Mukarramma frowned slightly at Yoshino at the look the latter gave the former as if this wasn't the first time she had seen something like it. "It's your turn now." Mukarramma stated before growing a smug expression. "Make it count."
Yoshino's eyes grew wide in burning rage. She immediately went for her revolver to shoot the darkspawn that harmed her best friend. She would have done so if it wasn't for Rudabaugh's intervention by holding her arm down.
Yoshino turned to glare at Rudabaugh for stopping her. His only reaction was a stern look that told her to calm down.
Their silent conversation took a few more seconds than Rudabaugh expected. It worked as Yoshino lowered her arm before going for Nozomi's aid, as she was getting anxious over suddenly losing physical contact with Yoshino.
Henry... Rudabaugh mentally called for his partner in crime while analyzing the concerning situation around him. With him and everyone else surrounded by a wall of fire, Nozomi missing her eyes, Seiza's inability to heal anyone, and finally, Yoshino almost recklessly attacking the darkspawn out of anger. Even if Rudabaugh had been in worse situations, he never had to worry about protecting other people before as the people he knew could usually handle themselves.
Rudabaugh felt Henry nervously nodding from the opposite side of the mental link. I'm thinking. I'm thinking... shit, if only I wasn't stuck here! I mean, how should I know a stray would come to this city today? By all means, Kurai's sheer power alone should've been enough to drive any nearby strays away fro—
Rudabaugh was having none of it. And yet, here we are. Against a mage no less! So stop with the excuses and focus on coming up with a plan! Rudabaugh demanded.
Ok, ok, let me see... The enemy did say that it was our turn, right? Would that mean they can't attack us right now? Just like we couldn't shoot them before? Henry guessed. Rudabaugh turned a glance at Mukarramma, who, in contrast to the situation around her, was casually scrolling through her phone while sitting on the floor. The sheer casualness of such action relieved Rudabaugh. He was strangely grateful Yoshino was distracted with Nozomi since he wasn't confident in stopping his partner's niece if she saw the enemy like that.
After Rudabaugh gave it some thought, he mentally nodded. Hmm, I guess? Even though she had a perfectly good chance to strike us while we were distracted with Nozomi. With an effect, not attack, mind you, they instead chose to seal Seiza's healing magic, which was also, technically, not an attack.
Another thing Rudabaugh noticed was how even though they were inside a literal arena of flames, it didn't feel like it. He or anyone else, for that matter, wasn't sweating due to the heat. By now everyone who needed to breathe would've probably felt difficult doing so due to the lack of oxygen this kind of environment would bring. Yet... they weren't.
When Rudabaugh was about to comment about it, Henry interrupted his line of thought with a groan. Dammit! That's why I hate dealing with mage types! Even though warrior types are simple to understand what they are about. Even if they are a pain to deal with, fighting mage types most of the time is no different than doing a test you didn't study for. So you can only guess!
Hen-ry, fo-cus! Rudabaugh snapped Henry out of his rant, even if it was, admittedly, justifiable.
Henry paused for a moment before sighing. Sorry, my bad. Let's... Henry trailed off, and Rudabaugh felt him grow a frown. Rudabaugh knew it meant Henry had caught something he didn't.
Did you notice something? Rudabaugh asked with bated breath.
Henry simply raised his arm from where he was and pointed to his right. An action that would normally be seen as nonsense by the average person made complete sense to Rudabaugh. He turned to his right and saw Seiza as he exchanged nervous glances between Nozomi and Rea. The former still dealing with the news she was blind with the help of Yoshino, while the latter seemed to have grown crazy to the point that she was talking to herself. Rudabaugh chalked it up to Rea trying to cope with the absurd situation she was experiencing. Hmm, why is he looking at them like that? Rudabaugh internally questioned Seiza's action before his eyes grew wide in realization. Wait... surely that isn't the case, right?
Unlikely, but... technically it shouldn't be impossible. Henry argued.
Hmm... I'll need to confirm it. Was all Rudabaugh said before he addressed Seiza, "Hey Seiza, could I ask you something real quick here?"
"Hmm?" Seiza, Nozomi, and Yoshino said at the same time as they turned to Rudabaugh. As the latter got a closer look, he could immediately see how troubled the small puppy was. It kind of reminded Rudabaugh of a certain someone, but he decided against speaking up.
"Is there something you need from him?" Yoshino asked.
"Just wanting to confirm a suspicion of mine." Rudabaugh kneeled down to Seiza's side so he could whisper so only the two girls and dog heard him. The sound from the flames around them helped to contain their voices. "That lass with the messy hair you've been glancing at Seiza, is she a magical girl too?"
The wide-eyed look from Seiza and Yoshino was all the confirmation Rudabaugh needed. "So she is..."
"No!" Seiza interrupted him. After a small pause, Seiza calmed down and elaborated in a whisper. "I-I mean... she has the potential to become one, but..."
"But...?" Rudabaugh tilted his head in anticipation of the reason for Seiza's hesitation in such a dire situation.
