*Starting Scene*

A few days before the trio's arrival to Linesville, within Icela's criminal holding facility located in a somewhat secluded part of the city, Quinton remains captive inside a small, nicely-lite jail cell with steel bars. Concurrently, the surviving Burn Troop members reside in a separate cell somewhere inside the big building that the prison's composed of. The pompadour-wearing man presently sits near the farthest wall from the cell's bars without any chains restraining him since Dante's seal continues to be active even after the amount of time that has progressed while not liking his accommodations too much, although it's better than being dead by his opinion.

Soon enough, lunch is brought to Quinton's cell via the guard on duty, stops in front of it and displays a silver tray with fairly bland food. "Here you go, inmate."

Quinton elevates his head, having it lowered at first, as he portrays a disgruntled expression while grunting. "It better be something other than sardines with coleslaw! If it isn't, I swear I'll-!"

The guard unexpectedly drops the food tray onto the cement floor while releasing a pained groan. 

That causes Quinton to be overcome with shock amidst watching the man prior to him suddenly shriveling up as if he was being drained. Ultimately, the guard unceremoniously falls upon the terrain like the food tray, reduced to nothing but skin and bones. Not long after, the velvet-haired guy takes notice of a familiar figure, briefly leaving Quinton speechless at the mere sight of him for a couple of seconds until gingerly commenting, "Loki..."

Loki, a slim, light-skinned, young man standing at 5'10" with short, turquoise hair in a pressed, bobbed-cut style, cheerfully grins toward Quinton. In addition, the fellow has a tank-top of the same color of his hair while wearing khaki pants and turquoise-colored boots as the individual shuts his clear eyes that almost appear white. Simultaneously, Loki sharply waves his right hand for an instant with the tattoo of "Enshin's Disciples" across his limb's forearm and gleefully exclaims,. "Hey, Quinton! How's it hanging?! Still alive, I see!" He chuckles.

Quinton cringes, narrowing his eyes in the process. "You know, it's seriously annoying how happy you are in enemy territory."

Loki twirls around with a carefree manner exhibited while wielding both arms stretched outward as he momentarily laughs. "Like I need to worry! No one in this pitiful city can measure up to me! Hell, there's barely anybody a part of Enshin's Disciples that's in my league!"

Quinton lets out a frustrated groan. "That may be true, but you continue to act like a fucking kid...! I don't know what Lord Enshin was possibly thinking when he made you his No. 1!"

Loki halts his spinning and sets his focus onto Quinton with no alteration to his demeanor. "He was obviously thinking that I'm the strongest and most fitting to be his No. 1, dumb-ass!" The turquoise-haired lad chuckles again while dropping both arms.

Anger quickly encompasses Quinton's before getting to his feet, despite feeling substantially groggy thanks to not having properly healed since his fight with Ilya, as he walks towards Loki. "Someone really oughta' show you how to treat your elders."

Loki gently scoffs while rolling his eyes. "Like anybody will tell me what to do besides Lord Enshin!" He then switches the subject once he reverts his attention to Quinton with a passive attitude, who had just reached the cell's steel bars. "Anyhow, onto the reason why I'm here."

Intrigue arises from inside Quinton. "What's that supposed to mean? Aren't you here to set us free?"

Loki peers at the ceiling and rebuttals in a vague manner, "Well, I wouldn't say that saving you bunch is my main priority." The gentleman returns his gaze to Quinton with a nonchalant smirk. "You see, Lord Enshin wishes to understand what exactly happened foremost, and considering I'm the best at getting intel without much detection or required to kill a huge number of people, that's why I've been sent."

Quinton glares toward Loki with suspicion established as he thinks, "Why would he put that above rescuing us? I have a bad feeling."

Loki slants his head with a scrutinizing conduct. "Honestly, I was very surprised you guys were unsuccessful with your numbers and power increase from Devil's Circuit." He begins pacing back and forth without concentrating on Quinton. "Though, if I can be blunt, I would've been a lot more stunned if you all HAD won. I was least shocked by the fact that you, Clock, Bel and the Burn Troop failed to notify us in several days. I easily assumed your loss and I was right!" Loki declares that last part while demonstrating a proud behavior as he swiftly gestured his left hand into a victory pose.

Quinton's anger can't be restrain much longer while abruptly grabbing the steel bars via both hands. "You damn bastard! If I could use my magic, I'd fuck you up!"

Curiosity immediately overtakes Loki and persists walking about with his left hand lowered again. "Oh! So that explains why you're still here! I actually thought you were merely so stupid that you forgot you even had it!" The clear-eyed young man softly laughs, temporarily pausing his movement until resuming his pacing.

Quinton drops his head as he releases an aggravated grunt. "Really...? Why in the world are you No. 1?"

Loki ceases his maneuvering while facing Quinton one more time. "So, tell me a bit concerning who beat you. You said they did something to prevent you from using your powers."

Quinton locks eyes with Loki prior to shaking his head. "No, that person wasn't the one I lost to. It was a girl."

Loki instantly throws his head skyward and points his right hand at Quinton amidst laughing with his eyes closed. "You were defeated by a flipping girl?!" The turquoise-haired character maintains his laughter while bent forward as he puts his right appendage down. "You're even more pathetic than I believed possible!"

