Done with the next chapter at last!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 10: Disaster in the Abbey

As soon as we all emerged out of the hole and back outside, we looked back to see a large stone grave slide itself back into place and concealing the hole. By taking our surroundings, we noticed that we ended up on a graveyard presumably located behind Abbot Francisco's residence, because I don't recall seeing this type of building that was standing right in front of us before.

"This must be it." I said to everyone. "Let's hurry."

Before I could take a step, I felt someone patting my shoulder firmly and I glanced over my shoulder to see Yangus. "Careful, guv." he warned. "There's a bad air 'round 'ere."

I frowned in confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"I can't really describe it in such a way ya would understand… But ya better watch yer back. I don't like 'ow this feels."

'I wonder what happened to make him say that…?' I thought with an eyebrow raised, and as I looked back at the girls, I saw that they were also just as confused as I was. Well… all of them except for Cirno, who was sporting a nonchalant smile instead.

"Oh, what could possibly go wrong?" she said dismissively before pounding her fists. "We can just give that meanie jester a good beating if we come across him!"

The rest of the Gensokyo girls shot her a flat look while sweatdropping. "Confident as ever, huh?" Reimu sighed.

"Please, he'll be no match for us! Especially for me!" Cirno continued to boast, puffing up her chest pridefully.

"Riiiight…" Marisa muttered.

"While we do have a number advantage, we still must not underestimate him." Alice stated. "We have already seen how he easily kills people."

"Exactly." Youmu nodded. "And we better not let our guard down."

I had to agree with Youmu there, so I gave her a nod before I ushered everyone to get going and they complied immediately. We ran around the building's corner… but what we saw afterwards shocked us.

[BGM: Stalked by Fear – Dragon Quest VIII]

Stopping in our tracks, we looked over with wide eyes to see three Templar Knights lying unconscious in the middle of the wooden bridge that connected the abbey with the Abbot's residence. I briefly froze in place in horror; I knew that it was Dhoumagus who done this. I could only hope that we weren't too late…again.

"Oh my god…" Aya breathed with worry, and then she rushed over to one of the downed Templar Knights as we followed. "Hey! Are you okay?!" she asked as she knelt down and lightly shook his chest.

The Knight groaned and slowly regained consciousness, but he did not open his eyes. "Urgh… I'm not…going to make it… That jester…" he weakly spoke. "S-somebody… Save…the Abbot…!" and that was the last thing he said before passing out. After Aya got back up, we all shared determined nods as we rushed into the building.

Several stone shelves piled with dozens of different books surrounded the walls of the residence's main floor while the back wall had a red-clothed wooden table with two candles on both edges, and a few wooden chairs were lined up against the wall. I would call this interior rather cozy… if it wasn't for the horrific sight that we immediately came upon as soon as we stepped inside: more unconscious Templar Knights laid sprawled on different portions of the floor, with some of them even looking badly injured and leaving blood stains on the floor that led us (except Remilia) to cringe. Dhoulmagus sure did a number on them, maybe a bit too much…

Trying our best to ignore these surroundings, we made our way up the stairs to the second floor, hoping those would instantly lead us to the Abbot.

[BGM End]

I have no idea why, but as we climbed the stairs up to the upper floor… the air around me suddenly began to feel ominous and dense. Maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me, but I felt like it was getting a bit difficult for me to breathe, hence why I mentioned about the air being dense. Guess Yangus' warning back there about a bad air seemed true, after all…

Everything was quiet. Eerily quiet. With the only noises being the sounds of our footsteps and the rushing sounds of a cold breeze around, which only added more emphasis on both the 'ominous' and 'eerie' parts. The moment we stepped into the second floor, another noise kicked in: snoring sounds. Perhaps that could be Abbot Francisco sleeping, I thought to myself. Makes sense, since it was already pretty late into the night.

But just then, I soon felt an evil presence lurking somewhere in the room… meaning that Dhoulmagus must be in here! Unfortunately, I had no chance to warn the others about this because… somehow, the sound of a teasing snicker from Dhoulmagus himself reached into my ears even if he wasn't standing next to me. That resulted in me paralyzing in place with my shoulders tensed up, unable to move my lips. I internally cursed to myself by this; I couldn't believe I got frozen like that, and Dhoulmagus was right within my eyes' reach!

"Eight? Are you okay?" Reisen asked me, her voice filled with concern.

Luckily for me, the paralysis effect on me vanished almost instantly, and I was able to move and talk again. "Sort of… I just suddenly got frozen in place by Dhoulmagus."

