The bullet whizzed past Holly's ear, its buzz causing her to shift her attention from the battle below to the distant hills on the other side of Adel. On her face, the beaks of the crows slowly shut as Holly narrowed her eyes to make out where the bullet came from.

Crows formed and fell from the feathers that covered her arms, flying towards the hilltop as another bullet flew towards her,  disintegrating a few feet from where she floated in the air. In quick succession, a third and fourth bullet were fired, as if whoever held the gun did so in desperation as the crows approached. 

However, just like the first, both bullets disintegrated before they could reach their target.

Holly huffed in amusement.

Suddenly, a fifth bullet whizzed through the air. This one propelling through Holly's magic repulsion shields, and hitting Holly in the left shoulder, knocking her from the sky.

Holly tumbled downward, an angry and pained scream escaping her as she fell in a flurry of falling feathers.  

However, her fall was cut short by a flock of crows that swarmed her to soften the landing, The birds dispersed into thin air as soon as her feet touched the ground.

Margo rushed over to her friend, her face contorted in horror and panic. 

Confused, Margo quickly gripped Holly by the shoulders, only to recoil in surprise as Holly let out a yelp in pain at Margo's touch.  

"W-What happened, Holly? Are you okay?"

"—I don't know," Holly mumbled, painfully pivoting her shoulder to show Margo the injury. The illusion around her left arm had vanished, and the red feathers were replaced by her torn winter coat sleeve and a bleeding gunshot wound. Blood had begun to trail down her arm in a red stream, the crimson drops spattering onto the murky snow below.

"What the—" Margo began, sucking in a shaky breath as she closely inspected her friend's wound.

"It was some kind of bullet," Holly grunted through clenched teeth, pain radiating through her arm with each breath she took. She hesitantly raised a shaky hand and pressed it firmly against her shoulder, trying to heal the wound. Pulling away her hand, the two sorceresses blinked in surprise as the wound remained. 

Margo quickly put her hand to Holly's wound as well, whispering an apology as Holly flinched at her touch. But when Margo removed her hand, the wound was still bleeding, unaffected by either of their healing magic. 

Holly tried once more, but to no avail, causing her breaths to become more panicked as she realized the power these bullets held. "They must have enchanted it with dispelling magic like mine... I-I can't heal it."

"Shit," Margo muttered, panic filling her voice, as she let out a shaky breath. Her flickering-tongue eyes searched the horizon for where the shooter might be hiding. "Did you see where the bullet came from?"

"Yes," Holly assured her, trying to steady her own breathing, once again lifting her quivering hand to her shoulder in desperation to stop the bleeding. "They are on a wooded hill, on the opposite side of Adel."

"Okay..." Margo muttered, trying to think rationally despite the severity of the situation. Her shaking breaths revealing her hidden fear, "We'll head over there after we finish this. Just stay close to the ground for now, and see if whatever spell they put on the bullet wears off," Margo calmly asserted, trying to sound reassuring and confident, but her furrowed brows exposed her concern for their current situation. 

"Keep trying to heal yourself, no matter what. Since we are among the trees now, it will be harder for them to fire at us. I'll finish these guys off and keep up all the illusions on my own. Keep blocking the fire spells, and try to sense any magic bullets approaching from the wooded area."

"Alright," Holly replied, her voice cracking. She attempted nodding in agreement to Margo's plan, only to wince in pain at the movement that tugged at her shoulder.

Quickly, feathers once again began to climb up Holly's left arm, concealing her wound. Crows fluttering from the new feathers that had appeared, darkening the sky as they had before. But this time, they did not dive, instead they merely circled above the trees, hiding the sunlight from the sorcerers below. 

The sorcerers, in turn, attempted to use light magic to find their way through the trees, the magic only exposing their location, and helping Margo simplify her attacks. Large snake heads emerged from the branches near the illuminated sorcerers, their fangs piercing through the sorcerers' shields, swallowing them whole.

The sorcerer army finally dwindled to the last few remaining fighters, their strength slowly waning as they continued to battle Margo's bombardment of illusions.

"Any luck?" Margo asked, casting a worried glance at Holly, whom trembled beside her. Holly weakly shook her head.  Still grasping her arm, Holly's knuckles white as warm blood soaked though her fingers, a puddle forming at her feet from where it dripped from her feathers.

Margo sucked in a nervous breath, quickly reaching through her own illusion of snakes that coiled around her neck to remove her white scarf.

"Here, let's wrap your arm in this. Since  you can't heal it, you should at least try to stop the bleeding."

Holly gave her friend a pained look of gratitude as Margo carefully tied the scarf around her shoulder, wincing as she tightened the scarf around the wound in one quick movement. The wool fabric quickly absorbed Holly's blood, dying from pristine white fibers a murky red.

"I'll transport us up the hill," Holly muttered through her clenched teeth, her face twisted in pain as Margo dropped her bloodied hands from the wound. "Cease your magic here when the last sorcerer falls. We'll need to use everything we've got to strike down those men."

__________________________________

A series of quick clicks sounded as Hank hurriedly loaded his revolver with five new bullets.

