B1 — 23. A Courageous Bat
Scarlet’s world cracked as Relica’s cruel, twisted smile dared her to impale her with the blood spears. Yet then, Maria warned her that the kids would die if she hurt the witch. What was she supposed to do? Now her spears aimed at Maria, and the terrorists brought crying hostages out; this wasn’t supposed to happen!
Without Rachel telling her what to do, she might make a mistake and kill dozens of people. There was no way Rachel could die; she was too intelligent, driven, and strong. Rachel always had an answer; she always knew what to do. Rachel never panicked. Why couldn’t she be more like her instead of feeding off of the in-control aura she produced?
She could feel the bloodlust and fear pulsing through the building like a beating heart, applying more pressure against her chest with every passing second. Yet, one emotional wave stood out from the others.
Scarlet felt weightless as Fiona’s hum brought a soft wind that lifted her off the ground, her skirt fluttering a tad at the breeze circling her. Electricity sparked across Maria’s skin as the fairy’s enchantment took effect.
It didn’t take long for chills to run through Scarlet’s bones in the cooling, magical atmosphere, and she froze at the sudden shift in the fairy’s mental state. She hadn’t felt cruelty, coldness, and such a deep thirst for murder since meeting Veronica in the ocean of blood. Yet, Fiona’s voice and smile were like smooth jazz as she thanked the terrorists for making things easy for her.
A shimmering shard of ice formed in two seconds and scattered her spiraling string of thoughts as it flew straight through one of the gangster’s skulls. A short, stunned silence overtook the tense scene, Relica looking just as confused as everyone else.
Another ice spike formed above Fiona’s hand, causing Akio to sigh, shut the doors, and spin the rooms. Maria purified the ground under them to keep herself stable while shouting at the fairy, but Astra’s staticky voice in her ear snapped her panicking heart back into focus.
“Fangs… You there—”
It cut off as the supernatural aura of the area scrambled the signal, killing her hopes at news regarding Rachel’s whereabouts. A baby-blue glow brought her feverish gaze to the smiling, illuminated fairy, and Scarlet breathed in Fiona’s similar confident vibe, not quite, but close to Rachel’s.
“Hey. It’s okay.” Her tiny hand patted her cheek. “Mhm. You and Maria go after Relica with her purifying power; I will rescue the hostages and draw their attention.”
Maria responded to her as Scarlet closed her eyes and breathed, using whatever power she had to feed off the fairy’s grace and confidence. The unicorn’s unique blend of courage and attitude, mixed with Fiona’s emotional aura, provided just enough of a crutch to stabilize her frantic mind.
She would have responded, but Fiona was already flying away, as serene as a clear sky if a clear sky rained down shards of ice. Another frigid spear shot out above them, barely missing Maria’s shoulder and making her curse. On the flip of a coin, Fiona’s serenity became a blazing ball of enraged laughter.
Akio went after the fairy, and the room shortly started to return to normal as Maria carefully took her arm and pulled her away; it wasn’t hard when she was floating a few centimeters off the wooden floorboards.
“Aye, chica, you got us, right? Chica?!”
“Huh? Oh. No, yeah, umm… I-I’m with you! Just—just give me a second,” she panted, clutching her chest as her blood cycled around them; Relica’s claim about Rachel was like a dagger plunging into it.
With Fiona’s departure and the crutch of her stability replaced by a whimsical manic hate, all Scarlet could lean on was Maria to keep herself from falling back into a petrified hole at just the thought of being forced to tell Molly her daughter had died. It was enough.
Scarlet breathed a long sigh, and her feet touched the carpeted floor as the paper walls and wooden boards receded with the supernatural presence; it seemed Akio was abandoning the ship, and he wasn’t the only one.
“About damn time ya got your head straight. Shit,” Maria snarled, picking up her pace as their room became a long hallway on what appeared to be the second floor. “Aye, Tony, don’t do—”
Two gangsters with two terrified female hostages came into view with the melting paper walls, and the light-skinned man instantly dropped his knife upon spotting them. He shoved the woman forward and dropped to his butt.
“Hey! Hey! I’m done! Zack, drop the—”
Her blood launched forward, creating a wall between them; Scarlet felt death looming. Her vision tinted red just as the mass of purplish force flooded the men’s veins, moving along a string-like substance that permeated their circulatory system. Then, suddenly, her hand flew to her mouth in shock as the men exploded.
All sound from the detonation was hidden behind the crimson wall blocking off the hallway, Scarlet dropping to her knees with the cowering women. Maria rushed forward to comfort the women but paused beside them as Scarlet bent over to dry heave, gripping her throat.
She could taste it; their blood mixed with her own, filling her with power and the sweet terrified hormones mixed into the liquid. Scarlet didn’t want it, yet the blood crawled to her as if she were a magnet.
“No… I don’t like it…”
It was a lie, and Maria seemed to know it by the bewildered look on her face as she whispered to the two trembling women. Scarlet didn’t want to love it, but her body welcomed the blood in as if it was a gourmet meal.
“No, focus…” Scarlet growled, breathing deeply and trying to pull from her inner Rachel. “Focus… Relica…”
Her fangs bit into her black lips as she stumbled upright, the cool breeze of Fiona’s enchantment still flowing around her. She had to trust in Rachel, and Rachel told her that she could handle this—Scarlet knew she was powerful—she would handle this… hopefully.
Taking a deep breath and releasing the pressure, Scarlet walked forward, shadows and blood pooling around her. The women tensed and wept for their lives, but they were behind a group of soldiers when the darkness left them safe from harm.
Without explanation, she left them, carrying Maria and her to two more groups of panicking gangsters; every time she appeared, the violet string running through the gangsters’ bodies expanded and turned them into living bombs. Scarlet detached herself from her emotion, instantly teleporting the victims away after the ghost’s disappearance.
Maria’s eyes were practically spinning with the swift changes in location as Scarlet brought them to the front entrance; Relica was waiting inside.
“W-What the hell was that about?” she choked, sweat slicking her face as the sprinklers triggered from the fire Fiona was creating on the upper floors. “If ya had that kind of power—shit…”
Scarlet’s blood fanned out to keep them dry, fingernails digging into her palms to keep herself from trembling. She could do this; she just had to remain strong, but now she didn’t know what to do.
Her focus shifted from Maria to the room where the terrorist waited. Everyone in the room had the same magical thread laced throughout their bodies, and it wasn’t just them. Maria was supposed to have the answers, though. However, the unicorn’s panting and flushed skin were now concerning her.
“Maria…”
“What?” she grunted, sounding breathless as she plucked at her tanktop to let air in. “You got a lock on the kids? Take me in, and I’ll purify that shit. Let’s go, chica.”
Scarlet slowly shook her head. “You’re… dying, aren’t you? Your body doesn’t have blood.”
