Chapter 104
When the wave of energy died down, something indeed started happening in the interior of the movie set: strong and cold wind blew through the set, and a few vague and dark shadows made of black smoke started appearing around the people sitting and standing around the wooden board.
“Aaah!” Bethany screamed and struggled to back away from the shadow that was closest to her, but then when she turned around she almost bump into another shadow, and Jason and Caroline recognized this shadow - it looked just like the man ghost they defeated in the set.
“Don’t run! Don’t run!” Lady Manzene shouted at Bethany, but she was not able to stop Bethany from getting up and running away, Madison tried to stop her but she was not quick enough either, “They’re just shadows! They’re not real!”
Yet in only a few seconds, after the sudden sounds of windows, doors and roof breaking, Bethany ran back screaming and crying: “The Cats! The Cats!”
At the same time, many cats also busted through the windows and roof near the positions of Lady Manzene and others. And with surprising speed and ferocity, a few of the cats with bigger sizes leapt through the air and straight towards the shadows. Different colored lights of energy shone from these cats, and the shadows that manifested were instantly ripped to shreds then burnt up into ashes.
“Holy - these are no ordinary cats!” Madison screamed and yelled as she fell to the ground due to the attacks from two cats with grey and spotted fur, her carefully done hair now all messy because of the one of the cats’ claws tearing through them.
“Get off! Get off!” Bethany was ambushed by three cats from the back, she kept spinning and screaming but those cats were still holding onto her.
One cat with silvery blue light emitting from its body lunged towards Bethany because during her struggle she kicked away two smaller cats, and with its right claw swinging towards Bethany’s neck.
Caroline sidestepped just in time to push Bethany away and block the claw attack from this cat - and with droplets of blood splashed into the air and on the ground, Caroline had a claw wound on her left lower arm.
“Careful! Get everyone outta here!” one cat with red light emitting from its body leapt towards Jason, and he barely dodged to the side and avoided being attacked.
“Lady Manzene! Do something!” Robert yelled as he threw a cat from his shoulder and tried to pull Bethany up from the floor by the hand.
Lady Manzene clearly never dealt with situations like this before, and she just started chanting some other spell. By the time her spell completed, a loud screech exploded from thin air and almost brought everyone to the ground. The cats were more heavily impacted by this sound, and they swiftly jumped and ran away from Lady Manzene.
Yet that was all this spell accomplished, the cats moved away from all of them, but were still surrounding and circling around them. The cats with light emitting from their bodies stood in their way to the entrance and exit of the set, hissing at them.
“What’s with the cats? What is happening?” Madison held onto Lady Mazene and asked in a panic: “Please do something!”
“I don’t think anything’s gonna work.” Lady Manzene was already panting and could barely smooth her breath, “They’re, they’re, they are Nekomatas!”
“What is that?!” Robert very gentlemanly tried to hide Bethany behind himself, yet his trembling body showed everyone how scared he was.
“A kind of Japanese cat monster.” Jason explained while looking around: “But I thought they are supposed to be in Japan only?”
“And you’re wrong.” a low and hoarse voice came from the direction to which Bethany ran off.
Immediately, Jason and Caroline felt a sense of heavy pressure on their whole bodies, it was as if the air around them had suddenly become dense, heavy and almost completely solid. It felt almost completely the same as the kind of pressure they felt when they were practicing their martial arts moves while surrounded by the wooden pillars back at the inn, but quite a few times heavier. They were almost brought down on their knees but they swiftly maintained their standing position after concentrating and focusing their Xuanli on their limbs and center of focus. And around them, almost everyone, including lady Manzene, just fell on the ground from under the sudden pressure.
Silently yet all so dramatically, a huge cat with shiny grey fur, sharp and glowing yellow eyes and five tails the size of a tiger entered their sight, with a few cuddly and fluffy kittens of different fur color on its back.
“Interesting… very interesting.” the huge cat with shiny grey fur spoke English, with a strange accent: “How are the two of you still standing?”
“We have our own master as well.” Caroline answered.
“Do you think we are to be threatened!?” the huge cat roared, the pressure on both Caroline and Jason instantly became higher than before, pushing them down with one knee on the ground.
“No, master Nekomata.” Jason spoke through his teeth: “What brings you here? I don’t imagine we have anything you’d be interested in.”
“Yes you do.” the huge cat sniffed the air and approached Jason, its face almost touching Jason’s: “Your scent … you were at the scene! You were there!”
“What?” Jason was confused, and a bit shocked.