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After a short discussion about where the Paradise Seekers were, Bubble and Cerise set off together down the streets of the capital. Even though the hooded man couldn't find his way around at all, the bunny-eared Kemono had no trouble figuring out which streets to take to get out of the Red Capital as quickly as possible. At last, Bubble and Cerise made their way to the north of Lost Hell, both silent.

After a few minutes of walking, Cerise broke the silence. After all, even if Bubble was having fun watching the landscape, the lack of conversation gave her bad shivers down her spine. She needed to talk, not to make friends with this stranger, but to at least not listen to the dead silence that was Lost Hell. A country she hated, but one that was her homeland.

- Can I ask ya something first?

- Hm, what is it?

Bubble looked at her as she continued to walk alongside the bunny-eared woman.

- Ya beat up Garendo, but I don't remember ya using yar Power.

- …

- And even after that, ya didn't want to talk about it. We're going to fight against guys who aren't necessarily weak, are ya sure ya'll be okay?

The silence that Bubble offered her intrigued Cerise. Sure, she understood that some people didn't want to talk about their Power so as not to reveal their card, like she did herself, but to look so... disturbed... It was strange. He was acting in a way that she didn't quite understand, and while she didn't want to push too hard, she was far too intrigued to just keep quiet about it. She squinted as she looked at the man beside her.

- Are you hiding something?" she asked.

Bubble touched his hood and offered Cerise a weak smile.

- I just want to keep my Power a secret, is that so important...?” he replied.

- He's not lying to me, I'm sure, but he's hiding something from me anyway. What could it be...?

Even though she didn't care about his private life and the secrets he might be hiding, Cerise was a woman who never liked secretiveness. However, given Bubble's reactions, she wasn't convinced that she would be able to get any information out of him about his Power. If she let him fight the Paradise Seekers, maybe she could see it, but if she went with him, it was precisely because she wanted to fight: so she would not give him that pleasure! She cracked her fists and smiled.

- Well, whatever.

- Hehe…

- Either way, ya let me fight, but ya can have my back if ya want.

- Okay, I'm good with that.

Obviously, this suited Bubble very well. He wanted to avoid using his Power at all costs, and besides, he was eager to see Cerise in action. Leader of the FIREFIGHTERS, but also one of the most powerful in all of Lost Hell... She wasn't just anyone. Seeing powerful people in action was always fun and impressive.

- Nevertheless, if she really needs help…

Then he would help her. He didn't want to see her hurt just because he didn't want to show his Power. When he hit Garendo…

- …

He shook his head and looked at the road ahead. Lost Hell really was a horrible place, but he was getting used to it…

- Why are there so many dead bodies and remains of living beings everywhere?

- Good question, honestly.

- You don’t know…?

- Nah.

Bubble was surprised by her answer. He would have thought she knew something, as a resident of Lost Hell, but it would seem that even those who lived there did not know where all the dead came from…

- I thought it was because of the violence in Lost Hell itself…” Bubble admitted.

- No way. Even if it is certain that there are bodies that come from bloody battles, it is well known that it is not because of that. We don't know where all these bodies come from and when we analyze them, we don't know the identity of all of them, nor how they died.

Cerise clicked her tongue against her teeth, looked annoyed and gritted her teeth.

- This shithole country is full of horrors like that, but ya get used to it, when ya've been living there for so long. There are so many questions about Lost Hell, but to find the answers, good luck!

Bubble had known for a long time that this country was monstrous, but to have so many unanswered questions about it... The burning, the corpses, the curse on its inhabitants... A real hell, as he suspected.

- I wish I had never had to come here…” he thought.

He wasn't thinking only of Mamou, in this case: even he didn't like Lost Hell, even though they had just arrived a short time ago. The little girl he was accompanying was with Porencha for the moment and he was sure that everything would be fine, but his belly was giving him a little pain he knew well: stress.

- But it is not because of Mamou, this time…

Something was wrong — or rather, he had a bad feeling. He couldn't explain it, but he was sure something was stressing him out.

But what exactly was it about...?

A short time later, Bubble and Cerise arrived at a ruined house in the middle of nowhere. On the one hand, it was suspicious, on the other, it was easily explained. Besides, Bubble had seen other houses completely destroyed with no one around during his travels, so could he say that this house was different? Cerise stepped in front of Bubble and told him to stand his ground. He nodded and Cerise knocked on the door several times before waiting patiently. Bubble found this strange.

- She takes a much more serious posture…” he noticed.

She had her hands in front of her pelvis, one inside the other. She was waiting with an upright posture and had told him to be calm: was she going to try to talk to them quietly? Had she decided to settle this without violence? The door in bad condition finally opened and a man with torn clothes opened.

