Amidst their run, Mina flailed her arms and legs around as she was held on Esmeralda's shoulder. "Let me go, I wanna help Harold!" In response, Esmeralda had her grip tighten in annoyance. "Don't be foolish, you're the number one target in this situation, can't you tell?!"
"Yeah, exactly, moron!" A voice from ahead tells them. Both Linia and Esmeralda halted, stunned by the abrupt voice in the area. It was a man in ragged linen clothing and a red scarf. Esmeralda pulled out her rapier and aimed it at the man. "You must be some soldier from Eiden, aren't you?"
The man snapped his fingers, creating a chaotic swirl of red, black, and white that engulfed him. "Wrong! I'm the leader!" His clothes distorted into something new: a clean red hoodie and sleek black jeans. Over his face, his scarf morphed into a blackened mask that etched a smile of mysterious white particles.
Linia pulled out her staff, clearly unnerved by the situation. "You said leader? And what's with that getup? That's super bizarre..." she tried to make light of the situation with a joking tone, but the sheer aura of the mysterious man overwhelmed the entire place. Linia's face brightened with an idea to prove his identity. "I can just read his mind!" Calling out her Artifact, it materialized in front of her. Beginning its orbit around Linia, she activated its ability.
Reading into his mind, it goes as follows: "This dumb bitch questioning that I'm the leader? I'd kill her off for that dumbass comment, but she got huge tits, so I might keep-"
She deactivated her Artifact's ability, with Mina noticing her visibly annoyed. "Hm? Linia, what is wrong?" she asked. Not bothering to face her, Linia's irritation spiked even more. "Nothing." she grumbled, seething through her teeth. Linia gripped her light scepter before aiming it at Nox, her gaze sharpening as Nox slowly approached.
Esmeralda sharpened her glare, sensing the danger emanating from the man. "If you are truly the leader of Eiden, Nox Vulisphere, we assume that you're after Mina; am I correct?" Nox summoned his Artifact, a scimitar that donned a vibrant crimson blade and a pitch-black hilt. On emergence, his Artifact fractured the world around itself, glitching and crackling before splintering back to normal. Its presence shook the entire room and made it cry as if it were a flaw in existence itself.
"Yeah, now see ya!" Nox slowly approached them, spinning his scimitar in his hand. Esmeralda gulped, and her hand quivered with every step. "I need to use my Artifact here, I just need the timing! I'm not sure if it'll even wound him!"
Esmeralda was nervous as Linia had a near-panic attack. Meanwhile, Mina was brainstorming in the heat of the moment. "Mina, dear, that guy's Artifact is bad news! You need to run!" Sorrow warned, her voice full of panic. Mina gripped Sorrow in her palm harder in her train of thought. The feeling of running ate away at her, but her heart could not bear to abandon Esmeralda and Linia. She told herself that she had to think of something. "What would Harold do..." she asked herself. And then it clicked. "What would Harold do!" And with that simple question came the ultimatum to what she needed.
A few weeks ago, Mina and Harold had a conversation. "Harold, Harold! You said you fought a lot of strong bad guys, right?" Mina asked, with her body on his lap. Harold nervously brushed her hair with a brush as he spoke back. "U-Um, yeah... and Mina, you don't need to sit on my lap." Tidying herself even more on his lap, she smiled. "If they were all strong, you must've fought a bad guy stronger than you, right? How do you manage to beat them?" She questioned with curiosity.
"Hmmm... how did I beat them, huh? Well, from what I learned, the best way to beat them is to fight dirty. Stronger guys tend to be more vulnerable when they think they have the edge over you. So if you just do dirty tactics, they'll never see it coming."
"Can you tell me one of the ways you beat them? I wanna know!" Mina excitedly pleaded.
"Ummm, it's not impressive, but I can tell you. So first..."
Back to the present, Mina has a warm smile, looking back on the memory with Harold.
Mina's next actions surprised both Esmeralda and Linia. Out of them all, Mina was the only one who was visibly unshaken. She didn't say a single word, but held an assertive presence. Then Mina suddenly screamed, pointing right over Nox's shoulder. "Ah! What is that!" She squealed in horror.
Watching Mina, he turned around in confusion. "Eh, the hell are you talking about-"
In one swift motion, Mina darted to Nox with all her might and slammed her foot right into his groin, kicking it at full power. Her blow came with an ear-piercing scream, almost breaking the sound barrier as her adrenaline kicked off with that singular strike to his groin.
Nox also screamed, but in agony.
"Everybody, jump him now!" Mina ordered. Quickly, Esmeralda and Linia rushed in without hesitation. The three of them began their onslaught on Nox. Esmeralda pierces his throat with her rapier multiple times, Linia whacks him over the skull with her light scepter, and Mina goes on a full barrage of slashes with Sorrow and Ruin in her hands.
The three continuously attacked Nox multiple times before turning him into a bloody mess. After the collapse of Nox's body, the three collectively gathered their breath without speaking a single word. "Thank you, Harold." Mina was thinking about him, hoping he was still safe.
"Oh, how cunning you are, adorable angel girl. Maybe that's where your demonic genes come in!" Nox stood up, his damage not visible anymore. He stretched his body as if he woke from a great nap. "Man, I really needed that! You know how much my back was killing me?" Nox says, letting out a small chuckle. Opening his palm, a ferocious spiral of the same red, white, and black energy emerged. "This is called Doom-matter. One lil' touch of this and I'll have you all facing something worse than hell! I'll fucking kill you all for pulling that shit!"
"Calm down, just admit you got beaten by some teenagers, dummy." A voice spoke from behind.
"Who said that?!" Nox angrily turned behind him, only to freeze.
It was Harlibue Kingston, somewhat tattered but relatively okay. Making eye contact with him, he did a sly wink with a cocky smile. "Yo." He leaned against a pillar, almost ecstatic to be there in front of Nox Vulisphere.
Nox could've sworn he sent in Nevality to deal with the city forces. He expected thousands of lives to be lost in the city, but he never expected a man who went headfirst against Nevality to slay the mighty dragon. "Y-You! How did you survive fighting Nevality?!"
Harlibue yawned, pulling out his Artifact from his pocket. The watch dangled from his hand, emanating a bright neon green. Keeping his cocky smile, he let out a laugh. "What do you mean by survive? I killed it."
Nox directed his Artifact at Harlibue. "So the rumors weren't false... you're one helluva monster, aren't ya'?"