If Leo was good at anything, it was sneaking around like a thief. He was popularly known as The Rat back when he was in the orphanage where he grew, for he was constantly trying to sneak up on the other orphans. His fame as The Rat took a wrong turn when he became an errand thief for the bigger boys. He'd sneak into the general kitchen to steal extra portions of food for the boys.
He could not forget the quick laddle smack he got from Madam Pomfrey after he got caught a certain night.
Leo rubbed the little lump that Madam Pomfrey had given him that had refused to vanish after these years, while sneaking away after the hurrying figure of Miss Guro.
He passed a sign that read: DO NOT TRESPASS.
It was one of those signs that warned but not too much as to be taken seriously. Leo knew a lot of students have taken the forest as a kind of safe zone for their notorious acts. Leo knew the academy was intentionally blind to situations like that. The same way they were blind to bullying.
He stepped over barbed wires and broken bottles as he prepared to go deeper into the woods.
Miss Guro was moving too fast for someone who was on high heels. Her steps were far too practiced as well, giving Leo the understanding that this wasn't the first time she was hurrying into the forest like this.
'What would a beautiful female teacher be doing deep in a forest such as this?'
'There's no way she's a beastling. Wait, what the hell was I even thinking following a woman like some perverted idiot?'
Miss Guro suddenly stopped in her tracks and glanced backwards to be clear she was not being followed.
Leo was quick enough to hide behind a large tree, waiting with bated breath. When he was sure Miss Guro was on the move again, he stepped out and followed. He had resigned and conceded that he had imagined the system's message again, so there was literally no point following miss Guro now. But with how far he's gone after her, he was now too curious to just turn back.
'I mean...why would she scamper all the way here after holding such a meeting with the other staff?'
'Who is she going to meet at such a dangerous location? She seemed to be in a hurry as well.'
Leo looked ahead and discovered that he'd lost Miss Guro's trail. He could not tell how or where she disappeared.
The trees were dangerously densed in this area, and he knew he'd most definitely lose his way should he go deeper without having a track to follow. So, he gave up and opted for the only option and that was to turn back and return to the academy.
Just then, a whispered voice sounded close to his ears from behind. "Ah, a curious cat."
Leo turned and sped away, leaving a safe distance between himself and whatever this creature was.
"Leo Votan, isn't it?" Miss Guro said through tight lips. For some reason, Leo could tell this wasn't the same Miss Guro he had found attractive. She appeared the same physically, but there was a tiny difference that separated what he knew and what he was seeing now. Or maybe it was the gloom of the forest playing tricks with his judgement.
"M–Miss Guro. I'm sorry...I..." Leo stuttered, his throat went dry despite the humid condition of the forest.
"Miss Guro," she repeated, laughing like a ghost, "I do love that name." Her face had grown really pale and smooth, Leo felt like he was beholding a white ceramic vase.
Leo found himself stepping further away. This situation had gotten threatening, obviously.
"I'm sorry, Miss Guro. I have to get back to my dorm. It's near curfew."
"I'm sorry, Leo Votan. You won't be doing that." She appeared suddenly distressed. Leo was afraid.
She made a vertical whipping motion with her right arm. What happened next was near impossible to imagine.
A clean line cut through her body vertically, starting from the top of her head to the end of the brown miniskirt. It was like a sharp blade was ran through her by a skilled swordsman like master Tai Fung, separating her into a perfect symmetry.
Leo expected her to fall over and drop dead.
The left side of Miss Guro's body however started visibly decaying, withering away like a dead plant. Under the withering skin was a weird transformative outcome.
For every part of her that decayed, the body was instantly replaced with a rough and tough skin, layered with lumps similar to large boils and more elongated and larger than the former human skin.
'Oh my days, she's really a Beast.'
[Ha! Told you.]
Leo panicked like never before. He made an attempt to run but the only way he could escape was blocked by Miss Guro or whatever had become of her.
