Minou found her mind jumping back and forth between smugly confident and mortally terrified. She knew her sister would have never harmed her before, but something had clearly changed. Corbeau had become some totally different being from what she was before. There was no telling what she might decide to do to the little sister who had just carried through with an act that should have killed her. One thing was for sure; this was a very bad situation she was in. She understood that only four of the five of them would be escaping, but it seemed fair to assume she would have an easier time at it. She could find just one key, damn the rest, and let the heroes squabble over who deserved to return to the land of the living.

Unfortunately, her idea of an easy escape from a likely vengeful older sister who now controlled vast powers hinged on the belief that she need only find a key and reach the door first. Corbeau's explanation had mentioned nothing of any foes she might encounter along the way, or any obstacles Corbeau might herself place along their path. To make matters worse, Minou had seen other giant figures moving about in the distant red haze. She was sure they would get involved at some point, and it wasn't going to be a small chore to deal with them. She already had her suspicions about what dark intellects commanded those massive bodies, and she hoped she would never have the opportunity to confirm or disprove those suspicions.

As she leaped gracefully from one floating rock to the next on her way to where she hoped a key waited for her, she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye. She frowned at the thought of having to deal with those pesky heroes so soon. It wasn't a fight she was looking for at all, but certainly not right away. Although, when she thought about it, everything would be all the more easy on them if she just killed one of them. She just had to send one tumbling into the fiery void below. Didn't matter who, even.

She turned to look behind her, where the movement had been, but saw not a sign of anyone. She knew La Pucelle would stand out in this terrain, so it struck her as odd. She quickly determined that she had only seen more of the floating rock platforms, as they shifted around rather liberally. Letting out her breath, she turned back to continue on her way, then stopped cold. There, ahead of her, on the very next platform she had been heading to, were several large Ravens. They stood still, staring at her with dull red eyes, though not quite still enough to make her think they were statues. They were quite clearly real, and she could see blood caked on their beaks. A couple even had scraps of flesh hanging from their mouths.

Each of these birds was nearly as tall as her, the tops of their heads equal to her shoulders. She took an extra moment to recount them. Seven of them. Seven hulking Ravens, feathers thick and beaks sharp, all staring at her like they'd found their next meal. One of the Ravens hopped closer to the edge of the platform, cocking its head curiously. The others bobbed around, waiting to take flight and swarm her the moment she turned and ran. She didn't intend to turn and run.

The Raven closest to her hopped across the gap between them, not even bothering to spread its wings. Its claws scraped the ground as it landed in front of her, and smaller loose rocks scattered at its feet, but none of the birds made a sound from their mouths. The Raven lunged at her, striking the air with its beak, then hopped back again. It watched her reaction, seeing how she would respond to its aggression. She knew that there was no guarantee of her survival if they were to attack her all at once, but they appeared to also know the same of her. Each could sense the danger the other posed.

Minou unleashed her weapon, coiling her whip around her. "What an insult. My sister sends crows to murder me. I'll have none of it." Lashing out at the venturous Raven, she watched with mild pleasure as it was torn to shreds by her weapon. Black blood and feathers covered the ground around whatever little was left of the bird

Then the others attacked.

The six remaining birds shot into the air, their wings lifting them off the ground and sending a rushing wind in all directions. They didn't seem the least bit deterred by her utter annihilation of their comrade, and one by one they dived at her. The first one to reach her beat its wings to angle itself upward and its sharp talons shot out and wrapped around her arm. She staggered back, but kept her footing. To her benefit, the large bird blocked the others from attacking her as well. It's claws hadn't actually even torn any of her flesh, so the advantage was now hers. An advantage she was certain to make good use of.

The coils of her whip drew back, following her command. The nine tails of her whip all lashed out, targeting four of the birds at once. Three hit the Raven on her arm, punching through it and spraying black blood on its companions. She sent two more tails at each of the other three Raven's closest to her. The now-corpse on her arm threw off her aim, but still two of them struck their targets. The two birds, though only clipped, drew back and flew away, circling around for another attack.

