The next evening was yet another chance for an attack; although people heard the warnings and the city’s society was in panic, Catherine still could hunt for new victims. She chose them carefully, planning everything ahead. She was pleased that she succeeded again, and all that thanks to the pegasus. The brunette has just finished with her „meal” – the velvet dress she turned into dirty rags, beautiful jewelry was thrown somewhere aside, and the woman’s body massacred, she did it all for her own fetish. After her ceremony she threw the body far away from her hideout, where she abducted her. She left tracks, manifested her presence to people and willingness for even worse acts . Crows’ wings flapped, the black birds surrounded the discarded body – for people, what Catherine did was a macabre, for birds – an opportunity to fill their stomachs.

  A raven observed the crows’ feast, a dignified bird. In his shining eyes contempt was visible, he spread his wings and flied up, when Catherine sitting on Karia rode without a goal in mind. A black feather fell from the sky, it danced in the air before her face, she caught it into her fingers.

  “Ravens” she murmured to Karia with closed eyes. She took a deep breath, and then slowly breathed out. “Smell it? It’s the smell of death.”

  “Yes. You’re right. But... I don’t feel any presence” answered the pegasus, which opened it’s wings. Catherine felt anger, she looked around.

  “Interesting…” A mean smile appeared on the woman’s face. “Who might we have here?”

  The brunette became frightened, when she felt something surrounding her body; it was black magic, even darker than Karia’s. The pegasus and its owner instantly jumped away. The brunette held her throat and started breathing hard. She wasn’t as calm as before. The black mana once again jumped at them, Karia resisted and tried to push away the strange energy. Catherine was becoming more and more scared; she never saw her pegasus getting so tired in battle. She cursed to herself, kicked Karia in the stomach with her leg – it was a sign to run away. The pegasus opened its wings wide, and then flew up. The black mana quickly backed into the shadow, and from it after a bit flew a raven, following the pegasus and the cannibal.

~

  “I never thought, that on this journey… I’ll use any money on something like... alcohol” Ed said. He and his companions were going to a pub chosen by Eris; not big, but very popular in the city. The black-haired girl rubbed her hands together with a maniacal smile, Lorenzo felt fear every time he looked at her. They went in, there were a lot of people of different ages inside; some laughed, some arm-wrestled, and some sat quietly. The whole group walked in and sat on stools by a small table.

  “How old are you, anyway?” Edward asked.

  “I’m fifteen” Aru said. “Eris too, Lorenzo is seventeen, and Kyoko - nineteen.”

   “So I see that only Kasei won’t be able to drink.”

  “I’ll drink from your cup, stupid!” the redhead hissed. The order was made by Eris, who put the pouch with money on the inn owner’s table, and then came back to the group’s table with her maniacal smile. Lorenzo once again shook from fear, Aru acted like everything was fine, although in her opinion Eris betrayed herself too much.

  “I see that today you’re in a good mood.” Edward smiled, looking at the black-haired. “Is your hate gone?”

  “In your dreams, fucker” she said sharply, still smiling. The inn owner then came with a formidable number of bottles with liquor. Seeing this, the golden-haired’s eyes widened.

  “Isn’t this a bit too much?” asked the red-haired.

  “Of course not! Lorenzo, open the bottles!”

  “Alright, alright” said the brown-haired. He took one of the bottles in his hand and uncorked it with experience. He poured the liquid for everyone, except Kasei, who got juice. Aru just acted like she drank a lot, she had to stay sober. Lorenzo, on the other hand, drank greedily.

  “Hey, Lorenzo! You’re drinking too fast!” Eris laughed. The fox blushed.

  “Sometimes you have to!” he answered.

  The golden-haired drank the first cup, then put it down. Eris instantly poured him more, smiling at him meanly.

  “What is this kindness?” Edward asked, shocked.

  “An average one.” She moved away, then she drank the remaining liquid in the bottle. Lorenzo opened another one, when Kyoko and Aru drank in moderation.

  “So…” Aru started. “You’re from Rebellar, yeah?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Hm…” Kyoko thought. She put down her cup and looked at him. “I’ve once heard about a magician from Rebellar. Some say he could change a material’s structure using magic and permanently change one thing into another.”

  “Ah, yes…” Ed moved the cup from his lips, a small wrinkle appeared on his forehead. “For reasons unknown to me, such “legends” about my father keep circulating.”