- What do ya want?

He had not even had time to start his sentence that Cerise struck him violently in the face and then waltzed into the wall behind him, causing the already ruined roof to fall in. Bubble looked at her with wide eyes and Cerise turned to him with a... rather fake smile.

- I think we can go in.

She bowed to the unconscious man.

- Thank ya for yar hospitality.

As she entered the house, she spat at him, but kept her smile.

- I should have known…” Bubble thought.

The house was destroyed all over — even worse now that Cerise had knocked off part of the roof — and some rooms were impossible to recognize. It was a dilapidated place that had not seen any repairs and was never going to receive any. Broken pieces of vase under their feet, scratched and dusty paint on the holey walls, this house was dangerous, unstable and depressing.

- Do the Paradise Seekers really stay here... ?” asked Bubble.

- Tsk, are ya stupid? They live downstairs, who'd want to live in a shithouse like that. It's too small for them anyway.

She stopped and pointed to a hatch that was open. It was likely that the man who had the door opened from below…

- I've been here once before. The man I hit always stays upstairs to make sure no one comes, but the rest of the brigands are in big cellars or outside doing whatever. Let's go.

After her short explanation, she started walking up the stairs without even hiding her explosive Aura. She was really a dangerous Kemono... How could he not feel chills being so close to her? Bubble didn't want to make her angry at him... even though it was clear that she was already furious: she must really hate those famous Paradise Seekers.

- What a strange name, when I think about it.

They were in Lost Hell, so it was no wonder that people came to take the opposite term, which was Paradise. But often, Paradise was associated with something pure and good; here, it seemed to be the opposite. Actually, it was quite funny, but Bubble was not in the mood to laugh.

He walked down the steps alongside Cerise and finally arrived at the famous cellars. They were dug by hand and must have taken some time to make, but the foundations that held it all together were what really impressed Bubble. A long hallway lay before them, a few lights were hanging from the ceiling. Cerise cracked her knuckles again and squinted her eyes.

- Listen to me, 'kay?

- Y-Yes?

- We go, we fuck ‘em, find the package for Syrianna and get out. However, if ya want to have some fun by hitting one or the other—

- I don't really like violence in general.

- … Not fun.

She shrugged and thought she would have more fun on her own anyway. She moved forward without further ado, her rabbit ears twitching in time with her steps. She had always left those brigands alone and even if she wanted to exterminate them all, they were all over the country: she didn't have time to have fun with all that. However, now that she had a reason to visit them, she wanted to take the opportunity to fight. She didn't necessarily need to use her Power to win against them, but she didn't want to underestimate too much.

- We're going to be careful anyway, we're underground,” she thought.

If she used too much force or too much power with her Power, the chances were high that they would to be buried alive; this was to be avoided.

They both finally arrived at a metal door and smiled.

- Hey, it's been a while.

She put her hand on the handle and was about to open it when she squinted. She backed up quickly and pushed Bubble with her before the door exploded with a deafening noise. She squinted and the man beside her shielded his eyes with his hood, pulling it down before his eyes. The metal door swung at Cerise, but—

She just hit it, shattering it into several pieces.

- Always so violent, powerful and crazy, riiiight, Cerise?!

The Kemono stood up and smiled.

- I didn't want to hear yar voice, ya fuckin’ idiot.

- Is this how we treat old friends now?

The man screamed and people came charging at Cerise from the room behind him. Cerise didn't think she would see him here, but now she understood why she had had that bad feeling. Nevertheless, she wasn't afraid of the man — far from it, in fact. She smiled in a way that showed all her teeth and ran into the mass of humans that was coming to her. She charged her fist and avoided the blades before attacking the man behind her, who was one of the leaders of the Paradise Seekers. He protected himself with a metal barrier created by his own Power and the meeting of Cerise's fist and his barrier forced the man back a few steps. She looked back to see how Bubble was doing, but she noticed that the robbers weren't interested in him — they were all coming after her.

- Good for ya!

She showed an amused look and charged at one of them. Taking his weapon, which was a simple sword without any beauty, he thrust it into the eye of a woman and cut off part of her head without any remorse. She blocked the attack of another blade with that of the sword and pushed the attacker with her foot before easily dodging a blow that could have hurt her.

- KILL HER!!!

Cerise heard her "old friend" yell these words and she couldn't help but laugh.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

- Do we treat old pals... like this?!!!

