Aldred rushed into the bunker hoping nothing bad had happened...and jerked his head back. There was a horrid stench of charred flesh, acid, and death. As Aldred scanned the room, he saw four charred corpses near the doorway. The corpses laid in a pool of melted flesh and acid that gave off a horrendous rotting smell. The corpses were burnt with intense lightning attacks, so much that they were unrecognizable. But judging from their sizes, Aldred was able to deduce that they were Fox Dragons. As his gaze lifted, he saw more and more deaths farther down the room. Many Toxic Razortails were dead, each either smashed or clawed to death. Then, there were two more charred Fox Dragons. The only difference was that these two corpses had their hearts ripped out and their heads ripped off...as if done by someone with an intense grudge...or a severe psychological problem....

Suddenly, Aldred thought of someone. Julia!...Although she had tried to move on in the past few weeks and forget about what had happened to her and her family, Aldred felt that her mentality was barely stable and only a slight push would cause everything to come crashing down. When she saw the death of Soul's mother a month ago, Aldred could sense some disturbances in her heart as if she was struggling to stay in control. Fortunately, Julia was able to calm herself down as she found some inner peace through the interactions with the young Toxic Razortails and Soul these past few weeks. However, Aldred knew that that would not last. This was why Aldred did not want Julia to fight with Skaal and him earlier...he was afraid that something from the fight would trigger something deep down in Julia, causing her to go insane.

Quickly, Aldred looked up to see where Julia was. There! Julia was standing there in the corner, in front of a group of huddling Toxic Razortails and covered with blood. She stood there frozen and looking at her blood-stained and guts-stained hands. A terrified and disbelieving expression displayed on her face. Tears started streaming down her unblinking eyes as she slowly lifted her head and stared trance-like at Aldred. But Aldred was not looking back at her...he was staring at the body below her feet...it...it was Skaal....

Aldred rushed forward to the dying Toxic Razortail who had an arm-sized hole at the center of his back that pierced through to the other side. His mind went blank at the sight of the wound. Aldred tried pressing his hands on the wound, struggling to close the wounds with his hands...but his hands were too small. Tears welled up in his eyes as he silently cried. This was his brother...his family...his friend.

"I...I didn't mean too...." Julia tried to explain, "I-I didn't k-know what I w-was d-doing. I'm r-really sorry."

Aldred looked towards the sound of her voice but his mind was blank. He was about to lash out in anger but a feeble voice stopped him and snapped him out of his daze. "I-It's not her f-fault."

"Skaal! You must live! We can get through this! I'm sure there's a way to heal you!" Aldred cried out.

"No...t-there's no t-time. I can feel D-Death approaching...c-coming to t-take me away." Skaal murmured tiredly.

"No! Stay with me Skaal! Don't die!"

Suddenly, some rustling sounded out from behind them. Aldred turned around to look and saw Matriarch Sheila enter along with a hundred or so warriors. When Matriarch Sheila saw the corpses, she grimaced. However, when she saw Skaal, she rushed over and mourned loudly.

"What happened?!" Matriarch Sheila bellowed grievingly towards Aldred and Julia.

..........

A while ago....

..........

Julia was taking care of the scared children and the sickly elders while sounds of fighting could be heard outside. Periodically, Julia would stare at the entrance and muttering about how she should be out there helping. This was the exact thing she had been training for in the past few weeks. She believed that she was ready. Why couldn't Aldred see that? She heard a faint rustling to her left and she turned to look. Apparently she wasn't the only one who was feeling a bit restless. Soul was acting like he wanted to fight as well. Julia reached over and hugged Soul tightly, embracing his warmth.

"Don't worry Soul, Aldred and Skaal will be fine." Julia replied as she stroked Soul's fur and reassured the young agitated Sharptail.

Time went by and the intense battle sounds lessened. Curious about what was occurring outside, one of the elderly Toxic Razortails got up and approached the doorway. Julia tried to urge him to come back to the group, but the stubborn old Razortail refused and said that he was just going to take a quick look at the situation that was happening outside. As soon as he opened the door, a sharp claw barged its way in and smashed into the elderly Razortail, sending him flying back. The Razortail died from the attack before he hit the ground, his head caved in with blood and brains leaking out.

