Chapter 53: Hexennacht (12).

Red hair fluttered.

White eyes were looking at her.

The sharp hooves walking on the frozen ground echoed with a metallic sound, clang clang.

Long fingernails shone, reflecting the moonlight.

“Lena-ya! Get a hold of yourself!”

Byul hurriedly shook Arena’s shoulders.

Had her mind been eaten away by the darkness due to fear?

Her reaction was too extreme to see it that way.

“Wh, how can this be..”

Arena barely opened her trembling lips.

“Because I wanted to see our Lena, of course~”

“No way……………, you definitely were back then……………..”

Through the words being exchanged, Byul could infer who the demon in front of her was.

The demon who had tortured Lena and implanted deep trauma in her.

“Rubrum-Luna.”

“Araa~? Who’s the friend next to you? A face I’m seeing for the first time~”

The chuckling laughter sounded particularly clearly.

Rubrum-Luna looked around the surroundings once and smiled brightly.

“She’s not, near here?”

Heeheuk-

She seemed to know immediately who she was referring to.

“Lena-ya, get a hold of yourself! Lena-ya!”

Arena was literally stiff.

It was like watching a frog in front of a snake.

Her arms and legs were trembling and her teeth were chattering.

‘I can’t rely on Lena right now.’

The opponent was bad.

From what she had heard, the Rubrum-Luna that Chayeon and Arena had faced was a 2nd Class demon.

A demon with a unique name.

‘Can I win.’

She forcibly suppressed the anxiety that was flowing through her body.

Let’s calm her mind.

She mustn’t allow a gap for mental manipulation.

“Hmm~”

Perhaps she had noticed such Byul’s aura, Rubrum-Luna looked this way and smiled slyly.

Now!

Wheeing!

As Byul moved her hand and stretched it out, sleek fabrics were shot out from the armbands attached to her wrists. The wide fabrics quickly wrapped around Rubrum-Luna’s body in several layers. Unfamiliar binding tools, fabrics that didn’t seem threatening.

Rubrum-Luna didn’t take any action.

Byul didn’t miss the opportunity.

She telekinetically lightened Rubrum-Luna right away through the connecting fabric.

The weight that had been felt through the fingertips gripping the fabric disappeared.

She swung her arm as it was.

Rubrum-Luna, who was wrapped in fabric, was dragged along and thrown into the air.

Bang!

Rubrum-Luna slamming into a tree.

Since she had crashed into it with tremendous force, it would have been reasonable to expect a fatal wound originally.

But the opponent was a 2nd Class demon.

There was no way it would end this simply.

Without giving her a gap, Byul pulled the string as it was.

Rubrum-Luna, who had been lightened by grams, was helplessly dragged along.

At the same time, Byul took out a talisman with her remaining hand.

She had to attach this talisman when the opponent couldn’t come to her senses.

A talisman that weakens demons.

It was an item containing the power of Baekgumiho that she had obtained with difficulty.

However, Byul still hadn’t properly gauged the strength of a 2nd Class demon.

“Ah!?”

As Rubrum-Luna, who was flying towards Byul, grinned and rotated her wrist, her long fingernails drew a red trajectory in a narrow radius. The fabric was cut away meaninglessly.

It was a high-crystalline fiber obtained by combining aromatic rings with Ahmadki through wet spraying, and on top of that, it was a fabric that had been strengthened by adding various abilities and seals.

She knew that it wouldn’t last long, but she had never imagined that it would be cut off so easily.

In front of Byul, who had momentarily panicked and her body had stiffened, Rubrum-Luna, who had arrived right in front of her by Byul pulling her directly, lowered her fingernails while smiling.

“Aueuk!!!”

A stinging pain.

She had tried to stretch out and block the fabric that she had somehow pulled out with both hands tautly, but even such efforts were in vain and a deep scar was left on Byul’s left eye.

Blood spurted from the long scar that started from the vicinity of her eyebrow and went down to her cheek.

“Byul!!”

Arena, who had barely become able to move her body, rushed in from behind Rubrum-Luna.

Arena swung the sword that she had summoned somewhere from above to below.

Movements so clumsy that she couldn’t have imagined them from the usual Arena.

The brain, which had been eaten away by fear, wasn’t properly sending signals to her body.

Tak-

Rubrum-Luna, who had dug in on Arena who was swinging her sword, grabbed her wrist.

A burning pressure was felt in her grabbed wrist.

It was being crushed.

