The Siege of the Mabeasts

One Day and Seven Hours since the Last Death (Four Deaths)

"Miss, get away from here with Sis and Hetaro and seek refuge. I'll see to it that you aren't reached. Even if I must sacrifice my life, I will!"

"Tivey... No, come with us! I'm not leavin' ya behind!"

"I can't do that, miss! You know it! If someone doesn't take care of containin' them, it'll be impossible to escape! There're too many!"

"Tivey, I..." Anastasia cursed inwardly; she knew Tivey was in the right.

"You're like an older sister to us, miss. You've been there for us since we're abandoned, and I don't intend to allow all that kindness to be wasted. Escape, miss! I beg you!" Tivey, obfuscated, looked ahead, and released another thunderous roar. After getting rid of the approaching mabeasts, he looked at his sister, who seemed to be in shock; her gaze rested on Hetaro's badly injured body. "Sis! Mimi!"

Blinking, the girl turned to her brother; her skin was pale and tears kept streaming from her beautiful eyes full of innocence. The two brothers exchanged glances, and without the need for words, they conveyed what had to be said. Mimi, feeling her heart squeeze, forced herself to resume her playful smile and took the hand of the little lady, of Anastasia.

"Miss, Mimi will take care of protectin' you! Leave the rear to Bro, I'm sure he'll be back as soon as he's done dealin' with those pesky mabeasts!" Taking one of Anastasia's hands, both began to escape from there.

Mimi didn't want to leave her brother behind. Mimi knew there were too many mabeasts for her brother to deal with all of them at the same time. Mimi knew that if they both focused on fighting with them and reunited with Ricardo and Julius again, then they would come out of that chaos with no problem.

But the little lady had no physical strength of any kind, and fighting with the mabeasts would mean leaving her unprotected. If she wanted to do her job, leaving Tivey behind was necessary... No, if they wanted to protect their beloved Miss, they would have to. Mimi didn't want to leave her brother behind, but she also didn't want to disgrace his conviction to stay behind and protect them. So Mimi was willing to accept his decision and focus on protecting the miss.

"Mimi, where're we headed?" With Hetaro in one of her arms and Mimi taking her from the other, Anastasia barely had time to process what was happening.

Until a moment ago, she had been in a meeting with several people of importance to her company, discussing the execution of the Reinvention Project, when the walls of the room they were in were destroyed by dozens of mabeasts that appeared out of nowhere. She knew the name of a couple of the species that attacked them, but had never heard of most of them.

If not for the quick action of Tivey, Hetaro, and Mimi, it is possible that everyone in the room would have ended up dead. Unfortunately, a pair of the people they were meeting with, two men who had been part of the company since before she became the owner, perished under the poison and the clutches of the mabeasts.

Before they could decide what course of action to take, a second group of mabeasts attacked. Among them was a strange Wolgarm of small size, who was capable of using magic; apparently earth magic. Due to the appearance of the Wolgarm, the situation became a lot more complicated, leading to Hetaro being bitten by an Arkalb, an arm-thick serpent-shaped mabeast, which exposed him to an attack by the Wolgarm. Now, because of it, his life was hanging by a thread.

"The captain was meetin' with several members of our group near the dinin' room, right?" Faced with Anastasia's question, Mimi responded with another question, referring to Ricardo and the group of mercenaries called Fang of Iron.

"Yes. They were plannin' the guard duty shifts of next week."

"Hmm, in that case, Mimi think it would be best to go first with Julius. Your room is closer, miss. Also, the mabeasts that attacked us seemed to come from the direction where the dinin' room is, so the captain's sure to have his hands full right now."

With a quick analysis of the situation that collided with her cute appearance, Mimi outlined the course of action they would take and the reasons for it. Proud, Anastasia nodded. Whether it was Ricardo or Julius, either one would be more than reliable; so really everything would depend on which one was closer.