“The hell you talkin’ about? I can do a mass purification!” Maria shifted uncomfortably, scratching her scalp, but her illuminated horn was already dimming. “Shit, I got it; let’s go—we’re wastin’ time! Zip in, nab ‘em, purify, we out. Ya know?”
Rachel had told her Maria couldn’t lie, so Scarlet shook her head and revealed the bad news.
“Relica moved all of the kids to the edges of the room… I think she knows you’re limited, and I can see the magic, or whatever it is, in all of them… In the women we saved, too. I—”
“Dammit!” Maria’s nose twitched as she began to pace, running her fingers through her hair. “¡El culo maldita mierda, perra! Aye, chica; encárgate de tu mierda—give me somethin’, huh?! Are you telling me she’s got a damn army of human bombs?”
“I-I… Yeah, what can we do? It’s in all of the gangsters—at least a hundred or more…”
“Well, shit,” Maria worked around her jaw and tapped her shoulder with the back of her hand before nudging her head to the room. “Okay. Okay. Aye, you confident in yo shit?”
“What do you mean?” Scarlet mumbled, trembling fingers holding onto her shoulder. “No. I don’t have any confidence in myself…”
“Ugh. Aye…”
Scarlet stiffened as Maria clasped her head and looked into her frightened eyes, her blood curling in threateningly. “S-Stop—I don’t want to hurt you…”
Maria didn’t back down, sweat-slicken face filled with determination. “I promised those kids I’d get them out, and I don’t lie; ya hear me? My body is screaming at me to lay my ass out and call it quits, but I ain’t doin’ that… If we can’t punch our way out, we gotta talk them free—we gotta buy time. Ya feel me?”
“F-For Rachel?”
“For Santa Claus, dammit! I don’t give a shit who,” she snarled, forcing a smile. “You with me, vamp girl; your crew will figure something out, right?”
Scarlet’s heart sang as Astra’s British chuckle spoke into her ear.
“Well, I like this Mexican lass!”
“Astra!” Scarlet cried, crimson leaking out of her eyes and making Maria’s eyes snap to her pointed left ear. “What about Rachel—is everything okay? I see Selv still fighting the guy… Is she okay?”
“Ah, Ms. Fat Tail needs ta work on her cardio; it’ll take Nessie a good bit longer, I think, and then she’ll need to trudge over here, which, heh, good luck! But ya got yer ol’ bloke Astra here! The Cap says they’d got some purifiers en route to handle the nasty stuff, so our horned lassie be on the money.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I suck at talking,” Scarlet hissed, scratching her neck as the pressure mounted.
“Feed her ego,” Maria grunted, evening out her heavy breathing. “From what I hear, she’s addicted to it.”
“She’s got a point. Rachel was a master at crackin’ her nut; she also seems interested in you. Play it up! You got this, Little Fang! I’ll let ya know when Fluffy Tail gets back. So go get her, love!”
Fiona’s chaos above continued like clockwork; Selvaria was exiting the ocean like she was auditioning in a kaiju movie, and a lot of the soldiers were getting closer to the facility as they closed in. Rachel had to come back soon.
Not feeling so alone anymore, Scarlet walked forward as the sprinklers ceased and threw open the door to the club floor. Relica licked her cracked lip with an excited smile, the wound seemingly self-inflicted.
“It took you long enough, Scarlet, Maria. Hasn’t this been an utter disaster? Haha. I love it.”
Maria snorted, arms crossed under her bust as her illuminated eyes darted around the large underground area, shifting between each of the hypnotized kids. “Bullshit. You’re hella nervous. What’s the deal when you hold all the cards? Heh. Damn, Terrell, she’s got your ass sitting bar-side, huh?”
The dark-skinned blind man’s mouth was tight as he sat at the bar, seemingly trying to ignore them while talking on the phone with someone now that the supernatural field was gone; Scarlet could see the purple lines in both Terrell’s and Marcus’ veins, and her eyes widened upon getting a better look at the bar.
“You… spiked the water and alcohol with the explosion spell?”
Terrell and his son tensed, dropping the glass to shatter across the ground as Relica giggled.
“Wow! You really are some kind of monster,” she mused, legs crossed and meeting Marcus’ terrified eyes. “You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to kill people with the trust they put in their food or beverages.”
She lazily held her hand to the side and snapped her fingers with a gleam in her eyes; the loud snap in the still atmosphere lingered before Terrell fell off the stool, knees hitting the tile, his world collapsing.
“Dad—Dad?!” A honeycomb shield enclosed the two gangsters as Marcus glared at the smirking woman. “Bitch, what…”
“Daran…”
“What about Daran?”
“Does she have to spell it out for you?” Maria growled. “She killed your brother.”
“No! That’s—how?!”
Terrell forced a laugh, tears gathering in his clouded eyes as he looked at Relica. “When did you k-kill him?”
“Oh, mate,” Astra’s voice buzzed in Scarlet’s ear. “It was a while ago. That snap was one of the blokes Fiona is dancing with.”
Relica was adjusting her dress with a thoughtful hum. “I’m shocked it took you this long to notice your son was gone. I suppose you’ve been busy talking to your bosses. Figure things out? Most of them will be dead soon enough.”
“It’s you,” Terrell whispered. “You’re the Violet Seat… You betrayed your own cartel… We ran your drug ring. Why dismantle your own organization?”
“Wait, she’s your boss? Shit,” Maria whistled, moving on to a few more of the kids as she used the casual atmosphere to continue checking up on them. “I didn’t see that angle. What about Margaret, Eliza, and Luis?”
Scarlet shifted comfortably at Relica’s incredulous smile, and she tried to loosen up while walking forward to take the seat in front of the terrorist-turned-secret mob boss.
“Oh, darlings… Hehe-haaa. What kind of question is that? You don’t make seventh on the US’s most wanted list by being a simple terrorist. Why did I destroy my own cartel? Because it’s a dead business,” she snickered. “As for Marg, Lizzy, and Luis—loose ends that served their purpose.”
Maria nudged her head to the side. “Cold.”
“Well, I will collect insurance on all those killed; occupational hazard via alien attack is quite the niche that pays, heh, quite good, as you can imagine. I might as well get something out of them. In fact, Scarlet was the one who was supposed to have killed all of you. Haaa. And that didn’t happen… which is what troubles me and why I am still here.”
Scarlet’s eyes glazed over. “Huh? W-What do you mean?”
“Damn. So… you’re the big fish running shit, huh?” Maria asked, moving to one of the nearby kids to wipe the drool running down his chin and having him drink some water to remain hydrated. “Drink up—that’s right, slowly… Shit, would it kill you to care for them; hostages are worthless dead…”
Relica laughed. “Big fish? No-no-no, sweetie… In a world of big fish… I’m Moby-Dick! And I didn’t expect to kill these kids, to be honest. Oh. Here’s a question to illustrate that—I’m curious—Terrell, what Level are you?”