"Dhoulmagus!?" Jessica perked up nigh immediately. "Is he here!?" she rushed over as we followed… but all we found was just the Abbot, sleeping peacefully on his bed. No sign of Dhoulmagus anywhere.

"Are you really telling the truth, Eight?" Remilia questioned with a raised eyebrow. "There's no one here aside from the Abbot!"

"I swear I'm telling the truth! Dhoumagus was here before he paralyzed me!" I tried to convince the others… and then it hit me. "Ah, drat! Of course!" I slapped the side of my forehead. "Dhoumagus must of have paralyzed me on purpose so that I wouldn't be able to warn you all about his presence in here!"

"Alright, we believe in ya, guv." Yangus said with a smile. "But one thing's fer sure… Dhoulmagus ain't just come to say 'ello, 'as 'e!" he shot a glance at Abbot Francisco, who was still sleeping despite all the noise we made while talking. "He's after Abbot Francisco now, by the looks of it. But why?" Your guess is as good as mine, Yangus…

"Either way, let's get closer to him just to see if he hasn't been harmed in any way." Reimu said and we complied, walking over to him and stopping next to his bed.

At that exact moment, Abbot Francisco suddenly stirred awake and sat up. "…Hm, hmm…?" he yawned. "What sinister presence lingers in the air!" he then immediately turned to face us, as if he had already sensed our presence in here. "And who are you? Did you want to speak to me?"

"Yes, Your Eminence." I spoke up for the group, my tone firm and full of authority. "We came here to-"

"HALT!" but I was cut off by a voice shouting from downstairs, followed by the sound of multiple rushing footsteps as we all looked back to see four Templar Knights surround us, but not in a friendly manner since I could tell by the looks on their faces clearly showing hostility. "There they are! It's them!" the same Knight who shouted before barked accusingly at us. "You'll be damned for trying to take Abbot Francisco's life!"

As you might expect, we were all taken aback by that absurd accusation that came from absolutely out of nowhere. "Hey! What are you talking about!?" Marisa scowled. "We weren't doing anything to him!"

"Silence!" the Knight retorted while pointing the tip of his sword towards Marisa's neck, making her flinch back. "Speak your reasons now, or we'll throw you all into the dungeons!"

"What on earth…!? What's going on?" Abbot Francisco wondered, a puzzled look donning his face.

[BGM: Friar's Determination – Dragon Quest VIII]

Eventually, Marcello came walking in as the Knights stepped aside and he knelt down to Abbot Francisco. "Abbot Francisco. Captain Marcello, at your service as always!" Marcello spoke politely.

"Ah, Marcello! Tell me what's happening." Abbot Francisco requested.

"There has been a breach of security. Many of the guards have been seriously wounded."

"What!?"

Marcello rose up his head and continued, "I feared you might be in danger, so I came immediately…" he then stood up and directed to us. "And sure enough, we've caught these criminals. They've been loitering around the abbey since midday." Oh, come on! Not Marcello too! "It seems we were just in time. I thank the Goddess that you're safe."

After that, Marcello turned around to walk away while we shot him hateful expressions, but then I noticed from the corner of my eyes that Cirno had leaned closer to Abbot Francisco's face and spoke to him as she pointed at Marcello, "Don't listen to that scary-looking guy, Mr. Abbot! He's lying!" Oh god Cirno, please don't piss off Marcello… That's the last thing I want to happen…

However, it came true: Marcello immediately stopped walking away and turned around while shooting Cirno the hardest-piercing glare you could ever imagine. Marcello always had an angry look on his face, but this time those sharp eyes of his looked like they could actually kill you. "Are you calling me a liar!?" he hissed, storming towards Cirno. "I'll have you know, little brat, that you're speaking to the CAPTAIN of the Templar Knights! You have no right to address me as such!" Oh, this is getting ugly very fast…

"…Wait!" luckily, before a fight could break out, Abbot Francisco finally spoke up again, causing everyone to stop and look back at him. "I believe this little girl. These people are no criminals."

"Aha! See?" Cirno smirked. "He believes me!"

But Marcello obviously wasn't convinced in the slightest, and with a small growl, he shoves Cirno away and addresses the Abbot, "Please, Holy Father! They were caught red-handed!"

"Look into their eyes. See their pure hearts. These people are guilty of nothing." Abbot Francisco replied calmly.

"But…!" Marcello began to protest, only to stop and sigh with a little hint of frustration before saying, "Very good! But we must find out what they were doing here in your residence so late at night. At the very least, let us ascertain that. Please."

"Ho ho ho! You really are a worrier, Marcello! Very well, if you must!"

