Let's get to it.

"Words" Speaking

'words' Thoughts

"Words" Demon Speech

'Words' Demon thoughts

Scene change

Everyone quickly separated into their groups, the young children running to the windmill as the ten leaders got the supplies.

When the Poachers arrived at the town square, it was empty.

They all split up and started the game of hide and seek, looking for their prey.

Until a hooded figure bolted down an alleyway getting the attention of Luce and his attendees.

"GO, after it! It's the one who dared attack me. It's mine to kill!" Luce yelled at his lackeys.

Under the hood, however, was not the orange-haired girl Luce was so bloodthirsty for. It was the beanie-wearing Gillian. Gillian ran through the town out into the forest, just as planned.

Sonia got the attention of Nous and Nouma, leading them to another part of the forest.

Zack did the same thing with Bayon, making sure to keep them all away from each other.

The three human 'baits' reached their destinations around the same time. Standing their ground so the demons could get a look at them before the hunt truly began.

"Ohh, so you stand in defiance? Let me see your face, will you? I want to see the look of terror in your eyes…" Nous said to the hooded person in front of him.

The figure, Sonia, only reached for the whistle around her neck, bringing it to her lips.

Meanwhile, with Gillian and Luce.

Gillian stood at the base of a tree as Luce and his attendants surrounded her. Now having the chance to get a clear look at the girl, Luce noticed it was, in fact, not the girl that nearly killed him the other day.

"Your… you're not the right one! Where is it?! Where is it!?" the short demon exclaimed like a child throwing a tantrum.

Gillian's hood fell down, revealing her face to the monsters.

"Sorry to disappoint you, you're dealing with me!" Gillian said, bringing the whistle to her mouth and blowing.

Almost simultaneously, the sound of three other whistles being blown filled the air. The signal being made, Oliver activated the detonator in his hand.

At one end of the forest, a massive explosion of fireworks was set off, the deafening sound reverberating throughout the entirety of Goldy Pond.

The demons turned to the origin of the explosion in shock and confusion, allowing the children they cornered to get in position to counterattack.

Turning to where his prey was, Luce let out a gasp in shock. "Where did it go!?" He exclaimed.

"Curse this. Where the hell could it have run off too?!" Luce yelled, stamping his foot onto the ground. "The cattle are getting cheeky. Unacceptable! Find it and bring it to me! I want to watch as it slowly dies!" He said to his attendants.

Gillian and Kel were up in a nearby tree, quietly getting their weapons ready.

'Luce... he's gotten so many of my family killed and toyed with them like a child playing with dolls…' Kel thought, gripping the rifle in his hand tightly.

'Fifteen minutes. We have fifteen minutes to kill Luce and all his goons. We divided the main hunters and lured them into our trap… our target is the center eye under their masks. I'll drill a hole into each one of you bastards!' Gillian thought, aiming her gun at Luce.

The shot hit its mark; however, Luce's mask remained as it was nearly bulletproof. Luce turned his attention to the direction the bullet came from, revealing the beanie girl on a tree branch.

"There it is! There it is!" the hunter shouted, pointing at the girl.

Only then did he and his attendants notice the two LMGs in her hands, a row of bullets dangling from the sides of each.

Gillian pointed both her guns at the demons.

"Eat lead." Was all Gillian said as she squeezed the trigger.

A wave of bullets descended onto the demons, riddling their bodies with holes.

Gillian attempted to aim for the demon's eyes, but it wasn't so easy given the nature of her guns.

'This brat! It's been aiming for my eye since the beginning! How does it know!' Luce thought, trying to move his head to dodge the incoming bullets. 'Did the premium from Grace Field tell them? But it's only been a day. How are they so skilled? Luck?' he continued as he got hit right next to his weak spot.

As he finished that last thought, a bullet hit the side of his mask, cracking it slightly. He looked up to see Kel with a gun in his hand.

'There is no fluke!' Luce screams internally. 'They're clearly aiming to kill the leader! In other words, me! Still, they're fools! Our masks are unbreakable! They won't be broken by the puny weapons in this park! And I'm able to resurrect my servants!'

"GO!" Luce ordered his resurrected servants. "Charge! I want their heads! Take them both down at once!"

Gillian and Kel kept shooting at the servants, and Luce kept resurrecting them.

"AHAHAHA!" Luce cackled. "IT'S NO USE! NOOO USEEEE!" the short demon yelled. 'This farce will be over soon! And I'll be ravishing your meat by the end of the day!' he thought. "Go kill them!"

But none of his servants did so, for they were all on the ground, dead.

"WHAT?!" Luce exclaimed. "How?!"

"We weren't aiming for you at all," Gillian said, hopping down from her spot. Kel was right behind her. "We know it all. Including the fact that your masks are bulletproof and that the retainers' masks have weak points."

Kel looked at the demon in disgust as he said, "First remove the mask, then shoot the vital point."

