Lori and her mother watched from the carriage with anxiety running through their veins. By their side were a few small sticks of flames to deter the Scarlet Witch from attacking them.
On the other hand, Custos, Avic, and Eliisabet lingered in the darkness. Their goal was to defeat the Scarlet Witch and protect the family of merchants. Unfortunately, they had already allowed one of them to die. They couldn't allow another to follow.
"We defeat this thing, no matter what, okay?" Encouraged Custos. "We can't allow the little girl and her mother to die. Even though the father died, he told me that we should do everything in our power to protect his daughter and wife. We made a deal so I intend to hold up my end of it!"
Avic tightened his fist around his dagger and gritted his teeth with frustration. He felt sick just thinking about the pain Lori was going through
"I agree. Right now, I know Lori must be in a lot of pain... I know the feeling of losing a parent. It's the worst feeling in the world... I remember the day I found out that my parents had died. I had just woken up in a strange room with no idea where I was. That's when Old Man Amon told me that my parents had been killed... I was devastated..! I didn't remember a single thing that had happened. It was like living a life of bliss in one moment then the next, you woke up in a life of hell. And because of that, I was left aimless and depressed for years. But I won't allow her to go through the same thing I did! Because I know just how painful it can be. That's why I promise to kill this Demon and protect them!"
Custos and Eliisabet looked at Avic in silence. They could see it. His conviction was shining bright. It was times like these that Avic was known to exert all his potential. And whenever he was like this, he rarely failed to fulfill his promises.
"Let's hurry and beat this thing then. We've got an exam to catch in Discite City," smirked Custos.
A loud shriek then zoomed through the night air. The three immediately got their weapons ready, prepared for an attack at any moment. Their eyes wandered through the darkness, searching for even the slightest movement.
"Shouldn't we be using a flame to fight it?" Quickly asked Avic.
"No. If we do then it won't attack us. But Eliisabet has something better than fire. Just watch out for its threads! They're hard to see and can easily catch you by surprise! They also drain Hemo Energy so if you're caught, it'll suck the Hemo Energy right out of you like a vampire!"
"Got it!"
A shadow then drifted past them. It was swift, doing its best to look for an opening. It was certainly the Scarlet Witch.
In the blink of an eye, something jumped out toward Custos. It was faster than he could have anticipated. He quickly jumped back. He needed to create some distance. The Scarlet Witch then stretched forth its hand toward him.
Custos had to respond unless he would be caught. With a deadly swing of his sword, his blade sliced through its arm, severing it from its body. But something was strange. Despite having its arm severed, it neither wailed nor flinched. Instead, it continued its pursuit.
Custos gritted his teeth in frustration. Fortunately, he was now close enough to Eliisabet to execute his plan.
"Eliisabet, now!!" He shouted.
Coming forward with the blade of her yari, Eliisabet pierced the Scarlet Witch's stomach with a loud slash. The force lifted it from its feet, up into the air, hanging from the blade of her yari. However, she was far from done.
"I copied this from Bolton! Bloodline Art: Lightning Spear!
Purple lightning sparked to life as the yari pierced further through the Scarlet Witch's stomach with the heavy sound of thunder. It cracked with electricity and steam erupted from its body like a volcano. They had made a direct hit.
"Good one, Eliisabet! Lightning can get as hot as the surface area of the sun! There's no way it'll survive that!"
"What the hell are you guys doing?!!!"
Custos and Eliisabet then looked over to Avic to see him shouting at them. At first, they didn't understand what was happening. They had killed the Scarlet Witch, hadn't they?
Fixing their eyes back onto the Scarlet Witch before them, they noticed something that made their stomachs turn. Blood pitter-pattered to the ground like raindrops and a sense of fright overcame them. A woman with beautiful blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes hung on the opposite end of Eliisabet's yari. It wasn't the Scarlet Witch. It was Lori's mother.
Frightened, Eliisabet let out a terrified scream before dropping her yari.
"What..? I don't get it... How did this happen..? They had the flames around them so it shouldn't have been able to—"
Taking a closer look, Custos noticed something else. She was wrapped in razor-sharp threads and her voice box had been ripped from her throat.
"Shit!! That's it! It couldn't get close to them so it used the threads to pull her from the carriage and then used it to control her body like a puppet..! This thing's smarter than I thought! Avic, go check on Lori!!"
Avic gritted his teeth and rushed back to the carriage. However, upon arriving, Lori was nowhere to be found.
"F***!! She's not here, Custos!!"
Silence immediately answered Avic. He swung his head around to see why this was the case. This was when he noticed that Eliisabet and Custos had gone missing as well.
"W-what the hell's going on here!? Custos! Eliisabet!!"
Blinded by a sense of urgency and panic, Avic gripped his dagger before running back into the darkness to find his friends. He couldn't accept it. His thoughts were drowning him. He felt like it was his fault. Lori had lost both her parents and now she was missing. To make things worse, Custos and Eliisabet had been taken as well. If only he hadn't proposed something as stupid as fighting the Scarlet Witch, none of this would have happened.
Fueled with desperation, Avic stood still in the darkness, looking around frantically. Not able to tolerate his frustration, he let it all out in a single swoop.
"CUSTOS!! ELIISABET!!! WHERE ARE YOU??!!!!"