"I don't know if I should do it, involve her like this... feels like I'm taking advantage of the situation to force her to become a magical girl and put herself in danger and fight for people she barely knows so she also doesn't die while having no experience with her powers. Just the thought of it makes me sick. But..." Seiza frowned before looking down at the tarot floor. "The fact that I don't really see any other choice frustrates me to no end!" He whispered, gritting his teeth.
That made everyone pensive. After a while, Rudabaugh sighed. "In the end, it is as you say; we probably don't have a choice, but... it doesn't mean she has to do it alone, right? Let's give her the gist of what's going on before asking if she wants to fight or not." After a brief pause, he added while glancing at Rea, "Although if I had to say from her attitude and appearance... I don't think she's the type to skip out from a—"
"I said shut up already!" Rea suddenly shouted to no one in particular.
"... fight." Rudabaugh finished.
Rudabaugh watched as Seiza nodded, but could still see he was still conflicted. "I... suppose if we put it like that for her, it should be..." Seiza frowned before shaking his head. "No, even if we—"
"H-hey, what's going?! Nozomi!"
Rudabaugh and Seiza turned their attention to Yoshino, whose expression was horrified. Considering what was happening with Nozomi, he wouldn't blame her. Rudabaugh saw that Yoshino needed to hold on to Nozomi so the latter wouldn't fall face-first on the card-made floor. Rudabaugh frowned as he noticed blood slowly dripping out from her empty eye sockets, her breathing starting to weaken. "It hurts... it hurts..." Nozomi muttered barely audibly, her voice having mostly given out when she first screamed.
Yoshino maintained her hold on Nozomi, with a few droplets of blood getting on her mask and clothes, her breathing grew erratic, as she didn't know what she could do to help.
Rudabaugh and Henry clenched their hands simultaneously as they watched tears fall from Yoshino's eyes. It didn't help matters that Rudabaugh soon realized Nozomi was leaking a lot more blood than she should. "Wait... Yoshino, hold on to Nozomi like this for a moment, I need to check up on something!" Rudabaugh said as he placed a hand on Nozomi's forehead before closing his eyes to concentrate.
How bad is it? Henry mentally asked Rudabaugh.
After a few seconds, Rudabaugh frowned. Bad enough that we can't waste time anymore! Rudabaugh answered dryly.
Rudabaugh soon opened his eyes to face Yoshino, who was waiting with bated breath for Rudabaugh to tell her what he had discovered. Rudabaugh sighed as he told her the truth. "It is as I feared, her body is trying to reject the lingering dark magic inside of her, but it's wasting a lot more blood doing so. If this keeps up..." Rudabaugh trailed off, letting the following silence sink in on Yoshino and Seiza.
"I-isn't there anything we can do? M-maybe if we, I don't know, use our dark magic to take it out of her?" Yoshino suggested in a panic.
As much as Rudabaugh wanted to say "yes" to appease her, the outlaw knew he had to shoot that idea down. "Sorry, I'm afraid we cannot. Even if Henry was here, he wouldn't have been able to guarantee Nozomi's life due to how delicate the human body is, especially inside. If it was someone more skilled in it like Ambrosius or even Youya with his cultivation techniques, saving her would be possible. The most I could do would be," Rudabaugh rips out one of the sleeves from his shirt, "to delay the inevitable." Rudabaugh said before wrapping Nozomi's head with it like a makeshift bandage with the same reliable knot he used for birthdays and Christmas presents. When Rudabaugh was done, the knot tying the bandage looked like a ribbon.
Rudabaugh took a deep breath before giving an ultimatum. "If we want to save her, there is really only one thing that we can truly do. Seiza..." When Rudabaugh turned his gaze to the talking dog, he noted how the puppy still had some hesitance within him. "If you do not go, I will." Rudabaugh stated. "We don't have time to hesitate!"
After a moment of consideration, Seiza finally relented. "Fine, I'll do it." He said taking a deep breath before walking to where Rea was.
Rudabaugh watched from afar with the others while subtly readying himself to jump in if Rea's apparent insanity led her to lash out against Seiza.
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"Excuse me?" Seiza called for Rea's attention.
When Rea turned her attention to Seiza, the latter couldn't help but take a nervous step back as he just now realized, after she stared him down, eyes wide, how scary she was up close compared to Nozomi and Yoshino. When Seiza was about to speak again, Rea interrupted him. "...Great, now the dog is talking, as if I couldn't get any crazier, urgh." She groaned, looking away from Seiza and dissipating some of the tension in the air.
Seiza tilted his head at Rea, as he remembered having spoken up before near her when Nozomi's eyes burst into flames and when he realized he couldn't heal Nozomi, not intentionally of course, but he still did it at the end of the day. To see Rea reacting as if he had never spoken before in front of her took him back a little. Didn't she hear me before? Was she distracted by something else?
Seiza shook his head. It didn't matter if Rea heard him before or not. What mattered now was to not waste time before it was too late. "Yes, I talk. Look, I probably, no, definitely don't understand completely how crazy and unreal this whole situation is from your end. But I do know that this is real. As much as I wish it wasn't the case, that's the truth."
