"Nope! No! No way! I did not sign up for this shit that bastard promised me money and a place to live but he didn't say shit about it being this dangerous!" Steven shrieks, spluttering about some nonsense Belle doesn't have the time or energy to focus on right now as he dodges and blocks two flying hands and legs.
"Steven! Just shut the hell up and summon the damn ghost you contracted!" Jen shouts at him. Next to her appears another ghost, this one is a young boy with black hair down to his shoulders wearing a hoodie.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Steven mumbles as another ghost appears, this one is a young man with blonde hair wearing a tuxedo. The limbs have split up with a hand going toward Jen and the ghost she summoned, a leg going toward Steven and his ghost, and a hand and a leg attacking Belle in the middle. The red woman watches the chaos unfold with a shy smile on her face. While Belle fends off the hand and leg he observes the area. He's gotten more suspicious of the duo, he doubts most people know how to contract with ghosts and the only people he's met so far that could do that were the mysterious organization. But he doesn't have much time to focus on that as the situation at hand is getting worse. He decides to use his ability [Paralyzing Fear] and freezes the hand and leg in place, grabbing out his gun he shoots both of them, making them disappear. He glances up at the red woman to see if it affected her, but he's met with that smile as he watches the flesh around the stub of her arm and leg grow and form a brand new arm and leg.
"It's no use, I have saved up life energy throughout the years so even if you destroy my appendages again and again you won't be able to defeat me unless you attack my main body." She smirks, sending the limbs flying at Belle again.
"Fuck! What are we supposed to do!?" Steven questions. He's spent the entire time running away from the leg as his ghost attacks it.
"Great question, I'm still working on it." Belle huffs. He's usually more cheerful than this but the visit to his hometown has put him on edge, and the duo were also running around like idiots so he doesn't have an ounce of kindness to spare for them. He tries to think of a plan, most of the abilities in his arsenal were useless for the situation, and the duo didn't seem like they were any help either, which left him one option. He had brought out the axe again to fend off the leg and hand, and when they went for a strike together he swung the axe heavily and sent them flying off. He quickly switched out his weapon, bringing out the capsule. He tossed it to the ground and Cam popped out, looking a bit disgruntled.
"Heeeeeey, so like, I need a bit of help," Belle calls out cheerfully to the ghost.
"What the fuck is happening?" Cam asks, glancing around the hot spring, his eyes eventually landing on the red woman who is occupied by laughing at Steven getting chased around.
"There's a crazy ghost lady who sent out detached limbs to fight us, and they drain life energy if they hit you. She can regenerate the limbs easily, so I need you to take care of the two limbs that are after me, maybe tie them up or something, so we can go after her." Belle casually explains. As the limbs fly back, he summons the axe back to block the strikes.
"You got it." Cam sighs, summoning his ropes. Belle kicks at the leg and hits it back before striking the hand toward Cam with the cheek of his axe. Cam catches the hand in his ropes and ties it up. Belle then approaches the stunned leg and bats it over to Cam. Just like that, both the hand and the leg are apprehended.
"Time to go after the big boss." Belle whistles a lazy smile on his face after capturing the limbs. He glances toward the red woman who ends her gleeful taunting of Steven to look over and see what happened to her missing limbs. Her eyes trail over Belle and the tied-up body parts before freezing on Cam, a look of horror flashes over her face.
"Y-you! How? It can't be possible, you should be dead, just like your damn master!" She shrieks, pointing at Cam.
"Uhm, sorry crazy lady I don't know if you know me, but I have no idea who you are." Cam shrugs.
"Impossible! You were there when that bitch sealed me, how could you forget me! Don't tell me you lost your memories?!" She shouts.
"Mhm, you hit the nail on the head." Cam lazily drawls, not caring much about the conversation. Belle was giving them both the side eye as he watched it play out, clearly Cam had a much more important identity than he had first thought.
"Hah…hahahahahahahaha! Oh how you have fallen, your precious master is gone for good and you have all your memories wiped! You probably don't even know how to use your own abilities!" The red woman cackles, and this causes Cam to frown slightly.
"Hey! You crazy bitch, I don't know if you know this but I highly doubt you're up to power either, and last I checked you still haven't defeated those two idiots, let alone me, so before you start laughing up a storm you should check yourself." Belle teases.
"Maybe, but I've been around for thousands of years, I have knowledge you humans couldn't even begin to comprehend. You probably don't even know who this ghost friend of yours is, do you?" She phrases it like a question, trying to lure Belle in.
"Does it matter? He's my friend and we're going to beat you up, end of story." He replies coldly.
"Kyahahahaha, that's rich! If you knew the crimes your friend had committed when he was alive you wouldn't be saying that, did you know? Your friend over there was the right-hand man of the Ghost King himself." She laughs, dropping a bombshell that makes everyone in the hot spring pause.
"W-what?" The sound is quiet, Belle glances over to find Cam holding his head as if he's in pain.
"That's right, you used to be all buddy-buddy with the Ghost King, but now he's dead, you failed at protecting him, you're useless!" She berates.
"Cam, don't listen to her." Belle tries.
"No…it can't be, I didn't…I don't understand." He's eyes are screwed shut and it looks as if the pain is getting worse.
"Stop it!" Belle shouts at the woman.
"The worst part is, you can't even remember what you did, the bond you had…how you failed." She ends her sentence softly, like a lullaby, full of warmth. But the spite and malice were still three, you could hear just under the soft tone.
"SHUT UP!" That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The usual calm and collected Cam shouts and a burst of miasma strikes out, sending Belle flying into the wall behind him. He hits his head with a sickening crack.
"Shit." Is all he can mumble out before his vision goes dark and he passes out.