*KIIIIIIIIIIN!

[Huh?!]

A weird voice is heard from an orb right below Endrossa’s head, or to be exact, on the necklace Endrossa had been wearing this whole time.

[Elder… is that…?!]

[Somebody’s trying to forcefully break onto the jail!] [Is it….]

It was something akin to defense mechanism that ensures that warns the locker, in this case, Elder Endrossa, in case there’s a person whom trying to broke Vram out of the jail.

[Wait, look!]

A figure of someone’s running hurriedly, though not frantic, more like a jump of happiness can be seen getting nearer. It was Josephine. She has been counting on the day Vram’ll be released, which was pretty much her reason for visiting Elder right now.

But….

[Elder!] [So today Vram’ll be released right!? Right!?!?!]

[Y… yeah… but….] Endrossa confused as to what happened currently.

[Elder! We must move fast!] [If it isn’t Josephine whom is trying to break through the Jail, then Vram’s in danger!!!]

[Eh?]

Josephine can only expressed her confusion with a blank face as the two other, especially Yohana, are having such troubled face.

***

[QUICK! BREAK IT! HURRY!!!!!!!]

[We’re trying!!] [This barrier was too strong!!] [It was a high class barrier meant to seal a Titan Class Monster! We couldn’t break it with our flimsy magic!] [Rather, your magic was stronger than us! Why don’t you break it yourself!!]

[My mana’s already dried out for trying to slip him inside!!!!]

All of the girls outside of the barrier were panicking up. They’re trying to break through the jail where a strong monster had been sealed, which in this case, is the one they’ve been trying to kill all this time. But it was not a case of capable or not, but rather, a case of urgency.

[Hanna?!] [How’s his condition?!?!?!?]

When Mariabelle observing the situation inside the jail, her face frozen up. It was truly a nightmare she hadn’t seen in such a long time. A sight that’s unbearable even for the girls around her.

*KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Hanna’s still standing, though one of its legs was already broken and bleeding, which makes him unable to jump anymore. It was stripped off of its golden armor, showing a glistening red fur, though some of the fur was white. The red fur was caused by blood flowing out of its body. Its gauntlet was already cracked, the helmet’s bended, and last but not least, is his already-chopped off tail before.

In front of such disgracing figure, a man, donning a black armor, with its basic guarding stance, standing gallantly without ever having a single bit of its armor scratched. The shield, though letting out some smoke, the surface looked clean enough as if it hadn’t been hit by anything. The sword, which had lost its brilliant silvery shine, had been buried in red color, a thick, deep color of blood.

[HANNA!!!] [STOP! PLEASE STOP IT!!] [HE CAN’T FIGHT ANYMORE!!!!] [PLEASE FORGIVE HIM!] [PLEASE FORGIVE US!!!!!]

Vram, looking at Mariabelle whom have been crushed by the despair of seeing her familiar in such a sorry state, can only offer his apologetic nod to her.

{I did want to stop.} {But he wouldn’t.}

*KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanna jumped once again charging at Vram, flailing both of its hand as he clawed on the air.

*SLASH’D!!!!

As he clawed onto the air, a sharp, waving air blade went forward against Vram.

*CRAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

It was stopped, however. Vram’s shield, which he had been readied in front of him, had repelled the air blade easily as the smoke’s coming out from the surface.

But….

*KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!

The monkey didn’t stop jumping. With its only capable leg, he jumped with all his might and started to aim at Vram’s head with its air claw.

{IT’S USELESS TO REPEAT THE SAME STRATEGY OVER AND OVER AGAIN, YOU MONKEY!!!!!}

*BHAK!!!!!!!!!

Vram quickly jumped toward Hanna and bashed the claw that’s almost finished flailing, losing his balance. As Hanna’s went toward Vram defensless….

*CHRAAAAAAAAK!!!!

[NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Blood was splattered and surged through Hanna’s only capable leg that’s been supporting it the whole time. It was as if the golden armor that’s covering Hanna’s whole body had of no use this whole time, as Vram’s thrusting silver sword could easily penetrated that golden armor of his. As Vram finally pulled out his sword from Hanna’s leg, both of them finally landed on the floor, with Hanna’s landing on its body.

[HANNA!! HANNAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!]

It was a one-sided slaughter, though the other person never intended to. As Hanna finally lost both of its leg, it crawled his way to move away. But it doesn’t move away from Vram, rather, he gets closer as his claw pointing toward Vram.

*KIIII!!!!!

