Eventually, the trees gave way to a wide stretch of rundown fields, the trail winding upward through uneven terrain choked with weeds and half-dead brush. The further they went, the more they saw broken fences and the skeletal remains of what had once been farmland. Toma slowed down once the farmhouse in the distance came into view.
"Okay, so… what the hell is a Bat Witch doing all the way up here?"
"The captain did say that Witches aren't exactly… predictable," Kira replied as if the answer was common knowledge. "They're Abnormal things… don't exactly follow the same patterns like the Yamirei do."
As she said that, her hands moved to her sides and slipped her weapons free with a simple motion. Her Reikon-killers unfolded with a soft, metallic whisper. Each one took the shape of a compact, single-handed scythe which was about the same length of her forearm. The handles were matte black wrapped in a grip that looked almost like woven cord and from each hilt, a curved blade arced outward, polished to a dull silver sheen.
At the base of each scythe was a small ring connected to a short length of reinforced chain that coiled loosely around her wrist. They looked pretty light.
Toma then looked down at his own Reikon-killer. He reached over his shoulder and drew it. Unlike Kira's intricate design, his was straightforward. A blade. It was a broad, slightly curved machete. The spine of the blade was thick and reinforced while the cutting edge tapered into something deceptively sharp. The guard, though, was just enough to protect his hand and the grip was wrapped tightly in dark leather.
Compared to Kira's intricate instruments, his was simply something meant to hack through a problem until it stopped moving. Toma let out a small sigh, adjusting his grip on the weapon.
"Abnormal, hm…?"
Kira spun one of her scythes once, the chain giving a soft clink as it settled. "Stay close," she said, her voice lowering. Then, from somewhere deeper in the farmland, something let out a high-pitched screech.
"Found her," Toma said flatly as they trekked further. But before they pressed forward: "Wait…"
Kira didn't look at him, but her posture shifted just enough to show she was listening.
"Let me scout it out first… if it's her, I'll confirm. If not… could be a Yamirei nest," he continued.
"And you really think it's a smart move to walk in there alone?" Kira asked with an unimpressed look.
"I think… if something jumps us, it's better one of us isn't caught in it," he replied with a small shaky gasp. He then jerked his chin slightly back the way they came. "Stay here. If anything circles around, you'll catch it."
Kira gave it a thought before sighing and giving her a head nod. "Be careful," she said flatly. That was the extent of her concern, it seemed.
Toma let out a quiet huff and turned, stepping carefully through the dead field towards the farmhouse. The closer he got, the more the structure seemed like it was collapsing under its own age. The front door was hung crooked on its hinges and he nudged it open with the tip of his blade.
Creeeaak….
Toma winced slightly at the noise, but stepped inside, immediately being hit with the stale and damp air with a faint, sour-sweet undertone that didn't fit. He raised his blade, holding it with both hands now, angling it defensively as his eyes adjusted to the dim interior. Broken furniture littered the room, from chairs that were missing legs and a table that was split down the middle. There wasn't a corner that wasn't dust coated.
"Okay, Toma… just in… and out…" he whispered to himself. That was when he heard a faint sound drifting down from above. It sounded like… humming. Almost cheerful humming. The melody was off-key in places, wavering like someone half-focused. Definitely not the kind of sound you expected from Yamirei. And definitely not a Witch. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
"Stay calm… just confirm… then get Kira…" he muttered under his breath, adjusting his grip on the Reikon-killer as he ascended the staircase. Each step creaked under his weight no matter how much he tried to minimize the noise. The humming grew louder and now was accompanied by the faint slosh of liquid washing around.
Water? Or… something worse…
At the top of the stairs, he could see a door at the end of a narrow hallway which was slightly ajar. The humming came from there. Toma exhaled sharply before stepping forward. But as he entered, the floor betrayed him with a loud creaked as his foot hit a loose plank.
The humming stopped instantly and Toma's eyes widened slightly.
