I yelped as I frantically blocked a vicious attack from the left with my sword, wincing as I felt the strike rattle in my bones. To my right, another man swung a war-hammer at me, fully intending to mash my head flatter than a pancake. I ducked under that one, wheezing in fright as I felt it whizz over my head.

I dashed forwards, gripping my sword with the intent to skewer whoever got in my way. I had to escape the mob before I was killed, and when you were surrounded by people with all different kinds of weapons, that could happen pretty quickly.

I really didn't like getting swung at. Each strike I dodged or blocked had the frightening potential to kill me instantly. They were starting to close in as well, which meant I didn't really have any time to think up a plan. So, I just moved.

The man directly in front of me wielded a scimitar, which was odd to me. I'm not sure what was wrong about that, but it really just felt out of place.

He swung down at me, intending to cleave me in half. I barely ducked under it, cursing as I felt it graze my hair. I retaliated by ramming my sword into his gut. Keeping my hold on the weapon, I kicked the dying man away, before running through the newly-made hole in the wall of people.

I turned, and sprinted further into the woods. I couldn't just run to the village, as they would definitely follow me. I had to lead them away before I could even attempt to lose them.

I briefly looked behind me, only to see one of the heroes practically right next to me, his sword in mid-swing. Of course, his aim was a little off, as we were both running as fast as we could. So, instead of embedding the weapon into my back, it just scraped my arm, drawing an insignificant amount of blood.

I whirled around, deciding to deal with the fool who had broken off from the group to attack me. My sword flashed out in an arc as I swung at his side, the blade traveling from his hip, up to the rib on the opposite side. The red sprayed from his body with surprising force, almost knocking me into a trance. I ignored it as best I could, and continued my hasty retreat. The other men were still chasing me, but they seemed smart enough to stay in a group. Though, since they were sticking together, they were all maintaining about the same speed, which was slower than some individuals could probably do. In short, I was faster.

Still, they were athletic folk. That made sense, considering their line of work. It made them all the more bothersome to ditch, which was starting to piss me off. They shouldn't have been there in the first place. Now I was the one getting chased away? That's some bullshit.

I shook my head, forcing all the anger into the back of my mind. I didn't have time for that right now.

I twisted and turned through the forest, dodging around trees and rocks. It was almost a naturally-formed maze, and the thickness of the surrounding plants certainly didn't help with the already low visibility.

...Getting back was certainly going to be a chore, wasn't it?

Whatever, that was a problem for later. Right now, I was focusing on not dying.

I'm probably making this sound less terrifying than it actually is. Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely scared, but there was something about the whole situation that was... exciting. My legs burned with exertion, and my heart thumped in my chest like a jackhammer. I could feel the red coating my hands, and it felt good. I was very tempted to turn and run back into the mob, slashing everything I could get close to. Of course, I didn't do that. That would be suicide.

Man, I really hoped I'd be able to fight like Yuri someday. The way she moved was just amazing.

Though, Yuri's training was the only reason I was currently alive. I did spend about a year getting the shit kicked out of me in daily spars. If that didn't teach me how to dodge, then I didn't know what would've.

I wasn't sure why, but I felt laughter begin to bubble up from my chest. I couldn't stop myself, for some reason. It seemed to anger my pursuers, as they shouted all kinds of obscenities at me. That, in turn, made me laugh even harder. These people were fun to mess with.

Slowly, they were losing ground. They could still see me for the moment, but a few more turns should've done the trick.

The clumps of trees were much thicker here, as we were nearly at the heart of the forest. I dashed through the tight clusters of timber, taking openings that the group could not. Ducking and weaving through the foliage, I found a place where they definitely wouldn't be able to find me.

You see, under one of these bushes, there was a large hole. It was definitely big enough for me to squeeze through. If I had to guess, it was once a worm girl's tunnel. Though, it must've been long abandoned, seeing as it was overgrown and filled with cobwebs.