After accepting Mimi's judgment with a nod, Anastasia focused on continuing to run alongside her bodyguard. The two of them, hand in hand, escaped through the internal corridors of the inn, running between multiple tatami rooms. Which, due to the thinness of its structure, allowed to hear the screams of agony of people being attacked and the sounds of the battles that were unfolding.

With her lungs and legs pleading for a break, Anastasia ran and ran again. At the time, the only thing on her mind was to escape the beasts that were besieging the inn and save Hetaro's life. The reasons for the attack, while intriguing, were not a priority at the time. Her life, that of her colleagues and that of her employees, that is all that was important to preserve.

Her greed prevented her from accepting the death of anyone important to her, so it was also necessary to find someone capable of healing Hetaro as soon as possible. Thus, with her priorities well defined, the girl ran and ran even further, unable to think of anything other than reaching her destination. It was then, that after turning in a bend, her body was thrown against one of the rooms.

Due to its walls being made of paper, her body crossed the tatami without problems, stopping when she collided with one of the wooden pillars that supported the structure. Feeling great pain go down her right leg, Anastasia tried to stand up, but the pain in her limb was so excruciating that she collapsed again. Looking with her gaze for the reason for her pain, her eyes widened at the realization.

Blood flowed freely from the base of her leg, from a cut deep enough to see the white of her femur. Releasing a squeal of pain, Anastasia tried to cover the wound with her hands. That had been her only reaction, trying to close the wound that was causing her life fluid to escape from her being.

"Ana, you need to make a tourniquet, otherwise you won't make it."

It was then that a soft, intelligent voice came from her neck. Anastasia was not frightened to hear it, quite the contrary. The voice was trying to guide her to the correct course of action, like every time she had needed help from the voice. Taking a deep breath, Anastasia tore a piece of the kimono she had worn since arriving at the inn and wrapped it tightly around her leg. Once she found it to be well adjusted, she used the wooden pillar to stand up.

"Mimi? Hetaro? Where're ya?" With her gaze, Anastasia scanned the room for the triplets. At the time, there seemed to be none in sight. Grunting with pain, Anastasia walked, dragging her injured foot, to the shattered wall she had entered. When she got there, leaning on her healthy foot, she prepared to return to the corridor. But she stopped when she caught a foul smell.

"Mi-mi? H-Hetaro?" In the corridor where she had been running just a couple of minutes ago, there was now a path of blood, bones, and flesh. Anastasia, trembling, left the room and began to follow the path. With each step she took, more tears formed in her eyes. Each step she took, the stronger her nausea. Each step she took, her hope faded even further.

Reaching the end of the corner, Anastasia was finally able to see it. It was Hetaro's head, which lacked eyes, an ear, and almost all his teeth; below his neck, only his esophagus remained, the rest were scattered down the corridor. With her eyes rolled, Anastasia knelt involuntarily, as she ejected the entire contents of her stomach onto part of what had been her beloved bodyguard.

Her mind was clouded, she was unable to think what to do at the moment. Her stomach kept getting rid of all its contents, until nothing but yellowish bile came out of it. From her already reddened eyes, didn't stop welling up tears, which had already left a trace along her cheeks. And her whole body didn't stop trembling. Anastasia felt her heart was about to break.

"Ana... Ana! I know this is painful to watch. I really know, since it hurts me too. But you need to keep moving, we can't stay in this place. We don't know if the mabeasts that attacked us could return. Besides, we have to find Mimi, she could still be alive."

Anastasia, who hadn't reacted to any of the arguments from the voice coming from her neck, finally did so upon hearing the name of the missing girl. Forcing herself to stand up once more, with one leg injured and the other trembling. Her gaze was clouded and her gait was erratic, however, Anastasia advanced along the corridor, which had signs of combat throughout it.

"This is... This is terrible. What caused this horrendous assault?" Anastasia, not in a fit state to speak, ignored the voice's comment. Which caused the fox-shaped scarf that was wrapped around her neck to shake, coming to life. What had once been a scarf was now a fox with white fur and sharp eyes. The fox stretched its body so that its snout brushed Anastasia's left ear. "I know this looks very bad, Ana. But you have to..."