Quinton retorts with an enraged scowl. "Wait 'til I get out of here! I'll make you wish you were never born!" He then regains his composure, giving Loki an intense look. "Anyway... She wasn't any chick. From what I gathered, she's the same one who took out Gunta's group."

Loki glances to his right after placing the hand of that sector upon his chin to lightly tap, his other hand on his waist, as he ponders over Quinton's speech. "Gunta's group?" Realization eventually sets in while drawing his vision back to Quinton with his right index finger aiming upward. "I remember now!" Loki drops his hoisted appendage to his side. "They're the fools thinking they were sent on a mission to retrieve the real Devil's Circuit, however, it was a fake all along!" He crosses his arms, shuts his eyes and shakes his head in displeasure. "A bunch of idiots. I don't know how Lord Enshin allowed them to join. Nothing but brainless followers, leaching off the strong to survive." Loki reopens his eyes. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it, Quinton?"

Quinton briefly grits his teeth before relaxing through a stress-relieving sigh. "Moving on... The girl I fought against is from Velkry. And if I might add, the sole reason she managed to beat me was because I kept messing around and didn't finish her when I had the chance."

Loki slightly narrows his eyes while sarcastically speaking. "Sure..."

Quinton fiercely stares at Loki, contorted ahead a little, and states in a growl, "I'm not kidding! I'll kill you!"

Loki chuckles as he waves off Quinton's threat via his right hand. "Okay, fine, whatever." The lad sinks his limb into his khaki's pocket. "Besides her, how many others did your group have to deal with?"

Quinton removes both hands from the cell's bars while fixing his posture with seriousness radiating. "THAT I'm not too positive of."

Skepticism envelopes Loki. "Are you for real? Talk about worthless."

Quinton bits his tongue so he won't deliver another meaningless outburst due to comprehending that it wouldn't do any good and then utters in a professional manner, "All I can tell you is some description, although I was kinda' out of it during the whole shit." He diverts his sight to the left. "Let me see now... The guy had dark blonde hair, if I'm right. He was obviously white. That I can't forget. I didn't get a look at his face. What I definitely saw was the part when he touched me with his hand. He wore a glove."

Loki's overrun by astonishment, however, doesn't last much as he obtains decent control of his emotions and sternly inquires, "And that's the moment your Spellcaster ability stopped working, yeah?"

Quinton's caught off guard since he didn't expect Loki to talk in such a way, veering his gaze to the clear-eyed person once again while nodding. "I think that glove of his is special. I didn't sense even a fraction of magic from him throughout the period Devil's Circuit was effecting me until he did that."

Loki smirks and mutters, "Of course, you didn't." He directs his rear to Quinton while conversing with himself, "Everything's starting to make sense. Lord Enshin will certainly find interest in that person, especially." Loki peers at Quinton without switching his current angling. "Anything else you'd like to add?"

Quinton shortly contemplates Loki's question prior to cautiously answering. "I guess that'd be all. Aside myself and the Burn Troop members locked away somewhere in this jail, everybody else is dead." He lifts both hands to grasp the cell's bars for the second time as urgency presents itself. "Now, hurry and let me out! If we keep chit-chatting in here, the other guards might discover you! Then where would we be?!"

Loki menacingly smiles. "I'd be on my way back to Lord Enshin and you'd be a dried-up, corpse. That's where."

Quinton's eyes widen as he's awestruck by Loki's words until feeling his skin tighten, compelling him to hastily view his body and witness that he's beginning to shrivel like the guard. Right after that, the velvet-eyed male notices the source of what's transpiring thanks to Loki unexpectedly clutching Quinton's hands that were still on the steel bars with both of his own appendages while not permitting any chance of escape. Then, Quinton reset his attention toward Loki, portraying immense terror, and strives to communicate. "Why...?! Why are you-"

Loki interrupts Quinton while sternly locking eyes with him. "Did you really forget? Lord Enshin hates it when his men fail him. You should be grateful, actually. Dying by my hand is SO much better than his." He chuckles.

Quinton lets go of the jail's bars and desperately attempts to break free from Loki, however, had been drained of too much energy as he falls to his knees without shifting his sight away from the turquoise-haired gentleman. "But... What about... The others?"

Loki lackadaisically replies. "You mean the Burn Troop? I already killed those idiots before I came to see you. So don't fret. You'll have plenty of company in the afterlife." The young man closes his eyes while cheerfully grinning prior to releasing his grasp of Quinton's arms following several seconds passing by. "Another thing: there's a secondary purpose to me being here. You pretty much know what it is at this point. I'll tell you the full order either way. I'm not only responsible for finding out how shit went down, I'm also to secure the safety of our present hideout."

Quinton blankly watches Loki as he's teetering because of him barely containing strength left in his shriveled body and gasps for air. "You oughta' understand... We would never... Put our boss... In danger..."

Loki contentedly nods. "I do now, considering you all gave me the same answer after leaving you dry. Though, the lone difference between you and them was the fact I couldn't attain anything out of the Burn Troop besides that. They were scared shit-less in front of me." The clear-eyed fellow mildly laughs as he recalls the memory of him killing every surviving Burn Troop member in the exact way. "At least you guys weren't THAT useless."

Unable to issue a rebuttal, Quinton keels over to his left side while taking his last couple of breaths and dies with his eyes wide open as they aimlessly stare at Loki's feet.

