Without hesitation, Quincy activated her forte, [Error State], falling off of the cliff at high speeds, propelled by the incorporeal state. In this form, she was alike to an apparition, a specter. She cascaded along the cliff's surface, landing on the ground floor as she deactivated her forte.
In order to fail to die upon hitting the ground, while simultaneously avoiding passing through the ground itself, Quincy had to execute a 'perfect landing', a term she had coined herself. In the split second as she collided with the ground, she had to deactivate [Error State], turning corporeal right as her feet touched upon the ground. This would essentially reset the momentum she had obtained while in an incorporeal state, rendering her unmoving and unharmed atop the ground.
It was a calculated, intensely hard trick. It needed an intense amount of confidence to avoid the fear that one might simply die as soon as they failed to execute it properly. But in a bloodlusted state after seeing the Lower Demon, she had nothing but confidence welling up in her chest. This was nothing to her.
Looking at this, Mercury was truly amazed. How could she have hopped into a state of danger without hesitation, without fear? Was this truly the instinct of a Reaper? The more time he had spent with the woman, the more he became enamored by every action she took, calculated, yet reckless. She was ruthless, yet kind. She was an entire collection of paradoxes that created an amazingly wonderful fighter.
So how could he stand still and watch?
Mercury fell forward off of the cliff-face, still wielding the bone rapier in his right hand. He stared parallel at the craggy rock surface as he fell at high speeds, grinning. Of course, he had no idea how he was going to land.
[Danger Sense] wasn't just an irking feeling in the back of his head. As he plummeted towards the ground, his vision truly flashed a bright red. It was an animate, obvious warning sign. [Danger Sense] was clearly telling him that the fall ahead would result in certain death.
Then, suddenly, [Danger Sense] stopped alerting him. He realised that Quincy had disappeared from the ground below, and moreover, he had lost all feeling in his entire body.
However, his hand moved, almost unconsciously, as if it were being willed to do so by another person. He had become a marionette, controlled by a marionettist.
'This feeling…!' His eyes widened, still in freefall. 'Is this…?'
His right hand shot out, driving the bone rapier into the thick stone. It cut through easily, leaving him suspended ten feet above the quarry floor. It had been a close call.
"How can you be so stupid? How were you planning to save yourself? You're far too reckless. Or did you anticipate using one of your strange abilities?" He grinned, speaking aloud. However, this was not by his own will, either.
Suddenly, an incorporeal form fell away from his body, falling towards the quarry floor. Quincy winked at him, saluting as she turned corporeal, landing on the rocky surface below. In an instant before he had really fallen to his death, she had used [Error State] to possess his body. Driving the bone rapier into the cliff-face and bearing the pain of the fall on her shoulder had been agonising, but it was less a pain than assimilation, and so she could deal with it.
Mercury pressed his foot against the rock-face, pulling the blade out and tumbling downwards. He hit the ground on his back, intense pain bursting through his body. He let out a groan, staring up at Quincy, who looked down at him with an amused expression.
"I can't save you every time. Some things you have to do for yourself." Quincy winked, grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back up on his feet.
"It would have been nice to know that before I fell. I thought it was finally my time to be the beautiful damsel caught by the handsome prince."
"I'm not handsome." She chided in return, starting a full-on sprint towards the quarry center.
Mercury shrugged, following behind her.
They could see the Lower Demon standing in the center of the quarry, next to several jagged stone pillars and many tools strewn about the ground. Beside him, a large stone cross had been hammered into the ground, its speared point covered in thick crimson. Castrelle had been bound by his hands to the cross, his face distraught.
Castrelle's gaze had begun shaking, stuck in his own head as his thoughts raced.
'I've been hung to a cross! This is just like the vision I saw! But why is it happening in the quarry, and not the infinite plains!? Is it the case that my visions are inconsistent, or is this simply a coincidence!? How can I even begin to figure that out!? If my sister is here, then Looking Glass must not be far behind!' Of course, he didn't know that his sister was acting alone. He would never think that his sister had the mind to do such a stupid thing, failing to rely on Looking Glass. 'If everyone comes here though, it will be a prime opportunity for that vision to take shape! I have to escape and take everyone with me! With Quincy here, won't we be able to escape at least? But there's still no obvious way out of the quarry! The cliff-face is too high, even if we navigate our way to the caverns!'
