Oswald's arms snapped and contorted at weird angles before deep, crimson blades erupted out of his wrists. Hopper and I didn't waste any time booking it. We ran for the back door. But before I could reach for the latch, the surface of the door erupted with a series of sharp red spikes, pointing at us.

“You are not going to escape today!” Oswald screamed as he bounded down the hallway.

Hopper whipped out his gun and fired at the spikey door. It was the same gun that he had used to blow up the prison gate in Pallport. The familiar neon green energy zapped out of the muzzle and struck the door.

I was expecting the impact to blow the door off the hinges. But the spikes just absorbed the lightning Hopper had shot. And then they began to melt and morph into a sleek crimson sheet that coated the door like a wall of blood.

“Nothing passes through the sins of a human,” a deep voice spoke behind us. Oswald was standing at the center of the room. “You can't escape them. Nothing escapes them.”

Oswald sank his crimson blade-like arms into the floor and more spikes erupted from the walls, from the ceiling and from the door. Then they melted into impenetrable shields until the three of us stood enclosed inside a red box with no way out.

Hopper fired his gun at Oswald. A crimson wall sprang out of the floor and soaked up the blow again. “I told you, nothing can break through human sins!” Oswald screamed and flung himself over the wall, razor sharp limbs sweeping a lethal arch at Hopper.

Hopper leapt backwards but Oswald's crimson blades lengthened to cut a deep gash across the man's chest. There was a spurt of blood but it didn't seem to bother Hopper. He looked down at the injury with more annoyance than shock or panic.

Even Oswald paused and looked at Hopper. “Doesn't it hurt?”

Hopper clenched his fists as blood kept gushing. “You stained the entire damn shirt.”

Oswald broke out in the laughter of a crazy man. “It really doesn't hurt you? I would love to see how many ways I can cut you up before you die!” His crimson arms grew longer and he hefted them up like two greatswords.

He looked ready to bring them down on Hopper who was still annoyed by the state of his shirt. This was my chance. I set the half burnt curse channeling card on fire and threw it towards Oswald.

The burning piece of silvery card soared through the air. But before it could strike the target, a blood red spike, long as a javelin, snapped out of the ground and skewered the card right through the centre. Oswald's attention was on me now.

Oh shit.

“I was going to spare you for later since women are much more fun to play with right before they die. But you aren't an ordinary woman now, are you?” he said.

Hopper tried to fire his gun at Oswald again but a pair of crimson shackles zipped out of the red roof and snapped around his wrists. His arms were spread apart, forcing him into a T-pose and his body was lifted off the ground. Another crimson line came out of the roof and slipped into the muzzle of Hopper's gun, plugging it shut.

Oswald wasn't even looking at Hopper anymore. His gaze was locked on me. His eyes that had been vacant when we had him in handcuffs, had been burning with rage a moment ago. But now those same eyes were sparkling with a twisted sort of excitement as they took me in.

I felt a cold slither going down my spine.

“I asked you a question,” Oswald said with a playful lilt in his voice. “Aren't you going to answer me?” He took a step towards me.

I took a step back, just to remind myself that my fear was very close to paralyzing me. And now was the worst time to freeze up. I ignored my racing heart and found my voice again. “Yes…I'll answer you…”

Oswald stopped, his blood red arms casually hung by his sides. With his eyes still glinting excitedly, he showed me his teeth in what was supposed to be a smile. But there was barely anything human about that expression. “Good girl,” he said. “Now tell me, what did you see when you threw that card at me? I know you saw something. What was it?”

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My eyes were instantly drawn to the curse channeling card that was skewered through the roof, still burning in a flame that kept changing colors. If that card burns out just like that, I'll die.

Because that was the deal between Rosa's curse and I. One life per card. If I can't offer a life after setting the card aflame, I'll be the one that the card will kill.

“I'm still waiting,” Oswald said. “Tell me what you saw.” His crimson arms were twitching impatiently.

I nodded, taking a deep breath. I felt my throat burning up with anticipation, malice gathering up in my voice. I screamed: “Absumo!”

The card skewered on the red pillar burned fiercely in a gray flame. And the flame grew wild and spread, eating up the pillar that was holding it captive and then flooding up to the crimson roof and the ceiling that we were all trapped within.