"Thank you, Holy Father." Marcello bowed, then he turned to us with a very mischievous smirk. "…So, shall we go?" Sigh… Guess we have no other choice.

[BGM End]

Later…

We were all taken to Maella Abbey's basement, in the interrogation room. Marcello was sitting across the wooden table with a quill pen and a notebook, and next to him were a few Templar Knights. Meanwhile, we stood on the opposite side of Marcello, the only thing separating him from us being the table itself… and we were all looking very angry at him.

"Now look 'ere! We ain't done nuffin' wrong!" Yangus growled, slamming a hand on the table.

Jessica followed suit, slamming both hands on the table. "Yeah! We told you! It was your man who asked us to check up on the Abbot!"

Now it was my turn to slam a hand on the table. "Just what right have you to keep us here!?"

"…The Abbot is too forgiving. If you're innocent, then who attacked my men?" Marcello questioned. "I, on the other hand, am not so forgiving. You won't fool me, so don't try. You'll confess in the-"

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Marcello asked as he turned his attention to the door.

"You sent for me, Captain?" a voice from the other side of the door said. Wait…that sounded like Angelo's voice!

"Come in." Marcello ordered, and a Templar Knight went to open the door. Sure enough, Angelo was the one standing behind the door. He did a bow before walking into the room, and as he did, I felt a glimmer of faith in my heart. He'll definitely get us out of this situation for sure!

"I have a question to ask you. But there's something else first…" Marcello said to Angelo, then he looked back at us. "We've just arrested these intruders in the Abbot's residence. They were attempting to take his life. They wounded six of my men."

"Lies! They were already injured before we got there!" Marisa angrily shouted.

"Quiet!" a Templar Knight said to Marisa. "You are not allowed to speak at this moment!"

Meanwhile, Angelo just gave an amused whistle… which earned him an annoyed look from Marcello, making him stop. "Very well…" Marcello continued. "The problem is this… My guard is watertight. I make sure of that. There's no way for an outsider to get inside the abbey. Unless of course, they have inside help…" reaching into his capelet, he pulls out Angelo's ring and shows it to its owner, whose eyebrows lifted slightly by that. "And would you believe it? When we searched their possessions, we found this ring. Templar Angelo! Where is your ring? Show it to me now! If you have it."

Angelo tilted his head… before going into a chuckling fit and snatching his ring from Marcello. "Phew! It's turned up! Thank the Goddess!" Angelo exclaimed.

"…What!?" Marcello asked, having stood up and scowled at Angelo from that previous action.

Angelo puts his ring away. "Someone stole it from me at the pub. And it looks like they're about to learn that crime doesn't pay!"

…No. I did NOT just hear that. Angelo is actually going along with Marcello's absurd claim?! So that could mean…Angelo was merely just using us, and thus that resulted in us getting into this situation. At this, I felt all the faith I had in Angelo quickly fading away from my heart. My blood was beginning to boil, the feeling of betrayal quickly overtaking me. Granted, I wasn't expressing it outside… but I definitely was on the inside.

"Stole it!? Wot!? You little fibber!" Yangus yelled, his face and tone clearly screaming those of betrayal.

But before Yangus could do anything, Jessica suddenly kicked him on the shin, causing him to comically vibrate in place with a pained expression. "We've no use for a ring like that! He set us up! I should have known better than to believe a single word from the mouth of a filthy cheat like you!" she retorted to Angelo.

Ignoring Jessica, Angelo gave another bow. "I have nothing further to say. You can find me in my chambers." and with that, he turns to leave.

"Wait! We're not done here!" Marcello called out to him, but he ignored his call and left. Sighing, Marcello sat back down. "Fine! I'll deal with him later. First things first." he looks at us again. "…You've wasted enough of my time. Don't try my patience! I want answers! What did you plan to do to the Abbot? Confess!"

It was then that Yangus finally lost his patience. "How many times 'ave we gotta tell you, eh? We ain't got nuffin' ta confess!" he barked.

"But if you do want answers…" Reimu began. "We can tell you that we know who was the actual one that snuck into the Abbot's residence and attacked your men!"

Marcello's eyebrows perked up by that. "Is that so? Well, then say it already!"

"It was-"

Unfortunately… before Reimu could say the name, there was another knock on the door. Dang it! So close! "What is it now!?" Marcello asked exasperated, turning his attention to the door for the second time.

"We found a suspicious monster loitering outside the abbey!" this time, an unfamiliar voice said from the other side, in which I assumed it belonged to another Templar Knight. Hold on… Did he just say 'suspicious monster'?! NO… Don't tell me…!

