"INGELIDS."

That's what I heard from Haru as those huge worms appeared in front of us. These are not regular worms. These are flesh-colored worms that have sharp fangs and tushes all over their bodies. Right now, we're facing at least seven of them.

As they move closer, I could tell that the size is really massive. They're larger than a school bus. They move really fast, and everything they come across will surely be torn to pieces.

The earth is already trembling. To be honest, so am I. I was shaking because of fear, so Fei held my hand and somehow made me feel safe.

"Don't worry. We can defeat them," he assured.

I nodded.

"Young master Haru, please proceed to the east. Young mistress Jia, we'll take the west. Young master Fei, middle," Madame Corvina instructed. Haru ran as fast as a cheetah and arrived at the eastern part where there are two ingelids.

Madame Corvina made a circular motion on the soil and it created a platform made of smoke. Jia just walked normally until a large maple leaf grew from the soil before her and that's where she rode. Both of them went to the west to take on two ingelids.

"Are you ready for it?" Fei snickered.

"Why are you so calm and you're just snickering? These worms looked so dangerous!" I panicked.

"We'll be okay," Fei uttered as he clicked his hand and a magic circle appeared on our feet. Suddenly, we floated and went near the three ingelids.

From mid-air, I looked at Haru on the eastern part. The two ingelids sort of sandwiched him. But when the worms attacked, he disappeared and both worms bumped on each other. They were unconscious for a while until they began to move when they felt that something is coming towards them.

Haru put his hands together and he opened it slowly. When he did that, an immense neon light that took the shape of a book enveloped the two ingelids. Then, he clapped his hand real fast as if he closed a book and that squished the two ingelids.

I clapped my hands. "Haru! You're great!"

"Heh," Fei scoffed. "Show-off."

I giggled, then I looked at Madame Corvina and Jia. They have a different way to defeat the ingelids. Using the leaves of the trees, one by one, at a very fast speed, she magically enveloped the ingelid like a caterpillar on its pupa stage and floated in mid-air. Then, she raised her left hand and the cocoon illuminated from the inside. Afterwards, the cocoon exploded and thousand brilliant butterflies flew everywhere.

I clapped again. "Wow! Jia! Impressive!"

"Heh again," Fei scoffed one more time. "I'm more interested to see what Madame Corvina will do."

I looked at Madame Corvina and she both raised her hand from the side and two gigantic mirrors emerged. Then, she lured the ingelid to move inside the mirror. The ingelid knew that it was restricted inside, so it bumped the mirror. Unfortunately, it couldn't get out. What Madame Corvina did was… she punched the other massive mirror and it broke into different pieces that floated mid-air. Then, she pointed at the other mirror and attacked the ingelid inside, which created severe wounds to fatally hurt the worm.

"Oh, gosh, she's scary," I whispered.

"See? Our turn now," Fei said as he raised his hand to the sky.

A lightning bolt reached his right hand and he encircled it on his palm until it became small balls and he blew them like bubbles that are growing big towards the ingelids and confined the enemies.

We went down and blew the electric bubbles that contain the ingelids to the sky and blasted them on the clench of his wrist like fireworks that are flamboyantly colorful. Well, this oblivion is in grayscale mode, though.

"Okay… I must say, you did great. This place can use some color, anyway," I reacted.

"I wasn't trying to impress you," Fei said, with a tone that tells me that he really was trying to impress me.

I raised my eyebrows and giggled when we looked at each other. Then, something in me wondered. "I just noticed. All of you could've slashed or cut the big worms. Why did you all have to enclose the ingelids in your own different ways?"

"Ingelids panic if they are being held captives. If they are trapped, it's easier to defeat them," Fei said as we walked back to the mansion.

All of us gathered on the mansion grounds. Madame Corvina asked us how did we do.

"We're okay," Jia replied.

"Flesh ingelids. How cheap," Haru scoffed in disappointment. "They couldn't even dare to send a monstigna or a golem to scare us. I can tell those are from the Nazaris of Tehran."

"What is Haru talking about?" I murmured to Fei's ears.

"Ingelids appear when someone wants to challenge our family to a Pertasurm, or a fight to the death. It's like an invitation, and we're known to have never backed down on a battle," Fei explained.

"What do you think, Madame Corvina? Is it from the Nazaris of Tehran? Did you sense any power from the ingelids?" Jia asked.

Madame Corvina looked pensive. "It's a possibility, but I could've determined it even before we went close. I believe it's not the Nazaris of Tehran, but…"

Madame Corvina didn't finish her sentence because the land just tremored and made us quiver where we were standing. When we looked behind us, we were terrified.

"Impossible," Haru mumbled.

"Now I can say those are not from the Nazaris of Tehran," Jia stated.

I turned to Fei. "Do ingelids grow that big?"

"No," Fei seriously responded.

I looked at the two ingelids that are approaching us. They were five times bigger than the previous ones. Also, they were black and had more sharp teeth than the smaller ones. I could compare that they were bigger than the mansion.

"Young masters, may I tell you to return to the mansion. I can finish this on my own," Madame Corvina asserted.

"You need help, Madame Corvina. We've never seen ingelids this big," Haru insisted. "We'll stay."

"Fair enough. Young master Jia, let us take the one on the left. Young masters Fei and Haru, the right one," Madame Corvina instructed again.

"What's the plan, Fei?" Haru asked without a smile.

Fei showed his palm and there appeared pieces of paper. "Freeze the body and I'll create the aquarium."

Haru took the slips and ran towards the ingelid. Fei faced me and looked stern. "Please stay here, my sweetie. This might be dangerous for you to be around. I need you to be safe, okay?"

[My sweetie! He called me, 'My sweetie!'] My brain reacted. Of course, I blocked Fei right away. I wanna scream in all giddiness, but it isn't the time.

"Take good care of yourself, please," I said.

"Yeah, I will," Fei raised his hand and move it down to my feet as he created a force shield enveloping me. He levitated to where Haru is and stood in front of the ingelid. Here I am left in front of the mansion praying that they won't be hurt.

"Please keep them safe," I silently wished.

While watching from afar, I could tell that Haru was posting those sheets on the ingelid's body and ice was running on its body, freezing every teeth. Fei was doing those incantations that are starting to form a humongous aquarium. I can see the white force field is starting to appear on air as if he's drawing it using a chalk on a blackboard.

On the left, Madame Corvina lifted her index finger and shouted "Fumo Vinculum!" It sounded like a spell that I've heard from American Horror Story, but yeah, what it did was shots of black smoke formed all over the ingelid, enveloped it, and floated it. Then, Jia slammed her palm on the soil and it cracked the land open and appeared a sea of lava below. At the signal of Madame Corvina, the ingelid dropped like a coin in a piggy bank. I could hear its clamoring cry as its skin gets burned by the lava.

I returned to Fei and Haru and saw that the black ingelid had these bluish-white spots all over. Probably because of what Haru has done. The aquarium made of force field that Fei has been creating is already finished. Haru stood beside Fei and he clicked his fingers. The ice sheets burned and became water that filled the aquarium. Fei continued with the incantation and the water slowly becomes murky.

"Please keep them safe… Please keep them—"

I stopped praying because I felt something odd around me. It's not the force field protection that Fei created. It's something else.

"What's that?" I asked.

Until I was startled big-time when an ingelid arose from the soil!

"Fei! Help! There's an ingelid here!" I shouted!

Fei turned around and stopped the incantation. "Trick!" I can see that he ran towards me, but the sight of it was blocked by the ingelid that emerged in front of me!

Oh, my god! It's going to devour me!