Depicting that, Loki submerges both hands into his khaki's pockets with a mournful sigh emitted. "Jeez... I feel like Nash, murdering subordinates as if it's no big deal." He briefly peek at his surroundings and scoffs. "And in a jail, no less." Loki returns his concentration onto Quinton's dead body. "Well, you were a bit more useful than those earlier morons. After all, it isn't everyday there might be a worthy adversary for Lord Enshin." His eyes glisten from excitement while smirking in a sly way. "I'd bet it'd be one hell of a fight too."

*Scene Change*

Back at Linesville, after the confrontation concerning Dante and Saints Organization's personnel, the blonde had been taken into custody by the city's Sheriff. This left Ilya and Yuki waiting outside due to how very little they were involved during the gruesome battle as they sit on the sidewalk located ahead of the Sheriff's department with the white backpack carrying almost all of their belongings resting in the middle of the pair.

At the same time, Dante's seated upon a wooden chair placed across from the Sheriff as the two are at the rugged-looking man's desk and exclaims in a polite manner following bowing his head with both hands joined together while between his legs, "I'm REALLY sorry!"

The Sheriff, dressed as the stereotypical individuals that are notable in westerns, retorts without showing much interest in Dante's apology. "You've already said that. Twenty times, I might add."

Dante peers at the Sheriff with a pleading expression while vaguely contorted towards the adult. "It's so that you'll believe me!"

The Sheriff mounts his back onto the nicely-furnished chair he's in and entwines his arms. "You may seem sincere, and who knows, you may even BE sorry... However, from what witnesses informed me after the massacre of those Saints Organization guys, I merely can't let you off the hook."

Dante cocks his head left with scrutiny emanating. "And what part was it that doesn't permit you to forgive me. Is it how I killed without mercy?" The green-eyed gentleman straightens his head. "Or that I didn't take into consideration of those who were watching and maybe the consequences the city would suffer in the future?" His eyes grow dull. "Or it's the the plain fact I wouldn't alter a single thing I did, even if I wielded the capability to do so?"

The Sheriff's immediately bewildered as he thinks, "Everything he just said is spot on!" He clears his throat with his eyes shut and balled-up right hand over his mouth to reconstruct his composure. After that, the Sheriff drops his limb while establishing his gaze on Dante again and firmly speaks. "All three, really."

Dante bluntly replies. "Then, I'll tell you what I told the civilians since they obviously neglected to let you in on that detail. If the people of Linesville need someone to protect them from others wanting to take advantage of them, then I'll merely beat each of them. That way, they'll never have to live in fear again. That's the truth and nothing will stop me from achieving that." The Caucasian smiles. "I'm paraphrasing by the way."

The Sheriff's momentarily speechless while processing everything prior to talking with a calm attitude. "Those are mighty words. Don't you think you're overestimating yourself way too much? Sure, you defeated a handful of Saints Organization, although they alone have thousands of followers." He exhibits skepticism. "You must be dreaming."

Dante sustains his demeanor. "Of course, I'm dreaming. It'll keep being that way until I make it a reality..." Determination envelopes him. "And trust me, it will happen some time in the near future. Right now, I'm solely having a little fun before fully devoting myself to it." Dante chuckles.

The Sheriff gawks at Dante in disbelief and then becomes very frustrated amidst slamming his right fist onto his desk. "Are you crazy, boy?! You chatter as if you are the answer of everyone's prayers, but no matter how tough you are, you can't beat the Saints Organization by yourself!"

Dante veers his attention away from the Sheriff. "You could be right..." The wavy-haired character promptly thinks while surging tenacity, "That's why I'm not in any big rush. I'll start as soon as I find them. The people I can be myself with and know they'll always be on my side. I already got Ilya and Yuki. I just have to keep searching." Dante reverts his vision to the Sheriff and sincerely comments, "I'm not gonna' quit though. I made up my mind. That's how I roll."

The Sheriff clenches at his thin, grey hair that hints to him being fairly old, or stressed, as he yells with his head tilted rearward. "What's wrong with kids these days?!"

Dante bursts out laughing while planting his back against the seat with his eyes closed and hanging both hands at his sides. "Good question, Sheriff!"

The Sheriff glares at Dante with agitation demonstrated and thinks, "I meant you!"

Dante's laughter increases thanks to him hearing the Sheriff's thoughts as he's on the verge of falling off his chair.

That causes the Sheriff grand sums of frustration until managing to relax himself while deeply inhaling and displays a solemn personality. "There's one more thing I'd like to ask you. If you're willing to honestly answer this, I'll consider releasing you with a warning, so long as you leave Linesville shortly after."

Dante strives to cease laughing and focuses on the Sheriff to sharply nod. "Shoot!"

The Sheriff rapidly questions Dante without hesitation, "You didn't fight those guys from the Saints Organization out of some sorta' sense of justice, did you? You have a grudge against them, huh?"

Dante refrains from responding for almost an entire minute before declaring with a somber voice, "You got it. I do have a score to settle with them."

The Sheriff swallows as he lightly commenced tapping upon his desk with the same hand that's been lying atop it for a while now. "What is it?"

Dante delivers a joyful smirk, shutting his eyes in the process. "Sorry! I'd prefer not to tell you that!" The hoodie-endowed male reopens his eyes as they radiate intensity. "I will say this to ease your curiosity though... They did something that allows me not to mind killing people. So, imagine the worst thing someone can do and you might not be too far away from what makes me have a grudge."

