Chapter 11

As the four warriors enter the borders of the Southern Mountains, Lesley is being reminded of what she did three years ago. She could see herself walking by the trail with her father's rifle behind her back. The night was as dark as her clothes back then. The shadow of her younger self seems to become more and more visible in her sight. Though it seems like she's going back to that past, she pretends like she feels no fear as she wears her stoic face.

Gusion is just beside her, walking alongside her and he notices that Lesley's pace becomes slower as they move forward. Granger and Guinevere are walking ahead but Gusion decided to match his pace with Lesley's.

Though it happened so fast, Gusion notices how Lesley's lips quivered as if she's going to cry. Though he should feel sympathetic towards her since he now knows of what had happened before, he honestly feels delighted seeing her like that.

"Seeing her like this is becoming more and more fun," he  thinks as he secretly smirks. "Show me more, Lesley. She me the sides of you that no one knows of."

Before they could step into the main village of Granger's old home, they come to a halt as they feel the strong presence of a dark energy around them. The sun is just starting to set but the sky is suddenly covered in complete darkness. 

"Stick together!" Lesley yells as she draws her rifle from her back. She and Gusion guard each other's back, defending their spaces and ready to initiate an attack. Guinevere, who is also back-to-back with Granger, summons her energy orbs that provide them light. 

Gusion summons his daggers as well that glow pale green in the dark, a bit helpful  to see what is around them. 

"Starts at night... Ends at night," a feminine voice echoes throughout the place. The voice does not sound furious or vengeful. It sounds melancholic and sympathetic of those who had past away. 

"She's an abyssal demon," Gusion states.

"You have any idea what she's capable of?" Lesley asks with urgency. Her rifle is drawn yet she could not locate the exact whereabouts of their enemy so she has to wait and not waste one bullet.

"No idea," he replies with a shrug.

"You're still as useless as ever," Lesley spits which almost made Gusion forget that they're in a threatening situation. After the incident this morning, Lesley's annoyance increased at another that every time she speaks, her words cut deeper than Gusion's daggers.

"That is in no good of a way to talk to your lover, baby," he said in a tone of voice that only Lesley could hear. If his fiancee heard him, she might go hysterical and end their engagement but that is no longer his concern. He could just reason out his way to avoid his family's anger.

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes as she hears him call her baby in such a serious situation.

The four warriors all face to their left as the culprit finally shows herself. She is a beautiful woman, her silver hair glows in the dark but her entirety glows red, signifying danger. Her red dress with a long slit shows her leg and it falls down beyond her ankles, her pale complexion confirms that she truly is a vampire.

"You dare step in my territory," she says with a soft voice. She looks at them with a gentle expression on her face. 

Guinevere rolls her eyes in annoyance and impatience and immediately released her magic orbs towards the woman. Carmilla, the demon vampire, dodges her magic, moving to the side as if she is simply dancing with ease and grace. They are about to initiate individual attacks at the same time but with just one snap of her fingers, Carmilla stuns them in no time.

The four warriors grunted as they fall on their knees weakly for their energy is being sucked up by the bloodbath power of the vampire. Just below their feet, the glowing inscription of a red flower continues to absorb their energy that gives them no chance to retaliate.

As they look up to their enemy, Carmilla is walking towards them with two crimson flowers spinning around her. She approaches Guinevere and Granger and with her hand covered with red gloves, she holds one of the spinning crimson flowers and smiles at Guinevere.

"I can feel your raging love," she says while looking straight at the eyes of the Baroque princess, "But I will slowly kill that fire in you."

Before Guinevere could say something and before Granger could lift his hand with his gun to shoot her, the glowing inscription below them has opened and sucks them down.

"Guinevere!"

"Granger!"

Gusion and Lesley yell in unison as they witness how their comrades are devoured. Lesley gathers all her remaining strength, lifts her rifle and got to shoot a bullet directed at Carmilla's chest. Gusion manages to release and shoot his dagger towards the vampire. But the bullet did not reach her, the dagger just fell on the ground and their weak attempt to take down the woman only lead them to fall harder on the ground. It is as if the gravity has increased around them that they could not even lift another finger.

"Don't you worry," she says as she lifts Lesley's chin to meet her gaze, "You will enter the world you are so afraid of."

"Don't touch her," Gusion snarls at her. Carmilla simply smiles at him before crushing the remaining crimson flower surrounding her. The lights shut off and they both feel the absence of the ground beneath them.

Carmilla lets out a painful sigh as she looks up the sky. The darkness she made vanished and the twinkling  stars comes into view. A sad smile curves on her lips as she raises her hand like wanting to reach and grab each of them.

"Cecilion, when will I meet you again?" she asks.

Meanwhile, Gusion and Lesley are both blinded by a flash of bright light. Yet it vanished immediately like how it appeared before them. As they open their eyes, they both find themselves back at Magical City.

"What is going on?" Lesley asks as she looks around. The busy market, the hustling crowd, the buildings and the noisy children all resemble the city.

"This is definitely Magical City," Gusion states as he wanders off, trying to confirm if they are in a world of illusion or not. 

"Don't wander around so carelessly, you might fall into the trap of your death," Lesley tells him as she carefully takes steps around the city. But then, she felt a sudden chill run down her spine as she stares at the road that leads to the Vance mansion. 

With anxiety and worry, she suddenly runs down the street. Gusion is taken aback by her sudden action so instead of going around alone, he runs after her. Separating is not the wisest choice at the moment as well.

