Austin, Lycan, and Rokku vs Kurāken

"Well, we should at least start by finding our opponent. Lycan, can you go all dog -mode and sniff out Kurāken?" Rokku asks.

"No, but my nose is strong enough in my human form to track her down," Lycan answers. Lycan then gets down on all fours and begins sniffing around, causing Rokku to cringe as Austin's eyes widen.

After a few moments of sniffing, Lycan stands back up. "I've got something!" He announces.

"What does it smell like?" Austin asks.

"Seafood," Lycan answers. "Huh?"

As if on cue, three giant tentacles resembling that of an octopus, shoot out from around the corner behind the building in front of the three Junior Slayers, one flying towards each of them. Faster than they can react, the tentacles wrap around Austin, Lycan, and Rokku, hosting them into the air.

Austin attempts to wiggle free from the tentacle's grip, but the more he struggles, the harder they squeeze, and soon, Austin finds himself almost too constricted to breathe.

"This must be Slayer Kurāken's Cursed Ability," Austin grunts.

Kurāken then emerges from behind the building that the three tenaces came from. Kurāken's left hand is extended out towards the three Junior Slayers, but rather than a pointer finger, middle finger, or thumb, a large, meaty red tentacle stands in their place.

"Remember me, Lycan?!" Kurāken cackles. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Have we…met before?" Lycan grunts, struggling to breath due to the crushing vice of Kurāken's tentacles. "You…you do smell a little bit familiar, but not enough to prove we've met before."

"Oh, well when we met I was in a different form than you see now," Kurāken explains. "I'm supposed that you've forgotten about me! Think back to all of those years ago in the woods, when you were just a little boy. By the time that we're done here, I'll make sure that you remember me!"

"What? What's happening?!" Rokku snaps.

Lycan's eyes widen as he opens up his mouth to respond, but before he can say anything, Austin wiggles his left arm free from Kurāken's tentacle, constructing an assault rifle out of his glowing orange Cursed Power and aiming it at Kurāken.

"Gunsmith: Assault Rifle!" Austin shouts as he fires a volley of bullets at Kurāken, whose ring finger extends into a fourth meaty tentacle which she brings up to block Austin's bullets with ease.

"That's some freaky tentacles," Austin grumbles. With his free arm, Austin grabs the bandages that keep his right arm wrapped up and rips them off, revealing his mechanical arm.

"Woah!" Rokku exclaims.

Austin's mechanical arm then begins glowing, charging with Cursed Power. "Gunsmith: Techno-Iron Gauntlet!" Austin shouts as the Cursed Power charging up his mechanical arm bursts outwards, exploding against Kurāken's tentacles, causing the Slayer to howl in pain and release her grip on the three Junior Slayers, causing them to fall to the ground.

Austin and Mariann push themselves off, while Lycan remains trembling in the ground.

"You good, Lycan?" Austin asks.

"Yeah, just a little razzled," Lycan trembles as he pushes himself off the ground as well.

"Oh, were you feeling bad that I was neglecting you?" Slayer Kurāken teases Austin as all of her tentacles revert back into her fingers. "Sorry, but I'm a little more focused on Lycan.

"Alright, we're fighting against a Pro Slayer, so we better shape up, people!" Austin calls to his teammates. "Gunsmith, Gadgets and Gizmos: Shotgun!" Austin shouts as he presses his left hand to his mechanical arm, and Austin's mechanical silver wrist and hand begins to change shape, morphing into the barrel of a gun.

"Woah, what was that?" Rokku asks.

"I can mold my Cursed Power into the shape of a gun," Austin explains. "So when I combine my Cursed Power with my mechanical arm, I can remodel it as I see fit."

Austin then aims his mechanical arm-gun at Kurāken, and fires off extra powerful softball-sized spheres of glowing orange Cursed Power her way, but feathery wings sprout from Kurāken's shoulder blades, and with a powerful flap of her wings, lifts her into the air.

"First tentacles and now wings?!" Rokku cries.

Lycan is still speechless.

"She can fly?!" Austin asks as he aims his mechanical right gun arm upwards, using his left arm to keep it steady, firing off another volley of bullets Kurāken's way, who weaves through the air with her mighty wings.