I'd only noticed it because I'd essentially stepped in it, causing myself to trip. I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I scrambled further into it, to the point where I couldn't be seen even if they looked directly down the hole. It was a tunnel, after all. Part of me wanted to to explore it, but that seemed like a really stupid idea. I didn't know how far it went, nor did I know what I'd find. I was tempting fate already by just being there, and I didn't want to test my luck more than I already had. So, I stayed quiet.

Eventually, I started to hear the men's voices. They sounded pissed that I got away, which made it hard not to laugh. I managed to keep quiet by biting my tongue.

"Damn it!" One of the voices roared. "We lost the bastard!"

"Calm down, man." Another voice grunted. "It won't help if you're just gonna pitch a fit about it."

They sounded very close to the hole. I wondered how they would feel if they knew I was only a couple feet below them.

"...Now that I think about it, didn't that kid look a little like the boss?" The first one muttered. "I mean, they both have red hair, and their faces look a little similar..."

...What?

Now, that brought up a whole lot of questions, and I wasn't quite sure I'd like the answers. They didn't seem to be moving away though, so I didn't really have a choice other than to sit in silence, and listen to their conversation.

"A little." The other guy admitted. "I didn't really get a good look at him."

Okay, maybe they were just mistaken. It was certainly possible that they were just seeing things. I mean, there were lots of children in this world. Was it really such a big coincidence if one of them looked kind of like a dangerous hero?

"Actually," The first guy noted. "Didn't the boss have a kid at some point?"

"Yeah." Confirmed the other guy. "He went missing in this region a little over a year ago though."

Fuck. Fuck! The hero I'd interrogated had also said that. At the time, I thought nothing of it, but now it was damning evidence.

This would cause problems. If word about me got to whoever their boss was, he might come investigate personally. I didn't think Yuri would have much trouble dispatching of him, but it would still be rather troublesome.

Eventually, the voices of the men seemed to fade away, but I wasn't entirely convinced. So, I waited a while. I passed the time by staring at my shirt, which was soaked with the red.

I felt my heart race as I gazed into its beauty, feeling a strange sense of pleasure radiate throughout my body. This just felt... right. This was what was supposed to happen. I spread the wonderful beauty of the red today. I'd accomplished something, even if others wouldn't look at it in such a pleased light. They didn't understand, and frankly, that was sad. The red felt almost... divine to me. It flowed through every living thing, giving life to all sorts of creatures. Truly, how could such a thing be seen as anything other than amazing?

Yuri would understand. God, I had to tell her what happened. I was just so proud of myself, and I just couldn't contain my excitement. She'd understand, right? She had to, considering how she operated.

So, after an undetermined amount of time, I gingerly poked my head out of the hole. I probably looked kind of like a gopher, and that thought made me chuckle a little bit. To my surprise, it was a lot darker out than when I'd gone in. I must've spent at least a couple of hours in the hole, staring at the red. I mean, who could blame me? I certainly wouldn't see anything wrong if I spotted someone admiring art.

I figured that the men must've been long gone by now, so I hopped out of the hole, and made an attempt at retracing my steps. I say "attempt" because, as mentioned previously, this place was a fuckin' natural maze. There were probably some footprints or other kinds of tracks, but I didn't know how to spot that sort of thing...

...That's another thing to put on my to-do list. I've gotta learn how to track stuff.

Instead of doing anything clever like that, I simply turned to the general direction I'd came from, and then adjusted myself somewhat, accounting for all the twists and turns I'd made. Without any other plan of action, I set out on my journey home. I wasn't really worried. I still had that guy's sword, so I could probably ward off any monster that lurked around here. Besides, what sane person would approach someone covered in blood that clearly wasn't theirs? I wouldn't, because despite how I've probably portrayed myself, I still have some semblance of survival instinct.

Though, now that I think about it, I would totally compliment them for the red on their body.

*LINEBREAK*

"This is some fucking horseshit." I grumbled, shivering slightly as the cold bit into my skin. The plants brushed past my legs, causing them to itch. I could barely see, because whatever light the moon provided was almost entirely eliminated by the trees.