'You brats!' Luce thought furiously. He pressed himself against a tree. 'What is this? Yesterday, they were simpletons! Second rate fodder! Fools! And yet-'

"They taught us all we needed," Gillian said. She walked forward as she spoke. "Without your little servants, you're nothing. This is the end of the road for you, rich boy."

'They were mere Grand Valley meat! They've never even held a gun before! They would just run like the mere pests they were! This was all part of their plan?! How did they even know our vital points in the first place? Who are these people that the girl brat spoke of?' began to panic.

Luce brandished his sword, which Kel immediately threw a steel ball, knocking it out of his hand. Seeing as he had no other choice, he made a run for it.

'Damn it all! Why… Why should someone like me be defeated by cattle?!' Luce wondered.

Gillian and Kel shot his legs, making him tumble down. The two humans stood right above him. Gillian slowly removed the mask off the demon.

Luce panted as he said, "Alright, alright! You win this time. I'll grant you whatever you desire! I'll look over your offense this time! Why don't we talk about this?" as he thought 'Like hell! The cattle will know their rightful place! I have to buy time! Two… no one minute is enough! I can smell Lord Bayon heading in this direction! He'll help me for sure, and then I'll rip these brats apart!'

"I'll give you 10 seconds," Gillian uttered icily. "Actually, no, I won't! Give it up. Your comrades aren't going to save you. I'm not giving you a single second."

"W-wait!" Luce panicked. "Just think about it! All right, so you can beat me! But those tricks won't work on the others! You don't have the slightest chance against the Archduke and the others! Come on, be reasonable. We were just playing around!"

That had to be the worst thing Luce could have said at that moment.

Kel narrowed his eyes as he told Gillian, "Do it."

"No!" Luce begged. "If you kill me, my father will-!"

"Oh dear brothers and sisters," Gillian whispered. "To think something like this pathetic excuse for a living thing did something like that to us…" Gillian cocked her gun at his face.

"No, no, wait! Don't do that! Someone help-!"

Gillian shot him right in the eye, making his existence cease.

"Who'd said we'd use the same tactics with the others?" Gillian asked the corpse. "The other three… are certainly not you." 'We'd never waste something on you. Among the leaders, Luce was the weakest. We're saving our best shots for the others.'

Kel looked at his watch. "6 minutes and 22 seconds as of now. Let's move on to the next step."

Gillian nodded, sounding her whistle. "We're the first whistle. Figures. It's all going as predicted. What we need to do now is-"

"Join Zack's team," Kel finished. "Let's just hope everything goes well." 'We have a little over eight minutes until the deadline. Our only hope is to kill the other three within this limit.'

He suddenly heard rustling behind him, making him freeze.

"Kel?" Gillian stopped to look back at him. "What's wrong?"

"Shh!" Kel made a shushing gesture. "Something's coming."

Elsewhere, with Sonia and Nigel.

The second in command and the mechanic were fighting against Nous and Nouma. Sonia looked back as she was running to shoot at them. They dodged it.

"Two of them, huh?" Nouma commented. "This kid, and one more hiding."

"Correct," Nous responded. "They're doing quite well to evade us, protecting one another."

"What fun!" Nouma had a maniac grin on her face. "The cattle children want to play tag with us for real this time! However, we've drawn the short stick. Neither of them is the Grace Field human. Which means we can't kill them. If the headcount goes down here, we'd have to cancel tomorrow's game."

"Let's just go along with their little game without killing them!" Nous decided.

"Yes! Let's go for it!"

"Still, what pitiful creatures!" Nous mocked. "Such a long time putting up a farce, training hard in secret, all for nothing! Haha!"

Nous launched himself forward and sliced the tree that separated him from Nigel with his spear. The spear also ended up shattering his gun.

Nigel quickly hopped back. Nearly avoiding the slash.

"Nigel!" Sonia called to him, shooting at the demons.

'It's not their normal arrogance,' the mechanic thought. 'They're right. They've left nothing here that can actually kill them. Humans aren't even supposed to know about their weak points in the first place. Their masks are too strong, too, and their bodies can regenerate. If you have a good strategy, maybe your chances are above zero, but that's only for Luce's group. I have to cut off their movement.'

Nigel and Sonia quickly ran ahead.

"Wait." Nous put out a hand to stop Nouma. Ahead of them were many strings wired like a spider's web. "It's a trap."

Nouma chuckled. "Well played. I thought they were just running in a random direction, but that doesn't appear to be the case."

"Won't do them any good, though," Nous replied.

'Your right,' Sonia thought. 'Even if we could bind them down with some sort of trap, you couldn't just jump in and take off their masks by hand. These guys won't go down that easily. There's nothing we can do…'

'...is what we want you to think!' Sonia and Nigel thought at the same time, smirking.

'we created weapons strong enough to blow their masks!' Nigel thought, holding a different gun. We've worked hard over the years to get materials to make them and had countless failures. Eight hard years and we only have 5 bullets and three special rifles for them. We can't afford to miss.'

