Outside of the walls of mist, Lucen continued killing feral devils, punching them with his fist. There were about four more left. Lucen kept moving, despite his injuries and his exhaustion, already surpassing the limits of any human young adult. Three ferals lunged at Lucen and he ducked under each of their claw attacks, following it up with more punches. Like the rest, their bodies dropped to the floor and burned up.

One more…

“Bring it, you—“

RINGGGGG

“GAHH!!”

Just as Lucen was prepared to kill the last feral devil, the demonic energy on his hand disappeared and a sudden sharp ring blared in his head. 

Uggghh!! What is this…?!

The ringing lasted only for a moment but its effect had already taken hold of Lucen. Using the advantage of his vulnerability, the feral devil rushed Lucen, jumped on him, and attempted to bite his neck. Lucen managed to just barely get his arm up but the feral’s teeth sank deep into Lucen’s forearm.

“NRGNN… GET OFF… OF… ME… YOU… LITTLE…. ASS… WIPE!!”

Lucen, with the feral latched onto his arm and using the remaining strength he had, forced his arm and the feral to the ground. The feral’s head bounced off the concrete, making it let go of his arm. Lucen then grabbed its head and repeatedly bashed it onto the ground, its blood splattering over the ground, killing it.

That’ll… show you— Owww… 

Lucen fell flat on his back and looked over in the distance, noticing the walls of mist for the first time.

“Hahaha… Those two… Having some crazy fight… like that… Do people… down here… not even… notice?”

Lucen looked around at all of the bodies on the floor. He then took a look at his arms, covered in cuts, blood, and a deep bite mark.

“Definitely can’t let… Laura see me… like this… Heh, she’d have a… heart… attack…”

Lucen’s eyes closed as he passed out from a combination of both pain and exhaustion.

Over in the distance, inside the walls of Legends of Azure, Vonica's eyes bounced around the area, observing as she was deep in thought.

There are two things that I have noticed. 

One: His aim. It is clear he is not deliberately missing any vital spots— the second shot proved that.

Two: He needs me to shoot 2Violet. This so-called “game” and the illusions? It is all to get me to shoot off an energy beam. 

Mist is made up of microscopic water droplets suspended in the air. If a light source like an energy beam were to hit it, it would either pass through or reflect off of the particles and the path of the energy beam would be illuminated from the side, becoming visible. Although, the more the light passes through the mist, the illumination decreases over distance and eventually fades. 

This being the case, it would be logical to assume that the stray himself cannot actually see me through the mist but is instead using 2Violet to highlight my position. Yet, it is only for a brief moment as the illumination fades after a second. Using the light from the beam, in that slight moment, he is able to shoot in my direction yet he cannot see where he actually shoots.

“Final round, Lady Violet! Ready?!”

This also means he could not approach me as he would be searching blindly. Why does he continue to stall though if I have already shot? He should be able to find me directly.

“Alright! Take a good guess! This is your last chance, after all!”

He likely knows he has landed a shot on me but it was not fatal. He is confident in this last shot.

The three illusions appeared again on each side of Vonica. She remained still though, not shooting her gun.

“Come on! Hurry up and choose or I’ll have to disqualify you!”

“That is quite a bluff, is it not?”

“Eh?”

“You do not actually know where I am, do you? Instead, you are relying on me to shoot so you can figure it out.”

“You’re quite the smart one, huh? Well, no biggie. You figuring that out doesn’t change anything. You still can’t do anything from your spot. It’s only a matter of time before I eventually hit you!”

“I have noticed a small detail about these illusions you have placed here. Each time, they appeared in a counterclockwise order. Starting from my right, all the way to my left. Although it is difficult to see in this environment, each illusional figure is a short distance apart from the last one that was placed there.”

“What’re you getting at…?”

“These illusions… They are not just appearing out of nowhere, are they? You are placing them as you actively move in circles around me.”

Vonica kneeled down, picked up her other pistol, and pointed both on the ground. She fired off four shots. A good amount of yards away, the stray devil ran around the edges of the mist wall. Suddenly, right in front of his foot, an energy beam blasted straight up from the ground.

If close enough, 2Violets beams can pierce through nearly anything. This concrete is no exception. If I redirect the trajectory of the beam while it is moving underground, I can make it shoot right out of the ground. 

The suddenness of the energy beam appearing caused the stray to stop for a second. Unfortunately for him, that second would prove to be his biggest mistake during the fight.

Found you.

“Shit!”

All of a sudden, multiple energy beams began firing at the stray from underneath. As he continued to move, the beams followed him. Each time, he’d stop for a short second before moving again, trying to avoid being hit by the beams. 

This damn girl! I got no choice!

The stray turned around and started sprinting in another direction. Not in the circular path he was running before but straight towards the area Vonica was. Vonica continued firing shots through the ground before, all of a sudden, she felt pressure on her wrists. She looked to notice them wrapped in mist which made her drop her guns, binding her.

“You certainly don’t make things easy!”

In the distance, the stray emerged from the mist.

"Why are you only doing this now? You could have approached me earlier after I shot the first time and it appears you could have restricted my arms as well."

"Wrapping you up fully takes a hell of a lot of energy! I'm pretty drained right now... I only save that for emergencies, you know?"

“So what now?”

“Well, this kinda sucks. I don’t wanna kill you while looking at you, you know? No one wants to see a pretty face like you croak.”

“What makes you think you are going to kill me?”

“Hahaha, confident till the end, are we?”

The stray raised his crossbow, pointing it at Vonica.

“Remember this, everyone! Ferid Gallion was the one who killed Vonica Azaroth! Haha, no one can hear me here. Anyways, sleep well—“

TZZH—

He looked down to find a small hole right through his stomach.

“Ha… Ha… When did you… do that?”

Ferid dropped to the floor and the mist walls disappeared slowly. On the floor, the heel of Vonica’s foot was on the trigger of her pistol.

“I think you should pay better attention to your surroundings, stray.”

Vonica took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh.

Ah– Lucen!

Vonica turned around and gasped at the sight of Lucen on the floor surrounded by the remnants and remains of what used to be feral devils. She rushed over to him and looked around him, examining the area.

I knew it. Such a destructive form of demonic energy to render ferals to this state with such little experience using it. Amazing…

Suddenly, Vonica heard shuffling from behind her and turned around. In the distance, two men in black hoods picked up Ferid’s body. Vonica pulled out her pistol and aimed at them but suddenly a red circle appeared on the ground and the three instantly vanished.

Were they wearing… Crow masks? We have to get back, immediately!

Vonica picked Lucen up, holding him up around his waist to the best of her ability with her injured shoulder and slowly walked off, returning to where they came from.