over who had done the best job.

Nil, who had finally gotten a chance to try out his spell, was proud of how powerful he had gotten since a single spell had torn through both pirates, turning them into what would happen to pincushions if the needles were pushed all the way through.

And Mindle was boasting about how she was about to form the second Tongue of Flame.

Though, their enthusiasm was slightly dulled when Toz told them how he had practically created a new spell by accident.