The second strongest

As Lu stares distantly into the night sky, preparing to stay up all night in case of an ambush, she hears the door open behind her. She once again sees Melissa holding a fresh bowl of rice porridge for her.

"You never answered my question." Lu grabs the bowl still and sits on the same spot on the porch stairs.

"Oh, well I didn't understand what ya meant," Melissa replies as she gestures Lu to move a bit so she could also take a seat on the stairs. "But if it's about the food, I think it's just a habit of mine since I got two brothers I always take care of. I always get worried whenever they don't eat ya see."

"S'that so. How many siblings did you have?" Lu asks

"I had two little brothers and a big sister," Melissa replies while rubbing her hands together to keep them warm as she's not used to the north's cold.

"So you had three, just one short of mine then. I have four siblings. An annoying older brother who has a stick up his ass, a recluse little brother who's good looks are wasted on him, a little sister who's too kind for her own good, and an older sister," Lu shares her own family woes to Melissa and that made the crimson witch draw herself closer to the archdemon that their shoulders are now touching.

"And what about your older sister? What's she like? And what even brought you here?" Melissa asks as she blows her warm breath against her hands. She's really not used to the cold but is insistent on staying out to keep Lu from being lonely.

"I don't need to explain what having an older sister is like right? I bet you've also felt like they're a better, more improved version of you, right?" Lu didn't mind that Melissa's huddling up to her, but because Melissa's staying out for her, Lu couldn't help but wonder if this is how it feels to have a sibling that's the same age as her.

"Well yeah, and for some reason, it annoys me into trying to do better than her. It's probably why I have this bad habit of mine." Melissa snickers, her lips forming into a warm beam that brings out a softer side of her red aesthetics.

Lu basks in this gentle red warmth next to her, treating it as a fireside that thaws out the cold grip of the north.

"Then you understand how I feel trying to compete against her all the time." Lu's faint smile grows into an equally fond grin towards Melissa as they continue to talk. By this point, Melissa is planning to take shifts watching with Lu.

"So can you tell me their names? Your siblings I mean," Melissa asks.

"My older sister is Lahabiel, my older brother is Leiraei, my little sister is Lera, and lastly my little brother is Lucius," Lu says counting her fingers and leaving Melissa completely stunned by their names.

"They all start with the letter L! How awful are your parents?!" Melissa complains on behalf of Lu, but the archdemon only giggles at that.

"Then I shouldn't tell you the name of my parents then, because they both start with an L~," Lu says with a grin on her face.

"Please tell me you're joking!" Melissa begs that it's just one of Lu's cruel jokes.

The evening looks like it's about to go by uneventful to Melissa's relief but as Lu mulls things over through their shifts, she decides to tell Melissa what she's been meaning to open up to everyone, and to her delight, Hagurd comes out to check on the two of them.

"Good timing, I want you and Melissa to listen to what I'm about to say," Lu says getting up from the stairs as Hagurd leans on the railings of the porch. The old man feels like something is missing and that something is a stiff drink in his hands.

"Alright, what do you got for us?" Hagurd asks.

"Let's get you two up to speed on what's happening then. Andrew and I have been trying to solve the magic circle on Melissa's back. In doing so we discovered that it's purpose is for the one who drew the circle to transfer their soul into a marked body.

The dead bodies that are being investigated right now, which are patients of a Dr. Leiger, all have their backs skinned. It's safe to guess that the doctor's patients have the magic circle on them and that it's the doctor who's been transferring his souls into different marked bodies."

Hagurd has a strained expression on his face as he has a difficult time trying to grasps everything Lu is saying, but that strained look he has is slowly changing into a look of fear for Melissa since she has the same magic circle on her back albeit with half of it buried under scars.

As for Melissa, it's not like she's having a hard time accepting that she's a possible vessel for a mad doctor and she's not showing any inherent fear which upsets both Lu and Hagurd.

"Aren't you a little scared?" Hagurd asks.

"I, -well of course I am, but being afraid and worrying about when my time will come has long been a problem I've overcome.

Besides, I have faith in Lu that she'll do something about it. I'm in safe hands with these two by my side~," Melissa says cheerfully which causes a light sting in Lu's heart, something so new to the archdemon that she holds her chest.

"I do have a plan, and it's involving the people who are on our side that I had an agreement with. They promised our safety but because they're after the doctor, they want us to get captured.

They essentially want us to act as bait to lure the doctor out in the open. As for our safety, they told us that before we're executed they will come to save you all.

I believe that … the witches I had an agreement with are people we can put our trust in, but I want to know if you two would agree to this."

For some reason, Lu is hoping that both Hagurd and Melissa would refuse to trust someone they haven't met. It would be difficult for her to think of another way, but it's now less difficult than accepting to turn Aranea and Melissa as bait.

"If you say that they can guarantee our safety, then I don't see why not. It's not like I have any better ideas and I can't very well abandon you and Drew.

And I doubt that I alone could get Aranea to safety, so I want to take this leap of faith of yours. I'm putting my trust in you, Lu," Hagurd says letting out a sigh and smiling at the archdemon.

"I admit, it's hard to trust people I haven't talked to, much less seen with my own eyes, but I want to trust ya Lu so, I'm on the same boat," Melissa agrees with Hagurd.

Lu feels like sharp crystals are growing out from inside her heart, tearing it asunder as she fails to see what will happen on that fateful day. What she does know, is that regardless of what outcome might befall them, she will live and see Melissa's expression towards the Cerulean Witch.

The rest of the evening passes in silence and Lu finds herself staring at a dawn of a new day. The bodies she's mutilated in the ground have all been buried in a foot of snow, leaving only their weapons and shields peeking out.