When six Fox Dragons entered the bunker, all the Razortails began to panic. Some cowered at a corner while others tried to make a break for it. However, the enemies did not let anyone pass and killed everyone that was nearby. In the midst of chaos, Julia tried to calm everyone down and asked them to stay behind her. But no one listened to her. The Fox Dragons advanced forward and slaughtered anyone in the way. Two of the Fox Dragons lunged towards Julia who, in a state of panic, froze and did not have the courage to retaliate or the strength to dodge. A blur flashed before her eyes...it was Soul. Soul charged towards the two Fox Dragons in hopes of deterring their attacks. Julia tried to shout out for Soul to come back as it was too dangerous, but the words were stuck in her throat.

Soul rushed forward, claws out and attacked the nearest Fox Dragon. The Fox Dragon was surprised by the speed of the young Sharptail and was caught off guard. Soul smashed into the Fox Dragon, sending it flying to a wall. But the Fox Dragons were stronger and thus they were tougher as well. The blow that Soul did was not able to injure the Fox Dragon. This surprised Soul which attacked his self-confidence. In his surprised state, the other Fox Dragon attacked and smacked Soul. Soul flew backwards and tumbled to ground near Julia, blood trickled out of his mouth and nose. This was the first time Soul was scared. Unable to cope with the fear, he cowardly dove into the ground to escape.

When Julia saw the wounded Sharptail, her mind went blank. As if some invisible force broke through her mental wall, Julia suddenly went berserk. With a scream, she rushed towards the two Fox Dragons with the strength and speed of a monster...most likely caused by the breaking through of her human limits with that sudden burst of aggression and insanity, and pierced her hands into the Fox Dragons' bodies. With a sickening rip, she pulled out their hearts. Dropping the still-pulsating hearts, Julia grabbed onto the heads of the two Fox Dragons and ripped them cleanly off the bodies. As if that was not enough, Julia then proceeded to send waves of lightning attacks into the corpses - lighting them on fire. As the two Fox Dragon corpses continued to burn, Julia turned her attention onto the remaining four.

These four Fox Dragons were cautious of the young human girl in front of them. To be able to kill two of their own so quickly and so brutally, this girl was dangerous. Julia did not wait for them to make the first move as she leapt forward and cast a couple of lightning spears at them. The Fox Dragons dodged the attacks and flanked the young girl. One of the Fox Dragons lunged forward and bit into Julia's left arm, causing her to stop. Once Julia's movements were stopped, the other three Fox Dragons charged as well. However, as if unable to feel any pain, the ferocious young girl sent out a wave of acid bombs into the three unsuspecting Fox Dragons. Then, she heavily threw the Fox Dragon gnawing at her arm and paralyzed it with a Shock skill. The Fox Dragon collapsed on the floor with other struggling Fox Dragons, their fur and flesh melting at the intensity of the acid. Sensing fear, these Fox Dragons hobbled towards the door in an attempt to escape. However, Julia was not feeling merciful.

She roared angrily and cast another wave of acid onto her weak enemies. As they lay dying in the pool of torturous acid, Julia started mercilessly firing lightning attacks at the corpses, burning them and charring them. As Julia continued to do so, her angered expression slowly loosened...and a faint sneer appeared. Julia was subconsciously showing a new side of her...a dangerous and evil side....

Finally, she stopped. Julia turned around and faced the cowering Toxic Razortails at the corner of the bunker - the sneer still on her face. Her appearance gave off a devilish sensation which terrified the scared demonic beasts. They whimpered in panic and terror as Julia slowly lumbered towards them.

It was at this time when Skaal entered the scene. He grimaced at the sight of the dead Fox Dragons as well as the dead Toxic Razortails. When he saw Julia's back, he rushed over to her while calling her name. After seeing Julia respond to his calls, Skaal sighed in relief and lowered his guard. As he approached Julia, the young girl suddenly turned around and quickly fired a lightning attack at him. The attack caught Skaal off guard and paralyzed his movements. There was something wrong with Julia! Skaal tried to call out to Julia...he tried to wake her up from whatever was affecting her but Julia just stood there before him. An eerie smile appeared on her face as she raised her arm up.

"Julia? Julia?! JULIA! WAKE UP! JULIA!!" Skaal tried with all his might to wake Julia up as he struggled to break free of his paralysis.

"No, Julia. What are you doing? NO...Don't! NOOOO-!"

*PIERCE!!*