Chapter 23

"Why didn't you tell me about this? If the other kids had been retrieved, why is Harley still absent?" Lesley almost cried at Mrs. Vance, her tears tempting to fall down on her almost red cheeks.

They are currently outside the Vance mansion, Lesley just came from the Swan Castle where she been told that the mages who has gone into the Enchanted Forest are now back. On the other hand, Mrs. Vance is about to head to the Paxley mansion to consult the head mage about the whereabout of his son yet she bumped into her daughter.

"I have not known of it as well, honey. I am on my way to Mr. Paxley to ask him about the matter," Mrs. Vance replied as she held both of Lesley's hands. "Lesley, let me take care of this. You still have work in the Assassin department for the preparation, you must not stall time."

Lesley does understand the intention of her mother but the matter involves Harley, her younger brother, so she won't just ignore it. She clasped the hands of Mrs. Vance as the first tear dropped from her right eye.

"But mother, Harley weighs more than any other. If he is in trouble, I won't just sit still," she whimpered, shutting her eyes and lowering her head.

Mrs. Vance smiled for Lesley has become herself once more. She cupped her cheeks and lifted her head so their eyes would meet. With her thumb, she wiped off her tears and kissed her on the forehead.

"Magical City needs you, honey. I am Harley's mother and I will take care of him," she assured her before drawing her close and wrapped her arms around the small figure of her favorite and beautiful assassin.

Lesley gritted her teeth upon setting her eyes on the young mage who just came together with the giant lizard. Though he has changed a lot, she wouldn't make a mistake. She knew that the small boy wearing the purplish and dark armor with an eyed-hat is no one else but Harley.

"That's Gusion, ain't it?" Guinevere stated with a low tone of voice as she stands beside Lesley.

With anger building up inside her, Lesley draws out her rifle, ready to kill the abyssal demons who shall have a taste of her fury.

"Guinevere, don't die on me," Lesley stated before her camouflage is activated and she finds the perfect spot where she could overlook the enemies.

"You, too," Guinevere responded before charging forward with her magical orbs summoned.

Together with the VENOM Squad, Minsitthar and Princess Odette charged towards the enemies, leading the offensive team to take the first leap in the war. Sharp claws came clawing at the princess but she made a quick step sidewards and casted one of her magical spells.

"Avian authority!"

She raised her staff and a golden flare with the shape of a swan with its wings spread up came into life. It flew at lightning speed and as it made contact with the demons, it purified them in an instant. Deafening shrieks filled the air, making everyone cover their ears tightly. Princess Odette is fighting with all she got but her focus is divided between combat and the real purpose of the presence of the VENOM Squad who are forcing their way deeper into the ocean of demons.

Yes, they are helping them defend Magical City but she could feel that something is off, something is not right, and her gut feeling tells her that the squad under the CEO is up to something.

"Watch out!" Guinevere screams as she summons her magic wave and directed it towards the monster that had almost struck the princess behind. She steps towards her and guards each other's back.

"Your Highness, please be more careful. This war is just getting started, don't get yourself hurt," she says which pushes Odette to shake off her doubts for a while and focus on the situation at hand. She lets out a sigh to gather her thoughts together.

"Thank you for your assistance," the princess responded.

On the other hand, the Shadow Trio is trying to get close to Hanabi for a closer observation of her. But they could only be as near to her with ten meters approximate for their enemies keep on coming. Kagura summons her magical Seimei umbrella with ease, with just one swing of her hand up in the air, it appeared before her.

With her blood, she marks her umbrella and a bluish and almost transparent chain connects her and the weapon so she could manipulate the demons at will. Gaining control over the demons trapped inside her Seimei Umbrella, she throws it forward and whichever it had touched, their movement had been slowed down as the demons grip their enemies and hold them in place. This gives the chance for Hayabusa to land the killing blow.

"Phantom shuriken!" Hayabusa releases three shurikens that had multiplied as they hit one demon after another. There is no chance given for the enemies to counter their attacks for the shurikens returned back to the original owner and killing more demons along the way.

"Do not push yourselves to the limit already. This is not just a war of strength but also a war with time," Hanzo reminds his colleagues before leaving their side.

Hayabusa grits his teeth impatiently, he could not leave Kagura alone for she might get hurt if he has his eyes away from her. At such time, it is not the best choice to leave each other's side so they could protect each other's back. It may be against his will to let Hanzo deal with Hanabi but if ever he convinces her to come back to their side, then he would be forever grateful.

As for Hanzo, he tries to keep up with the VENOM Squad who are purposely going deeper into the thousands of numbers of demons as if they are accomplishing a different goal. He hates to admit it but the way Hanabi fights has changed, she has reached another level of strength and can cope with the speed of the other members of her new squad. Her colleagues are strangers to him and all he had heard about the Paxley guy is that he is the rebellious mage who had turned his back from his family to become an assassin. 

"The fourth child of the Paxley household is a devious mage for he made everyone believe that he is the perfect son," said one gossiper which Hanzo accidentally overheard.

"I cannot argue with your remark. The head of their household was shocked when he had found out his son's secret training ground."