Before the fox could finish conveying its message, a loud impact was heard and the fox, as it had agreed in the past with Anastasia, returned to its inanimate state at the possibility that they would meet someone. Her existence as Anastasia's intimate companion and confidant had always been kept a secret from everyone, and despite everything, this would continue; unless Anastasia indicated otherwise, it would remain so forever.

An orange-haired girl crashed to the ground, a few meters from Anastasia. "Mimi will not give up! Mimi will protect the little lady and avenge Hetaro!" It was Mimi, who with her small body covered in cuts and her own kimono bathed in blood, got up with difficulty.

Anastasia was about to call her name, when she saw that a large mabeast, which had an extremely bizarre appearance, as if it were made up of different animals, appeared in front of Mimi with the intention of attacking her. Anastasia had heard about that mabeast. It was a Guiltylowe, a monstrous and territorial being of incredible power who lives deep in the woods as its king. What was that monstrous being doing there, was another question that she would have to store in her mind for later.

"Growa!" Growling, the being used its powerful body to ram Mimi, who managed to dodge it with some problems and then attacked by screaming. Her voice, turned into a wave of magic power, struck part of the side of the mabeast. Had it not been for that monster's quick reaction, Mimi might have dealt a powerful blow. But not having done so, the beast took advantage of the fact that Mimi had left openings to lash out with its jaws open.

"Mimi!" Finally coming back to her senses, Anastasia called out the girl's name, seeing that she was about to be mauled.

Mimi, reacting a second late, was unable to save her right arm from her elbow down. Bleeding, with jerks of flesh and skin hanging down, and part of the bone sticking out, Mimi turned to Anastasia, ignoring the pain she felt. Seeing her mistress there, her gaze filled with an uproar of emotions. From joy to see that she was fine, to terror to see that she was there, so close to danger.

"Miss, you'd have gone straight to your room." Running in her direction, Mimi placed herself in front of Anastasia so that she could protect her, while rebuking her in a childish tone for not having gone to where Julius was.

"Ya know I couldn't leave ya behind, Mimi…" With pain in her gaze, Anastasia stared at Mimi's injured body. Finding a healer would be vital to keep her alive.

"Mimi wish you had, miss." With her back to Anastasia, Mimi faced the mabeast, who was looking at them both with a thirst for blood. "I don't think I can beat it on my own. But for you, Mimi will do her best, miss!"

Mimi, opening her mouth, let out another scream. The sound wave hit the ground, but nothing else, since the Guiltylowe had dodged without problem. However, to the surprise of those present, but above all, to the surprise of the beast, her back had received a deep cut. Roaring, the monster faced the one who had attacked it from behind. It was a man with a firm yellow gaze.

"Julius?" Anastasia, surprised, blinked a few times. There, in front of them, was the man with whom they were going to meet. If anyone could take care of turning the scales, it would be him.

"I am glad to see that you were able to endure all this time, Anastasia-sama. I beg your pardon for my delay. After all this has passed, I will be prepared to receive the corresponding punishment without giving a word of complaint." Tilting his face down while combing his bangs, Julius apologized for allowing his mistress to remain in constant danger all that time. "Excellent work, Mimi. Now I will take care of everything, you try to treat that wound."

Glaring at the Guiltylowe, Julius placed himself in attack position, his sword in front of himself, ready to end its life. The monster, exuding pride and anger, faced Julius. The first to attack was the mabeast, which charged at Julius at the speed of the wind, circling him. With his jaws, capable of crushing bones, ready, it launched himself at Julius from behind.

"I had heard that the Guiltylowe are beasts among beasts, that have great intelligence... But it's clear that you are still a mabeast in the end!" With a slash, Julius forced the monster back. The Guiltylowe, furious, hid in the shadow of the corridor, becoming one with them. "You men, take care of healing Anastasia-sama and Mimi! The rest cover my back!"