Do you remember that time when I bitched about nature? Well guess what? IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!

I never liked the color green. It always reminded me of snot. Maybe that was one of the reasons that I hated foliage, but I couldn't ever quite figure that out. The cold had seemingly done nothing to the buzzing little bastards that constantly tried to swarm me. I fucking hate bugs, and if you don't, then you're weird.

Like, who invented these things? They were fucking nightmare fuel, for one, and all they did was fly around and sting people. Thankfully, I wasn't dealing with hornets, because fuck those things with a pineapple. They held all the hatred in the world within their tiny, yet efficient little bodies, and that terrified me. Anything that can get madder than me is a force to be reckoned with.

If I ever manage to breach the pearly gates, the first question I'll ask the big man upstairs is "WHY?! WHY THE FUCKING BUGS?!", before administering swift, unmerciful justice upon him... or her.

I mean, Ilias was this world's goddess. I was referring to the guy back home, but honestly, I'd be perfectly fine asking her that, because then I would rightfully extract humanity's pound of flesh from the being, as I would be getting vengeance for basically every living thing.

...Not like that was ever gonna happen, but hey, a man can dream.

Moral of the story: Fuck bugs, and everything they stand for. Especially ones with stingers. Fuck you, we don't need honeybees. The American continent was around for thousands of years without them. In fact, honeybees are killing the pollinators that already existed there. So seriously, fuck bees.

...I didn't even like honey anyways.

Anyways, I'm going to cut off that train of thought before this turns into a TED talk.

So I was in a bad mood. I was cold and irritable, and the flies and mosquitoes that circled me like fighter planes dancing around a WW1 era blimp certainly weren't helping. I smacked as many as I could, but they just kept coming.

I might've been making progress, but I might've also been going in the completely wrong direction. I didn't know, and that bothered me. I hadn't deviated from the direction I'd set, so I was definitely going somewhere. That thought didn't really comfort me, but it did motivate me to keep going. Whatever I'd find, it would be better than if I just stayed here. Besides, if I did run into a monster, I could interrogate them for directions back to Enrika. Most of the monsters in the area knew the place well, having friends of family there.

Yeah, Enrika had more than just elves and disguised angels. I just didn't really interact with them, so they were unimportant up to this point. Not all monsters in these woods lived there. In fact, many didn't. A lot of them seemed to like a more solitary life, and I could respect that. Still, they'd probably know the general location of the place.

I kept an eye out for any sign of movement. Of course, I didn't expect to actually find anything, considering the fact that it was nearly pitch-black, and that I had no idea how to spot people who were actively hiding. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

I was surprised at the lack of wild animals in these woods. Of course, there were squirrels and frogs and shit, but bigger stuff like wolves or bears just didn't really exist here. It was odd, but I wasn't complaining. I hated those things with a passion. If they weren't here, then that was a fucking blessing.

Suddenly, I felt a drop of water splash on my head. At first, I thought nothing of it.

Then there was another one. And another. And another. If you don't realize by now, it was starting to rain. It was like 40-something degrees out here (Fahrenheit.), and this rain was only going to make the already chilling cold even worse.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." I groaned loudly. "Fuck you, mother nature! You're probably just a whore, anyways!"

I was in a bad mood, if you couldn't tell. I was stranded in the forest, out in the freezing rain, and I had absolutely no fucking idea how to get back to the village. On a scale from one to ten, in terms of how fucked I was, I was probably at whatever the level a succubus was at. In other words, unless I just magically encountered a monster that knew of Enrika, I was shit outta luck.

I didn't want to walk in the rain. It was cold, and wet, and the ground would quickly turn to mud. Still, I had to persevere. I was getting tired, and I knew that if I sat down, I'd probably fall asleep, which, if you can't tell, is a real bad idea.

There really wasn't much to say about the situation. It sucked, but was mostly just boring. There's not much interesting going on here.

