Once day broke, Lucina, Elizabeth, and Olivia left Wortrest for Ertrum in a carriage while accompanied by three knights in plate armor on horseback. "We should be arriving in Ertrum in about half an hour," one of the knights rode their horse up to the carriage window and reported. "Would you like me to ride ahead to reserve rooms?"
"Please do," Elizabeth replied before waving the knight off as he rode ahead to reach town first. She turned to Olivia and Lucina, and with a knowing smile said, "Even if it's only noon, let's take our time returning and spend the day in Ertrum." Elizabeth knew how excited Lucina was about seeing her only friend again, so she would deliberately slow their journey to give them more time together. "I'd like to stop at Lady Alm's temple while we're in town."
"That's alright, Countess," Olivia replied and returned the smile. She had convinced her mother to let her spend a few days at the Felswore mansion to be with Lucina and was thankful for Elizabeth's willingness to help. "The day's beautiful, so I don't mind taking our time." There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun did its best to pierce the tree line that overshadowed the dirt road they were traveling down. A warm breeze ran through the forest around them as the group continued approaching Ertrum.
"…Hm?" After ten minutes of travel, one of the knights squinted and put their hand above their eyes to shield out the sun. "What's that?" Something in the distance was approaching them.
"A horse?" the second knight astonished as a horse was galloping toward them with no rider. A saddle was strapped around the horse's back with markings the knights instantly recognized. "Isn't that Oliver's horse?" The horse galloped up to the first knight and started whining but Oliver, the knight who went ahead to reserve rooms, was nowhere to be seen.
"What's wrong?" he tried to calm the horse as it came up to him. "Where's your rid-?" There was blood on the saddle. "Halt the carriage!" The wind stopped.
"Sir Joseph?" Elizabeth opened the window and called out to the knight, wondering why they had stopped. The birds stopped chirping.
"Stay inside and lock the doors, Countess," Joseph replied before putting on his great helm and drawing his sword. "Liam, get on the other side."
"Right," Liam rode his horse to the other side of the carriage so that the two knights were on either side. The only sounds that could be heard were the horses stomping their hooves in anxious frustration and the rustling of the knight's armor. The forest was unnaturally still.
"Coachman," Joseph said in a low voice that bled his nerves, "Continue on."
"O-Of course, Sir." The coachman could feel it too and sweat dripped down his brow. They were being watched.
"Mom?" Lucina looked nervously out the window as Liam drew his sword.
"Lucina, Olivia, come here." Elizabeth scooped Lucina into her left arm and brought Olivia into the seat next to her while holding her close with her right. She did her best to keep her voice calm for the children, "Just stay close to me, understood?"
"Yes, Countess." Olivia's eyes wandered out the window to the forest beyond. Along with the thick trees, the forest was filled with overgrown underbrush that could allow anyone or anything to approach them unnoticed. The group continued toward Ertrum while the forest's oppressive silence loomed over them. A twig snapped to their right.
"!?!" Liam held his sword at the ready and stared at where the sound came from, but nothing moved. His grip tightened around his sword and his horse started to whine.
"Coachman?" Joseph took a deep breath to control his racing heart. "Go faster."
"R-Right awa-" As the coachman tried to answer, a bush on their left rustled.
"Go!" Joseph smacked one of the horses that was pulling the carriage with the flat side of his sword to rile it up and take off. The carriage lurched forward as the horses pulling it went into a full gallop while Joseph and Liam kept pace and made sure to stay next to the doors. The bushes around them rustled in pursuit. "Don't stop until we get to town! Liam?"
"I see it!" Liam shouted back as he turned to look behind him. "Hellhound, on the right!" Despite their massive size, hellhounds could easily hide low to the ground while maintaining a frightening speed thanks to their long reverse-jointed limbs. But just as frightening as their speed was their ability to lunge great distances in an instant.
