This is getting really annoying... Jonathan complained to himself as he barely managed to dodge one of Death's scythe swings. The hunter had bid Charlotte stay back as Death seemed to be able to resist her spells at will, and he preferred that she stay out of danger.

Jonathan brandished his whip and knocked down several small scythes that were in his way before moving in to try to get close to the skeletal being.

An unearthly noise echoed throughout the clock tower as Death chuckled. "You would do well to prepare yourself..." it said ominously, and in a flash four portals appeared around the hunter. Jonathan prepared to dodge, but even he wasn't fast enough to escape the grip of the hand that shot out of the upper portal. The minute the hunter was seized, three other hands shot out as well, holding Jonathan helplessly in mid-air.

Death chuckled again and floated backward, and Jonathan didn't need to guess that the reaper was planning on hitting him with all it had while he was trapped. The hunter struggled for a moment before realizing the futility of his actions.

"Charlotte! Help me!" he called out, and the mage ran in and began to hack at the chains with her tome. This however, got them nowhere fast as the chains were difficult even for Jonathan to break and Charlotte's physical prowess definitely was not up to his. "What are you doing? Use a spell!"

"Right!" Charlotte acknowledged, and began chanting.

"I see it!" the echoing voice of Death said. "I see your death!" Jonathan risked a look over at the reaper and saw that it's scythe looked much more menacing, covered with a fiery red aura.

"Hurry!" Jonathan shouted, struggling pointlessly against the vice grip of the hands.

"Spirits, grant firmness to the flesh! Raise constitution!"

Jonathan's mouth dropped open. How was that supposed to help him, except for maybe implicitly saying that he was going to get hit?

"What are you doing?" Jonathan practically screamed. When there was no response, he tried again. "Charlotte, use Tempest or something!"

The mage began chanting again, and Jonathan struggled uselessly, hoping Charlotte would just hurry up.

"Wind, turn to blades and cleave mine enemies asunder! Tempest!" The tornado spun outwards from the mage, buffeting each of the chains until they fell to pieces, just as Death began to rush at the hunter. Falling from the now destroyed chains, Jonathan just managed to slip under the attack, watching as Death sailed to the other side of the room.

Managing to keep his footing, Jonathan turned and grabbed his partner and shook her by the shoulders. "Charlotte, snap out of it! Talk to me!"

"You can unpetrify your partner by attacking them," Charlotte said calmly as she limply went back and forth, almost like a ragdoll.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonathan as he stared into Charlotte's glassy eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"You can't be on alert when petrified, so watch out," she continued, stating it matter-of-factly, as though nothing were wrong.

A demonic laugh sounding behind him told Jonathan he had no more time to try to diagnose whatever was wrong with Charlotte. An attempt to attack, however, revealed that the reaper had again began resisting physical damage, having dropped its resistance to Charlotte's spells in exchange.

Throw its hands outwards, Death summoned forth a cage of chains and spun his scythe outwards, allowing it to bounce freely around. Charlotte slid under the oncoming projectile, but Jonathan did not respond fast enough.

"Are you all right?" Charlotte called to Jonathan before beginning to cast another of her spells. Though they did have to worry about Death's scythe flying about, the reaper was otherwise rather vulnerable at this point.

Jonathan didn't respond to Charlotte's question, however, simply running up and standing next to her as she continued her chant.

"Turn all to ash and ruin...Explosion!" Charlotte gestured towards Death and the ensuing fiery blast consumed it. With the reaper's scythe some distance away, Charlotte turned to her partner. "Jonathan, is something wrong?" He hadn't even attempted to attack their opponent; as weak as it may have been, anything would have been better than nothing.

"If we let him do what he wants, he'll definitely revive Dracula. We've got to stop him right here!"

"...That's not what I asked." Charlotte was about to continue, but noticed some of Death's mini-scythes flying dangerously close to them. Stepping backwards, she warned Jonathan. "Look out!"

Jonathan failed to heed the warning, however, and received a nice cut on his back as penance.

"Jonathan, pay attention!" Charlotte shouted before beginning another spell chant. "Light, grant strength to noble spirits that they might strike down evil! Spirit of light!"

Death let out another chuckle even as he felt the dual blows from the spell, swapping his resistances yet again.

"All right, now you're finished!" Jonathan shouted, cracking his whip and leaping at the skeletal being. With a shout, the hunter brought his weapon down on the reaper, actually managing to knock it backwards.

"Hmph. It seems you are stronger than I had first supposed..." Death mused out loud.

"That's right!" Jonathan said confidently. "Now you're going to pay for it!"

"Know that I was holding back," the creature said. "You still have much to do, and I would fain obstruct you now." With another evil chuckle, Death summoned his scythe and flew backwards, out of the tower and into the night sky surrounding the castle. "We shall meet again..."

Normally, Jonathan would have had another insult ready to fling after the fleeing skeleton, but right now he was more concerned with what had happened during the fight.

"...Charlotte," he started, turning towards his partner as they continued on through the room. "Was there anything strange you noticed about the fight with Death?" Jonathan approached the topic obliquely.

"Hm?" Charlotte's gaze turned thoughtful. "Well, there was the magical chains he summoned...I've never read anything about that in the records." She looked at the hunter. "Why? Is there something else...?"

Jonathan shook his head and waved off the question. "Nah, nothing important." It seemed Charlotte didn't remember what had happened.

I wonder if Wind knows anything, Jonathan thought to himself. He seems to know a lot about the castle, after all...