Scream! Scream!

The witches brought Ada back to reality. They had just arrived at the edge of the woods and the entire expanse of water of Lake Avernus opened up in front of them.

Starlight illuminated the lakeshore, painting the sky in bluish hues as the group approached cautiously. The calm waters of the lake weakly reflected the light of the moon, sometimes obscured by clouds, creating an apparently serene atmosphere but steeped in mystery. The shore was dotted with blades of grass, their shadows stretching menacingly across the damp earth. On the horizon, the swarm of striges, with their typical membranous wings and golden eyes, rotated around a very specific area. Their flight was ambiguous, almost choreographed, as they soared through the air with eerie movements. Their call echoed in the quiet of the early evening, adding an aura of suspense to the scene. The point around which the striges revolved seemed to be hit by dark energy, palpable even from a distance. An aura of evil enveloped that place, making Rutia's daughter unconsciously shiver. However, there, in the center of that circle of infernal creatures, the demigoddess glimpsed something indefinable, a shadow moving stealthily among the darkness.

The four members of the Equinox Flowers lined up until Havel stepped forward, his two axes already drawn.

“Ada, you with me. Darryl, stay away and use your flames to protect Elaine.”

Corgi's son smiled, “You tell me that as if we weren't always following the same plan.”

Havel turned and, after a brief glance of understanding with Ada, launched himself towards the swarm of striges. Rutia's daughter immediately grabbed the two short blades and hurriedly followed him to the shore.

She quickly impaled a strix and lowered her center of gravity with a watchful gaze. The winged creatures fluttered everywhere, but seemed to be fixed on a precise center, within which the young boy they had to take care of must necessarily be located.

Havel came down hard on the whirling ostriches and landed five of them at once. Ada noticed a light crimson smoke wafting through the air around him and immediately traced it back to Sidal's powers.

He already chose to use bloodlust...

A strix attempted to thrust its beak into the demigoddess's arm, but the demigoddess cut her in two in midair. They continued to attack for a couple of minutes, before Rutia's daughter stopped the leader.

The sound of the creatures was deafening and made communication between the boys difficult.

“Havel! Havel!” she repeated.

The son of Sidal continued until a strix lodged itself in his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. Ada rushed towards him and pulled him away even though he was champing at the bit.

“Leave me, Ada! What the heck are you doing! Leave me!”

“Some of them are poisonous”, that seemed to light a danger sense in the boy's heart, “We can't risk it, let's go to Elaine.”

Havel continued to resist, exposing the two to the assault of other striges. Ada huffed and shifted one of the blades in its sheath, then moved her free hand downward. Following her movement, the shadow in the ground danced until it became darkness and condensed into a dynamic, mobile shield, which the demigoddess used to defend herself and her companion.

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“I can't drag you, so move!”

Sidal's son hurled one of his two axes at the nearest creature and began to back away with the demigoddess.

The pair caught up with the remaining members of the group as the swarm continued to infest the area, making it impossible for them to figure out what was inside.

Elaine placed her right hand on the leader's shoulder.

“It's just a little scratch,” Havel said calmly.

The blonde shook her head, “Ada did well, there's poison in it.”

“You're welcome,” added Rutia's daughter, flashing a smile at her companion.

Havel gritted his teeth. The striges seemed to have sensed the danger and were shifting their attention towards them.

With a deep breath, Elaine placed her hand gently on Havel's shoulder. A bright, warm aura spread from the contact, enveloping the boy's wound in a reassuring light. Her eyes closed as the magic seeped into the demigod's wounds, stitching together the tissue pierced by the strix’s beak. Threads of mana imbued Elaine's healing touch until the wound was fully healed.

Ada observed the scene only fleetingly, too busy conveying the shapeless darkness she had generated to ward off the creatures. Elaine was considered by the demigods to be the weakest of their group, but people too often ignored how important she actually was.

Unlike Mardi's multitude of children, the blonde was born with a special gift: the ability to use mana-powered spells to help others. Demigods with that power were extremely rare, to the point that their names were written in educational glossaries.

After a few minutes, Havel opened his eyes gratefully, his breathing was back to normal and the wound was completely healed. Ada, on the other hand, was beginning to feel the first signs of tiredness.

“What do we do now?” She asked his leader.

Havel scratched his head, “You back away. Darryl, set everything on fire.”

Elaine threw herself in front of him, “What if the boy is still inside?”

“Among all that turmoil he will already be dead.”

Ada wasn't too sure about doing so, but she couldn't go against the boss's orders. She stepped back and made room for his older companion.

Darryl advanced resolutely, raising his hands towards the swarm of ominously approaching striges. An aura of apparent warmth enveloped him as he focused his inner energy, ready to be released in a powerful display of power. A few bright particles of mana flowed to his fingertips, changing color from blue to orange. With a decisive gesture, Darryl unleashed the flames from his hands, a fiery vortex that leapt towards his opponents in an impetuous and implacable way. The flames danced in the night air, enveloping each strix in the fire's all-consuming embrace. Ada, observing the scene with admiring eyes, felt terrified at such a crude manifestation of the power of Corgi's son. The flames danced like a raging sea, shining through the darkness as a fiery light reflected in the boy's eyes. The flames licked the shore of Lake Avernus, consuming everything in their path with insatiable voracity. The heat of the flames enveloped Ada, making her feel the power of the fire that was released from the demigod's hands. Darryl's eyes lit up with a bright light, reflecting the power of the flames he had summoned, which he continued to direct at the dying creatures.

Only when all the creatures had fallen to the ground did Darryl stop channeling mana into his body and simply lowered his hands.

“I still don't understand what we're here for,” Elaine commented admiringly.

But Ada's gaze had been caught by something else.

A boy was on his knees, in the middle of the flock that had just been reduced to ashes. His right arm was resting on his leg to support himself, the other was extended and ended with a hand wrapped around the hilt of a black blade.

The group rushed towards him while Ada silently thanked her mother, luckily their target had survived.

Darryl knelt beside him as the mysterious black blade vanished into thin air.

“Are you okay?”

The demigod did not answer. His purple eyes were wide open and staring into space as he was gasping for air. Elaine reached the group and slipped a hand under the black hair that fell into the boy's face.

“He doesn't have a fever, but something's wrong.”

Havel looked around, “We can't stay here, we're exposed to too many risks,” he said in a serious tone, “We have to take him away.”

“Hey, hey!” Darryl shook the boy to make sure he was conscious, “We're taking you with us now. You’ll be safe from now on.”

“Don't worry, we don't want to hurt you,” Elaine added immediately.

“My name is Darryl, Darryl Fyreborn. Can you tell me yours?”

The violet-eyed demigod raised his head and stared at Corgi's son, “Shirei.”