'We have to shoot them head-on!' Sonia grimaced. 'One for Bayon, two for Leuvis, and two for these guys! One-shot each! Do that, and these two monsters are going down!'

'The speed these two have is astonishing,' Nigel commented to himself. 'Which is why we need to get them caught in the trap! And once they're in it, blast them to hell!'

'What do they intend to do with this?' Nous wondered. "So be it then. I shall take the bait!" He took his spear and sliced one of the strings.

Nothing happened.

'A dud?' Nouma thought. 'No, that would be too foolish.'

"Nouma, they have something in-"

"Shh." Nouma silenced him. "Let's play their little game for now. It could be...fun."

As they walked, Nouma's spear had cut a string close to the ground, making a giant tree log swing towards them. Nouma quickly cut it in half. As Nous dodged, his spear cut another string and caused a bunch of arrows to be aimed and fired at them, making them quickly dodged as well. They also had to jump to avoid the bear traps on the ground.

Nouma caught one of the arrows as it was zooming past and sniffed it. 'Poison tip?'

She then gave the tip of the arrow a tentative lick. '... my tongue is starting to feel numb and is now hard to move. The poison must be the root of a Mandragora Hongou…'

"Brother! The poison is Hongou root!" The female demon exclaimed, dodging more arrows.

"I see, knocking us out with poison…" the male demon replied

"How insulting," Nous commented. "Tsk. They're still coming, one after another. Are they hoping for an opening if something hits us?"

'No,' Nigel thought. 'Both of us know them very well. This kind of thing won't hold them up. Our goal is later when you spot your prey when you're in a barrage of traps…'

Nous spotted one of them. 'There's one!'

'Not yet,' Sonia thought. 'Just a little bit more. They'll come out here for sure. The traps are laid that way.'

Nous and Nouma ran towards where they spotted the two of them. As they rounded a tree, they were met with the two of them aiming some sort of gun at them, dark goggles masking their eyes.

When they shot, a flash bomb was fired, making a direct hit.

'Now's our chance!' Sonia decided. She aimed her special gun at Nouma's mask and fired. 'Did it work?'

In response, the mask on Nouma's face was shattered.

'We did it!' Sonia thought triumphantly. 'We broke the mask!'

"Sonia!" Nigel called out while fighting Nous. "Fall back!"

But before she could do anything, Nouma grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up, making her glasses fall off. "Bravo, just brilliant! We knew you children were up to something. But I could have never imagined that you fodder could have created a bullet that can destroy our masks! We underestimated you! Oh, but what a shame. You were too slow to make the finishing move. Oh, I want to kill you so badly… I bet you'd taste delicious."

'Damn it!' Sonia cursed. 'They recovered from the flash so fast! I wasn't planning to be caught. But, this is okay.'

Suddenly, a baseball-sized steel ball littered with spikes flew from a tree with incredible speed, hitting Nouma right in the eye.

'W-what?!' Nouma thought as she fell down.

Basil and Aubrey were hiding in the leaves of the trees. Aubrey holding her bat and another one of the steel balls in her hands. Basil was holding a sniper rifle and aiming at the other demon.

"NOUMA!" Nous shouted in shock and despair.

'Catching me made the enemy completely forget about their surroundings,' Sonia thought as she put back on her glasses. 'One more to go!'

"NOUMAAAA!" Nous howled, holding her body.

'Are you kidding me?' Nigel thought incredulously. 'After all the children you two killed with a dumb smile on your face?! And now you think you know what it means to feel sympathy? That you can be shaken to the core?! I'll wrap this up!' He aimed his gun at the mourning demon.

"Still a no go," Aubrey said to Basil, looking through a telescope. "I can't find a good position."

Nous then did something none of them expected. He started eating the demon's body head first.

"He's… eating her?" Nigel was appalled.

'This is our chance! Now, while he's doing...that!' Sonia thought. She also aimed her gun at him.

"Here!" Aubrey whisper-shouted. "This is a good position."

As Nous looked up and roared, Basil shot the demon.

Unfortunately, Nous saw it coming and dodged it. He looked up to see Basil and Aubrey there.

"Give. Me. Back. My. Lovely. NOUMA!" He launched his spear at them.

While the others hunted the demons in the forest, Emma confronted Leuvis. Standing across from each other in the plaza, staring into each other's eyes.

"We meet at last, 63194, Emma. I wondered if you'd received my message." He talked as though they were having afternoon tea.

Emma relayed the message. "... 'My name is Leuvis. Join the hunt and come at me.' And you got mine?" She questioned.

"That I did, 'A premium from Grace Field. First come, first served.' I believe. I am Leuvis. You cannot fathom the joy I feel now having the chance to talk to you face to face." Leuvis said, introducing himself.

Emma remained silent, staring at the monstrous demon in front of her.

