Celeste burst through the doorway like a storm, slamming it shut behind her with a crash. Mandibite’s shriek rattled the walls, his rat-eyes gleaming through the crack.
“I’ll kill you! Moggy!” his voice roared, echoing like nails on glass. “The zombies inside will chew you apart!”
Celeste’s breath came in ragged gasps, her feral edge collapsing into wide-eyed panic. She spun—
—and froze.
The Cat-O-Wrap stood there, its head tilting with that awful faceless smile, its false Celeste-shape swaying as it sang. The lullaby crawled into her ears, worming sleep into her mind.
Beside it, the Hippogum oozed forward, each stomp warping the candy-stone floor, strings of gum stretching and snapping with every lumbering step.
And her friends—Ray, Arcade, Skye—half-smothered in the gum, eyes fluttering shut. Mezzo’s chest barely moved. They couldn’t breathe.
“No, no no no!” Celeste squeaked, blades flaring to life in her trembling hands. She charged—awkward, desperate, but deadly.
One clean slash.
The Cat-O-Wrap’s head fell, unraveling into shreds of sticky sugar. The lullaby cut off mid-note, silence ringing in its place.
+200 EXP
+Cat Wraps (Common Drop)
“Please, please—” Celeste scrambled across the floor, hacking away at the gum binding Mezzo. Her claws tore chunks away, sticky strings clinging to her fur. “Don’t you dare—don’t you dare!”
She shook him, tears welling. “Mezzo, wake up, please wake up, oh stars, please—”
His eyes fluttered, glazed. Then—slowly—he smirked.
“Oooh,” he croaked, voice rough but playful, “aren’t you a sight for sore eyes…”
Celeste let out a sob of relief that turned into a broken laugh, pressing her forehead to his for just a heartbeat. “You idiot, you absolute idiot, don’t do that to me!”
Behind them, the ground shook.
The Hippogum loomed closer, gum strands dripping from its wide, crystallized jaws.
Celeste jerked upright, panic flooding back. “Quick—your guitar! Summon it—please!”
Mezzo coughed, then grinned weakly. “Now that’s more like it.”
With a snap of his paw, Infernal Riff blazed into being—strings humming with fire and speed. The gum around him recoiled, sizzling. He stood, shaking the sugar from his fur, his grin growing wild again.
“Round two, big guy,” he said, voice hoarse but full of reckless glee. “And this time, we play loud.”
The Hippogum lurched forward, gum-flesh bubbling as it roared. Celeste darted in first, her twin katanas flashing. Each slice cut deep into its sticky hide, spraying molten gum across the floor — but every wound sealed again with a wet snap.
“Stay back!” she squeaked, slashing faster, her voice panicked but determined. “I’ll—I’ll hold it, I promise, just hurry!”
Mezzo staggered to his feet, Heartaxe blazing, then whipped it in a wide arc to shred the gum binding Ray. “C’mon, Sunshine, rise and shine!”
Ray gasped in air, fury sparking in her eyes. “Took you long enough.” Her hammer materialized with a fiery glow. She cracked it into her palm. “Alright, hippopotamus. Let’s dance.”
Arcade coughed, still half-dazed, but snapped his fingers. “C.H.I.P., hostile engagement protocol. And no, that’s not an invitation for interpretive dance.”
Chip’s head popped open with a chirp. “Hostile mode engaged! Firing in three, two—pew pew pew!”
Static blasts zipped from the little bot, sizzling holes into the Hippogum’s surface.
Skye, pulling free with Mezzo’s help, adjusted his launcher with shaking hands. His ears twitched, lips moving in half-muttered calculations only he understood. Then — snap. A glowing card slid into place.
“Summon — Fire Witch,” he whispered.
The holographic witch erupted in flame, a towering figure with burning hair and a staff of molten ember. She raised her staff and unleashed a column of fire directly into the Hippogum’s chest.
The beast shrieked, gum boiling, its sticky surface bubbling away under the heat.
Ray roared, charging forward with Heartbreaker. “Now! Hit it harder!”
She slammed her hammer down into its molten side, but with a sickening splorch, it stuck. The gum swallowed it to the hilt.
