Page 87 of Caught in the Devil’s Hand

She darted forward, jumping over felled demons and swiping her arms to both sides. She knocked demons aside as though she were flinging branches out of her way, smashing them into trees or each other in her race to reach Majo, who had been standing only fifty feet away before the light spell had been extinguished.

She didn’t look back to see if Vallen was following. If he simply fought to keep himself alive, that was good enough at this point.

She had what felt like a million ideas as to how to hit Majo first, and then second, and then third… The problem was which one would penetrate Majo’s shield, deal a lot of damage, and be unpredictable, giving the witch no way to counter it before it could hurt her.

She punched one last demon aside, sending it into a tree trunk and audibly breaking its back. Then Majo appeared before her, barely visible in the light thrown from Vallen’s sword.

“Tate!” Shumei quickly gasped out, blocking the two Flying Fists that had rocketed at her almost faster than she could think. Majo blinked in surprise, probably not expecting that she could have blocked them. Shumei had to do it now.

“Moui,” she muttered under her breath. Her arms seized up, burning with power, and she planted one foot in front of her. Time slowed down, and her magic’s high-pitched whine filled her ears. The witch was bringing up her hands, but she was too slow. Twisting quickly, Shumei put as much weight into her punch as possible, putting every bit of the spell’s energy into her clenched hand, and made bone-crushing impact into the witch’s abdomen.

It was a direct hit. The armor manifested by Majo’s embroidered spell only blocked magical attacks, just as she had hoped. Her enemy was flung back. Several other demons were mowed down as Majo flew out of the light’s range.

A heavy body slammed into her, bearing her to the ground beneath it. The breath was knocked out of her, and for a couple seconds, she could only see stars. The light of Vallen’s sword was closer now, but a dozen demon bodies separated them. He was probably too occupied with fighting them back to see she was down.

“Little human,” a hollow voice rasped.

Every muscle in her body froze. Her heart seized. She looked up at the hairy face of a large demon standing over her, and then took stock of the terrible predicament she was in. The multi-legged spider demon had pinned each of her limbs to the ground, and still had a few left over to feel around on her body.

Memories flooded her mind. Running through the woods, being chased by a mysterious, evil voice that wanted to play, being picked up and nearly eaten… She had been saved, but by whom? Her father?

The demon had a pair of fangs above its mouth, which was filled with sharp, jaggedly spaced teeth. Its head had clearly once belonged to a human, one with a thick beard that the demon had chopped close to his face, as if he cut it himself with the edge of a dagger. His eyes were askew, one pointed in the wrong direction, and any skin not covered with fur or bone was covered with strange bumps.

The other demons stayed back as though yielding to the much larger one standing over her. They prowled around the two of them in a circle, clearly ready to eat her, bones and all, if they had the chance.

“How I shall be rewarded,” it tittered. “Excellent, excellent!” She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move or look away from its horrifying face. She couldn’t even think. The memories of what had happened to her so many years ago had taken control. The hot, disgusting breath. Hanging in the air by its grip on her four limbs.

A spicy cologne. Yes, a stranger had saved her, and his scent was now undeniably familiar.

“But first, I’ll get some pleasure out of this,” it rasped, roughly palming her breasts. “Ooh, soft, very soft indeed.”

“S-Stop. Stop it,” she whimpered. She both hated and feared spiders at the same time. Ever since that night, the eight-legged creatures had always destroyed her composure. Seeing one from afar was enough to make her stiffen with terror.

“Shumei,” Vallen screamed. “Where are you?”

Vallen. His estate was half a day from her village. He had to have been there fifteen years ago when he’d previously parted ways with Rosuke. He had no qualms about traveling at night. He must have heard a young child scream for her mother. And his spicy scent hadn’t been like anything Shumei had smelled before. Kaisuian soap.

It was Vallen to whom she’d clung, crying into his shoulder while he’d shushed her. He had slain the spider demon—had saved her, all those years ago. He had saved her and didn’t even know it.

A bright light swung past. Hot blood splashed onto her dress. The spider demon screamed in agony, releasing her and scampering away. It had lost two of its arms—the ones that had been groping her.

“I’ll chop off every limb that’s touched her!” Vallen shouted, standing over her. The light off his sword revealed the many demons stalking around them. She sat up, trying to get a hold of herself. Even with her strength spell still active, she hadn’t been able to escape that spider demon. Perhaps Majo had been right about the power of fear.

Vallen leapt past her, slashing again at the spider demon still roiling about in pain. It screamed, and more blood sprayed from the stumps of its severed limbs, spilling onto the ground in buckets.

She stood to get her bearings. The demons seemed to be staying away instead of attacking. Why? Where was Majo?

“Behind you, dear,” a guttural voice said, the words sounding wet as though spoken through a mouth full of blood.

Shumei dropped and rolled to the side, barely dodging the white lightning that sizzled by her and hit another demon instead. It died instantly, unable to even make a sound before it fell to the ground.

“Perfect,” the witch said, but it wasn’t her speaking. It was the evil inside her.

Why was missing her with that spell “perfect”? Too late, Shumei realized Majo wasn’t looking at her, but at the back of her lover, who stood over the dead spider demon.

No.

Majo raised her hand, blackened fingertips pointed at Vallen’s back. Shumei made to stand, to come between them with her mirror spell, but she hadn’t reacted fast enough.