As for the rest of the story, it remained vague for eavesdropping is not on the list that Hanzo likes doing. But whoever Hanabi's teammates are, they do not matter for he only needs to get the scarlet ninja back.

What bothers him the most is the spider-limbs she has behind her back. How did she get it? Why did she have them? Is she aiming to be at the VENOM Squad from the very beginning? Was this what Natalia had told her about that she left Iga town?

A lot of questions are repeatedly asked in his mind and it infuriates him for not a single question has an answer at the moment. When he fully snaps back into combat, his eyes widened when a pair of scythe comes whirling towards his direction.

He bends back and barely dodged it, his right arm is scathed by it yet it is as painful as being stabbed with a sword right through his body. He straightens up, thinking that he succeeded in dodging the weapons, but before he could even recover, he falls on his knees and drops the Ame no Habakiri as Thamuz's scythe came rushing back like boomerangs. Hanzo grunts in pain as the two scythes seem to be digging deeper into his flesh, causing a scorching pain. He reaches on his back to take them off but he groans the moment he had made contact with it. His palm burns in pain, only to realize that the scythe is scorchingly hot.

"I thought you're a worthy opponent," a hoarse voice says and he could see a pair of feet walking towards him. Hanzo could feel his blood dripping down his body and what even made him weaker is that his flesh felt like it's being burned into crisp yet it did not stop him from fighting back.

"I overestimated you," Thamuz adds as he summons back his scythes which he carries lightly as if they are just a pair of scissors.

Thamuz thinks that he had won the fight already so he plans to cut off the ninja's head and add it to his collection but the moment he takes another step near him, he suddenly felt the pull of his energy out from his very body. Hanzo has activated his ninjutsu soul reap which is almost the same as opening a portal to oblivion, a place that has no end.

The portal slowly reveals itself and its diameter is almost half a kilometer, black smokes start rising and reddish ones crawl around the bodice of the demons inside it including Thamuz. The red smoke sucks out the souls whoever is inside the portal and the more it feeds on its prey, the Ame no Habakiri gets stronger as it is connected with the portal.

Despite his injury, Hanzo stands up on both feet and charges towards Thamuz with the Ame no Habakiri in his grasp. And having the power of Hanekage around him, his wound slowly heals and regenerates back to normal.

"Don't think you've won!" Thamuz yelled with his weapons ready to fire. "The abyss shall take over the world!"

But before Hanzo could even land his sword on the flesh of his enemy, someone had struck him from behind. Thamuz freezes in place and his weapons are dropped on the ground. His body that glows like a magma slowly turns solid black and his burning eyes were the last one to lose its flaming color. And eventually, he turns into a solidified lava. 

"Hanabi," Hanzo mumbles upon seeing the one who ended the life of the abyssal demon. The scarlet ninja did not spare him a glance and simply strikes Thamuz with her spider-limbs, breaking him into nothing but piles of smaller pieces of rocks.

Without saying a word, Hanabi turns around and is about to leave but Hanzo manages to stand before her. He wants to touch her but he did not dare do so for it might anger her and cause them to go against each other.

"Can't you really remember us?" he asks but Nephila has no interest in him that she shifts position and jumps in midair to avoid him but Hanzo keeps up with her speed. Every time she thought she has got passed him, she'd always find him standing in front of her as if he could read her every move. 

Hanzo no longer wants to go along with her tag play but before he could even stretch out his hand to grab her, a swift blade got in-between them. If he wasn't fast enough to dodge the blade, his hand could have been chopped off. He is about to retaliate but the ground underneath shook as another huge block of solid wall emerged, rising and hovering above him, blocking Hanzo and separating Hanabi from him.

"Do not stray around, Nephila. Reserve your energy for the real battle," Emperor Scorpion warns as they go back on track, leaving Hanzo fight against the abyssal demons that came craving over his flesh. The spearhead nods in response before going towards the direction where Vespid is going. For the VENOM Squad, their priority is to save the SABER Squad by defeating them head-on.

With the wide-range of Octopus' sight with the help of his green hat, he could overlook the whole battlefield and he has already located where the other four members of the SABER Squad. Johnson is a bit hard to deal with due to his durability and immense strength so they had let him go berserk as of the moment. 

"Something is controlling the SABER Squad, we must be careful or they might go into self-destruction mode and it'll be over for us," Octopus reminds the others but instead of getting anxious, Emperor Scorpion is thrilled. His infamous, captivating smirk is slowly forming on the edge of his lips.

Sitting behind the back of Monitor Lizard, Octopus can sense the excitement of their leader. He admits, too, that this is probably the best and last war he'll participate in his entire existence. The sight of weak demons bores him and makes him wonder why the mages and warriors of Magical City are going all-out just to eliminate such trashy creatures. 

"They had shifted positions, they must have sensed our presence," Octopus reports to their leader, "Southwest."

While the other members of the SABER Squad are waiting for their turn to reveal themselves on the battlefield, the barrier that protects Magical City starts to weaken as Johnson continuously crashes himself into it.

"Focus on your magic!" Mr. Paxley announced at the mages who are lined up to create the barrier.