Chapter 4: What is agreed upon

"Arghhhhhhhh!"

As soon as the dead knight’s body fell to the ground, the red glass dagger dug in his heart had started glowing, sucking out his entire (Life-force) into a red magic circle present at the very top of it.

At the same time, with his entire body burning from the green flames which had no effect on him just a moment ago, Andrew had started screaming.

-Ooooooooooooooong!

The green magic circle was slowly losing its glow, so, before the spell was deactivated completely, the ladies knew they needed to save their man.

-Swish!

So, Snow, the white swordswoman who vanished a moment ago, reappeared and first secured the perimeter, engraving a magic circle around the dead knight.

At the same time, Barn, the pink haired woman that had deactivated and secured the gas bombs covertly installed a dome projecting device around them: a device which obstructed the happenings of the inside from the remaining spectators.

The forces that were supposed to be on the black fish’s side were no longer certain about what they were supposed to do, so, for the time being, they contemplated how bad their deaths would be if they even thought about going against the swordswoman.

"What the hell, Andrew!"

Spot, the mage, quickly activated the magic circle that Snow had drawn around them to clear out any energy disruption.

At the same time, Barn used a thin tree branch she had found earlier to push Andrew’s burning body towards his red dagger.

He needed to get a hold of it to survive, but getting near him in this state was not an option for the rest of them.

"Arghhhhhhhh!"

Thankfully, despite feeling the unfathomable pain of his entire being burning by the demonic fire, he had retained his consciousness.

It was inhuman, but human limitations had stopped applying to him a while ago.

"Ghhh!"

The green fire had burnt his skin and muscles, with most of his bones on fire. If another moment had passed in this state, he would have surely crossed over to the other side.

But, he grabbed the red dagger, and in time, activated the magic circle existing right below the red one.

-Zaaaaaaaaaaa...!

With the activation of the golden circle, a golden beam of light fell from the sky, piercing through the dark clouds, revealing the hidden starry sky.

"Haaa... haaa..."

The golden light fell on him right when the green circle had stopped glowing completely.

If any demonic power had remained, the golden light would have killed him; but he had become an expert at playing hide and seek with Death.

"That was close-."

"That was DUMB!"

Barn and Spot watched as the golden light created a translucent halo above his head.

With Snow guarding them outside the dome, they watched his entire body coming back to life.

"Ughhhhh!"

Of course though, the sensation of all his burnt muscles, nerves, and skin coming back to life was not easy to endure.

He must be feeling twice the pain of losing those organs, maybe more than that.

This was one of the biggest operations of their lives, but seeing the dead body of the black fish decaying due to the demonic fire, they fell to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"Haaaa... haaa..."

The power of the halo healed him completely. In fact, it made him stronger than before once again.

-Ooooooooooooooooooong!

The spell had yet to be deactivated so while he had some time, he cleansed what had remained of the black fish’s body, eradicating all traces of the demonic power.

At the same time, Barn brought out a transparent crystal ball from a black-gold bracelet: something which had a spatial storage function.

"This was the last use."

As the halo faded, the golden spell circle that it had come from vanished alongside it from the red dagger, gone forever until they could find another (Holy relic).

There were still two uses of the green fluid fire left, but he cannot use it without a way to counter its side effects.

Anyways, the mission was now complete.

"You do that again and I’m going to kill you myself." Spot wasn’t very fond of these stunts.

It’s not like he was some super powerful, amazing, high ranking master like the rest of them.

If anything, compared to the people present here right now, he was a normal human.

"You can’t kill him. We swore to follow each other through sickness and death." Barn was almost about to cry right now.

But the dorm was going to be lifted soon, so she needed to hide away once again.

"Tsk. Then I’ll die with you. But I WILL kill you!"

Her pure face was red and her anger was adorable. Among the four of them, she was the last person who could actually kill someone willingly.

"Of course of course. Don’t you know me? This was a one off thing, right?"

The healed leader got another red mask from Barn before she disappeared in the shadows.

At the same time, the dome projecting devices were removed and the situation outside came to light.

"Umm..."

The remaining people were still there and Snow was still facing them right now, but along with the assailants who had been there since earlier, there was another individual standing before them.

"Greetings, Parliament."

She spoke in a strange voice, the mask around her mouth probably being the reason.

It didn’t sound human, much less womanly. But the mark of a black snake on the back of her palm was all the identity proof he needed.

"Greetings."

She was the superior of this group who had hired them to uncover the Black Fish’s plot and deal with him.

The initial request was only to find the source of slave trafficking business running in the underworld and deal with it, but he already knew the presence of a bigger motive of these people.

They were the masters of the Mayn underworld, the Ouroboros.

They did not want an outsider competing with them, so they were targeting the merchant.

But, while investigating, they also figured out the presence of a mole who had been helping the merchant.

’They most probably knew who it was already.’

But they still hired them to test the level of their services.

And with this, they should have seen all that they needed to see.

"Here."

Andrew handed the masked woman a box containing the books and records of the merchant’s businesses.

They would reveal them to the public secretly if they want to get rid of her or they’d blackmail her to devour her business completely.

Whatever they do with it will have nothing to do with them.

"Yes, gracias."

The box with the evidence was gone. And after checking the contents, she also handed them a smaller, metallic box.

"This is an additional reward. You can claim the agreed payment from here."

There was a parchment and a key in her other hand, but before she handed it over to him, she stepped close to him, getting right in his face.

"We thank you..." she glared deep inside his golden eyes, her dark, completely black eyes sending him a warning. "For your good work."

As she placed the key and parchment in his hand herself, he felt the distinctly cold touch. She was showing him how she was no human either.

But, that was it.

"We shall meet again soon."

She took a step back and looked at the bunch that was still alive right now.

"Clean up and return."

"YES MA’AM!"

"I wasn’t talking to you fools."

-Swish.

She moved her hand horizontally in a light movement, but...

-Spurrrrrr...!

-Thud. Thud. Thud.

Each and every one of them lost their heads as a fountain of blood sprayed around the garden.

The attack also cut through the security sound barrier Barn had activated after securing the bombs.

That masked woman was powerful. But, if one was talking about pure power or skills, what she had left behind was not something one can easily deal with either.

"Gurrr..."

A creature with black slimy tentacles coming out of its formless body: a demonic beast.

It was a creature of hell. And the moment that masked woman left, the demonic beast started devouring each and every one of the fallen bodies, leaving a strange dark slime in its wake.

"Sickening every time I look at it."

Snow did not like those things. And yet, they got to see them pretty often in their profession.

The other three were strange to not feel any disgust towards them. But, Spot, the mage, actually liked these things, making her the weirdest one within the group.

"Let’s go."

The creature would clean the scene, and it would leave its mark behind.

An investigation would be launched soon as well. The pillar of light coming from above was visible to everyone even beyond this estate.

By now, the holy knights and priests should be on their way here. And when they get here, they will not find a bunch of dead bodies... they will find the traces of a demonic beast.

Only the traces.