Quickly reaching for her, Soul extends his hand. "MAKA!"

Taking his hand, Maka cries out and shuts her eyes. "S-Soul! Help!"

Groaning, Soul uses all of his strength to try and pull Maka up but he still found himself unable to pull her all the way up. "Damn it…hang on Maka!"

"I'm trying! Please hurry, Soul!"

Another hand suddenly reaches down to help Maka. As Soul looks, he sees its Crona. "M-Maka!"

With Crona's help, Soul is able to pull Maka back up. Gasping for breath, Soul gets Maka to her feet. "We gotta get out of here! Like, now!"

Looking towards the others, Maka's eyes go wide as she sees Ox and Black*Star engaging in battle with Medusa. Hissing, Medusa backs away and attacks them with her vector arrows. Blocking the attack, Black*Star rushes forward. "Tsubaki, lets go!" Leaping into the air, Black*Star yells as he swings Tsubaki in sword mode, at Medusa.

The witch uses her vector plate to back away and avoid the attack. Glaring, Black*Star prepares for another attack.

"No, she's mine!"

Looking back, the blue haired male sees Ox charge forward with Jackie in her lantern form. Yelling angrily, Ox lunges at Medusa. "This is for kidnapping Kim!"

Scoffing, Medusa raises her arm and launches a vector arrow at him. "Fool!" As the vector arrow rushes towards him, Ox quickly leans to the right to avoid the attack and then yells for Jackie to attack. "Do it now, Jackie!"

At hearing Ox bark out the order, Jackie spews out fire in her lantern form, catching Medusa off guard. The witch shrieks as some of the fire burns off part of her skin from her arm. Growling angrily and jumping back, Medusa glares. "You stupid kids!"

Kim had been watching the battle go on for a bit now. She nervously gazed from Medusa to Ox. "No…don't hurt them…" As the battle continued, Kim saw that something was wrong. Medusa seemed to be attacking less, allowing Ox to press on. It might have seemed that Ox was winning but that couldn't be it. Her stomach told her that something wasn't right.

Kim lets out a gasp as she realizes what Medusa was doing. She's playing him on…she wants him to attack. She wants Ox to get tired so that when he does, she can kill him! Running forward, Kim yells out, "Ox! Jackie! Don't! It's just what she wants!"

Unable to hear Kim, Ox continues his assault, attacking more aggressively. "Damn you, Medusa! Just die already!"

Running even faster, Kim pants as she gets closer to Ox. She opens her mouth to speak but her eyes soon widen. She wouldn't be able to say it in time. Medusa just raised her hand. She was going to kill OX.

Sensing the attack, Ox attempts to back away. But it would be too late. By the time he did, he would be pierced by Medusa. Realizing the same thing, Jackie quickly cries out. "Ox, you-"

It was too late then.

The vector arrow pierced the skin.

Kim's skin.

His eyes wide in shock, Ox's lip quivers as he sees Kim standing in front of him with her arms spread out. She smiles softly at him, the arrow directly below her heart. "I'm glad…I could…protect you two…"

Falling down face first, Kim's body lies on the ground, bleeding heavily. Ox yells out as he kneels down beside Kim. "NO! KIM! NO, DAMN IT! DON'T DIE KIM!" Turning back into her human form, Jackie was already in tears, seeing Kim's body. "Oh my Death…Kim…why would you…"

Medusa rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "How pathetic. You waste your time crying over a girl who sacrificed herself for you. Should have taken the chance to attack me while you could. Stupid children."

Barely alive, Kim tilts her head and lightly giggles. "Its okay guys. I protected you. That's all that matters. I love you…guys…" Suddenly, the pink haired female grows stiff and her facial expression remains the same. Shaking her body, Ox shakes his head. "No. No. This can't be happening."

Stepping towards them, Medusa raises her hand. "How pitiful. But look on the bright side, you'll die next to your beloved friend."

"She was my girlfriend. She was finally mine…My beloved Kim." Staring at Kim's corpse, Ox bites his lip harshly and clenches his fists. "She's dead now. Dead because of you!" Standing quickly and throwing a punch at Medusa, Ox yells in anger.

The punch came as a surprise to Medusa. She stumbles back as she's hit across the face. Holding Kim's body, Jackie widens her eyes at Ox's sudden behavior. "Ox! Wait! You can't fight her alone like that!"

Ignoring Jackie, Ox runs to Medusa and reaches for her neck. "You killed Kim!"

Falling back, Medusa hisses in anger. Ox's hands find her neck and he begins to squeeze down, angry tears in his eyes. "You killed her. You killed my beloved K-" His eyes widen and he coughs up blood, looking down at his stomach. He hadn't even heard Medusa preparing for her attack. Shoving Ox off of her, Medusa rubs her neck and gets to her feet. "Idiot…"

Coughing and spitting out blood, Ox clenches his stomach and crawls to Kim. "My…beloved…" Wincing in pain, Ox musters up enough strength to sit up as he holds onto his deceased girlfriend. "Kim…I'm sorry…I was stupid…and now I'm going to die…"

Watching, Jackie covers her mouth and holds back the tears. "Ox…"

Glancing over at Jackie, Ox grits his teeth. "Run. You have to run now. Or Medusa will get you too."

"R-Run? But Ox I can't-"

"RUN!" Ox snaps as Medusa approaches them casually. Standing up and running, Jackie bursts into tears. Why!? Why does everyone I know die around me!?

Staring at Jackie, Medusa scoffs and raises her hand. "Just die." Before the vector arrow gets to Jackie however, Ox uses the last of his strength to leap up and take the hit, getting pierced in his chest. Looking back and seeing what Ox did only makes Jackie cry harder as she looks back forward and runs faster.

Ox's body collapses, lying next to Kim's. Glaring at the corpses, Medusa shakes her head. "I just don't get it. Why sacrifice yourselves like that?"

"Yahoo!"

The sudden sound came from above Medusa and she turns her head to see Black*Star grinning. "Your soul is mine!"

Suddenly a crack is heard in the ground and Medusa looks down to see the floor cave in. "Son of a -"

Screaming loudly, Medusa falls in. Unable to stop himself from his leap, Black*Star's eyes widen as he finds himself falling down the hole as well.

Thinking quickly, Black*Star pierces a part of the hole's side to stop himself from falling all the way down. "Haha! I'm a genius, huh Tsubaki?"

"Yes of course you are Black*Star! But…do you think we should keep going down? To make sure Medusa is…you know…"

The blue haired male thinks for a moment and then nods as he descends. "Good thinking! I'll go finish off the witch if she's alive! Then she'll never hurt anyone again!"

As he reaches the bottom, he narrows his eyes as it was hard to see in the dark area. "Tsubaki does something about this place seem strange to you?"

"Now that I think of it, yes it does."

Frowning, Black*Star also notices that Medusa was nowhere to be found. "Hmm…she must still be alive." Walking into a light at the corner, Black*Star squints as it gets brighter the closer he gets. As he hears the sound of murmurs, Black*Star hides behind a wall. Is that Medusa? The voice grows louder and soon he realizes there are two people talking. A male and a female.

"It's a shame really. I hadn't expected your sister to fall into the hole and die. Oh well. One less person to deal with. And hey that's three dead in a single day."

A woman chuckles in the distance. "Yes indeed. But like I told you, my sister would have died sooner or later. Although the question now is…who dies next?"

Black*Star knew those voices. They were all too familiar. It was Asura and Arachne!

Black*Star tenses up as the realization comes in. No way…I just found Asura's secret lair!

END OF CHAPTER 15
DEATH COUNT: 10
R.I.P. Kim Diehl and Ox Ford