We're back to our regular programming!
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"... Give it back!!" the Fairy Godmother shouted in rage, her appearance messy and disheveled.
Puss ignored her and placed the little black mouse in his hand on the ground.
As soon as its tiny paws touched the floor, it immediately tried to flee desperately.
Puss had an impressed look in his eyes upon seeing that his cape had truly come to life, but his hand was faster.
Pointing the wand, he poured all his intent into it and aimed at the running mouse.
And as soon as he did, a beam shot from the tip and enveloped the mouse, turning it back into his black cape, with a few soap bubbles popping above it once the spell ended.
Puss approached, bent slightly, picked up the cape, and then, suddenly, spun his body, dodging a shadow that sped past the cape stretched out in his hand.
"Olé!" Puss stomped a boot on the floor and raised his arms, still holding the wand in one hand and the cape in the other.
The shadow, which was the Fairy Godmother, turned furiously, beating her wings in a frenzy.
Puss swirled the cape and fastened it around his neck with practiced ease.
At the same time, elf guards also arrived, coming from all sides, surrounding him with their crossbows aimed at him.
The Fairy Godmother, seeing her reinforcements arrive, immediately regained her confidence and looked at him with hauteur.
"Surrender and return my wand, cat, or you'll end up with more holes than a slice of cheese," she threatened angrily, though her true attention never left the wand.
That was her core and the source of her power. But also her weakness, for if it were broken, she too would die.
"Surrender?" Puss lowered his head slightly, covering his eyes with the brim of his hat, laughing softly. "Let me show you today… that a swordsman never surrenders."
He said, and to the surprise and confusion of everyone, he placed the wand's handle in his mouth and bit down.
Puss then crossed his arms toward his waist, and while his right hand touched the hilt of his sword, his left went to a toad tied to his belt, with a small red scale on its forehead.
But the Fairy Godmother didn't seem willing to wait for the show, upon seeing the cat wanting to resist. The longer this dragged on, the greater the risk her wand would be in.
"Fire!" she shouted, pointing her finger at the orange cat, furious.
With the order, the triggers were pulled, and the bolts began sliding through the crossbows, and it was at that moment that time seemed to stretch infinitely.
It was the same moment when Puss's middle finger tapped the scale on the toad's head, making it open its mouth and spit out a silver hilt in the shape of a cat's head.
Puss's paw wrapped around both hilts as the bolts flew through the air.
The swords were unsheathed, their edges gleaming to the world, as the reflection of the bolts shone in Puss's eyes at their closeness.
When they neared his cold face, that was when a flash of crisscrossing light passed, cutting them into pieces, and time returned to its normal flow.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Shing! Tzing! Tzing!
The bolts sliced through the air at high speed, but Puss's blades were no slower.
He did not stand still in one place, for he heard creaks coming from behind and knew there were elves attacking his back.
Jumping onto the railing while cutting bolts along the way, he kicked off it and hurled himself into the crowd of elves with repeating crossbows that looked more like bolt machine guns, spinning like a tornado and shredding the bolts that came his way.
"Ha! Ha!" Puss laughed fearlessly as he stopped spinning, landing amidst the elves, and kicking several of them along the way, knocking them down.
With him falling among their own, the elves didn't keep shooting, so as not to hurt their allies.
But that only made it easier for Puss, who, with his small body but great skill and strength, began simply wrecking the army.
Well, not literally wrecking them—he wasn't killing any of the elves, just pulling down some pants, tripping them, or kicking them until they fainted.
"Useless! Useless! What do I even pay you for?! Catch that cat, NOW!!" the Fairy Godmother shouted from the side, upon seeing the elves being humiliated.
"Haha! You need to train your guards more, Señora Godmother. For elves, they're terrible shots!"
Puss laughed fearlessly as he declared, his voice a little muffled because of the wand, while finishing off the guards on that side, then running to the other, to deal with the ones who had been behind him earlier in the hallway.