Without letting his guard down, Julius spoke to a group of Fang of Iron members, who were behind him. Without needing to address them directly, the two members capable of using healing magic nodded and ran in the direction of the two females. Anastasia, seeing that they were finally treating Mimi, couldn't help but smile a little; although her smile was stained with pain as she remembered what had happened to Hetaro.

"Tch! There's no way I can fully heal a wound like this! Only someone like the knight Felix would be able to reattach a limb." Said, frustrated, the mercenary in charge of healing Mimi's wounds.

"Mimi doesn't care. As long as I can continue to use my voice, Mimi will fight to protect the miss." Downplaying the matter, Mimi looked at Anastasia, who was also being treated.

"How serious do ya see the wound? Will I be able to keep walkin'? I wouldn't want to become a mayor burden at a time like this." Anastasia was aware that without the wound, she was already a burden due to her lack of defense methods, but being unable to walk would be an even greater burden for Mimi, Julius and the rest of the Fang of Iron.

"This is a deep wound, Anastasia-sama. However, I will do my best to keep you walkin'." The mercenary, whose body had feline features, determinedly answered Anastasia's question. Nodding, she thanked her employee for the gesture. After that, she returned her attention to the end of the corridor, where Julius had once again plunged into battle with the Guiltylowe.

"You are strong, beast. I grant you that." Making a side cut with the tip of his sword, Julius leaped back. His arm, which had just received a scrape, now had deep claw marks etched into its flesh. "Still... Ia, Aro! ¡Fell Goa!" Two spheres of light appeared behind him and enveloped his sword. Slicing in the direction of the mabeast a torrent of fire, propelled by a gust of wind, struck the Guiltylowe, burning half of its face.

The lights were spirits, one red and one green, and had an affinity for the elements of fire and wind, respectively. Julius, considered one of the few Spirt Knights of that world, has a contract with six spirits, related to each of the six elements of magic: Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Light and Darkness. Making him, of course, an opponent to fear.

"It seeeems like now it's my turn to deal with a diiiifficult situation. But it was to be expected, after aaaall, our client told us that our objective was accompanied by one of the caaaandidates for the throne." Julius, who was near the victory, looked suspiciously towards where the voice came from, at the end of the corridor.

"Who is there? Show yourself or else I will have to attack!" Julius, readying his sword, screamed towards the end of the corridor, still looking at the Guiltylowe.

"Aren't you suppoooosed to be called Valuable Knight? It doesn't seem to me that you're very valuaaaable." Riding a huge mabeast in the shape of a gigantic hippopotamus, a girl with blue hair and an evil aura appeared from the darkness. Julius recognized the mabeast as a Wagpig. Still, the girl's presence was a mystery.

"A girl?" Julius whispered, bewildered. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you the one who orchestrated this attack on Anastasia-sama?"

"Those are too maaany questions." Complaining, the girl shook her head, annoyed. "I'll only tell you that my naaaame's Meili and that my job is to prevent you from interfeeeering with my partner's work"

"Partner…?" The more he listened, the more impatient Julius became.

"Now... Keeping you and that big demi-human in yoooour places would have been impossible with the number of booooys I had before. But since the client ooooffered a lot of money. Mama allowed us to hunt down some small maaaabeasts in the desert around the Pleiades Watchtower. So that won't be a problem noooow." Smiling, the girl applauded twice, an action that was followed by the appearance of various mabeasts, including some that Julius didn't recognize.

There was another Guiltylowe, several Oiranguma, bear-like beings that were covered by the roots of the flowers that grew on their backs. And even an intimidating-looking being that had the body of a horse, a human torso where its head should be, a mouth in the abdomen of the torso and a huge horn where the human head must have been; his screech was similar to a baby's cry.

"Take Anastasia-sama away, get her out of here!" Julius, understanding the magnitude of the problem, signaled to the mercenaries who were healing Anastasia and Mimi to escape with them.

