Nihja stepped in the guest room expecting to find Felix resting in bed as he should, only to catch him at the corner facing the mirror while unraveling his bandaged arm.

  She scoffed, her heels clicking as she hurried toward him. "If you don't get the rest necessary then you won't be recovering any time soon."

  Felix didn't respond, slowly peeling away the cloth and exposing his arm. Teeth marks decorated his shoulder where MiMi had bit him, and further down revealed a burrowed gash that was home to that dagger embedded into him. Just looking at it made his arm pulse as he looked away. Nihja sighed and snatched the fabric from his hand, then began wrapping it around his arm again. She paused when getting to the teeth marks, her eyes traveling upward and catching the tattoo at the back of his neck. Curiosity caught her interest as she finished reapplying the bandage before her fingers pushed the back of his hair aside to get a better look at what the tattoo said.

  Felix pulled away, giving her a crossed look with his left eye.

  Nihja stepped back and nodded. "Sorry, I should have asked."

  "You're right." He responded coldly, pinching the cloth that hid the right side of his face to get a peak at his facial injuries. He held his breath expecting the worst, but it was mostly bruising marks from having Perdilius stomp on his face. His right eye was swollen shut with a purple hue to the skin, and his cheek felt warm to the touch.

  "Those herbs Janette had with her did a number to help your healing." Nihja expined, "I had my friend Quill look at you when you were brought in. She helped treat a good number of soldiers here after what those girls did. Said that if the dagger pierced deep then it hit bone, so your arm will be feeling mighty sore for a good while, even with the healing herbs."

  "For how long?" He asked.

  She locked eyes with him. "I assume it would take several weeks, I didn't ask. The thought of you going after them as soon as you awoke did not cross my mind. Don't exert yourself, you're fighting nature. No man can take a stab like that and be fine in the morning, not even a Knight and those guys are supposed to be in great physical shape."

  "The longer I rest, the harder it gets to rescue them." He expined, averting his gaze.

  She turned him around to face her. "You're mad if you think you and your two friends alone can handle that mad priest. Do you even know what to do when you find him? You can't use your right arm, you got one eye swollen shut, and you say he has cat girls under his control. You are no soldier, and you are no battle-hardened warrior. You are a farmhand, Felix. A peasant. Sit. Rest. Sleep or just y down and spend some time with your thoughts."

  She turned around and walked away, leaving him as he sat down on the stool facing the mirror. His eyes stared at his hands as he brought them together. His eyebrows burrowed closely as he thought about the other night when he defended himself against MiMi, or when he fought off Perdilius' followers, and then lost to Perdilius. Reta's lesson to him about Genki came to mind, about needed focus and concentration. But in that moment, he lost himself and forgot what she taught him. What Nihja said struck him hard, he wasn't ever put in a position to fight. Before he met KuliKuli, he preferred running away from conflict his whole life. She changed him in more ways than he realized.

  That reminder helped him close his eyes and breathe in deep, slowly releasing as he began to rex. It proved more difficult than before to reach that tickling feeling, but soon he recognized it surrounding his fingers. Opening his eyes, he gnced down and noticed a faint trickle of light holding on to its form. Something was off with it, and suddenly the golden light was struck by a swirl of bck dust that stemmed from his hands. It corrupted the form before they dispersed, spreading apart until it was gone.

  Felix swallowed hard, believing he ruined it when he gasped. His hand was reacting somehow, his eyes widened as his fingers grew out resembling cws. He licked his lips, his heart racing as spun his hand around not knowing what to do but in his moment of panic, the effects started to wear off. Just as quickly as his cws formed, they began to shrink and return to look like regur fingernails.

  "What the hell?" He muttered to himself, raising his head to see his pupils had changed to resemble cat eyes as well. It took longer for his eyes to return to their circle shaped form, but the sight alone left him at a loss for words.

  Reta passed the scroll to Alphonse before grabbing another, her eyes following along the text in a hurry. Alphonse stood by her side, catching up with the scroll she gave him.

  "Interesting, it would make sense that curses use dark magic to corrupt its victims." He remarked, smacking his lips, "I suppose nature can have its share of awful surprises."

  "This wasn't natural." Reta corrected him, bringing his attention to the scroll she held. "Read here. This researcher suggests that a curse is an artificial creation which binds the user with conditions to be met or else they face repercussions."