"What? What kind of monster?"

The door was opened… and sure enough, Trode was standing on the other side. Then, the Knight who was at the other side with him kicked him into the room.

[BGM: Go Topo Go! – Dragon Quest VIII]

"Ouch! What the devil do you think you're doing!?" Trode growled as the same Knight came in and lifted him into the air by the hood, all while we watched with looks of complete disbelief. However, at the same time… my eye was also twitching furiously. Now normally, I hardly ever get angry at Trode even if he sometimes does some questionable things. But this time, I can definitely say that for the first time ever… I was outright mad at him, just for the fact that he had to show up at the worst possible time.

'Trode, you idiot…!' was what I was thinking right now.

"…You have got to be kidding me!" Marisa exclaimed exasperated as the Knight dropped Trode onto the table right in front of us, and the moment the troll king noticed us, he began waving cheerfully at us, much to our further dismay.

"Yoo-hoo! You guys! What are you all doing here? You were gone for such a long time, I was getting rather worried. So I'd just decided to come and look for you, when this-" Trode was soon cut off by Marcello laughing, before he stood up and lifted Trode up by the hood in the same way as the Knight did it before.

"…So this monster is a friend of yours, then!? So much for your pure hearts!" Marcello smirked devilishly.

Trode began to struggle in his grasp. "What's wrong with you!? Unhand me at once, you insolent ruffian! Get him off me, Eight!" right after he said that, Marcello threw him towards us and I quickly caught him in my arms.

[BGM End]

"Listen, we can explain!" Reisen tried to reason with Marcello, but he was having none of it.

"Enough!" he blurted out, but then he looked at Reisen analytically. "Hold it… Now that I'm looking at you better… What's with those rabbit ears on you?" he next glanced over at some of the Gensokyo girls, specifically the ones that were sporting inhuman parts like in Reisen's case, starting with Youmu, "And what about that white spirit-like thing hovering around you?" and then to Remilia and Cirno respectively, "Or perhaps those pairs of bat and icicle wings on your backs? It's quite obvious that you're not normal humans."

"I won't deny that." Aya said. "Some of us here are demons."

Alice shot her a flat look. "Don't you realize that your confession makes it sound like we're associated with Trode?" she pointed out.

"I should have known! You are in league with the monster and those demons!" Marcello concluded bitterly. "You may have deceived Abbot Francisco, but you don't fool me! It was the monster and the demons who ordered the rest of you to steal the ring and infiltrate the abbey, was it? You cursed heathens! Thought you could scare people by killing the Abbot, did you? Make them question their faith!? And then move in and take control, I suppose."

With a swing of his right arm, Marcello ordered his Knights, "Take these monstrosities to the cells!" then he addresses us with a wicked grin, "Come dawn tomorrow, I will have you tortured. Perhaps then you will realize the gravity of the sins you have committed." all we could do was react in shock by that, unable to form any words as Marcello chuckled, "…Until sunrise, then. Sleep well!"

And with that… the interrogation was over. We were all declared guilty and condemned to torture as soon as dawn arises, and until then, we are forced to spend the night in a cell. Could this day get any worse…?

Soon enough…

[BGM: Friar's Determination – Dragon Quest VIII]

It has only been a few minutes since we had our weapons confiscated by the Templar Knights, taken to our prison cell, and left alone. The interior of it at least wasn't very cramped, but it could use a bit of cleaning if you ask me. Then again, when was ever a cell clean to begin with? As for what we're doing right now, we were either leaning againt the wall, sitting on the floor, or in Yangus' case, tugging on the cell door's bars aggressively.

"It sure is boring in here…" Reimu sighed.

"We're in prison. What do you expect?" Youmu reminded her. "But the only thing I'm really bummed about is that they confiscated both my swords. If I had them, I would be at least honing my skills to pass the time rather than sitting down and doing nothing."

"They just had to confiscate Shanghai and all of my dolls as well…" Alice grumbled.

"And also our spell cards!" Marisa added. "I seriously can't believe they found out about these!"

"I'm no monster! I am a king! Blast every one of those Templar twerps!" Trode complained.

"As if they're actually going to believe you, idiot…" Cirno rolled her eyes. For once, I totally agree with her there.

"Wot a bleedin' nerve! We ain't done nuffin'! LET US OUT OF 'ERE!" Yangus yelled, still tugging on the bars.

"Yangus, that's enough!" Jessica scolded, and he stopped. "There's no point screaming. We've got to use our heads and get out of this cell!" she looks at me. "Can't you think of anything, Eight?"

