"Girl! Stop damn it!" The man exclaimed, trying to catch up to Hana.
Crackle.
Several tiny rocks fell on his shoulder, showering him with dust. Then, he felt an eerie aura, as if from a death ghost that was right behind him.
"You should have run away yourself, though... it's... too late." Evan whispered before thrusting his sword into the man's back.
"Argh!" The man spat out a mouthful of blood, with wide eyes filled with pain and incomprehension.
Evan pressed down on his sword, slicing through the man's flesh with the sharp blade until he fell to the ground dead, without a third of his body it was quite difficult to survive.
"Bastard!" The woman exclaimed with a direct elbow strike to the stomach, throwing Klaus aside.
Evan frowned, preparing for a fight.
Klaus had made a mistake and failed to kill his target in one attack, though it was hard to blame him, considering the woman was still alive despite her condition.
She gripped the hilt of the rapier and clenched her teeth in pain, and pulled the weapon from her shoulder. A stream of blood rushed outward, flooding her shoulder, but she didn't make a sound.
"Wait... That's Mrs. Astrid's weapon... So you did it!" The woman exclaimed as purple electric shocks traveled down her left arm, ripping the white fabric up to her shoulder.
Evan's eyes narrowed as the crystal on his sword shone brightly. He didn't have a second to lose.
Bam.
A small rock slammed into the back of the woman's head, causing her to turn around.
"What...?" Evan muttered in confusion, staring at Hana, who had thrown the stone.
The woman turned around irritably.
"Bitch, do you even realize what you did?" The woman's face contorted in anger.
"Yes." Hana replied calmly, glaring at Klaus.
At the same moment, Klaus burst towards Evan, covering his eyes with his palm as well as his own. Evan had only a small gap between Klaus's fingers, allowing him to see what was happening.
Hana lifted her bangs, revealing her eye again, the three red pupils of which were now twitching like wild beasts wanting to break free.
"Run." Hana uttered, while from her eye emanated a bright light capable of hypnotizing even the strongest mind.
"Run..." The woman mumbled after Hana, then her face twisted in horror as if she had seen the worst nightmare.
"No... No... No... Don't come near me! Monster!" The woman screamed rushing away like a normal scared person, not a majestic magician.
Realizing the situation, Evan turned around, standing with his back to Hana, and brought his hand up to attack, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. He bent his body backward, lifting his leg slightly as he pierced the escaping woman with his gaze.
Then, he brought his foot down harshly to the ground, shifting his shoulders forward and throwing his sword at her like a spear.
The sword plunged precisely into the woman's neck, flying through her and splitting her head in two before slamming into the cold stone, with drops of blood trickling from the sharp blade.
Turning around, Evan saw the same Hana, whose strange eye was already closed and her hands folded together.
"Well... I think we should talk, problem solved, and I want to find out what the hell that eye is." Evan uttered, pointing at Hana.
There was none of Hana's usual hatred or disgust in his gaze - something she was used to seeing from anyone who knew about her secret. The only exception was Klaus, however, his gaze was different from Evan's.
'How strange... He doesn't feel contempt or pity for me like Klaus, there's only curiosity in his stare...' Hana thought, feeling that she could trust one more person.
...
It had been a long night, and the blizzard wasn't going to stop, so they leaned on the still-warm carcass of the bear to sleep and rest until morning when the blizzard finally subsided.
A few hours and dry trees were enough for them to have a fire by afternoon, a few hides cut from the bear and massive chunks of meat slowly roasting over the amber fire.
"So... People like Hana are called the Cursed Child, right?" Evan asked, glancing at Hana and tearing off a juicy piece of meat - his first normal meal since his rebirth.
Klaus nodded, "Yeah, Hana was born this way, so... she had a pretty difficult childhood, as well as her whole life. A curse is a sign of a threat, or that an evil spirit may have taken over the body and is just pretending to be a normal person."
"Evil spirit then..." Evan muttered in a deep tone. In Astrid's eyes, he was exactly that.
"At first, I thought that an evil spirit might have entered your body as well, though it was unlikely due to the weakness of your body, but I didn't deny the possibility. However, you act like a human, violent and confident, but not crazy and overly aggressive like an evil spirit." Klaus explained.
"How often does the curse happen? And, can anything other than the eye be infected?"
"Sure. An arm, a leg, a chest, or even a tongue, a curse can end up anywhere. However, the eye is the most common option." Klaus sighed, looking at Hana, who was hungrily tearing off one piece of meat after another. She already recognized Evan as an ally, so Klaus could tell everything about her.
"I see, is there someone or something living in her eye? I mean, from what you said, I understand that the evil spirit is just a guess and a possibility, and Hana is in complete control." Evan asked with obvious curiosity. There was nothing like that in his world.
Klaus shook his head, "No, there is no evil spirit in her body, and it will only occur if something bad happens to her mind, in fact, the chances of that are equal for everyone regardless of whether they have a Cursed Cell or not. I'd say her eye is a tool, dangerous as a double-edged sword, but just as useful. Well, you've seen it all for yourself."
Evan nodded silently, then after a long moment he asked nonchalantly, "Is she your girlfriend?"
Klaus blushed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and coughing said, "No. We're friends, though..." Klaus's eyes filled with sadness, "I'd say we're almost brother and sister since we're from the same orphanage..."
Evan glanced at Hana, who seemed completely oblivious to their conversation, when for Klaus it was a difficult moment.
'Hah, you're pretty good at it, but it's really hard to hide emotions completely.' Evan smirked inwardly, looking at Hana's trembling legs and hands that were now shoving chunks of meat into her small mouth ever faster.
Evan tossed the massive bone aside, sighed contentedly, and looked up.
"Well, what do we do next? Does anyone have suggestions?" Evan asked, looking around.
Klaus scratched his cheek, "We can stay here for a while, gather our strength, wait for the prison situation to subside, and head to Firnorm, a village at the foot of the snowy mountains on the other side of the mountain range we're at now. Life is hard there, but traders often stop in to buy beast hides and materials like claws and fangs from hunters. We can make good money there."
"Firnorm, right...? Evan muttered, rubbing his chin.
Strangely enough, this place was familiar to him or rather to Kellan. Kellan had traveled there several times as a child with his father to buy something rare from the hunters. Also, Firnorm was not very far from Kellan's hometown.
Evan's face spread a wide grin that made Hana and Klaus wince slightly. It was obvious that he was up to something, and those who were his targets would soon regret it.