Rea frowned before turning to face Seiza again. Figuring the silence she gave as a sign to keep going, Seiza obliged. "I, no, WE, need your help to get out of here. I understand you might have a lot of questions, but please," Seiza bowed so that his face was touching the cardstock floor of the tarot card he was standing on, "I beg you to hold on to them until we're out of here. Even if you choose not to fight, we will try our best to keep you safe, but if you DO decide to fight, we will be by your side, supporting you. That I promise!"
Rea stared at Seiza for what felt like an eternity before glancing at Nozomi, whose bandaging only seemed to delay her bleeding, or at least, that's what she assumed from the minuscule trail of blood that managed to leak out from both eyes. "Hey, Muka-whatever your name is." Rea addressed Mukarramma as the former turned to look at the latter, who would've burned Rea's eyes if it weren't for Nozomi's timely intervention.
Mukarramma looked up from her phone and raised an unamused eyebrow at Rea. "My name is Mukarramma." She stated in an annoyed tone.
Rea rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever, answer me this: when you looked at me, was I really your target?"
Mukarramma casually waved Rea's concerns off. "Nah, don't worry, I was just using you as bait to get that magical bitch over there, I really have no intention to hurt you."
Rea visibly scowled at Mukarramma and clenched her left hand. "I see..." Rea trailed off as she took a deep breath before turning to look back at Seiza. "Hey, dog."
"Y-yes?" Seiza said as he anxiously waited for her answer.
"I accept your offer." Rea said with a determined look. When Seiza was about to open his mouth, Rea interrupted him. "But wait." Seiza visibly winced at this, but Rea ignored it. "I have a few conditions."
"Which are...?" Seiza asked.
"First," Rea raised her arm carrying the grocery bag, "I need someone to carry this for me and keep it safe. My aunt would kill me if anything were to happen with it."
With a nod from Seiza, Rea went on. "Second, I don't know HOW that girl ended up with literal fire in her eyes. I want none of that, so you better have a plan in mind, got it?"
Seiza hesitated briefly as he didn't know if he could do anything to stop it. Until, after frantically searching for any useful information inside his mind, he remembered what Mukarramma explained about The Magician's effect. How, as long as they were in the field, those flames that had taken Nozomi's eyes would occur every time they ended their turn. So as long as they kill The Magician, that won't happen again... right? It wasn't much, but it was still enough to convince Seiza to nod.
"Third, you keep your word about explaining everything I ask, and I mean EVERYTHING." Rea stared Seiza down as she said that.
After Rea received a nervous nod from Seiza, the former continued. "The fourth and final condition." A devious smirk grew on her face. "You let ME be the one to waste that bargain bin doll out!"
Seiza nodded as went through all of Rea's demands in his head."I can do the first three, no problem. But for the fourth, you will need this pendant if you hope to even have a chance against the likes of them."
Rea raised an eyebrow. "Pendant?"
Seiza gulped down. This was it. The moment of truth. He frantically searched within the pocket dimension that was located on the star in his forehead for the bronze pendant engraved with the same sign he saw above Rea. Found it!
Taking it out, Rea's eyes grew wide, and her jaw hung slightly open as she stared at the floating pendant with a scorpion engraved on it.
When she snapped out of her awe, Rea reached out and grabbed the pendant. Taking a closer look at it, a smirk eventually grew on her face. "I'll say, this doesn't look half bad. Although..." She frowned a little before turning to Seiza. "How exactly will this thing help me defeat that expired sex doll?"
Seiza sighed in relief, as this was at least something he could easily explain. "Beings like that doll that has trapped you inside can only be harmed by either their own brand of magic or by the powers granted by the pendant you hold. To access it, you have to say 'By the power of the constellations, transform!', got it?"
Rea tilted her head and frowned a little at Seiza. "I assume there are no less embarrassing ways to transform?" Rea asked. When Seiza shook his head to disagree, Rea sighed. "Figures... fine, before that though, about my bag...?" Rea trailed off expectantly.
"Ah, yes, please, just wait a moment." Without another word, Seiza used his magic to put Rea's grocery bags inside his pocket dimension.
After Rea snapped out of her surprise and Seiza assured the delinquent her groceries were safe, Rea took a deep breath before raising her right hand as if to reach the skies, bronze pendant on the neck, before shouting, "By the power of the constellations, transform!"
Seiza wondered with bated breath how different Rea's transformation and powers would be compared to Nozomi's. Whatever differences there were, Seiza only hoped that it would be enough to help them in this time of need.
Seiza's heart sank as flames erupted violently from the pendant, consuming Rea instantly. Her scream, raw and visceral, pierced through the air. Her body hit the ground with a thud, limbs flailing desperately to extinguish the unbearable heat. The fire danced chaotically, bright against the dim surroundings, casting flickering shadows as Seiza stood frozen, horror-stricken.
What?
It was the one singular thought Seiza had on repeat over and over again as he watched in shocked horror as Rea rolled around on the ground attempting to put out the flames.