She hit the floor so hard that it shattered completely and everyone fell into the room below, where a stockpile of wine and other goods was stored, while drinks were patiently waiting to be sold. Cerise took advantage of this, during the fall, to fiercely hit the head of one of the brigands and made him enter the roof right above her. She fell to her hands and knees in the drinks room and the debris from the cellar floor destroyed some of the supplies. The brigands started attacking her and more came out of nowhere, but Cerise didn't care how many of these idiots there were.

Because she was the most powerful Kemono in Lost Hell.

And her fists would prove it.

- Oraaa!!!

She did a half-turn on herself and her hood flew off beautifully before her fist crashed into the face of a hairless man. His nose broke and entered his skull, piercing his brain and killing him instantly. She didn't care about the deaths she was going to cause, because she had already killed so many in the past that the ones now wouldn't matter; especially if they were crappy brigands like them.

- KILL HER FASTER!!!

The man formed a metal weapon and attacked Cerise with the others. There were many more of them, but Cerise was Cerise; being 1v1 or 1v20 didn't matter to her.

- Ahahah!

She laughed before dodging several attacks in a row and grabbed a bottle to shove it down the throat of one of the brigands. She stooped and struck the shin of one of the robbers before charging both fists and smiling madly before slamming them together, creating a shockwave so powerful that the bottles shattered and flew in all directions. Only Cerise's former friend managed to keep himself from flying away and attacked her, but the Kemono wasn't going to let him.

She grabbed his weapon with one hand and hit him in the stomach with the other, forcing him to spit out bile and some of his dinner. She waltzed him into the wall at the end of the room and squinted as she saw all the brigands charging at her. She jumped to an inhuman height, but being a Kemono with the attributes of a rabbit, this was not unusual for her: she had the right to enjoy the benefits of being a rabbit, right? She landed on a man's head and jumped back to avoid an arrow that almost pierced her right eye. She now landed on the floor of the room and crunched a blade to destroy it before it came to kill her. The brigand who had attacked her took a step back in fear, but she struck him with violence; however, her attack was blocked by the body of another brigand who sacrificed himself for his friend. He was sent to the others, but some of them bypassed him and attacked Cerise.

- Ya’ll hate me, ahah!

Laughing at the situation, she avoided the attacks of everyone. She grabbed the neck of one of the opponents before making him eat the ground, pieces of broken glass entering his face. He screamed in pain, but she didn't care: it was normal for her. It was normal, in Lost Hell. She was about to hit another brigand when a metal blade slammed into her foot, causing her to squint.

- !!

It was obviously the man at the end of the room, smiling as if he had won. Cerise was attacked from all sides, but she didn't think she had lost.

She was just happy to be able to have this kind of fun...!

- Ahah!

She hit the ground with such force that the air around her was knocked away from her at full speed, the robbers all retreated because of Cerise's Power. She stood up and struck with one fist upwards... and the force was so great that the air was sent with power in the same direction. All the robbers flew away in the power Cerise used and she put the palm of her left hand on her right fist.

- Say hello to the Gods... from me!!!!

She screamed before jumping as high as she could and, while all the robbers were still in the air, flew away because of the power Cerise used, this one struck with a violence impossible to measure the body of his "old friend".

And this one exploded in a firework of blood and guts.

And the ceiling couldn't take the pressure and exploded to let the air escape. The robbers were all sent flying, screaming and shouting, some deaf and some unconscious, but Cerise didn't even bother to kill them all. She sighed and landed on the floor of the beverage room before crouching down and running her finger across the floor to taste.

- Hm, Ragdoll wine. Good choice.

She nodded and stood up before the bodies of the brigands fell back to the ground. Some would land on the surface floor, but some in the basement where she was. One of the bodies fell on top of her and she hit it without even moving another muscle and it was decapitated from the force used. She noticed that a woman who had fallen was still conscious and she went towards her.

- Do ya know where a small package with a golden object inside is?

- .... Aa.... Aaaah.......

She was breathing with difficulty, one of her two lungs punctured. She was bound to die in a few minutes, but Cerise didn't even bother to care about it. She scratched the back of her head.

- It's a small object used by scientists. Ya stole it a week ago.

- Aaah... Fuck... ya... whore…

The dying woman spat at Cerise, but Cerise crushed her head with a sigh before jumping onto one of the walls and climbing upstairs, where she had destroyed the floor. She noticed that everything was more or less destroyed, but that was normal:

- I used too much power... Ouuuupsies!

She stuck out her tongue before turning back.

- Sorry, Bubble! I guess the package must be in one of the rooms further down?

- ……

Bubble was speechless, unable to say anything. Even though he hadn't really been following the fight, the force she had used had been so extreme that the air had been sent yards and yards up, so strongly that the ceiling had even been destroyed. That Cerise... was a total freak.