"Why the hell are you running? Is something the matter?" he asks but no response came from the pink-haired girl. When they are just a block away from the Vance mansion, Lesley's heart skips a beat when she sees the thick, black smoke going up just right where the mansion she has lived in.

"This... This happened before," she mumbled, her tears almost filled her eyes.

As they approach the huge gates of the mansion, Gusion has gone speechless. The mansion is burning down, abyssal demons are all over the place killing and destroying the magnificent building.

"NO!" Lesley screams at the top of her voice as she loads her rifle and enters the premises. But before she could attack, Gusion grabs her arm and forces her to face him.

"Pull yourself together," he tells her as he shakes her shoulders as if waking her up from a nightmare, "This may be just an illusion, don't get too caught up with it."

With anger, Lesley kicks him right on the abdomen as she looks at him with fear and vengeance in her eyes. 

"Shut up! You know nothing!" she yells before running towards the mansion.

"Damn it!" Gusion curses under his breath as he stands and runs after her. He does not feel afraid at all for a reason that he feels like the world they are currently in is not real.

"You will enter the world you are so afraid of."

Carmilla's words crosses his mind which assures him that this world is a place that Lesley fears. He tries to find her but she is not within sight. As he watches the events that is happening, he starts to wonder if they are all the fears of Lesley. Almost of the entirety of the mansion is burned, the black smoke continues to go up the sky. The abyssal demons are fighting against the soldiers and magicians of the Vance household, and blood stains the ground as they kill each other.

Just then, he remembered this same scene.

"This was during the almost total fall of the Vance household years ago," he stated as he sees himself looking at that tragic news when he was still younger.

"Yet there is something wrong in this scene. There are no demons during the attack," he added.

"Harley!!" he hears the deafening scream of Lesley nearby so he runs around, trying to search for her. When he finds her at the wide hallway of the throne room, she is crying hard while holding the lifeless body of her younger brother. Her shoulders quiver as she sobs and her cries reverberate inside.

Instead of pitying her, Gusion finds it a bit entertaining.

"What else? What else can you show me?" he whispers.

He continues to watch as if he's in a theater enjoying a drama show. He stands motionless as a demon approaches Lesley who is oblivious of its presence. The demon raises its sharp hand and attempts to kill her but Gusion manages to shot his dagger towards it and had his arm cut off.

Lesley immediately looks behind her when she felt the demon's arm fell on her head and its shard nails managed to cut the tie of her eye patch. Her gaze met with Gusion's. Though she hates it that he is seeing her looking so miserable, she no longer tries to pretend to be the strong. With Harley dead on her arms, she finds no strength to even stand up on her own.

Gusion, who is not worried of what's happening around, takes interest at the left eye of Lesley that she usually covers. Now that her eye patch is taken off, he got curious why she's been covering it. He walks towards her, noticing the bluish shade of her left eye. He was enamored at the unique beauty of her eyes, he could not help himself but stare at her as if he is under her spell.

But seeing her shed tears, he comes back to his senses. Snapping out from his enchantment, he tells her what he knows.

"Remember what Carmilla said? She told you you'll enter the world that you fear the most," he says while holding her by the shoulder.

At first, Lesley can not comprehend on what Gusion is trying to say. She could not fully believe him for Harley is there right before her, lifeless and breathless. It would be too unbelievable if Carmilla created that world so perfectly. 

"Believe me," Gusion tells her with their eyes locked, "If you do not get caught up with this illusion, you'll find your way out."

"Stop staying it is fake," Lesley insists, her sobs almost overwhelming her. "I am holding Harley right now, what else is there to believe?"

Gusion is about to say something but the scenery suddenly changed which brings Lesley to an even more confused state. The sun is setting, coloring the sky reddish-orange. The two find themselves outside the mansion. 

"See? It's not real," Gusion says but Lesley's state of unstable emotion did not change. That afternoon when the sky is painted with reddish-orange, it was the time her father was assassinated. It still remains a nightmare to Lesley, especially when she witnesses the sun setting, and here she is standing beside the mage she does not like very much, and is about to witness again how her father got killed.

Knowing what will happen next, Gusion gets closer to her and covered her teary eyes.

"Don't look at it," he tells her but it did not stop her from crying again like a baby. The images starts glitching again, showing another scenery which Gusion finds weird.

He puts down his hand and let Lesley see what is about to unfold. The handsome young mage holds the back of his head and raises an eyebrow in confusion as he witnesses the man that is his exact copy walking towards them. No, walking towards Lesley specifically. The replica is staring at the pink-haired woman only, ignoring the existence of the real Gusion.

"Lesley, what exactly is the meaning of this?" he asks but Lesley did not respond. She stares back at the copy of Gusion who is staring at her lovingly. He suddenly cups her cheeks and with a smile, he speaks with the same voice as Gusion.

"I like you, Lesley," he says which earns a violent reaction from Gusion himself.

"You like what?!" he yells, "Lesley, what the hell is this?!"

Lesley did not respond, her gaze focused on the other Gusion who delicately held her.

As the images glitch again, Gusion grabbed Lesley by the arm and forced her to look at him. Her blue and green eyes stared at him blankly which kind of offended him.

"Do you fear that I would somehow tell you that I like you?" he scoffed in disbelief. "If it were other girls, they would be more than delighted."

Lesley grinned and snorted at his remark.

"I am not one of those you call 'other girls'," she responded and slapped his hands away from her.