“What—?!” Ray snarled, yanking hard. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
Beside her, Mezzo slashed Heartaxe into the beast’s back. The gum clung instantly, locking the blade in place.
“Oh, for feck’s sake!” he shouted, jerking the guitar free — but it wouldn’t budge. “That’s cheating!”
Celeste’s blades blurred, slicing in frantic arcs, but every time she cut, the Hippogum regenerated, gum knitting together faster than she could carve. “Oh stars oh stars oh stars this isn’t working!” she stammered, tail puffed.
The Hippogum shuddered forward, its jawless maw stretching, syrup-thick walls opening like a living trap. The stench of mint and rot clung to the air as it lurched, trying to swallow them whole.
“Keep it busy!” Ray shouted, hammer braced. She swung hard into its flank, the gum-like flesh warping and snapping back with a grotesque wobble.
“Working on it!” Mezzo barked, loosing a volley of soundwaves that rattled the sticky beast. Arcade darted in with a burst of static sparks, while Skye hung back, cards flickering like holographic wards around him.
Celeste’s grip tightened. Her twin katanas shimmered, the ribbons trailing light like restless comets. She darted forward—heart pounding, ears pinned back.
She leapt.
Both blades came down in a swift, precise cross. The slashes intersected midair, carving an X of blinding silver across the Hippogum’s chest.
Light exploded.
The trails her blades left behind didn’t vanish but hung there—two intersecting arcs of starlight, drifting like afterimages in the dark. Sparkling motes flared outward, a constellation born from the clash. The Hippogum reeled, the cross searing deep into its body, gum-flesh bubbling and sizzling around the glowing wound.
Celeste landed lightly, breath catching, eyes wide at the lingering starry scar she had left.
“Stars above…” she whispered.
Behind her, Mezzo grinned wolfishly. “Now that’s rock and roll.”
Ray only smirked, rolling her shoulders. “Took the words outta my mouth.”
The Hippogum howled, the battlefield lit in silver sparks as Celeste readied herself again, the constellation still burning against the monster’s hide.
The Hippogum shambled, blistered by flame and still hissing from Celeste’s Lunar Cross scar. Its gum-flesh snapped outward like taffy, trying to pin her in place.
“Celeste! With me!” Mezzo’s shout cut through the chaos. His guitar flashed into being, strings already vibrating with a pulse of raw mana.
She darted toward him, twin blades raised. The first note rang out—low, thrumming, vibrating in her bones.
Her katana slashed once, the strike syncing perfectly with the sound.
The second chord came brighter, sharper. Her arms blurred, the next swing faster.
Then Mezzo grinned, teeth bared, and let loose. A cascade of wild chords burst from his instrument, every note driving her into another cut, another strike, her ribbons sparking hotter each time. The air filled with the rhythm—steel and sound locked together, dancing.
Slash—slash—slash—slash!
Each blow landed harder, quicker, the speed climbing with the tempo.
The Hippogum staggered under the storm, its gum-flesh sizzling where her blades tore through, every wound flaring with heat as if Mezzo’s chords stoked fire into her steel.
By the final riff, Celeste was a blur of motion, her blades screaming arcs of white-hot light across the monster. She leapt back on the downbeat, the last note hanging sharp in the air as the Hippogum’s massive bulk trembled, riddled with glowing wounds.
Mezzo swung his guitar down with a flourish, panting but grinning wide.
“Now that was a solo worth playing.”
Celeste landed beside him, chest heaving, her eyes shining like stars.
“We… we played it together,” she said softly, almost in awe.
And for a moment, the battlefield was less a warzone and more a stage—two performers, their duet blazing against the dark.
The Fire Witch raised her staff again. “Burn,” Skye muttered, his focus razor sharp. The witch unleashed another torrent of flames, hotter this time, peeling back layers of gum until the creature’s core shone inside — a crystallized candy heart pulsing like molten sugar.
“Oi!” Mezzo yelled, straining against his stuck weapon. “Somebody hit that before I melt too!”
Arcade shoved Chip forward, the little bot’s eyes glowing bright. “C.H.I.P., focus fire on the core. Burn it out.”
