Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom
Chapter XXVII: Dual Desperate Situations
Location: Underneath Goldenia
As Albert and Grena found their way back to the sinkhole, the two were prepared to stand their ground right in this place. They had every intention on stopping the demonic forces from reaching the surface to invade Goldenia. As they were prepared to fight them off by any means necessary, the two were approached by somebody. The person in question was a demonic mage and her companion that followed with her. The mage in question was dead set on heading to the surface for her own personal reasons instead of for invading Goldenia. However not wanting to immediately trust her, Albert and Grena were prepared to attack her if need be. In return, the demonic mage was also prepared to fight them, not wanting to let them stop her from reaching the surface.
"You know, we could all just head up to the surface together." The mage demon said, rocking back and forth as she now held her staff behind her. "I've got all kinds of magic so I could easily help the two of you out of this place. You don't wanna be stuck underground forever do you?
"Of course not." Albert answered. "But you're most likely non-trustworthy and are trying to device us."
"You have no proof!"
"You were with all of those demons back there when we first showed ourselves in front of your kind." Grena pointed out. "I saw you. For all we know, they could've been the ones to put you up to this. So like hell I'm just gonna believe a damn thing you say."
The mage demon looked away from the two for a moment. "Well, I can't really argue when you throw that logic at me." She then shrugged. "Alright. I get it. You don't see any reason to trust a demon like me and for that reason we can't just all agree to let me waltz on up to the surface and look at the world above the caves."
"While you're certainly more human-like than the others, yes." Albert replied. "You're suspicious. I can't just allow you to leave. But if you think you can make us change our minds, then by all means. I can't stop you from talking."
"That's... not really one of my strong points, though. I'm still young. I don't get all this negotiating and bargaining stuff."
"So there's nothing you can say to make us change our minds, huh kid?" Grena said, folding her arms.
"The name's Rita, Old Lady." The mage demon responded.
"Old lady?!"
Albert held his hand out in front to keep Grena from rushing in.
"Rita, is it?" Albert started to say. "If you can at least tell us your name, then perhaps could at least make an attempt to give us a reason to trust you to behave yourself outside of the sinkhole."
"Why are you people suddenly talking to me like I'm a little kid?!" the mage demon, known as Rita groaned. "I'll have you know I'm old enough to take care of myself!"
"I've been taking care of myself since I was a kid. Your point?" Grena said, actively shutting down Rita's argument.
"Argh! You're no fun!"
"We'll stop treating you like a child unintentionally, alright?" Albert cuts in. "Just both of you, try not to break out into a fight right now. If Rita doesn't want to fight, then we shouldn't make her unless necessary." He then turns his head to face Rita. "And for that reason, we need you to take. Anything you can say will be nice to hear."
"And don't try to get smart with us and go off on an unimportant tangent either." Grena added on.
Rita sighed. "Are all humans like this?" She rubbed her head with her hand that wasn't holding her staff. "Alright. alright. I guess I'll give it a shot. Let's see here... Well, for starters I'm just really interested in the human world. I'm a half-breed. Half man, half demon. I've seen the demon part of the world down here and..." Rita shivers in disgust. "It's awful. I'd like to get away from those guys if I'm being honest. So can I go now?"
Albert and Grena sweatdropped. She wasn't kidding about talking not being her strong point. While she did get straight to the point, she also gave as little info about her as possible before asking to leave.
"Think you could tell us a little more?" Albert asked. "For starters, where are your parents? Wouldn't they want to come with you?"
"Doubt it." Rita answered. "They died a long time ago."
"I see... My apologies. I didn't realize-"
"Don't sweat it. I didn't care for them anyway. Talk about them all you like. It won't bother me."
"Don't care for them?" Grena asked surprised. "What the hell do you mean you don't care for them?"
"I mean I don't care for them. Heck, I can't even remember what they look like. All I know, is that one of them was human. And so that's where I came from."
"So you're going to the world above because you want to know what was your human parent's life like up there?"
"I don't know if they were ever up there, but I just wanna see what humans are like. I'm willing to bet they're better to hang with than these demons." Rita looked away and muttered. "Hopefully they're not as annoying as you two are."
"We can hear you, you know." Grena said with an annoyed expression.
"Anyways, are we done here?"
Albert and Grena looked at one another, the two realizing that Rita wasn't going to talk about herself in much detail that would make them trust her easier. The mage demon in question hadn't even talked about whether or not she should be trustworthy. While they did feel some sympathy for her being a half-breed as she claims, they weren't set on just letting her go past them.
"It was nice learning about you and all but..." Albert started to say. "We can't just let you pass."
"So that's how it is huh?" Rita sighed. "Alright. Guess we'll just have to fight for my freedom then."
"You know, if you hold tight here and let us deal with the rest of your demon friends or joined with us, then we might be willing to let you go peacefully once we've taken out all your back up."
"Normally, I'd be alright with sitting on the sidelines." Rita spins her staff around and points it at the two. "But technically, the demons back there are like the family that I don't want in a way. They practically raised me when I wasn't raising myself so I feel like it would be a good thing to repay them. So I guess that I should at least try to weaken you two for them." Rita tilted her hat downward as Tau growled. "Alright. I don't wanna do this as much as you don't, but here we go. So prepare yourselves, I guess."
Grena cracked her knuckles. "You wanna get up there so badly, you'll take us on by yourselves instead of waiting for your allies to come and back you up. You've got some major guts if anything. But you can't just go up there without a fight."
Albert sighed, as he hoped to avoid all of this. "Looks like we don't have any other options."
"Nope."
That was the last thing Rita said before she dragged her finger across her hat. Ready to go, she and Tau both ran forward to engage Albert and Grena. Grena smirked as her fists became engulfed in her own flames. She charged at the demonic mage ready to start throwing her fiery punches. Albert followed after her, keeping his guard up as he drew his sword. As Grena and Rita approached each other, several light yellow glyphs started to appear on the sides of Rita and Tau all of a sudden. Before Grena realized it, the demonic mage and her companion had switched from running to her, to running on air at an angle, glyphs appearing in front of them and then disappearing behind them. Confused, the chain wielding mercenary momentarily let down her guard. The demonic mage and her companion then both leaped away from the glyphs they were running on and towards Grena. Tau leaped onto Grena's shoulder and back up into the air while Rita spun around and kicked Grena in the face, knocking her to the side. As Tau landed on the ground, the companion soon had to leap back into the air as a bolt of lightning struck the ground, coming from Albert's hand.