Apparently, the universe took my boredom as a challenge. As I was walking through the darkness, the ground began to rumble below me. I stopped for a moment, looking down in confusion.

Suddenly, a few feet ahead of me, a worm girl exploded from the ground, slinging mud everywhere. Some of it splashed against my shirt, ruining the red, which made me frown.

"...Could you not just splash everyone around you with mud?" I asked, my eye beginning to twitch. "It's kind of irritating."

The worm girl looked at me, flicking some dirt out of her hair as she smirked.

"Oh, wow." She said huskily, her voice having a seductive quality that I didn't quite like. "I didn't expect such a cute boy to be all alone out here."

I sighed, gripping the bloodstained sword as I glared at her, trying my hardest to keep myself from attacking right there.

"Look." I grunted, my voice strained with white-hot rage. "I've had a very long day, and now I just want to go home. Please just tell me where Enrika is, and we can both go our separate ways."

She laughed loudly, which didn't really help her case all that much.

"Oh, I've heard of you." She chuckled haughtily. "You're that kid that lives with that crazy elf."

I blinked. She knew of Yuri? That was... interesting. Still, she didn't seem like she was going to help me. But, I needed to get back to the village, so I tried once again.

"Good, then you know where I live." I deadpanned. "Now, could you please guide me back to Enrika. Yuri is probably really worried about me."

Her smirk turned vicious, and I felt my heart sink.

"You know, a lot of people dislike her..." She muttered, looking at me with an expression that showed nothing but hunger. "Could you imagine how she'd feel when the boy she's raising gets dumped onto her doorstep, fucked out of his mind?"

...What the fuck did I do to this lady? Like, I've never met her before. She might have some beef with Yuri, but that wouldn't make sense. Yuri wasn't usually one to cause conflict. I mean, there were exceptions, but you had to mess with her (or me) before she retaliated.

"And then she'd slaughter you." I spat. "Listen, I've killed like, three people today, and I'm absolutely willing to add a fourth to the list. Just point me in the direction of Enrika, or I'm gonna cut you to bits."

She seemed to pause for a moment, finally taking in the stains on my shirt, and the sword I held in my hand. Instead of being somewhat intimidated, which is what I was hoping for, she was more disgusted than anything.

"You're just like her." The worm girl growled, glaring at me. "She's entirely too violent, and I think she's passed that onto you."

I got into a combat stance, readying my sword. This wouldn't be an easy fight. I wasn't as familiar with a normal sword compared to a short-sword. It hadn't really mattered earlier because those heroes were basically fodder. The only danger with them was that there were multiple.

"Bitch, I was a violent mess long before I met Yuri." I grunted, my voice indignant. "Besides, you're literally planning to attack me. I just want to go home and sleep!"

She scoffed, waving her hand as if to say "I don't care for your words." It pissed me off.

"I think I'll have to show you a better way of life." She said, her voice falling back into the familiar seductive tone. "Just sit back, and let me do all the work~."

Like that, she began to slither towards me, closing the gap between us far quicker than I expected. She was far faster than she looked, it seemed. Immediately, she came in for a grab, trying to snake her long, slimy body around me as fast as possible. With a surprised shriek, I jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding being caught. In response to this, I thrusted my sword into the appendage, hoping to skewer it completely through. Unfortunately, it only went a few inches in before getting stuck. Considering the fact that the tail was over a foot thick, it probably just annoyed her, more than anything.

"OW!" She screeched, slamming her tail into me. I was sent flying, the sword being knocked out of my hand. With a loud thud, I crashed into the tree, crying out as pain exploded all across my back. My sword embedded itself in the ground, less than three inches away from my crotch. I wheezed upon realizing how close I'd just come to being castrated, gulping at the thought.

I saw the Worm girl prepare to charge towards me, so I grabbed the sword, and rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding her as her body slammed into the tree, nearly closing around me.