Mercury and Quincy appeared before the Lower Demon, brandishing their weapons. Seeing this, Castrelle's eyes widened.
'Who is this man beside Quincy? I haven't seen him around Camp Deralise as far as I can recall, but then again, I've been a prisoner for a while. Is he a new Reaper? He must have volunteered for Looking Glass's mission. Where did he get such an absurdly large bone?' He had not dug deep enough into the Titan Centipede he killed in the cavern, otherwise he too would have discovered its internal makeup. To Castrelle, it seemed that the mysterious man was someone quite powerful to have killed such a large creature. It made his heart feel elation, with hope that they may succeed.
He glanced about the cliff-line, looking for any sight of the others. However, he saw nothing. Keeping his lips pursed, he patiently awaited their arrival. He was certain that it was simply part of Looking Glass's plan.
They would definitely save them.
Then, he would kill Gremory before there was any chance that his vision would come true.
In the distance, dozens of prisoners seeing the charging of Gremory had emerged. They had picked up the rusted and chipped tools they use each day, instantly using their ebbing strength to break the chains that bound them.
While they were poisoned and exhausted, they were still Reapers. Their bodies were still enhanced. They still had their fortes.
And staring at the Lower Demon, unchained, they felt instinctual bloodlust surge up in their chests.
Fare stepped forward from amidst the crowd, slamming his hand against the grey stone below. Activating his forte, [Ferrokinesis], he stirred the countless metal flakes embedded in the stone, causing it to shift. In an instant, a large metal spike shot out from the ground, piercing through the Lower Demon's shoulder, pushing him apart from the stone cross that held Castrelle.
"Quick!" Fare shouted to Quincy and Mercury. "Grab him!"
Without hesitation, the two lurched forth. Brandishing his bone rapier, Mercury slashed at the rope binding him with the point, cutting the frayed rope in an instant. Quincy shot forward with [Error State] becoming corporeal and grabbing him as he fell. Castrelle looked at his sister for a moment as she helped him onto his feet, smiling. "Thank for coming." He spoke in a soft tone.
He tightened his grip around the ancient rusted Jian, having retained it even after captured, and raised it into the air. Gremory had already started to try and remove the metal spike from his shoulder, but they paid it no mind and rallied.
"Let's f-cking kill this bastard!" Castrelle shouted. His voice was weary, abstaining from the water. Still, he used the last of his strength to cry out, and pressed on despite that, raising his blade alongside the other two in preparation for the Demon's attack.
As Gremory removed the metal spike, standing tall and mighty before them, he roared.
"You- you fools! Tenebris… no, Limbo… cannot hold back the forest!" His cries echoed through the quarry, past the obscured pit into the infinite plains faraway.
In the distance, where the plains met a stretch of craggy rock surfaces, a large black-patterned owl cascaded through the air, landing on an outstretched arm which wore a large black-leather pad strapped to it. The owl's talons dug into the leather, protecting the arm from harm. Hollow breaths echoed out of a specially-fashioned mask, a fitted filter around the mouth, one eye obscured by shutters, the other fitted with a series of zoomed-lenses.
He had a large rifle strapped to his back, bobbing up and down as they moved.
Three horses pulled several groups of people by carts, the masked figure riding atop one of the horses.
"Gaelis, has Quincy gone to the Quarry?" A soft, yet firm voice echoed through the mask, sounding hollow and illusory.
The owl, Gaelis, responded with a series of coo's, a form of language imbued into the owl by the masked man's teachings.
A figure in an ornate red-and-white clown mask leaned forward in the cart. "So what's the answer, Looking Glass?" He tilted his head with curiosity, letting out a slight chuckle, as if the situation were amusing.
The meaning behind the coo's of Gaelis had been an affirmation. "Quincy proceeded to the Quarry despite my instructions."
The masked figure, Looking Glass, let out an audible 'tsk'.
"We've already prepared enough. We just have to make it in time. Cicero, are you ready?"
The man in the ornate clown mask let out a laugh.
"Let's go kill another Lower Demon."