—1—
The evacuating villagers had paused their march as Petra's father knelt on the dirt road, his hands on his daughter's shoulders as he forced a smile through the distraught look in his eyes. "Come on, Petra. Look at me. We're almost there, just a little more to go and we'll get you help." His voice was steady, but the shaking of his chest betrayed how much effort he was spending to stay calm as he looked on at the condition Petra was in now.
Her eyes were glazed over, her mouth slack and shoulders slumped as her hangs hung limply at her sides, and the bite on her hand had become gangrenous, staining the piece of cloth ripped from his shirt that formed a makeshift bandage. She wasn't the only one – Several others in the group had similarly fallen under the same spell, now carried or dragged by the stronger people while the rest formed a human shield around them, though they had seen no other ulgarm since leaving the village borders.
Petra had no reaction to her father's words, staring blankly forward as her body struggled to take in air, her knees locked in an instinctive effort to stay upright. He had seen her mother being dragged away by the fiends, and now, she was the only one he had left. Seeing her complete lack of response was enough for tears to start flowing, and he cried her name as he pulled her into a tight embrace, shivering as his chin rested on her head. "It's okay, Petra! Daddy's here, he'll make sure you're safe! Just stay alive until then! Please…"
He looked up as a hand rested on his back, and Milde looked down with an understanding frown, in no mood to keep smiling as she often did. "We will get to the mansion, and when we're all recovered, we will return and take back our home. It has been 65 long years since I last battled with fiends, but I have a lot of life still left in me. Lord Mathers will defend us, and those beasts will be wiped from this world." By now, the estate was within sight, just a short walk left before they'd finally reach safety.
Several able-bodied villagers nodded in agreement, while Petra's father blinked, before a small smile crossed his face as he stood up, lifting Petra to rest in his arms. Ignoring how incredibly light she felt compared to normal, he looked at her face, renewed determination in his eyes.
"That's right, Petra. Those two servants were just the vanguard, I'm sure we'll see Roswaal fly above us any moment now. Meili fought hard to escape, and she'll tell him everything. Do you remember Meili, Petra? She's your good friend, you two get along so well. She promised she'd even tell you that mysterious past she's so eager to hide, so you have to keep that vow and live to hear it, okay?"
—2—
A wordless scream rang from Rem's mouth as her rage was channeled into ferocious swings of the flail, sending the injured ulgarm bounding away as Leo jumped back to avoid the strike. It had been several minutes of back-and-forth talking, through which the maid was growing increasingly incoherent in her ranting, her sentences slurring and professional tone disappearing entirely. "You brought them here! You attracted the fiends, Cultist!"
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about! I'm here to help, I had nothing to do with this! Why would you blame me?!"
Her foot stomped on the head of a fallen dog, teeth gritting together as her eyes continued to glow. "The barrier that Master placed protected these people for years! It held strong all this time, until you showed up! Now, it's broken and their shield is gone!"
"I don't know what barrier you're talking about! How could I break something I've never-"
Leo paused in the middle of his statement, thinking back to the last time he had been here. Hadn't he seen something strange here before?
That's right, Meili had mentioned a crystal that needed to be maintained. There wouldn't be any need for a stone to be fixed unless it had a purpose, so it must have been…
His eyes widened as he stepped back, his voice quiet as he put the connection together. "One of those crystals had to be removed earlier since it was damaged. They must have gotten in through that weak point…"
"You really did let them in, you've admitted it!" Rem screamed, and he raised his hand defensively.
"No, it was already like that! I only touched it and it shocked me pretty good then! It would have been dangerous if it was left unchecked!"
"Liar! Barrier crystals don't degrade like that! They only break if someone is there to destroy them!"
She was about to continue, but they were both forced to turn their heads as a bright yellow light shone through the trees, causing the ulgarm to lift their heads and freeze in whatever pose they happened to be standing in. It only lasted for a few seconds, but as the light faded, the air felt still, as if it knew that the target they were looking for had arrived.
The alpha was near, called to them by some force great enough to pull it out from hiding, but while its heavy footsteps rippled through the ground, it was still invisible in the forest shade.
The trees rustled, and the ground began to vibrate in a pattern too quick to be the steps of any creature. This wasn't the fiend walking, it was something much larger.
"Ul Huma!" Rem's hand thrust towards the ground, and a spear of ice jutted from the soil, launching her by her foot high into the air.
"You had magic like that this whole time?!" Leo asked incredulously, staring as the cracks in the ice bounced off sunlight in a shimmering display. "Thanks for not using it on me, but still!"
He wasn't able to say anything else before his footing was shaken by the ground's movement, and the trees and foundations of houses raised from the swelling of the bedrock underneath, traveling in waves from the forest depths. With no magic of his own, all he could do was retreat, aiming for a mostly-intact house nearby that could hopefully at least provide some shelter from the quakes.