- I understand Syrianna and Mody better…” he thought, a drop of sweat falling from his forehead.

He followed the Kemono without making a fuss, not even daring to look at the scene in the room below. She really didn't care about the deaths she had caused... He couldn't understand her. How could she kill without caring, without remorse? She had taken the lives of so many people in a few minutes, and even if they were brigands...!

- Don't try to understand her…” Bubble thought, rubbing his eyes.

After a few minutes of searching other rooms, they finally found what they were looking for. They had also found other frightened brigands hiding, but Cerise had done nothing to them. They hadn't tried to attack her, so she didn't see the point in killing them, especially since she didn't care if people knew what she had done: what did it matter, she was already known to be a total nut job in the whole country.

- That's it, Syrianna's package," Cerise said before throwing the small golden object at him.

- A golden object...?

- Don't ask questions. It's like a magnifying glass for a microscope, but it has other uses. Anyway, let's get out of here.

- H-Hmm…

He nodded and followed her again, looking at the object he had just received. So this was the package that Syrianna had asked him to find...? At least it was not heavy, nor dangerous, nor too spacious. He put it in the pocket of his pants and walked behind Cerise.

- …

He wanted to talk, but he didn't know what to say. Besides, her "fight" from before had left him speechless... but also had shocked him a little too much. Fortunately he had not brought Mamou with him, otherwise she would have been traumatized for life. The landscape of Lost Hell had already played on her and the brutal death of the winged Kemono by Syrianna had made her cry…

- …

He hoped she was okay, with Porencha. If she could find a medicine for Mamou, it would make him so happy... She deserved to be cured. She deserved to be able to live a life without being sick.

- …

He said nothing, but Cerise said nothing either. The sound of their footsteps was the only sound in these caves, and while they could still feel the presence of a few brigands, they all knew that if they tried to attack Cerise, they would die. Bubble wondered if her Power gave her a better physical condition or if she was just overpowered like that with practice.

- Unlikely..." sighed Bubble.

Who could have such a physique that she could destroy the ceiling of a cellar with just a fist? After all, they were just a few feet under the ground...! She hadn't tried to play nice, anyway.

- Clearly, she didn't need my help. So this is the strength of one of the most powerful in Lost Hell…

He was still impressed by what he had seen. He—

BAM.

While he was thinking, something heavy hit him in the back of the head. Unable to protect himself in time, he fell to the ground without even having time to scream in surprise or pain. Cerise opened her eyes wide and when she noticed that a presence had just appeared behind them, she was hit hard in the stomach.

- !!!!

Unlike Bubble, she had protected herself in time, but still felt the pain of the violent kick that had just been inflicted on her. She noticed that it was a man, but—!

- !!!!!!!!

A claymore lunged at her and Cerise crouched in time to strike in front of her, but just missed the long-haired woman. She gritted her teeth.

- ... Kariiiii!!!

- Cerise.

- What the hell are ya doing here?!

- …

The woman's long, snowy white hair fell to the ground, but also hit the ground: it was that long. The man behind her grabbed the unconscious Bubble and put him on his back, a horrible smile on his face. Cerise stared at them angrily, but she noticed something strange: it was just the two of them. What's more, she didn't recognize the man behind her.

- ... Oi, what are ya doin’ with my client, eh?!

Cerise stood up, but the woman with the name of Kari pointed the claymore at Cerise, her eyes blazing.

- Move a hair and I can't promise ya'll go back with both arms.

- Eh. Eheeh... Eheheh!!!

Cerise laughed in a different way and charged her fists, an amused, but enraged expression on her face.

- Eehhehe!!! Ya think ya can win against me, ya bitch traitorous piece of shit!!!!?!!!!!!

Kari squinted and held the claymore tighter in her hand as the man ran away. Cerise screamed and lunged at her, but the woman clicked her tongue.

- ... Ya know I can't win against ya, Kemono.

The woman waved her claymore, but instead of attacking Cerise, she sent her sword into the ceiling, which shattered directly. Cerise attacked Kari violently, but Kari cartwheeled backwards to avoid her attack and avoided dying instantly. Cerise was about to attack her again when the floor fell on her. Forced to back away from being buried alive, she had to abandon her plan to defeat the woman who was like a ghost to her.

- KARIIII!!!

She screamed her name and destroyed the debris in front of her before running at full speed into the cellars. However—

- Fuck, fuck!!!

She finally stopped in the middle of a room and violently hit the floor beneath her, teeth gritting.

She couldn't feel the woman's presence, but she couldn't feel the man's either.

They had both escaped... and that with an unconscious Bubble.