I blinked in surprise as the whole room turned to face me. "What!? Why are you asking me?"

"Well, you're supposedly our leader, right? So, got any ideas?"

"Um…" I began. "Honestly, I don't think we should even try to get out of here. Sure, Remilia or Aya could try to break open the cell door with their physical strength, but that would only get us into trouble and raise further suspicion. Trying to escape means that we are proving the Templar Knights that we are indeed guilty of trying to kill the Abbot, so let's not do that."

Jessica sighed. "I guess you're right… but you do remember that we're going to get tortured tomorrow, right!? Are you saying that we should allow ourselves to surrender to it!?" she lashed out at me.

"N-no, of course not!" I flinched nervously, raising my hands in defense in front of her. "I'm just hoping that some sort of miracle would happen in which it would get us out of here without drawing any attention, okay!?"

"Miracle, you say?" Aya asked, before sighing, "If only Sanae was here…"

"Or… we can instead just leave it up to fate." Remilia casually said. "Perhaps someone might come to free us out or something, who knows?" You know, this sure would be the best time for Remilia to put her ability to use…

"Ssh! Someone's coming!" just then, Jessica suddenly whispered to us with a finger on her lips. We nodded and stood quiet, and we were able to hear footsteps getting closer and closer to our cell. Has Remilia actually done it? Has she really turned the wheel of fate to our favor? In curiosity, we decided to look outside from the cell door… and we were met with none other than Angelo.

"Good evening, everyone! Glad to see you're all looking so well!" he greeted us.

Obviously, due to the way he treated us during our interrogation previously, we weren't all that happy to see him. That was even enforced by Yangus angrily lunging at him and sticking out his arms through the bars like a ferocious wild animal in a cage. "Come 'ere, you!" he snarled.

"Now, now! Control your temper! I must apologize for before." Angelo replied, and then he pulled out a large bag containing all of our weapons and the keys to our cell. "Perhaps you will accept these as conciliation?"

"What are you up to?" Alice demanded as Angelo proceeded to insert a key into the cell door and free us.

"The guard upstairs might hear if we talk now. I'll explain later. Come on! Follow me!"

With that, we stepped out of our cell and first went to retrieve our weapons from the bag, making sure to not make so much noise while doing so before following Angelo through the hallway. "The guard's up ahead…" he warned. "Right, no one make a sound, okay?" we begrudgingly complied as Angelo silently opened the door to the interrogation room, where a Knight laid sleeping with his head on the table.

As we walked by the sleeping Knight, Angelo explained, "I seasoned his supper with a generous pinch of sleeping powder. Perfect! It worked! Sleeping like a baby!" after that, we walked past the Knight and stopped by the door leading to the torture room. "Okay. Through here!" Angelo said and opened the door.

Once he made sure no one was listening, Angelo spoke up, "…Right, we're safe in here. You can talk again now."

"Good! Tell us what's going on!" Trode demanded. "What ordeal do you intend to put us through next, hm!?"

"Yeah!" Remilia threw in, her hands on her hips. "You better have a good explanation for lying to Marcello about something we did not do!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry about before." Angelo replied, sounding calm and collected as ever. "If I hadn't lied about the ring, Marcello would have been onto me like a shot! And I haven't got anywhere else to go if I'm chucked out of here. But I came to get you out, didn't I?"

"Hmph, I guess we can give you some credit for that…" Jessica grumbled. "But, still…"

"Come on! Don't be angry! Anyway, let me show you something you won't have seen before." Angelo then picked up Trode.

"Well, what is it?" Trode wondered. Angelo directs him to a rusted and bloodstained iron maiden leering menacingly right in front of us, and opened its doors to reveal its bloody interior with good ol' spikes punctuated along its inner walls. Wait a minute… Angelo's not actually planning to throw Trode in there, is he?! I watched as Trode was helplessly shaking in fear on Angelo's grasp, and yet Angelo remained completely casual by this.

"There! And that's real blood on those spikes, you know." Angelo informed. "If I were to throw you in there and shut the door, your whole body would be skewered. I could make you hole-ier than thou without so much as getting my hands dirty. Not bad, eh?" and then… Angelo chucks Trode into the iron maiden like one would throw a bowling ball, and the Templar shuts the doors.

"AAAAH! AAAH! AAH! AH! AAAAAAAAAARGH!" we stood in complete horror as we heard Trode's panicked shrieks from the other side of the iron maiden… but then he suddenly stopped screaming after that, and instead we heard light metal banging sounds. "…Eh? Oooooh!" Trode then seemed to…coo in fascination? Instantly, we all went from horrified to confused in seconds. "Eight! Can you hear me out there? There's a secret passage in here!"