"Uh oh–"
Inside the room was a massive galvanized metal tub that sat in the center of the room, the kind used for cleaning livestock, filled nearly to the brim with murky water. And inside it was a woman who was completely naked. Her damp hair clung to her back and shoulders, partially obscuring her figure as she sat curled in the tub. Her unnaturally smooth skin looked pale in the dim light and faint ripples spread across the water as she shifted around while humming.
"Mmm, I want cheesecake… yummy yummy cheesecake… strawberry… Maybe two…" she hummed to herself absentmindedly.
In that moment, Toma's brain went completely still. This… was not what he had prepared for at all. After a split second, the woman's head snapped towards him. Their eyes met and there was another moment of silence before:
"KYAAAAAAAAH!!!"
She shrieked at the top of her lungs, splashing violently as she ducked down into the tub, covering herself with her arms the best she could.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU… YOU PERVERT?"
Toma recoiled instantly with a yelp, nearly dropping his Reikon-killer in the process. His face flushed bright red as he jerked his gaze toward the ceiling, then the wall, trying to look at literally anywhere else.
"I-I DIDN'T KNOW! I MEAN, I HEARD HUMMING, SO I–"
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!!!" she screamed before grabbing what looked like a dented metal pan and hurling it at him. Toma barely ducked as it flew past his head and slammed into the hallway behind him.
"I'M TRYING, LADY!" he shouted back, stumbling back a step as he turned halfway around. "WHY ARE YOU BATHING HERE?!"
"WHY ARE YOU WATCHING?!"
"I'M NOT!"
"YOU'RE LITERALLY LOOKING RIGHT NOW!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"
He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth in frustration. Then his instincts finally caught up to him. That faint, sour-sweet scent from earlier was stronger now. Rotten underneath the warmth. His expression faltered slightly even as his eyes remained averted.
"Wait a minute…"
Something's wrong…
Then, carefully, he cracked one eye open to get a sliver of a look. The water in the tub was… far too dark and thick to be water. The woman's shrill yelling hadn't stopped, but now, he could hear that there was something underneath it. A second sound that was… hungry.
"Oi, what's taking so long, Toma?"
Kira's voice broke the tension as her footsteps pounded up the stairs. She burst into the room a second later, her scythe-like Reikon-killers already drawn. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the woman as she now rose from the liquid she bathed in.
Her appearance was… oddly striking. Her dampened hair was long and the color of pale silver which framed a face that was almost doll-like in its symmetry. Her hairline dipped into a notable heart shape at her forehead, giving her an almost endearing look that clashed violently with the surrounding tension. Her eyes were wide with panic and she shrank into herself, her arms crossing tightly over her chest as she tried to hide.
"Toma…" Kira said slowly, not looking away from the woman. "Why are you looking at a naked woman–"
"I WAS NOT!" Toma snapped, still half-turned away.
"GO AWAY!" The woman screamed, her voice cracking as it got higher and higher in pitch. "GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAY!!!"
Her shrieks grew sharper, but more distorted, the pitch blending into something inhuman. She arched slightly, her back tensing as if something split behind her. Then, wings erupted from her shoulder blades. They were massive, bat-like appendages that stretched taut with thin, veined membranes. The joins snapped outward with a sickening noise as they unfolded far wider than her body had any right to support.
"Kira…"
"I see it," she muttered, her grip tightening around her Reikon-killers.
The Witch let out a shriek that tore through the walls before her wings flapped once, sending out a compressed blast of air that carved through the room like invisible blades. The tub water erupted upward in a violent spray as the shockwave shook the floor.
Toma gasped sharply as he barely had time to raise his arm before the impact hit him square in the chest. It felt like being struck by a brick wall, launching him backward instantly as he slammed into Kira. The two of them were thrown together, crashing through the doorway and into the hallway.
"Tch!" Kira gritted out as she tried to dig her weapon into the floor to stop their momentum, but the wood splintered under the force.
Then another flap came, sending a stronger burst that caused the hallway itself to warp under the pressure as the blast tore through it. It ripped loose boards from the walls and sent debris flying.
"GET DOWN!" Kira barked, but it was too late as the second wave hit. The floor beneath them gave out with a loud splintering crack, sending the two crashing through the floor.