I scrabbled up to my feet, ignoring the fiery needles of pain that shot all throughout my torso as I did so. I must've broken something... I had to end this quickly, before I got too incapacitated to fight. I was gonna be honest, becoming a slave to a worm girl didn't really sound appealing in the slightest. If I were to ever lose in battle, my opponent better be hot.

As she turned to face me, I dashed forward, and brought my sword down upon her head. Her eyes widened upon seeing what was about to happen, so she dodged to the left. However, she wasn't fast enough to evade the full attack. The blade carved through her shoulder, traveling downward until it met the part where her torso transitioned into the long, worm-like tail that was her namesake. It wasn't immediately fatal. She'd probably bleed out pretty soon, but for now, she was still a serious threat.

She screamed in pain, her tail thrashing wildly as she convulsed. Of course, it hit me again, sending me skittering along the ground until I was stopped by another tree.

The pain in my torso was worse than before. It was bad enough to make tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision. I tried to keep from crying out as my body was wracked with agony.

The worm girl towered over me. She was absolutely covered in the red, which, at that moment, made her the most beautiful thing in the world. Though, she was starting to wobble somewhat. It seemed like blood loss was finally starting to kick in.

I tried to speak, but any noise I made came out as an agonized sob. My ribs were probably shattered, and my spine was probably damaged at least somewhat. I was honestly surprised that I could still feel my legs. Eventually though, I was able to force a few words out.

"Y-You've doomed yourself." I stated, trying to keep the sheer pain out of my voice. "Even if you kill me here, you'll bleed out in a c-c-couple minutes."

Her wound was practically a fountain, overflowing with the red. It was clear that her fate was sealed. Honestly, I was surprised she hadn't already dropped dead.

"Y-you... bastard." She managed to say, before dropping to the ground, her tail finally losing the ability to sustain her weight. She glared hatefully at me, now practically at eye-level with my broken body.

I glared at her.

"You're the one that assaulted me." I growled lowly, my voice quivering with pain. "You only have yourself to blame."

She responded with the most hateful look anybody had ever given me. Sure, I could understand why, but I wouldn't have killed her if she didn't attack me. Quite literally, she was at fault.

Weakly, she tried to move her tail, making an effort to strike me one last time. Her body refused to obey her, though, keeping her lying on the ground.

I watched her as the red continued to flow from her wound. Her eyes started to become cloudy, as if she was beginning to lose her sense of awareness. After around ten minutes of silence, the light finally faded from her eyes. Her breathing hitched as her chest rose, lowered, and then failed to rise again.

She was dead. I felt no remorse. She attacked me, and I defended myself. Like, don't get me wrong, I would've avoided fighting her if I could have, but that didn't mean that I felt bad for the killing.

Now though, I was starting to wonder how the hell I'd be able to get home. It hurt significantly to even breathe, so moving was definitely out of the question.

Well, I figured now was as good a time as any to take a nap. I couldn't move, and I couldn't defend myself, so what was the point of staying awake? I could've just passed time by staring at the wonderful red that was seeping from her corpse, but I was just so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open as is, and I imagined it would only get worse with time.

So, I closed my eyes, and let myself fade off to dreamland.

*LINEBREAK*

Yuri scanned the tracks intensely, following them through the darkness and rain. She moved quickly, though not fast enough to be considered a run. It would be harder to look at the direction the footprints were going if she just popped into a full-blown sprint.

As a child, she'd learned to track plenty of animals, as well as humans. At the time, she'd wondered why such a skill would be useful. Now though, she was very thankful for knowing it.

When Alex hadn't returned in twenty minutes, Yuri became worried. She'd walked out to the river, only to see the bucket abandoned, and a light set of footprints. So, she'd followed them, until she came upon the corpse of a human. There was a second one a few feet away, and off in the distance, there was a third.

There were multiple sets of tracks rushing off into the distance, which made a pit form in Yuri's stomach. Just what had happened here...?