"Not only are you a premium offering from the Grace Field brand, but an escapee of the third plantation. A plantation that has earned a reputation among distinguished individuals around the world. They say the breeder is a one in a million, raising beautiful, delicious minds." The demon monologue.

"I have a message from Lucas," Emma announced. "What do you think of my move?" she said.

"I expected this uprising was born from that boy. The explosion was truly an excellent start. It definitely surprised me." Leuvis answered. 'Lucas, my boy, so you survived all this time, hiding, waiting, and training the Grand Valley rabbits…' he thought.

"How wonderful!" Leuvis announced, "I thought he'd perished from the injuries he received that day. However, all this time, he was leading this organization, with the goal of hunting and killing those who hunted and killed you!" he said, placing a hand over his chest. "I am elated right now. What a truly wonderful surprise. It has rocked me to my core!" He continued.

"... so then 'Archduke, let's play a game, shall we? Just like then'…" Emma said, again quoting Lucas.

Remembering the deal, The Archduke made with the boy years ago, Leuvis parrots. "A game?" a wide grin grows on the demon's face as he lets out a hearty laugh. "Hahahaha! From back then, very well, let us play…"

Meanwhile, Kel and Gillian, on their way to aid Zack and Pepe with Bayon.

'Bayon?!' Gillian and Kel thought as they hid behind a tree. Bayon was walking past.

'We can't let him go back to the village, so we can't just hide here and let him pass. Damnit!' Kel cursed. 'We're the only team without the special bullets! Luce didn't need any, but now Bayon's here! What do we do?'

'No, it couldn't have happened!' Gillian thought of the worst outcome. 'There's no proof of that yet! Zack was the oldest out of us. And the best medic, cuz of how much he's injured himself. He's always the one who takes the riskiest jobs. He won't hesitate to jump in.'

'We all know why he said he wanted to be the one to deal with Bayon,' Kel continued. 'But we can't think about that now! We have to deal with Bayon before he reaches the other leaders. If he does, our whole plan will go up in smoke!'

'Bayon always has two retainers with him. I don't see them, though. Is it because Zack and Pepe already dealt with them?' Gillian wondered. 'We need to defeat Bayon right here right now. But without the special guns and bullets, we can't break the mask.'

'Should we go grab one?' Kel thought. 'But we don't even know if the other teams are okay or if they already used the bullet. If we go to them and they don't have a bullet, it's a waste of time, and Bayon would have already reached one of his comrades. We'll go on without it! But how should we go about it with the weapons we have? Shit!'

'It's risky, hell it's suicide! But we can't just let him go! We have to try, even if it's just a temporary distraction, till we can get help.' Gillian thought.

"Gill," Kel whispered.

Gillian turned to him at the sound of her nickname. Only Kel called her Gill, and only when they were alone.

"We should split up," Kel proposed. "I'll stay here and confront Bayon, and you go to Zack and Pepe. You check their condition and get the gun. Once you got it, get it to Oliver and tell him the situation."

The plan itself wasn't hard to understand. They only had a few special bullets, so they had to use them sparingly. The issue Gillian had with it was Kel staying with Bayon.

"But Kel, how are you gonna deal with Bayon all alone?" Gillian asked in a worried tone.

Kel responded with one of his famous grins and replied. "Don't worry, I got a plan."

Gillian knew it was a lie. Kel wasn't the type to plan. Her worry only grew as she wondered why Kel would do something so reckless.

'Of course, she sees the lie. But hopefully, she trusts me enough to just do as I ask. It's a bad plan, and my chances of living are slim but, it's the best I can come up with. Zack has always been the risky one, putting himself in danger and coming out stronger for it. Well, it's my turn to act with reckless abandon!' Kel thought with his trademark smile.

'Such a dumbass, but he's right. Zack and Pepe might need help, and we can't let Bayon get away.' The girl thought.

"Alright," Gillian said, turning her back to Kel.

"On the count of three, we split. You move around him while I distract him." Kel said, getting ready to bolt.

"1."

"2."

"3!" He counted before bolting.

However, instead of going deeper into the forest, Gillian ran into a clearing of the trees and blew her whistle.

Kel turned in shock.

'Gill…' Kel thought, trying to piece together why she would do that.

'Sorry, Kelsey, but I can't leave you to die. You're too important to me. The whistle should be good enough to let the others know somethings up. If you want to stop Bayon without the special bullets, you can't do it alone. Even so, if you chose to go to Pepe and Zack, then do it! I'm sorry, Kelsey.' Gillian thought as she ran toward the demon royalty, gun in hand.

'Gillian! What are you doing!' Kel screams internally. 'No… I don't even need to ask that question. She doesn't want me to die... dammit, I'm an idiot, You're an idiot!'

Kel ran towards her. "Go! Quit screwing around! This is life or death! Throw away your feelings! Our plan is the top priority! Can't you see that, you idiot!?"

