Basara and Anna woke up early the next day. They wanted to finish everything as soon as possible, so they headed out as soon as they could.
They arrived at the demon realm. The girls stayed back at the Toujou household and Nanao would be staying at Chisato's place for a while.
Even so, from an observer's perspective, it looked like a date. Since it wasn't a good idea to wear the hero clan's uniform while on the demon realm, Anna was wearing normal clothes.
Basara didn't yet know where they had to go, so he asked Anna.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?"
"Yeah. I think you're familiar with the place. It was Zolgear's playground, but I guess it's no one's now."
Basara did indeed know the place, but he didn't understand why Cillín was there.
"You know why he's hiding there?"
"Nope, no idea. I don't think there's anyone even there now, so I'd guess it's just a temporary place, or he might be searching for something."
In that case, there's no reason to think about it more. Basara had once invaded the place, so he was confident he could do it again now that it was deserted.
I guess this is a good thing. If we didn't know where he was and we had to search around, I would get worried about everyone. I'll finish this quickly and bring a definite end to this fight with him.
They started walking towards their destination. It should take quite a while for them to reach Zolgear's playground, but Anna said she knew a faster way, so Basara let her lead the way.
While walking Basara decided to ask about something that had been on his mind for a while. It was about something that happened during the fight with the European heroes.
"Right at the end of the battle, when I was paralyzed, why did you kiss me?"
"W-what are you talking about? I said I made a lipstick of the antidote, didn't I? So that was the only way."
Basara couldn't see it because she was ahead of him, but Anna's cheeks reddened. Even so, he could guess it from the tone of her voice.
"Well, yeah, I guess. But you could have also made me swallow the lipstick or you could have put it on me."
"… I didn't know you had that kind of hobby."
"That's not what I'm saying! What I meant was, you didn't have to kiss me, so why did you do it?"
"W-well, it was at the spur of the moment. Yeah, I was just a tease. Just like always and it definitely didn't mean anything."
Anna seemed to want to convince herself more than Basara with that, but Basara didn't pry any further. He figured he wouldn't need to.
They walked until they reached a city that Basara didn't know that name of. They went right in and Anna soon knocked on the door to a house. The door opened and they were let in.
"What's going on?"
"This guy is an informant. He has a magic circle that will take us near Zolgear's playground, that's why we're here."
Anna then talked with the informant. Normally, he would charge for this, but he let Basara and Anna pass since he had a personal grudge with Cillín.
Anna and Basara were teleported very close to Zolgear's playground. It looked completely deserted, but they decided to make their preparations beforehand.
Basara summoned Brynhildr. Anna decided to get her daggers ready instead of her bow and arrow since they wouldn't have to worry about guards or such.
Basara didn't have the crystal anymore, Banishing Shift was unusable, and his contracts with Maria, Kurumi and Nanao had been undone since they were just temporary, so he was definitely weaker than he was during the fight against the European heroes, but Basara was still stronger than when he had first met Cillín.
"Ready?"
Anna nodded. They began their stealth mission in order to catch Cillín. Well, there wasn't anyone there, but still, it was a stealth mission according to Anna.
They entered the playground and invaded it's depts pretty quickly. From what they could see, a lot of the items were left there, even though there was not a single living soul in sight.
After searching for a few minutes, they found their target. Cillín was in the room that could be considered the master bedroom. He had put something that looked like a horn on his pocket. He didn't have his lance, since Basara broke it during their fight, but both Basara and Anna knew he wouldn't be an easy opponent if they showed any weakness.
But the opposite was also true. As he was right now, Cillín would be an easy opponent as long as they didn't show any weakness.
"From what I heard, Cillín hasn't even been here for two full days, so there's a low likelihood that he set some traps."
"I that case, I think our best option is to rush in now and catch him."
Anna nodded in agreement. Of course, they came to catch Cillín, but, if it came to that, neither had any problems with killing him.
Basara kicked the door open and attacked with a Dimensional Slash. Cillín was able to dodge because of the slight delay. Basara couldn't used gravity magic to stop Cillín in place without touching him, but he didn't think he would need it.
Of course, Cillín's didge had been planned. Anna threw one of her daggers. It would have hit Cillín's shoulder if he hadn't defended with an energy sphere.
"Would you look at that. Out of everyone, who would have guessed it would be the two of you that would find me first."
Cillín didn't take a battle stance. He knew there was no reason for him to fight. All he had to do was escape with what he had in his pocket.
Even though he didn't need to fight, Cillín was burning with anger. He wanted revenge. As luck would have it, there was something just perfect for that right at his side. Cillín swiftly picked it up and neither of the other two noticed it.
"I give up. I know when I'm beaten."
Cillín seemed to give up. Basara didn't trust him, but Anna didn't think he would try anything. She approached him and was about to immobilize.
But, when she came close enough, Cillín threw what he had in his hand.
"!"
"!"
It was some sort of collar. It closed itself on Anna's neck and a line that seemed to be made from magical energy appeared from the collar. Cillín tried to grab the line, but Basara was faster and nearly cut his hand.
"Tch! This on my way!"
The line was in the way of Basara's attack, so he grabbed and moved it. At least, he intended to. As soon as he grabbed the line, Basara felt something in his body and the line disappeared.
He would have been surprised, but now was not the time. He had to focus on Cillín, or he would escape.
"Damn. I guess all I can do is run away. Such a shame, I would have liked to break her."
Cillín began making his escape. Basara noticed Anna had frozen for a moment, but decided to give chase first since she didn't seem hurt.
Or, at least he would have.
Basara didn't even make it one meter pass Anna. He heard a thud and turned around to look. What he found was Anna fallen to the ground as if someone had pulled her with a rope.
"A-ah! Nnn!"
"Anna, what's wrong?!"
The situation had changed. Basara decided to let Cillín escape so that he could see what was up with Anna.
She was laying on her side, so Basara turned her around.
"Aaaaa!"
"… That's…"
What had Basara surprised was not Anna's scream, but rather the collar she was wearing. On it was a rather familiar mark.
"Damn."
Basara tried to take the collar off, but it didn't seem to come off. It was like it was stuck like that.
"I guess there's no other way. Sorry, I'll make it quick."
Basara said that as he held Anna's body up and laid her on the bed. The reason for that was the mark on the collar.
"Nnnn!"
That collar had a mark very similar to the one of the curse of the master-servant contract Basara had. If that was the case, there was only one thing to be done.
Basara would have to make Anna submit, or she would be eventually killed by the curse.
