Arthur let out a bloodcurdling scream as Rumia grabbed and bit his left arm.
"My arm! Get off!" He frantically shouted as he punched Rumia on the head using his right arm.
The little girl snarled as she sank her teeth deeper into Arthur's flesh, while the others look on in horror.
"Help him!" Jack and Gray shouted as they rushed to help Arthur with Ray and Santos behind them.
"Let him go!"
Peter, Gray, Jack, and Santos shouted as they rush to take the girl away from Arthur. They grabbed the girl and tried to pull her away from him, but the harder they pulled the tighter her bite became as her teeth clench deep into his arm from skin to bone.
"Stop! Stop!" Arthur yelled desperately, as he ordered his friends to stop pulling the girl away.
The students tried to help Arthur, as they pulled and punched the girl. What they did only made her angry as she tore Arthur's arm off.
"Oh my god! His arm!" Layla cried out, as the others looked on in horror.
Arthur screamed even louder as blood seeped from the torn arm. Rumia then backs away from the group bone and proceeded to devour it. Gray and the others carried Arthur back to group as they hope to treat his wound.
"We don't have enough bandages to fix this wound!" Layla exclaimed, as she stared at the bloody limb.
"It hurts!" Arthur yelled again and again as if his life depended on it.
The group started to panic. They had no idea where they are. The little girl who greeted them with such innocence just tried to eat one of their classmates.
"You shouldn't be screaming so loud… the others will hear you." Rumia said, still chewing what's left of Arthur's mangled arm.
"There's more!?" The students exclaimed.
More? What does she mean more? Where the hell are we? Gray thought, as he felt his heart beat faster and his hands started to feel numb.
"Crap! Crap! Let's get out of here!" Gray shouted, as he urged the others to run away.
"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet~" Rumia said with a smile, as blood slowly dripped from her mouth. Having finished her appetizer, Rumia turned to them, as she slowly walked towards the group.
This is bad! Gray thought, He saw how quick Rumia was when she attacked Arthur. He then looked up, and saw the smoke rising from the distance.
The village is closer, if we make a break for it we can make it to safety, but there is still the problem of that girl chasing us. Someone has to distract her while the others make a run for it. he thought of a plan to let the others escape while someone distracts the little monster.
but then who the hell would agree to such a plan? As Gray was caught up in thought, Anna noticed someone was missing from the group.
"where's Ash!?" She asked.
They looked around and found that Ash was nowhere to be seen.
"He left us?" one of the girls asked.
"He ran for it!" one of the boys said.
"Run everybody! Let's get out of here" The others yelled as they ran away to escape from the little monster.
"Gray, run! Gray!" Anna shouted as Layla grabbed her arm and runs away with the group
Gray couldn't hear them. Paralyzed by fear, he couldn't move.
"Look at them run. Hee hee hee! ah? You're the only humans who want to play?" Rumia chuckled at the thought of playing hide and seek, excited to "play" with the three students in front of her.
What am I going to do? I can't move… I don't want to die! Gray thought, He felt his heart beat faster, as he tried to move every part of his body. Scared, He was unable to utter a single word or scream for help.
But as he felt all hope was lost, He felt two hands pat him on the shoulder.
"Trying to act like a hero huh Gray?" Peter asked, as he gave Gray a large piece of wood
"Heh! It's not like we are making it out of here." Jack added with a light smile.
Both thought Gray stood his ground because he chose to sacrifice himself so that the others could escape.
"We can at least give the others time to escape" Jack said, as he held the wooden plank.
"We outnumber her! Three to one, we can beat her here!" Peter added, as he saw the odds in their favor.
The two students stood their ground so that the others could escape. There was fear in their eyes. They're clearly scared but despite that, they were willing to sacrifice themselves so that the others can escape in time.
"Yeah... I guess we can" Gray sighed out of relief.
"Hah! we can do it, lets go!" Jack roared with great confidence.
"YEAH!" They roared, as they charged towards Rumia.
Gray's confidence grew. He knew that their chances of fighting off a single target are high. If the girl would try to attack one of them the other would come to their side and help the other. There was no way a little girl, a monster she may be, would be able to fight back against a three on one fight. He tried to fight off his fears that signalled him to run away.
They charged toward the girl. They flanked her with weapons raised. The battle would be in the student's favor. They knew it, they could feel it. As soon as their wooden planks hit her on the head the battle is won.