And he wasn't lying—while they shot at him, most of the arrows missed, and he only had to deal with a few. If they had been as skilled as elves from other universes, Puss wouldn't have been so relaxed.
"Hrr!! USELESS!!" Fairy Godmother growled in rage, shouting, and flying toward Puss—or more precisely, toward what he had in his mouth—with her hand outstretched.
Puss, finishing off the few guards at the rear, turned his face toward her as she charged. His will was channeled into the wand, and a beam shot out, startling the Fairy Godmother as she flew straight into the aim.
"NO!!" she screamed in horror, the spell hitting her and changing her body into something other than a human.
The new creature fell to the ground, while the wand in Puss's mouth lost much of its glow.
Puss dropped the last of the guards, panting heavily, a little tired.
He sheathed his swords and pulled the wand out of his mouth to breathe better.
The battle had been relatively quick, but he had worked hard, restraining himself not to kill or even seriously hurt the elves. And without the unlimited stamina buff from the curse of the Aztec coins, it was truly exhausting to deal with around 30 to 40 guards.
His attention then turned to the Fairy Godmother, with a small smile at seeing her in that form.
The same humor could not be shared by her, for as she slowly lifted her eyes, upon seeing him, rage grew in them.
"... Give... me..."
She spoke slowly, as she began to raise her paw, pointing at him with a long claw.
"... Back..."
Puss looked amused at that furry animal, even yawning a little as he waited for her to finish speaking.
"Well, it was a good chat, Fairy Sloth… err, I mean, Fairy Godmother, but you have some crimes to answ—" He was speaking, but was interrupted.
"... My... Magic..." Fairy Godmother, in her new sloth form, continued speaking.
Puss opened his mouth, but closed it again, waiting for her to finish.
"... Wand..."
Seeing that she seemed done, he continued.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. But you probabl—"
"... You... Damn..."
"You'll probably be put in priso—"
"... Cat... Now..."
Puss rubbed his forehead in headache, and simply left her there, turning to leave.
According to the plans, the king's army and the people from GoldenClaw Bank should be arriving to clean up the mess.
Leaving the people knocked out on the ground, and the sloth behind, he went down the stairs and walked to the Potion Room with curiosity in his eyes.
Arriving there, he easily pushed open the large wooden door and found himself before a massive stockpile of potions.
He admired it briefly, then closed the door, not looking again.
For now, he would deal with the consequences of this incident, and once it was resolved, he would bring his people to inventory the stock of potions.
…
Some time passed, and Puss dealt with a few more stragglers, while listening to the Fairy Godmother confronting him in slow motion.
Even Jerome had to be put back to sleep once more, as he woke up still looking exhausted. Puss then helped him rest a little longer.
Sitting bored atop the railing, flicking his tail side to side while watching the Fairy Godmother trying to climb up the railing and get her wand back, Puss suddenly heard the sound of many footsteps coming from outside.
Lifting his head and looking through the open doors, which gave a view of the outside, his mouth twitched as he saw several large men in shiny silver knight armor storming in as if they were SWAT teams.
He even saw a clenched fist raised at the doorway, the movement pausing, then two fingers—the index and middle—were raised and waved twice, giving authorization.
Several guards entered with swords in hand, looking everywhere, nervousness evident even through their helmets.
Puss rolled his eyes. He had opened the doors and stayed clearly visible so these guys wouldn't be startled, and so they'd understand he already had everything under control. Unfortunately, it seemed his good intention had been a little wasted.
The guards entered and surrounded the unconscious people, even pointing trembling blades at Puss, who felt helpless, rubbing his forehead.
"Halt! C-Cat, don't move a muscle! You are surrounded by the army of the kingdom of Far Far Far Away!" one of the guards spoke firmly, though he stuttered a little at the start, and added one extra 'Far.'
Seeing that, Puss looked helplessly upward and sighed.
"Haah… it's going to be a long day..."