They reappeared in Star's house, It was a traditional minka.
His living room was tidy and neat, wisteria saplings in pots rested around the place.
Outside of the house was a forest of wisteria trees, though there weren't nearly as many as he'd wanted.
"Why the hell would you take us here?"
Isle was confused as to why Star decided to take them to his house instead of his mom's. Sadly he was the only one that didn't get why.
"So you wanted me to take us to your mom's house? What if that demon you talked about followed us back, then what?" He asked in his normal monotonous voice.
If this demon was really as bad as Isle made him out to be, then taking them to his mom's house would truly be a stupid idea.
'Oh... that would be pretty bad huh...?'
While Isle's mom could definitely deal with any normal demon, Star didn't have any grasp of how strong the mysterious demon was, he only had Isle's description thus far.
"Yeah you're right."
He scratched his head and stretched a little, he was a little uncomfortable from being in Neiva's arms for so long.
"Can you put me down now?"
He pleaded with her. She smiled childishly as he tried to convince her. She looked at him curiously then squeezed him tighter.
"No."
She answered and held him even tighter then before, he squirmed a little then gave up.
'Is this because I teased her earlier?'
He failed to realize that she simply enjoyed having him in her arms.
"Please... I promise I'll never tease you about Star ever again."
He was lying through his teeth and it was easy to tell. You'd think an orphan from the streets of pandora would be a little better at lying.
"You're horrible at lying."
Mori chimed in. She was visibly annoyed at all of them still, she'd likely be like this for awhile. After all, It would've been a normal day for her if they hadn't gone looking for her.
"Tch… Whatever. assuming that demon does track us what are we going to do? I don't think there's really a way to escape. After all Mom's probably asleep now, she was up for awhile."
If his mom was awake she could deal with the random demon without breaking a sweat, but it'd likely destroy the house.
Isle was scared of what would happen should the house be damaged, the last time it was, he was lit aflame with no remorse.
He was planning on thinking more before the demon so rudely interrupted kicking the door forwards towards them.
It was sliced a few times by Star before it could strike anyone.
The demon looked at all of them and shook his head regretfully.
"…"
Star didn't spare any words for the demon before lightly laying his palm on his swords handle. The demon looked at Star with a confused look before his chest opened up in a slanted vertical cut.
The demon's eyes widened. He attempted to raise his hand, but before he could, Isle slipped out of Neiva's grip while she was distracted.
He immediately dashed towards the demon and swung at him with a crimson bat.
The demon tried to jump back but before he could, a root from the ground stopped him. The bat struck him in the head, it recoiled back as it was struck.
While Kalpana didn't jump in, she did watch. In her hands was a bag of popcorn she grabbed a handful and ate it all in one go.
Neiva was next to join in. She grunted as her muscles flexed, and she struck the air. The demon quickly brought his arms up to block the blast from her punch.
His arms were brutally bloodied and bruised.
With a tug, his leg ripped out of the roots, he looked less than happy with the current situation.
With a snap of his fingers all of them were knocked to the ground. They got up just as fast as they fell, but that was enough time for him to recollect his thoughts.
They were already dashing to attack him again. His arms started to heal.
The wound on his chest was as well, before wisteria flowers bloomed out of it.
"I don't need the rest of you…"
As he said that he darted towards Isle and punched him in the chest. Isle was about to dodge but it was much too late, he was knocked through the violet forest, breaking trees and snapping branches.
He eventually ended up hitting one tree and it didn't break. He slightly slumped against it and coughed up some blood onto the grass.
Before he could get up, the demon appeared in front of him and wrapped his hand around his throat, holding him up against the tree.
Some leaves from one of the many tall wisteria trees shook before falling, he glanced at them for a moment then looked back at Isle.
"The book, human. Give it to me now or I'm going to kill you. Is your life really worth a stupid book?"
He squeezed tighter on his throat and used his other hand to try and forcefully take the book from Isle. His eyes widened, he flailed his legs and scratched at the demon's hands, desperately trying to escape his grasp while also keeping the book.
His eyes began to water as he fought. Was the book really worth his life? In any other circumstance he would've thought no, but for some reason, he felt as if surrendering the book would be the worst mistake he'd ever make.
