The Supremacy of Peculiar Dolls

Chapter 10: Brawl over The Twins

In order to run faster, Hideo could have transform into a werewolf and dashed to the forest. He was not going to blame the twins for the inconvenience, but he found it quite disconcerting to not be able to flee in his wolf form. Despite possessing entirely slender body, he had his own level of brawn which helped him in running while bringing the twins in his arms. Letting them running on their tiny feet was not pleasant to even see.

            Once they have safely intruded the forest, Hideo stopped by a shady tree. He put the twins down and leant his back to the trunk. Panting in exhaust while fixating his gaze at Kouki and Hiroki, he recomposed his breath as running while bringing two kids was energy consuming.

            The startled Kouki and Hiroki sat still on the ground. They did huff a little yet not as bad as Hideo. They were just awoken from their sleep when an explosion erupted at the room entrance. All they could perceive was a figure standing behind the clouding dusts, however they have not figured out who the culprit was when Hideo barged in through the window and swept them into his arms.

            “Are you okay, Brother Hideo?” Kouki patted on Hideo’s lap. “Thank you for rescuing us, but we’re sorry that we’ve burdened you in some way.”

            “You don’t have to apologize, Kouki,” Hideo naturally stroked over Kouki’s hair and head. “I must save you from the rumble. Yeomso was handling the rest there, so for the time being, let’s find a place to hide.”

            They skimmed around their circumstance. It was irrefutably dark and soundless. Even the moon light did not help much for their sight, and there was even no cicada to detect whether their spot was secured or not. Hideo dragged the twins into his arms to ensure their safety, or Yeomso might kill him later if anything to happen to them.

            The sound of pounding heart deafened Hideo that he gulped for several time. He tightened his embrace on the twins so that he could lend some of his strength to them. He faced upward to the blank sky, hoping that miracle would bestow upon them and Yeomso in Stawarski’s resident.

            In his attempt to recall whatever he has witnessed while rescuing the twins, he failed to remember. All he could see was the torn down wall of Stawarski’s room which the twins currently lived, yet he could not perceive who has exploded the place. The shrouding dust hindered his view excellently. He was just fortunate that he could somehow detect the twins by his instinct, therefore he went to save them first.

            “Do you able to see anything before I arrived there, Kouki? Hiroki?”

            Instead of whelming his mind with superficial question, he should have asked either Kouki or Hiroki. They might have scanned something Hideo flopped to sense, hence it might aid his mini investigation over the culprit.

            “I didn’t, I’m sorry,” Kouki lowered his head. From his tone, Hideo could say he was feeling guilty for not being able to assist.

            Hideo calmly patted Kouki’s head and smiled. “It’s okay, Kouki. You’re not wrong,” He shifted to the darkness in the deeper part of the forest before them, “If you’re blaming other people for not being around you, you should put the fault on me. Yeomso has done great either.”

            The calming pat on Kouki’s head surprisingly soothed Hideo’s wavering determination as well. He was so uncertain to resolve where he and the twins should actually hide. It might be simpler if Yeomso was around since the latter has more experience about travelling.

            Yeomso, huh?

            “Kouki, Hiroki,” Hideo initiated a conversation so that the twins would not fall asleep, “Who was actually your Father?”

            Kouki was about to answer when Hiroki offered himself to reply. “It’s not Mister Yeomso! Our Father’s name was Kai Stewart!”

            Kai Stewart was one familiar name in his life. To be divulged about his death was always unexpected to Hideo. Kai Stewart was one of the nicest men among The Defender. He has not confronted all of them yet – he has only met four out of ten. Valentin Bauer was the one saving his parents and him from the jail last time, while Kai Stewart was one of another three man in the mentioned hut.

            Hideo rested his back of head on the bark. He tried recalling the atmosphere he had while living in the hut. For the years he and his parents have spent there, he failed to remember anything regarding The Defender. He could only reminisce their faces and names. He has never seen them doing something out of norm. Or perhaps they really did without his knowledge? His late parents might have some clues about it.

            “Who was your real parents, Kouki, Hiroki?”

            There was a slight hesitation in Hideo’s inquiry. Kouki magically could detect the wavering emotion in Hideo, thus calmly replied, “We don’t know ourselves. It was The Defender that rescued us. We were told that our biological parents have already passed away, believably because of murder.”

            Despite the dark night, Hideo glanced at Kouki. This kid was rather composed for his age, as if he has matured enough to decide things by himself. The fact that the twins were five years old was undeniably true, especially after watching them diligently learning how to read together with Yeomso.

            Hideo sighed, somehow, in relief. “I was shocked to be informed that Kai Stewart was your Father. But it seemed like he has only adopted you.”