She dropped her heavy burden and ducked under the talons aiming for her head, dancing away fluidly. Drawing back her weapon again, she struck out at the last two birds as they flew past her. Four of her lashes caught the further of the birds and wrapped around its wings, tearing them off. It squawked madly in pain as it plummeted into the darkness. The other bird took a hit to its side and started limping its way through the air. Still, it turned to attack again. She continued dancing around and away from them effortlessly, escaping every attack they sent at her. Each time she killed one, the frenzied attacks became easier to dodge, so she aimed to take out the two that were already injured.

The most wounded of the four remaining birds was hit, and it spiraled out of sight. As they continued to fly around her, coming in to peck at her and snap their claws, she singled out the weakest of the birds, now numbering only three, and aimed her next strike at it. The whip cracked the air, cutting through the bird and splitting its body in two. The other two swooped around her. She caught one with her whip, snapping it downward and smashing its body into the ground with enough force to crack the stone and send fragments flying through the air. Turning on the last one, she brought the whip down on its head and shattered its skull.

The battle hadn't begun quite the way she'd intended, but the outcome was all the same. She laughed to herself and moved on, hopping to the next platform. Perhaps this unexpected trip would be more entertaining than she'd thought.

Elisa stared off into the distance. "I think we might be dealing with big birds." She pointed into the distance where they could see Minou battling the Ravens. "I think Corbeau is getting a bit uppity, throwing her themed minions at us."

Tart held up her sword. "Then we must hurry! Elisa, Melissa, go find the exit! You must hurry there before Minou finds it! Riz and I will find the keys!"

Melissa nodded. "Understood!"

Elisa turned and hopped across to the next platform. "No time to waste! Let's get moving!"

As Melissa followed Elisa, Riz looked to Tart. "I'll do my best to keep you safe until we can return to France. I promise."

Tart tensed up. "What was that?" She whirled around, pointing her sword at the empty air behind them. "Riz, there's something else here with us."

Riz looked around for whatever had spooked Tart. "I don't see anything..." She narrowed her eyes at the place where Tart was pointing her sword. "But I'm sure there's probably something following us. Who knows what Corbeau has filled this place with."

Suddenly, out from the ground, a Ghost drifted into sight. It's transparent, ethereal body looked like a rotted corpse, its features too damaged to recognize as man or woman. Several unrecognizable organs hung out of its skeletal rib cage, visible through tattered clothes. All of it was but a vague image overlaid on the backdrop of this hell. Tart and Riz had prepared themselves to battle it, when two more appeared behind them.

While the appearance of two more distracted them, the first one floated closer to Tart and reached its hands out towards her neck. Reacting like lightning, Tart swung her sword around at the Ghost. It occurred to her a moment too late that she might not be able to even hit such a creature, but her concern was for nothing as the sword glowed brightly when it came into contact with the ethereal form. The magical sword struck the Ghost as if it were real, but still cut through it as though it was air. As the Ghost faded, wispy parts of its being flying in every direction, it let out a sorrowful moan.

Riz noted that Tart had already rid them of one foe, so she prepared herself to take on the other two. Her first instinct was to throw one of her knives at a Ghost, but she wasn't entirely convinced that such an attack would land on something non-corporeal. Maybe it had for Tart, but her weapons and Tart's weapon were quite different in many ways. She didn't want her weapons falling into the fire below them. Instead, holding one dagger in each hand, she slashed them across the chest of the nearest apparition. It fell apart under her attack, almost like it was a weak and frail mortal human being. She turned to the last one, but saw that Tart would get to it first.

As Tart closed in on her target, it swiped its ghostly, bony hand at her. It must have sensed how powerful she was, and was backing away as it struck out. The attack amounted to nothing more than patting the armor on her chest. It was enough to ward Tart away, however, and she jumped back from it. Her moment to strike had been wasted. Riz leaped in after it, swiping both daggers at it and severing its arm. The limb floated on its own for a second before disintegrating. The Ghost turned on her and reached for her throat with its other hand, but she simply stepped back away from it. That was when Tart moved back in and cleaved it in half. The two parts of the Ghost floated off into the void as it fell apart and vanished.

Riz shook her head as she sheathed her daggers. "That wasn't too difficult to face, with each other helping, but something tells me we've just barely seen the start of what Corbeau can throw at us."

Tart nodded. "We should keep moving." A glint of determination shined from her eyes. "We'll cut through anything we encounter along the way."