"Hey, are you finally back with us?" Melissa asks as she shakes Lu's shoulder. "You sleep with your eyes open, it's scary," she adds while taking a sip of coffee from the mug she has in her other hand.

"Can I-" Before Lu can even finish, a different hand is holding out a cup of coffee for her.

"H, -Here. I'm sorry about last night! I must've stepped out of line," Aranea says with her usual nervous voice.

Lu grabs the mug from Aranea's hand and she also gets a small bowl with sugar cubes in them from her.

"It's fine, it's no big deal~ thanks for the coffee," Lu says smiling as she begins dumping sugar cubes after sugar cubes into her coffee until there's nothing left in the bowl.

The two witches stare at the demon slack-jawed as she drinks her coffee. They could imagine just how sweet it's gotten that they shudder at the thought of how their gums would feel after taking in all that sugar.

"What's the matter?" Lu asks causing the two girls to shake their heads.

"D, -Do you love sweets that much?" Aranea curiously wants to know.

"All demons love sweets, so of course myself included, but I don't particularly shy away from coffee and neither do some demons. Put a bowl of sugar cubes in front of me though and I'll gladly put it all in this cup." Lu finishes the drink and lets out a satisfied sigh before handing the cup back to Aranea. "Thank you~"

"Once this is all over, and we find a safe place to stay, I'll make some sweets for you, Lu." With her best honest smile, Aranea promises Lu.

"Ehn~ in that case, I'll help you out with that. Maybe something like a bread pudding or a tart would appeal to you?" Melissa chimes in.

"Suit yourselves, but I'll warn you two in advance. I'm quite the mean critic when it comes to desserts," Lu says snickering.

To the archdemon's surprise, an attack wasn't made today and as she waits long into the afternoons she still did not pick up any signs of an assault for today.

Now Lu is thinking that this day will be the one where they attempt an ambush at night. So, as the sun sets in front of Lu, she prepares to stay outside for tonight as well to keep watch with Hagurd and Melissa helping her by taking turns watching and resting.

In the end, because Aranea got lonely sitting alone in the house, she joins them outside wherein all four of them have dinner on the porch. Of course, Hagurd's bottle of whiskey and his glass is taken away once more by Aranea.

This coziness that surrounds Lu causes her consciousness to fade out in a way that she's unaware of it which ends in her falling soundly asleep without knowing.

She snaps out of her slumber, but what she thought was a few minutes of her dozing off, turns out to be an entire night of her asleep as it's already morning. Lu finds herself with a blanket around her while everyone around her is soundly asleep with blankets on them as well. She immediately looks around and checks if everyone is unharmed.

To Lu's relief, nobody is hurt, and that not a single soul is lurking in the forests waiting for an ambush. The archdemon also finds that Aranea is holding her hand throughout their outside sleepover. She smiles at this and uses her other hand to shake Aranea awake.

"Hey, it's morning. You three shouldn't be staying out here," Lu says and her voice is enough to get Aranea's eyes fluttering open.

The timid witch lets out a soft moan as she leans her head to Lu's shoulder, with her other hand grasping Lu's arm.

"Five more minutes, I don't want to get up yet," Aranea begs while nuzzling her face against the archdemon's shoulder.

"I'm being serious here. You three might catch a cold, considering how susceptible you guys are with extreme climates," Lu persists and gets up intending to carry Aranea back inside, but as she's about to scoop the sleepy witch off her feet, she suddenly feels a chilling stare on her back.

"Hagurd, Melissa. Wake up." Lu tells them to get up, including Aranea by shaking her. Her voice is a lot louder than before, more than enough to stir even heavy sleepers awake.

"W, -Where's the fire?" Melissa asks still dazed after getting rudely pulled out of her slumber.

"When did they get here?" Hagurd says to Lu as he's already up and ready. As old as he is, he's still a knight who's training and discipline are carved deep into his bones. He didn't need to ask what's happening as he can practically see the intense feeling of bloodlust seeping out of the forest.

"Just a few moments ago. Take Aranea," Lu says as Hagurd walks up to the two of them, grabbing Aranea and taking her away from Lu who then walks out to the open to greet their uninvited guest.

"Lu, I'm going to grab something from inside! Please don't do anything crazy!" Melissa says bolting into the house. Lu thinks that she's going to grab her rifle and she's half-right as Melissa also heads to the workshop, taking a full phial of liquid mana that's been sitting on a worktable.

Pocketing the phial, Melissa runs back outside and sees Lu facing against six silhouettes, two of which she's familiar with that it almost causes her to yell out their names but she stops herself before she could get even get out a word.

Compared to the fifty knights on the first day, the six before Lu are completely on a different level, and Melissa knows since she's faced against one of them.

But Erize's presence isn't the one intimidating Melissa, it's the man she's next to. The one with the same color of hair and eyes as her.

The male Cerenian stands tall with a muscular frame and a daunting expression on his face that would scare any child into behaving.

"You're Sigmund, aren't you?" Lu asks with a grin on her face as she points at him. Both of Lu's arms suddenly burst into blue flames and transform into large black claw gauntlets.

The strange black metallic plating that consists of Lu's gauntlets also begins to spread and cover parts of her body such as her back, the sides of her legs, and her cheeks.

"Yeah, I am," Sigmund monotonously answers Lu as he draws a pristine white-colored blade with gold engravings all around the fuller and guard. "What a gaudy gift from the doctor, but I'll be thrusting this into your chest, demon."

Sigmund's statement brings out the worst grin on Lu, one where she's staring down with unbridled animosity.

"Go ahead and try then, hero~ Before you drive that sword in me I'm going to break one of your arms." Lu's horns and her gauntlets billow out blue flames.