Octavia was using her full force on the mysterious masked girl, but they stood on even ground although the masked girl was heavily wounded. Octavia could hear her heartbeat from her ears, her hands were sweating from gripping her sword, she focused her hardest not to get hit by those insane holy attacks. Most of the light spears heading to Octavia were blocked by earth walls, but some managed to break through and scrape her left arm. She closed the distance between them and charged for a melee attack. The masked girl tried throwing more spears, but her attacks became more sluggish with every throw. By now, Octavia was evading all of her spears and got close enough to connect with a melee attack. Her sword became as fast as wind as she struck the masked girl with full force
"ZEPHYR SLASH"
The attack connects but the masked girl had preemptively put up a timed holy barrier. Octavia went in for another swing but she suddenly started to feel extremely hot, her mouth began to feel very dry and she was sweating profusely from that heat. Her vision became wavey and her armour was starting to melt. The heat was definitely coming from the masked girl. Octavia tried to escape but her legs became shaky so she couldn't move anymore, she was on her knees. She looked up to see what the masked girl's next attack was and all she saw was a bright shining light, it looked like the light was coming towards her.
"HOLY JUDGMENT SLASH!!!"
It looked like a huge sword of light was going to crash down on Octavia. While the masked girl was casting that huge spell, a big muscular figure appeared behind her and gave her a bear hug. She was struggling to get out but eventually casted a holy spikes spell around her. Bjorn was still holding on with full power even with spikes piercing his whole body.
Octavia used this opportunity to take off her armour and think of a new plan.
Her plan was to keep the masked girl occupied with Bjorn while Henry goes back to get Arlo for help. She makes her way to Henry and tells him the plan, Henry listens and makes his way to the path back. Bjorn's strength started to fade and his skin started melting like cheese, his grip loosened and he falls down, letting the masked girl go back on her rampage. The masked girl sees Henry trying to escape and quickly throws a few spears at him, one hitting his leg, another missing and hitting Octavia's thigh. The last one hits his heart. Both Henry and Bjorn pass away.
Octavia saw Henry die Infront of her and felt useless for not being able to do anything. She became filled with guilt and was beating herself up in her mind "No this isn't how it was supposed to go! why aren't I strong enough damnit!! Why did she have to appear when our strongest member is gone!!". Her mind become a mess and her eyes gave a soulless expression. She took a look at the masked girl and saw that the girl had trouble standing, her legs were trembling like noodles. Now was the chance to finish her since it looked like she was out of mana, but the problem was Octavia was also out of mana.
Octavia's strength has depleted so much that lifting up her arms felt like lifting mountains, nevertheless she picked up her sword. She limped over to the masked girl. Octavia arrived next to the masked girl and it seemed like she gave up, so Octavia started lifting the sword over her head to strike down. Octavia's arms weren't listening to her, they were shaking madly from exhaustion. Eventually she gathered enough power for the attack. As the sword came slashing down to the masked girl, she made a small grin. It was a trap.
"HOLY WHIP"
Octavia lets go of her sword and manages to duck the whip, her sword gets gets destroyed in the process but it wasn't a problem. Octavia punches the masked girl on the face, sending her mask flying away and revealing her face. Her face was normal for the most part, but something was noticed immediately. Her eyes in particular gave Octavia chills, the pupils were in the shape of stars.
MEANWHILE IN ARLO'S PERSPECTIVE
Arlo arrived back at the second room with an unconscious Alice on his back and didn't find his party there so he decided to head through a different path to check what the hold up was about. He walks for a while and finally reaches the next room and the first thing he sees is two people having a fist fight. He focuses his eyes and recognizes both figures, one is Octavia and the other is Alfreda. The notice Arlo and both speak to him.
"Hey boy!! help me kill this person, she has a parasitic demon worm in her brain!!" shouted Alfreda while throwing haymakers at Octavia.
"What?!?! What nonsense!! Carlos, help me kill this damn psycho!!! She killed Bjorn and Henry, look" shouted Octavia while throwing body blows at Alfreda's ribs.
Arlo looks at the door to the other path and sees Henry's dead body, he heads over to take a closer look. looking at the dead body didn't give him the sadness he sought after, instead his creepy smile changed into a permanent sadistic one. All he thought when looking at Henry was "So he wasn't special?" It was different than with Krause, when Krause died, he felt genuinely sad, but with Henry he felt like his usual happy self.
"Hey boy!! Don't you find it weird that big shots like them went to a city in the desert just for some treasure? It's because the demonic parasites subconsciously sent them here!!!"
Arlo turned his attention to Alfreda and everything she said made logical sense to him, his party definitely weren't native to the desert and it seemed like they didn't really care about the treasure, but Alfreda was also as suspicious as them. it was time for Arlo to make a choice and he made it quickly. Some of the voices in his head seeped through to the foreground and Strongly agreed.
HE KILLS OCTAVIA
He didn't kill Octavia because he believed Alfreda. No his reason was way more twisted, he just wanted to find out if Octavia's death would make him sad. He only looks down at Octavia's dead and only thinks "So she wasn't special either?" Afterwards he just casually walks away to confront Alfreda.
"So who the hell are you exactly? And what's with this parasite business?"
"I was sent here by my organization to take care of a few parasites, that's all I'm going to say. Unless you want team up with me?" said Alfreda with a smirk
"No. I think I'll be on my way to find some treasure"
"And if you think about even taking one piece of it!!" said Arlo with soul piercing eyes and a sadistic smile.
Arlo walkes away but is stopped by Alfreda's proposition.
"Wait!! If it's truly money you seek, then that's even more reason to team up with me. You'll receive three months of my salary as a reward"
Once money got involved, Arlo's attitude made a complete turn.
"$_$ money!!! Alright count me in!!!"
"Alright then let's formally introduce ourselves. My name is Alfreda Twinkletoes"
Arlo giggles at Alfreda's ridiculous name before introducing himself.
"And I'm GOING tO CaRVE OuT YOUR RiB CAge and... LIVE IN IT!!!!!!" shouted Arlo with the expression of confusion about what came out of his mouth.
It looked like the voices in his head had gained some power over his speech after he killed Octavia.