"What?" Gillian stared at him. "Who's the idiot here? Aren't you the same? You proposed that plan because of the same reason. So accept it! We'll fight together!"

Kel looked at her with wide eyes, then nodded. "Right." They both faced their opponent, guns in hand.

"Hm. I see. You two were the ones who killed Luce, right?" Bayon guessed. "Magnificent!" He announced, throwing out his arms.

The two children looked at the demon with surprised expressions.

"I never would have thought you Grand Valley cattle would struggle so much to usurp us, truly magnificent…" Bayon said.

The two children simply stared at the demon lord, allowing him to monologue.

"My two subordinates were defeated as well. Your comrades… had wonderful fighting spirits." He said, bringing his bloody spear to his face and licking the blood. "It was truly magnificent."

'... 'had?' And 'was?' Don't tell me…' Gillian thought in horror.

"And? Where did you learn it?" Bayon continued. "Where and how did you Grand Valley children acquire information about our killing method? There must be someone that guided you over the years. That is the only reason why you Grand Valley kids could do an uprising like this. Please, lead me to where the ringleader of your 'resistance' is."

Both of them turned around and bolted.

"Run, Gillian!" Kel shouted.

'We have to protect the kids and Lucas!' Gillian thought.

'We'll lead him away!' Kel quickly came up with a plan. 'We'll make him think we're retreating while keeping him away! Away from Leuvis and the other kids!'

Bayon caught up and sliced Gillian's back. He then held her up with one hand.

Kel looked at him and Gillian in horror.

'G-Gill?' He thought in shock.

"I don't want to waste prey in such a futile hunt," Bayon said. "So tell me. Your leader, or this girl's life. Choose."

Kel panicked. 'No… no way!'

"Come on," Bayon encouraged. "We don't have all day. She's bleeding heavily. Where's the leader?"

'Like hell I'll tell you!' Kel aimed his gun.

Gillian coughed out blood. "K-kill… m...e…" 'We c-can't lead h-him to Lucas or the- the kids!'

'She's telling me to shoot her?!' Kel exclaimed internally. 'I, I can't, I simply can't do that!' He thought, "sorry, Gill…" Kel said, lowering his gun.

Gillian smiled weakly in return. 'I guess he cares about me, as much as I care about him…' She thought.

Pepe suddenly appeared behind Bayon and threw a smoke bomb at him. After getting over the shock, Kel then began shooting at Bayon's hand with Gillian, making her drop. While Pepe had distracted him, Kel grabbed Gillian and started running with her, Pepe soon behind.

"K-Kel…" Gillian murmured weakly.

"Thanks for the help!" Kel said to Pepe. "I'm glad you're alive!"

"Sorry to worry you!" Pepe apologized. He did look beat up, though. Blood was staining his clothes, and his right arm looked pretty bad. "I have a plan! Follow me, and we'll defeat this monster once and for all!"

"What's the plan, Pepe?" Kel questioned.

"Let's worry about Gillian first. She needs treatment asap!" Pepe looked behind him. "Bayon lost track of us after the surprise attack and smoke bomb! We gotta take this chance!"

Bayon looked at the retreating figures, smiling on the inside. 'Surprise attack? Of course, I knew you were there, boy. I felt you sneaking behind me. I also knew you would throw another smoke bomb, just like before. And it was obvious you wouldn't leave your injured friend behind. You were bound to flee with her the first free chance you got. You'd bring her somewhere safe… safe from us. In other words, your base of operations, where your leader resides. You just made it easy for me...' a grin grew on his face.

Back with Emma and Leuvis.

"So, what is this game you propose?" Leuvis questioned.

"The same game," Emma responded. "A fair hunt that lasts around 15 minutes. With the first 10 minutes for me to prepare."

"So, you challenge me to the same game I proposed to them that same night… I guess that is fair." Leuvis mused. "However, there won't be any need for that."

Emma's body tensed.

"Your motive here is to buy time, correct? I believe Lucas's intentions were the very same. If I take your bait, surely you wouldn't come for me at a satisfactory level. You have no confidence that you can kill me, judging from your stare and stance. If I was in your position, I'd have all my forces with me for an all-out attack. So this is a game to buy time for that." Leuvis explained.

Emma remained motionless, not acknowledging the hat-wearing demon's theory.

"Heh, hahaha," Leuvis chuckled. "You are indeed a strong girl. But still a greenhorn to this place. How cruel of Lucas to leave you with such a difficult task. Very well, I'll give you the time you need. What was it, 15 minutes? 10? I'll wait. It'll be more interesting that way."

'Clever girl, she must have a trump card or two to take me out. She has the confidence of a true hunter. I love the expression on the girl's face. The determination gives her the looks of a killer, like a hunter from back then. I can't wait to see what you are going to throw at me.' the demon thought as he took a seat on the side of a fountain.

'Phew!' Emma thought in relief. 'Not what we had hoped, but at least he agrees.'