Anastasia, feeling a déjà vu that reminded her of what happened a moment ago with Tivey, of whom she did not know his status, was willing to claim and refuse. But noticing the gaze of her best knight, which was normally composed, clouded by urgency, she simply accepted the protection of her mercenaries. Mimi, who was in better shape now that the bleeding had stopped, took her with her one hand and motioned for Anastasia to follow her again.

"Hmm... There's no need to waste booooys on them. After aaaall, we'll need all the forces available to deeeeal with the Knight among kniiiights..." Smiling in a twisted way, as no girl her age should, the girl indicated to her mabeasts that focused on Julius.

Regretting the complexity of her situation, was Anastasia finally about to leave, when she remembered something. "Julius! What happened to Natsuki-kun?" The knight, who had been facing the multitude of mabeasts, looked at her over his shoulder with a gesture of shame.

"Anastasia-sama, you know that you are my priority... I found myself needing to leave him in your room. I sent a couple of men for him but, seeing the situation, I cannot promise that he is still alive."

"I… I get it, Julius. Thanks for thinkin' of me." Smiling faintly at him in appreciation, Anastasia last saw her knight. "I wish ya the best of luck in combat. And I order ya to return by my side once ya're done."

Smiling slightly, Julius nodded, and then cut off one of the Wolgarm who seized the opportunity to attack him while talking to his mistress. Focusing completely on combat, Julius began attacking with his sword and spirits every beast that approached him. In turn, Anastasia, Mimi, and several of the Fang of Iron mercenaries moved off in the opposite direction.

"Mimi, we need to circle these rooms and find a way to get to my room as quickly as possible." With a determined gaze, Anastasia expressed her wishes to Mimi.

"But miss..." Mimi, who wanted to escape from there as soon as possible to take her mistress to a safe area, decided to claim, but was stopped by Anastasia.

"Mimi, today I've left two of my esteemed employees behind. I did it 'cause I trust them, in their ability to defend themselves. But the case of Natsuki-kun's completely the opposite. Since I brought him to this city, I wouldn't forgive myself if I escaped leaving him to his fate, even more considerin' his current state."

"Miss..." Choking on her own words, Mimi couldn't figure out how to make Anastasia change her mind, so after a moment in silence, she nodded. "Okay! In that case, we should turn left at the end of this corridor. Then we'll have to turn left again. It's the only way to get there without crossin' where Julius and the others are fightin' with the mabeasts."

"Well, in that case we'd hurry up." Anastasia, with a look of determination, decided that she would not leave behind the boy who had recently joined her payroll and was now in a condition that had led him to depend on her.

Her heart was still pounding due to emotional pain, and her mind was clouded with fear and sadness. After having seen what had happened to Hetaro, it was expected that the internal conflict that swirled in her would be relentless. And still, she was determined to keep moving, because she didn't want to witness something like that again, especially if it involved one of her colleagues or close employees.

And although his closeness to Subaru was not comparable to the affection she felt towards Hetaro, even so the dark-haired man was not a stranger. She had shared time, food, and conversations with him throughout the trip from the capital to Priestella. And even before, she had signed a contract with him and his partners due to her expectations of the ideas he possessed. Subaru was definitely one of her peers, one of her employees, and one person she was placing high expectations on. That was enough for her not to ignore him and escape the inn without him.

"I don't know why ya've emotionally clung to me so much, Natsuki-kun, but I'll make sure I don't let ya down." With those words directed to the wind, Anastasia advanced to where she expected to meet a Subaru alive. Her leg ached and she could barely move it, but that wouldn't stop her.

Subaru had been kept covered by the sheets until just a few minutes ago. Refusing to accept what was happening, he shut himself up in his own mind and resolved not to leave. But his weakness was so great that just hearing the sound of the door being moved was enough to bring him back to reality. His heart began to pound, his limbs tensed, and his throat closed.