But they were wrong.
The little girl didn't flinch. Instead, she lunged towards Jack with a childish laugh. Jack swung the plank towards Rumia's head, hoping it will be enough to stun her. Instead, it broke as it came in contact with the girl's head. It was no use. The attack didn't harm her. Jack's attack would have been enough to knock a grown man out, but Rumia was not fazed by the attack.
Jack couldn't defend himself, as the wooden plank broke from having struck Rumia on the head. She was seconds away from his neck. it was the end for him, as Rumia tackled him to the ground and savagely tore his throat open.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Peter shouted, as he rushed to aid Jack.
Jack squirmed as he struggled to speak. His mouth gushed out blood with half of his neck torn. There was no chance for him anymore.
Peter grunted, as he desperately tried to knock the girl out bashing the piece of wood unto her head. But instead, it angered her. She turned her attention to him, and with a chilling shriek, lunged towards him. He lost his balance and fell to the ground but managed to keep her a few inches away from his head or neck.
Rumia was on top of him. Peter was surprised by how heavy and strong she was. She then attempted to bite his head off but, he managed to keep her away, barely. Peter flat on the floor struggled to keep her teeth away from him, as the blood from her mouth dripped and stained his school uniform.
"You damn monster! Gray! Help!" Peter shouted to Gray, who stood there frozen, unable to understand why this is all happening.
How? She's just a little girl. Gray stood there as he looked on in horror. He could feel his heart beat faster and louder. He could only look at Jack desperately gasping for air as blood seeped from his throat, afraid that the little girl would turn her attention to him and kill him too.
I don't want to die. Gray didn't want to die but as he thought of about. "Gray! Gray!" He could hear someone call his name.
"Huh?"
"Snap out of it! Get her!" Peter yelled, slowly losing his strength.
Gray shivered, he tightly held the piece of wood Peter gave him to use as a weapon. His breathing became heavy, He couldn't stop glancing at Jack's dying body believing he would suffer the same fate soon. He mustered the courage to come to Peter's aid, fighting back the thoughts that were invading his mind.
He ran forward to help Peter who struggled to keep the girl away from him. As Gray ran towards them, Rumia turned her head and gave Gray a bloodthirsty glare. Gray stopped, as his eyes fixated its sights on the little girl's blood, red eyes that were staring directly at him.
I will die! The thoughts that invaded his mind earlier came back, as it repeated endlessly in his thoughts, accompanied by the overwhelming beats of his heart.
At that moment, Gray did something he thought he would never do. He took a step back and hastily ran away, leaving Peter to fend for himself.
"You?!" Peter said, he couldn't believe what just happened, as the little girl slowly closed the distance between her teeth and Peter's skin.
Peter's screams echoed across the dark forest as Gray ran as fast as he could, cursing himself.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest. Anna, Layla, Riza, and Santos and the others who carried Arthur made their way towards the smoke rising somewhere in the forest.
"How could you just leave Gray and the others?" Anna asked.
"I can't just leave Arthur when that girl was clearly gonna go after him, finishing him off." Layla said. "I already stopped the bleeding and applied the tourniquet. We have to get him to a doctor."
Anna didn't reply but understood Layla's reason. She then continued to move and hoped they will make it safely.
"We have a better chance of avoiding more of those monsters if we travel by group." Santos said. "We have to keep moving."
"Look out!" Riza exclaimed, as she pushed the group to the right.
They avoided a large spider like creature that pounced towards them.
"What's that?" Layla asked, she quickly got back up on her feet and motioned the others to keep running.
"Forget it, just keep moving!" Santos said, but as he looked in front, he saw the other group being attacked by a large caterpillar like creature. "What the?"
"We're gonna die!" Riza said in panic.
The large spider monster was fast. It was only by chance that they managed to avoid it.
The other group of students weren't so lucky as another monster dropped down on top of them. Now it is slowly eating the group of students that it squished.
"Wait! Anna What are you doing?" Layla exclaimed, as she saw Anna threw rocks at the spider and ran towards the other side.
"Just go!" Anna shouted back, Without thinking she managed to catch the monsters attention. The spider followed her as she ran towards the forest.
"Anna!" Layla shouted.
"Come on!" Riza said. "The other monster is busy eating, we can sneak past it now."