Marcus was helping his father up, whispering something to him, but he was having trouble finding his feet.
“What does it matter? You can’t do shit to us with my shield up.”
“Shut up, Marcus,” his father muttered. “Do what she says, or we’re both dead… Three.”
“Smart,” Relica said, waving at Scarlet.
“Four,” Marcus snarled.
“What about you, Maria?”
“Four… Five now.”
“Bullshit!” Marcus snapped. “I’ve killed over four dozen people to get to Level 4!”
“Tsk-tsk-tsk.” Relica’s wagging finger snapped his mouth shut. “Murder is far from the most efficient way to level, but the fairy is making gains. Hehe. Scarlet, do you know what Level you and Rachel are? Tell me the truth.”
Hands knotting at her skirt front, Scarlet’s blood hovered around them, threatening spikes poised to strike as Maria kept moving between the children, caring for their needs. “I don’t know about me—I can’t enter my inner world thing or control my System… Rachel was Level 6 when I last saw her.”
Marcus seemed stunned at the revelation, but Relica’s nose twitched, fingernails digging into her thighs as she looked at Maria for confirmation.
“Rachel is Level 6, bitch. Heh. What’s the shade; is she higher than you?”
“She can’t enter her inner world?”
Maria shook her head. “She’s not lying.”
“Hmm.”
Scarlet could sense the agitation in Relica’s emotional aura as she rose to her feet and clasped her hands at her back. She went to a nearby table to sort through a fancy name-brand purse before taking out some oversized cards with various symbols etched onto them.
“You wouldn’t believe the fun I had during the first day of The Oscillation; I was in Madagascar with—oh, honey…”
Marcus launched forward, making Scarlet’s blood shield her, but his projected shield only flew at Relica; Maria shouted for him to stop, horn flaring to save the few kids she could. Yet, a black unicursal hexagram appeared above her head, and a transparent tetrahedron enclosed her and ate the blast.
“No… No, Relica!”
The witch’s dull eyes followed the large man as he stumbled back; Terrell seemed resigned to his fate. One snap and the man’s father splattered the inside of the man’s barrier with organs and guts. Marcus screamed from the bone that peppered his body, but Relica seemed to be done with the games, and another snap took him out of the equation.
Scarlet managed to split her blood to cover the nearby children as Maria’s legs gave out.
“Los hijo de puta! Ack…”
“M-Mom… W-Where am I?”
Relica sighed, pulling out an amulet hidden inside her bust that showed the same symbol that floated above her head. “Now look what he did… So uncivilized.”
Scarlet rushed to the unicorn’s side, and the three kids Maria managed to save started to cry. Making a hasty decision, she was surprised at the words that left her mouth.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Oh?”
Swiftly gathering the three kids with her blood, Scarlet teleported Maria outside, praying to whoever would listen that the heartless woman wouldn’t detonate the living bombs. Brushing back her hair as the shadows left, Scarlet looked up at the sky and saw the moon still in the sky; if Maria was a Celestial Unicorn, this should bring her off death’s door.
“Chica, what—”
“I’ll figure it out!” she snapped. “Take care of them and yourself!”
Scarlet could see the worry in the unicorn’s tired eyes; the light inside her chest was flickering, dangerously close to going out.
Returning to Relica, she saw interest spark in the woman’s blue eyes. “You did come back… Haha.”
Holding her head high and brushing her hair behind her ears, Scarlet felt courage inside of her ignite that she didn’t know was there. “No more games! What will it take for you to release the kids? I-I’ll go with you t-to my mom…” she mumbled. “You want that… Right?”
A short silence ensued as Relica drew in her lips, a long fingernail tapping the glass table where her occult cards were spread. Several seconds passed before a slight twist lifted the woman’s lips.
“No.”
“No?”
Scarlet hugged her arms and stepped back. “What do you mean no? M-My mom doesn’t want me to come with you? Then…”
A short titter came from the witch as her fingers slid into her bag to play with something. Scarlet shifted uncomfortably with Relica’s smiling purple eyes moving down her body.
“Oh, no, sweetie; your mother wants you above anything, but… I’m having my doubts about your mother. Sit!” she offered, free hand gesturing to the chair she’d used before.
Scarlet’s gaze fixated on a black collar Relica produced from inside the bag; weird red scribbles flowed around the outer edges.
“W-What’s that for—you aren’t going to put that on me?!”
“Hmm-hehe. I haven’t decided yet!” Relica mused, running her index finger along the outer ring. “As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, I decided to spend the first day and a half of The Oscillation with one of my best friends in Madagascar; she’ll be the queen soon, I’m sure… but she asked me a rather prophetic question…”
Relica turned to stare at her, Scarlet doing her best to buy time for the one person she had been able to rely on since her life had blown apart. “What would happen if all the work I’d done with Adele fell apart, and… I didn’t have an answer for her, which was, mmh-hmm, embarrassing for someone like me. And look where we are!”
She gestured at her with a sigh. “Her precious daughter, the prized centerpiece of everything she had planned, was turned against her by some nineteen-year-old Korean girl… It’s mind-boggling, really!” she laughed, rubbing her forehead before wagging a finger at her.
“I’ve seen your mother do everything from toppling entire governments with a five-minute cafe conversation to end wars by complimenting someone’s shoes; I was your mother’s greatest fan! Much of my criminal empire was built on her god-like ability to predict how people would react and where they would be decades in advance… And a college girl has blindsided her? Mmmh…”
Relica shook her head while selecting a few occult cards off the table to play with, twisting them around her fingers.
“If it was just your mother’s fault, then fair enough, hehe, we can’t always be perfect, but… I cannot get over the fact that I somehow failed to kill her, the report of her death was wrong, and I checked my records… It was corrected, heh, minutes after I confirmed it. There is something… off about Rachel. Do you see what I’m getting at, dear?”
Scarlet didn’t want to listen to a single word, but she honestly didn’t get it.
“So… Rachel’s misfortune ability won against my mom’s foresight?”
Relica tossed the cards on the table and rubbed her face, her tone becoming frustrated. “Hehe… I hoped you were at least somewhat bright to be our messianic figure, but I suppose you are only eighteen. I don’t know what I expected, to be honest. Not… this, I’m sure,” she grunted, gesturing at her.
“Thanks?” Scarlet huffed, hands tightening against her arms. “I never asked to be a messianic figure. What, you think Rachel’s manipulating me like someone else—oh, I know, my mom! How can I even trust I am her daughter, huh? If she knew where all of this stuff would happen, then maybe she stole me. Think of that.”
“Pfft! Sweetie, I did only a decade and a half before this conversation, not that I particularly care about that detail. No… Think!” she snarled, jabbing the side of her head.
