Reinhard and Joseph moved to check on the bound townspeople while the Cup team caught their breath. Marie stretched her arms before she went over to the Cup team to make sure they were alright.
But then Lloyd suddenly cursed, his brown eyes widening with alarm.
"It's starting again!"
"What's starting?" Reinhard asked as he moved closer.
Kyle's violet eyes reflected fear. "Some of the townspeople have been turned into Phantasm Beasts, but there's an illusion hiding it. They transform around midnight."
Reinhard's expression shifted as he looked at the civilians more carefully and saw their bodies had begun changing. Their skin began darkening and hardening, limbs stretching out, and features becoming more bestial.
One man's hands sprouted claws that pushed through his fingernails while fur began growing across his arms in patches that spread visibly. His face stretched as his jaw restructured itself, teeth sharpening and multiplying within his mouth.
A woman nearby convulsed as her spine curved unnaturally. Multiple antlers broke through the skin of her forehead, branching outward in complex patterns. Her legs bent backward at the knees, restructuring into the stance of an Autumn Deer.
Another townsperson's back bulged grotesquely as bone spikes pushed through flesh and clothing. His body figure increased dramatically, muscles swelling beneath fur that grew in thick waves across his expanding frame. The transformation into a spiked bear was progressing with horrifying speed.
Reinhard watched in disbelief as the changes weren't instant. Each alteration occurred in stages that made the process even more disturbing to witness. Bones cracked and reformed audibly while skin split where new ones emerged.
Human features melted away and were replaced by animalistic characteristics that belonged to creatures from nightmares.
"We need to restrain them before the transformations complete," Jessie said urgently.
"Wouldn't it be better if we just knock them out!" Joseph says.
"...Damn it, let's just do that." Lloyd cursed before shouting.
…
Mensis Clinic.
In the clinic, Anasha's eyes blinked open as she awoke from an odd dream. Then she trembled as she felt something was wrong. She turned her head toward the bed to check on Ven and then froze.
The bed was empty with no sign of Ven in sight.
The sheets lay rumpled and pushed aside, as if he had gotten up and walked away. But fortunately, his personal belongings that had been on the bedside table were there.
"Maybe he went to the bathroom…Right?" Anasha muttered in worry.
Still, Anasha couldn't stop herself as she quickly got up from the chair, before leaving the room and beginning to search through the clinic. The building was quiet at this late hour, the other patients must have been sleeping by now. She was surprised her parents hadn't come for her yet, or that the staff had told her it was time to go.
But she didn't mind this as she continued moving through the hall. Gas lamps had been dimmed to their lowest settings, but there was still enough to see.
It was then that Anasha found one of Ven's shoes and jacket crumpled against the wall, lying in the hallway. She even saw the bed sheet trailing down the corridor as if he had wrapped it around himself while walking.
"Ven?" Anasha whispered, not wanting to wake others but desperately needing to find her brother.
A shadow moved at the end of the hallway, leading Anasha to turn and freeze as she stared down the hallway.
A Werefang stood blocking the passage, easily seven feet tall with crimson eyes that reflected the dim gaslight. It had shadowy wrappings coiled around its mouth, limbs, and waist. Anasha trembled as she slowly began stepping back while her body shaked with terror.
The Werefang opened its wrapped mouth and released a roar that shook the clinic walls.
Anasha screamed and ran in the opposite direction, her small legs rushing desperately as she fled down corridors lit only by scattered gas lamps. Behind her, she heard the beast's steps and the scrape of claws on wooden floors.
She turned a corner and ducked into a storage room, pressing herself against the wall beside shelves filled with medical supplies. Her hand covered her mouth to muffle her breathing as the Werefang's footsteps approached.
The Phantasm Beast paused outside the door.
She could hear it sniffing as it searched for her scent. Its shadow fell across the doorway, impossibly large and menacing.
Anasha squeezed her eyes shut and tried to make herself smaller, hoping it would move on. But her hope was futile and useless.
The door exploded inward as the Werefang burst through, wood splintering under its strength. The Werefang red eyes swept the room, pausing on every shadow that might conceal prey and lightly growling.
Anasha remained absolutely still, not even daring to breathe. The beast moved deeper into the storage room, its wrapped limbs making soft rustling sounds as it prowled between shelves.
When it turned away momentarily, Anasha darted out from her hiding spot and ran for the broken doorway. Her small size allowed her to slip past obstacles quickly, but she could hear the Werefang pivoting to chase her.
She ran through more hallways, searching desperately for the clinic's exit. The building's layout became a maze in her panic, familiar corridors seeming different and threatening in the darkness.
But then she saw a supply cart blocking part of the hallway ahead.
Anasha dove beneath it, squeezing into the small space between the cart's bottom shelf and the floor. She could see the Werefang's feet as it approached, claws clicking against wood.
The Werefang stopped beside the cart. She watched those clawed feet shift position, then a wrapped hand came into view as it began searching the area slowly.
Anasha held her breath until her lungs burned. The hand moved closer, reaching toward the gap where she hid. Just as those claws were about to touch her, a door slammed somewhere else in the clinic.
The Werefang's attention immediately shifted. It abandoned its search and moved toward the new sound, leaving Anasha trembling beneath the cart.
Anasha waited until the footsteps faded before carefully extracting herself and continuing toward where she remembered the exit being. Her small hands trembled as she moved along the wall, using it to guide herself through the darkness.
Finally, she saw the front entrance ahead, those large double doors with their brass handles catching what little light remained. A sense of relief flooded her body as she stared at the doors before heading over.
Anasha ran the final distance, her heart pounding as she reached for the door handle. It was then that a shadow fell across her from behind, and she felt the presence of something large looming over her small frame.
Anasha grits her teeth as she tried to open the door, but to her shock, it wouldn't open. She tried shaking but to no avail, and then she recalls it, the Clinic was closed at night to not let anything in.
Why!? Visitor hours should still be ongoing! Anasha thought in fright as she frantically shook the door.
But it still wouldn't open.
Anasha felt her chest tightening before she fell to the ground and stared at her hand with the room beginning to twist and become a blur. Anasha felt lightheaded for some reason before she fell to the ground,
The last thing she saw was two claws reaching down to her.
Then everything went dark for Anasha.