  "Repercussions, how?" He asked with intrigue. "What conditions?"

  Reta gave him a look. "It seems that my curse requires a set of conditions to be met before it can be triggered by external force. You know that magic usage comes through light and dark, yes? Do you know the difference?"

  Alphonse nodded. "Light gives, Dark takes, at least in summary."

  "Indeed. Dark Magic by its nature takes from other sources, or in this case it is using me as its source. When the full moon appears, I transform into this werewolf by force."

  "You think by removing the conditions, we can revert this curse of yours?" He suggested.

  "Not unless you pn to remove all three moons, no. This curse is a different form of magic usage that I am unaware of."

  Alphonse scratched his chin. "It resembles a sort of contract to me. Setting the terms and conditions to be met by the other party before they agree to it."

  "Yes, only my consent was removed from this curse altogether." Reta frowned.

  "Well, where you the first to be cursed, or did you get it from someone else?" Alphonse pointed out.

  Reta's eyes fshed. "No... "

  "How did you get this curse to begin with?"

  "By sying a werewolf as it bit me." She expined, reading further into the scroll. "I was aware that a bite transfers the curse onto the victim so long as they survive. I was not privy of whatever conditions I am required of."

  "I don't suppose staying indoors helps against this?"

  She shook her head. "I was in bed with Felix this morning when the effects of the curse wore off, you saw me."

  "Ah, that's right. Darn." Alphonse paced around, giving it some thought. " Where did you get this curse, the werewolf that bit you. Where was it?"

  Reta raised her head, her face twisting with disgust. "At an isnd I once called home. He told how to transfer this curse, and that the effects would become permanent over time if I cannot remove it."

  "How much time?"

  Reta shook her head. "I do not know."

  "And was it the wolf that told you this?" Again, she nodded. "Okay. If he knew then maybe returning to that pce is your best hope for finding out who put the curse on him to begin with."

  He noticed her look of dissatisfaction. "What?"

  "Returning there is not ideal, they would kill me on sight." She expined, dragging her finger along the page to better follow the text. "This written form gets messy with their fancy wording. There must be other ways to remove this curse."

  "Or maybe we're missing the forest for the trees." Alphonse suggested, catching her attention. "Are you in control when you change or do you lose memory afterwards?"

  "It comes and goes, but I become feral in mind. When I turn, the process burns through my magic and leaves me famished, so I am driven to feast on others to replenish."

  "But you didn't eat anyone at the stage." He reminded her. "So perhaps you had some control?"

  She shrugged. "It's not a process of comfort that I want to experience. Imagine every bone, every nerve reshaping outside of your control. Your muscles cramp, your joints break and dark course fur splits through your pores all at once. In truth, I feel relieved after the change is done. What is it you have in mind?"

  Alphonse fetched one of the earlier scrolls they read. "This one suggests that both light and dark magic should not be understood as an outside force of nature but comprehended as a science. We have just learned the possibility of this curse being a magical contract where you are bound by requirements unbeknownst to you in an unfair manner, but that certain conditions must be met before you can transform. You may be a stranger to me, but bear in mind that I have witnessed you in two different forms. On the first full moon you become this big wolfish beast, but I am thinking that the final moon leaves you in this crossed state between women and wolf. Am I correct in guessing that?"

  Reta nodded in agreement, permitting him to continue. "Great, my theory is that we can search for a loophole in this contract you find yourself in so that we can undo the permanence of this curse. What if we can find a way so that you can change into this crossed hybrid state where you have full cognitive control of yourself without going mad and attacking us?"

  "You are suggesting that I embrace this curse rather than seek its removal?"

  "I don't know your past, so I am left to assume that for one reason or another, returning to that pce is not an option. But perhaps we can seek this alternative route to postpone your timer in the meantime?"

  Reta bit her bottom lip contempting his idea. "Now that I wonder... the first time I transformed, I was transfixed with the idea of... fine. But if we go this route... I need to speak to Felix about this."

  Alphonse raised his hands with relief. "That's fine, I need to get going soon myself."

  Reta stuffed the scrolls back in the chest before turning to him. "Would it be fine if I were to take this with me?"

  He shook his head. "No, the chest stays. But you can take the scrolls with you by all means."

