Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 17: Killing a Friend

Getting rid of Laurinette Haeven's face, the Fantasm evolved into a something both Kalleid and Rade knew they could not possibly take on.

The demon manifestation that went on by the name of Shadow Fantasm morphed into a seven feet tall monster with a glowing ember. It was quite the hideous form of the Fantasm. Only skeleton and with only some meat chunks falling off the part of the skeleton. The skull was all flesh and muscles that made Kalleid gasped and gagged.

"It's the Fantasm's core," Rade whispered with marvel, she was looking at it with amazement before the Fantasm played with its dimension's space, arranging it to such that Rade and Kalleid was tossed and turned like a dish on a wok.

"You need to get to that, right?!" Kalleid asked to Rade while he was hanging on for dear life as the Fantasm was, again, turning the dimension of the room's space.

What used to be the floor was now the ceiling and the walls have persistently became slippery with red substance. Kalleid didn't want to take note of it, but when it hits his hands that were hanging precariously on a candelabra that was placed on the wall, Kalleid couldn't help the another bout of vile vomit rising up on his throat which, again, he swallowed down.

It trickled down to his hands until it overflowed and, finally, landed on his face.

He almost cried with disgust.

"Yes!" Rade responded after a long while. She was moving around so fast that Kalleid have trouble on keeping up where she actually was. It was like those movies that uses special effects for vampires and making them a blur, except Rade was a shadow that jumped and moved on whichever surface was acceptable for her.

The Fantasm attacked them, its bony skeletal hand reaching out to Kalleid. Quickly and with disgust, Kalleid was forced to let go and only closed his eyes to await his death. Death didn't come though, and he was already on the arms of Rade, bridal style, and her holy weapon was now gone. Adding to their weight, Rade's movement became considerably slow and she finally came to a halt.

"What are you doing?" Kalleid asked her with incredulity, his eyes were wide and they were both being plummeted down to darkness.

Up above them, the Fantasm was still on its onslaught and punching where the walls and ceiling. Its fleshy red face, dripping with blood was looking at them. When it realized that Rade has finally given up on being up above; it also went down with them, jumping off and reaching out with them with its skeletal hand. It was withered and there was still the stinking rotten flesh scent on it.

The darkness the surrounds them was endless, only being ignited around them by the candelabras because the Fantasm was still in pursuit. Wind was whistling on Kalleid's ears and the next that happened was that Rade finally let go of her grip on Kalleid.

"Trust me," Rade whispered to Kalleid before kicking him downwards.

"Rade—" but that call of Kalleid was never finished, his hand was still reaching towards her but he could only see her back as she called forth her holy weapon, the markings on her skin were vanishing.

It was fast and Kalleid barely even saw it when Rade used the scimitar Aíma to launch herself to where the supposed core of the Fantasm was, the s***h even reached Kalleid and made him scream and curse. But that simple burst of energy from the holy weapon was enough.

Where a heart was supposed to be, the glowing ember replaced the usual place of it and Rade went for that ember. Her feet felt light, her whole body actually felt light as if she weight nothing, but Emma doesn't exhibited such characteristics.

It was still as solid and the weight of it on her hands gave Rade just enough clarity to realize what she finally needed to do to end it all.

"EMMA!" she screamed while she thrusted the scimitar upwards.

It was the same that the Fantasm reached out to her and crushed her meridians. It caused Rade to spat and coughed out a liter of blood, her arms became lame and Emma was let go by her hands.

But it all quickly died down.

There was blinding light when Rade pierced through the Fantasm's core and the whistling on Kalleid's ears grew stronger. It just grew stronger until Kalleid felt something cracked on his head, maybe his ear drums or whatever, but when he felt for his jaw, his fingers were dried with something wet. He couldn't see for certain, but he was also writhing in pain as he went down the abyss created by the Fantasm.

Kalleid couldn't see how Rade exactly stabbed the Fantasm's core, but there was the explosion that came next after that momentary flash of light.

And then a fireworks erupted. It was bright and beautiful, but so unbearably slow on Kalleid's eyes. His eyes couldn't see Rade nor the skeletal body of the Fantasm, only the fireworks that signified the dying ember of the Fantasm that Rade stabbed through.

Then the illusion finally stopped.

"Kalleid! Kalleid! You stupid little dumb s**t!"

The voice was unclear at first due to Kalleid's both ears being blown off by the explosion caused by Rade's scimitar to the Fantasm's ember core. He was finally lying on his back, his feet were no longer getting the tingling effects of being suspended on the air.