Rita was about to focus her attention on Albert as Tau landed on her shoulder. Suddenly, she was alerted as she could see Grena moving out of the corner of her eye. Looking behind her, Grena had spun back up and threw out a kick that sent a wave of flame diagonally to the demonic mage. She quickly ducked, and then held up her staff in front of her to block a swing from Albert's sword. Spinning her staff around, she managed to move Albert to the side as she got back up, then held her staff behind her as it collided against Grena's fist, a mini explosion kicking up due to this. Spinning her entire body around, she manages to block both Albert and Grena's attacks from in front and behind her using her staff. Tau suddenly lunges at Grena's leg, biting the woman to get her attention off of her Rita. It works as Grena lets off of Rita in order to force off Tau, who jumped away from leg in response. This allowed Rita to spin her staff around to try and knock away Albert. As she knocked his sword away however, he spun his blade around and sent out a wave of lightning towards his opponent. Rita dodged the attack, and then ducked underneath a swing from Albert's sword.
The two found themselves clashing against each other one-on-one now. Coming into a deadlock, Albert and Rita pushed their weapons against one another to try and get the upper hand. The demonic mage found herself losing severely in this instance as her opponent's physical strength was far superior to hers. Albert was pushing Rita backwards as the two clashed against each other. Seeing how much she was being pushed back, she had no choice but to force her way out and gain some distance between.
"Vento Tormento (Wind Cannon)!"
A large burst of wind shot out of the head of Rita's staff. The demonic mage shot herself backwards to the side in order to get away from Albert, who stumbled forward as he didn't expect her sudden getaway. Launching herself into the air, another spell glyph appeared behind her. Rita landed feet first on the glyph to stop herself and then kicked off of it to launch herself back at Albert. The two's weapons clashed once again as Rita came back to the ground. Rolling before picking herself up, she backed out of the way another swing from Albert's blade. Spinning her staff around, the demonic mage then held it out in front of her.
"Fluctus Terrae (Earth Wave)!"
Rita's staff started to glow as the earth underneath it begin to shoot up as a giant earthen wave shot out of the ground, crashing straight into Albert and knocking the man a few feet back. As he fell, Rita was looking to use this as a chance to rush him. But before she could do so, she found herself on the defensive as Albert fired a spark of electricity from his right hand. She then tried to go on the defensive again. However by the time she was ready, she was surprised to see that Albert had already recovered after firing that last blast of energy, and that he was already right on top of her about to attack with his sword.
"He's so fast...!" Rita exclaimed.
Meanwhile Grena was busy sent wave after wave of flames at Rita's companion, Tau. Due to its small size, Tau was quite agile and could easily avoid all of the chain wielding mercenary's attacks. It moved in close and then lashed out a Grena using its claws to swipe at the areas of her body that her clothes were not covering. Feeling the sting from Tau's claws, Grena growled and continued to push through the pain. Slamming her fist on the ground she created several pillars of flames all around her as Tau lunged in for another attack. The companion found itself being knocked back by the sudden blow. As it recovered, Grena rushed at Tau, turning herself into a fireball as she rolled towards Tau. The companion jumped over Grena's first rush, to which the chain wielding mercenary changed course and went back on the offensive again. Missing the second time, she came to a stop and turned to face her opponent. Looking at her arms she noticed that a light burn mark could be seen.
"Damn it." She said. "This is really difficult without my chains at full- ACK!"
Grena was interrupted as Tau suddenly jumped on her and bit her, sinking its teeth into the side of her abdomen.
"Get off me! Get off me!" Grena exclaimed. She pushed against the companion to try and force it off, only for Tau to sink its teeth down even more. "Shit, it's getting worse! I said get off! This hurts like hell!"
Grena ignited her hands and aimed at Tau. Before it could jump away, Grena fired a blast of flames from her hands at the same time Tau let off from biting the side of her stomach region.
Meanwhile Rita found herself rolling along the ground after she was knocked back due to a kick from Albert. As she got back up, he was already right next to her with a knee to the gut, stunning her as she stumbled back. Albert suddenly moved behind her with blinding speeds. By the time Rita turned around, Albert elbowed her in the jaw, knocking her back once again. As he moved over for another attack, Rita managed to hold up her staff to blow this one as she pulled herself up. Rita tried to get some distance once again, but Albert's speed was more than she accounted for. Fortunately for her, she was able to still block whenever he swung his sword, as his speed seemed to slow down some when his arms are swinging his weapon. Rita was forced into a melee fight against Albert, colliding her staff against his sword. Looking for an opening, she danced around her staff to perform a roundhouse kick but Albert moved out of the way. He attacked from behind to which Rita managed to lean back and duck under. She thrusts her staff forward and landed a shot into his gut, catching her opponent off guard. Stepping back, she pointed her staff at Albert once again.
"Flamma Altilium (Flame Battery)!"
Two balls of fire shot out of Rita's staff and towards Albert. As he recovered from the gut shot, he manages to dodge the first fireball and parry away the second one using his sword. Rita then rushed to him, spinning her staff around as it lit aflame. Albert was put on the offensive, dodging flames left and right as Rita spun her staff around as she approached him. He attempted to back dash quickly in order to get away, and fired a spark of lightning towards Rita. The demonic mage dragged her staff along the ground and sent a burst of flames towards her opponent, countering the lightning blast from Albert. The lightning user then used this as a chance to rush in and attack the demonic mage while she's off guard. Moving in close, he brought his sword down diagonally from the left. Rita held her staff out above her, but was still knocked to the side due to Albert's strength. As she quickly recovered, she fired another ball of fire from her staff, which Albert avoids with ease. He catches Rita with a slash to the side, forcing her to stumble back.
As Rita caught her balance once again, she then saw Tau skid over beside her from behind. Looking back, she saw Grena coming down on the two, holding a large fireball in her hands. Throwing it towards Rita and Tau, she then shot herself downwards after it.
"Gravitatis Tormento: Deinceps (Gravity Cannon: Forward)!"
Holding her staff upwards, Rita caused a large purple glyph to appear in the sky right behind where the fireball Grena launched would fall. As the fireball fell past this glyph it was suddenly launched in a different direction, sending it towards Albert as the glyph disappeared. The lightning user avoided the redirected attack and rushed at Rita, while Grena was coming down on her at the same time. Quickly, a glyph appeared under Rita's companion Tau, the companion suddenly sinking into the glyph until it was gone, the glyph vanishing as well. Rita managed to narrowly avoid a slash from Albert's sword. She then held her staff out and parried off Grena's fist, a miniature explosion being kicked up as Grena landed on the ground.