"...If she gets close enough to me, got it?" Hank growled through his teeth, snapping his revolver back in place.

"I don't know, it might not—" Otto replied hesitantly, suddenly interrupted by a flock of red crows that burst through the trees behind them. In an instant, Otto threw up a transparent shield of magic to protect both himself and Hank against their attacks, gritting his teeth in annoyance as the birds' talons and beaks pecked through this magic, slowly breaking down the barrier between them. White snakes slithered through the holes created by the crows, causing Otto to scramble to shoot down the snakes at their feet while holding back the crows.

"These crazy witches!" Hank yelled in annoyance, firing three rounds blindly through the illusions of snakes and crows into the woods beyond. 

After each shot, the snakes quickly began to wither and disappear without Otto's magic touching them. 

Hank let out a pleased laugh, reloading his gun to shoot three more bullets into the trees.

As he did so, the crows who had managed to tear through Otto's shield began disappearing in bursts of feathers, the bombardment of the small animals slowly dissipating.

 Revealing the wounded sorceresses that lay beyond.

Margo sat on the ground, yelling in pain. The illusions she wore had disappeared, leaving her in her white winter attire, which was now slowly being stained red. She desperately clutched her bleeding stomach. Her left ankle was lying at a weird angle, bleeding as well, after having been hit by Hank's stray bullets.

 Holly, whose illusions had also disappeared, had a trail of blood flowing down her light brown trousers from a bullet wound on her upper left leg. Holly hobbled over to Margo, collapsing beside her friend as she searched for her friend's wounds. 

Holly winced as she shifted in the cold, dead grass, positioning herself protectively in front of Margo. Her face was a pale white from the lack of blood, but her eyes remained alert, shooting a murderous glance at the two men. 

Hank chuckled. Slowly shaking his head as he slowly holstered his gun. Otto, beside hi,m quickly stomping out the last of Margos remaining snake illusions.

"Well, well, well. Two birds with one stone... Or would it be more accurate to say one bird and... one snake?"

"It would also be most accurate to say multiple stones, too, asshole." Holly spat, her teeth gritted. "That monocle must be more than a poor fashion statement. You're a way worse shot than I remember." 

Pain pulsated throughout Holly's entire body from her two wounds, causing her to tremble despite her confidence.  Her steady glare filled with hatred never wavered from Hank.

"I'll use as many stones as it takes to get you to shut the hell up," Hank snarled, striding toward her in long, quick steps. Weak crows' beaks shot from the ground, nipping at his ankles in an attempt to slow his approach as he neared the two sorceresses. 

In one swift movement, Hank grabbed Holly by the hair and drew his gun once again,  pressing the barrel against her forehead. Crows' feet crawled from the barrel and clawed at Hank's hand in retaliation, drawing blood, as Holly's own fingers frantically tried to pry the man's fingers from her scalp.

"Aww," Hank cooed mockingly, pushing the gun harder against her temple. "Is this all the great Witch of the Red Crows can do?"

A crow smacked him on the back of the head, distracting him for a brief moment as Holly twisted the gun from his grasp and tackled him, pinning his stomach to the ground with her knees as she loomed over him. Blood trickling from her leg wound and staining his spotless brown vest. 

Holly's breath was ragged and pained, but her eyes were full of anger and resolve as she drew the gun, pointing it at his face.

"You wanna see what she can do..." Holly growled, her trembling disappearing with the sudden rush of adrenaline that filled her body. 

"When you've given her nothing left to lose?" 

In an instant, she cocked the gun and aimed at Hank's face, her finger urgently tightening on the trigger. As the shot rang out, Otto suddenly wrestled Holly off of Hank. His hands forced the gun free from her hands, causing it to be thrown into the trees.

Hank let out a laugh. Holly's shot had missed thanks to Otto's interjection, hitting only his ear. 

Otto held Holly tight to his chest, one arm locked around her shoulders and the other pressing against her armored throat.

Holly thrashed against him as she let out a pained and frustrated yell.

"YES!" Hank yelled in relieved excitement, quickly sitting up from the ground, his eyes wide, and his shoulders trembling at barely escaping his own death. 

"DO it, Otto! DO IT!"

"But it—"

"Just do it!" Hank screamed, yanking a bronze stone from his top pocket and holding it tightly in his hand as he shook his fist at Otto.

Otto's eyes glazed over in a lifeless gray—and in that moment, Holly was screaming.

 A raw, terrified scream, thick with pain and desperation. She clawed frantically at Otto's hands. Otto's fingers and arms were bleeding as her nails dug desperately at his skin. But Otto's grip did not falter. His arms remained locked around her frame, his face eerily emotionless, and his gaze fixed forward, completely lost to Hank's control.

The metal from Holly's heart stone cracked around her neck and slowly began to crumble in Otto's hands. Her screams became more frantic and blood-curdling as shards of heart stone began flaking off in chunks, shattering against the ground.

"NO!" Margo screamed, her cry ripping through Holly's weakening voice.

Her desperate scream cut short as the image in Sunshine Acre's mirror vanished.