Trigger warning: depiction of violence and blood
Scarlet's order set the team in motion; using the shadows of the corridor, they hugged the wall, utilizing ranged weapons to take out the enemies. Panic erupted, and the hooded figures drew their daggers to defend themselves, but many of them fell to the ground before they could act. Scarlet emerged from the shadows and charged at the figure holding a black book, who seemed to be leading the ritual, while Iza and Derek followed, covering her back. Screams and the clash of blades filled the large room, creating a terrifying echo.
"You can't stop us! It's too late!" Scarlett had reached the unknown man holding the book and slammed him against the wall, pressing her dagger to his throat.
"There's nothing more you can do. Surrender."
He started laughing, and his eyes revealed an incomprehensible, dark madness: "The sacrifice is by your hands! Fools! Fools! Our lord thanks you!"
He laughed and laughed until he ran out of breath and spat blood. Scarlett realized what he meant by those words and turned to her companions.
"The Ravenous One will be proud of us!"
"Don't kill anyone!" the woman yelled to her team, then tightened a hand around the neck of the laughing man: "I hate people who don't know their place." She forced him to his knees and, in a swift motion, pried his mouth open: "Your voice summoned a demon. Now you must pay for your sin."
She grabbed his tongue and severed it, under the shocked eyes of Derek and Iza. The rest of the team had disarmed and captured the enemies still standing. Some had been fatally wounded in the fight and would die, just like the sacrificial victims occupying the circle.
Scarlett closed her eyes for a moment, sighing. She sliced the man's robe open with her dagger and examined his bare chest: it was mutilated, with cuts sliced into the skin to draw symbols, and the blood was still fresh. The woman recognized the demonic marks, and for the first time, panic appeared on her face.
Suddenly, a deep voice cut through the room, and a man emerged from the shadows: his face was pale, and his eyes leaked blood in a slow but steady stream.
"The ritual is complete. You arrived too late."
Scarlett reacted quickly, using her whip to catch the stranger by the neck, but he was quick to raise his arm in front of him; he ended up on the ground, but yanked by the wrist, not the throat.
"It surprises me that someone figured out so quickly what our cloaks hide. How did you do it?"
The confusion that had filled the room moments before had completely vanished. The team stood motionless, just like Scarlet, who was studying the stranger watching her closely. Iza was near her, ready to intervene if anything happened.
"I've studied what you do, so I could stop you. I know that you are sacrificial victims as well." At that point, the group perfectly understood the order Scarlett had given.
"And yet..." the man lowered his face, pulled back his hood, then raised it again, flashing a mysterious smile: "...I am certain you know these things from experience, not study. Isn't that right, Aymira?"
Iza noticed the sudden change in Scarlet's gaze: she looked terrified, paralyzed, and her knuckles turned white from how hard she was clenching her fists. Something was happening in the woman's mind, and the stranger's words were the cause.
Iza took charge of the situation and approached the enemy, grabbing him by the collar: "You'd better answer our questions, if you don't want to end up like your tongueless friend."
"Why should I speak? You can't kill me."
Iza shoved him onto the stone floor and placed her foot on his throat, applying pressure: "I don't need to kill you to make you feel the pain of death."
"How do you know my name?" Scarlet approached Iza and stared at the stranger with an impassive expression, but deep down, she was trembling.
"The Ravenous One has known you for years... you were so small back then... you had been promised to him."
Scarlet moved her hand to her dagger, and Iza sensed the murderous intent that would guide her next moves, so she placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"He's playing with you," she whispered, ensuring the others wouldn't hear.
The woman turned her eyes to her, and Iza was surprised to see the turmoil of emotions showing in that gaze. She had always seen her as cold and calculating, but in that moment she was vulnerable, almost... weak.
"Since we can't kill them, let's tie them up and take them away. It'll be best to lock them up and try to make them talk again. We aren't safe here."
Scarlet listened to her words and nodded weakly, then regained the control she had lost and turned to the group: "Let's take the prisoners to the fort." Then she turned to Iza: "Their death is a detonator... it will strengthen the demon. Those stones are probably meant to create a link to the demonic dimension."
"Should we destroy them?"
"Don't you understand that it's too late? It will begin at any moment, with or without our deaths... but I... I have an important role for my lord! And you... Aymira... you will soon join The Ravenous One!"
Right at that moment, the man bit his tongue and began choking on his own blood. Scarlet hoisted him off the ground, but she failed to notice that, in addition to the dagger, he had a thin blade hidden in the sleeve of his robe. He pulled it out swiftly and tried to stab Scarlet in the chest. Iza grabbed the blade at the last second, gripping it tightly in her hand: red liquid splattered onto the ground, and the man collapsed to his knees, suffocating on his own blood. Scarlet quickly scrambled away from him and grabbed Iza's wrist, inspecting the wound.
"It could be poisoned..."
"Would you have preferred a dagger to the chest?"
"Thank you." Her eyes expressed deep gratitude, but also frustration.
Derek reached his sister and took charge of bandaging her wound, whispering to her to use an antidote just to be safe. They knew poisons perfectly well, and Iza was fairly certain the blade was clean.
The mysterious man lay on the ground with wide eyes and a horrifying smile. He was dead, but he was laughing at his own demise. There was nothing more that could be done to stop the demon.
"Search everyone and keep an eye on them!" Scarlet moved to exit the cave.
Her team was tense, unable to comprehend how someone like her could have lost her temper. Scarlet was know as statuesque, she feared nothing... yet in that moment, she hadn't been able to hide her frustration and the panic threatening to break her.
Iza looked at the corpse, feeling disgust and disbelief: the horror she had witnessed would likely occupy her nightmares for a long time. She didn't waste time thinking and followed Scarlett out of the cave, after checking the rest of the bodies, which, like the man, had symbols carved into their skin. She and Derek quickly caught up to the woman leading the operation and mounted their horses, ready to depart...