The two were prepared to rush and attack Rita who stood in between them, looking back and forth. Grena went in first, throwing several punches and kicks that Rita proceeded to block using her staff, spinning it around rapidly to use the head to block the chain wielding mercenary's attacks. The demonic mage then stood her pole upright and spun around it, attempting to use the momentum to land a blow on Grena. She threw several kicks and end with a punch, which were all avoided. Quickly, she held her staff up and blocked against Grena's fists slamming down. Rita threw a punch into Grena's abdomen and caught her off guard. She then spun around and held her staff out to block an attack from Albert's sword, then proceeding to jump and duck under two more slashes from the sword wielder. Spinning her staff around, she blocked more attacks from Albert swinging his sword. The demonic mage managed to stun the sword wielder momentarily by poking him in the head with the bottom of her staff, just in time to defend from a flaming kick courtesy of Grena.
"Flame Driver!"
"Electron Blade!"
Grena spun around again and prepared to bring her left leg down upon her opponent. As she did so, her leg suddenly became engulfed in flames, allowing her to bring it down with even more force to take down the demonic mage. Albert gripped his sword with both of his hands, the blade suddenly being surrounded by electrical energy. Swinging it back, it was clear to see that his blade was full of electricity. He rushed at Rita, bring his blade down with the intent to end this as well. Rita looked back and forth between the two coming at her from both direction. Quickly she spun her staff around and held it horizontally, allowing her to block both attacks. As they all collided Rita groaned loudly as she felt herself being pushed down. The force of Grena's flaming kick was pushing down on one end, and Albert's strong, electric strike wasn't helping the demonic mage either. Dropping to one knees, Rita was breathing heavily as she still managed to keep them from fully defeating her. With one burst of strength, she manages to spin her staff around and force Grena and Albert to be knocked to the sides. Not wasting any time as she realized that taking them both on was suicide for her, she sprung back up and pointed her staff at Grena.
"Stiria Chorus (Icicle Dance)!"
Before Grena could recover, Rita's staff had a light blue glow around it as several glyphs quickly appeared in front of her. All of a sudden, icicles started to fire out of these glyphs, striking and impaling Grena in multiple places. As the fire wielder screamed in pain from the attack, the glyphs disappeared and reappeared behind Grena and fired more icicles. The glyphs then did the same thing multiple times in many different directions. Grena was struck all over and could not find time to avoid or counter against this. In the midst of this, Rita suddenly came at her with the head of her staff now sporting an icicle on the top. Dancing around as the icicles continued to be fired from the glyphs, Rita slashed at the fire wielder with her icicle staff, striking her in multiple spots. Soon, the icicle on the staff melted and the glyphs disappeared. Just in time, as Rita had barely managed to jump over one of Albert's attacks. Grena however, wasn't okay after that assault. The chain wielding mercenary had dropped to all fours as blood was pouring out of all her wounds. She attempted to ignite flames all over her body in order to burn her wounds from the icicles closed so that she could continue fighting.
Rita spun her staff around and ran forward in an attempt to strike Albert, who easily went on the defensive using his speed to his advantage. He then spun around and swung in sword for a counterattack. Rita spun her staff around and blocked using the head of it. She then managed to narrowly avoid a blast of lightning from Albert's palm. A glyph appeared beside Rita as she then jumped into the air onto it, now at a ninety-degree angle. She jumped off of the glyph and swung her staff horizontally, managing to strike Albert across the head. As she landed, she then had to dodge out of the way as the lightning user swung his sword and sent a wave of electricity towards her in response. Facing Albert, she grabbed hold of her hat in one hand and pointed the head of her staff at her opponent.
"Terrestria Trabes (Terrestrial Beam)!"
Her staff started to grow a brownish color as it suddenly fired off a powerful blast towards Albert. The sword wielder was struck by a blast that felt like it contained a powerful force that felt like a giant island had just collided with him at high speeds. Albert was knocked back a great distance, being knocked into Grena and send her flying backwards as well. The two crashed against a wall and then fell to the ground, both injured thanks to Rita's powerful attack. As the two of them slowly started to pick themselves back up, they looked up and saw Rita using her glyphs to run up into the air above them. As she was positioned almost directly over them, she flipped into the air, spinning her staff around as she did so. She was right above the two of them and proceeded to aim her staff downward as she was prepared to use another attack. Albert and Grena steeled themselves for whatever the demonic mage was about to do next.
"Gravitatis Semen: Descendit (Gravity Seed: Down)!"
Rita fired off a circular wave from her staff that struck the area all around where Albert and Grena had fallen to. At first it seemed like the spell that Rita used did nothing, prompting the two to look around confused. Suddenly the ground underneath them started to shake vigorously. Looking around they could see a good portion of the ground that they were standing on starting to collapse and fall downwards. Seeing this, the two immediately tried to move in order to get to higher ground before they fell with it. However the moment they did, they suddenly collapsed to the slab of ground they were stuck on as well. Grena tried to pull herself up the most, to no avail. The same happened with Albert.
"What gives?!" Grena exclaimed. "I can't move for shit!"
"That spell of hers..." Albert groaned. "It's messing with gravity! Not only is it forcing us down, but this entire piece of rock is going to fall too!"
Just as Albert predicted, the slab that the two were stuck on suddenly started to fall and slide down the wall of the sinkhole. The two found themselves being sent back to the bottom while Rita walked down slowly via her glyphs. After keeping an eye on the two of them for long enough, she turned around and started walking upward with the intent of going to the surface. Grena growled as she watched her get away. Using all the strength in her body, she conjured up another fireball within her left hand. With one large push she managed to look up and move her arm, throwing the fireball straight at Rita in an attempt to knock her to the ground along with them. As the demonic mage was walking, she heard the fireball approaching her and slowly turned around. She gasped and jumped off the glyphs she was walking on, holding her hat as she was falling a couple of feet. Quickly, she recreated her glyphs once again, allowing her to stop falling and stand in midair. The demonic mage watched as Grena was once again taken over by the force of gravity, unable to attack and heading straight down along with Albert.
"Well..." Rita said, smiling. "That was surprisingly entertaining." The demonic mage started to walk down after Albert and Grena, seemingly intrigued by the two. "I had no idea that humans would be capable of performing such amazing feats like that."
Appearing on her shoulder via another glyph was Tau, who sat obediently upon its master's shoulder. Rita pets Tau with her free hand.
"We'll head back up after this Tau." She said. "I wanna go check on them real quick."
Location: 8th Floor, Goldenia
"Alright, which way now?"
"Keep heading forward! I can see you two from here!"
With the group back on the eighth floor, things had not managed to go as they planned. Ragna, Monika, and Feena had gotten the help of Mina and Mona, alongside Chat Noir and Reina, in order to rescue Goblin Mage after the Imperial Army kidnapped her. As they arrived on the eighth floor, the plan that they had come up with seemed to be completely thwarted. Goblin Mage was moved to the eighteenth floor where the main castle was located. Imperial soldiers were now completely aware of the entire group being located on the eighth floor. This forced the gang of seven to run into the populated cities and find a building to hide in. As of now, the only ones who were still out on the streets and being chased were Ragna and Reina. The imperial soldiers were not far behind them, the two attempting to push their way through the crowded streets to find out where the rest of the group was hiding.