"AH!" Olivia and Lucina screamed as Liam's body was ripped off his horse and tackled against the right side of the carriage as the hellhound pounced on him. Because of the speed they were going, the horses pulling the carriage tripped over themselves due to the sudden shift behind them and they fell to the ground. The carriage overturned as the wheel axles buckled and broke under the hellhound's tackle, sending the occupants tumbling inside as the carriage started to skid on its left side. The reins on the horses snapped as the wood holding them to the carriage splintered and broke, freeing the downed horses. Shattered glass showered the three women and Elizabeth used her body to shield the children from the raining fragments.
"Countess!?" Joseph cried out as he stopped and turned his horse to face the hellhound that now stood on top of the overturned carriage. "Liam!?"
"Get it off!" Liam cried as the hellhound pressed down on him with its front legs, threatening to crush him inside his own plate armor. During its pounce, the hellhound had grabbed the coachman in its mouth and its powerful jaws crunched down on the man's head, sending the headless body tumbling to the ground a few feet away and showering the scene in blood and brain matter. Liam's sword fell into the carriage next to Olivia as he struggled to free himself. "Get it-!" Suddenly, a gale-force wind slammed the hellhound's side and threw it off the knight and carriage. "M-Madam?"
"Focus, Sir Liam!" Elizabeth, despite sustaining multiple cuts from glass and being bruised in the overturn, climbed out of the carriage to defiantly stand against the demon. "Your lord's daughter needs you!" She would protect the children at all costs.
"Liam, catch!" Joseph drew his backup shortsword and tossed it to Liam before getting off his panicking horse to stand beside Elizabeth. "Can you pin it with a sustained wind, Countess?"
"No, I can only create gusts," Elizabeth admitted as she watched the hellhound get to its feet and snarl at them.
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"That's enough to throw it off balance," Joseph said as he grabbed his sword with both hands and readied himself. "While shameful, I would ask for your help in subjugating this beast, Countess. I'll take left, Liam take the right. When we're close, Countess, hit it with wind to make an opening!" Through his helmet's visor, Joseph locked eyes with the demon. "Go!" The two knights sprinted toward the hellhound while Elizabeth used her magic to prepare another blast of wind.
"Lucina, stay here." Inside the carriage, Olivia picked up the dropped sword and held it in her shaking hands.
"W-What!? Where are you going!?" Lucina grabbed Olivia by her dress to try and keep her next to her.
"I'm just going to take a peek," Olivia reassured her friend. "Your mother and the two knights can handle it."
"A-Are you sure?" Lucina was shaking from the fear that was gripping her and tears were starting to flow down her face.
"Of course." Olivia had fought hellhounds in the game as the Saintess and, while scary, they were relatively weak enemies so she was sure a Magister like Elizabeth and two Azure Hawk knights could take one down. All she wanted to do was see it clearly in the flesh. While her martial training was going well to the point she was considered a prodigy, the Duke refused to take Olivia out on patrols and demon subjugations until she was at least twelve, but her curiosity to see something she had only seen in a video game was outweighing her fear. "I'm just going to-" As Olivia tried to calm Lucina down, sharp teeth pierced the roof next to them. "Wha-!?" Olivia was thrown off her feet as the carriage was dragged and thrown to the side while the roof was ripped off; exposing the children.
"There's a second one!" Liam cried as he dodged the first hellhound's claw swipe.
"What!?!" Elizabeth turned around and saw a second hellhound spit the carriage's roof out of its mouth and slowly start approaching the children. "Luci-!"
"Countess, move!" Joseph shouted as the first hellhound's chest and mouth started to glow a bright orange and embers poured out of its maw like a waterfall.
"!?!" Elizabeth knew what was coming and conjured a wall of water between her and the hellhound. In an instant, the very air around her burned and screamed as the hellhound let loose a concentrated torrent of fire. The wall of water boiled and it started to rapidly drain Elizabeth's magic reserves to stop the continuous jet of flame from boiling through. Flames and hot steam danced around the wall and licked at Elizabeth's dress and hair, and embers danced in front of her eyes. She was pinned.