“Wait… When did you try to kill Rachel?”
“When? I tried to kill Rachel when she was nine—an entire decade before her powers—and she escaped, seemingly messing up a critical plot point in your mother’s meticulous plan. Yet…
“Mmm-hmm-hmm. Your mother didn’t see a single variation or alteration to her plots when the cause and effect of Rachel’s survival should have been seen many times over by now, yet you’re telling me that it wasn’t until Rachel somehow slipped into your life—the core of everything—that her existence became known to our extensive world network?”
She shook her head with an angry chuckle. “No… If Rachel had the power to counter the Scarlet Hand’s eye, then she must be something… I don’t know—something rivaling or more powerful than the entity that gave Adele her knowledge, which is terrifying. What is Rachel? Because she is no human.”
Scarlet wanted to bite back and say, ‘No shit, Sherlock; she’s a hare,’ but held her tongue. It was a valid question after Relica had laid it out, and Scarlet wasn’t sure that Rachel knew the answer herself. It didn’t change her opinion, though.
Glaring at the nervous witch, Scarlet’s shaking hand stilled. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh? Heh. And how can you possibly say that?”
“Because,” Scarlet’s fingers tightened against her thighs, “I trust Rachel. She’s honest with me when everyone else lies. She tries… and hasn’t treated me like the monster… the monster my mother turned me into!”
Relica shivered, nodding as she studied her expanding blood spears. “That… is certainly a fair point. Do you want me to release these kids? I’m sure your fairy friend might kill me despite their lives hanging in the balance. What are two-hundred and fifty lives to those I might murder in the future?”
Scarlet’s eyes fell to the ground, guilt flooding her belly.
“Haha. I mean, I would love to see you all try. It would be fun to see how much it hurt you to see all the suffering you caused to realize I could get away at any moment! I always have a few ways out, and the guilt of burning children alive for nothing? Haha. Wow.”
“You’re more of a monster than I could ever be,” Scarlet growled, frame starting to quake again with the woman’s hungry gaze on her.
Relica’s smile turned reflective and melancholy as she picked up her collar again to play with it.
“You know… I can agree with that to some degree… The lengths we go to in order to fulfill the dreams of those we love can be… terrifying. I’ve learned that I would sooner murder my own children than see what I love taken away from me, and yes… that is quite a different state of mind. I cannot justify that, but I will; I am just another flawed woman blinded by love.”
Perking up, she giggled and unfastened the collar before holding it out. “If you want to save these kids. I will release all of them if you only put on this of your own free will and hold one of these cards against your forehead and the other against your heart. Not one more soul will be lost; the decision is yours. I want to put your mother under my thumb. Care to stick it to her?”
Scarlet hesitantly took the cold metal, and a soft smile lifted her mouth while remembering the muzzle she’d been told to put on—a collar for a monster—but she also knew Twilight nor Veronica would ever allow themselves to be controlled; she could put her trust in that.
“Are you sure you want to do this—what will it do?”
Relica shrugged, carefully selecting two occult cards and placing them on her lap. “Mind control, among other safeguards, such as that powerful slave collar my friend obtained from a Quest.”
Scarlet pulled the collar around her neck; it snapped together and tightened to a slightly uncomfortable degree. Her blood didn’t attack when it was her own actions, and that was what Relica counted on; she was caging herself, and Veronica said she was in charge.
Astra hissed. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Little Fang…”
“Ack… I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “Umm, what level were you again, Relica?”
The witch’s lips peeled back to show her teeth as Scarlet did as she was told and put the cards against her forehead and chest. “Level 10. Murder, empire building, divine favor, and Quests will get you all sorts of Experience.”
“Damn. She’s OP! Little Fang? Scarlet?!”
Scarlet’s world spun, and she fell to the side to drop into a dark abyss, thunder shaking her bones. She didn’t resist as she entered the storm, flashes of crimson electricity brightening the swirling clouds. Relica’s violet eyes filled the skies, and Scarlet laughed as they widened; if there was someone who deserved to meet a true monster, it was this woman.
The ruby lightning intensified, and just before slipping into the hurricane, the streaks struck Relica; in the next second, the witch was falling with her. She had no clue what kind of fiend was trapped within her, but she would find out.
Veronica’s dark chuckle came on the whirlwind. The girl Scarlet knew had likely died when her mother cut her in two; this was now Scarlet’s world.
The red sea, twisters, and maelstroms unveiled came into view with the blood rain pelting their skin, welcoming them into the heartless hellscape of her inner world. Scarlet braced herself for the impact, but entering the crimson ocean was like falling into cotton candy; the sweet flavor filled her mouth with life—then, it was gone.
Blinking, Scarlet’s blurry vision fixated on the woman kneeling across from her. Her large, purple eyes darted left and right, looking at things beyond her sight, yet her smile and voice were elated.
“The terrible truth… is beautiful. How can you reject such a… gift? You have been lied to—we all have… No. It’s impossible…”
Scrambling back, Scarlet locked in place as she followed Relica’s wide eyes to the street, looking through the walls to spot a golden cut in open space.
Rachel walked through with a grin, bathed in black fire and crackling red electricity. She wore some kind of fitted anime-like formal uniform; it had an unmistakable military school look, complete with a short skirt, thigh-high stockings, and square heels.
Scarlet had to blink to be sure she was seeing things right because Rachel had raven black hair, a demon-like horn curling out from the side of her head, and a massive fantasy-like hammer slung over her shoulder.
But perhaps the strangest addition was the nervous little bunny child with a similar aura and appearance, including the demon horn, that jumped out to hide behind her.
She’s back… She won! Did Rachel become a mom?! What… the heck happened in there?
The black flames and crimson electricity dwindled and died; Rachel’s horn crumbled to dust at the same moment, and her black hair returned to its stunning white hue. Her smile softened as she bent down to speak to the nervous bunny girl, no older than five or six, while fixing her matching military outfit.
Astra’s excited voice burned her ears as he spoke to Selvaria. “Oh, and don’t get your knickers in a twist; he’s gone-gone. Someone’s doing some teleport shenanigans—probably MI6, and… Hold up. Blimey! I think Rachel’s back, and rockin’ a look?! Damn, girl, got some bling!”
Maria was less than a street away; Rachel seemed to notice her as her head tilted that way and picked up the nearby discarded walkie-talkie on the street. Astra projected the Lunar Hare’s voice across the network, her sure tone relieving Scarlet’s tight chest.
“I said I’d come back, Scarlet.”
The golden portal vanished as a surge of power hit Scarlet like a truck and made Astra choke. “Hold up, love—I just went straight from Level 5 to 8. The bloody hell?!”
“Yeah. Legend Quests are fun…” Rachel laughed. “Astra, give me an update.”