He didn't have time to reach the safe zone before the large-scale Ul Dona launched pillars of rock radially from the waves, and the wind was knocked from his chest as one slammed directly into his stomach when he turned to check on the motion. He was launched backwards, and as his head rammed into the doorjamb of the house. As he collapsed in a heap onto his back, the world went dark.
—3—
The blurred colors and muted sounds reminded Leo of the death throes he had experienced after Elsa's surprise attack in the Loothouse. Even as he turned his head, the world lagged behind, moving in slow motion while his addled mind attempted to track what was going on.
Where was he? Was he about to die again? Why didn't he feel any fear at that thought?
Rem. He'd been arguing with Rem over something. What was it again that she was saying? Did it matter, if it was just going to be reset again? If he just died, then it would all be for nothing, just a half-remembered memory by someone who couldn't even hold his own thoughts together.
He had said things he didn't want to say. What sort of monster would throw away the lives of innocent people for a few extra minutes of safety? He didn't mean it that way at all, but the words that had come from his mouth had come unbidden from somewhere outside his head.
He had only known Rem for a little over a day, but she was someone he felt could be trusted. Maybe he'd been loose-lipped because he thought she'd understand, or maybe somewhere deep down, he thought she could be deceived into trusting him.
Why would he need to do that? He wasn't doing anything untrustworthy, he was truly trying to help. These villagers were people he had interacted with, and though he didn't know them, he couldn't stand aside while faces he recognized were slaughtered. That was why he came, so why had he said those things to Rem?
A knot formed in the pit of his stomach, blood drawing from his lip as he realized how hard he was biting it. "That…wasn't me…" he choked out, a pathetic voice that he couldn't even recognize. He had no view of the sky here, only the sight of an unstable doorframe above his head, the wood cracked from the force of his head bashing into it. "I'm not a fiend…I'm human…"
What had he been in his past? Was he truly the kind of person who would speak such atrocities without batting an eye? What horrible things had he done in the name of heroism before his memories were lost?
Perhaps, that Cultist that robbed him of his memories had done him a favor. Now, he picked himself up, his foot slipping as he struggled to regain his balance with a hand on the door. Maybe he had been a villain before. Maybe Rem was right, he was a Cultist once. Like those wounded puppies, perhaps the Cult had been infighting and he became a victim.
But that didn't matter now. Now, he was no longer the monster he used to be. Now, he had the opportunity to kneel and apologize for the things he said, to correct his mistakes by looking to the future. If that criminal that was Leo Borealis was not given the luxury of death, then he would live anew. He had nothing but muddled basics of who he used to be, and plenty of room in his head for new memories to be made.
"Where are you, Rem?" he asked, his voice tired as he looked around, expecting her to have landed safely somewhere nearby. However, as his eyes laid on the creature standing on the remains of the fence that once marked the village border, reality struck like a gut punch.
The alpha ulgarm was enormous, easily three times larger than its fellow packmates, with a thick body that glowed with the yellow energy from before. This wasn't an enemy that could be defeated carelessly, and with no magic and only daggers that felt small compared to its mass, the only person nearby who stood a chance was Rem.
She was unable to perform the role, however, as she hung limply in the monstrous dog's jaws, her back arched and mouth open as blood soaked her maid uniform from the fangs digging deep into her torso. Her weapon lay on the ground, a hand outstretched towards it but too far to have a hope of reaching it even if she had the strength to hold its weight.
She had avoided the earth magic ambush, but in the short time he was unconscious, the alpha must have charged when she wasn't ready. However it happened, she had been defeated, and as Leo stepped into view, the alpha turned its eyes to him, a growl resounding deep in its throat as he raised his kukri.
"You smell me, don't you? I'm a lot more interesting than her, right?" His hand moved the knife from side to side, and the ulgarm's eyes tracked the blade's movement as it slowly turned. His mouth lifted in an exhausted grin, knowing full well he wasn't in any condition to fight the giant dog. The horn on its snout was as big as the knife, and it had every advantage over him.
Still, if it at least would drop Rem, then there still could be a chance to escape with her. She wasn't dead, he was certain of it, but right now, he was the only one able to fend off the alpha.
His faux-confident expression vanished as it turned around, and his eyes widened as its mace tail swung into his stomach, slamming him into the wall behind him with the effort of swatting a fly. Satisfied with that, it turned away, its hind legs bending in preparation to start running.
It turned its head as it felt a pain in its tail, and Leo gave a hoarse laugh, wheezing as he extended his hand, having buried the kukri deep into the mace's skin. "You won't get rid of me that easy. I've already died once, I don't mind doing it again if it kills you too."
