38 Undying evil

Melissa parts with Lu and as she walks towards the group, the trinket she snatched from her begins to glow a faint blue light. It then levitates and reveals the teleportation circle under the snow by making it glow the same eerie blue light.

Coincidentally the location of the circle is where the guys were looking around. They couldn't find it because the circle isn't drawn in the ground beneath the snow, but drawn in the air where it couldn't be erased.

"A little heads up would've been nice!" Hagurd roars out as he breathes on his hands to warm them up. He's annoyed while the other two are laughing it off.

"I don't think anyone was aware of that, well maybe if we approached her sooner we wouldn't have been breaking our backs turning over snow~" Caron snickers as he rubs his hands together for warmth. He then puts his hands around Basil's hands to warm them up as well "Here you go Basil~"

"T, -Thanks but I'm fine!" Basil's face turns flushed from seeing Caron's sweet smile up close. "C, -Captain help!"

"You're on your own, squire." Hagurd chuckles as he looks away from the two and looks towards Aranea who's staring at their house.

She puts her hands together and it appears as though she's praying. In reality, she's thinking about how much of her life was spent in the confines of her own home.

Aranea knows so little of the outside world that it scares her.

"F, -Finny … what should I do?" Aranea quietly asks wanting to know how she can thaw out the ice locking her joints so she can move forward. She clutches onto the brim of her witch hat.

"Why don't you ask him instead?" Finny replies to Aranea as Hagurd holds one of Aranea's hands. "Cause I'm pretty sure that even a deadbeat like him can help you out of your fears."

"Way to introduce me, you raggedy-ass head accessory," Hagurd says as he glares at Finny who hisses back in kind. "Anyways, what's the matter Aranea?"

The worried father lifts the hat so that he could see his daughter's face to know what's troubling her.

"I, -It's just that I don't know what I'm supposed to do after this. What if I end up being alone once I leave my home?"

"Aranea, you'll never be alone. You have me and Finny that will always be by your side. Also, did you know that Basil treats you as one of his friends?

I can see that you're becoming good friends with Melissa and Lu, so why are you worried that you'd be alone? You won't be." Hagurd reassures Aranea and helps her walk into the glowing magic circle.

"W, -What about Drew?" Aranea asks which elicits a knee-jerk reaction from Hagurd.

"He's going to need to talk to me first. I see the way you look at him and don't think for a second I forgot that little outburst you did in the workshop!"

"E-Eeh!? T, -That's unfair! It's not like I'll!-"

"No buts! If I see you with that man who knows what I'll do!"

It looks like the two are having a heated argument with one another, but everyone can see that the two are smiling as they have a shouting match.

Melissa couldn't help but smile at that, seeing Aranea change from the timid girl that she was to the more confident person that she is now.

She turns around and sees that Lu is no longer there.

"You better come back in one piece with that moron, you hear me?" Melissa mumbles to herself as she enters the magic circle with the rest, activating the teleportation spell since she has the trinket. A blinding light quickly swallows them up and leaves a large circle on the ground where snow is missing. It seems the teleportation spell also took the snow beneath their feet.

…

Lucifia can feel her worn breath as she runs as fast as she can through the red forest. Her mouth starts puffing more and more smoke as the sound of mayhem becomes clear to her ears.

It provokes her into transforming just as she exits the forest and enters the city, where she makes a mad dash towards the plaza. She can see the pillars of white smoke in the sky, a sign that causes nothing but dread and worry for the archdemon.

As Lu nears the plaza, she hears the murmuring of a crowd that's then brought to order by a familiar voice of a man.

"Do not listen to Sir Sigmund! Unleash your arrows!" Leiger bellows out causing Lu to look up towards the rooftops and see archers posted there.

In a fit of rage, she leaps onto one of the rooftops and with a single swing of her claws, she shreds the archers into pieces.

To Lu's dismay though, there are still many more other archers posted on top of different buildings that surround the plaza. They all fire their arrows towards the plaza and at that moment Lu lost all hope as she sees Andrew in the middle of it all, surrounded by knights.

The knights that are conscious raise their shields up while Andrew stands there lifeless as a statue.