Layla and the group wasted no time and moved forward. They quietly sneaked past the large caterpillar like monster devouring the rest of the group. Layla couldn't help but hold back the feeling of disgust as she caught a glimpse of one of her classmates being devoured.
Once the group has walked a safe distance from the monster they proceeded to run towards where the smoke was rising from.
"Look there! It's a house" Layla said. "Maybe they can help us."
"Better than staying out here, let's go!" Riza said.
The house was large, but it didn't feel like anyone living inside except a lit window on the second floor. Vegetation was growing on side of the walls, it was more like an abandoned house to them, but it didn't matter so long as they find shelter.
They knocked on the dusty wooden door.
"Whoa!" a girl's voice blurted inside followed by a rumble of several objects falling to the ground, catching the group off-guard. "Who's there?"
"We're lost, can you help us?" Layla said.
"hold yer horses." The voice said, more rumbling noises followed after.
The door opened to reveal a young girl who wore a black and white witch's outfit, she then asked. "So, whatcha want?"
"We were attacked by some monsters, and our friend lost his arm" Layla said "I also need something to help stop the bleeding"
"Ooh, that looks bad" The witch said, she eagerly stared at the missing limb and said. "I got just da right spell for that, come in."
"spell?" The students asked in unison as they went inside the large house.
"Y'all are new to this ze?" The witch asked, as she disappeared inside one of the rooms filled with all sorts of things.
"Y-yes. We got here through a cave somewhere in the forest." Layla said, she then told the others to rest and take care of Arthur which they did.
"Cave huh? guess she is gonna have a fit after hearing this hehe." The witch said, the sound of several books falling to the ground could be heard, and then the witch said "Found it!"
"Found what?" Layla earnestly asked.
"The spell!" The witch said, she then gave Layla a piece of a wood and said "Let the guy bite it and keep him steady while I fix him up."
Layla then let Arthur bite the piece of wood and ordered Santos to firmly hold Arthur down.
The witch hovered her hand above the tourniquet and soon after a blast of energy started to glow inside the tourniquet.
Arthur bit down the piece of wood as hard as he could as the witch casted a spell that closed the wound entirely as a new patch of skin was formed that made Arthur's arm look as if it was amputated.
The pain Arthur felt during the trek was gone.
"How did you?" The students asked in amazement.
What the witch did made them drop their jaws as they look at her in amazement.
"MAGIC!" She said with a big grin on her face, She threw the book she read to cast the spell to heal Arthur onto the pile of things on the other side of the room. She then asked. "I guess y'all heading to the village then ze?"
"Yes, can you take us there?" Riza asked.
"Wait! our friends are still somewhere in the forest maybe you could help them." Layla said.
"Well, right now, you and yer friend need a place to rest and the village can give just that" The witch said "I'll look for yer friends anyway I can, but y'all best head for da village following the road there."
"Thank you! We never got to ask you your name." Layla said
"Oh me? I'm the extraordinary black magician!" The witch said, she paused, took out her broom and wore her large witch hat, smiled and said. "Marisa Kirisame!"

Meanwhile in the forest. Gray ran away and left behind his classmate to die.
"Coward!" Gray said to himself, unable to accept what he did. To leave a classmate, a friend, a fellow human being behind to die, how could he? It was the only sane option he could think of. He argued with himself as he aimlessly ran forward.
Soon after, Gray heard a girl scream somewhere in the forest.
It must be the others he thought, following the direction where the sound came from, he found another gruesome scene.
He saw one of his classmates being devoured by a weird creature. The creature unlike the one before, who had the appearance of a little girl, was different. It had bird's beak yet had the body of a caterpillar, and it had the wings of a bird. The creature took its time as it devoured one of Gray's classmates. The girl's screams were drowned by the sound of the creature chewing her inside its mouth. Disgusted, He tried to leave but as he took a step back, he alerted the creature who turned its attention to him.
He gasped as the creature tried to crawl its way towards him, flapping its wings to boost itself. Gray ran as fast as he could using the trees as way to keep the monster occupied. As he ran, a searing pain etched at his heart, he had wondered what had happened to the others when they ran.
They are probably dead! He thought to himself, just like the poor classmate who was eaten by the monster that is chasing him now.
He ran as the monster started to close in on him. Making his way out of the forest He came across a huge stairway that lead up to a hill or a mountain. The monsters suddenly busted out from the forest rolling across the pavement near the stairs as it finally caught up to him.