The show of bravado didn't faze the monster, which simply kicked off the ground, which flowed beneath its feet as it used its Dona magic to increase its speed. Though the wind threatened to knock him loose, Leo held on, one hand on the kukri's handle and the other gripping the spikes that made up the mace's bashing surface. His eyes closed as he focused on keeping his grip, ignoring the twigs whipping his face and body as the alpha bounded along.
As it ran, Leo's head slowly cleared as his senses returned, though his chest throbbed where he'd been bashed with the weapon and he could feel the warmth of his blood in his shirt. If he didn't die, he was going to be suffering some serious problems once the adrenaline faded, but for now all he thought about was how he could potentially handle the situation.
What does this thing have? Teeth, claws, tail, magic…Okay, what do I have? A couple knives, a concussion, and a comatose maid. What stellar odds…
Lost in his thoughts, he wasn't expecting the alpha to suddenly stop, and he jolted as he was thrown onto its back from his momentum. Spending a moment to catch his breath, he looked up at its head, watching as its ears flicked up and it swiveled its neck while it peered around the area they were in. They were in an area of the forest where the trees were more sparse, overlooking an overhang that Leo very much did not want to guess the height of.
After assessing its surroundings, the alpha's head lowered, and it dropped Rem onto the ground with surprisingly gentle precision given how roughly it was flinging her around before. Rather than moving to eat her, it instead turned away and stepped towards a different spot, before promptly spinning in a circle and lying down on the ground.
Surprised but not about to waste the opportunity, Leo dismounted, leaving the kukri embedded in the fiend's tail. Who knew how it would react if he pulled the oddly-shaped blade back out in a rare time when it was being peaceful and letting him approach the unconscious Rem.
He knelt in front of her, his hands running across her body to check her wounds. They weren't as deep as they seemed, only leaving shallow cuts in her skin through her layers of clothing, and her unconscious state appeared to simply be from the trauma of being shaken in its jaws, rather than the bite itself. That was good, it meant she wasn't as injured as she could have been.
As he was inspecting her wounds, her eyes opened, and she shot a glare at him as she spoke. "First, you use people as bait, and now you molest me in my sleep? You truly are someone Master should not have allowed to live."
He blinked, before looking down. As he realized where his hands had been, he quickly lifted them, giving a smile in an effort to calm her down. "I was just…Never mind that. I wanted to apologize for earlier. I said things I didn't mean, and they came from a place I would rather bury. If you don't mind, I would rather stay the same Leo you knew yesterday."
Her eyes narrowed, before she sighed, her arm raising to cover her eyes and forehead with a groan. "...I'll worry about it when I can stand up again. Where's the alpha? Did you kill it?"
He frowned, before glancing over in the direction where it sat, idly watching them without any of the violent demeanor it had before. It was odd, it didn't seem interested in hunting them despite going out of its way to capture her, but the moment of respite was welcome. "It stopped doing anything when it put you down. It doesn't seem to care about my scent-Ack!" A cough wracked his chest, stirring up the pain from the mace earlier. It definitely had broken a few ribs, forcing him to double over as he hacked from the pain shooting through his body.
He felt the pain slowly start to disappear, and he looked up to find Rem sitting up, her palm facing him as a soft blue glow shone from her hand. He didn't need to ask what it was, only give a grateful laugh as he regained his composure. "...Thank you. You're full of surprises. Healing magic, too? I never knew such a thing existed…"
She smiled, a genuine expression like the one he'd been lucky enough to see back at the mansion before merienda. "I am a trained maid under my Master. Of course I would be capable of basic healing like this. Sister isn't capable, however. She is too important to Master to be needed for such things."
"She can make some good steamed potatoes though." he quipped, and she giggled, before pushing off the ground to stand up and extending a hand to help him up as well.
"Are you feeling better now? I don't wish to make enemies with you, and I also apologize for calling you a Cultist." She gripped the now-dirty hem of her dress, giving a short curtsy as expected of her role. "I can see that you are not the sort of man to stoop to such methods. You were simply speaking the truth while lacking tact. But, that aside…" Her eyes trailed to the ulgarm, her expression shifting in an instant. "What to do about that?"
Leo looked at the dog, which nonchalantly stared back, unbothered by the aura of hate the two gave off. His hand moved to the Cultist dagger he still had sheathed, now that the kukri was out of commission. "I hate to use this right after we just got done confirming I'm not one of those guys…" he said, to which Rem shook her head.
"I understand that it is yours now, though it was not before. I won't call you the Bowel Hunter for using her weapon, either."
He laughed, drawing the knife with her permission. "I don't know why you hate the Cult so much, but it's probably thoughtless to ask right now. Maybe as a reward if we get out of here alive?"
"Once we've confirmed the safety of the evacuees, yes. We're hardly friends yet, but it's not something so tragic that I can never speak of it."
"It's a deal then." With that, he leapt forward, winding his arm back in preparation to stab at the alpha's throat, though he wasn't quite used to the different style this weapon had compared to the kukri's rending slashes.