B1 — 23. A Courageous Bat
Scarlet’s world cracked as Relica’s cruel, twisted smile dared her to impale her with the blood spears. Yet then, Maria warned her that the kids would die if she hurt the witch. What was she supposed to do? Now her spears aimed at Maria, and the terrorists brought crying hostages out; this wasn’t supposed to happen!
Without Rachel telling her what to do, she might make a mistake and kill dozens of people. There was no way Rachel could die; she was too intelligent, driven, and strong. Rachel always had an answer; she always knew what to do. Rachel never panicked. Why couldn’t she be more like her instead of feeding off of the in-control aura she produced?
She could feel the bloodlust and fear pulsing through the building like a beating heart, applying more pressure against her chest with every passing second. Yet, one emotional wave stood out from the others.
Scarlet felt weightless as Fiona’s hum brought a soft wind that lifted her off the ground, her skirt fluttering a tad at the breeze circling her. Electricity sparked across Maria’s skin as the fairy’s enchantment took effect.
It didn’t take long for chills to run through Scarlet’s bones in the cooling, magical atmosphere, and she froze at the sudden shift in the fairy’s mental state. She hadn’t felt cruelty, coldness, and such a deep thirst for murder since meeting Veronica in the ocean of blood. Yet, Fiona’s voice and smile were like smooth jazz as she thanked the terrorists for making things easy for her.
A shimmering shard of ice formed in two seconds and scattered her spiraling string of thoughts as it flew straight through one of the gangster’s skulls. A short, stunned silence overtook the tense scene, Relica looking just as confused as everyone else.
Another ice spike formed above Fiona’s hand, causing Akio to sigh, shut the doors, and spin the rooms. Maria purified the ground under them to keep herself stable while shouting at the fairy, but Astra’s staticky voice in her ear snapped her panicking heart back into focus.
“Fangs… You there—”
It cut off as the supernatural aura of the area scrambled the signal, killing her hopes at news regarding Rachel’s whereabouts. A baby-blue glow brought her feverish gaze to the smiling, illuminated fairy, and Scarlet breathed in Fiona’s similar confident vibe, not quite, but close to Rachel’s.
“Hey. It’s okay.” Her tiny hand patted her cheek. “Mhm. You and Maria go after Relica with her purifying power; I will rescue the hostages and draw their attention.”
Maria responded to her as Scarlet closed her eyes and breathed, using whatever power she had to feed off the fairy’s grace and confidence. The unicorn’s unique blend of courage and attitude, mixed with Fiona’s emotional aura, provided just enough of a crutch to stabilize her frantic mind.
She would have responded, but Fiona was already flying away, as serene as a clear sky if a clear sky rained down shards of ice. Another frigid spear shot out above them, barely missing Maria’s shoulder and making her curse. On the flip of a coin, Fiona’s serenity became a blazing ball of enraged laughter.
Akio went after the fairy, and the room shortly started to return to normal as Maria carefully took her arm and pulled her away; it wasn’t hard when she was floating a few centimeters off the wooden floorboards.
“Aye, chica, you got us, right? Chica?!”
“Huh? Oh. No, yeah, umm… I-I’m with you! Just—just give me a second,” she panted, clutching her chest as her blood cycled around them; Relica’s claim about Rachel was like a dagger plunging into it.
With Fiona’s departure and the crutch of her stability replaced by a whimsical manic hate, all Scarlet could lean on was Maria to keep herself from falling back into a petrified hole at just the thought of being forced to tell Molly her daughter had died. It was enough.
Scarlet breathed a long sigh, and her feet touched the carpeted floor as the paper walls and wooden boards receded with the supernatural presence; it seemed Akio was abandoning the ship, and he wasn’t the only one.
“About damn time ya got your head straight. Shit,” Maria snarled, picking up her pace as their room became a long hallway on what appeared to be the second floor. “Aye, Tony, don’t do—”
Two gangsters with two terrified female hostages came into view with the melting paper walls, and the light-skinned man instantly dropped his knife upon spotting them. He shoved the woman forward and dropped to his butt.
“Hey! Hey! I’m done! Zack, drop the—”
Her blood launched forward, creating a wall between them; Scarlet felt death looming. Her vision tinted red just as the mass of purplish force flooded the men’s veins, moving along a string-like substance that permeated their circulatory system. Then, suddenly, her hand flew to her mouth in shock as the men exploded.
All sound from the detonation was hidden behind the crimson wall blocking off the hallway, Scarlet dropping to her knees with the cowering women. Maria rushed forward to comfort the women but paused beside them as Scarlet bent over to dry heave, gripping her throat.
She could taste it; their blood mixed with her own, filling her with power and the sweet terrified hormones mixed into the liquid. Scarlet didn’t want it, yet the blood crawled to her as if she were a magnet.
“No… I don’t like it…”
It was a lie, and Maria seemed to know it by the bewildered look on her face as she whispered to the two trembling women. Scarlet didn’t want to love it, but her body welcomed the blood in as if it was a gourmet meal.
“No, focus…” Scarlet growled, breathing deeply and trying to pull from her inner Rachel. “Focus… Relica…”
Her fangs bit into her black lips as she stumbled upright, the cool breeze of Fiona’s enchantment still flowing around her. She had to trust in Rachel, and Rachel told her that she could handle this—Scarlet knew she was powerful—she would handle this… hopefully.
Taking a deep breath and releasing the pressure, Scarlet walked forward, shadows and blood pooling around her. The women tensed and wept for their lives, but they were behind a group of soldiers when the darkness left them safe from harm.
Without explanation, she left them, carrying Maria and her to two more groups of panicking gangsters; every time she appeared, the violet string running through the gangsters’ bodies expanded and turned them into living bombs. Scarlet detached herself from her emotion, instantly teleporting the victims away after the ghost’s disappearance.
Maria’s eyes were practically spinning with the swift changes in location as Scarlet brought them to the front entrance; Relica was waiting inside.
“W-What the hell was that about?” she choked, sweat slicking her face as the sprinklers triggered from the fire Fiona was creating on the upper floors. “If ya had that kind of power—shit…”
Scarlet’s blood fanned out to keep them dry, fingernails digging into her palms to keep herself from trembling. She could do this; she just had to remain strong, but now she didn’t know what to do.
Her focus shifted from Maria to the room where the terrorist waited. Everyone in the room had the same magical thread laced throughout their bodies, and it wasn’t just them. Maria was supposed to have the answers, though. However, the unicorn’s panting and flushed skin were now concerning her.
“Maria…”
“What?” she grunted, sounding breathless as she plucked at her tanktop to let air in. “You got a lock on the kids? Take me in, and I’ll purify that shit. Let’s go, chica.”
Scarlet slowly shook her head. “You’re… dying, aren’t you? Your body doesn’t have blood.”