*Scene Change*

While Dante had that conversation with the Sheriff, boredom finally tormented Yuki sufficiently to want to go sight-seeing since the trio didn't have the opportunity in the beginning. Even though she wasn't too sure it was a good idea to wander off without Dante, Ilya tagged along, comprehending the dangers that may fall onto Yuki if she were to get lost and rationalized that at least they know where the green-eyed human was this time for certain. Not only that, the pendant-wearing chick figured it to be the best time to ask people about a quicker method of traveling because they never got a straight answer from the Barkeep. 

Sadly, with minuscule effort, the two girls became separated from each other following an abrupt appearance of countless civilians and horse carriages gathering at a shopping district due to the large sums of concession stands. As a result, Ilya's left beyond upset by how her life can rarely be simple anymore in terms of not losing track of people.

Meanwhile, three slim, male individuals recently enter Linesville as the one in the middle is the most distinctive thanks to his light purple, sleek hair that's long enough to cover his left eye and most of his forehead while the back sector reaches the top of his neck. In addition, this man's visible eye is aqua-colored, stands at 5'11", is a tad lighter-skinned than the duo accompanying him, however, are all Caucasian nonetheless. He's dressed in a sleeveless, purple/black, vertically-striped vest that extends to his upper thighs, contains two black belts to maintain the vest nicely strapped on while fully zipped with a silk purple collar, light purple, metal, forearm pads covering all the way to the back of his hands for combat and black pants that match his boots.

After roaming inside the city a little, the aqua-eyed young man shifts his vision to his partners with a somewhat bland conduct while standing in a sideways angle, compliments of them being behind him as numerous civilians pass them. "Haven't we been here previously?"

The fellow situated to the left, endowed in dark clothing, a small leather jacket and has an excessively large, burgundy-colored Mohawk, confidently nods amidst giving the padded gentleman a double thumbs up. "Chill, my man! You wanted us to take you through every part of Castelo and we did!" He mumbles so the purple-haired person wouldn't listen, "Kinda'..."

The man at the right joins in as he's also wearing a dark attire with a slightly bigger, leather jacket and has a short, burgundy-colored fro-hawk while getting into the same pose like his friend next to him. "Yeah, yeah! That's why we're here! It only makes sense to bring you back to where you started after finishing, my man!"

The vested lad drops his head while slapping his right hand onto his face and steadily shakes his head in disapproval. "Somebody spare me of this constant hell I've endured for the past few weeks."

Both odd-looking characters instantly narrow the distance dividing them from the aqua-eyed individual and are significantly irritated as they question in unison, "What was that, my man?!"

Then, the fro-hawk male speaks by himself as he raises his right eyebrow. "Do you think this was fun for us, my man?! No, it wasn't! You didn't make it any easier on us either, my man!"

The Mohawk guy remarks upon the conclusion of his comrade's rant while elevating his left eyebrow. "Yeah, my man! You need to lighten up! We've never met anyone as BLAH as you, my man!"

The pad-wearing fellow completely faces the pair and grinds his teeth out of anger. "If you say MY MAN one more time, I'll fry you until you're nice and crispy!"

The duo make eye contact to nod after cheerfully smiling prior to snapping their attention back to the purple-haired gentleman as they shout together, "My man!"

The young adult's right eye temporarily twitches before suddenly turning away while coldly uttering as he begins walking, "Screw you guys. I'm leaving and I'm not paying you one cent for your so-called SERVICES."

Both men are rendered awestruck with their jaw hanging a bit until stretching their arms forth and cry out in a distraught manner at the same time, "Wait! We're sorry, my man! Don't go! We need that money you promised us!" They then run towards the vested person, however, their path is blotted by the huge crowd, invoking a frantic behavior out of them as they scream once they dropped their hand while tears start to take shape, "MY MAN!"

Almost at that precise moment, not far from the two odd men, Yuki passes through Linesville's shopping district as she analyzes the area with aggravation demonstrated and gestures her hands a tad. "Wonderful! I turn around for one measly second and POOF! Miss Know-It-All vanishes on me!" She plants both hands onto her waist while detaining her advancement within the swarm of people. "Hmph! We should really get a collar on that chick...!" Yuki resumes her journey through the crowd in a slow pace, examining everything in sight.

During Yuki's search, the weird-looking duo desperately try to discern their employer that was with them, however, have no luck whatsoever and commence losing hope after sitting atop a plain bench near a dumpster beside a building's brick wall without putting too much thought into why they chose it. It doesn't take the pair even a couple of seconds to enter a slump while watching the numerous hoards of civilian idly traversing the street as the man wielding the Mohawk says in a depressed voice, "This sucks, brah! Our man left us high and dry with no pay! All that time we spent showing him Castelo went to waste!"

The person with the fro-hawk aims his concentration to his companion seated at his left while holding his head up via both hands onto his face as he's bent forward and is equally sad. "I know, brah...! We should've made him fork over the cash upfront...! It always goes down this way! We get on the client's nerves and they ditch us without paying!" He scoffs and deviates his attention from his friend. "Funny, they each threaten us first, but never do anything except leave."

The man containing the Mohawk stares at the sky, tilting his head backwards to do so, and slightly calms himself. "You got a point there, brah. And we sure are fortunate they do 'cause now we can do our main profession to make up for the loss."

