Three days later.

Sofia and Roselyn were telling a story about Kai until the kids fell asleep. However, they soon realized something was off.

Without wasting their time, they asked the guards that protected the kids from entering the orphanage while they came out of the building.

As one would expect, they realized they were surrounded.

"Sofia…" Roselyn narrowed her eyes and looked at the darkness.

"Yeah. It's gonna be a sleepless night for both of us." Sofia nodded in agreement, looking at the emerging shadows.

There were approximately one hundred people coming toward them. Even though they were failed zodiacs with improved strength, Sofia and Roselyn should be able to handle them easily, so they raised their guard up.

Luckily, they had a Sound Magician like Kai staying inside the orphanage to make sure the kids didn't hear anything from the outside. Although the Sound Magician wasn't as powerful as Kai, his power was enough as long as he could prevent any sound from entering the building.

Meanwhile, Sofia and Roselyn walked toward the shadows that gradually entered the light, showing their appearance.

All of them were mutated. Some had their limbs turned into a monster's part, while some had their body, feet, head, eyes, and any other parts.

One of the people dispatched by Arnaud came to them and asked, "Young Ladies, should I call for help?"

"No. You have done enough by evacuating other people from this area. Just protect the kids, we will handle this." Sofia shook her head. "But please notify Arnaud that the battle has started."

"Understood." The man nodded and disappeared, returning to the orphanage.

Roselyn then shouted to those people. "Greetings… I know that you're here to attack us and it's none other than this country's Prime Minister who orders you to attack us. I only want you to know that whoever wants to step aside, we won't kill you.

"Also, there is a chance for you to recover. I'm sure that all of you don't like to stay in that condition, right?"

Roselyn's voices were like thunder reverberating in their ears. The prime minister promised the exact same thing, telling them he had medicine to turn them back after some medication to slow down the process of mutation.

Yet, they didn't know who to believe. On one hand, Oliver had a solid background and influence in his hand. On the other hand, both Roselyn and Sofia were S Rank Magicians.

Unfortunately for her, there were still some people who didn't wish to return to their original form. And one of them even shouted, "Bullsh*t. Do you think we don't know that there is no cure for this predicament?"

Hearing that question, a series of shouts echoed in their ears.

"That's right. Don't give us empty promises. We're sick of it."

"You all are the same. Ruthless."

"Why do we even need to believe in you?"

All of them had truly lost hope and got influenced by those who wanted to stay in their form easily.

Even so, Sofia remembered Kai's instruction. He wanted to minimize the damage so as to create a cause and effect for the media and the world.

Hence, she tried to persuade them once more. "I am sure you haven't known this, but the Prime Minister's research is based on someone else's research. That person is the best scientist in the world, Ria Ross. I am her disciple, Kai Carter's girlfriend, Sofia Campbell.

"My boyfriend has talked to his teacher and promised to treat all of you. Also, this is classified information, but you're not alone. There are others who are suffering like you, but they all have been relieved from that curse.

"I can guarantee it with my Campbell Family on the line. I can even provide proof as long as you want me to show it and put down your mission."

Sofia's persuasion affected at least half of them. Her words choice indeed struck deep inside their heart. By revealing her status and connection, they started to believe that returning was possible.

Also, Sofia could even provide proof if they wanted.

Hearing the confusion in their midst, Oliver's supporters quickly tried to lead the group again.

"Don't be swayed by their words."

"They are just trying to buy time. If we wait here, there will be hundreds if not thousands of soldiers coming here."

Instead of convincing them, Sofia took out her device and opened a certain picture. It was two pictures that had been combined into one, creating a "before and after" picture.

The before picture showed a man with a tiger's legs. Next to it was a picture of the same man with normal legs. However, there was certainly some trace of tiger legs remaining on them.

"This is just a small proof. If we provide you with something clean like that of a human's legs, you will say that the picture portrays the man before they even take that power and mutate. That's why we provide you the man who is in the middle of his recovery.

"It's going to take time, but this is the proof that I can show you to convince you that solving your problem is possible."

The picture shook their hearts even more because most of them were dying to have that chance. Oliver had been giving them medicine to slow down the process, but none of them had any hope in getting back their bodies despite numerous attempts.

Seeing that the hope was still there reignited their hearts. They still wanted to live like a normal human.

"They just edited that picture. Don't believe them."

"Don't give us false hope anymore."

Sofia knew that those people were the trouble, but instead of beating them, which somehow convinced them that it was fake, Sofia only shouted, "You have chosen to take that power and failed. If you have that kind of courage, I won't persuade you anymore. You're the one who needs to choose whether to believe us or not. I will respect your decision and apologize in advance that I have the order to kill those who try to fight us."

Although they were not convinced, some of them seemed to believe them because those shouts coming from their group didn't provide any solutions. They simply denied them without any fact to back it up.

Hence, rather than staying in one place with a slim chance to recover, they chose to try a new opportunity. Nothing worse would come to them anyway.

Seeing some of them actually walking to the side, Sofia announced, "If you believe us, please step aside. We will reach out to you after solving this problem. We also don't want to trouble you and fight for us… Your life is our priority after all."

Sofia tried a gentle way to persuade them, gradually making those who told them about false hope the bad guy.

For those desperate people who wanted to return to normal, it was enough to make a decision.

Around sixty of them decided to step aside while the others couldn't choose or they were Oliver's supporters.

"Thank you." Sofia smiled at them. "We will do our best to cure you."

"You b*tches. Who do you think you are? Trying to convince my people with false hope?" One of the females shouted and stepped forward, glaring at Sofia and Roselyn.

"If you think it's false hope, I don't have any words to persuade you anymore. However, you will know whether it's false hope or not within seven days because Ria Ross will be the one handling the entire problem. We also have reached an agreement with the US Base to cooperate to cure you." Sofia smiled and prepared to fight while convincing them a bit more.

Luckily, another twenty stepped aside, making those who didn't want to return and the ones who couldn't choose low in number.

"We've given you the time to choose. It's time for us to act." Sofia raised both hands as a blue magic circle appeared behind her back.