“Aaaaaaaak!!!”

Unable to overcome the pain, Arena dropped her sword.

The sword fell from her hand and was deeply plunged into the snowfield with a thud.

With tearful eyes, Arena, who was screaming, summoned her sword again with her remaining opposite hand and swung her sword once again.

Tak-

And her remaining one hand was also grabbed.

“Why has our Lena become even slower~?”

Rubrum-Luna, tilting her head with a calm expression as if she really didn’t know.

“Th, that’s!”

Rubrum-Luna, who had smiled brightly after looking at Arena, who was glaring at her with hostility, pulled her in with a flick.

She was helplessly dragged along by the strong force that ordinary humans could never resist.

And Rubrum-Luna,

-Grabbed Arena’s fingers with a circular motion.

“Ofoff, ofoof, ofoof,
The fear that she had barely calmed down was gnawing at Arena’s brain again.

The tortures that she had suffered at Rubrum-Luna’s hands in the past flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.

All her fingers were broken, her toes were pulled out, her arms and legs were bent backward, and her clavicle was taken out one by one as her chest was dug up with long fingernails.

The nightmare that she had desperately tried to forget flooded her head.

“Aaaaaaa..”

The eyes that had been full of hostility unfocused in an instant and her body began to tremble fiercely.

Her strength left her legs and she slumped down as it was.

While being held up by only one arm, she wandered in her terrible memories.

“I want to play with Lena too, but you’ve been interfering again and again since earlier.”

Wheeririk-

Before Rubrum-Luna could finish speaking, sleek strings that had flown from the back wrapped around her neck several times.

While looking at the appearance of her neck being choked in an instant and her breath being blocked with a cough, Byul pulled the strings as it was.

Bang-

Rubrum-Luna, who was crashing into the tree far away once again.

Arena was still sitting there and trembling with fear.

It was an appearance where mental domination had already entered.

‘I can’t let it be like this. Somehow….’

“Ah!?”

Her thoughts were cut off.

Byul, who was trying to approach Arena, floated into the air and was sucked towards Rubrum-Luna as it was.

Rubrum-Luna was pulling Byul in reverse using the strings while crashing into the tree.

‘I made a mistake!’

Because she had been agitated, she had ended up releasing her weight lightening.

Because Byul, whose abilities had only awakened a year ago, was still inexperienced, that was the reason.

With a thud, Byul, who had been plunged into the snowfield, rolled on the ground as it was.

Rubrum-Luna quickly climbed on top of Byul, who was lying face up on the ground.

‘I have to use weight lightening quickly…!’

Kkuk-

“Aaaaaaaak!!”

Byul, who had been trying to lighten Rubrum-Luna and push her away, lost her concentration due to the encroaching pain.

Byul’s left eyeball was being pressed down between the gaps in the torn wound.

“I wanted to play with Lena, but you keep interfering since earlier.”

Even if she struggled with all her strength, the body of Rubrum-Luna, who had climbed on top, didn’t budge.

It was impossible for Byul to overcome the demon’s strength unless she used weight lightening.

Seogeok-

A warm sensation.

The feeling of something gushing out and her body cooling down.

The stinging and cool wind that was touching her right wrist.

Soon, the feeling of burning pain.

“Kkiyaaaaaak!!!”

Leaving Byul, who was rolling around while holding her severed wrist, Rubrum-Luna headed to Arena again.

“Byul! Byul!!”

“Hmm, Lena is a good kid who knows how to worry about her friends~?”

Rubrum-Luna, who was looking at Arena, who was pushing away the fear and running over, let out a playful exclamation.

“Uaaaaa!!”

With her face stained with fear and despair, Arena swung her sword with a crazed appearance.

The sword’s trajectory suited the word reckless.

However, it was only fast, and it cut off Rubrum-Luna’s fingernails, which she had been unable to avoid, with a clang clang.

“Byul! Run away quickly!!”

“Great! You’ve grown a lot!
Rubrum-Luna, laughing happily, stepped back to avoid the sword.

Hwik-

Rubrum-Luna’s roundhouse kick, who had dug into the gap between the slashes, hit Arena’s abdomen head-on as it was.

Arena, who had been hit as it was like a cannonball being shot out, crashed into a tree with a bang.

“Wow~, if I had been careless, I might have lost~”

Rubrum-Luna, with an endlessly joyful expression, was walking slowly and heavily.

She can’t win.

She can never win.