It screaming. Though it has been wounded that far, it still let out such scary scream as if to provoke Vram. Though Vram, whom somehow still had his sanity, wasn’t affected, he still felt guilty toward his action.

[No…!] [What are you doing, Hanna!?!]

Teary eyed, Mariabelle hoped, or rather, wished for someone to come and put everything here to an end. As finally….

[WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!!!]

Screaming her lungs out, Endrossa pulled out everyone’s attention back at her. On her back follows Yohana and Josephine tailing her. But as long as they entered the jail, Josephine hurried and quickly went to the place Vram is.

[Vram!] [Are you al-….]

The moment she saw what was happening inside the jail, Josephine can only went silent, unable to express her surprise. But soon after, she took a hold of herself and quickly faced toward Endrossa

[Elder, hurry!!] [Hanna’s dying there!!!!!]

[What?!] Hearing Josephine statement, Endrossa can only hurried and quickly went inside.

[Eh…?] And left Maria with a blank expression on her face as if she wouldn’t believe what Josephine is trying to say.

As Endrossa gets closer to the jail, she did saw the same scene Josephine and the others had seen. But rather than fearing the scene beyond her, all she ever does is sighing at the current situation, and finally decided to open up the jail.

The transparent wall opened. The bound had opened up. As the wall finally opened up, Maria quickly running to Hanna’s side.

[Hannaaaaaaaaaaa!!]

[Stop right there, Mariabelle.]

Suddenly Endrossa stopped Mariabelle from getting near Hanna, and Maria just abruptly stopped. No, she actually didn’t wanted to stop, but somehow, a giant tail in front of her quickly made her realizes that she couldn’t get near her. The tail was coming from a creature, with scale covering its whole body, a sharp eye just like how a cold-blooded creature should’ve been. Combined with a pair of giant wing on its back as its four legs supporting it, equipped with a claw comparable to, or stronger than Hanna’s claw. These things usually referred as a Dragon.

[Elder, what happened?!] [Maria familiar’s dying there!] Josephine somehow started to question Elder’s action, though every other girl around her had already known the obvious.

[Maria….] [I’m going to ask a question….] [What’s your familiar doing here, inside this jail, that Josephine’s familiar currently being punished for?]

Mariabelle went silent. She didn’t know how to answer that question, as she knew something irrecoverable will happens if she does.

[Speak now…!]

Maria just keeping her lips tight, as she saw Hanna’s figure in front of her, already dying after losing much of his blood. Until suddenly….

[She… was trying to kill him….]

[Eh…!?]

It was another girl. Another girl which was also one of Maria’s members somehow spoke up, as much to Maria’s surprise. Because of that, the other girls finally decided to sacrifice their own comrade. [She has been killing Josephine’s familiar all this time!] [She used her familiar’s remain to reinforce her own familiar!] [She threatens us to not telling this to the elder!] And all the other accuse, whether they’re right or not, only them and Maria knew.

[Maria….] Josephine expressed her own disbelief as she saw Maria’s face keep looking down.

[I knew it… it was you…!] [All this time! How much pain have you caused to Josephine because of your doing!!!!!] [Do you understand what am I saying, Maria!?!?!]

As Yohana becomes enraged with Maria, Elder Endrossa suddenly stopped her as she faced toward Maria.

[You do understand, right?] [That it’s a taboo to kill each other’s familiar.]

[I….]

[I guess it’s time for your punishment, Maria.] [Starting with your familiar!]

[No!]

[Craud!]

*ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!

The Dragon, Craud, letting out its great roar as sparks of lights collected in its mouth. With great strength, it flailed out its head backward and finally, throwing out the energy out front.

*BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The blazing thunder, which composed of many light and fire, bursted and went straight onto where Hanna’s lying. The explosion caused by Craud’s Thunder Breath made the other girls, including Josephine and Yohana speechless.

[No… Hanna…!!!]

Despair was the right word to express Maria’s feeling right now. There’s no way a dying familiar would be able to survive the attack. Tears running down from her eyes to her cheek as she finally down to her knees

*Fffffffffffshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………

As the smoke clearing out, no one would’ve expecting something to come out from it, except its remain. At the very least, that’s how it should’ve been.

[….] [… What are you doing, Josephine?]

[It wasn’t me, Elder….] [It was by his own will….]

[You’re saying he does that all by himself?]

Hanna’s still alive. Hanna hasn’t died. Hanna survived. As some of the smoke’s starting to cleared out, it’s not that hard to distinguish Hanna behind all those blurry smokes. But everyone realized it the moment another shadow of someone appeared behind the smokes.

