Black flames still engulfed the now ruined bathhouse but I couldn’t see Lulu or the demonic monster anywhere nearby. My gaze drew over to Pik’s mother who lay in a smoldering crumpled heap on the ground just outside the structure. Sinister flames continued to lick across the goblin’s charred and rotted remains. My heart felt heavy in my chest and a queasiness began to rise up from the pit of my stomach, causing me to avert my eyes from the body. If I were to make a list of different ways to die that I would absolutely want to avoid, this one would probably be among the top ten.

                Looking beyond the bathhouse and the corpse, I followed the course of destruction. Fires caused by the unnaturally deadly breath of the giant hell-beast and those spawned naturally from buildings that’d descended into rubble lit the ominous path. I could face this, or at least I assured myself I could. But my confidence was rapidly waning, it felt as if I were dragging lead weights behind me each time I lifted a foot to move it further down the path of death and destruction. I couldn’t shake the logical understanding in my brain that that thing Lulu was fighting simply shouldn’t exist. None of this should exist. This world called Neth’Lareese, non-human people, giant house-eating monsters… and yet I’d already been made painfully aware that these experiences were all real. Perhaps it was because everything today had happened suddenly and without warning, but my mind was finally beginning to catch up to the situation I found myself caught in. It was terrifyingly overwhelming and all I wanted to do right now was wake up from this nightmare in a fit of screaming.

                I continued forward, inching my way along the path of death and despair and soon I discovered that Pik’s mother had not been the sole casualty of tonight’s event. Each pile of broken structure revealed a multitude of new corpses. Some were burned and decayed by the demonic monster’s breath, others crushed and mangled by the weight of the buildings that’d collapsed on top of them. Why had I decided it was a good idea to try and help Lulu in this endeavor? Each step that brought me closer to finding Lulu and the beast also scratched away at my sanity.

                “Is that…?” I blinked, looking up at something sticking out from a half destroyed building. It was! The tail end of the creature hung out over the edge of the structure, motionless. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of the unmoving tail. Unlike earlier with the creature thrashing about, this was a contrast I was ready to accept. It also meant I was on the right path, not that I’d ever been on the wrong path to begin with… But where was Lulu? Creeping past the ominous tail, I crept forward with recovering confidence. I’d managed to crack the wall of a building after playing around with mana for a moment, the demonic creature on the other hand had leveled several blocks worth of structures just by moving around… I no longer believed myself strong enough to have been able to fight this beast on my own.

                “Lulu!” After a few whispered attempts, I found my voice and proceeded to raise it into a shout while continuing forward, approaching the enormous beast’s head. “Lulu!” Surprise mixed with uneasy joy when I stepped around a pool of the demonic creature’s blood and saw the flash of blue. Lulu was here but something was off. The first thing I noticed was the glowing symbol on her forehead followed by what looked like projectile bolts sticking out of her body. The disemboweled bodies of several beastmen lay strewn about. The one closest to Lulu seemed to be the only survivor of the bunch. His bestial expression looked to me with wild eyes and his motions were erratic as he choked and coughed in an attempt to speak. An ominous chill ran down my spine when I noticed that the dead beastmen were all armed with crossbows.

                I focused, desperately rushing as much blue mana as I could properly manage into my extremities and the rest of my body. I didn’t know what was happening right now but from the looks of things, both the demonic monster and these beastmen had met an untimely end at the hands of Lulu. I wouldn’t have believed this possibility based solely on Lulu’s personality, but she did happen to be a demon. From my world I understood demons of fantasy and legend to have a mental tendency leaning towards malicious. Lulu’s eyes were also glowing a brilliant azure, another sign that something wasn’t right.

                Ignoring the crossbow bolts stuck into her body, Lulu broke into a run directly towards me. If it weren’t for the speed at which she approached, I would’ve fancied Lulu’s behavior to be almost zombie-like. My mind raced. I’d come here fully expecting to aid in a fight against the demonic monstrosity. Fighting Lulu had never been a part of the plan! “Lulu! Stop! What are you doing!?” I shouted protest, desperately trying to decide if it made more sense for me to try and block Lulu’s attack or dodge out of the way. I decided it would be best to do both.

                Sidestepping out of the way of Lulu’s approach, I raised both arms into a defensive stance in time to receive the attack. My bare feet slid back, grinding hard against solid pavement. The bottoms of my feet hurt, but so did the kick Lulu landed against the back of my arms. Blood-stained light blue hair splayed out in all directions and I couldn’t help but be caught off guard by the unexpected maneuver. She could animate her own hair!?

                One thing I noticed in retreating from the length of Lulu’s reach. Animated as her body and hair were, the woman’s expression never changed from one motion to the next… It really did feel like I was fighting against some sort of zombie. I kicked off backwards, narrowly avoiding the onslaught of wicked strands as they slammed in around the spot where I’d been standing. Fear of the possibilities arose when I saw blood-stained locks not only strike the ground, but pierce and visibly crack the pavement. She was serious about wanting to harm me… in a zombie wants to eat my brains sort of way. I didn’t have any sort of range advantage. Lulu might’ve been shorter than my newfound body but her hair was at least two feet longer than her body was tall and I didn’t have the arm’s reach with which to compensate.

                “Lulu!” I protested again, seeking to elicit a mental response. Nothing. The blue haired fury whipped out both arms and dashed in for a clawed strike. I jumped back once more but found myself backed up against the scales of the demonic beast. Silently cursing my luck, I rolled to the side in an attempt to avoid Lulu’s claws. A steel-like scraping sound chased after me as I tumbled, and a sharp stinging pain pulsing from the back of my leg let me know that I hadn’t completely avoided the attack. Lulu was silent, save for her physical efforts to keep up with my hasty retreat. I took it as further proof that Lulu likely wasn’t herself right now. But what had caused this change in her to manifest? Could I even consider this to be normal behavior for Lulu or was some outside source influencing her? It pained me to consider the possibilities. For the most part I could avoid Lulu’s attacks but without knowing the cause or the reason for her aggression, I couldn’t morally bring myself to actively fight against her… “Lulu! Please, stop this now! I’m not your enemy!” My protests once again seemed to fall on deaf ears. The moment I turned around to shout, Lulu was there to close the gap. Hand raised, fingers spread wide, Lulu’s claws flashed forward to strike.

                My vision picked up on the movement an instant before the clanging of solid steel rang out. Having struck against the hardened scales of the demonic beast, a steel crossbow bolt clattered to the ground between myself and Lulu. It was enough to distract the two of us from each other in that moment. I glanced over to see the wolfman who’d regained his posture. He’d equipped one of the crossbows and now held it aimed in our direction.

                “Lulu!” Light blue hair and blood whipped before my eyes and I reached out to grab Lulu but she escaped my reach and madly rushed towards the injured wolfman.

                “Do it now!” The wolfman yelled up into the air.

                A blur of movement descended upon Lulu. A web of wires carried by unseen momentum, wrapped themselves around the woman’s body, completely entangling her. Lulu tripped over the entangling wires and fell to the ground writhing, wriggling, and screaming. Before I could protest what I was seeing, I observed another projectile that struck against the back of Lulu’s neck. Shouting intangibly, Lulu’s struggling slowed and eventually diminished until she no longer actively moved against her bindings.

                “Is she okay…?” I asked. I and the wolfman both cautiously approached the mess of wires and blue hair.

                “She’s asleep.” The wolfman responded after kneeling down to physically confirm Lulu’s condition.

                “Well I would certainly hope so. That was the strongest tranquilizer we could muster up on such short notice…” A man’s voice rang out from atop the fallen Charmolgrath’s body.