"How the hell can you see anything with all these people in the way!?" Ragna asked internally to the others. "We can barely see ahead of us so we're following your instructions you know!"
"I know that!" Monika responded in her thoughts. I'm telling you, you're close! Just keep straight. You'll come up on the building that we're hiding in eventually. I'm sure of it!"
"By any chance, is it a large, two-story building on this street by any chance?" Reina asked.
"It is. We're hiding in one like that"
"Then I hope that this is the same one."
Spotting a building that matched the one Monika and Reina pointed out, the latter accompanied by Ragna made a beeline for this building. Their progress was slow due to the amount of people moving throughout the floor. Thankfully, the two managed to move through fast enough that nobody was able to try and get to Ragna or really recognize who he is. Though they did occasionally hear people actually recognize him, constantly saying things in response. Suddenly as the two started to pass by this building, they stopped as they saw Chat Noir's hat waving around in the opened door hole. They knew that this had to be the building they were looking for. Quickly running in, they managed to reunite with the rest of the group. Feena and Chat Noir quickly shut the door to the building they were hiding in.
"Where'd you guys ever find this?" Ragna asked as he looked around.
"The building itself looked like what seems to be the interior to a large restaurant. Though the place currently looked like that it was beyond business hours, but it wasn't abandoned. Tables and chairs had been put up. There was a bar counter that had been cleaned off, locks being on the cabinets behind the counter. The doors to places such as the kitchen were all locked. There was a nearby staircase that led to a room upstairs, though it was also locked.
"I've been here before." Chat Noir replied. "I saw Feena running towards this place and figured we could hide here for a while once she got in."
"It took me a while to break through the lock though." Feena added on, carrying two of the chairs to put in the way of the door. "Now that the lock's broken, there's no way that it'll hold up if they manage to find us."
"Which I'm afraid is most likely to be soon." Reina sighed. "They were dangerously close to us when we made a run for this building."
"What do we do now?" Mina asked.
"Do we know where Mage is?" Ragna asked.
"I can only assume that she's somewhere on a higher floor now." Chat Noir answered. "They most likely moved her upwards to keep us from reaching her easily like I almost managed to do."
"Great. Now we've got to head even further up."
"What if they catch us...?" Mona asked in a worried tone. "What do you think that they're gonna do to us?"
"There's no telling at this point..." Monika responded with a sigh. "We have a chance to catch our breath so we need to use it for as long as we-"
Monika was interrupted at the sounds of banging on the blockaded door. The group all jumped to attention the moment they heard the banging from outside.
"Already?!"
"I heard someone in here!"
"The door's not locked but we can't get through. Someone's got to be in here!"
"They're way too quick...!" Reina scowled.
"We've gotta figure something out!" Feena said, moving a table in the way of the door.
"We'll hide upstairs." Chat Noir said, pointing to the locked door on the stairway. "Give me a few seconds. I'll have that lock picked in an instant."
"Please hurry!" Mona exclaimed.
As Chat Noir went to picking the lock so that they could get upstairs, Ragna and the others started stacking up a barricade in order to keep the imperial soldiers out of the building till they could get away. After they created the barricade, they also used themselves to reinforce it for the time being, though the imperial soldiers were also giving it all of their might in order to open this door. Suddenly the group heard a faint whistle from above. Looking up, Chat Noir had managed to open the door to upstairs and signaled them to quickly come up. Leaving the barricade, they all ran upstairs immediately, Mina shutting the door as she was the last one.
The area upstairs appeared to be some sort of storage room, with a two windows that led outside. There were several crates and boxes all in the storage room as well. Looking around, Ragna found the heaviest box and placed it in front of the door they just came through. Feena slowly made her way up to the window and looked outside. She went wide eyed upon seeing what awaited them.
"Be honest." Reina said to her. "How bad we looking at?"
"Real bad." Feena replied. "Soldiers have the door completely surrounded. What's more is that I can see Alexiel, Aglovale, and Vira all out there as well. We're practically surrounded with no route to escape. Most likely Predator's somewhere where I couldn't see her too. We're held up in here and if we try anything we're more than likely to be caught."
"So we have lost, it seems..." Mina said.
"Hey, Chat Noir." Ragna said to the phantom thief. "You're used to being in impossible situations. How the hell should we get out of here?"
"Well I know how I would get out of here." Chat Noir sighed. "But I don't think you guys would be able to move through the shadows like I do. So they'd catch you with ease."
"What about your abilities, Reina?" Feena asked the maid mercenary. "Don't you have some type of power that could I don't know, make us invisible or something? Anything so that we can't be seen?"
"I'm learning about the Reaper's powers everyday..." Reina said as she looked down. "I don't know how to do anything of the sort as of right now."
"There has to be something that we can do to get out here!" Mona panicked. "If we can't get out of here, they'll catch us and then we'll all be in trouble! There's no telling what they'd do to us, especially Mina and I considering we're traitors to them now...!"
"Mona, please! Don't panic!" Mina exclaimed, trying to calm her sister down. "We'll get through this... I know we will..."
"I hate to admit it but it looks like the only way to get out of here is to give up." Ragna said in a defeated tone. "It hurts like hell to give up to these guys but... If there's a chance we can get up there an rescue Mage..."
"I'm sorry I dragged you all into this..." Feena sighed. "We were so close to leaving, and I just had to fail and lose to Predator..."
"Don't be sorry." Mina said. "It's not right that you should be the one apologizing when it was your friend who stolen."
"...Feena." Monika suddenly said, having been quiet since they got into this storage room. "Can you take a look outside for me? One more time."
"Huh?" Feena said confusedly. "Okay?"
Feena took one more peek outside, trying to stay out of sight. As she did so the group started to hear the barricade downstairs being broken through and the soldiers filling into the restaurant.
"Monika? What's the point of this?" Feena questioned.
"Do you see anything right outside the window?" Monika asked. "Like a latter or a balcony or anything of the sort?"
"There's an emergency latter hanging right below this window. Why? We can't all just climb out and run away."
"You don't have to. I'll be the one to climb out here. You guys will be able to walk right out the front door once I'm done."
Everyone turned to look at Monika, shocked.
"The hell are you on about?" Ragna questioned.
"If I can get out of here alone, then I can sneak off and cause a disturbance somewhere else on the floor. If I can do that, and I let them find me, they might think that you all will have to be somewhere near me, and not here. I'll lead as many of them as possible on a wild goose chase, and the rest of you can sneak off to one of the lifts. Get up to one of the higher floors and try to find Mage."
"That's ridiculous. You're asking us to run away and leave you down here alone. Don't you realize you're asking to be caught?"