It was Vram. Vram had protected Hanna using his own body. Though what he used to protect Hanna right now is something different than before.

It looked like a shield, only bigger than usual. The size was almost as big as Vram, or even bigger. With blue-purplish ornament and an insignia looked the same as the insignia on his shoulder and the black-silverish plate, the same as his sword. The Great Shield was somehow able to able to absorb most of the damage caused by the Thunder Breaths.

[Hanna…!!!]

[… Josephine.] [Tell your familiar to move… NOW!!!]

Endrossa, already feeling annoyed, are readying her own familiar to attack Hanna once more again. But Josephine somehow just went silent, and walked right in front of Endrossa, right between the Dragon and Vram.

[Can we… talk about it a little bit more…?] [I know she may have done something unforgivable… but, can’t we just talk about it a little bit more?]

[What are you saying, Josephine!?!?!] Yohana suddenly enraged at what Josephine had to say. [You’re the victim!] [You’re the one whom experienced these, and you’re still thinking to forgive her?!?!]

[I CAN’T FORGIVE HER OF COURSE!!] Josephine’s sudden outburst surprised everyone including Maria herself. [Of course it’s unacceptable… Why is she doing this… why she targeted my familiar…] [But… does killing her familiar also is the right thing to do?] [Does it satisfy me to see another familiar died in front of me again though it isn’t mine…?]

Everyone went silent after hearing Josephine’s word at hearts. Though Yohana was enraged, hearing Josephine words somehow cooled down her heads a little bit. But it seems that it doesn’t have that much effect towards Endrossa.

[… It has nothing to do with that.] [When you stay in this village, you must follow the rule that had been passed down by the older generations!] [And the one, whom didn’t follow it, must be punished!!!]

[But…!]

[No more talks!] [She needs to learn her mistakes!] [CRAUD!!!]

*ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

The dragon letting out a huge roar as it prepares its next move. Its mouth was already shining brightly as it’s going to charge its thunder breath again.

*FWUUUSH!!!

*BLAARRRRRR!!!!

Something flew. All of a sudden, something sharp, heavy, and long thing has flown through the Dragon. Though it misses the dragon by a meter, it was surely aimed right there, as if to threaten the Dragon to not shooting something like that again.

What was flown was something like a lance, though the handle was a little bit different than the usual lance. The handle seemed to be hold on to, not being wielded. The edges were also in spiral shape, not fit to be used as a thrusting weapon, but an excellent weapon to be thrown….

Or be used, as an arrow.

In his hand is a weapon, a pair of giant curved elastic limbs, joined by a riser, while having both ends of the limbs connected by a thick string. Though it is a weapon, it is not used to hit people. Rather, the way it was used was to have something stuck between the strings, draw it backward, and then flex it towards the enemy. It is commonly known as a bow, but what Vram wielded this time was something way bigger than a normal bow, or even a normal longbow. It was classified as a Great Bow, a bow with greater firepower than a normal bow, and uses a lance for an arrow.

The destructive power can be seen by the speed of the lance itself and the impact that happened on the back of the dragon’s head. The ceiling was pierced through and the rubble had fallen after being destroyed by the lance.

[… Josephine, what kind of creature have you summoned here…?] As even Endrossa at a loss of word of Vram’s versatility.

[I… I don’t know… I haven’t even had any chance to talk more with him yet….]

[Talk…?] Yohana sudden reply caused Josephine to get nervous all of a sudden because of her slip-up.

While the other witches had been on guard and started to stare at each other, Vram, somehow erasing his previous weapon suddenly walked toward Endrossa and face toward her.

[… What now…?]

[… Vram…?] Josephine somehow realizes what Vram was trying to do, and trying to stop him, but unable to do it.

{….} [Would you spare some time for others to listen to what other people had to say?] As Vram lower his head toward the Elder.

[[[[[[[[[[… … … … ….]]]]]]]]]]

The whole room went silence. The dragon’s roar could no longer be heard. The whisper of the witches stopped. The tears that Maria had been letting out also abruptly halted. Yohana somehow opened both her mouth and eyes wide opened, and Josephine, whom have already realized it since the very beginning, can only smile worried, as she hold onto her cheeks, afraid of something that’ll happens later.

[You’re… a human?] Endrossa finally let out the very first straight question which was meant for Vram, her very first chat towards a familiar. As the question had been raised, Vram does the reply with….

[… I don’t think I am, what do you think?]