40 — Louise's Whereabouts

After reconvening with Anneliese and Agnes, they went back to call on Lorelai. All five of them meet at the entrance of the forest, the bright stars reflecting in their eyes.

"Are you sure we can't sleep before we go there?" Agnes asks. "It'll be such a pain to deal with a demon so late at night. I'm already tired, and it's so dark, too!"

"Oh, shut up. You don't even fight." Joezand replies. "We need to find Louise before worst comes to worst. She needs our help."

"Doing it in the morning wouldn't help all that much." Lorelai says. "It's a cave. It's going to be dark regardless."

"I have several oil lamps!" Anneliese says, holding up a heavy burlap sack. "Enough to last us a while."

"Fine, fine." Agnes grumbles.

"Let's get going, then." Iaomai says.

The shining blue moon reflects on the dark green leaves, coating the forest in a deep aquamarine highlight. Nobody speaks. They trek through the rough dirt road, as the chirping cicadas and determined footsteps fill the silence with rhythmic noise. The tension in the air is palpable.

They reach the clearing where Joezand fought the changeling. The pink blood coated much of the ground, but there's a large pool of crimson as well. The scars on his abdomen are a painful reminder of what he went through, here. The body is still there, unmoving. He'd be afraid of going forwards, eyeing the corpse like it could come alive and attack him again at any moment. But there's something else. Something that proves that the creature is dead.

Purplish energy.

The soul, as Sunnaria informed him.

This probably means it's already out of its body, probably en route to the astral plane. Joezand walks towards it, and it all gets absorbed into his ring. Just like the last soul, he doesn't feel any more powerful, oddly enough. He only felt the surge when he absorbed that nun at Sunnaria's church. The ring's power probably already plateaued at this point, and the souls are just backup energy. Which begs the question...

'Can we overclock the ring?' Joezand thinks.

'I've no clue what you mean by that.' Sunnaria answers.

'Could we use up a lot more energy for an increase in performance?' He asks. 'I mean, this increases my speed and my stamina to a certain point. Could we try to increase that by spending more energy?'

'Sure, but...' Sunaria replies. 'If you use up all the energy, you'd end up losing the whole blessing. Besides, you'd need to charge it after.'

'Don't worry. I'll be careful if I start to feel sluggish. As for charging it...' Joezand thinks. 'Demons also have souls, don't they?'

'Good thinking. I was about to suggest that myself.' Sunnaria says. 'Alright, I'll see what I can do when you're at that battle. Only if you really need it, though. This might do a number on your body.'

The group keeps walking until they reach the plains. The moon's light shines even brighter, coating their entire view in a beautiful soft cyan hue. Including the dull grays of the piled-up smooth rock formation and the darkness inside, filling their ominous destination with just that tiny hopeful drop of color.

"Guess this is it." Joezand says. "Let's go inside."

Anneliese takes one of the many oil lamps from the sack and lights it. The flame is pitiful, but it's still better than nothing. They enter the cave, Joezand feeling the rough texture of the stone as he puts his hand on the cave wall to guide himself. The temperature drops as they venture deeper, Joezand starting to slightly shiver. The stuffy air slowly morphs into something else.

Rotting miasma.

The maid waves the oil lamp around, revealing the bodies of several small animals. Mostly what looked like rats and owls, as well as many insects. Some larger carcasses with antlers are also present, and they're all... mangled. Their corpses were bitten into, clawed upon, even their bones were crushed.

"Interesting." Iaomai comments. "The one responsible for these bodies was probably very famished."

"We didn't need you to point that out, Iaomai." Agnes says. "It's pretty obvious. We can tell."

"Yes, but think what that would imply." Iaomai continues. "It's ravenous. It's starving. So much so, that it couldn't distinguish bone from flesh. There are no massive blood trails leading up from the entrance to these bodies, so I find it very hard to believe that the brutal creature that did this was the one hunting. Someone else was bringing it these animals."

"The changeling." Joezand says. "So your theory is that it... somehow can't hunt on it's own?"

"Precisely." Iaomai says. "The beast is maybe stuck here, or is so hungry that it can't move much. Either way, it seems like our job here will be easier than previously thought—" He stops abruptly. "Hm? Look over there."

Joezand's eyes glaze over to where Iaomai was pointing, and there were... red footprints. Small ones, just like the ones they saw in the mud.

"So that's where Louise went." Lorelai comments. "Makes our job a lot easier."

"Let's go, already!" Anneliese says. "We need to help her!"

"If she still exists to be helped." Agnes replies.

"Don't even joke about that." Anneliese glares at Agnes.

"J-Jeez, what's gotten into you?" Agnes says. "You've known the kid for less than a week and you're already this protective?"

"Knock it off, Agnes." Joezand says. "Let's go, Anneliese."

"Fine, whatever." Agnes grumbles.

The groups keeps walking, until Anneliese's oil lamp goes out. She goes to grab another one, but Joezand stops her.

"Look ahead. There's light."

Turning the corner, a soft purple light fills the darkness. They advance, as the light grows brighter and brighter until they reach an antechamber. At the very center, an intricately sculpted stone slab was below a beast. Just like Sunnaria predicted. It seems to be... sleeping. The purplish light, the souls of the bandits, surrounded it.

It was a large quadruped, a bit smaller than the snakow he faced before. Its paws were feline in shape, and it had fur all over. White on the bottom of its body, and bright yellow at the top. Two wings rested on its back as it slept, with some horizontal black stripes between them. A big, closed maw with two sharp incisors peeking out of it rested at the creature's front.

Not the first thing that came to mind when he thought of a demon. He thought this guy would be just an evil little imp with bat wings. Well, at least the wings part was right.

'Tigebat.' Sunnaria says with disdain. 'I'm familiar with him. A complete, utter coward. He really let a changeling take care of his needs while hiding out here? Ugh, disgusting.'

'Well, at least he's asleep. He shouldn't be much trouble if we sneak—'

His gaze falls on the corner of the room, as he sees... Louise. Her eyes are glowing purple, much like the souls around the demon. She's slowly approaching Tigebat, arms outstretched.

"L-Louise!" Anneliese exclaims, as she drops her burlap sack full of lamps and rushes to the child.

"Anneliese, wait!"

The maid rushes to Louse, swiping her in her hands. She turns to get away from the beast, until...Its bloodshot eyes open.

All of the souls of the bandits get absorbed into the Tigebat's body at once, as it swipes its claws on Anneliese's back. Blood gushes out from the maid, as she falls face-first on the floor. Louise's eyes seem to have returned back to green. She looks around, confused and scared.

The beast tries for another attack, about to hit both Anneliese and Louise...

And Joezand's feet move on their own.

With superhuman speed, he parries the claws with his rapier.

"Iaomai, go help her! NOW!" Joezand says.

"Y-Yes, Prince Joezand!" Iaomai rushes to Anneliese.

Tigebat's eyes look at Joezand.

And it grins. Ear to ear, with its distended jaw and pointy teeth.

His final showdown begins.