Both males hastily lock eyes with one another, simultaneously stating in a content manner, "Hold someone for ransom!"

Once the pair said that, they abruptly hear a faint feminine cry reverberate from a small range in front of them, gaining their undivided focus. Soon after, the guys see Yuki about four meters away as she had accidentally bumped into a few people, forcing her to drop her purse, and continued on their way with no effort in reducing their velocity as some of the object's contents fell out because of the impact with the moderately sandy earth. This concludes with Yuki squatting down and starts picking up her belongings while substantially displeased as she comments to herself in a low volume, "Stupid freaking people! They ought to observe where they're going! What if I had gotten hurt?! They didn't even stop to apologize or even lend a hand!"

Concurrently, the two odd-looking fellows blankly view Yuki's struggle as they register the tiny diamonds decorating her purse and luckily depict the pink-haired beauty's tiara that she recently removed from the landscape. This instantly rings in both individual's head as dollar signs rapidly establish themselves in their eyes prior to setting their sights on each other again and exclaim in unison, "Caching! Royalty!" They then rise to their feet with their vision back onto Yuki as enthusiasm is produced. "Target acquired!" The pair eventually make their move and march up to Yuki with a big, fake grin while possessing their eyes shut. "Hey! Need some help, my gal?!"

Yuki brings her gaze to the duo, fairly happy that somebody offered to help until noting their appearance and immediately tenses up while thinking, "What's with their clothes?! And their hair! They're SO strange!" The blue-eyed dame's eyes promptly narrow with disgust emitted before returning her attention to her stuff, keeps putting them into her purse and talks in a monotone voice. "That's fine. I got everything under control. You can go away now. Thanks though."

An angry scowl suddenly plagues both men while thinking, "Can you at least pretend to appreciate the attempt and not say it like that?!"

Yuki straightens her posture after gathering the last item that slipped out of her purse with her eyes closed as she perches it around her right shoulder and casually begins departing from the two weird gentlemen. "Bye."

The pair are baffled by Yuki's aloof behavior and feverishly blurt out, "Hold on!" They quickly rush Yuki, striving to grab the princess.

Yuki glances behind herself with distress swiftly consuming her, compliments of the duo chasing her, prior to reverting her focus onward as she sprints away from them.

That leaves the odd duo no choice but to persist their pursuit, although it will be quite difficult thanks to the mob of civilians Yuki entered into. Despite that fact, both individuals don't quit, with the thought of how they let the purple-haired lad leave, and actually manage not to totally lose track of their target.

While that occurs, Yuki temporarily keys on the guys stalking her with irritation radiating and thinks, eluding the multiple people she narrowly passed by, "Why the heck are they chasing me?! Do I know them or something?!" She frantically shakes her head with her eyes shut for an instance before watching where she's headed and speaks to herself in an exasperated tone, "What's wrong with me?! Of course I don't! How could I ever know anybody that dresses so freaking weirdly?!"

In the meantime, the character with the Mohawk obtains an unsettling sensation amidst showing discontent and continues his pursuit alongside his companion. "I feel like I got insulted by that brat, but I can't hear her due to the loud crowd."

The man with the fro-hawk firmly nods as he retains his concentration upon Yuki. "Oh, don't worry. It happened to me too."

The peculiar pair grit their teeth out of rage with the veins on their head dilating and shout together, "We'll get her for that!" They then improve their speed, seemingly fueled by anger, and close the gap separating them from the corset-wearing chick immensely.

Yuki hears the fast footsteps of the duo while steering her head accordingly to view how far away they are and is immediately overwhelmed by fear. "They're catching up! What do I do?! Should I fight them?!" The pink-haired girl mildly shakes her head while still observing the two odd men. "No, that wouldn't be good! Dante's already being held in the Sheriff's office! The last thing we need is for me to get myself into trouble as well!"

Just as that cry reverberates, a young man unexpectedly steps in front of Yuki's path with neither of the two noticing the other since the male person seems to be searching for something and leads to the princess running into the guy while both fall onto the ground.

That forces many of the people from the crowd to stare at Yuki and the fellow.

Yuki caresses her buttocks because of her hitting the terrain hard while complaining with her eyes shut and head partially lowered. "Ahhh! Why don't you look where you're going?!"

The young individual rises to his feet as he retorts in agitation, "I should be the one saying that. You ran into me, if I'm not mistaken."

Yuki draws her gaze to the gentleman, instantly registers his light purple hair that profoundly amazes her and faintly gawks at him. Afterwards, the dame takes into account the handsome features of the character before her as his aqua-colored eye passively examines Yuki. Several seconds of silence progress until Yuki's capable of uttering a somewhat nonsensical comment while spacing out, "So pretty."

The purple-haired male slightly cocks his head to the left while planting his right hand upon his waist and raises his right eyebrow. "Pretty? Are you serious? Out of all things you could've spouted, that's what came out of your mouth?"

Not allotting Yuki sufficient time in replying, the odd duo caught up to Yuki as they're significantly surprised to see the young man who abandoned them and yell at the same time, "My man!"

The numerous people, who stopped originally thanks to the collision that transpired, are now fully immersed in the appearance of the two peculiar men and await for how the confrontation will conclude.