She had no doubt that Alex was somehow involved, so she set off in the directions of the tracks, following them for a couple of hours. The twists and turns they made only confirmed in her mind that he had been chased. The thought of that made her blood boil, but she pushed that down. Right now, she had to find Alex. When she found him though...

Whoever messed with him would have hell to pay.

As the sky grew darker, she felt a sense of dread begin to overwhelm her. Alex would be alone in the forest, wandering blindly. There were plenty of monsters in the woods that disliked Yuri, as she had somewhat of a reputation, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume that someone would attack him just to mess with her.

Eventually, it started to rain, which only made her worry even more. She had to hurry now. He was out in the freezing rain, completely lost in the dark. If the monsters didn't get to him, then the cold would.

As she reached the top of the hill, her heart stopped as she took in the sight in front of her.

Alex was sprawled out on the ground, laying by a tree. Next to him, laid an obviously deceased worm girl, but Yuri didn't really care about her. Alex wasn't bleeding from what she could tell, but that didn't mean he wasn't injured internally.

As she quickly approached him, she noticed that his breathing was shallow, and labored. Something was very obviously wrong. Upon taking a closer look, she noticed with dawning horror that his chest was somewhat deformed. It took her another moment to realize that his ribs were shattered.

He was completely unconscious, which made her very nervous. He could die at any moment, and it wouldn't be immediately noticeable. She needed him to be awake.

"Alex." She whispered quietly in his ear. "You can't sleep here. Come on."

He shifted slightly, groaning as he did so.

"Yuri...?" He asked, his voice confused. "Is that you?"

After looking at her for a moment, he relaxed, sighing as he did so.

"Come on, get up. We need to get you back home."

He frowned, and shook his head. He raised one shaky arm, and pointed weakly to his chest.

"Can't get up." He grunted. "Chest... hurts too much."

Shit. She was right about his ribs, then. That was... an issue. She needed to get him to Micaela as quick as possible.

He cried out when she slipped her arm under him, which made her stop.

"Sorry." She said to him. "This is going to hurt, but I need to take you back."

He sighed, looking at her with tired eyes.

"Get it over with then." He muttered quietly. "I'll try not to yell too much."

Those words made a horrible feeling bloom in Yuri's heart. God, he was too young to be hurt like this. This was also the second time something like this had happened. She hadn't been paying attention to him the first time, as she was busy with the dark elf. It wouldn't have mattered. Micaela was right behind her, and by the time Yuri had been done with the foolish girl that dared to attack her son, he'd been fine. Micaela had later told her that it was serious, but she'd already dealt with it, so Yuri didn't feel too bad.

This was the first time she'd seen him hurt so badly, and it made her sick. She was supposed to protect him, damnit! She'd taken her eyes off of him for twenty fucking minutes, and he'd nearly died again.

She gingerly picked him up, wincing as she heard him bite back a scream.

"F-FUCK!" He roared. "Okay, this might be harder then I'd thought."

Yuri's heart sank as she realized how painful the trip back would be for him. But, she had to start. She held him as still as she could, trying to cause him the least amount of discomfort possible as she walked back towards the village. Still, every couple of steps she took elicited a quiet curse of pain.

This would definitely be a long night. They had about thirty minutes of walking to do. Thankfully, Yuri knew the forest well enough, so she could easily navigate it.

"So, what happened?" She asked him quietly as she continued onwards.

He sighed for a moment, before chuckling a bit.

"Well, it all started when I went to get some water..."

A/N: So, there's a couple things I need to address in this chapter. First of all, the only reason that Alex didn't have trouble with the humans was because they were basically fodder. The humans were used to fighting monsters that would prioritize pleasure attacks. They weren't equipped to deal with someone that was willing to kill them with a sword.

The whole scene with Yuri seems just a bit rushed to me. Still, as I look at it right now, I can't really figure out how to make it better. So, oh well, I guess. It's not like it's a big issue.

You might be wondering why the worm girl just popped out of the ground in front of him. Well, I just assumed that worm girls could just sense what was above them. I mean, how else would they hunt?