That definitely took me aback. "What… Really!?" I exclaimed in surprise. Seriously, just how many of these secret passages are there in this abbey?

"…Like I said, not bad, eh?" Angelo proudly said, then he guided the rest of us into the passage.

[BGM End]

The passage consisted of a long and dark tunnel that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. Thankfully, Angelo had a torch with him and so he was in the lead, guiding all of us through the tunnel.

"…Wot's your game, eh? First ya grass on us for somefin' we ain't done, and then ya come an' 'elp us." Yangus spoke to Angelo with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry if I've confused you. The people here have a bit of a trust issue with me." Angelo replied. "I couldn't stick up for you before. It would have backfired."

"How so?" Aya wondered.

"The man who interrogated you, Marcello… He hates me." Oh, wow… so my suspicions about Marcello possibly hating Angelo and not caring for him were true. "That's why I had to let him put you in the cells before I could help you."

"That's all well an' good, but ya still don't know us from Adam." Yangus said, before glancing at Trode and the non-human Gensokyo girls. "Ain't you worried about us bein' friends wiv this old monster and these demon gals, eh? Yer just 'appy to let us go, are ya?"

Angelo then stopped walking, and turned back to us right as we also stopped walking. "True, I don't know anything about you all. And I wasn't there when you were caught. But I do know you saved the Abbot's life. Because just before you were brought to the interrogation room, the sinister feeling that's been lingering in the air went away." Huh, so that sinister feeling did turn out to be Dhoulmagus' presence in the end. "I must thank you for that. I'm not so ruthless that I'd hang you out to dry." a flirty smirk flashed on his face. "And besides, I couldn't stand by while there was a pretty lady in trouble. Marcello's a rather talented inquisitor, you know." Ah, he's definitely looking at Jess, isn't he?

Eventually, we resumed walking the rest of the tunnel until we finally came upon a ladder leading upwards. "This leads outside." Angelo said, and then we proceeded to climb our way up and back outside.

Well…not exactly 'outside', because we came upon some hay at the top. We watched as Angelo peeked out of the hay and looked around to make sure the coast was clear, before he emerged out and we followed suit. Glancing around, we seemed to have ended up in a barn of sorts… but the moment we looked directly in front of us, we saw that Medea was here too!

"Medea! My Medea! You're safe!" Trode gleamed as he immediately rushed over to his daughter and hugged her, and she let out a happy snort in reply. "Were you lonely without me? There, there! It's all right! We'll leave this horrible place at once." after he was done soothing her, Trode hopped on the carriage's driver seat and spoke to us, "The Princess and I will go on ahead. Make sure you're not too far behind!"

"Understood, Your Majesty." I nodded, and then Trode and Medea left the barn.

"…Princess? Your Majesty?" Angelo questioned, as we looked over to see that he had a very bemused look on his face and we couldn't help but crack amused smiles at that, but then Angelo shook it off. "Whatever. Come on, let's go. You'd have to work pretty hard to mess up your escape from here. Anyway, I'm sorry again for all that trouble. So this is farewell. May the Goddess watch over you on your journey." with that said, he left the barn.

With only us left in here, I quickly took action and addressed my party, "Maybe now we can go back to Simpleton and rest for the night there. What do you say?"

"We're on it." Jessica nodded. "Much better than sleeping on a cell."

"Well, it was fun using my full potential in the night while it lasted." Remilia said. "But now, I do need my beauty sleep."

With that settled, we proceeded to leave the barn too… but the very moment we stepped outside, we were greeted by a horrible sight in the distance.

[BGM: Run through the Predicaments – Dragon Quest XI S]

The bridge connecting the abbey to the Abbot's residence was on fire!

"The bridge! …Is the whole abbey on fire!?" Angelo shouted nearby. "Surely that jester didn't come back again…?" then he gasped. "Oh, no! I've got to save the Abbot!" we watched as he sprints away to the road leading to the abbey.

Marisa rushed over to the riverbank as we followed her, and stopped near the water to watch the burning bridge on the other side. "Man, where's Nitori when we need her!?" she exclaimed. "She could easily put out the flames in seconds!"

"Maybe I can freeze the bridge instead!" Cirno smirked.

"No, don't!" I exclaimed. "If you do that, the bridge will collapse instantly!"

"Oh… So what do we do?"

I pondered for a bit, and then I suggested, "Well, you girls can fly, right? Maybe you could carry me, Yangus and Jessica to the Abbot's residence without having to go the long way?"