"However…" Leuvis said. "Right now, I am waiting for action. If none of your comrades come here in 10 minutes, then I shall dance with you until I get my fill." He says with a grin, showing his sharp teeth.

With Bayon.

'So,' Bayon thought, walking silently towards a tree, 'it's an underground shelter. The roots of this tree… what they just did to go inside of it just now… I see. Their base of operations and their leader is under here.'

He took his spear and separated some of the roots with it. 'The entrance is small. Barely enough to fit a human and far too big for one of us.' He swung his spear and cut the whole tree off. The demon lord simply jumps down. As he looked up, he was shocked. 'What is the meaning of this?! The structure… it's impossible for the cattle to build something like this. It's all made out of stone bricks. So, it must be… that boy…'

'The smell. They're close. The three from earlier plus many more… and I can smell… an adult. Probably all the cattle children that suddenly disappeared, plus the confirmed leader. Wait!'

He swiftly turned to the side to see Oliver and Kel aiming guns at him.

'An ambush!' He quickly dodged the bullets. Lucas was on his other side.

"Tsk-"

"Oliver, Kel, now!" Lucas yelled.

'Die, Bayon!' Kel screamed inside his head.

Oliver had the special gun with the bullet in his hand. He had gotten it from way before when Zack made Pepe retreat to get the gun to Oliver. This was why Oliver was not with Emma.

Oliver aimed for the mask and shattered it on impact.

'I won't miss!' Kel aimed and shot Bayon right in the eye.

'... I longed for hunting. I remembered all those years ago… when the world was hunt or be hunted. Then, humans made the 'Promise' with लᘯ⠝ێ… so we had to adapt and make farms to grow humans as cattle. I became an owner of the farms, but even though I had access to the most luxurious meat available, it all was tasteless trash. Until I had the idea of killing my meal in my personal garden. Ahh, I still remember the taste, so juicy, so rich. Then, a man came to me not so long ago and revealed this playground to me. To satisfy my desire to consume the best flesh.' Bayon reminisced about the old days.

Bayon stood up and then laughed, back in the present. As it turned out, Kel had missed by just a little bit.

"Gahahahahahaha." Bayon laughed as he attacked.

"Kel, get down!" Oliver yelled.

Kel had just barely dodged the bloody spear coming his way.

"What is this guy, immortal?!" Kel asked rhetorically.

'I had thought I'd let the fish swim… that I would lure them in,' Bayon thought as he swung his spear, dodging bullets. 'But alas, I was the fish. Never have I ever taken humans seriously. Now I see why Leuvis craved something like this! My blood is pumping! I feel incredible! Oh, how I missed this feeling! Truly, I am grateful for the opportunity to play. But in the end, I shall have your life!'

He swung his spear towards Lucas. As Oliver ran toward the father figure, he took out his gun, getting right in front of Bayon and shooting his eye point blank.

Bayon had one last thought as he fell to the ground. 'Ah. This appears to be how it ends. I only wish I could see what you humans do next…' and so the demon lord fell, a content smile on his face.

However, before anyone could celebrate, Oliver fell dawn as well, as Bayons hand had embedded itself deeply into the boy's stomach.

"Oliver!" Lucas shouted, running to the boy's side.

"Lu-Lucas, I'm glad you're okay…" Oliver said weakly as he looked at the man kneeling next to him.

'Shit! That hand is in deep. I need to get him to the others fast.' Lucas thought, carefully picking the boy up over his shoulder and running to base camp.

When Lucas got there, Gillian was being treated by Pepe and some of the other children. Lucas quickly put the injured boy onto a mat and removed his shirt to get to the injury.

"The. The monster's hand...it's stabbed into him…" Salem said weakly, looking at the severe wound.

"He needs surgery! Kel, bring me gauze, antiseptic, and a light!" Lucas ordered.

"Right!" The boy replied, getting up from Gillian's side and running to the supplies box.

"You and you! Please come and help me." Lucas said, pointing to Salem and a boy a little older than Her.

"Hang in there, Oliver!" Lucas ordered the unconscious boy.

"Oli-ver?" Gillian said weakly, looking to see Lucas and the children diligently working on the boy.

"Gillian! You woke up!" Kel said with excitement.

"Ke-Kel…" said Gillian, looking up to the boy who ran to her side.

"Don't say anything," Kel interjected. "Try not to move. Pepe barely finished your first aid. We just defeated Bayon!"

Gillian gasped slightly.

"We're very close now! I'm going to help Emma with Leuvis. I'll be sure to tell you all about how badass I was!" Kel said confidently. He stood up with a smile.

Gillian had tears in her eyes. "I… I'm sorry… Kel, Lucas… everyone…"

"It's alright, Gillian," Lucas reassured her. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You did very well."

"Right now, I need to save Oliver. Pepe, go help, Zack!" The man ordered as he applied a numbing paste to Oliver's wound. "Kel, go help Emma, do what we talked about when the time is right. Stay alive yuh hear?"

