Chapter 913

Lily

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Lily woke up a bit early for the breakout. It seemed that everyone had continued to argue all the way until sunrise, making the whole argument rather moot. Apparently Yang was genuinely annoyed at this. Kat wasn’t sure if Yang had gotten too caught up in the argument, or was failing to argue well enough to get her point across. Lily slept through it all, as well as most of the day. Whenever she started to stir, Kat just sent soothing waves of calm down the link and Lily went back to sleep. No sense in getting up and being tempted to do something foolish.

Now night had well and truly fallen and Lily was making the first move. She hopped up, balancing precariously on the lip of the viewing window and tried to stick her head through the bars. Lily was careful, and when she felt her horns touching the edges she pulled back without making a sound. *Hmm... can I...* Lily focused on her horns and tried to retract them... to no success even after five minutes.

Lily tried again, realising the obvious mistake she’d made. This time Lily focused not on having them retract, but the fact her human form didn’t have them at all. The horns slowly started to vanish when Lily locked that mental picture in place. It was... dreadfully slow. She had to sit there, awkwardly, feet bunched up and leaning slightly against the side of the frame to stay steady.

It was terribly uncomfortable as well. Like sucking your breath in continuously even after you need to breathe. It took an agonisingly long time before Lily could stumble through the gap, head now slightly smaller without her horns. Lily felt her balance was completely off as she hit the ground, just barely managing to right herself, but still noticeably hitting the floor. Xuena didn’t react at all, and in Lily’s moment of hesitation her horns sprung back into place alongside a sharp pain. *Oof. Note to self don’t do that again any time soon. Or maybe practice?*

Lily let a shiver trailed down her spine at the idea of needing to practice something so unnatural feeling. Useful it almost certainly would be but... it had been such an unpleasant experience. Perhaps the only reason it was of practical use would be for other stealth missions. If she could hide all of her demonic features Lily would look and feel like a normal cat to most people. It would be an edge... an edge Lily wasn’t quite willing to go without when she thought of it like that.

.....

With newfound confidence Lily transformed and then made a knocking sound on one of the nearby cabinets. Xuena turned slowly, then spotted Lily and practically jumped in place. The pair stared at each other waiting for the other person to say something first. After a while of just staring, Xuena was the one who asked, “Um... who are you and why are you in my bedroom?”

*Oh I can’t let a comment like that go.* “Bedroom? Yang told me you were in a prison cell... well I suppose there’s no accounting for taste...” said Lily trying to go for wistful sounding.

Xuena didn’t rise to the bait and ask the obvious question. Instead, she reiterated “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Lily sighed, “I thought that was obvious, I’m here to rescue you on behalf of Yang,”

“I don’t believe that,” said Xuena. “The chance that she’d trust anyone other than herself with my safety is so tiny it might as well be a single snowflake in a blizzard. Not to mention, it really isn’t that hard to find out my best friend’s name and use that to give you extra information. Now, who exactly are you? Or who are you trying to be? If that question makes you feel better,”

*This isn’t nearly as amusing as I thought it could be.* Xuena was just... sitting there. Without a care in the world. *I wonder if she thinks the security here is good enough that nobody who isn’t part of the sect could get in? Or if she thinks the chance that I’ll do something bad aren’t all that high? Um... hmm... Kat any ideas?*

[Not really. I’m currently flying somewhere above the town while waiting for the other two to get into position. Despite pointing out that I could fly everyone out if it was just Xuena and the two of us, Yang insisted she’d come along... and Xiang wasn’t going to be left behind so... yeah...]

Clearly she knows Yang well. “I really am here to get you out, and Yang’s working with me as well,” said Lily trying to seem as honest as possible. The fact it was the truth should help, but perhaps starting off the conversation with a joke was in poor taste.

“Right... let’s say I believe you. What’s Yang doing right now?” asked Xuena words laced with suspicion.

“Being an idiot,” answered Lily reflexively. Except... once Xuena heard what was said, she just made a ‘go on’ gesture instead. “See... I’m connected mentally to my girlfriend and we can break you out without any troubles. She can even fly with a person. Just ONE person though. Yang wasn’t willing to just wait in a safe location so she’s heading here as well, with Xiang, if you remember that guy,”

Xuena groaned and slammed her head into the desk. “She would do that wouldn’t she!”

“Well considering she is doing just that... yes, yes she would,” responded Lily.

“Urgh... ok I’m more willing to believe you now. Is there anything I need to do?” asked Xuena, eyes fixed on Lily’s.

“Um... not overly much? You just need to make sure you’ve got everything you want to take with you. I can carry some stuff in my bag,” Lily jostled the bag in question, “and as long as there isn’t too much stuff in it, when I transform it’ll disappear. Other then that... well we’ll need Kat to get those chains off you. We’ll be brute forcing them though. So... we’ll need to be ready to run,”

Xuena grimaced but gave a sharp nod. “Um... hmm... what do I want to take...” Xuena stood up and slowly walked towards the centre of the room as she eyed all the shelves. None of the ingredients were worth much. That had been the whole point, she was to try and refine better recipes from common things. Xuena had indeed made an improved healing potion from the garbage in her room. It took a lot ore skill in exchange for about half the cost in ingredients. Possibly not worth it, but just the proof she COULD come up with something like that was worth a lot.

That meant notebooks. Xuena shuffled slowly back over to the desk and grabbed her main notebook before Lily interrupted, “Do you want to just point things out?”

“How much time to do we have?” Lily just shrugged in response to Xuena’s question. “Then... no I think I’ll do it myself,” Xuena continued to walk around gathering a few books here and there until she had four of them. Xuena wrapped the lot in one of the outfits nearby and threw on an extra two coats knowing that ice attacks were in her near future. When it came time to hand them over... Xuena’s arms shook slightly until Lily just held out her bag, the contents had been emptied into Xiang’s storage ring.

Lily quickly tested everything would work, causing Xuena to have a minor panic attack for a moment when she thought Lily was about to just run away with the books. Lily’s transformation back to human removed those fears pretty quickly. “Um... what now?” asked Xuena.

Lily shrugged, “I guess we just wait for the signal? I don’t really know how close everyone is. Kat’s above, but she’s watching Xiang and Yang trek across the mountain so we know where everyone is. Ron and his crew are probably off robbing the sect blind and with your stuff bagged I think we just need to hurry up and wait,”

“Who’s Ron?” asked Xuena with some concern.

“Some thieves we ran into. We managed to get some cultivation masking pills or something, and they really wanted them. So the Ron tried to bully them out of us... and when Kat forced his hand we ended up... not really teaming up but... making use of each other? Ron and his crew are robbing somewhere else in the sect, making use of our escape. Technically, they might get caught and we’ll be the ones making use of their blunder but well... they know we have to kick down some doors and break your chains so...”

Xuena nodded, “I get it. They got the better end of things... though... why are you and your girlfriend helping us?”

“Oh? Did that not come up? Kat’s a demon and I sort of count as her familiar?” answered Lily.

“Wait... why would you think of her as your girlfriend if she’s enslaved you like that?” asked Xuena. There was no malice in the question, just genuine confusion. Lily’s eyes though, they went wide and despite being in human form her nails lengthened to a sharp point as she hissed in response.

Xuena backed up, showing her hands and trying not to trip over the shackles around her legs and Lily fought off the anger. “S-sorry,” said Lily through gritted teeth. Still angry, “but she was my girlfriend FIRST. And the only reasons he agreed to this whole thing is because I wanted it. To be by her side forever...”