After Austin's second volley of bullets, Kurāken then lowers herself back to the ground. "Don't worry, you'll all have your own play time soon enough," Kurāken says, continuing her brief dialogue with Austin from earlier. Kurāken then crouches down on all fours.

"Huh? What's she doing?!" Rokku cries.

Lycan's eyes widen. "This looks like…my Cursed Ability!" He exclaims.

Kurāken's clothes begin to rip apart as golden fur sprouts from her entire body. A tail extends out from Kurāken's tailbone as her hands and feet morph into the sharp talons of an eagle. Kurāken's wings grow larger as her nose and mouth merge into a sharp break. Kurāken's hair is replaced with white feathers running up and down her neck. When Kurāken fixes her eyes back on the three junior Slayers, they are the eyes of no man.

But of a beast.

"A…griffin?" Rokku stammars.

"A what now?" Austin asks.

"Yeah, Griffin. It's a beast from Greek Mythology," Rokku answers. "A beast with the body of a lion, but the talons, head, and wings of an eagle."

Rokku's explanation is interrupted when Lycan drops to the ground, trembling in fear. "That creature…no…it can't be!" He cries.

"Lycan, what's the matter?!" Austin asks.

"You know how they say a Demon Kin's Cursed Ability awakens when they meet a powerful demon?" Lycan asks. "When I was a child, I met a shapeshifting demon. The demon was a mass of different animals merged together, but mostly I saw…the tentacles of a squid, the claws of a lion, and the wings of an eagle."

Austin's eyes widen. "So you think…that the Pro Slayer standing before us is that demon?" He asks.

"I didn't recognize Slayer Kurāken's base smell. But when she transformed into the tentacles, and now the griffin, I was hit with a wave of smell that reminds me of the ear I felt that day," Lycan explains. "Slayer Kurāken is that demon…I think…"

"What should we do about this?" Rokku asks.

"Nothing for now, let's win this fight first. We don't want to cause a scene," Austin answers. 

"Lycan nods gloomy, as Austin turns back around to face Kurāken. 

"Alright, let's go!" Austin shouts as he aims his gun arm at Kurāken. "Rokku, hit me!"

"Right!" Rokku replies as she places a Cursed Power Barrier reinforced hand on Austin's right mechanical shoulder, making sure that his bullets won't miss.

But before Austin can even fire off a single bullet, Kurāken flaps her mighty wings, swooping down towards the three Junior Slayers.

"Woah!" Austin cries as he, Lycan, and Rokku leap out of the way of Kurāken's dive bomb. But the three Junior Slayers aren't able to get away in time, and with her mighty talons, Kurāken grabs Austin with one foot and Rokku with the other foot, before taking flight again, bringing them high into the air.

"HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!" Rokku cries as she stares down at the ground far below her.

"Damnit, I'm sure I can get out of Slayer Kurāken's talons if I tried, but from this height, I'll just fall to my death," Austin grumbles.

With a powerful flap of her wings, Kurāken then swoops down again, diving bombing towards the city streets below. Austin and Mairanna scream in fear from the wild ride. But before Kurāken can dive into the ground, she extends her wings outwards, flying just above street level. Kurāken lowers her talons, dragging Austin and Rokku onto the ground, bangign them into cars and trash cans, and violently scraping their backs against the floor, which explodes in blood, until both Austin and Rokku lose consciousness.

***

"Did you miss me, Lycan?" Kurāken cackles as she lands on the ground before Lycan, with a powerful flap of her wings, which sends the wind and air around her flying outwards, knocking over cars and all of the surrounding objects.

"You…you are the demon that I met nine years ago...right?" Lycan stammers. His entire body is trembling in fear. "The night of the full moon, the night where I awakened this horrible beast inside me?!"

"Yes," Kurāken nonchalantly answers as she slowly reverts back into her human form, so casually that Lycan's eyes widen. "That was me."

"But why...why did you do this to me?! Ever since that day, every waking moment, no, every single moment has been hell!" Lycan cries.

"I'm a woman who loves researching interesting bodies. Nothing excites me quite like it," Kurāken answers. Her voice has a hint of a sickening sweet sense of pleasure in it. "I sensed that you had a monster inside of you, Lycan, but unfortunately, you just aren't the one I needed," Kurāken then sighs. "That's all I can really tell ya', sorry!"