An irritated scowl etches onto the aqua-eyed individual while his visible eye lock on the pair and remarks in a sarcastic voice, "Perfect...!" He straightens his head's angling with a solemn expression surfacing. "I was hoping not to ever see you idiots again. And you keep calling me that. My name's Trace, morons. I told you that when I first hired you."

The man wielding the fro-hawk responds as he clenches his left hand after lifting it to his chest while emitting an upset demeanor. "Speaking of which, you didn't pay us! What's with that, my man?!"

The adult with the Mohawk adds to the conversation, having a similar attitude to his comrade continually situated towards his right, "Yeah! And I bet you don't even remember our names too, so don't be a hypocrite!"

Trace coldly narrows his right eye. "You two are the Hawk Brothers. You're called that through the plain fact of having a hawk hairstyle and claim to be brothers, even though you aren't. It's a mere coincidence that you both look so ridiculous that you can easily pass yourselves as such." He directs his left hand at the guy possessing the Mohawk. "You're Festus." The purple-haired gentleman switches his hand's aim to the male with the fro-hawk. "And you're Furges." Trace drops his hoisted appendage while presenting minor bewilderment. "Ironically, you guys also have stupid-sounding names."

Yuki stands up, smirking out of amusement, and thinks, "You can say that again!"

Festus' promptly impressed while crossing his arms. "Wow, you do know our names! You even comprehend stuff about us that I don't think we told you at all!"

Furges sets his attention on Festus with shame shown as he places his left hand at his head's rear. "Guess that puts us in the wrong."

Festus sadly nods at his companion. "Apparently..."

Then, the Hawk Brothers rapidly steer their head to Trace, realizing a specific detail, with wrath established, hang their arms to their sides and shout in unison, "Who are you calling RIDICULOUS?!"

Trace sighs from disapproval, closing his right eye in the process, while maneuvering forward enough to position himself a couple of  meters ahead of Yuki as he vaguely lowers his head and blandly talks. "You guys sure are slow." He returns his focus to the Hawk Brothers with calmness displayed. "Anyhow, I'm not going to pay you. That'll be your punishment instead of my earlier threat, so take it and get out of my sight... Unless you want me to change my mind and stick to what I originally promised?"

Furges scoffs, puts both hands on his waist with an upright posture and smugly exclaims, "Really?! Don't be so full of yourself just 'cause you're a Class A Minus Spellcaster! Do you seriously believe you can fight two B Minus Class like ourselves?" He motions his right hand to himself and Festus during the conclusion of his inquiry. "Especially with what we're capable of!"

Festus nods with determination. "That's right! So, we'll be the nice guys here and allow you to go without hurting you! Let bygones be bygones, right?!" He points his left hand towards Yuki, having his arm completely extended. "All you gotta do is not get in the way of our target!"

Trace veers his head to Yuki with curiosity brimming as he maintains his person facing the Hawk Brothers. "What in the hell did you do to piss these morons off?!"

Yuki sharply replies while stomping her right foot onto the landscape. "Nothing! They simply started chasing me after I denied their help with picking up my stuff!"

Trace issues the Hawk Brothers a skeptical look. "Are you guys real? That's why you pursued her?" The lad shrugs while peering at the sky with a nonchalant demeanor. "Well, that isn't hard to believe coming from such weirdos." Trace shakes his head out of mild discontent prior to resetting his gaze upon the Hawk Brothers. "I don't know how I was able to deal with you guys showing me Castelo for the past few weeks. I must be a very patient man."

The Hawk Brothers scream out with rage overflowing, "IT WASN'T THAT!"

Trace slants his head to the left, suspicion exhibited. "Then what is it?"

Furges answers, trying to compose himself, and aims his right hand at Trace. "It's because of you!" He drops his appendage while tightly clenching both hands. "If you had paid us, we wouldn't need to attempt kidnapping that girl to make up for our lost of time!"

Festus joins in after retracting his left hand not long ago with his anger still intact. "Yeah, my man! It's all your fault!"

Yuki's overrun by disbelief as she hurriedly walks to stand toward Trace's right. "That's why?!" The pink-haired teen rests her right hand upon the middle of her chest. "You were planning on taking me hostage for money?!" Yuki throws her left limb to the side while filled with annoyance. "So that whole crap about helping me with my stuff was merely so you can kidnap me!" She fiercely tightens her left hand into a fist amidst bringing it close to herself. "Why I ought to...!" Yuki suddenly detects an intense amount of magic gradually resonating from Trace, despite her not being too good at sensing magic, and trails off. 

That occurrence easily attains the Hawk brothers and any Spellcasters in the audience's attention as they're overwhelmed by a purple-like essence visible to those who are able to see it.

Concurrently, Trace opens and closes his hands in a somewhat maniacal way, possessing them lowered to their respective sectors, while commenting in an ominous tone without diverting his vision from the Hawk Brothers, "And here I thought you two couldn't be dumber..." A minuscule spark of white electricity abruptly passes along Trace's constitution.

Yuki's eyes widen while implementing her gaze to Trace and barely managed to witness the brief surge demonstrated amidst thinking, "What was that?!"

The Hawk Brothers grin with no sign of fear as Festus readies himself via both hands lifted to opposing regions. "There it is! A glimpse of your Spellcaster power, eh?! You go by a couple of nicknames thanks to it, my man!"

