Sezel's stopped immediately at the impossible sight, his mind racing.
The two beasts that had been missing weren't hiding. They had been in the back, waiting, to catch Mari. Something Sezel hoped would not happen.
But the impossible sight before him painted his very fear into a stark, horrifying reality. They stood there now, on either side of her small, trembling, crying body. Their gleaming scythes were a clear, unambiguous warning.
"You fucking coward," Sezel yelled. But no answer came. Behind him, the puppet, a blur of purple and black energy, sliced through another one of the beasts.
The beast on the right brought its scythe's blade nearer to Mari's small, fragile neck. Sezel's heart beat fastened. "Stop," he shouted, his voice a sharp, commanding bark that cut through the chaos of the battle.
