The Raven rumbled the ground with his laughter and narrowed his eyes at the three below.
"You cursed Raven! You've done all this for nothing!" Mytho yelled, pushing away from Rue and stabling himself. "You killed all those innocent people, gouged out so many hearts...why!? When you know that you've already failed once!"
"Foolish Prince. This time, I will certainly succeed. All I must do is snuff out your hope."
"Not even you can do something like that! No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible*! It's an infinite source!" Rue yelled firmly.
"Oh? You humans think too highly of this, hope. Allow me to show you how wrong you are! My loyal servants!" The Raven's beak opened wide, and a frightening gust of air rushed out. Then, after the wind passed, Fakir started for the entrance to the school.
"Come, we shouldn't stay here. We need to get back to my place, I'm worried about Ahiru." Rue and Mytho nodded and followed closely behind him. However, once they exited through the school gates, a large crowd greeted them. It seemed like all of Kinkan had gathered in front of the school grounds. They all inched forward slowly, dragging their feet and arms limp at their sides. Each and every one of them stared straight through the trio with empty eyes.
"No..."
"What do we do!? They're all around us!"
"Allow me." Rue brought her hand back, readying her magic when Mytho grabbed her wrist.
"No, we can't. I won't hurt my people."
"Prince..."
"Maybe I can do something." Mytho stood back and transformed, his school uniform turning into his princely garbs and his sword appearing in his hand. Then, he stepped forward and threw himself into a pirouette, slowly inching forward towards the crowd. Underneath his foot, a flurry of flowers spilled out and pushed the crowd away, creating a path for them. Rue and Fakir followed behind the trail of flowers until they were finally out of the crowd and quickly broke into a run for Fakir's house.
As the crowd behind them began to follow, they ducked into an alleyway that headed straight to Fakir's house. Soon enough, Fakir's house came into view and Rue, Mytho and Fakir stepped out onto the open road. "We should hurry. I have a bad feeling." Fakir nodded and turned to his door.
"Watch out!" Rue cried. Fakir looked up and braced himself as a Raven warrior dived down from above. However, Mytho pushed Fakir out of the way and thrust his sword upward into the Raven's chest, making it disappear. But just as it did, a circle of warriors appeared around them, cornering them against Fakir's house. Immediately, they charged to meet Mytho's blade and Rue's feathers. "Fakir! Hurry and get Ahiru!"
Fakir nodded and threw his door open. He ran down the hall and climbed the stairs. "Ahiru!! Ahiru!"
In her bedroom, Ahiru groaned and sat up groggily. Rubbing her eyes she mumbled to herself. "Is that Fakir? That's odd. I thought he went to school..." Then, Ahiru turned her head to her window and saw the dark sky. She opened her window and stuck her head out. The first thing she saw was the giant Monster Raven and his malicious red eyes. "Quack!!!" Ahiru shrank into a duck and dug herself out of her clothes. The Raven!? Wh-why? H-how!? When!? Then, Ahiru heard the commotion outside. Ahiru flapped onto the windowsill and looked down at Rue and Mytho who were struggling against the large number of Ravens. Rue! Mytho! I have to go help them! Ah, but first... Ahiru hopped down from her window and walked across her bed to her bedside table where a small bowl of water lay undisturbed.
Since Ahiru moved into Fakir's house and realized that she could still turn into a duck, she had gotten into the habit of leaving a bowl of water in her room. It had actually been Fakir's idea since he didn't want any incidents happening. Ahiru was actually quite surprised at how convenient it was now.
Quickly, she hopped into the bowl and in a flash of light, became a girl again. She slipped her night gown over her head and made her way to the door. But as she took her first step, her bedroom door flew open and Fakir rushed in. "Ahiru! We have to go." Ahiru nodded and began to follow Fakir back towards the stairs. But there to greet them was a pair of Raven warriors.
"Fakir!" One of them lunged at Fakir but he quickly stepped out of the way and with a swift kick he knocked the sword out of its hands. Fakir grabbed the sword in mid-air and sliced through the unarmed raven. Then, as Fakir began to fight off the last raven, a flock of crows flew in through the open door and aimed straight for Ahiru. "Aaaahh!" Ahiru waved her fists around aimlessly as she stumbled back away from the vile birds. Soon, they had backed her all the way back into her room.
Fakir disarmed his opponent and thrust his sword through its chest. Then, Fakir ran into Ahiru's room and found her huddled in the corner with her hands shielding her head. "Ahiru!" Quickly, Fakir dispatched the crows and knelt down beside Ahiru. "Are you okay?"
Ahiru uncurled herself from her ball and nodded. "Yeah."
"All right. C'mon, we have to go help-" Suddenly, a flock of ravens flew in through the window and transformed into warriors. They knocked Fakir away from Ahiru and cornered him against the wall. "Fakir!" Then, Ahiru was surrounded as well by two ravens who took her roughly by the arms and pulled her towards the window. "Fakir!!"
"Ahiru, no!" Fakir hacked through the ravens in front of him and ran through the opening. As Ahiru was pulled out the window and into the air, Fakir leaned out the window and reached out to pull her back. However, she was already to far and the ravens brought her higher and higher until she was right in front of the Monster Raven's gaze. "Ahiru!!!!" Fakir angrily finished off the last of the ravens in his hosue before hurrying back down to where Mytho and Rue were. They were both looking up in the air.
"Ahiru...no..."
"Finally...a pure heart for me to feast on. Now come, be a good human and wither away in my stomach like the rest of them." The Raven grinned and opened his mouth.
"The rest of them?" Ahiru murmured to herself. "Does that mean all the other townspeople's hearts are inside the Raven?" As the ravens brought Ahiru into the Raven's mouth, Ahiru looked over her shoulder at Fakir, Rue and Mytho before the Raven's beak shut. I can't give up. Maybe I can still help from in here.