"Crap! All the way here?!" Out of frustration He yelled at the beast, as it tried to get itself back up. Gray noticed and ran up the huge stairway. He hoped there will be something up the mountain that can stop it or someplace where the beast couldn't follow. Gray looked back to see if the monster was still down but was surprised to see the monster in the air inches away, in front of him with its mouth wide open already in motion to devour him. Gray suddenly felt as if time slowed down, his surrounding became bright as day even though it's night time.
The sudden brightness of his surroundings was too much for him. He closed his eyes and leapt to the right. He miraculously avoided the incoming monster that was for some reason, moved slower than before. He felt the hard surface of the stone stairway as he landed on the side, accompanied by the sound of the monster, as it crashed itself onto the stone stairway.
I made it! Not looking back, He ran up the stairway, He saw a huge torii situated at the top. Hope started to come back to him as he neared the top of the stairway, but his legs gave away as he fell back down the stairway near the monster who slowly got back up.
"What? What's happening?" He exclaimed, He fell down on the stone stairway. He felt as though his body was crumbling from the inside out. He couldn't understand why, as he felt the excruciating pain throbbed inside him.
Gray, after running for who knows how long leaving his classmate behind and from a monster who had just devoured another classmate, could only lie down and look up to the dark sky.
…Yeah... I guess this is punishment then. He laid there, filled with regret for leaving his classmate behind, as the monster hovered above him as it slowly opened its mouth to devour him.
"Im...gonna...die...alone..." He said weakly as his vision fades. His eyes grew tired as the monster's mouth nears him.
But from out of nowhere four paper talismans flew by in a flash of light and stuck the creature. It wreathed in pain and backed away. But Gray was too tired, all he saw was the faint image of a person that stood near him.

Meanwhile, Somewhere deep in the forest, Anna has managed to avoid the large spider like monster as it relentlessly tried to follow her still.
It doesn't seem to pay attention to it's surroundings. She thought to herself, she noticed the monster would occasionally trip or bump into something.
She looked at one of the large logs and proceeded to run towards them, the monster hot on her trail.
She managed it squeeze out of log, but the monster could not as it jammed itself halfway inside the log.
Well that got it She thought in relief, she then noticed, a road on the other side of the forest and proceeded towards it.
As she got out of the forest, she saw the large caterpillar that attacked their group earlier fall to the ground with four paper talismans attached to it.
It writhed in pain as a girl wearing a red and white shrine maiden outfit waved the gohei she held in hand and made it disappear.
"Hey! you alright?" The shrine maiden asked.
"Yes, I'm fine thank you" Anna said, she bowed and then said. "I'm Anna Habara, nice to meet you."
"I'm Reimu Hakurei, shrine maiden of the Hakurei shrine." The shrine maiden said. "Judging from your clothes I'm guessing you must know the guy that fell unconscious awhile ago."
"Who?" Anna asked.
"Come with me, you'll see." Reimu said, as she motioned Anna to go up the stairway with her.

Later in the morning.
"Hmm...ahhh..."
Gray could've sworn he was dead, but he could feel the warmth of the sun's rays, He felt the comfort of sleeping on a soft pillow.
A dream? He thought to himself, as he slowly opened his eyes to see a familiar face looking after him.
"Gray? He's waking up!"
That voice... He felt at ease to hear that voice. As if all the things that happened were just a dream and that he was just asleep at the school nurse's office.
"Anna?" He said, as he slowly opened his eyes
"Thank goodness you're ok." Anna said softly, as she gave him a cup of water and some food.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
"…I don't know, the group separated when we ran into more monsters that tried to eat us. Layla and I separated when I distracted one of them to help her escape. I managed to outrun them and found my way out of the forest and went up the stairway to this shrine" She said, as she let out a weak smile.
"I'm glad you're safe, but where are we?" He asked, Anna's smile comforted him but he wanted to know where they are.
Gray looked around, as he found himself in an unfamiliar room. The place was a large room with tatami flooring, shoji sliding doors to the edges, and the bed he was sleeping on was a futon.
"I think it's better if she explains it to you" Anna said, as she pointed to one of the sliding doors.
"She?" Gray asked, as he faced the direction Anna was pointing.
The sliding door slid open to reveal a girl wearing a unique Japanese shrine maiden outfit with detached sleeves.
Anna gently bowed to her and said. "Good morning... Hakurei, Reimu"