Right away, he realized their error. In being so focused on the alpha, neither of them had properly looked around, and though the alpha was standing too slowly to be a major threat, the attacks came from the sides.
More ulgarm appeared from the trees, leaping to deliver bites to Leo's knife arm and legs, and behind him, Rem shouted in pain as she was similarly ganged up on. Though Leo was able to fight off the shallow bites and keep his balance, it was quickly apparent that they were surrounded as more ulgarm appeared from the trees.
"Huma!" Rem called, though the ice shields, weak from her surprised state, did little to help as the dogs simply bashed through with their horned noses, slamming her to the ground and pouncing on her as Leo ran to help.
Before he could act, his feet were swiped from under him by the alpha's lazy paw, causing him to hit the ground hard on his side, his ears ringing from the impact. As the dogs filled his field of view, he could see Rem in a similar situation, her legs twitching as they stepped over her.
A bright pink light shone from the pile around her, and a wordless howl sounded out, distinct from theirs yet just as animalistic. It wasn't the pained shout of a girl in pain, but the cries of a monster that they had unintentionally awoken.
The ones on top of her were blasted back by the force of her arms flinging out to either side, and the ulgarm on Leo stopped what they were doing to watch as she stood up, her upper body leaning forward in a slumped bow as her head lifted with an unnatural tilt.
Her eyes were wide, her irises shrunken and nostrils flared as a wide grin split her face, revealing small fangs that her canine teeth had morphed into. That, however, was not the most distinct feature, nor was the bone-chilling sound of a mad giggle. Instead, it was the glowing horn parting her bangs on her forehead, glittering pink in the sunlight.
She was unarmed and her entire body was covered in scrapes and marks from the fiends, but even in that state, she gave the ulgarm pause. A step forward made them retreat back with uncertainty, and a second step brought her face to face with a larger member of the pack.
Her arm shot forward, and the dog yelped before it fell backwards, its throat torn out by the force of her jabbing it with her fingers. It wasn't as though her nails had sharpened, but she didn't hold back her own strength at all to an extent that it was as if she bore the same claws that they did.
Her giggles rose in volume, and Leo used the distraction to kick his way out of the dogpile, standing up and grabbing the dagger from the ground. Whatever was happening with her, she was clearly out of it, and he doubted she'd respond if he said anything. So, he'd simply play backup and let her rampage as much as she wanted.
Her retaliation against the fiends was swift and explosive, leaping at them with speed on a different level from what she had before, and even without her morningstar, her entire body was a weapon, kicking, grabbing, biting at them with deadly accuracy. Some got strikes of their own in, but she simply shrugged them off like nothing as she made her way toward the alpha.
As she readied herself to jump, one of the ulgarm leapt onto her back, and her face twisted into an enraged expression. Her teeth clashed together before she reached back to grab its neck, flipping it over her to bash its spine into the ground as she gave a howl that echoed across the clearing.
Leo was faring less well, keeping up with the ulgarm only barely as he made his way to her direction. "Rem, keep up whatever you're doing! Don't worry about the small ones, just get the alpha!"
As expected, she ignored him, carrying on with her trail of destruction, and he sighed, shaking his head as he turned his attention to the big one. "Fine, I'll do it then. The rest will scatter if I kill you, won't they?"
Shaking off a puppy, he kicked off the ground, ducking under a pounce as he raised his knife in preparation to simply stab forward with all his might and hope he'd hit something vital in the huge flank of the beast.
Once again, though, the alpha twisted its body, though this time, the target of its heavy swing was not Leo. Rather, Rem was directly in its path, and though Leo called for her attention, she didn't so much as look away from the smaller one she was currently dealing with, leaving her completely exposed as the mace made contact.
Rem was sent flying, crying in pain as blood gushed from her mouth. When Leo was hit by that tail, it had been low enough to avoid hitting anything vital, but it had made direct contact with her upper body, the loud noise of crunching indicating that the weight behind the spikes had done its job with lethal effectiveness.
"Rem!" Leo called, rushing over to catch her, and immediately he felt her ribs bend under his touch as she slumped limply in his arms. His eyes whirled as he searched for an escape route, but he was already too late as the alpha flicked its paw, sending both of them flying.
He handed on his chest, barely avoiding falling on top of Rem, who was still trying to give her demonic call despite being unable to breathe, wriggling in his arms though her legs weren't working anymore. As he looked up, he found that they were dangerously close to the overhang, at least 30 feet up from the ground below. A precarious position to be in as the ulgarm blocked the only way back to safety. The alpha stepped forward, its eyes narrowing as its yellow glow increased around its body.
The ground shook, and once again, it cast its Dona, though this time there was no avoiding it. Leo closed his eyes, clinging to the struggling demon and hoping for the best as they were launched together over the edge.