"I've said it before, I don't want to lose any of you. You all have your whole lives ahead of you and they don't need to end here, whether they were good or bad. Allow me to be the one who takes this risk and could possibly be arrested for all of this. Me, and me alone."
"You have a life to live too you know-!"
"I'm fine with throwing mine away for this."
"What?!"
"Monika, don't say that!" Feena exclaimed. "you can't go at this by yourself! Let one of us come with you! We'd have a better chance at getting away that way."
"I can't do that." Monika responded, shaking her head. "Get ready to run, all of you."
"But-!"
"Allow her to do what she wants." Reina cut in. "These are the words of a woman who's willing to put her life on the line before she lets anyone else. She doesn't want to see us possibly perish out there and so she'll risk perishing herself. What we need to do, is make sure that she doesn't have to pay a heavy price for this plan of hers. And we can do that by finding Feena's friend."
"...Monika..." Mina said. "You're a brave woman. You remind me so much of Mena with that bravery." Mona was surprised to see Mina say that. Mina walked over and then grabbed Monika's right hand with her own. "If we get out of this... no, WHEN we get out of this. I want to take you up on your offer earlier."
"Mina..." Monika said surprised. "You mean..."
Mina nodded. "I'll come with you and look for my sister's murderer that way. "
Monika smiled and shook Mina's hand. "Then I'll make sure to come back in one piece after all this is over."
"Me too."
Mona looked away from the two as the agreed on this. The girl was trying to hide how she truly felt, seeing as her sister was basically turning against her and the rest of the imperial army for good this time. She was afraid that she might lose Mina. Though as much as she tried to hide her disapproval, everyone else in the room picked up on this from her facial expressions.
"Alright." Monika said to everyone as she let go of Mina's hand. "Let's move!"
Before anyone else could say anything, Monika made her way towards the open window. Holding her hat and having her sword and peacemaker around her waist, she leaped out and jumped out the window, grabbing hold of the ladder underneath it. As she was about to try and take off, she suddenly noticed a large billboard on top of one of the nearby buildings. Looking down, she could see that the imperial soldiers and prime ministers were all near that building as well, along with civilians. Hanging onto the ladder with one hand, she pulled out her peacemaker and aimed at the supports keeping the billboard upward. Quickly, she fired off two round from her weapon, and hugged the ladder against the wall to try and stay out of view.
-x-
Near the building around this time, the imperial soldiers had been patrolling the area as several other soldiers were storming into the restaurant that the others were hiding in. Civilians were also constantly asking the imperial army about what was going on, and even trying to get to speak with the prime ministers. The soldiers managed to keep them back however. While that went on, Alexiel, Aglovale, and Vira were all waiting around to hear back from their soldiers. The three of them didn't have anything else to really do at the time as they believed that they had cornered the group. Alexiel was sitting on the ground, her back against the building where the billboard was stationed on. Aglovale had been standing next to the same building with his sword drawn and pointed down. Vira had been walking around the area, trying to pass the time. The three had been mostly quiet until Vira yawned and started to speak, breaking the silence.
"Why must they waste time like this?" Vira said while stretching her arms. "They are in there, right?"
"The soldiers were sure that they saw two of them head in there." Alexiel said. "We've searched the rest of the city, there isn't many places they could be. What are they hoping to accomplish by delaying the inevitable?" The redhead clenched her fist. "Especially that one..."
"If they're truly in there then we'll find out soon." Aglovale commented. "For now, we just have to be patient."
"Vengeance cannot stand waiting forever." Vira and Alexiel both said, both for different reasons.
Aglovale sighed in response. "My level of tolerance most likely will expire before their patience."
Suddenly the sound of two gunshots rang out above them all. The three quickly held their hands on their weapons and were alert. Looking around, they didn't see the source of the gunshots. All of a sudden, they heard the sound of metal scrapping above them. Alexiel looked up, and saw the billboard above them starting to fall forward, and completely fell off the building and headed towards the ground. The imperial soldiers quickly ushered the panicking civilians out of the way, trying to move as many as they could in a short time. Before it could hit the ground, Alexiel dropped her zweihander and held her hands up, catching the billboard with her hands. The weight of it managed to make Alexiel fall to one knee upon catching it. However, she managed to push it back up with ease.
Aglovale and Vira quickly cleared out the area in front of Alexiel in order for the redhead to have somewhere to drop the billboard safely without anybody getting hurt. After all of the people including the two of them were out of the way, Alexiel dropped it forward. The billboard fell right in front of her, hitting the ground away from everyone else. The drop of the billboard and the panicking of the people attracted many of the imperial soldiers to come into the streets, leaving the restaurant alone and walking away from it.
"What the hell happened?!" Vira asked, looking upward. "Why did that billboard suddenly fall?"
"Those gunshots must've been aimed at it." Alexiel stated, then turning to the soldiers. "Whoever aimed and fired at the billboard must be nearby. Find them!"
The soldiers quickly started to spread out and search the floor for the attacker. A few of them stayed near the restaurant for the time being per Vira's orders. Alexiel and Aglovale ran off as well to search the floor.
-x-
Monika was looking down from the latter that she was on, and saw the multitude of soldiers outside starting to spread out. She hopped up to where she could be seen through the restaurant's storage room window. Looking at the group, she gave them a thumbs up before letting go of the latter and jumping up to the roof of the building using her abilities with wind. Looking around, she didn't see anybody positioned on any of the nearby roofs. Looking around and keeping her head low she dashed and jumped off the restaurant's roof and onto another building. Continuing to look around, she was picking and choosing her paths based on how many soldiers she could see searching around in that area. Hopping between several buildings, she managed to stay out of sight and was about two to three buildings away from the restaurant. Looking around, she noticed another building nearby that was taller than the one she was on. Looking through the windows, she squinted her eyes to try and determine whether or not anybody was inside the building and near the windows. Lying down for a good half a minute, she was able to determine that if she were to fire at the windows on the two highest floors of the building, she wouldn't put anyone at risk of getting hit. Quickly she aimed her peacemaker and fired four shots, hitting four of the windows on the top floor.
Afterwards, Monika quickly jumped to another building beside the one that she was on. Looking down, she could see that several soldiers that were searching near the area around the restaurant were brought over to this building instead. Their area of search had expanded, and she could see that even Vira had to leave from near the restaurant. Knowing that her strategy of drawing them out was working, she continued on, and made a run for the buildings behind her. Dropping down afterwards, she landed on the ground behind a building that was a good distance away from the restaurant.
"If I can keep making them think that there's something going on here, then I should be able to lure them a good distance away from everyone." Monika said to herself. "I just have to keep causing problems and lure them out.