  Reta snarled at his smile, unamused by his sense of humor.

  Nihja looked up as Felix came down the steps, waving at her. She sat at a bench, stroking her daughter's hair as she slept on her p. Felix took a seat next to her. She gave him a look with the intent to speak but chose not to.

  "What?" He asked.

  She shook her head. "So long as you get rest, that is all."

  Felix nodded, then leaned back watching her. He seemed focused, something was in his mind. She gnced and caught on to him staring.

  "What?"

  "Sorry, I need to ask... do you know about magic?"

  Nihja gave him a puzzled look. "What, the four elements? Water, Fire, Earth, and Air? What about it?"

  "Forgive me, I wasn't educated in my childhood."

  Nihja pressed her lips together and hung her head, staring at her daughter's sleeping face. "I didn't mean to pry into what that tattoo is. I've heard about it, but I never saw one before."

  Felix sighed and hunched forward. "It was my name before when I was a sve."

  "How long were you a sve?"

  He shrugged. "As long as I can remember."

  "That expins-" She hesitated, "When they brought you in, we had to undress you. I didn't give it much thought, believing that your body was left in that state because of your current injuries. But Quill mentioned that those were scars surrounding your body when she treated your wounds, and there were many scars."

  Felix nodded, shuffling in discomfort as he changed the conversation. "Do you know about Light and Dark magic?"

  "I do."

  "Reta taught me that magic is something that flows through us, it's this essence that surrounds us. It gives life and takes away, and we all have it inside."

  Nihja shook her head. "You have a mix of light and dark magic inside you."

  "But Monster Girls don't have that mix, do they?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

  Nihja sighed. "No, Felix. We do not. Where is this question leading to?"

  "Forgive me if I'm making you uncomfortable. I only ask to understand." He expined, licking his lips briefly. "If you have dark magic and dark magic takes, what does that mean for monster girls? I was with KuliKuli for a while, but I didn't have any magic in me. I'm no mage."

  "Everyone is born with a storage or reservoir of magic inside them, not just the magic that surrounds life. Even Monster Girls have this, although we only have an affinity toward dark magic. This means that we use our own reservoir as the source of our magical abilities but replenishing it means taking from others."

  He nodded in understanding. "So that is... is that why Monster Girls find people to sleep with?"

  Nihja sighed and shook her head, chuckling at the thought. "I prefer not expining it so crudely but... I suppose."

  Felix ughed with her. "Sorry."

  "It's fine."

  "But what if a Monster Girl was born with an affinity toward Light Magic?" He asked.

  She smirked and gave him a look. "Then they wouldn't be a monster girl, silly. That doesn't happen, people aren't born with pure light magic stored inside."

  "Okay, now what if they had both light and dark magic, just like we do?"

  Nihja paused and gave it some thought. "That also wouldn't exist, not naturally. You're asking that a mother of dark energy and a father of light energy get together, and I just told you that light magic doesn't happen."

  "But what if it did?" He questioned, scooting closer. "Because that is what led Perdilius to her. He kept rambling about her being this perfect blend, this mixed hybrid. Said she and her two sisters were needed for something, a ritual of some sort. I-I just couldn't make much sense of it."

  Nihja blinked, her eyes trailing off. "I... would she tire easily?"

  "Yes, after transforming several times."

  "That's natural, I think. Or it doesn't sound abnormal at least from my limited knowledge." Nihja gave him a funny look. "Would you two get together whenever she felt tired like that?"

  "I-" He stuttered, then felt his face blush. Clearing his throat, he noticed her smirking at his reaction before hanging his head. "Y-yes, why?"

  "It's just sex, Felix. It's natural. But for your case, it helped her regain magic from you. I would take it that it left you tired when you two finished?"

  He nodded, giving some thought as he stared at his hand. He chose not to share that yet, perhaps Janette would be a better source of help with that. "So what if KuliKuli and her sisters are hybrids, what's special about that?"

  Nihja stroked her daughter's hair calmly. "I don't know. But my first guess? If they really are hybrids, they can be used as conduits, as a means to do something bigger."

  "Like what?" He asked, his eyes wide by the suggestion.

  Nihja shook her head apologetically. "I don't know. But with Perdilius, it won't be anything pleasant."