The two boys nod and run out towards the exit.

'Shit, we only have two of the enemy taken out and are down three ourselves. Our strength isn't nearly enough! Our plan was to take out all the demons and then attack Leuvis together, but now we can't. And we still haven't heard anything from Sonia's team.' Lucas thought as he worked on patching up the boy.

'In the worst-case scenario, Nous and Nouma killed them and united with Leuvis. It will leave Emma and Kel to face them on their own. If that is the case, then using that is our best option. Damnit! Is there no other option? Come on, think! Think!' Lucas thought, trying his best to stop the bleeding Oliver was suffering from.

'Fuck!' Lucas screams internally. 'If only I still had my right arm! If only my leg wasn't useless! Emma, Kel, Oliver, everyone! Please live!'

With Sonia and the others dealing with Nous

Nous absolutely annihilated the two teams. Sonia and Basil were heavily wounded, lying on the ground. Nous was also picking up an injured Nigel with one hand.

Aubrey was uninjured, hiding in the bushes nearby. When the spear flew towards them, Basil had pushed Aubrey out of the way so he could take the hit.

"Nouma… my dearest Nouma…" Nous muttered.

"Yes, dear. Make them all suffer. All of those who killed me," Nous said in his sister's voice.

"Of course, my dear," Nous replied.

"There's still one more." 'Nouma' whispered.

"I perfectly know that," Nous replied.

Aubrey sweated. 'What's with him? He's been talking to no one ever since he ate Nouma. No way… when he ate her, she didn't absorb into him, did she? Impossible! But he's much stronger. Is it because he's angry, or he ate her? Dammit! We were so sure that we could take them on!'

"Come out, come out!" Nous coaxed. "I'm about to kill your friend here."

'Damn you to hell!' Aubrey cursed angrily. 'But what should I do? There's no way I can shoot him from here! Come on…'

She felt a tap on her shoulder and quickly turned around. Revealing a boy with black hair covered one eye and an adult with a sniper rifle slung on his back.

'W-who are they?!' She wandered.

"Doesn't seem like your usual pleasant hunt," the adult commented quietly. "Or did things change in the last 13 years?"

"What's the situation?" The black-haired boy asked. "Be quick about it."

'Who… neither of them are from here…' Aubrey thought in shock. 'That jacket-! Those gloves!' She recognized the jackets like the ones Emma was wearing. The glove the adult was wearing on the one hand also matched Lucas's.

"Snap out of it!" the boy hissed. "What's the situation?"

"A revolt against these demons," Aubrey replied, more serious and calm.

The two strangers' eyes widened.

"It's a thing Lucas has been planning for thirteen years." She continued.

At the mention of Lucas, Mister's body stiffened in shock.

"We were able to kill one, Nouma," Aubrey continued. "But in the next two minutes, if we don't defeat her partner… Lucas, Emma, Everyone… will be in danger."

"Mister." The boy turned to the adult. "Let's change our plans. We'll kill the demon."

"What?" Aubrey was shocked at the kid suddenly taking action. "W-wait a minute! It's not going to be that easy!"

"I know," the kid replied. "You explained it carefully, but there was no meaningful information in your explanation. You know Emma, and I'm sure she told you about us. Knowing her, she joined this revolt, no questions asked. She is alive. She's too stubborn to die. But if we can't kill that demon here, this situation will be more dangerous."

He was relieved that Emma was, as far as he knew, alive. She was his closest friend he had other than Norman…

"My name's Ray. There are three things I need to know…"

While the two of them talked, Mister was in his thoughts, trying to make sense of what the girl had said earlier. He gritted his teeth. 'You… were alive, Lucas!'

"Mister," the kid turned back to him.

"Stay back," Mister responded. "I'm gonna blast the thing to hell."

He stood up and was about to walk until Aubrey interjected. "Wait! My sniper didn't work on him at all! He's also ridiculously fast… and very angry."

"I know." Mister peered through the bush as he knelt down.

Nous had thrown Nigel onto the ground. "Can I kill him, Nouma?" Nous asked. "Of course, dear." 'Nouma,' replied

'Nous definitely looks different,' Mister noted. 'Not just his appearance, but everything about him.'

'Come out!' Nous thought. 'I can feel that there are more of them! But I don't care! As long as Nouma is inside of me, I can do anything! Come at me!'

Mister looked through his scope at the demon. Right as he was about to slam Nigel into the ground again, Mister shot him perfectly into the eye.

'What? I was shot?' Nous was shocked as he fell to the ground.

'Im-impossible… Where did it come from? Could not tell…' the ebony demon thought as life slowly drained from him. "N...ou...ma…"

Aubrey stared at the corpse in shock. "Y-you killed him! But how?"

"That's what a sniper does," Mister replied.

Aubrey was too in shock at how easily he took down the monster to even comment.

"So, where's the Antenna? Your leader?" Mister questioned.