Monika looked up and then fired off several rounds into the air. This got the attention of many people and a few soldiers in the area. Before she could be seen she ran into a nearby alleyway, allowing part of her to still be seen as she went into the alley. Due to this, people were able to point out to the soldiers that they had seen someone walk into the alleyways very quickly. Before she could be found, she jumped up to a nearby building using wind, and held onto the roof. She was dangling down as she watched the soldiers search the alleyway and then quickly pulled herself up. By now, she had attracted attention to a wide area, to the point that the imperial army were bound to be spread out looking for her.
"That should be enough of a distraction." She said. "Now, it's time to really get their attention."
Monika leaped off the building she was on and was moving right above the streets, plain for all eyes to see. The soldiers all looked up and saw her flying through the sky towards another nearby building. With her now having their attention, she made it look like she was attempting a getaway and started running across several buildings. Monika gathered the attention of many people as she ran around. By this time, the imperial army was completely spread out and trying to catch wherever she would be. Arriving at a building with a latter going all the way to the top, that is where she decided to stop. Monika stood proud atop this building and stared out into the people approaching it.
-x-
"Prime Minister! It's one of the fugitives! We've spotted them!"
Meanwhile, the word of Monika being spotted had gotten to the ears of Aglovale, Vira, and Alexiel. The three all being nearby as they couldn't seem to find anything in the places they searched.
"Where is she?" Vira asked.
"She's been cornered on a building north of here." The soldier reported. "She doesn't seem to be making any attempt to try and get away. She's just standing there."
"She's trying to bait us for something." Aglovale stated. "Chances are, we were close to finding them, and now they've managed to get away. They've started to cause trouble around in an attempt to lure us somewhere. And she's playing the key role."
"But if we don't go after her..." Alexiel wondered.
"Then our last plan may have just gone out of the window." Vira answered. "We'll leave the soldiers here to keep an eye on where we originally thought we had them cornered and then we can go see what she's up to."
"Very well." Aglovale agreed.
Alexiel only nodded. The three quickly ran over to where they had been informed where Monika was.
Meanwhile back at the restaurant, the number of soldiers within the area had shrunk drastically. At this time, there was only about four soldiers left, three of them wielding swords while one of them carried a musket. All of them were wandering around on the ground level as they couldn't breach the storage room. Because of this, they found themselves lounging around. The soldiers had let their guard down after not hearing anything coming from the storage room. They had taken off their helmets and were just hanging out, conversating.
"Man, why do we have to sit around here?" The first soldier complained, sitting in a chair he leaned against a wall. "There isn't a single peep from anything that's upstairs. They probably left already. We're just wasting our time, y'know?"
"I don't see why you're complaining." The second soldier said, searching around the kitchen. "It just means less work for us. Just wish I could find a key to the fridges around here. I'm starving."
"I could use the time off." The female soldier commented, leaning against her musket. "I'm not used to having to be up this late at night."
"All of this is crazy anyways." The second female soldier said, cleaning off her helmet. "Did they really need to call this many of us in just to handle such a small group?"
"Apparently the imperial army's been having trouble catching these guys for a long time now." The second soldier said.
"There has to be some reason that they're struggling." The female soldier suggested.
"Ain't no way they've been giving them that much trouble." The first soldier replied, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. "We're the largest kingdom of Man there is in Riverbrandt and with one of the largest military forces in the world. Imagine how shitty our reputation would get if Goldenia is getting screw over by a couple of random punks, am I right?" The soldier lit the cigarette he placed in his mouth.
"Who knows?" The second female soldier said in response. "All I know is we have some time off to-"
"What do you four think you're doing?!"
The four soldiers were all interrupted at the sounds of a voice coming from the entrance. All turning around and standing up at attention, what the saw was Mina standing in the entrance, her rapier pointed down at the ground.
"Who's..." The first female soldier started to ask.
"Newly appointed Captain in the Imperial Army of Goldenia, Mina." She stated. "All personnel have been ordered to search the eighth floor for our targets and yet I find several soldiers sitting around in such a relaxed state. Why are you four lounging around in this restaurant!?"
"Ah, crap-!" The soldiers all quickly stood in a line as they realized who they were in front of.
"But Captain, we were told to stay here and guard this area in case they came back." The second soldier said. "We were uh... told that our enemies were supposed to be upstairs but we haven't heard anything."
"Nonsense!" Mina said. "They would've found a way to have escaped by now with how you've all been lounging around. Do you people want to be responsible for possibly endangering an entire kingdom?!"
"N-No, Captain!" They all said.
"Then get moving! The areas around here have been searched out already, so link back up with the main unit and get back to searching this instant!"
"Wait a minute, but then why are you here?" Asked the first soldier.
"I said get back to searching!"
The soldiers all gulped at the harsh and demanding tone Mina spoke in. "Y-Yes, Captain!"
Without hesitation, they didn't even bother to wait for the last question asked to be answered. The four soldiers all saluted and quickly ran off to catch up to the rest of the imperial soldiers, putting their helmets back on. Once they all left, Mina sighed deeply and put her rapier back in its sheath. She then walked up to the door to the storage room and knocked lightly on it.
"Alright, the coast is clear." She said.
As she started walking back downstairs the door opened. Soon Chat Noir, Reina, Ragna, Feena, and Mona all came out of the storage room.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually be able to pull that off." Feena said, complimenting Mina.
"Honestly, I still think that my idea would have been more efficient." Reina commented.
"If we had went along with your plan that would involve a greater possibility of getting into an unnecessary fight." Mina stated to Reina. "The point of all this is to get out of here and rescue Mage."
"For someone who specializes in assassination you sure love choosing the non-stealthy options." Ragna added on.
Reina only sighed and rolled her eyes. "That aside, whatever stunt Monika's pulling isn't going to hold their attention for long. We need to get up to a higher floor as soon as possible."
"There's no waiting for her is there?"
"If we wait, they're bound to catch us."
"But." Chat Noir interrupted. "There's no way that I would expect her to be able to escape such a large army single handedly. Some of us will have to stay behind here to make sure she's alright. Just in case."
"Are you volunteering?" Feena asked.
"I am. I'm also volunteering Reina as well."
"Excuse me?" Reina questioned, though she was ignored by the phantom thief.
"The two of us will stay here and make sure that Monika can successfully get away should the imperial army be after her."
"Wait a minute, I never agree to-"
"Meanwhile, you four will have to go up without us. If all goes well, then we'll come and join you. I would say hopefully our assistance won't be needed, but I think we all know that it will."
"Are you sure the two of you will be alright?" Mina asked.
"We'll be fine. Don't worry."
"Don't I get a say in this?!" Reina asked.
"Hush maid." Chat Noir responded, walking off. "Come along now."