Furges imitates Festus' method of preparation while viewing his comrade out of the corner of his eyes. "Yeah, like the Shock Spellcaster or Electric!" The Mohawk man switches his concentration to Trace. "But the most straight forward would be..."

Festus repeats the last part of his companion's statement. "Would be..."

The Hawk Brothers simultaneously declare with confidence, "Trace of Electricity!"

Everyone watching murmurs among themselves at the revelation, all immensely intrigued.

Yuki scans around the vicinity and registers the commotion made by the spectators as she mutters once she reverts her sight to Trace, "Is he popular or something? Father's never mentioned anything about a famous person called Trace... Although, he did neglect to talk a lot about the outside world with me in general."

Trace eventually releases a rebuttal towards the Hawk Brothers with faint emotion radiating. "So you guys lied about knowing my name. That means you purposely kept calling me something I didn't like being called." Another spark of electricity runs across his body as irritation is notable. "Now that makes me mad...!"

The Hawk Brothers laugh as a tiny mixture of Light and Dark Magic brim from them while tauntingly shouting, "Then, do something about it after we show you our LITTLE friend!" They promptly thrust their hands at the ground, hit it hard enough so dust is kicked up and command with their eyes zoomed on the earth, "Fly out, Cocky!"

A second later, a giant etching of a winged, mythical creature forms onto the landscape beneath the Hawk Brothers while expanding fifteen meters around, leaving almost everybody dumbfounded as it shines a sinister light. 

Urgency rapidly encompasses Trace and thinks, "Is this what I think it is?!" He steers away from the Hawk Brothers, instinctively grabs a hold of Yuki without speaking to her, however, this wasn't the same for the blue-eyed princess as she momentarily argued his sudden embrace. Despite that, Trace firmly wraps his left arm around Yuki's waist and utters under his breath, "Speed up."

With that, the two individuals hastily dart away from where the mythical creature's marking is located as the duo transgress through the crowd that was behind them, stop seven meters away and confront the Hawk Brothers again. Right after, they witness the appearance of a huge feathery, mainly indigo-colored, long-winged beast that's a combination of a burgundy-scaled dragon in terms of its body's structure and an indigo rooster from its head features as the behemoth effortlessly tears through the iron ropes linking the buildings together due to its grand size. A split second later, the monster expels a deafening screech frightening nearly all of the onlookers while close to robbing them of their hearing.

Meanwhile, while keeping his grasp upon Yuki's waist as a mighty wind is generated from the large being that forces his clothing and hair to uncontrollably flutter, Trace analyzes the intimidating beast amidst remarking to the Hawk Brothers with a stern demeanor, "So, I was right. That's a Demonic Creature... And a big one to boot. I believe it's a Cockatrice, am I right?"

The Hawk Brothers fix their posture and tenaciously nod as they say in unison, "You got it!" They peer at the Cockatrice with a content smile. "Show them what you got, Cocky!"

On cue, the Cockatrice glares at a dozen people who have been watching, and in an instance, they collapse to the terrain while entering a petrified state without even breathing. This horrifies the others as they desperately start to scramble about, screaming in panic until none of the spectators remain. 

At the same time, Yuki's astonished as she ignores the obvious fact that Trace continues to hold her by the waist. "What just happened?! Why did they fall like that?!"

Trace calmly answers Yuki's question while not veering his sight away from the Cockatrice. "That's one of its abilities. The Eye of Death, I believe it's called. Only by making eye contact, it kills. Not solely that, if I'm right... It can kill by touching or breathing on people."

Yuki's plagued by fear and swiftly deviates her focus to Trace. "Impossible! How do we beat it then?!"

The Hawk Brothers retort to Yuki with a cynical composition. "You don't!" They laugh in a boasting manner. "This is what happens when you underestimate us Summoning Spellcasters! We made a contract with our Cocky, and with it, we're unstoppable!" The two odd characters resume their laughter.

Yuki's terror greatly increases before instilling her attention toward Trace as she finally notices the precarious circumstance she's in. After that, the blue-eyed girl escapes from Trace's grasp while flustered and asks in a defensive tone, "What the...?! Why were you embracing me for so long?!"

Trace slightly narrows his eye with a scrutinizing expression arising. "Do you seriously think now's the time to worry about such a trivial thing?"

Interfering with Yuki's attempt in responding, the huge Cockatrice easily ascends to the air prior to descending onto Trace and the princess while letting out a strong breath. 

That immediately throws Yuki off, the thought of dying by the Cockatrice's breath having left her with little hope.

Fortunately, Trace didn't allow himself to be stunned, and without looking at the Cockatrice to avoid instant death, the purple-haired person generates electricity along both hands. "Electro Shock." The aqua-eyed individual hastily hurls a thin, electrical stream at the Cockatrice via his right hand, managing to strike its mouth and forces the beast to shut it. Then, while the Cockatrice continues its downward progression that breaks through more iron ropes, Trace barely evades colliding with the beast, leaping backwards to accomplish that, after pushing Yuki away via the hand that recently released the attack on the Cockatrice.

Depicting that, the Hawk Brothers yell without losing an ounce of confidence, "Nice try, but you better think hard on how to fight Cocky! One touch, one breath or one glare is all it takes!"

Yuki regains her balance following her stumbling a tad because of Trace shoving her while locking her vision onto the Hawk Brothers. "Can they be any more annoying with that talking together stuff?! They aren't even related!"