            “Father said we don’t have to look for a Mother. He can take care of us all by himself,” Hiroki butted in with his experience, “The Uncles were all kind to us. Even though we were not related to them, they treat us specially.”

            The twins had to bury themselves into Hideo’s warm hug. Hideo was not as big as Yeomso, but he was still the one saving them from being abducted or injured from the explosion, thus they should be thankful for the opportunity. Hideo hummed a song for them since it was still night, until the three of them fell into deep sleep.

            “Who are you?”

            The tall figure with long white hair still refused to respond to any of Yeomso’s direct question. Yeomso chirped in displeasure because the mysterious figure remained speechless possibly for the rest of his life.

            “Who have sent you here? What do you want?”

            The creature unsteadily marched forward, enclosing the distance between them. Yeomso did not feel even the slightest fear from within, but his mind kept on rotating over Hideo, Kouki and Hiroki. He has not had a decent chat with that Valentin Bauer, yet he and Hideo had to leave the latter on the rooftop after they heard the explosion.

            “I’m- The Witch,” however the voice was a male, “I come- to get more- children…!”

            “You what?” Yeomso fixated his fighting stance. “What do you want from the children?” Interrogation was not the best solution, but at least it could slow the creature down before leaping to Yeomso to attack him.

            The creature basically tilted his head, but his neck was quite long for a normal Human, therefore his head bent too far from the shoulder. It hung like dangling fruits Yeomso once saw in The Forest of Eve. He had to admit the sight was unpleasant that he felt like throwing up. His nausea worsened as the fogging flying dust cleared up from the view, revealing the actual appearance of the long haired creature called The Witch.

            “I- hungry!” The Witch roared. His voice resonated across the corridor. “I want- FOOD!”

            In split second, every fragile material in the room shattered into pieces as the result of the deafening cry. Yeomso’s robe was almost flew away, unfortunately the hood fell onto the shoulder thus disclosing the pair of horns on his head. Yeomso never forgot about his horns, but there was much more important matter than busying himself to cover them back.

            “You! YOU!” The long white haired Witch glided towards Yeomso, stretching out his eerily skinny hands. His fingers consisted of fundamentally dried dull skin and meatless bones with dirty pointy fingernails threatening to grope Yeomso.

            The Witch was fast, but Yeomso reacted much more rapid than him. Yeomso jumped off the demolished window sill when The Witch attacked him from affront. It was unpredictably swift, hence The Witch overstepped and fell down to the ground floor. Fine dusts resulted from his falling, and mild quake informed the guards that there was something happening in the resident.

            From the room, Yeomso could hear ruckus at the outside. The nearest guards must have rushed to the scene as soon after they have experience such resultant. Yeomso leapt from the upper floor to the ground to confront The Witch.

            “So you’re really not a Human, huh?” Yeomso jeered at the creature although he doubted if the latter could really see. “Who are you actually?”

            His body was deformed due to the impact, however he still could stand on its two feet. It rose in the nastiest way and its body repaired itself extraordinarily. A few seconds after that, he has finished resetting his body, standing firmly like a normal Human.

            “I- The Witch- need- Fooooooooooooooooood!”

            His sound bellowed maybe throughout the resident. The appearance of The Witch has always been creepy, and his terrible gawp really gave off bad impression even if he was not a villain. Yeomso squinted at him, despising the fact that his opponent was that ugly.

            “The villagers don’t have food for your stomach,” Yeomso detached one of his horns. His palm rubbed along it, and it somehow was altered into a fathom-length long sword. “You may choose a method to die. I will give you time to think.”

            Well, Yeomso. You have decided to not get into the Earthlings’ business. How laughable. You’re already apart of their team already!

            Screw my instinct! Yeomso grunted in displeasure. It was his choice to lend a hand in order to help the Earthlings. He himself was finding clues to get closer to Hebi the Ophiuchus. The Witch must be related to Hebi in any way – He just ought to find the proof and bring Hebi back to The Dimension as planned.

            “Food- I want- eat- NOW!”

            The Witch pounced on Yeomso. Yeomso again reacted faster by evading his attack and slashing directly on his stomach. Blood spilling out of a wound should have weakened an opponent, however it did not seem as so. The Witch patted on the injury while his face was relocating Yeomso.

            Yeomso saw all those. He gulped. So the fatal damage did not kill The Witch. “What should I do to kill you, Witch? You were the one harming children around here, right?”

            Who has sent this Witch to Stawarski’s resident? There were guards here and there, and he believed there were still some guards patrolling around the entrance at night. The security was tighter since the news of runaway prisoner (Yeomso) and a missing guard (Hideo) outburst through the village. He and Hideo even had the time to get onto the rooftop and met Valentin Bauer for the first time. From how The Witch moved around, he never thought anyone would not get suspicious of him. How could The Witch enter the resident without anyone noticing?

