Nire then stepped up in front of the winded boy to shelter him, and stared at Kav Nplooj straight into his yellow reptilian eyes. “You were holding back. I was holding back too.” She smirked and quickly unleashed a flurry of swings and strikes against the serpent tamer who dodged and parried accordingly.

“You can’t win this on your own,” the serpent tamer teased.

“Did you already forget? I’m not alone,” Nire said confidently as she ducked.

A bullet that pierced the wind came flying in the moment Nire had ducked and exploded upon contact of Kav Nplooj’s face, however all it succeeded in doing was ruining his hair and angering the man. He shot a deathful glare in the direction that bullet had flown in from and saw a boy with orange hair acting innocent.

“I know it was you!” Kav Nplooj angrily launched himself in the direction of the boy who ruined his look, but was stopped by a spell that visibly chained him to his spot in mid attack.

Corda stepped out of the shadows holding a card of many that gracefully flew around her. “You will not hurt these children anymore,” she said sternly, opening her eyes.

“Tch! These pests getting in my way. Suas Lis, you know what to do!”

“What?”

The ground began to rumble once more like when the three were running towards its epicenter moments earlier. Corda was surprised to have arrived and not sensed anything, but now she was even more surprised. Something large under the ground is quickly making its way here!

The earth then split open and a large serpent appeared beneath the feet of Corda. As the ground crumbled beneath her, she panicked, losing her control of her spell on Kav Nplooj and therefore setting him free.

“Now, Suas Lis! Eat up the woman!”

“Oh no, you won’t!” Kei stepped out of the brambles and began shooting at the serpent. One of the bullets Kei fired landed in its eye, blinding it, and sending it back underneath the surface. “That was easy!” The little boy seemed proud of himself, but then the earth began to crumble from beneath him as well.

“Watch out!” By now Let had recovered enough to get back into the action, but was still a little sluggish. The serpent emerged from the crumbling earth, mouth wide open getting ready to eat the small child. Let then dove in for the kill on the serpent, but Nire was faster as she swooped in and sliced off its head as it tried to attack the ranged boy from up close. The head disappeared in a process like evaporation after it became detached from the rest of the serpent’s body. With the head gone, the body of the serpent fell limply, half underground and half on the surface.

“Whew!” Nire wiped her brow and smiled as she turned to look at Let, however the red haired boy saw it as a jeering smile and immediately became angered.

“I was going to get that guy!” He angrily declared.

“You were? What does it matter now? He’s done for, right?” Nire tried to play calm and innocent so as to keep Let’s anger under control, and also because she was starting to find amusement in teasing him in this way.

“You got in my way.” Let walked towards the girl and huffed out his chest.

“I didn’t know you could have helped Kei in time.” This got a clear reaction out of the boy as he readied his axe in a fighting stance, heat slowly, but steadily building up.

“You think you’re better just because you got that bastard. Fight me. That’ll decide who’s the better one here.”

Nire did not want to make the tension between the two worse so she declined and began walking towards the cave, stepping over the serpent’s body along the way. “I’m not here to show you that I am better than you, I came here to save Doro.”

“You’re just a coward,” Let said as he began to charge at the girl.

The moment the boy leapt at the girl, the ground began to tremble again, but it wasn’t the serpent’s doing this time.

“Now you’ve done it! Suas Lis, come together with me!” Kav Nplooj’s anger seemed to seep through the ground causing it to rumble beneath their feet. Kav Nplooj stood tall, spreading his arms to make himself a bigger target.

Nire had seen something like this before; when a Follower of Foom Lis and Creature of Darkness combine. She still remembered when Vam Meej had fused with his slime creature. She immediately reacted and ran towards Let who was dad center in the path from Suas Lis to Kav Nplooj.

“Move!” The girl ran as fast as she could towards the boy who now looked confused and pushed him out of the way right before Suas Lis regrew its head and came right for the person in its path, jaws wide open.

Let fell backwards after the aggressive push he received, but had no time to yell at the girl. He could only look on in horror as the person he strongly disliked was swallowed by the serpent they had tried so hard to fight off, and ultimately sacrificing her own life to save him. Though Let did not like the new girl, he became conflicted in his feelings. He did not mean for this to happen. Kei and Corda looked on just as horrified at what had just unfolded before their eyes.

Let’s thoughts were interrupted by Kav Nplooj’s evil cackling. “Ahaha, yes. Now I am complete.” Kav Nplooj had attached himself to his beast’s head and now seemed to be in complete control of it. His power level seemed to be even higher now that the two were combined. “You’ll never defeat me now that I have combined and your Eye of Fortune is gone. Still, to think that that was the Carrier of the Eye of Fortune! She was so easy to take down. She tasted good too. I have you to thank for that, boy, and as my way of thanks, I’ll let you join her soon in my stomach.”

“I don’t need a superstition like that to defeat you.” Let stood up despite the horror still living in his mind and brandished his flames and greataxe once more. It was clear to see that he was still trying to put up a tough front. “I hated her guts, I wanted to be the one to defeat her.”

“Your feelings are conflicted, but that’s fine. A confused mind will be easier to defeat.”