"Ugh…Lucina?" Olivia was dazed as she stumbled to her feet. In front of her was a trembling Lucina whose face was stricken with horror. The sound of a lumbering beast walking toward her from behind revealed the hellhound's presence and Olivia gripped the sword in her hands even tighter. She was stronger than a hellhound. Thanks to the intense training she'd been doing, Olivia's stats were higher than any of the apprentice knights, some of whom were over four years older than her, and her attack power boost from her aura made her more than a match for a hellhound; which were considered fodder demons in the game. "Don't worry," Olivia said defiantly as she activated her aura and white flower petals fluttered around her, "I'll take care of-…" Japan was a peaceful nation, and while her upbringing was rough it was never something she couldn't work through as Ayaka Fukuda. She had stood up to bullies before and could stand tall when someone threatened her with violence. Even Finding Arlexia's Light had strikingly detailed sprite work for the enemies, so she knew what she would be facing. But when Olivia turned around and saw the hellhound, her heart stopped.
"Olivia!?" Lucina's words fell on deaf ears as Olivia was petrified with fear. The demon was over twice as tall as Olivia and was longer than a horse as the hellhound stood upon its emaciated legs that didn't look like they held anything other than bone, yet every step it took cracked the earth beneath its paws. Its body was covered in ashy pink skin that continuously flaked off and cracked because of how dry it was, yet no blood ever oozed out. A long, whip-like tail danced back and forth like a cat's while it looked down on its cornered prey. Its mouth was in a perpetual snarl that showed off two rows of teeth that were each larger than Olivia's fist and sharper than the blade she desperately held. Beneath its ribs which could easily be counted beneath its tight skin, softly glowed a fire that kept the demon alive. Two pitch-black orbs bulged out of its head where its eyes should be and from within the darkness Olivia saw two pricks of red light that acted as the demon's pupils. Hanging from its mouth while caught on its teeth were the torn remains of a tabard Olivia recognized as belonging to her family's knights. The bloody pieces of cloth dangled from its mouth like tendrils, and when it opened its maw wide Olivia watched as chunks of meat and fragments of bone fell from its stuffed throat. A torn open liver. The remains of a chewed-up heart. One of Oliver's brown eyes fell with the flesh, rolled across the ground, and stared up at Olivia.
"!!!" The hellhound let loose a howl that pierced Olivia's soul and sounded like a mix of a dying animal and a human wailing in torment. Strands of saliva and drops of Oliver's blood flicked Olivia's face as she stared up at the howling maw of the demon. This wasn't something to be curious about with childlike innocence. This wasn't a sprite on a screen. This was a monster whose sole purpose in its painful existence was to consume. Olivia dropped the sword as her arms lost all their strength, and her legs would have followed if not for the fear that paralyzed them into remaining standing. She couldn't even utter a cry of fear as her throat seized shut and her heart refused to beat. Droplets of urine hit the ground beneath her as Olivia lost control of her bladder while staring into the abyssal eyes of the hellhound; that seemed to make it smile if such a beast could feel joy. Deciding to play with its food, the hellhound lifted one of its front paws, extended its claws, and swiped at Olivia.
"!?!" But the claws missed their original mark as Lucina tackled Olivia to the ground. "…Lu-"
"Get away from her!" Lucina cried out as she desperately hugged Olivia while looking up through tear-filled eyes at the hellhound. Despite the overwhelming fear that kept her glued to the ground, Lucina had forced herself to move when she saw Olivia about to be killed. Whether it was courage or stupidity, she didn't know, but she couldn't watch Olivia die in front of her like this. The hellhound's tail playfully flicked back and forth as it stared down at Lucina. It was about to pounce the two children when it suddenly felt a voice, a presence, tell it to take its time. The hellhound obeyed the presence and slowly adjusted itself to fully face Lucina with all its unholy divinity. "I-…I s-said…" Lucina stammered out her words as her emotions ran wild and her desperation activated her magic. "Go away!"