“The hell you talkin’ about? I can do a mass purification!” Maria shifted uncomfortably, scratching her scalp, but her illuminated horn was already dimming. “Shit, I got it; let’s go—we’re wastin’ time! Zip in, nab ‘em, purify, we out. Ya know?”
Rachel had told her Maria couldn’t lie, so Scarlet shook her head and revealed the bad news.
“Relica moved all of the kids to the edges of the room… I think she knows you’re limited, and I can see the magic, or whatever it is, in all of them… In the women we saved, too. I—”
“Dammit!” Maria’s nose twitched as she began to pace, running her fingers through her hair. “¡El culo maldita mierda, perra! Aye, chica; encárgate de tu mierda—give me somethin’, huh?! Are you telling me she’s got a damn army of human bombs?”
“I-I… Yeah, what can we do? It’s in all of the gangsters—at least a hundred or more…”
“Well, shit,” Maria worked around her jaw and tapped her shoulder with the back of her hand before nudging her head to the room. “Okay. Okay. Aye, you confident in yo shit?”
“What do you mean?” Scarlet mumbled, trembling fingers holding onto her shoulder. “No. I don’t have any confidence in myself…”
“Ugh. Aye…”
Scarlet stiffened as Maria clasped her head and looked into her frightened eyes, her blood curling in threateningly. “S-Stop—I don’t want to hurt you…”
Maria didn’t back down, sweat-slicken face filled with determination. “I promised those kids I’d get them out, and I don’t lie; ya hear me? My body is screaming at me to lay my ass out and call it quits, but I ain’t doin’ that… If we can’t punch our way out, we gotta talk them free—we gotta buy time. Ya feel me?”
“F-For Rachel?”
“For Santa Claus, dammit! I don’t give a shit who,” she snarled, forcing a smile. “You with me, vamp girl; your crew will figure something out, right?”
Scarlet’s heart sang as Astra’s British chuckle spoke into her ear.
“Well, I like this Mexican lass!”
“Astra!” Scarlet cried, crimson leaking out of her eyes and making Maria’s eyes snap to her pointed left ear. “What about Rachel—is everything okay? I see Selv still fighting the guy… Is she okay?”
“Ah, Ms. Fat Tail needs ta work on her cardio; it’ll take Nessie a good bit longer, I think, and then she’ll need to trudge over here, which, heh, good luck! But ya got yer ol’ bloke Astra here! The Cap says they’d got some purifiers en route to handle the nasty stuff, so our horned lassie be on the money.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I suck at talking,” Scarlet hissed, scratching her neck as the pressure mounted.
“Feed her ego,” Maria grunted, evening out her heavy breathing. “From what I hear, she’s addicted to it.”
“She’s got a point. Rachel was a master at crackin’ her nut; she also seems interested in you. Play it up! You got this, Little Fang! I’ll let ya know when Fluffy Tail gets back. So go get her, love!”
Fiona’s chaos above continued like clockwork; Selvaria was exiting the ocean like she was auditioning in a kaiju movie, and a lot of the soldiers were getting closer to the facility as they closed in. Rachel had to come back soon.
Not feeling so alone anymore, Scarlet walked forward as the sprinklers ceased and threw open the door to the club floor. Relica licked her cracked lip with an excited smile, the wound seemingly self-inflicted.
“It took you long enough, Scarlet, Maria. Hasn’t this been an utter disaster? Haha. I love it.”
Maria snorted, arms crossed under her bust as her illuminated eyes darted around the large underground area, shifting between each of the hypnotized kids. “Bullshit. You’re hella nervous. What’s the deal when you hold all the cards? Heh. Damn, Terrell, she’s got your ass sitting bar-side, huh?”
The dark-skinned blind man’s mouth was tight as he sat at the bar, seemingly trying to ignore them while talking on the phone with someone now that the supernatural field was gone; Scarlet could see the purple lines in both Terrell’s and Marcus’ veins, and her eyes widened upon getting a better look at the bar.
“You… spiked the water and alcohol with the explosion spell?”
Terrell and his son tensed, dropping the glass to shatter across the ground as Relica giggled.
“Wow! You really are some kind of monster,” she mused, legs crossed and meeting Marcus’ terrified eyes. “You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to kill people with the trust they put in their food or beverages.”
She lazily held her hand to the side and snapped her fingers with a gleam in her eyes; the loud snap in the still atmosphere lingered before Terrell fell off the stool, knees hitting the tile, his world collapsing.
“Dad—Dad?!” A honeycomb shield enclosed the two gangsters as Marcus glared at the smirking woman. “Bitch, what…”
“Daran…”
“What about Daran?”
“Does she have to spell it out for you?” Maria growled. “She killed your brother.”
“No! That’s—how?!”
Terrell forced a laugh, tears gathering in his clouded eyes as he looked at Relica. “When did you k-kill him?”
“Oh, mate,” Astra’s voice buzzed in Scarlet’s ear. “It was a while ago. That snap was one of the blokes Fiona is dancing with.”
Relica was adjusting her dress with a thoughtful hum. “I’m shocked it took you this long to notice your son was gone. I suppose you’ve been busy talking to your bosses. Figure things out? Most of them will be dead soon enough.”
“It’s you,” Terrell whispered. “You’re the Violet Seat… You betrayed your own cartel… We ran your drug ring. Why dismantle your own organization?”
“Wait, she’s your boss? Shit,” Maria whistled, moving on to a few more of the kids as she used the casual atmosphere to continue checking up on them. “I didn’t see that angle. What about Margaret, Eliza, and Luis?”
Scarlet shifted comfortably at Relica’s incredulous smile, and she tried to loosen up while walking forward to take the seat in front of the terrorist-turned-secret mob boss.
“Oh, darlings… Hehe-haaa. What kind of question is that? You don’t make seventh on the US’s most wanted list by being a simple terrorist. Why did I destroy my own cartel? Because it’s a dead business,” she snickered. “As for Marg, Lizzy, and Luis—loose ends that served their purpose.”
Maria nudged her head to the side. “Cold.”
“Well, I will collect insurance on all those killed; occupational hazard via alien attack is quite the niche that pays, heh, quite good, as you can imagine. I might as well get something out of them. In fact, Scarlet was the one who was supposed to have killed all of you. Haaa. And that didn’t happen… which is what troubles me and why I am still here.”
Scarlet’s eyes glazed over. “Huh? W-What do you mean?”
“Damn. So… you’re the big fish running shit, huh?” Maria asked, moving to one of the nearby kids to wipe the drool running down his chin and having him drink some water to remain hydrated. “Drink up—that’s right, slowly… Shit, would it kill you to care for them; hostages are worthless dead…”
Relica laughed. “Big fish? No-no-no, sweetie… In a world of big fish… I’m Moby-Dick! And I didn’t expect to kill these kids, to be honest. Oh. Here’s a question to illustrate that—I’m curious—Terrell, what Level are you?”