            There was only one answer to that.

            Yeomso turned around to find Stawarski. Stawarski was nowhere to be found among the ruckus, whereas it was his own resident that has been raided by The Witch. He must have known the coming of The Witch that night, hence he fled first.

            Or much worse.

            He was the one letting The Witch enter the resident.

            “You’re really easy to be baited, Yeomso!”

            Finally, the culprit showed himself in between the rocks of the torn down walls. Stawarski guffawed at Yeomso’s puzzled look. He stepped outside unharmed and clean, while Yeomso, The Witch and a few of the guards were already dirtied by dusts and blood. The Witch literally flew towards Stawarski and moored right behind him.

            “You’re using him, Stawarski?”

            “He’s my slave!” Stawarski absent-mindedly announced before everyone. “He has always been my slave since my ancestors caught him in the forest! He works for me and my family without fail! I must feed him deliciously from this village!”

            “But that doesn’t permit you from sacrificing your own villagers to him, Stawarski!” Yeomso’s hatred towards Stawarski peaked. “How could you tarnish your own reputation just to satisfy this creature?”

            “He has done great to me and my family!” Stawarski gestured his hand to The Witch, “Thanks to him, I could chase away The Defender from this village! The Defender was a huge nuisance to my family. That was how I call The Witch back to life so that he would help killing The Defender!”

            Yeomso frowned even deeper. “So the one k********g the kids of this village wasn’t The Defender?”

            “Ever since day one, The Defender was like their name – They defended people in need, and in our case they defended the kids,” Stawarski giggled seeing Yeomso’s countenance. If only he could laugh at his face for meddling into their business without acknowledging who was on the good side and the other way around. “The Witch has always been the one abducting kids of this village, but The Defender kept on interfering into our scheme until they finally succeeded. They left the village after the case settled. I could call The Witch after 30 years have passed, and The Witch has almost died of hunger!”

            “Wouldn’t it be better if he just died?” Yeomso scratched his head. “You don’t have to provide him anything then.”

            “He’s the treasure of my family! I can’t abandon him just like that! Besides,” Stawarski glimpsed at The Witch behind him. The creature really never touched him, let alone harming him secretly or openly. “Since I’ve fed him, he pays me back by becoming my personal bodyguard. Isn’t it beneficial to me?”

            “But you’re using the innocent lives in your village,” Yeomso complained because he disliked Stawarski’s political belief. “It only benefits you, but not the villagers. You’re the village head. You must prioritize your villagers, not that creature!” he frantically pointed at The Witch behind Stawarski.

            As if it was directed to Stawarski, The Witch suddenly flew to Yeomso and beat his hand away. Yeomso’s other hand was still holding the long sword, gracefully swinging it at full speed to break the brawl. He needed to listen more to Stawarski’s nonsense (whereas it was not really that ridiculous because Stawarski practically unveiled himself).

            “What is he actually, Stawarski? Does The Earth have invisible identity? Ghosts?”

            The Witch shoved Yeomso towards the fence to block him from moving too much or running away. No matter how much Yeomso slashed The Witch, none of the injury slowed him down. In fact, he acted as if he was untouched since the first moment of their battle. Yeomso hissed as The Witch strangled him to the point he has almost run out of breath.

            “You’re such a bothersome, Yeomso!” Stawarski shrieked as he watched The Witch grated Yeomso’s face to the fence, “I’ve already acknowledged your real identity ever since you were caged in the cell. I know you’re not a Human – you’re not an Earthling. You’re a king – The King of Capricorn Valley! How I hope you never came to The Earth.”

            Yeomso’s whole face was bloodied by his own blood. The Witch really lashed his so-called unfilled hunger on Yeomso. Yeomso has released his long sword onto the ground. He was literally huffing and puffing thanks to The Witch’s merciless treatment.

            “Kill him, Witch! Don’t let him escape! Then go find your food – The twins Kouki and Hiroki!” Stawarski encouraged, “They’ll be the tastiest food you’ve ever eaten for your whole life!”

            “Over my dead body first!”

            Something dark leapt over the fence from Yeomso’s hind and bumped into The Witch. The Witch toppled over and knocked his head on the ground. The attacker pinned him down, stretching out his paw and claws and mercilessly scratched all over him from top to toe. At first, The Witch tried evading the claws, however the earlier claw damages caused The Witch to not be able to get up on his two feet. As time went by, The Witch groaned in pain. He struggled to get himself free from beneath the attacker until he could not move much. Minutes of grappling, The Witch finally froze unconsciously on the ground.

            The attacker was actually a dark-furred wolf which could talk! Yeomso and Stawarski instantly had an idea who it was.