However, as the storm of arrows flies towards Drew, Adela throws Leiger to shield him from it. The doctor finds himself in the receiving end of all the arrows that he ordered to fire.

He falls to the ground covered in arrows and bleeding profusely from it. Everyone's dumbstruck not just by Leiger's death but by Adela who, to their surprise, has her flames blanketing all the unconscious knights which protected them from stray arrows.

Even Andrew has those cerulean flames tenderly shielding him.

"A, -Att- -ack!" Leiger, who's somehow still alive, manages to squeeze out another command from the knights.

Naturally, the knights feel apprehensive from such a visceral command, but one of them manages to rally a group into following Leiger's command.

The group of knights charges towards Andrew, dropping their shields and wielding their swords.

Suddenly the lifeless Andrew jerks back to life and tries to raise his swords but, before he could strain his body further, Lu drops in front of him and uses her claws to shield Andrew from the swords.

"Lu?-" Andrew asks in a weak voice.

"Adela!" The archdemon roars out which gets the Cerulean Witch's attention.

"Yes, yes~ As you command." With a snap of her finger, Adela's cerulean flames whip the group of knights away from the archdemon and Andrew.

The Cerulean Witch then jumps from the gallows and lands next to Lucifia who's holding Andrew as gently as she can with her claws.

"I'm sure you have a lot to ask Lu, but how about we move somewhere that we can discuss things in full?"

"Get a teleportation spell going already!" Lu shouts at Adela's ear making it apparent that she's none too pleased by how she didn't do anything to keep Andrew safe.

"Alright, alright~ but Lu I won't be able to send us to Haven without proper preparation so I'll just be sending us to a hideout of mine."

Adela takes out a bracelet made from her own hair and by simply casting it into the air it bursts into a whirlwind of blue flames that swallows the three of them. The blue inferno quickly disappears and with it the three that were swallowed up by it.

"What're you people standing dumbfounded for?!" Sigmund's authoritative voice suddenly breaks the silence in the plaza as he steps forth and takes command. "Those who can walk fine, tend to the unconscious! Those with basic first-aid training will be with Sir Cecil and Sir Heka to help the wounded and build an emergency first-aid field!"

Sigmund, with his presence and voice alone, reins in the disorganized army of knights.

He walks towards the plaza, giving orders and setting the example by checking on the incapacitated knights and those who are wounded. He's even showing compassion to those who are only dazed and traumatized by the events.

He then finds himself standing over Leiger's supposedly bleeding corpse that's surrounded by knights, and as he's about to check on him, a knight grabs Leiger's body and carries it up.

"He's not going to live long, what're you doing?" Sigmund asks the knight who's staying quiet.

"Dr. Leiger told me that he's fine and that a carriage is on its way for him and I'll act be his escort on the way back to the capital," The knight replies to Sigmund with an eerie calmness in his voice.

"Back to Mires? He's riddled with arrows and he's lost so much blood. He won't make it in time. Are you sure he's even alive?" Sigmund feels that something is clearly off. However, for some strange reason, he's being forced to accept that nothing is out of the ordinary.

Leiger's supposed dead body lets out a wheeze, indicating that somehow he's still clinging to life.

"Is that enough proof for you, Sir Sigmund?" The knight asks.

"Suit yourself." Sigmund believes that Leiger won't last and that halfway to their destination he'll die from blood loss. He knows that Cecil nor Heka can save Leiger in his condition, not with those many arrows embedded in him.

Sigmund turns around to continue bringing the army of knights back to their feet, but in doing so he misses an exchange between the knight that's carrying Leiger's body and another knight who's worried for their friend.

"Kirev! Kirev where are you going?!"

"Oh, I'm taking Dr. Leiger back to the capital, is something wrong with that sir?"

"S, -Sir? You were never the formal type- what's going on, Kirev?" Wydin grabs onto Kirev's shoulder and begins shaking him.

"I, -Is everything okay with you buddy?" He asks which earns him an impassive look from Kirev.

"I'm fine, why? I'm in a hurry, Dr. Leiger's condition is dire."

"Then let me come with you!" Wydin says following Kirev.

"Alright, then can you please help me carry Dr. Leiger?" Kirev asks politely which further confuses Wydin but he still ends up helping Kirev carry Leiger.