"Lucas is with the other kids and wounded in the secret tunnel," Aubrey responded. "We need to get my comrades there. Emma… is with Leuvis. Her job is to keep him at bay until we can all attack him at once."

With Emma and Leuvis.

Leuvis looked at his pocket watch. "Hm. Your 10 minutes are almost up, and no one else is here."

Emma smirked. "But none of your comrades came either."

Leuvis was surprised by the retort. Then laughed. "Hahaha. So, that's how it is. Of course, none have come. They have all been permanently removed from this world."

Emma looked at the demon in shock.

"Yes, each whistle means death of a hunter, right?" Leuvis clarified. "Two have been sounded so far. First was near the direction of Luce, then Bayon. Nous and Nouma are also nowhere to be seen. A third whistle should sound soon."

Sure enough, a third whistle sounded from the woods.

"your right, all your comrades have been defeated," Emma replied.

"'Comrades.' I've never really thought of them like that," Leuvis commented. "But in this situation, it does feel rather sad. Especially Bayon."

"I've known Bayon for quite some time. Although, we'd agreed on a few things. Before the 'Promise,' we would hunt together. Real hunting. He was truly pathetic."

"But you'd had fun, didn't you?" Emma questioned. "To you, that was all that mattered."

"It's truly excellent!" Leuvis exclaimed, his arms outstretched. He appeared behind her all of a sudden.

'When did he-?!' Emma exclaimed internally.

"Despite you all being rabbits, you took down tigers," Leuvis continued. "Fantastic. I wonder how many of your own comrades will come? Or are they all dead? And if they are… will you fight me alone?"

"..." Emma simply stared at him.

'Someone already has come, Kel. But he's all there is. Kel is in the position Oliver was supposed to go, and everyone else's positions remained empty. I, I have to assume the worst case. But, I do not feel like they're gone, no they are alive, but they can't fight. Even given this disadvantage, I will win!' Emma thought, taking her weapon out.

'But, how? I need to think of a strategy to beat him!' Emma said to herself, trying to think of a strategy.

'Even if it seems hopeless, I have to do this! To put an end to this amusement park of horrors. So that nobody has to live through that pain again. So we can get out and live… So we can go back to the shelter and use the gift Mr. Minerva gave us!' she thought.

'I can bring hope to everyone. I can change the future. So I refuse to die here, and I won't let anyone else die here! For that, I will…' Emma thought but soon was reminded of something Mister said.

'...' that utter terror and despair of making the wrong choice and causing everything you holds dear to die in front of you.' I… Will…' she thought, slowly lowering her gun.

"Hmm, what's the matter, Emma?" The demon asked.

"Do we have to kill each other?" Emma suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Even Leuvis showed surprise by that statement.

"Don't you have a choice not to fight?" Emma asked.

"...What are you talking about?" the hatted demon asked, truly confused.

"There's no way I could forgive you for killing children for fun," Emma continued. "I don't know what the right thing to do is, but I don't want anyone else to die, that's for sure. So I decided to get rid of this hunting ground."

'What's she talking about?' Nigel thought.

"I know I don't want to kill a sentient being," Emma said.

"Oh ho? I am surprised to hear this. The things you saw, the things I did, wasn't enough?" Leuvis asked.

"No, I hate you, I hate you so much, I cannot forgive what you did," Emma said with a pained face.

"Bayon is gone. He owned this place. So there is no reason to fight. If we can leave without killing each other, then the chances of me losing any more friends are mitigated. And you would live." Emma said, booking directly into his eyes.

"Keh!" Leuvis vocalized. "Right when I was questioning your resolve… you still remain persistent and steadfast. I am relieved to see this."

"I can't afford to make the wrong choices. This is the last, precious chance to try. I am trying to… would you agree to anything other than fighting?" Emma pleaded.

"No." The demon replied simply. "What a silly question. Do you think I've waited all this time for nothing? I wish to kill you, hunt you. Should you hunt and kill me, you would fulfill my heart's desire. The purity and beauty of your ideals is a sight to behold; however, I do not hold such ideals, and I doubt we could come to a mutual understanding. We must battle to the death."

Emma looked at the gun in her hand, realizing that she had no choice. She took aim at the demon.

"Your ten minutes are just about up…" Leuvis said, taking his watch out.

"4… 3… 2… 1… times up. Time to fight." Leuvis said, putting his watch back into his pocket.

Quickly Emma jumped back and pressed a button in her hand.

Around the entire courtyard, guns appear from the windows of the surrounding houses, aiming right where Leuvis was standing.

"Ahhh, how wonderful," Leuvis said before the sound of gunfire filled the air.

Chapter 12, end.

So the battle between Emma and Leuvis begins. All I did was switch the names of our three OMORI characters, the rest of the dialogue pretty much taken from the Manga. However, the next chapter will have some unique stuff, and the chapters after that will definitely have new original content.

See you guys later.