"Subaru-sama...?" An unknown voice reached his ears. From its tone, it did not appear to be hostile. Had they come to save him? Could he possibly regain some of his hope that he would not die at the hands of Elsa? Desperate to find the answer to those questions, Subaru poked his face out from under the covers; image that could make anyone believe that he was a scared boy who escaped from the monsters under his covers.

"Is this the man Julius-sama was talkin' about? He looks more like a scared boy than a man. How pathetic." Said one of the two men who had just entered the room, a canine demi-human dressed in the Fang of Iron uniform; similar to a habit or a robe, white with orange stripes on its edges.

"Julius-sama said somethin' happened to him and he ended up in that state. I met him once when he went to Anastasia-sama's mansion in Lugunica, and he seemed like a competent person." The one who answered was his partner, a demi-human who looked like a sloth.

"Unbelievable! What could have left him like that? Some kind of magic? Maybe black magic or a curse?"

"I don't know, Julius-sama didn't say anythin' 'bout it. Anyway, we'd take him and go back to Julius-sama. He was on his way to meet Anastasia-sama, so we'd hurry up and join 'em." With a serious gesture, the mercenary made clear the course of action to be taken.

"You're right. In that case, help me get him to his feet... Could he walk by himself?" As he approached Subaru, who was still staring at them with the sheet covering his body from the nose down, the canine-looking demi-human began to have doubts. "I'm not sure he'll cooperate, actually."

"Hmm… I don't know if it'll work, but we'd ask him." His partner replied, as he got even closer to Subaru. Once beside the futon, the mercenary looked him in the eye. "Subaru-sama, do you think you could come with us? Julius-sama sent us here to get you out of here and take you with us."

"Ana…"

"What does he say?" The mercenary with canine features narrowed his eyes, unable to hear well the muffled voice that had begun to come out of Subaru's mouth.

"I don't know... Subaru-sama, could you be clearer?"

"Ana... Anastasia... W-Where is-is she?"

"Is he talkin' 'bout the miss?" Exchanging his gaze between Subaru and his partner kneeling next to him, the canine demi-human asked to confirm what he had heard.

"It seems to be the case... Subaru-sama, if you come with us, you may meet with her."

"Anastasia... Yes... In t-that case, m-maybe, just may-be..."

"What's he talkin' 'bout?" Approaching both, the demi-human with canine features asked his partner.

"I've no idea. But it seems like he's willin' to come with us. Am I wrong, Subaru-sama?" Subaru, looking directly at him for the first time since they entered the room, replied with a nod; it even seemed that his gaze had regained a little lucidity. Satisfied, the sloth demi-human looked at his partner.

"Good! In that case I'll take him by the left arm and you... Aghh!" Spitting blood, the canine mercenary fell to the ground.

"Orph?!" Shocked, his partner stood up and approached him. As he did so, the features on his face twisted, conveying emotions like terror and disgust. Yards and yards of what had been Orph's pink and bloody intestines stretched below his feet. "What the hell-? Argh!"

"What a pity... What a pity... I'd have liked to be able to play a little more with you, but Meili would've been annoyed with me if I had. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to take charge of our objective." With a kind smile, Elsa positioned herself in front of Subaru, while licking the residual blood on her knife. In the blink of an eye, the assassin had sliced the two mercenaries to the point where only their whitish spines, visible through the trail of flesh and organs, held both halves of their bodies together.

"N-No..."

"Hmm… I smell fear in you. No, it's terror, horror. I've never met anyone who feared so much for his life in front of me. How interesting!" Ecstatic, the woman looked madly at Subaru, who was close to another breakdown. He returned her gaze with his own lack of lucidity.

"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" Whimpering and babbling, Subaru hugged his sheet-covered body. Digging his nails into each of his arms, to the point where blood began to stain the white sheet that covered him, Subaru cursed his own existence. He, even in his absence of sanity, was aware of the harsh reality; his death, once again, was near.