Kalleid tried to feel for his arms, but it was useless. Since his immortal body just refused to die, even if his head has been cut off, either his body would regenerate a head or his head would regenerate a whole body. Even if his limbs were cut off by the explosion, he would just regenerate another set if limbs.

"You stupid, stupid little s**t!" The familiar voice lamented again, it was cracking and seemed to have sprouted a body of its own because Kalleid could feel his body was being shaken by an invisible force.

It was then that Kalleid realized he was blind as well as deaf.

"N-new... New... York," he managed to croaked and he was rudely shoved to somebody's chest. The heart inside the chest was beating erratically until it finally settled to a calm and serene beat as though making physical contact with Kalleid's skin was enough remedy for it.

"It's fine, you're out of the Fantasm's Dimension," New York told him, clutching his head. "But look how much of a mess you are now. Your eyes are so white and you're still... bleeding. Y-you're still... ble-bleeding. Bleeding."

"W-where is... R-Rade?" Kalleid asked with difficulty. Despite struggling, he still clutched at the other boy's hand.

"She's..." There was a pause that stretched longer than what Kalleid deemed necessary of a victory that it started to bother him. "She's fine."

"What is it?" Kalleid asked New York. He felt that the other boy was shaking and he was being clutched so terribly tight that it became a little suffocating. "Don't lie to me. What is it, New York?" he repeated.

"Y-you're not..." New York stammered. Shock made Kalleid's brows pulled together at the center, almost meeting in the middle.

"I'm not what?" Kalleid demanded, he tried to reach his hand to New York but found out that he couldn't.

His initial assessment of his body was true and not just an assumption; he doesn't have any limbs. Oddly though, Kalleid didn't feel any pain or maybe something was just terribly wrong with his body that he couldn't feel not a thing.

"New York—" he said with a warning, but he felt that the other boy's face was wet and he was cut off by his response.

"You're not healing!" New York cried out. "You're not healing! Your eyes are still whites. Your burnt skin! And... a-and your arms, your l-legs... you're not healing!"

There was the panicked tone on New York's cracking voice that Kalleid thought was quite endearing. He coughed and there was the metallic taste of blood that he only ignored imperceptibly. He chuckled and shook his head, or maybe of what was left of it.

"Is my brain spilling out?" he asked New York.

"Yes, you piece of s**t!" New York bellowed at Kalleid's barely functioning ears. "Sh-should... should I do something? Should I stuff everything back in? Or call someone? Ambulance? Shaman? Or... or Megumi could help."

Kalleid shook his head.

"Am... am I r-really in a— a bad sh-shape?" Kalleid asked.

"You piece of dumb s**t!" New York bellowed at Kaleid. "I'll do something, does it hurt? Kalleid? H-hey, answer me, yeah? Does... does it hurt? God, what did they do to you?"

But Kalleid didn't answer.

"I'll kill you whoever put you in the way of the Fantasm, I'll kill them!" New York shouted while holding him still.

No body really knows what the Shadow Fantasm looks like. Its power was all encompassing and when Rade thought that she has already killed the Fantasm by piercing through the ember in the center of its bare consciousness, she was actually quite wrong.

After all, Rade, however talented and strong she might be, was just a kid and still rather inexperienced. She put on a great show, but there, on the shadows of the trees, was a girl wearing a black robes. It couldn't be seen because of his robes' hood, but her eyes were glowing red. There were cuts that crisscrossed his body, and when she walked closer, anyone with an eye could see the prominent limp on her leg.

She is the Shadow Fantasm's vessel body, Laurinette Haeven. Though in his weakest form, the Fantasm has still some strength left. There was an emotion he has never felt before that filled his core; humiliation.

"That is actually a good show," she said, coughing up a mouthful of blood on the sleeve of his robes. "But you provoked me, my dear hunter."

Her glowing red eyes fell on New York Aldeia holding a limbless Kalleid Hiro. The kid was trying his best to revive him. On the Fantasm's hand, there was smoke that swirled around. The Fantasm was more than just a great entity and it wasn't for nothing. Ruling over the demon class, it has been in seclusion since hundreds of years ago, only reappearing some times.

"But you have provoked me," the Fantasm whispered to itself using Laurinette's voice and lips, "you and the vessel of Parallel Balance. If you thought I would not dare—"

The Shadow Fantasm didn't finished and assaulted the unconscious immortal. Laurinette Haeven's whole body was healing slowly, walking over to where everyone else was.