Painful groans and eerie twitching were evident on the half human, half beast standing before Leo. Her beast leg was three times as thick as the human leg, and almost twice as long, making her stand only on the beast leg while the human part dangled in the air beside it. The beast leg was evidently strong enough to support her awkward frame.
"Still Miss Guro?" The beast croaked. The beastly part of her mouth was wide open, drooling thick globs of green saliva and when she spoke, Leo could see her razor-sharp teeth interlock.
"I will tell you what happened to Miss Guro," the beast spoke again through groans and muscle tears.
And just like that, the human half decayed as well and the beastly transformation was complete.
'A beast that can change form. That must belong to a rare tier. But it can't be hard to deal with if it really is a beastling. It must not know its full potential yet.'
Leo found himself being impressed by the gait and structure of the beast before him.
'This thing must be at least three meters tall,' Leo thought, a tad awed.
The beast had two huge long legs, a bloated body made gruesome with appreciating scales, a hunched torso and short arms with webbed fingers similar to a toad's. Out of the fingers projected long, curved deadly claws.
The head was relatively small, with large beady eyes fixed on Leo while it advanced slowly towards him. The viscous drools never stopped dropping from its mouth.
'Did the system call this thing a beastling? You mean to tell me this is not an adult beast?'
"Aha! My body," the beast proclaimed to no one as it took in the comfortable feel of its natural state. Its voice came rough and a little computerised. It sounded like three or four people talking together at once in different pitches but roughly.
Leo felt his hand rest on the hilt of his training weapon that hung by his belt. He shifted back, not eager to get any closer to this foul creature.
"That sharp piece of wood cannot redeem you."
"You...did you take the form of Miss Guro?" Leo said. He sounded like a scared girl, and he hated it.
"Ah, yes. She is such a beauty, isn't she? I enjoy the way they all gawk when I walk by," the beast said.
"Where–where is miss Guro?" Leo unsheathed the training sword, still backing away.
The beast paused. "Somewhere in the academy. Forgotten in one of the crypts. Pay no mind. She must be on the verge of death after being locked in there for a month."
'What? Miss Guro's form had been stolen for a month and not even the other teachers noticed?'
Leo was tired of conversing with the surprisingly fluent beast. He had to remind himself he was in grave danger and there was no one near to rescue him.
"Let me go. Please," he said.
"You know that's not possible. You have seen my true form. You have learnt my secret. You do not get to live to tell the tale."
Leo signed. He knew begging was futile. Maybe he could converse more. If he was going to die, he might as well know all about the beast and its mission.
[Gisting with the beast was not part of the quest. You are to kill the beast to get a reward, and maybe a clear explanation why you were chosen by the system.]
Leo, still with trifling doubt, had grown to partially believe there was actually a system that belonged to him now. And if the system had given him the task to kill the beast, then he must at least be capable of carrying the task out. Else, it might as well count as a suicide mission.
The system had tagged the beast a Beastling, meaning it was still a young beast, lacking in experience and combat. So, maybe he had an upper hand after all.
"So, tell me, great Morpher. Why did you decide to penetrate the academy in disguise? I'll be dead anyway, so just tell me," said Leo.
The beast snarled, hitting a nearby tree trunk with a slow but mighty blow that shook the whole tree.
"I am a Xollante beast. I have no reason to see the end of the human race! My kind, my race invaded Earth seventy years ago. The power, the freedom, everything was at our fingertips... until you filthy humans discovered the ability to manipulate a human's potential, and turn it into combat-efficient abilities called 'Quirks'.
"You stole a hundred years of hard work from The Xollante, and with your puny quirks, you almost sent us running back to our damned planets. But not anymore! We have gotten an edge over you lesser beings. The end is come for you and your kind. The Xollante shall have it all at the end! We shall emerge finally from our holes and from being hunted for beast crystals, and we shall carve out your essences instead. We shall colonise Earth anew!"