  “So it’s not true?”

  “I’m not sure, I honestly doubt that, because a case of a permanent change has never been recorded. In the end, it’s a cheap magical trick. I saw his notes on it, tried to recreate it, but nothing came out of it. We’ll never know the truth, though. My mother died during the Believers of the Light’s uprising ten years ago, and father a few days later just disappeared.”

  “He broke down…?” Aru quietly asked, not awaiting the answer.

  “And your parents?”

  “They’ve passed away too.” She took a sip.

  “I’m very sorry” Ed answered.

  “Eh… Because of those wars, so many kids lost their parents. Lorenzo, Kyoko and Eris are also orphans, their parents died during Voyca’s war with Nihoria, as did mine.”

  “Kasei also doesn’t have them” he said.

  “Why are you talking about me?!” She wrestled the cup from his hands and drank the liquid. Her face twisted. “Yuck. Disgusting.”

  “You’re a little brat, it’s obvious that it won’t taste good to you.” He took the cup away from her with a smile, Kasei growled. The bottles were emptied one by one. Edward drank the most, since Eris convinced him not to stop, but Lorenzo’s score wasn’t any worse. The golden-haired slowly started becoming fully drunk, he laughed for no reason, and his face became slightly pink. Eris couldn’t stop laughing when Edward started swaying from side to side. Kyoko nodded to Aru.

  “Hey, Ed…” she began.

  “Whaaa?” he lengthened, but then started giggling. “You, do you know that your face looks like a tomato because of your red hair?” He exploded with laughter. Aru’s brow went up, Kasei on the other hand, tried not to laugh.

  “Beautiful, amazing!” the little redhead said quietly. “What about Lorenzo?”

  “I don’t know, I’m feeling like always.” He smiled. The girl slightly opened her mouth.

  “Well, you have a strong head, I see…” Kasei whispered.

  “Lorenzo likes to drink some!” said Eris, Lorenzo glanced at her with some embarrassment. Aru sighed and looked at Ed.

  “Eh… Tell us, why did you want an alliance with us?” the girl asked suddenly.

  “Um…” He thought, at the same time he scratched the back of his head. “Don’t know, you’re cool and all…”

  “You don’t have any plans for us?”

  “Maybe to defeat you in the final!” He giggled and started drinking again. “Really, I’ll fuck you guys up! And then you’re gonna cry like babies, ‘cause Ed the Amazing has defeated you!”

  “THE AMAZING?!” Eris shrieked, who also got a little tipsy, and started punching him with her fists. The golden-haired exploded with an even louder laughter. “I’M GONNA BLOW YOUR HEAD BEFORE THAT, DRUNKARD!”

  “HEY!” Kasei shouted out. “I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BEAT ED UP AND CALL HIM NAMES! YOU DON’T HAVE PERMISSION!”

  Eris and Kasei started wrestling, Kyoko sighed from embarrassment. Lorenzo in the meanwhile tried to separate two girls.

  “I really wonder if it was such a good idea…” the violet-haired girl sighed. “Let’s never trust Eris’ ideas again…”

  “Let’s take advantage of it until the end, since we’re here…” Aru whispered as a reply.

  “Eh? What secrets do you have here?” asked Ed, whose head rested on his hand, and was looking in their direction. The red-haired girl looked at Kyoko and shrugged.

  “What’s the reason you’re playing for anyway?” Aru asked.

  “Ohhh, you didn’t tell me, so why should I?” He crooked his head, but after a moment smiled. This time he looked much more peaceful. “I’m playing... for my brother. I have to pay him back for all the suffering. Hah, you know, because I’m not a good brother and all that! Everyone would like to have a bro like me, right?~”

  Ed started laughing, but Aru and Kyoko looked at each other. They didn’t expect such an answer. Lorenzo finally severed Kasei from Eris, then sat them down far away from each other. Both still wanted to fight, but he didn’t let them.

  “Thank you, Lorenzo…” said Aru, embarrassed, and looked aside.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I’ll tell you later” Kyoko answered for the red-haired girl. Lorenzo sat by Kasei, he felt more safe by the redhead than Eris. Ed still joked about random stuff, Eris bullied him, and Kasei protected him. Aru was sitting and thinking.