Reina was quite angry at the phantom thief just outright ignoring her through that conversation and then not even giving her a chance to speak. She was making several gestures as if she was trying to choke the boy from behind. Finally she groaned and sighed, following after Chat Noir.
"Let's get going too." Ragna said. "Longer we stay in one place, the chances are they'll get caught and us along with them."
"Right." Feena nodded. "We don't have time to waste."
With that said, the now group of four proceeded to head out as well. The four of them were looking to silently make their way towards a nearby lift and head upwards to the highest floor, hopefully to find and rescue Goblin Mage.
Location: Underneath Goldenia
CRASH
Back underneath Goldenia, the sounds of a large chunk of earth crashing near the bottom of the sinkhole rang out through the underground caverns. Due to Rita's gravity attack. the ground that Grena and Albert were both standing on was forces straight downwards, crashing someplace near the bottom of the large sinkhole that had been opened up on the first floor. Looking down at the large chunk, Rita was slowly walking down to it using her glyphs as a makeshift staircase, her companion Tau riding on her shoulder.
"I don't see them getting back up." She said to herself, trying to see what was the deal with her opponents after that attack. "They're very tough. So I don't think a fall like that would just do them in. And my spell should have worn off by now so they're definitely able to move again. I wonder what they're up to..."
Before Rita knew it, she suddenly saw a large fireball spinning around and rolling around along the walls of the cavern. Looking at it, she noticed that it was making her way straight towards her, coming up and spinning around on the wall to get as close and as high up as possible. Not use what they're up to, Rita just held out her staff and prepared to use another ice attack against it.
"Stiria Chorus!"
As her staff glowed light blue, several glyphs appeared once again and fired icicles straight at the fireball. The moment she did however, the fireball stopped rolling around on the walls and leaped upward towards her, going over the icicles. Just then, the fire died down and concentrated in one place, revealing that the fireball was actually Grena making her way back up towards the demonic mage. The chain-wielding mercenary held her right hand out as all of the flames that she was using gathered there. She lunged inward and slammed her flaming fist into Rita's abdomen, making the girl shriek in pain. Grena, along with with Rita and Tau were all sent flying down to the ground below at high speeds. Just before they hit the ground, Grena let up and allowed for the two to fall on ahead of her. Seeing this opportunity, Rita spun around and landed on her feet, Tau also landing on its feet as well. Preparing to attack to attack Grena again she held out her staff once again.
This time however, she was stopped as her arm was suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked back. Looking behind her, she saw that Albert had gotten hold of the arm she was holding her staff in and held it tight. Suddenly a large amount of electricity coursed through the sword wielder's body, going straight into the arm that was holding Rita. The demonic mage screamed as her body was electrocuted, unable to pull herself away and was forced to endure the pain. Tau attempted to try and stop Albert, but was then picked up by Grena as she held him in her arms to keep him away. As the electricity stopped, Albert released her arm. Rita collapsed to her knees and fell to the ground, now resorted to being on both her hands and knees as she breathed heavily to try and recover. Before she could, Albert grabbed her arm and picked her back up off the ground, holding her without shocking her. Rita's hat fell off as she was pulled off of the ground. She also dropped her staff as well.
"If you give up now, we'll stop this." Albert said. "But if you try anything I'll strike with a jolt of electricity more powerful than the last."
"I'm not just... gonna give up on going to the surface world..." Rita groaned, breathing heavily still. "I'm just one girl... Can't you overlook me?"
"Considering how you've been able to take on the two of us by yourself the chances are you'll be a threat to Goldenia as well." Grena replied. "And there's still no way for us to just suddenly trust you. If we let you go now, you might be just deceiving us. Who knows? You could transport all your buddies down here to the service or wreck havoc across the kingdom single handedly. You'll definitely give the Imperial Army a run for its money."
"I-I swear... I'm not interested in that...!"
"I want to believe you but I don't want to take any chances." Albert said, then looking at Grena. "How long are the chains that you have left?"
"They're not that long." Grena answered. "Why?"
"Let me see them. I'm going to tie her arms up for the time being to keep her out of the way."
"Fine by me."
Before Grena could hand over her chains however, the two dodged out of the way as an arrow soared past their faces, Albert letting go of Rita and Grena dropping Tau in the process. Looking in the direction, they saw the cause of the arrow walking out of one of the pathways that led into the other caverns. Coming out of that pathway was an army of skeleton soldiers, being led by a skeleton wearing shiny black and red armor, complete with a black helmet that had a red mohawk on the top of it. It was wielding a long, silver and black sword and black shield with a demonic emblem on the front of it.
"Oh, crap..." Grena said, going wide eyed. "Don't tell me they've made it here already..."
"So..." Rita started to say, groaning as she attempted to get up while using her staff as a cane. "Looks like they're the first ones to make it here."
"Found you!"
As if on cue, coming from the same entrance another group of demons rushed out, most of them having wings and being able to fly. The one leading them was the red demon from before. Flying out, they all landed on the ground, on the areas around and above where Albert and Grena were standing.
"So this is where you humans ran off to eh?!" The red demon said loudly. "Where's this 'mighty army' that was supposed to be waiting out here for us, huh?!"
"Well looks like my bluff isn't going to work this time..." Albert said.
"Yeah, so what we lied?!" Grena exclaimed. "Doesn't mean we can't kick your asses with just the two of us!"
"Look around you!" The red demon exclaimed while laughing. "There's two of you and around one hundred of us! Sure you got rid of the bunk of us using that explosion and electric shock from earlier, but now look at you! You're outnumbered fifty to one, and girly here looks like she's tired you out!"
"You..." The skeleton leader said in a raspy voice, pointing at Rita. "Well done."
"Yeah, I... owed you guys for taking care of me..." Rita groaned, starting to recover. She started using her glyphs to help herself and Tau walk upward away from Albert and Grena. "I'm out... You're on your own."
"Where do you think you're going?!" The red demon questioned.
"I payed you guys back for... taking care of me all this time. I don't have any reason to be down here anymore. So... see ya-"
Rita was then interrupted as she was pierced in the side of her chest by an arrow fired by one of the skeleton archers, shocking Grena, Albert, and Tau. She stumbled around on her glyph for a bit before it vanished, causing herself and Tau to fall off despite how far she walked upwards. As her companion howled during the fall, the two of them were suddenly caught as Albert rushed to where they were about to fall and jumped into the air, catching her before she hit the ground. Grena then rushed over as well as Albert removed the arrow.
"Rita!" He exclaimed. "Are you alright?!"
The demonic mage was just breathing heavily as blood was slowly pouring out of her wound. Grena attempted to use a small amount of fire to try and stop it, causing Rita to wince and make a face that showed she was in pain. Grena tried her best to make it as painless as possible for her.
