It was the Blood Church!

It was the same group of crazies that had attacked the forest elephant head-on. Now faced with three humans, they were like a pack of wolves that had stumbled upon a fat, tasty meal.

“I said, what have you got there?” One of them repeated the question.

There was still a little bit of distance between them. It was enough to make a run for it. Three-to-one odds wasn’t something Zachary was interested in testing, especially since they had gone through a tough battle already. He really wanted the flower corpse but not enough to risk his life, not against these people.

Jean-Pierre gave him a questioning look, silently asking what he was going to do.

Zachary held his gaze for a breath and then made eye contact with Katherine.

“Don’t fight them, let’s just run. On three.” He whispered.

They nodded ever so slightly.

Zachary gave the wrinkled body of the flower one last look before turning to the approaching Blood Church members.

“Hey!” He shouted, making them pause, “We killed this Ensouled so it's ours. Go away!”

He then lowered his voice and whispered so that only Jean-Pierre and Katherine could hear, “One…”

The one that looked like the leader laughed mockingly, “Did you hear this lad? He has some guts.”

“Two…” Zachary whispered.

Several others joined in the laughter while the leader pulled out a knife, “How about we pull out his guts and see just how much he has?”

“Three!”

Zachary turned around and took off into the jungle. Jean-Pierre and Katherine were right behind him.

“He ran?”

“Chase!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

Zachary led them through the path in the jungle that the flower Ensouled had created. He had no time to look back but he could hear the Blood Church members rushing after them. When the path finally came to an end, he chose a random direction and crashed through the underbrush.

He used his bamboo spear to knock away large leaves, and his bare hands to prevent sharp leaves and stray thorns from tearing his face apart. His bare feet landed on sharp rocks and stray tree branches but he could only ignore the pain. He had no idea where he was going, he just wanted to run until those insane idiots gave up.

“Enemy summons!” Jean-Pierre shouted from behind.

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Zachary glanced backward.

Jean-Pierre already had two summons out, two of his armored beetles which he held in each hand as wiggling, living shields. Behind him, several flying creatures were rapidly gaining on them. There was a black bird in the lead with a long, sharp beak followed by an array of flying insects that weren’t too different from the ones Jean-Pierre had.

Zachary cursed, “Why do they want us so badly? We already gave them the flower!”

“It’s the Blood Church. Killing people is what they do.” Jean-Pierre said.

Zachary returned his focus to the jungle ahead. He untangled Blue from his long hair and spoke to it sternly, “Fly straight ahead. If there are any dangers, come straight back to me. Be brave, Blue. You can do it!”

“Chrr!”

“Go!” He flung the bird up and it raced away through the trees.

But before he could continue running, Jean-Pierre shouted again, “Behind you!”

Zachary whirled around, catching sight of a black blur coming right at him. A small black bird with a sharp beak, it was like an arrowhead, ready to punch a hole through his face.

He dived towards the ground. He was barely in time. The dangerous attack passed over his head, a few hairs from his scalp.

The black bird zoomed into the air and circled around for another run. This time, he was ready and swung his spear into its path, causing it to veer away.

“Kyuu! Kyuu!” The black bird chirped angrily and attacked again.

While Zachary was occupied by one little bird, Jean-Pierre in the rear was fending off more than his fair share. He was surrounded by four large buzzing insects. He was using his two armored beetles like boxing gloves, smashing anything that dared to come close. One of the enemy insects, a small stag beetle already lay on the ground, its shell shattered and green guts spilling out.

They were holding their own, but only barely. Humans were truly weak creatures. Although they were all adept summoners, with only card summons at their command, their fighting ability was no better than the weakest novice Ensouled.

Zachary could protect his life against the vicious bird but he had to focus most of his attention on it. Jean-Pierre also had to protect himself and couldn’t turn his back to the enemy Ensouled. Their forward progress slowed to a crawl and the Blood Church members rapidly closed the distance.

“Damn it!”

The black bird came down for another attack. Its body blurred as it gained speed. But as it passed by a tree branch, another blur of black and white leaped out and collided with it.

“Kyaaa!” The bird let out a cry of anguish.

Its body spasmed. It veered off in a random direction and crashed into the ground at Zachary’s feet.

“Marble!” Katherine held a hand and recovered her pet summon.

The black and white furball returned with blood around its mouth. It stuck a tongue to lick its achievement and let out a cute meow.

Zachary gave Katherine an appreciative nod before turning to Jean-Pierre who was still locked in combat with the insects.

“Come on, let’s go!” He shouted.

Jean-Pierre struck another insect, crushing the hapless insect with his oversized beetle gauntlets. Taking advantage of this small victory, he dashed towards them before stopping a few steps away.

“Come on!” Zachary waved at him to catch up.

Jean-Pierre paused a moment and then shook his head. His expression was eerily calm and the words he spoke next felt like they had become a different person.

“You guys go on. I will hold them off.”

“What... are you doing?” Zachary asked.

“This is where we go our separate ways.”

“…”

Zachary didn’t know what to say. He always knew that their little group was a temporary arrangement. They were strangers with no reason to help each other. He just didn’t expect the end to come right then, in the middle of a desperate situation. He didn’t know why Jean-Pierre wanted to tag along in the first place and now, he had no idea why Jean-Pierre was leaving.

“Brother,” Jean-Pierre said and patted his shoulder, “I hope you can find a way to heal your soul. If you can’t, then you are useless to me. Don’t let me down.”

“How…” Zachary spluttered.

Jean-Pierre stiffly raised his right hand, palms inward, to his forehead. After a quick summoner’s salute, he turned and strode toward the oncoming enemies. “Don’t look back. Don’t try to help. When I start killing people, I don’t stop.”