Toma's vision spun as he crashed into the ground level, the impact knocking the air clean out of his lungs as debris rained down on top of him. Kira landed a split second after, rolling with the wall and skidding across the broken remains of the room below. He groaned as he forced air back into his lungs, pushing himself up slightly while coughing through the dust.
"God damn…" he wheezed. "I didn't expect her to be so powerful…"
A shadow stretched across the broken opening in the ceiling, where a pair of glowing eyes peered down through the dust and splintered beams, followed by the slow unfurling of those massive wings. Kira spat to the side with a small cough before she rose into a crouch, gripping her scythe tighter. Then a sharp thud echoed from above, sending dust down through the broken ceiling.
Annalise let out an annoyed huff as she stepped forward into the opening she created, her bare feet tapping against the collapsed floorboards. Her wings curled inward, draping around her like a grotesque cloak. From within that living shroud, she glared down at them.
"Honestly, didn't your parents ever teach you manners?" she began, her tone sharp and offended as she brushed damp silver strands from her face. "Breaking into a lady's abode as she's bathing? Utterly disgusting!"
Toma's eye twitched as he pushed himself fully up, bringing his Reikon-killer into a ready stance. Annalise's gaze fell to the blade in his hands, her eyes widening.
"Oh…" she said, her grin stretching abnormally wide. "Ooooh…"
Her earlier flustered panic twisted into something theatrical as a high-pitched giggle slipped from her lips. Then another and another until it broke into a full, shrill cackle that echoed through the broken farmhouse.
"AHOHOHOHO! Oh, how fun!" she sang, tilting her head as she peered down at them. "Did the big, bad Maestros come all the way here… just to kill little old me?"
Kira clicked her tongue, clearly done with this act. "Cut the performance, Annalise. You've been feeding in Karasuma for far too long," she said, stepping forward to drive one of her scythes into the ground. "You're done."
Annalise's grin didn't falter. If anything, it grew with excitement. But Kira didn't wait.
"Toma."
He nodded instantly at the command, breaking into a sprint with two quick steps. He then planted his foot onto the blunt spine of Kira's embedded scythe before the latter levered the weapon upward with a sharp pull, launching him. Toma shot forward, his grip tightened as he angled his body, bringing the machete-like blade back for a downward strike.
"Time to die, Witch!"
The distance closed in the blink of an eye, Annalise's expression flickering. It then grew more twisted.
"Excuse me?" She asked, her expression growing offender. "Did you just call me… a witch? How utterly rude!"
Her wings snapped open midair, the force halting Toma's approach instantly and stalling his swing just short of contact. Her face was now contorted, somewhere between outrage and hysteria.
"I am not one of those crude, ugly things!" she shrieked, her voice distorting as her rage grew. "I am a rose!"
Toma's eyes widened when his momentum faltered. "Some rose you are!" he managed to cough out.
"HELP ME!!!" She then screamed, though this wasn't a cry for help, but a demand. Then, the piles of dry, rotting hay burst apart as unraveling shapes clawed their way free.
Lesser Yamirei, Toma thought. They were humanoid beings, but their forms were stretched abnormally. Their bodies were pitch-black and matte, yet parts of them peeled and curled at the edges. Their limbs elongated unnaturally, their arms dangling far too long, and their fingers tapered into jagged, claw-like points. Their faces, or what could be assumed to be their faces, were completely blank. Smooth masks of pale white embedded into their dark bodies, featureless except for hollow, uneven holes where their eyes should be. Some had crooked, painted smiles etched into the surface while others were completely featureless.
They moved in jerks and stutters, like frames missing between actions. One moment they crouched and another they drew closer. More Lesser Yamirei pulled free, ten or more by the looks of it, and they began to surround the farmhouse.
"Tch, figures…" Kira said, shifting her stance to a defensive one.
Annalise flapped her wings again, rising slightly above ground. "Honestly!" she huffed out, glaring down at them as if they were the issue here. "A lady can't even take a bath in peace anymore!"
The wind howled with another flap, her silver hair whipping around her face as her grin returned.
"So if you're going to interrupt me… you might as well entertain me for a while!"