The presence of the great demon was felt. It was within the very minds of the mortals that they felt an extreme terror, raising the hair on their arms and making them think of their greatest fear. Although heavily wounded, the Shadow Fantasm was still the Shadow Fantasm. Like many demons and half demons (which were only few) it could heal itself and regenerate wounded ans destroyed flesh.

The Fantasm's presence was so profound that it was felt by the entire city.

Meanwhile, Rade was still musing over her supposed victory over the Fantasm, unaware of what it had become or its plan. When she raised her head, she finally saw of what happened to Kalleid. The holy weapon of Aíma has protected her well from the explosion and was retained as dark markings on her skin, imprinting it as though she was a slave. It was stitching her skin back to an acceptable state and rearranging her bones properly, but it didn't have any responsibility to protect those around her.

"K-kalleid..." she muttered. Her eyes couldn't look away from the boy whose limbs have been cut off ruthlessly. He was being held by New York who was screaming at him to wake up.

Then they felt the Fantasm's descent, a little girl with blonde hair yet red eyes walking towards tgem.

"G-get away from her!" Rade from afar shouted at both Kalleid and New York who were still sprawled on the dirt ground.

Gentle hands pulled at Rade and made her stand up, her arm was draped on a slender shoulder. When she looked at whoever that was, her gaze was met with a pair of peach blossom eyes.

"Lyu..." Rade called out, but the one who was carrying her away from Kalleid shook her head.

"It's Megumi, Rade," the gentle voice corrected her. "London! You get your little brother away from the Fantasm. The vessel is finally here! We won't stand a chance against the vessel of the Shadow Fantasm!"

"Kalleid can't regenerate!" New York shouted back, crying over the mess that was Kalleid. "What do we do?"

Kalleid can't regenerate, Rade thought, but that was clearly Kalleid and he was also clearly like Megumi who was half demon and can heal themselves like every other demon out there. The one who, despite having no combat skills or even the ability to, attempted to save her. With that, Rade realized that no one has ever saved her just for the sake of being in close ties with her. There was always hidden motive and agenda why people wanted her around.

Now, she was faced by her greatest fear.

Facing Laurinette Haeven whose eys were no longer blue and instead a frightening shade of red.

"What... what are you doing? What?" Rade asked Megumi, struggling out of her arms. "Why are you—?" But she was abruptly let go by Megumi as the older woman knelt down on the grassy earth and reached out her hand.

A brilliant semi-transparent dome appeared in front of them all. At the very center inside was Laurinette Haeven who was slowly healing herself with the power of the demon residing inside of her. She was a mess, a bloody one and Rade could not look at her without feeling any pain.

Meanwhile, New York dragged the wounded body of Kalleid, reaching to the other boy's head and stuffed his hanging brain inside of his still bleeding skull.

"Is it the... vessel?" New York asked, he was nearby, helping Kalleid to get away from the circle but it was apparent that he can't get away from here farther so he also put his hands up and created a second layer of boundary that entrapped little girl inside.

Megumi who closed her beautiful peach blossom eyes answered him in a solemn voice that shouldn't have been possible in this kind of situation, "That is indeed the vessel of the Shadow Fantasm, Laurinette Haeven. Kalleid suffered too much damage and the presence of the Fantasm was affecting the demonic half of him. After all, he's just a lowly demon compared to the Fantasm."

"Put more of the boundaries!" Another familar voice was heard nearby. When Rade tried to find it, she found that it was actually Sis Nina who was now running towards Kalleid.

"What's happening with Kalleid?" Rade asked Megumi who still has her eyes closed tightly.

"Kalleid has been warned by his father not to take on the Fantasm but it is evident that someone wants to use him to gain control over the Shadow Fantasm by putting him inside the Dimension that demon manifestation created," Megumi answered. "When he could have gone out, he stayed because he thought you're part of his herd."

Megumi sighed deeply and finally opened her eyes, upon finding the worried and anxious pair of the younger girl, she smiled gently at her. It was very reassuring, but Rade felt as if she was still being duped.

"Don't you worry though, Kalleid is stronger than what he leads everyone on. But he is not exactly our problem right now." Megumi directed her gaze on the little girl inside the layers of trapping boundaries.

"Rade!" New York called to her. Even though she already has a lame leg, Rade still ran over to where he was holding up the boundaries. "We will get you..." His eyes were red-rimmed and he wouldn't look away from Kalleid whose brain was still spilling out of his visible skull. New York coughed once, then he coughed again. "We will get you an opening to the vessel."

"An opening?" Rade asked dumbly.