Chip beeped happily. “Target locked! Boom time!”
Electric bursts hammered into the creature’s chest. The Fire Witch poured flames into it. Celeste saw her opening — and with a shaky, desperate cry, leapt, blades crossed, straight for the glowing heart.
The Hippogum bellowed, gum bubbling over like a cauldron. Its crystallized heart pulsed in its chest, glowing hotter with each second.
The Fire Witch’s flames tore at it, her molten staff burning deep cracks across its torso. Chip’s static blasts followed, each strike snapping those cracks wider.
The Hippogum shuddered, gum-flesh splitting as it tried to engulf Mezzo’s soundwave and Ray’s hammer in one hungry sweep. The sticky tide surged, pulling at their paws, dragging them toward its maw.
“Skye!” Arcade barked, sparks leaping off his wrench. “Anytime would be good!”
Skye’s ears twitched, his eyes narrowing in focus. He flicked his wrist, and his holographic card holder snapped open with a sharp shhhk. Cards shimmered in the air like a fan of light.
“Alright, alright… don’t fail me now,” he muttered.
He drew.
A card spun free, glowing brighter than the rest. Its surface burned with a fiery crest, light spilling in a molten cascade.
“Fire it is,” Skye breathed, a grin twitching at his muzzle.
He flung the card forward. It sliced through the air, trailing a tail of blazing orange, the glow bending and twisting like a comet. When it struck, the Hippogum recoiled, flames erupting across its surface. The gum bubbled and charred, the sticky mass hardening into brittle chunks.
The lingering trail of the card hung in the air a heartbeat longer, blazing like a firework streak before fading.
Mezzo gave a triumphant bark of laughter. “That’s more like it, card boy!”
Ray yanked her hammer free from the now-stiff gum, smirking. “Guess you do have some bite after all.”
Skye’s cheeks reddened, but he straightened, flicking his card holder shut with a snap. “Lucky draw,” he said, though the gleam in his eyes said he knew it was more than that.
Celeste glanced at him, ribbons swaying in the firelit haze, and whispered with a smile, “Radiant…” as if naming the move herself.
“Core exposed!” Arcade barked, sweat on his brow as he hammered runes into his pad. “Hit it now before it reseals!”
Ray wrenched against Heartbreaker, teeth bared. “Hammer’s stuck—Celeste! Move!”
Mezzo yanked desperately at Heartaxe. “This is bloody humiliating—hang on, kitten, I’ll give you the rhythm!” He kicked the guitar once, strumming its strings with a sudden burst of sparks. The pulse of sound shook the beast, staggering it just enough.
Celeste’s claws tightened on her blades. She darted forward, tail fluffed, breath trembling. “Alright—alright—don’t mess this up—!”
With a sharp growl, she leapt, both swords blazing with her aura. For a split second, her pupils slit into feral lines, instincts kicking in.
She struck.
Twin blades crossed in an X, carving into the crystallized core. The Fire Witch’s flames surged into the opening, Chip’s electricity bursting through the cracks.
The Hippogum let out one last screech—half roar, half gurgle—before its entire chest caved inward. Molten gum erupted outward in a sticky explosion, raining caramelized shards across the chamber.
The beast collapsed into a melted heap, its candy heart shattering into glittering fragments.
+300 EXP
Celeste hit the ground on all fours, panting hard. She blinked up at her team. “D—did we…?”
Mezzo whooped, finally yanking Heartaxe free. “Oh, hell yes! That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Teamwork, baby!”
Ray spat out a wad of gum and scowled. “If this stuff gets in my mane again, I’m shaving it off.”
Arcade nudged Chip, who was happily singing “We are the champions” in digital beeps. “That was… effective,” he admitted, though his voice trembled with the adrenaline crash.
Skye exhaled, lowering his launcher. “The witch burned out,” he said softly, watching the flames fade to sparks. “But… it worked.”
Celeste, still catching her breath, sheathed her swords with shaky hands. Her eyes softened as she looked at them all — alive, messy, but together.
“We did it,” she whispered, almost shy. “We… actually did it.”
