Kapitel 101: Liberation

Number 27 ran down the street in the middle of the night while following his master, the missus, and while carrying the little missus on his back. They were trying to escape the monsters chasing them while also listening to the cries of those who didn't get away. The more people who got attacked, the more monsters there seemed to be. His tiger ears twitched in irritation, as the little missus pulled his collar and yelled in them,

"GO FASTER!" Of course 27 could only obey and tried to run faster. He suddenly tripped on something, and fell to the ground while making sure the little missus was ok. As he tried to get up, 27 saw a foot coming at him, right before it slammed into his face and knocked him back down. The weight of the little missus disappeared from his back, and his master said,

"You stay as bait you worthless animal!" And started running away. 27 felt tears in his eyes, as he looked back and saw one of the monsters bearing down on him. He watched as the thing lunged forward, and sailed right over him before reaching his masters. He then witnessed the thing tearing into each of them, even the little missus, and felt a grim sense of satisfaction. This was up until he saw the thing turn back at him, he braced himself once more, before the monster walked right by as if it didn't even register him.

A few moments later 27 continued watching as his former masters then bulged and started growing hair, before becoming three more monsters, that also ignored him and ran to find other prey. 27 was confused, why ignore him, but attack others. He was sure he wasn't anything special, he was a normal tiger beastman born to normal tiger beastman parents already in slavery.

It was this point that he saw he wasn't the only one that seemed to be ignored, as he noticed a couple people simply wandering around, as if they weren't threatened. He spent a couple minutes trying to figure it out, why were they all ignored, until it clicked. All of them were wearing collars! As he realized this, 27 also noticed something else in the corner of his eye, the glowing red full moon. It didn't take long to figure the rest out, after all the entire city knew that the champion of Artemis had kidnapped then returned the princess, and that his wife was still wanted. 27 immediately got onto his knees and clapped his hands together to start praying.

"Bless you moon goddess, and your champion. This one is eternally grateful for your compassion-" and he continued. Seeing him thanking the moon goddess, the rest of the slaves soon arrived at the same conclusion, and started giving thanks as well.

When Artemis noticed the increase in prayers, she sneered. She originally wanted them all to die, but Leo kept enough of his wits while enraged to ensure the safety of the slaves. She consented to this, as it was the whole reason he came in the first place, and it would increase his strength. They didn't seem completely hopeless though, as the first one to start praying stopped a few moments after, and started trying to direct the others to a safer location.

27 knew they couldn't stay in the middle of the city forever, as the buildings around were still being damaged and at least one fire started already. He then walked to the nearest slave, and said,

"Come on, we have to get to safety. Help me gather as many slaves as possible, Artemis and her champion wouldn't want their effort to go to waste." The other slave nodded, not caring that the one talking to him was a beastman, and they started their work. 27 then led them all to the only place he could think of, the colosseum, as they helped any other slaves they ran into along the way. As they reached the giant building, there were over a hundred people following him when someone else led a group out of it. He and everyone who followed him froze as they came face to face with the very woman the entire city had spent the last week hunting.

Iris looked in surprise at all the slaves in front of her, before they all started kneeling before her. She was shocked but didn't let it show, as she tried to make sense what was going on. She looked around and saw the blood red moon, and what seemed to be several hundred werewolves running around and attacking everyone in sight, except the slaves. Then a tiger beastman shouted out,

"We give thanks to the wife of the champion who helped free us!" She then started to understand, they must have thought that when the werewolves didn't attack them that they were sent by Leo and Artemis to save them from slavery. Iris couldn't confirm or deny their guess though, as she herself had no idea why this was happening.

Before she could say anything however, a werewolf saw Theos and the rest of the gladiators without collars, and immediately charged them. She simply stood in front of them, much to Theos's annoyance as it was supposed to be the other way around, and the werewolf stopped before her. Recognizing its new masters mate, it immediately exposed its vulnerable areas in a show of submission, before Iris let it leave. After this display, not only the slaves, but the gladiators as well, we're all convinced they made the right choice. She then turned to all of them and said with a tone of command,

"Change in plans, go and help all of the slaves you can. Prioritize women and children, and bring them to the colosseum for safety. Draft any capable men to help you, and save as many as possible. I'll stay out here to organize them." They all nodded with newfound discipline, and started helping those already there enter the colosseum. Theos then removed the collar of one woman staying, before clicking it back onto his own neck. Everyone looked at him in shock, until he said,

"We need to ensure they don't attack us, so we need the collars." As they understood his intentions, the rest of the gladiators started taking collars from the ones staying at the colosseum as well. Soon after they all started leaving, Theos turned to Iris and was about to ask something, before he noticed her lightly caress her stomach. He suddenly recalled his wife doing something similar, and paled before he asked her quietly,

"My queen, are you... expecting?" He almost hesitated to ask, but she looked back at him, and he turned green with as she slowly nodded to confirm it. He then said,

"Please, allow me to stay and guard you. I understand that you might not need it, but you need to avoid any stressful movements, even in the early stages." Iris was surprised at his request, before she decided to accept. It was the same reason she decided to stay at the entrance and help organize everything. After a while slaves started arriving in droves, as word spread throughout the city. Soon though, some werewolves surprisingly brought her someone she didn't expect.