"?!?" The hellhound was about the take a snap at Lucina when it suddenly found itself being thrown off its feet and into the air. Lucina's gravity magic altered the overturned carriage and slammed it into the hellhound where it continued to fly and eventually crashed into a nearby tree; stunning the demon.
"Lucina!?" Elizabeth cried out when the flames of the first hellhound finally stopped. Because the hellhound seemed focused on keeping Elizabeth pinned down with its fire, Joseph and Liam were able to approach the demon, Liam stabbed it through the chest while Joseph sliced his sword through half of the demon's neck; he didn't have the strength to cut all the way through. Once the first hellhound was felled, the two knights started rushing toward the children but were stunned when they saw the carriage get thrown into the second hellhound.
"Wha-…" Joseph couldn't believe his eyes as he knew the stigma against gravity magic, but he couldn't explain what he just saw otherwise. He wasn't stunned for long, though, as he saw the second hellhound writhe beneath the remains of the carriage that pinned it to the tree. "Liam!"
"Right!" The two knights rushed the dazed hellhound and combined their efforts to slice its head off before it could reorient itself.
"Lucina!?" Elizabeth was hit with magic exhaustion from using up most of her magic reserve and felt her strength fail her as she desperately started to hobble over to the children.
"…" Olivia was speechless as she lay beneath Lucina who was propping herself up with her arms. Tears fell down Lucina's face and hit Olivia's cheeks.
"You're safe!" Lucina proudly said through chattering teeth and a trembling mouth, and she did her best to smile through the fear to comfort Olivia. The sun shined through the trees and silhouetted Lucina against the sky causing her to look like she had a halo of light from Olivia's perspective. "You're…safe…" But, altering the carriage's gravity instantly drained Lucina's magic reserves and she collapsed from exhaustion on top of Olivia.
"Y-…Yeah!" Olivia couldn't believe she was still alive. Her body started to feel again and she was shaking from the anxiety of almost dying, but the fear that gripped her heart was melted away when she looked up at Lucina's radiant figure. "You saved me! You-… Lucina?" Lucina wasn't moving. "Lu-Luci-!?" Olivia hugged her friend to try and get a response but nothing happened, and her hand felt wet when she touched Lucina's back. Lifting her hand to the sky to see why it was wet revealed her hand to be covered in blood. Olivia's strength returned and she sat up while clutching Lucina in her arms. Four massive, deep gashes ran diagonally across Lucina's entire back that were actively gushing blood. "Wake up!" Olivia shook Lucina, but there was still no response. "Lucina, wake up!" A new fear gripped Olivia's heart as her mind went back to her previous life. Tears filled her eyes as she stood in front of her mother's coffin when she was only twelve years old with a wilting flower in her hand. A blurry and distorted world surrounded her during the moment of her death while Hayashi and Sato desperately attempted to keep Ayaka alive only to watch her die on the street. "Wake up!" Would Lucina die, too? Would she be left behind, again?
"My La-" Joseph approached the children to check on them when Olivia tore off a large part of her dress and wrapped it tightly around Lucina's wound. She shot to her feet while holding Lucina's limp body.
"Get the horses!" Olivia ordered through her tears as she started moving toward the horses that the hellhounds had left untouched. "We-We need to get to the temple in Ertrum! Right no-!" Elizabeth dragged one of the horses over, picked up her daughter in her arms, mounted the horse, and bolted down the road to Ertrum. "C-Come on!" Olivia mounted a second horse along with Joseph while Liam got on his horse and followed behind. The three horses galloped desperately through the forest to make the time they didn't have. Elder Arkin was currently in Ertrum and he was granted a small amount of life magic as one of the Hearth Mother's Elders; if they could just get to him in time there was a chance. Despite her own magic exhaustion, Elizabeth held Lucina's body close to her chest with one hand while the other gripped the reins of the horse. With every stride the horse made, and every second the makeshift bandage around Lucina became a darker shade of red, Elizabeth recited a prayer to Alm that she wished with every fiber of her being would be answered.