The excitement and curiosity in Oswald's voice was replaced with shock. He stood frozen as he watched everything around him burn in the gray flame.

For a moment I was sure Hopper and I were going to burn to death too. But the flame just passed right through us, burning only the crimson space holding us captive.

“No!” Oswald screamed. At first his voice sounded human. But then it grew deeper and distorted. As if a man and an unearthly beast were screaming together, but both of the voices were coming from Oswald's throat.

As his screams grew more tortured and anguished, the gray flames burned even brighter and a lot more fiercely. In the flames I heard the maniacal laughter of a woman.

The inhuman part of Oswald's voice grew louder and more desperate. A large red eye blinked open in the burning red ceiling, right above Oswald. Big red tears welled up in the eye and rained down on Oswald like a bloody rain. Oswald stood in its shower, getting drenched in its red downpour and then the grey flames engulfed him.

I blinked once and then the fire was gone. The laughter of the woman had disappeared. And we were back in Oswald's house. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when I realized something.

I could still hear Oswald's voice, now sobbing helplessly. And then I saw Oswald at the center of the room, his red blade-like arms were back to their human form. And he cried like a child, his face buried in his hands.

For a moment I was confused. Then it struck me. One death per card.

So I just used curse channeling on the creature that had been feeding on Oswald's sins? I observed his halo, it was still completely green. So his sins died with that weird eye thing.

“You took Him away!” Oswald sobbed. “You took Him away from me, you monster!”

Before I could say anything, Hopper said, “How ironic of you to call her a monster.” He whipped out his gun and pulled the trigger on Oswald.

The gun didn't fire anything. Hopper frowned. “What in the…did that red thing just break it from the inside?” He glared at Oswald and lunged at him, fists raised. “Do you even know what it cost me to build it?!”

Oswald gasped in fear and tried to scramble away. But Hopper was a lot more nimble and landed a nasty right hook across his jaw, knocking him down. “I-I’m sorry!” Oswald whined pathetically and tried to run off again.

Hopper grabbed the man by the ankle and yanked him off balance. Oswald slammed face-first into the ground. I rushed at the two of them, whipping my ritual knife from my reticule mid-stride.

I firmly planted a knee between Oswald's shoulder blades, pinning him down to the ground.

“I'm sorry! Please let me go!” Oswald sobbed again.

I grabbed him by his hair and lifted his face a little and held the knife to his throat. “Not until you admit your sins!” I growled at him. “You killed all those ten women, didn't you? Also your own parents and your aunt. Right?”

“Y-Yes!” he cried out.

I grit my teeth. “I knew it!” I pulled the knife away and started to carve a pentacle on the floor right next to his head.

“W-What are you doing, Miss Grimly?” Hopper said behind me.

“What does it look like?” I carved an eye at the center of the pentacle. “I'm giving him what he deserves.”

“Is this a part of the test of strength you mentioned?” Hopper said, holding down Oswald's flailing limbs. “I thought you said you weren't going to kill him.”

I turned to him, the gash on his chest, slowly sealing itself shut. But I didn't pay much attention. “What are we gonna do then? Put him on a trial?” I said. “There’s no physical evidence against him to prove his crimes. He managed to get away with nine murders, for god’s sake,” I said. “I know the justice system of Ravenwind is an idiot that burned people for having green blood. But at least, those people actually had green blood in their veins, even though they weren't bitten by any spirit of darkness or whatever.”

“What about his confession?” Hopper said quickly. “We can have him confess in front of the court.”

“He won a damn lottery, Hopper. He can change his statement. He can buy the best lawyer in Ravenwind to defend him. He can get away with it all. Again,” I said. “Also, I don't care. I made a promise to Samantha Canning's father. I told him I would bring her murderer to justice.” I slashed my palm and smeared my blood across Oswald's face. And before Hopper could say anything else I shoved Oswald's face into the pentacle I'd carved on the floor.

This was the first time I'd used the liberation ritual on a live person. I wasn't sure if it was even going to work. But in the back of my mind, I’d been curious from the very beginning. What would happen if I did this?

To my surprise, everything just went dark