It was true that the boy’s feelings were all over the place. Due to that, he could not focus and therefore could not draw out his full potential. Looking at the fight between the serpent man and small boy, it looked like a hopeless fight. The boy was utterly powerless fighting against this man. He frantically swung his axe around leaving a small trail of flames, but none of it was powerful, nor quick enough to actually touch the man. The man, in this case, looked like he was enjoying this little game of cat and mouse a little too much. Despite his large size, he seemed to maneuver easily in that large body. Occasionally, he would even swing his tail and smack at the boy all while laughing maniacally. From the back, Kei and Corda tried to support Let as best as they could, but were not very successful either.

“You should just give it up, boy,” Kav Nplooj stated after he grew tired of dodging Let’s attacks. “Go down easily, just like the girl.”

Let continued to attack absentmindedly, but then an image of a smiling girl crossed his mind and brought him back. “I came here to save Doro!” A fire burned within his body and his focus sharpened. “I will avenge the new girl while I’m at it as well.”

“Oho, I like where this is going. Show me your vigor, then.”

Let bundled over, and collected his ragged breathing. With his greataxe held firmly in both of his hands, he began to gather literal fire power. Kav Nplooj knew better than to let him continue his charging of energy, so he dove in to attack the concentrating boy. Just then, a shot was fired from the woods.

“I’m not letting you get any closer than that,” Kei said, winking to Kav Nplooj.

“You’re just one child, you can’t possibly stop me all alone.”

“You’re forgetting I’m not alone.”

Multiple shots came firing from all around the woods, catching Kav Nplooj in the center of all the shot fires, and completely off guard. A few of the fired bullets had punctured the scales on the massive body of Kav Nplooj and Suas Lis combined. When they made contact with the large creature, they turned into black cards in a poof. Corda then stepped out of the woods, her cards were being magically shuffled all around her. She stopped the shuffling of her cards by drawing one and placing it face up on the soil in front of her.

“What?” Kav Nplooj could barely mutter out before the cards that were on him exploded, causing everything around him to go up in a large smoke screen.

“Now!” He could hear someone shout, and the next thing he saw was the angered red haired boy jumping through the smoke wielding an axe constructed from flames. That strike had left the serpent man with a large cut running up and down his body, but he was still barely standing. Now it was his turn to be angry.

“Why, you little--!” He grabbed for the boy who now seemed to be out of energy, but before his large hands could touch the boy, he reeled back as if in an immense amount of pain. Let looked up and smirked, thinking that his previous attack had done the trick. However, as the smoke began to clear, Kei and Corda could see that there seemed to be something sticking out of Kav Nplooj and Suas Lis’ stomach. After a closer moment of inspection, his stomach was slashed open and out along with blood and acid, Nire came sloshing out, coughing and wheezing desperately for air.

“That was disgusting, would not recommend it,” she said, announcing her return.

Kei and Corda rushed into the clearing now that it seemed to be clear and helped Nire and Let up to their feet. Kei used his coat to wipe away and dry Nire, not minding at all. Nire was thankful for that because she truly felt disgusted at that moment. Corda helped Let up and he seemed upset that it was Nire who had delivered the finishing blow, but he really did not have the energy to bring it up either, so he simply looked at her and grunted. He was glad that she seemed unhurt.

The four staggered into the cave to find Doro resting peacefully atop a rock. Let had Corda release him and he half ran and half crawled his way to her. He picked her up carefully in his arms and gently shook her to wake her.

“Doro, wake up,” he said.

Nire noted that this was the gentlest she had ever seen him with anyone. She planned to keep this observation in mind so that she could tease him about it at a later time. After a little more prodding, Doro’s eyes fluttered open. Let looked relieved as she opened her eyes and smiled at him. It was a sweet moment for the two of them, but Doro soon came to a sudden realization, jumping up from Let’s arms and began looking for Nire. When she did find her, she grabbed her by the hands and began to apologize profusely.

“I’m so sorry! How did you end up like this? I didn’t mean for this to happen, again, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for Let, too.” With Doro around, the air between the group definitely lightened up. Nire could only stand there and laugh awkwardly as Let stared daggers at her over the embarrassment Doro was subjugating him to.

“Sorry to ruin your reunion, or whatever, but Corda opened up a portal for us to get home,” Kei said.

“Right! Let’s all go home,” Doro cheerily responded as she took Nire and Let by the hands and made them shake hands. “I’m not too sure what happened while I was out, but we’re all friends here, so I hope we’ll all get along now.”

Nire and Let awkwardly shook each other’s hands. Nire, because she was still dripping with stomach juices, and Let, because he still felt a little responsible for her getting swallowed, and he still wasn’t sure what to think of her. Nire laughed a bit at the awkwardness and when Let questioned her about it, she laughed even more.

“Let’s just hop through the portal and go home,” Nire said, changing the subject. “I’m tired.”

“Right-o, let’s go!” Kei was still surprisingly full of energy. Doro walked alongside him as the two chatted as if nothing had happened. When they finally exited the cave, Nire noticed that Kav Nplooj and Suas Lis were nowhere to be seen.

“It’s fine,” Let said, noticing that Nire seemed worried. “He couldn’t have gotten very far, wounded like that.” He seemed kinder than usual, which Nire didn’t mind, but it made her want to tease him about it. Then again, she didn’t know how long this was going to last, so she just nodded at his words and did not say anything. “Oh, hey,” Let started to say awkwardly. He scratched the top of his head, hiding his embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry, okay?” he shouted at her angrily before briskly walking away and stepping into the portal. Genuinely confused, Nire stepped into the portal after the rest of the group had gone through.