"You bastards...!" she scowled at the demonic army surrounding them. "She's one of yours! How could you!?"
"That's what you get for trying to walk out on us!" The red demon answered.
"No one is allowed to just walk away and turn their backs on us, even with her efforts." The skeleton demon responded. "I was hoping she would've been smarter than this, and not repeat her parents' mistakes."
"What?!" Grena questioned.
"You people killed her parents?!" Albert exclaimed.
"Hey why are you yelling at us like we're the bad guys here?!" The red demon asked the two. "Think about it. Imagine if those two took their child and managed to get onto the surface before we're ready. Then they'd be able to figure out that something's up if a bunch of people just came out of nowhere, or worse if they caught them coming from underground! If she gets up there before we have the chance to deal with you two, then who knows?! That threat of yours might actually be true and we'll be dead before we can even leave the caves!"
"Call us monsters if you must." The skeleton demon said. "But what we did was out of kindness. Without our support, there is no way that they would have been able to live a life of peace in Goldenia. Had they escaped, they would've been subjected to all sorts of horrors that mankind can show. The crimes of our forefathers has only deepened the hatred and discrimination of demonic kind. To the point where the only conclusion is that in order for us to have a life to live in Riverbrandt... We must overthrow and destroy the two realms that have influence across our home world."
"If what you're after is peace then you should've tried to come up with a solution outside of an invasion!" Albert responded. "If you decided to act with more decency than this then you could've come to Goldenia and peacefully tried to come to a solution to all of this. I'm sure if you laid down your weapons then the kingdom would be bound to want to-"
"No. I doubt they would." Grena said, cutting him off.
"Huh?"
"Remember what I told you? Humanity's just as selfish as demons are. There really isn't any getting along between either of the three realms. Even if they were to try a peaceful approach, Goldenia wouldn't accept it. Look at Ragna for example."
Albert wanted to say something in response. However, he knew that Grena had a point about that.
"I can see why they'd go this far." Grena said, looking at the demonic forces around them. "But at the same time, I couldn't give less of a shit about that than I do now. You killed your own kind, and then went as far as to try and take out Rita just because she was heading up before you were ready."
Grena winced slightly, her injuries from several of Rita's attacks still affecting her greatly.
"I don't give a damn what your reasons are anymore." She stated, clenching her fists. "If you think that you just try to kill a young girl like her and get away with it, then you've got another thing coming. I ain't letting any of you, regardless if you can fly, get up to the surface!"
As Grena said all of this, Tau was rubbing its head up against Rita's hand, the demonic mage still being held in Albert's arms. Her companion flinched slightly when it felt Rita's hand move, and point towards her staff which was very close to where Tau was standing. Realizing what she was asking for, it quickly turned around and grabbed the staff in its mouth, carrying it over to Rita.
"You've all got guts, I'll give you that." The red demon said. "But don't think that you can take on the whole lot of us in that state! Alright boys! Let's mop the floor with these two and then get on out of here!"
"Kill them." The skeleton demon ordered.
Albert and Grena steeled themselves. The former held onto Rita in one hand and had his other hand gripping the hilt of his sword, ready to fight. The latter held up her fists and stood in a fighting stance, waiting for the demons to get close to her. The skeleton forces charged from the front with their weapons brandished and ready to kill, while the demons that could fly charged at them from every other angle, having sharp claws ready to tear into anything. Before they could reach the two however, Rita suddenly shot upward and got up from out of Albert's arm, surprising him and Grena. She quickly pointed the head on her staff downward.
"Sanitatem Lux (Healing Light)!"
Before anyone knew it a small energy field of light that blinded Rita, Albert, Grena, as well as the entirety of the demonic army, bring all of them to a halt within an instant.
"What in the?!" The skeleton demon exclaimed.
"I can't see shit!" The red demon yelled.
As the light died down, everyone's ability to see soon came back to them. Along with this, Albert and Grena suddenly felt like they hadn't been fighting whatsoever. It felt as if their energy had returned and in Grena's case, her wounds seemed to have healed up as well.
"I... I feel great..." Albert said surprised.
"Did she just... heal us?" Grena questioned.
"Change of plans, Tau."
Everyone's attentions turned towards the demonic mage in question. Her injuries she sustained from both fighting Albert and Grena along with the arrow wound seemed to have healed entirely. She was standing back upright with her staff in hand, and Tau standing right by her feet, growling at the demonic forces around them. Rita then looked up with a smile.
"Looks like we've got a couple of debts to pay down here before we can go to the surface." She said.
"Wait, did you really just heal us?!" Grena asked.
"Sure did.
"What do you think you're doing girly!?" The red demon asked in an angry tone. "You really think you can just ditch us and join a team with the odds against them?! Are you an idiot!? What happened to all that paying us back nonsense you were-"
"I DID pay you back. I took it upon myself to fight the two of them, and I gotta say; They put up one heck of a challenge for me and Tau. So with that cleared out of the way, I don't really have a reason to want to take part in this anyway. That was, until I had to pay back these two for what just happened after I was shot down by you guys."
"If that's the case, then your debt ends with that healing you did." The skeleton demon spoke.
"True." Rita gestures to Grena. "That fulfills my debt to her for trying to heal my wound earlier." She then points at Albert. "But for him, I still owe him for saving me when I was falling earlier. And what better way to do that than to save him from all of you now eh?"
"What?!"
"And to top it all of, the girl here did save Tau as well." Rita smirked as Tau was growling angrily at the demonic forces. "So consider this my friend paying back these humans as well."
"So you're turning against all of us for something stupid like that?!" The red demon shouted.
"Hmm..." Rita scratched her chin before answering. "Yeah. Sure. Why not? I didn't like you guys anyway. Especially you, you flying asshole."
"Oh, why you good for nothing little-!"
"Yo, redman!"
The red demon was interrupted by Grena suddenly shooting herself up to him using her flames. Before he could react, she grabbed hold of his face and fired a burst of flames out of her hand, firing him into the rocks above the demonic forces. Looking up, everyone could see the red demon was not moving and stuck in the wall. They realized that right then and there, Grena outright killed him. The chain-wielding mercenary then landed on the ground back where Albert, Rita, and Tau were.
"Anyone ever told you that you're too goddamn loud?" She asked the demon she just killed, then turned to the demonic forces ahead of her. "So, who's next to end up just like that one?"
The demonic forces were all surprised for a moment, but all of them didn't hesitate to regain their composure and rush at the group of three. Albert held onto his sword with both hands. Grena punched her fist into her hand and then gestured at the demons to come at her. Rita smirked and pointed her staff at the army of demons coming to her while Tau looked ready to jump at them the moment they came. The three of them plus Rita's companion were about to take on an entire army of demons hellbent on vengeance.