A trapped soul.

The nara were gone. After the fog of their bodies dissipated, we confirmed they were indeed kobolds.
But they did not come wandering all the way from the void zone. These had been summoned by the bald bastard.
That was one more thing he could use against us.

Now I had to go talk to my classmates, knowing very well this wasn't going to be easy...

I went back to the place where the bald bastard killed Mateo.
Xiomara was just staring at the sky while Maria and Gabriela were praying next to the pile of ashes.
They probably thought they could help guide his soul to the afterlife.
They had no idea his soul had been turned into that red crystal that the bald bastard took with him...

Leonel: Uhm, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is something we need to talk about. What happened today might happen again.

Xiomara: Explain yourself.

Leonel: The bald bastard that killed Mateo is going to keep targeting us. I have a recurrent dream in which I'm warned that we have to save Maria, or everyone dies.

Maria: Excuse me, why me? And why would everyone die if he kills me? This makes no sense.

Leonel: If the information I got from my dreams is correct, your ability, "Column", is not just about constant mana transfer. If the person who holds the ability called "Column" dies, everyone in the group dies. Just like a building that collapses after its main column has been removed...

Maria: That's horrible... but I'm not surprised. All of these abilities only exist to cause problems. They have been nothing but a curse to us...

Xiomara: Why is he targeting Maria? And why did he kill the others?

Leonel: He is just like us. He was summoned to this world, but... he wants to return to our world. And killing us is how he will achieve his goal.

Maria: He is killing us just so he can return to Earth? That's yet another thing that makes no sense... How is he going to return to our world by killing people?

Leonel: It's because of the massive fire pillar spell he is using on us. Once he uses it on a total of five people from our world, he will be able to return to our world.

Xiomara: That means he is close to achieving his goal. But if he kills Maria next, and we all die, then he won't be able to kill a total of five people with his fire spell and he will be stuck here forever.

Leonel: That's true, but he probably doesn't know the details about Maria's ability. He doesn't know we will all die if she dies.

Xiomara: And how do you know all about his goal and about how he plans on returning to our world?

Leonel: I got all this information from an old book. It's all the information we have so far.

Gabriel: And what are we supposed to do? That person has a revolver, and a massive fire spell. We can't stop him...

Leonel: We have to try, otherwise, we will be just waiting for our deaths.

Maria: And what exactly are you going to do to stop him? Leo, are you going to kill him? Maria had a serious expression. I knew she would be against the idea of killing a human being.

Leonel: Well... we don't really have a choice. If we don't do it, we WILL die...

Maria: I'm not going to help you kill a human being.

Xiomara: This is not the time nor the place for idealism. Maria, if you die, we all die. And if we don't stop him, we will still die.

Maria: Even then, I refuse to cooperate in a mission to murder someone.

Leonel: Then you should at least stay with us. If you wander around alone, he will target you. But if we stick together, it will be easier for us to protect you.

Gabriela: Maria, we can at least stay together. We don't need to actually fight against the bad person...

Maria: If we do that, then we will be witnessing one or more killings.

Gabriela: Then... what exactly do you want to do in this situation?

Xiomara: Gabriela is right. Since you refuse to cooperate at all, then you must have some kind of plan, don't you?

Maria: I... don't know...

Leonel: Then shouldn't you at least come with us? You can't be alone.

Maria: I don't really want to see anyone die in front of me...

Leonel: That's fine. You will be inside a wagon the whole time. You won't get to see anything.

Maria: A wagon? Are we travelling to a safe place?

Leonel: Not quite. The wagon is part of my plan to stop him. We will be camping just outside of town, and since you will be inside the wagon the whole time, you won't get to see the battle taking place outside.

Maria: I still don't think that's a good idea. I... don't want to be a part of whatever you are planning.

Gabriela: Maria... if you don't cooperate at least a little, then you are just making it easier for the murderer to kill all of us.

Maria: Death is not the end. Gabriela, you should know that by now. He can destroy our bodies, but our souls are eternal.

Gabriela: That's true, but...

Xiomara: This stupid religious idealism again. So you are saying it's okay if everyone dies because of your actions? I just want to say that if we all die because of you, then that would technically make you a murderer. You don't want to be a murderer, right? Aren't murderers supposed to be sent to hell after they die? That doesn't sound like a nice place.

Maria: God will be the ultimate judge of our souls. Whether we go to hell or to heaven, that's something he will decide.

Leonel: Actually... that's not how it's going to be if the bald bastard kills you.

Maria: No one, not even a person wielding magic, can ignore the rules that govern our souls.

Leonel: Maybe, but that's only if your soul leaves this world.

Xiomara: What do you mean, Leo? You know something, don't you?

Leonel: Yeah... the fire spell he uses... it doesn't just incinerate everything. If a soul is trapped in its flames, then that soul will be crystallized, which means that going to heaven or even hell would be impossible. You must have seen a shining red crystal hovering over the ashes of Mateo's body. That was his soul, and the bald bastard took it with him...

Maria: What... Maria was shocked to the point that she fell unconscious.

I'm not surprised. To a devout Christian like her, the idea of a soul trapped in this world and being carried around by a bad person was probably too much for her.

Gabriela tried to wake her up, while Xio was stuck in her little world inside her mind.

We were dealing with the worst possible enemy.
And I hadn't even told them about the nara yet.
They didn't know this guy could summon them whenever and wherever he wanted.