"Oh, sure thing!" Marisa nodded and hopped on her flying broom, but making sure to leave some space behind her. "Hop on, Eight!"

I complied and sat behind Marisa on her broom, while Remilia picked up Yangus and Aya picked up Jessica before we all took off flying over the river, and we landed on solid ground safely. As I got out of Marisa's broom while Aya placed Jessica gently on the ground, I looked to the side to see that Remilia seemed to be struggling a bit when lowering Yangus to the ground, possibly due to his pudgy weight.

"Yeesh, even with my superior strength I still had trouble carrying you!" Remilia complained. "How much do you weight?"

"Hey!" Yangus retorted.

"ABBOT FRANCISCO!" just then, we heard a familiar voice yelling from the other side of the bridge as we looked back to see Angelo standing there. Wow, he sure got here fast. We watched as Angelo took a few steps back…and then he fearlessly bolted his way through the burning bridge, much to our surprise.

"Dang! That fella sure 'as guts to cross a burnin' bridge like that!" Yangus remarked, and right as Angelo ran past the halfway point of the bridge, it finally gave away and collapsed. Luckily, Angelo safely made it to the other side where we were by diving towards the land, then he quickly rushed to the doors to open them, but they refused to budge.

"It's locked from the inside!" he exclaimed. "Marcello! Are you in there!?" no response. "Damn! What's going on!?" he tries to kick open the door, but that still didn't work. "It's no good! It won't budge!" it was then that he finally noticed us standing there. "You lot…! Did you follow me here?"

"Actually, we came here way before you did…" Reimu corrected him.

"Doesn't matter! I need your help! Just one last time, all right!? As you can see, the door refuses to open because it's locked from the inside. Can any of you think of some way we can open it?"

"I think I have a solution." Youmu spoke up almost instantly as she walked up to the doors, with one hand on the hilt of her katana. "Stand back. I'll cut down this an entrance to us."

After Angelo moved back, Youmu unsheathed her katana and slashed the door really fast in three quick motions. Eventually, a neat large square opening was created on the door as the solid part tumbled down onto the floor inside. "There we go." Youmu said as she sheathed her katana.

Angelo whispered in a mixture of awe and approval. "Quite impressive." he said before getting serious again as he ran through the opening while we followed suit, and inside we encountered a downed Templar Knight lying on the ground. Angelo knelt down next to the Knight and lifted his head with his hands, then he attempted to lightly shake him awake. "What happened!? Come on, stay with it! Tell me what happened!" he demanded.

The Knight partially opened his eyes and groaned weakly, "Thank…the Goddess… You've…come… Help…the Abbo…uuurgh…"

"Who on earth did this!?"

"He's…dangerous… Captain Marcello…is in trou…ble…" unfortunately, the Knight ran out of all the strength he could muster to stay awake. "Urrrgh…" thus, he falls unconscious again.

Angelo gave out a frustrated sigh, and stood back up to face us. "Upstairs! Come on, let's go!" he ushered as we nodded in response, and then we quickly rushed to the stairs… only to stop in our tracks when another Templar Knight suddenly tumbled down the stairs and landed on the ground in front of us.

"Uuuurgh…" he groaned. "The…jest…errrrr… You must…save…the Abbot… Guuurgh…" after that, he went unconscious as well.

[BGM End]

Soon enough, we finally made it upstairs where we saw more unconscious Knights around the room, and Marcello standing in front of Abbot Francisco in a protective stance as he glared up at… the very one who was spreading that so-called 'sinister feeling' in the air, and the one we're hunting for.

[BGM: Stalked by Fear – Dragon Quest XI S]

Dhoulmagus.

"I'm warning you… Stay away from the Abbot!" Marcello growled, raising a protective arm in front of Abbot Francisco… but with a swing of his scepter, Dhoulmagus sends a wave of dark magic at Marcello that blew him back against the back wall and cracked it, before he landed on the floor completely paralyzed.

"Marcello!" Angelo cried out as he ran over to Marcello and knelt down next to him.

"…It…was all…that…jester… I…couldn't…stop him…" Marcello groaned. "He's…strong… Urrgh! But you can't…let him…" Angelo then placed a comforting hand on Marcello's arm, only for him to rudely shove it away. "…This is an order! Templar Angelo! Get…the Abbot…to safety!"

But before Angelo could do so, Dhoulmagus acted first and fired the same wave of dark magic at him, the force of it being enough to knock both him and Marcello across the room and leaving the former paralyzed as well due to its effect.

"Wha hah hah hah hah!" Dhoulmagus cackled evilly. "Now nothing stands in my way!"