"We... w-want you to eradicate the Fantasm's mortal body! The vessel!" London explained, his voice was cracking. She wasn't even ashamed to be seen with tears staining her cheeks. There was a sob coming out from her, and before Rade knew it, she was already mirroring the girl. "At least... at least when the Fantasm doesn't have a corporeal body, it will dissipate and might stop affecting Kalleid so severely!"

From afar, Rade only looked and watched Lauri who was no longer the girl she knew from the first day she met her.

With the Fantasm inhabiting her body, balls of fires materialized around him and was launched to the boundaries. Though paper-thin, the boundaries held, but it they lasted for even another minute. Without so much as to stepping and raising his hand, Lauri overturned everyone— including Rade herself.

Her eyes were wide and she still couldn't quite grasp how powerful Lauri has became. The old injuries that were all caused by Rade from earlier were now all healed with the help of the Fantasm.

Lauri raised both of her arms and the trees became uprooted. Spinning wildly mid-air, Lauri shot the hunters around and the screams of them went wild.

Rade herself was only lying on the grassy ground, face first. She watched as Lauri only raised her hands and took a few steps while chaos began with those little movements. This wasn't the power she beheld while she was inside the illusion of the Fantasm.

Looking around, Rade realized that it was only New York and Megumi who were holding up the boundaries around Lauri and, thus, minimizing what could have been a very disastrous damage on the hunters around. The earth shook and fire exploded all around the forest.

In Rade's view, the world has become a sea of fire and chaos.

And those were all instigated by Lauri who didn't even left where she was standing.

"Rade!" New York screamed at her. "NOW!"

Rade was out of breath, but she ran with all of her might to the little window that has been opened by Megumi and New York for her.

She didn't know what she was actually doing. There was one thing Rade was certain at that moment, and that was she was going to kill another person. She would be killing Lauri all over again like how she did a year ago.

She could feel the brightness extinguished by this single act; all of her hope was gone and destroyed to ruins. Her whole life has been turned in and out, now she has to revert back to how she was months ago.

"EMMA!" she called forth her bloody and cursed blade, the pain that came with the reappearance of the scimitar has been put aside as Rade deflected all of the things that were thrown to her by Lauri and the Fantasm's force.

A clean sweep, and the holy weapon Aíma impaled the body of Lauri. For a moment, there was a second of clarity on Lauri's eyes that made Rade sobbed harder.

"Rade?" she whispered with her eyes widened.

Even with blood rushing out of her injuries, Lauri was smiling at her. It was similar to how they first met each other. Now though, she was about to kill her yet again.

It was th very mistake and deed that ultimately ruined her life.

"Why am I doing this again?" she whispered. "Why am I doing this?" she thispered again, but, this time, it was to herself.

Their eyes met. One pair was covered with tears while the other was bloodshot and red. The blade was impaled on Lauri's chest.

"J-just... j-just—" Lauri tried to speak, blood trickling down her chin. She stepped forward, staggering a little, and the blade of the scimitar went deeper through her chest.

For Rade, this looked painful already. What was more painful for her though was seeing Lauri smile at her while she tells her the following words that Rade was accustomed to all her life but has always hated with every inch of her body.

"Kill me now.... w-while you... you can still do... i-it," the girl managed to say. It wasn't the Fantasm that was speaking, and it was difficult to accept for Rade that she was the one being told those words.

"No... no, please, no," Rade stuttered, shaking her head vigorously. For the first time in her life, her grip on Aíma faltered. Her hands shook that she felt that even the slightest tap could topple her over

"Wake up, Rade!" Lauri shouted at her, jolting her to the reality. "What... what had happened has happened already, la-lamenting over it won't bring back what had happened. So.. so please— wake up, please! K-kill... me now."

"Why do you have to do this!" Rade accused at him. With each syllables, there was an emphasis Rade has given. "I am awake! I am awake! Don't you see my opened eyes?! I am awake! I know what I'm doing! But why! I can't do this to you again, please! Don't make me do this."

She was begging, but her hand still did the job and pulled out the scimitar Aíma and impaled Lauri's body again and again. Blood was splashing on her face and the sounds of the boy's flesh was a nightmare that Rade would be hunted all her life.

When a black smoke rose from Lauri, that was only when Rade stopped from hacking away at Lauri's body. She tried to ran after the black smoke, but was greatly interrupted by New York who used to be kneeling beside Kalleid. Though Rade didn't have any strength left to pursue the Fantasm that went out of Lauri's body, Nina, and the others went ahead with their weapons to apprehend the escapee.

"Is this over?" Rade asked herself again.