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  ‘So he was honest all this time?’ she thought. Suddenly, she felt a choking aura in her throat. As it turned out after a while, she wasn’t alone – all her weapons, Kasei, and even the drunken Ed felt it. Some other people from the bar started looking around too. Aru gulped.

  “If this is what I think it is… then I regret listening to you, Eris…” whispered Aru.

  “What did I do?!” The black-haired girl answered, much louder.

  “Stupid!” Kyoko cut in. “This is the aura of…”

  Then the doors opened with a bang. The thick atmosphere got even more unbearable, and inside came a pegasus surrounded with black aura, many people started panicking and running away. Aru wasn’t exactly sure what to do now. After a while she saw Catherine, who, surprisingly, had some wounds on her body. When she saw the group, she smiled.

  “Well… It seems that it’s our destiny to meet each other” she said. Lorenzo turned into a gun and jumped into Aru’s hands, Kyoko got her sword out of herself, Kasei and Eris stood close to Ed. After seeing Catherine he stood up, then, with a wobbly step, moved in front of Aru and Kyoko, who were confused. “What are you doing?!” the violet-haired girl shouted. Ed squeezed his fists and started throwing blows in Catherine’s direction, it looked comically. The brown-haired woman smiled.

  “Come on!” drunk Edward shouted out. “I’m gonna shove your pegasus’ feathers so far up your ass!”

Everyone was frightened, and Catherine exploded with disgusting laughter.

  “I REGRET LISTENING TO ERIS!” shouted Aru, who then started shooting at her opponent, who jumped away with no trouble.

  “Excuse me, darlings” said the brown-haired woman. “But I most likely have no time for you…” She smiled again, then ran out of the building. Ed chased after her, everyone else went after him.

  “Edward! Don’t do anything stupid!” Aru shouted. Kyoko managed to catch the golden-haired in a cloud of magic, but he was wriggling so much that he fell over.

  “I HAVE TO FUCK HER UP!” he screamed, trying to stand up straight.

  “But she’s…” They looked at Catherine, who was running, when suddenly another heavy mana appeared. It threw the pegasus with the cannibal woman in their direction, everyone fell to the ground, dodging.

  “What might this be…?” asked Lorenzo, Karia opened her wings and started charging at the unknown enemy, she didn’t care at all for the people lying on the ground. She ran over Edward, who became furious.

  “YOU BITCH!” he screamed and started blindly throwing magic at her, although it was obvious that it won’t do anything. He hit the strange energy though, which then became bigger and broke the pegasus’ wings. Catherine was frightened out of her mind, she started running. The strange energy wanted to go after her, but Ed was still attacking her with his magic. It looked like it displeased the mysterious mana, since it seemed that it turned in their direction. A while later Aru hit Edward in the face, and he stopped.

  “I repeat... I’ll never... listen to Eris again…” said the frightened red-haired girl. She was aiming her gun at the strange energy, when it… suddenly turned into some shape. Edward started acting tough again. When everyone was deadly frightened, the shape started moving towards them.

  “Alright…” Eris started. “What do we do…? What can this be…?”

  “It... has an atmosphere… even worse than Catherine…” said slowly Kyoko.

  “Why did we even get him drunk… Now he’s in a state of pleasant ignorance, for which we’ll probably pay with our lives!” said Lorenzo, who began shaking in Aru’s hands. She tried to calm him down. Even Eris and Kasei got ready for battle. Suddenly the strange shape became human-like. The closer it got, the more they saw. They saw something in a shape of a scythe, and then the thing that got closer jumped at them. They were getting ready for an attack, when Ed incompetently shook from side to side, saying all kinds of uncensored words. Suddenly he got hit in the head and fell to the ground.

  “ED!” shouted Kasei, who threw herself in his direction. Aru and Kyoko tried blocking the strange energy, who easily hurt them and passed them. She was moving so fast, that they saw nothing except the human silhouette and the scythe’s blade. After that she got closer to Ed, who Kasei tightly hugged when seeing the incoming danger, wanting to shield him. Then Lorenzo jumped from Aru’s hands, turned into a human and stood in front of Kasei and unconscious Ed, ready to protect them. He knew, that it was his group that thought of this dumb plan of getting information out of them, and was ready to pay for it. And then the aggressor let him be. Lorenzo, frightened, was breathing hard, the black silhouette stopped, next to Lorenzo it seemed very small. They took a closer look then: it was a black, long coat, which flowed in the air without wind, and by the sleeves and the bottom of the coat floated black magic. They also noticed that the person who wore it had a hood on their head. Lorenzo couldn’t see the person’s face, but he saw a petite, light hand, which poked from the long sleeve, holding the scythe’s handle. The weapon was silver, the scythe’s blade didn’t connect to the handle though, even though it was close to its beginning, it most likely floated magically. The scythe, though, after a while dissolved in a black cloud, the figure got closer to Lorenzo, the hood moved up a bit. The brown-haired saw then lips and a part of the face. The mysterious person smiled.