"Urgh…!" Marcello grimaced, looking up at Dhoulmagus again. "You dare lay a finger on Abbot Francisco!"

"Don't worry, Marcello! I will be fine." Abbot Francisco piped up after being quiet until now. "I have given myself to the Goddess! If it is her wish, I am prepared to die." he then looks up at Dhoulmagus fearlessly. "…But, wretched sinner, if that is not Her wish, nothing you can do will ever harm me!" he points a finger. "The Goddess will protect us all from whatever evil you can muster!"

"…Well, well! What faith you have!" Dhoulmagus replied amusedly, floating closer to Abbot Francisco. "Let's put it to the test, shall we!?"

"Oh no, you won't!" Reimu exclaimed and was about to fly over to Dhoulmagus… "Ooof!" only to get suddenly knocked to the ground by… Trode?!

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" he shouted frenetically.

"COR BLIMEY!" Yangus yelled. Oh, that thing again…

"…Uh, HOW did you even get in here!?" Reisen questioned.

Trode just ignored her and glared up at Dhoulmagus, who flashed a wicked grin in return. "It's been a while, Dhoulmagus!" Trode hissed.

"Ah! If it isn't King Toad! Looking as small and ugly as ever!" Dhoulmagus mocked, doing a mocking bow as well.

Angered, Trode started hopping in place. "Shut up! Return my daughter and I to normal at once! Do you realize what you've done to my castle!?"

[BGM End]

Dhoulmagus' response? Raising his scepter into the air and charging a purple magical energy similar to Magic Burst, which slowly grew in size and began to envelop the whole room in a bright purple light… and as this happened, the whole world appeared to slow down around me. I watched horrified as Dhoulmagus prepared to throw his scepter right at Trode, who accurately reacted in horror by that.

"Nnnnnnnoooooooooooooo!" I screamed in slow-motion as I was reaching out to Trode, right as Dhoulmagus threw his scepter down like a javelin. Then, at the same time as the world was back to normal speed for me, the scepter eventually pierced through a target. Fortunately, it wasn't Trode. But unfortunately… the target instead was Abbot Francisco, who had come to shield Trode at the very last second.

[BGM: Shocking! – Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]

Everyone, myself included, gasped as Dhoulmagus makes the scepter on Abbot Francisco's impaled torso return back to him with just a flick of his wrist, and then the Abbot collapsed to his death.

"W-What!?" Trode stuttered.

"…Such a pity…" Dhoulmagus said, now floating right in front of a window. "It seems fate and your benevolent Goddess are both on my side… Hah hah hah! Yes… Such a pity… Poor Francisco!" just then, magic runes surrounded the scepter before a red aura surrounded it. "The power!" Dhoulmagus marveled in an obvious power-hungry way. "…Hah hah hah! My work here is done!" Work? What work?! I still don't understand…

Before we knew it, Dhoulmagus unleashed a shockwave of energy to completely shatter the window's glass as we all shielded our faces from the flying shards of glass, and the sounds of cold winds from outside came whooshing in. With another bow, Dhoulmagus spoke, "Parting is such sweet sorrow!" and after that, he flies backwards through the window… and then his sadistic laugher echoed as he slipped away into the darkness once again.

Before long, it was just me and my party left standing in the room, along with an injured Marcello and Angelo, some downed Templar Knights… and a dead Abbot Francisco.

[BGM: With Sadness in Heart – Dragon Quest XI S]

The following day, under a heavy cloud of rain, Abbot Francisco's funeral was held, his body committed to the ground. Marcello, Angelo, Templar Knights and monks surrounded the grave, and two Templar Knights began burying it with dirt by using shovels.

Speaking of Marcello, who somehow managed to escape injury save for a slightly bandaged head, he had explained to everyone the events of the previous night. Thus, I and my party were cleared of any suspicion. We stood among the remaining monks during the funeral, our faces filled with sorrow but also with grief, if only because we had failed to prevent the Abbot's death when we had the chance. All that effort and determination… was for nothing.

It wasn't just us, though: Everyone at the funeral felt a terrible sorrow at the loss of the Abbot, and by the heavy rain, you could say that the heavens, too, wept tears of grief. Even worse, this rain continued all day, never once stopping until the next dawn…

The start of a new day.

To be continued…

Eight: Darn it... I still can't believe that we failed to save the Abbot... He treated us so kindly! He didn't deserve to die!

Aw, don't feel bad, Eight. At least you and your party tried your best. Unfortunately, we're not done with the sad stuff yet since the next chapter is going to feature more of that. You have been warned.