In the meantime, Trace maintains his gaze upon the Cockatrice as he replies to the Hawk Brother's statement. "Oh, don't stress over it! Luckily for me, I have my range advantage!" He sends out another stream of electricity that was generated on his left hand and it lands onto the Cockatrice's right side.

The Cockatrice expels a pained-filled cry amidst staggering from the strike, causing the Hawk Brother's to show a hint of concern until the summoned creature shook off the assault's effect. Due to that, Festus launches a fist upward while proudly declaring, "There you go, Cocky! Don't let that loser's puny shocks get to you!"

Furges extends his left hand with it firmly clenched and emits the same attitude as Festus. "Yeah! No one can stand up to our Cocky!"

As if rallied by the Hawk Brothers' cheers, the Cockatrice produces one more outburst that compels Trace to hurriedly dodge via the Speed Spell and then positions himself north of the Demonic Creature while moderately exasperated. "Damn! I'd prefer to avoid using too much magic just in case I find the guy I've been searching for!" He grits his teeth from frustration while the Cockatrice ascends again. "I'm being left with few options here though!" Trace's body starts to radiate a larger sum of sparks with a rise of intensity and prepares himself to issue a stronger strike 

To Trace's dismay, Yuki unexpectedly stations herself ahead of the purple-haired fellow while containing her Ice Wand pointed at the Cockatrice via both hands. 

It doesn't take Trace long to shout at Yuki with anger portrayed. "Are you mad?! Get out of here!"

Yuki shakes her head out of tenacity. "No! These weirdos are after me! I won't let someone, who has nothing to do with me, come save me as if I'm a damsel in distress!"

Trace's awestruck by Yuki's display of courage in front of such a situation before grinning from acknowledgement and thinks, "Fine. I'll merely be sure to not permit that passion of yours to fade out yet."

With that thought completed, electricity surges all over Trace's constitution prior to striving for a counter against the Cockatrice, although is abruptly interrupted by a male's voice calling out from a distance towards the padded lad's northeast side, "Incoming!" 

A moment later, Dante appears, soaring through the sky while spinning haphazardly, reaches the Cockatrice's rooster-like head, and with his right appendage wearing the fused Sealing Glove, punches the Demonic Creature right in the temple as he exclaims in a delighted tone, "Seal!"

A circular marking promptly etches upon the Cockatrice where Dante hit it and tilts over to the opposite side the blonde entered from as its eyes roll to the back of its skull. 

The Hawk Brothers' jaw instantly hang out of disbelief as they gawk at Dante and the Cockatrice while fervently screaming, "NO WAY!"

Yuki lowers both hands with happiness brimming, retaining her grip on the Ice Wand. "Dante!"

Trace frantically shifts his concentration to Yuki with his electricity halting its production as he murmurs to himself, "Dante...?" He reverts his sight to the Cockatrice crashing upon a building thanks to the momentum of Dante's blow and sees Dante gripping onto the beast with his right hand so he wouldn't fall off. "That person... He said SEAL, didn't he?" Trace relaxes to demonstrate a stern behavior. "He has to be no one other than that guy..."

Concurrently, a significant quantity of smoke is created from the collision of the Cockatrice and the structure as a loud rumbling sound reverberates. 

Right after that, Dante casually jumps from the Cockatrice while smirking at the unconscious creature, standing sideways with his right foot towards it. "You're not too shabby, despite my familiarity with the more grown variation. Either way, I'm confident you'll be much tougher in the future. Until then, take care of yourself."

The Cockatrice steadily commences to vanishes into nothing as the fog fully clears to reveal Dante's condition, which is practically perfect. 

Meanwhile, the Hawk Brothers are speechless, internally denying the sudden defeat of their Cockatrice, and when they were on the verge of implementing a comment in unison, Ilya swiftly pushes her way between them with a firm hold on the hefty, white backpack in both arms while dashing towards her friend's posterior. "Dante!"

In conclusion, the Hawk Brothers descend to the landscape while watching on with bewilderment.

Dante turns accordingly to face Ilya with a carefree personality. " Whoa, you managed to keep up really well this time!" He chuckles.

Ilya stops a meter from Dante with mild aggravation emanating. "Just because I don't know the Speed Spell, doesn't mean I'm THAT slow!"

Dante nods as a sarcastic demeanor establishes itself. "Sure... We'll go with that."

A scowl is engraved onto Ilya and nearly lets out a rebuttal until keying onto Yuki running towards them and utters with slight concern, "There you are, Yuki! Where have you been?! We were worried sick!"

Yuki blatantly ignores Ilya while situating herself toward Dante's right with excitement displayed after making her wand disappear. "Your timing's as great as ever, Dante! How were you aware of my location?!"

Dante steers his focus to Yuki, exhibiting a blunt conduct in the process. "I didn't. I simply went on my instincts A.K.A. my love to fight." The Caucasian smiles amidst shutting his eyes.

Yuki's baffled as her shoulders slump a bit and questions in a somewhat high-pitched voice, "Really?!"

Dante fails to answer Yuki's inquiry, compliments of registering Trace's advancement towards him, and brings out the hoodie-endowed gentleman's curiosity as he cheerfully says, "Hello, there!"

Trace ceases his journey several meters from Dante and his two comrades while replying in an emotionless tone. "Hey, Dante. I've found you at last."

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...