Marcus was helping his father up, whispering something to him, but he was having trouble finding his feet.
“What does it matter? You can’t do shit to us with my shield up.”
“Shut up, Marcus,” his father muttered. “Do what she says, or we’re both dead… Three.”
“Smart,” Relica said, waving at Scarlet.
“Four,” Marcus snarled.
“What about you, Maria?”
“Four… Five now.”
“Bullshit!” Marcus snapped. “I’ve killed over four dozen people to get to Level 4!”
“Tsk-tsk-tsk.” Relica’s wagging finger snapped his mouth shut. “Murder is far from the most efficient way to level, but the fairy is making gains. Hehe. Scarlet, do you know what Level you and Rachel are? Tell me the truth.”
Hands knotting at her skirt front, Scarlet’s blood hovered around them, threatening spikes poised to strike as Maria kept moving between the children, caring for their needs. “I don’t know about me—I can’t enter my inner world thing or control my System… Rachel was Level 6 when I last saw her.”
Marcus seemed stunned at the revelation, but Relica’s nose twitched, fingernails digging into her thighs as she looked at Maria for confirmation.
“Rachel is Level 6, bitch. Heh. What’s the shade; is she higher than you?”
“She can’t enter her inner world?”
Maria shook her head. “She’s not lying.”
“Hmm.”
Scarlet could sense the agitation in Relica’s emotional aura as she rose to her feet and clasped her hands at her back. She went to a nearby table to sort through a fancy name-brand purse before taking out some oversized cards with various symbols etched onto them.
“You wouldn’t believe the fun I had during the first day of The Oscillation; I was in Madagascar with—oh, honey…”
Marcus launched forward, making Scarlet’s blood shield her, but his projected shield only flew at Relica; Maria shouted for him to stop, horn flaring to save the few kids she could. Yet, a black unicursal hexagram appeared above her head, and a transparent tetrahedron enclosed her and ate the blast.
“No… No, Relica!”
The witch’s dull eyes followed the large man as he stumbled back; Terrell seemed resigned to his fate. One snap and the man’s father splattered the inside of the man’s barrier with organs and guts. Marcus screamed from the bone that peppered his body, but Relica seemed to be done with the games, and another snap took him out of the equation.
Scarlet managed to split her blood to cover the nearby children as Maria’s legs gave out.
“Los hijo de puta! Ack…”
“M-Mom… W-Where am I?”
Relica sighed, pulling out an amulet hidden inside her bust that showed the same symbol that floated above her head. “Now look what he did… So uncivilized.”
Scarlet rushed to the unicorn’s side, and the three kids Maria managed to save started to cry. Making a hasty decision, she was surprised at the words that left her mouth.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Oh?”
Swiftly gathering the three kids with her blood, Scarlet teleported Maria outside, praying to whoever would listen that the heartless woman wouldn’t detonate the living bombs. Brushing back her hair as the shadows left, Scarlet looked up at the sky and saw the moon still in the sky; if Maria was a Celestial Unicorn, this should bring her off death’s door.
“Chica, what—”
“I’ll figure it out!” she snapped. “Take care of them and yourself!”
Scarlet could see the worry in the unicorn’s tired eyes; the light inside her chest was flickering, dangerously close to going out.
Returning to Relica, she saw interest spark in the woman’s blue eyes. “You did come back… Haha.”
Holding her head high and brushing her hair behind her ears, Scarlet felt courage inside of her ignite that she didn’t know was there. “No more games! What will it take for you to release the kids? I-I’ll go with you t-to my mom…” she mumbled. “You want that… Right?”
A short silence ensued as Relica drew in her lips, a long fingernail tapping the glass table where her occult cards were spread. Several seconds passed before a slight twist lifted the woman’s lips.
“No.”
“No?”
Scarlet hugged her arms and stepped back. “What do you mean no? M-My mom doesn’t want me to come with you? Then…”
A short titter came from the witch as her fingers slid into her bag to play with something. Scarlet shifted uncomfortably with Relica’s smiling purple eyes moving down her body.
“Oh, no, sweetie; your mother wants you above anything, but… I’m having my doubts about your mother. Sit!” she offered, free hand gesturing to the chair she’d used before.
Scarlet’s gaze fixated on a black collar Relica produced from inside the bag; weird red scribbles flowed around the outer edges.
“W-What’s that for—you aren’t going to put that on me?!”
“Hmm-hehe. I haven’t decided yet!” Relica mused, running her index finger along the outer ring. “As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, I decided to spend the first day and a half of The Oscillation with one of my best friends in Madagascar; she’ll be the queen soon, I’m sure… but she asked me a rather prophetic question…”
Relica turned to stare at her, Scarlet doing her best to buy time for the one person she had been able to rely on since her life had blown apart. “What would happen if all the work I’d done with Adele fell apart, and… I didn’t have an answer for her, which was, mmh-hmm, embarrassing for someone like me. And look where we are!”
She gestured at her with a sigh. “Her precious daughter, the prized centerpiece of everything she had planned, was turned against her by some nineteen-year-old Korean girl… It’s mind-boggling, really!” she laughed, rubbing her forehead before wagging a finger at her.
“I’ve seen your mother do everything from toppling entire governments with a five-minute cafe conversation to end wars by complimenting someone’s shoes; I was your mother’s greatest fan! Much of my criminal empire was built on her god-like ability to predict how people would react and where they would be decades in advance… And a college girl has blindsided her? Mmmh…”
Relica shook her head while selecting a few occult cards off the table to play with, twisting them around her fingers.
“If it was just your mother’s fault, then fair enough, hehe, we can’t always be perfect, but… I cannot get over the fact that I somehow failed to kill her, the report of her death was wrong, and I checked my records… It was corrected, heh, minutes after I confirmed it. There is something… off about Rachel. Do you see what I’m getting at, dear?”
Scarlet didn’t want to listen to a single word, but she honestly didn’t get it.
“So… Rachel’s misfortune ability won against my mom’s foresight?”
Relica tossed the cards on the table and rubbed her face, her tone becoming frustrated. “Hehe… I hoped you were at least somewhat bright to be our messianic figure, but I suppose you are only eighteen. I don’t know what I expected, to be honest. Not… this, I’m sure,” she grunted, gesturing at her.
“Thanks?” Scarlet huffed, hands tightening against her arms. “I never asked to be a messianic figure. What, you think Rachel’s manipulating me like someone else—oh, I know, my mom! How can I even trust I am her daughter, huh? If she knew where all of this stuff would happen, then maybe she stole me. Think of that.”
“Pfft! Sweetie, I did only a decade and a half before this conversation, not that I particularly care about that detail. No… Think!” she snarled, jabbing the side of her head.