  “You’re lovely” said the voice of a girl. Lorenzo swallowed. “And I see that you probably wanted to protect your friends? It’s a shame that you people chased my prey away, especially this… little drunkard.”

  She put her hand on Lorenzo’s chest - there, where the heart was located. She started stroking that place a bit, still smiling. Kyoko was getting ready for an attack, but Aru stopped her. Lorenzo was absolutely scared.

  “Hm…” The person spoke again. “Your little heart is beating hard. Are you scared?”

  “Would... ‘yes’ be a wrong answered?” he asked.

  “Of course not.” She took her hand from his chest. “You smell strange… You must be the players!”

  “And who are you?!” asked the red-haired. “Another player…?”

  “Ha!” The person laughed. “You’re wrong.”

  Then she took the hood in her hands, and took it off. In their sight appeared a slightly round face of a young woman. She had pale complexion, and grey-black hair of medium length. Her eyes were big and of color of beer, she was also very short. She smiled again.

  “Eh…?” Eris was surprised. “A child?”

  “Someone with such mana can’t be a child, Eris…” Kyoko whispered.

  “I’m not a child” the mysterious character calmly replied. “I’m someone who hunts for people like Catherine and her pegasus. That meaning wild demonic beings.”

  “You’re not a player?” asked Aru, suspicious.

  “Ah, a player. That’s right!” She giggled cutely. “It’s natural that you might take me for such a person. But you’re wrong! I’m only someone who has to take care of such brats.”

  “Then... how do you know about it?”

  “Ah, you know, the deity makes a proposal to different people, but not everyone has to take him up on it. Or simply, I just know about it.” She smiled. “I think that you also have a problem with the cannibal, so I can help you solve it.”

  “So you’re... from Delaunay clan?” asked Kyoko.

  “Another mistake!” She smiled, and then… hugged Lorenzo. Everyone was amazed. “I’m just Ivory, and Ivory is taught to deal with such beings, everything done for people. I’m a hunter!”

  “W-W-What are you doing…?” asked the embarrassed Lorenzo.

  “I like you.” She smiled innocently.

  “Stop, let him go…” Aru said, irritated. Ivory evidently didn’t want to listen to her. “Help? What about the payment?”

  “What times we live in… Do you have to pay back for everything now? It’d be enough for me if you let me fulfill my duty! That means catching something that shouldn’t be walking with a cannibal! Then you can go back to playing your game. I’ve got no use for it!”

  “You’re not lying?”

  “I swear.” She smiled. “Give me some trust! I’ve attacked you as self-defense, but when I saw this wonderful fox, my anger passed right away and I forgave you!”

  “That’s... weird” Kyoko commented. “You really hunt, just because you’re a hunter?”

  “That’s right!” she giggled, hugging Lorenzo tighter, whose face was burning from embarrassment.

  “HEY, COULD WE TALK IT OUT LATER?!” Kasei shouted out. “ED IS LYING HERE, UNCONCIOUS!”

  “Ah!” Ivory laughed. “Let’s move him somewhere, then! And when he wakes up and stops being a drunkard, we’ll talk out the details of our partnership, hm?”

  “Seriously? Who said that we agree?” Aru asked.

  “Hah, you think that you’ll manage without me?” Ivory smiled.

  “You’re full of black magic!”

  “I’m a sorcerer, that meaning a magician, who was born naturally with black magic. You know, black magic isn’t just being infected! You can get infected only if you can’t control it!” she said, a bit offended. “We hunters do so much, yet you don’t appreciate it! But you understand, right, foxy?”

  “Y-Y-YES!” he shouted, embarrassed.

  “Master Aru…” Kyoko whispered. “I think it could be a great idea… hunters protect people, after all… So maybe she…”

  “Understood” answered Aru. “We’ll talk it out with Ed…”