Leaves from the trees shook again, and a lady pounced from one, slashing the demons neck. He dropped Isle and jumped back, but her claws had already ripped open a gory gash into his neck.
He held his jugular and breathed heavily. Isle collapsed onto his knees and gasped for air while holding his neck.
"You alright, little brother?"
It was none other than his big sister Lucille, she must've been concerned about her little brother so she came to find him.
"How… how did you even find me…?"
His voice was raspy, he was breathing a little heavily.
"I could smell you, unfortunately…"
He slowly got up and frowned at her. She walked up to him.
"Can't I catch a break…?"
He asked her while holding his stomach. The punch from the demon had broken a few ribs.
Her feline ears twitched as she heard the demon mutter something from behind her.
She looked over her shoulder.
"What was that? I didn't exactly catch it the first time."
Her tail swayed slightly as she waited for him to answer.
"I need that book…"
The gash on his neck healed enough that he didn't need to hold it. His hands were covered with his blood.
"Oh, so you'll die for it? Cuz you're not laying one more finger on this pathetic fuckwad."
'Did she have to add the pathetic part…'
She licked her hand clean of his blood, her pupils sharpened. She shot at the demon faster than before, leaving Isle.
The demon was ready for it this time, he held out his hand and pushed her back with his quantum.
She quickly stomped her foot in the ground, stopping her momentum. She darted up one of the many gigantic trees, vanishing in the plentiful leaves.
He looked around in the trees attempting to see her before she could get him.
She shot down from a tree and bit a chunk out of his neck.
He knocked her away and she landed gracefully on her feet, she spat out the chunk of his neck. He used his quantum to force any blood leaking right back into his neck, like he had before.
"Hm? Is that a gravity quantum? Or maybe it's a telekinetic one… Anyways it's been awhile since I've seen one of those."
She licked the back of her hand and groomed her ears. She didn't bother acknowledging him anymore, she'd already gotten bored of him.
"I'll get that book human."
He sounded a little annoyed but not really angry despite the failed attempt to get the book.
He vanished into the air. Isle sighed in relief. He was still holding his chest in pain.
"Thanks big si-"
She jumped on his back before he could finish, he nearly fell down but he held her legs and stood up tall again.
"Jeez, do I hav-"
She immediately retorted.
"Who's the one that saved you? Yeah I thought so… plus I'm your big sister."
He didn't say anything back as he knew that it wouldn't really matter. She wrapped her arms around his neck and got comfy.
He started walking back towards Star's house again, running into the rest of the group halfway there. Half of them were relieved and the other half didn't really care.
Star didn't care, although he didn't usually care so it wasn't surprising to Isle, Mori obviously didn't care because she didn't like any of them, and Kalpana didn't care because she was too busy stuffing her face with her popcorn.
"Huh? Big sis? When'd you get here?"
Val tilted his head.
She climbed off of Isle's back and gave Val a hug.
"I came to save that dumbass from being killed. Quite a pathetic scene to be honest."
She dabbed up Neiva's then looked at Mori and smiled. She held her hand out for a handshake, Mori shook her hand while smiling back slightly.
"I'm Lucille. It's nice to meet you. I'm guessing they failed to kill you?"
She spoke casually as if asking about what she ate for breakfast.
It was a bit surprising to her but nonetheless she answered.
"I'm Mori, and you're right in guessing that."
She was still agitated about it, but she didn't seem as mad as before.
"Star, can you take us to Lucillia's house? That demon might come back with friends."
Kalpana said while finishing her bag of popcorn. She threw the bag up in the air, it turned to ashes then floated away.
Star simply nodded in response. He gave everyone wisteria petals like before and warped them back to Lucillia's house.
They all appeared in her living room. She sauntered into the room as she heard them arrive, eating a banana.
Her dark red hair was tied up in two messy buns. Her eyes, a dark and consuming reddish black, were aimed at Isle. Despite her ominous eyes, she was calm.
"Hm? Isle is that you? Oh it's all of you… What's wrong? You guys came back awfully quick, and who's the new one?"
She took one last bite of her banana then threw the peel in the trash. She sat on a chair in the kitchen, watching them from the island as she waited for their explanation.