“Wait… When did you try to kill Rachel?”
“When? I tried to kill Rachel when she was nine—an entire decade before her powers—and she escaped, seemingly messing up a critical plot point in your mother’s meticulous plan. Yet…
“Mmm-hmm-hmm. Your mother didn’t see a single variation or alteration to her plots when the cause and effect of Rachel’s survival should have been seen many times over by now, yet you’re telling me that it wasn’t until Rachel somehow slipped into your life—the core of everything—that her existence became known to our extensive world network?”
She shook her head with an angry chuckle. “No… If Rachel had the power to counter the Scarlet Hand’s eye, then she must be something… I don’t know—something rivaling or more powerful than the entity that gave Adele her knowledge, which is terrifying. What is Rachel? Because she is no human.”
Scarlet wanted to bite back and say, ‘No shit, Sherlock; she’s a hare,’ but held her tongue. It was a valid question after Relica had laid it out, and Scarlet wasn’t sure that Rachel knew the answer herself. It didn’t change her opinion, though.
Glaring at the nervous witch, Scarlet’s shaking hand stilled. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh? Heh. And how can you possibly say that?”
“Because,” Scarlet’s fingers tightened against her thighs, “I trust Rachel. She’s honest with me when everyone else lies. She tries… and hasn’t treated me like the monster… the monster my mother turned me into!”
Relica shivered, nodding as she studied her expanding blood spears. “That… is certainly a fair point. Do you want me to release these kids? I’m sure your fairy friend might kill me despite their lives hanging in the balance. What are two-hundred and fifty lives to those I might murder in the future?”
Scarlet’s eyes fell to the ground, guilt flooding her belly.
“Haha. I mean, I would love to see you all try. It would be fun to see how much it hurt you to see all the suffering you caused to realize I could get away at any moment! I always have a few ways out, and the guilt of burning children alive for nothing? Haha. Wow.”
“You’re more of a monster than I could ever be,” Scarlet growled, frame starting to quake again with the woman’s hungry gaze on her.
Relica’s smile turned reflective and melancholy as she picked up her collar again to play with it.
“You know… I can agree with that to some degree… The lengths we go to in order to fulfill the dreams of those we love can be… terrifying. I’ve learned that I would sooner murder my own children than see what I love taken away from me, and yes… that is quite a different state of mind. I cannot justify that, but I will; I am just another flawed woman blinded by love.”
Perking up, she giggled and unfastened the collar before holding it out. “If you want to save these kids. I will release all of them if you only put on this of your own free will and hold one of these cards against your forehead and the other against your heart. Not one more soul will be lost; the decision is yours. I want to put your mother under my thumb. Care to stick it to her?”
Scarlet hesitantly took the cold metal, and a soft smile lifted her mouth while remembering the muzzle she’d been told to put on—a collar for a monster—but she also knew Twilight nor Veronica would ever allow themselves to be controlled; she could put her trust in that.
“Are you sure you want to do this—what will it do?”
Relica shrugged, carefully selecting two occult cards and placing them on her lap. “Mind control, among other safeguards, such as that powerful slave collar my friend obtained from a Quest.”
Scarlet pulled the collar around her neck; it snapped together and tightened to a slightly uncomfortable degree. Her blood didn’t attack when it was her own actions, and that was what Relica counted on; she was caging herself, and Veronica said she was in charge.
Astra hissed. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Little Fang…”
“Ack… I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “Umm, what level were you again, Relica?”
The witch’s lips peeled back to show her teeth as Scarlet did as she was told and put the cards against her forehead and chest. “Level 10. Murder, empire building, divine favor, and Quests will get you all sorts of Experience.”
“Damn. She’s OP! Little Fang? Scarlet?!”
Scarlet’s world spun, and she fell to the side to drop into a dark abyss, thunder shaking her bones. She didn’t resist as she entered the storm, flashes of crimson electricity brightening the swirling clouds. Relica’s violet eyes filled the skies, and Scarlet laughed as they widened; if there was someone who deserved to meet a true monster, it was this woman.
The ruby lightning intensified, and just before slipping into the hurricane, the streaks struck Relica; in the next second, the witch was falling with her. She had no clue what kind of fiend was trapped within her, but she would find out.
Veronica’s dark chuckle came on the whirlwind. The girl Scarlet knew had likely died when her mother cut her in two; this was now Scarlet’s world.
The red sea, twisters, and maelstroms unveiled came into view with the blood rain pelting their skin, welcoming them into the heartless hellscape of her inner world. Scarlet braced herself for the impact, but entering the crimson ocean was like falling into cotton candy; the sweet flavor filled her mouth with life—then, it was gone.
Blinking, Scarlet’s blurry vision fixated on the woman kneeling across from her. Her large, purple eyes darted left and right, looking at things beyond her sight, yet her smile and voice were elated.
“The terrible truth… is beautiful. How can you reject such a… gift? You have been lied to—we all have… No. It’s impossible…”
Scrambling back, Scarlet locked in place as she followed Relica’s wide eyes to the street, looking through the walls to spot a golden cut in open space.
Rachel walked through with a grin, bathed in black fire and crackling red electricity. She wore some kind of fitted anime-like formal uniform; it had an unmistakable military school look, complete with a short skirt, thigh-high stockings, and square heels.
Scarlet had to blink to be sure she was seeing things right because Rachel had raven black hair, a demon-like horn curling out from the side of her head, and a massive fantasy-like hammer slung over her shoulder.
But perhaps the strangest addition was the nervous little bunny child with a similar aura and appearance, including the demon horn, that jumped out to hide behind her.
She’s back… She won! Did Rachel become a mom?! What… the heck happened in there?
The black flames and crimson electricity dwindled and died; Rachel’s horn crumbled to dust at the same moment, and her black hair returned to its stunning white hue. Her smile softened as she bent down to speak to the nervous bunny girl, no older than five or six, while fixing her matching military outfit.
Astra’s excited voice burned her ears as he spoke to Selvaria. “Oh, and don’t get your knickers in a twist; he’s gone-gone. Someone’s doing some teleport shenanigans—probably MI6, and… Hold up. Blimey! I think Rachel’s back, and rockin’ a look?! Damn, girl, got some bling!”
Maria was less than a street away; Rachel seemed to notice her as her head tilted that way and picked up the nearby discarded walkie-talkie on the street. Astra projected the Lunar Hare’s voice across the network, her sure tone relieving Scarlet’s tight chest.
“I said I’d come back, Scarlet.”
The golden portal vanished as a surge of power hit Scarlet like a truck and made Astra choke. “Hold up, love—I just went straight from Level 5 to 8. The bloody hell?!”
“Yeah. Legend Quests are fun…” Rachel laughed. “Astra, give me an update.”
