The smell was the most immediately noticeable thing upon entering the room, something that assaulted Castiel's senses much as it did Ryuuzaki's. It wouldn't have bothered him if it weren't for the fact that he was practically human at the moment, which apparently meant that he felt everything with more intensity, even something like this.

The mutilated bodies didn't affect him much, as it wasn't anything Castiel hadn't seen before, and he was far more interested in the cause of the deaths. The mountain lion was even larger than the more common mutated cats that he'd run into here, and it wouldn't go down easily.

Castiel was poised to rush it with his blade, but Ryuuzaki got a shot off on it first, the bullet sticking in the creature's shoulder and causing it to hiss and yowl in pain. It thrashed around, as if it could rid itself of that pain, before eventually turning its anger onto them.

It rushed forward, and then --

Something surged through the room. It wasn't anything visible, but Castiel felt it as if he'd just been rammed into with two tons of pressure. It almost caused him to stumble back, except that what followed was far more familiar. He felt his Grace blossom inside of him after it had been withered for so long; felt his wings spread wide from his back, no longer weighed down by this place's limitations. He was an angel again, he was himself again, and the feeling was so sweet that he could have termed it bliss.

Not that there was time to dwell on his relief at this turn of events, not when that beast was about to pounce on Ryuuzaki. Castiel acted on instinct, his free arm stretching out, muscles drawn tight as divine power poured out of him.

"Shield your eyes!" he snapped to his three companions as the entire room flooded with an impossibly bright light.