She couldn’t handle such a monster.

What Arena felt amidst her weeping was resignation that had gone beyond fear.

No matter what method she used, she couldn’t defeat that red-horned demon.

What had her efforts been for since then.

She had been practicing with Chayeon every day, and while receiving her teachings, she had believed that she had grown.

That wasn’t it.

She hadn’t grown at all.

No matter how precise her technique became, how fast her speed became, or how strong her power became, she had stopped regardless of such things.

Just seeing Rubrum-Luna again had infected her mind with fear and her body wasn’t listening to her.

That was the result.

Byul’s hand, her wrist was………………

But it’s still okay.

She would be able to run away.

Rubrum-Luna’s interest was thoroughly towards Arena.

If she drew her attention, it would be a painful time, but if she became the demon’s plaything for a long time like last time, then Byul would be able to escape in the meantime.

Then she would somehow find Chayeon and be able to defeat this demon and live.

If I just endure a little.

Then Chayeon and Byul would be able to live.

“Chayeon, Chayeon-ah……”

She didn’t want to show a weak appearance, but such words flowed out on their own.

She could know that the end of her life was approaching.

She won’t be able to see her anymore.

That fact was so sad.

If she had known it would be like this, she shouldn’t have avoided her for the past week.

She should have faced her face to her heart’s content, talked, hugged, rubbed her nose against hers, and kissed.

No, she should have gone back further and confessed first.

If she had, she would have been able to enjoy much, much more fun times.

Regret became tears and overflowed.

They were different tears from before.

She can now look straight at the demon’s eyes.

“Do you not feel scared anymore?”

“…Do whatever you want. Torture me, break me, play with me, do whatever you want!!”

Clenching her teeth, she shouted with all her might.

At that spirit, Rubrum-Luna flinched for a moment but soon smacked her lips with an interesting expression.

“I’m going to kill you right away.”

She raised her fingernails.

There wasn’t even a trace of interest to be seen in those eyes.

It was the eyes of someone who had lost interest in a broken toy.

….It’s over.

Had Byul run away well?

Her view was being blocked by tears, and also Rubrum-Luna was standing right in front of her, so she couldn’t see the surrounding situation.

Although she hadn’t bought time to the point that it was despairing, she must have definitely run away well.

It’s Han Byul, after all.

Since she’s a smart, rational, and reasonably acting kid.

Since Rubrum-Luna’s interest had returned to Arena, she must have gone to find Chayeon after escaping a long time ago.

It was 17 years in total.

It was short if it was short, and it was long if it was long.

The last two months had been the happiest moments in her life.

Perhaps it was the last gift given to her life, which was about to come to a close soon.

Arena closed her eyes tightly.

Let’s imagine the moment she had been with Chayeon as her last.

Go with good memories, happy memories.

She no longer cried.

Strangely enough, she wasn’t scared when she witnessed death.

In her last moment, she overcame it.

Yeah, that’s enough.

Chayeon and Byul will take care of the rest.

Arena smiled.

A sharp sound of something piercing flesh was heard with a thud.

Pain, was not felt.

“…Ah…?”

Long purple hair was draped down like a waterfall and tickled her nose.

Soon, blood sprayed from the mouth of the girl who was standing in front of Arena, and drops of blood wet her cheeks.

Byul, who had supported herself against a tree with her remaining hand, was gushing blood from her chest.

“Why……?”

Byul, who was looking straight at Arena’s trembling eyes, answered with a comfortable face as if she didn’t have any pain.

“I’ll get scolded by Chayeon-ssi.”

Thud-

Fingernails being pulled out, and a weight landing on her chest.

“AHAHAHAHA! Lena has so many friends~?”

A high-pitched sound that hit her ears.

Warmth and wetness that were felt on her chest.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah,
Her body trembled like an aspen leaf again.

The tears that she had thought she had already shed all of were welling up again and messed up the girl’s face.

It wasn’t some sublime sacrifice.

She had just been intoxicated with such herself.

She had thrown away everything and given up.

It was the worst choice that shouldn’t have been made.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!”

“AHAHAHAHA…….
What?”

The demon, who had been pleased with the girl’s scream, soon felt an unusual aura.

Rubrum-Luna’s expression stiffened.

The eyes that were shining gold were slowly, gradually being stained with a white light like a snowfield.

The ‘Pure White Witch’ opens her eyes.

<<Finally, I’ve reached her.>>

And the girl, became light.