Mouse ripped away from the demon, several thistles sticking into his side. He spun around, ran forward, and sliced across the demon. It jumped back, and Mouse took the reprieve to pull several thistles out. He gritted, clenching his teeth, and tossed them on the ground.

  “You fucker,” he seethed, whirling back to the demon and driving it further back.

  Taiga launched from his spot, landing just before the demon ran into him. He swung his sword at its neck, pinning it to the tree. The demon stuck a leg between the sword’s edge and its neck, pushing out enough to free itself.

  It slunk down, diving to the right of Taiga and whipping its tail at him. Taiga dodged, and it sprinted away. Diving between the trees, the demon followed the edge of the lake. Mouse and Taiga gave chase.

  A startled chirp drew Taiga’s attention towards Sweet Bun. Beside her, a smaller demon rocked its head to the side at her, inching towards her in curiosity from behind another tree. Taiga split from Mouse, hopping with ease over the roots and swiping a hand against a tree.

  Magic rippled from his fingertips, streaming between the shards of bark, and bolted through the grass, the roots, and earth until it met the demon. The roots of the closest tree raised up, wrapped over the demon’s ankles, and yanked it back and into the earth.

  The demon cried out, and Sweet Bun leapt back in time for Taiga to jump between them, slicing across the demon’s raised arms. It fell back before scrambling its feet free and taking off through the trees. Taiga pursued after one last check around Sweet Bun.

  It met up with the other, aiming for Mouse, whose back faced it. “Mouse, behind you!”

  Mouse whipped to the left, checking behind him as his boots skid on the dirt. The first demon took the moment to flee, skimming across the edge of the lake. Its friend followed, and the two demons took off before Taiga or Mouse could react.

  Faster than Taiga, Mouse launched forward and took off after them. He trailed the edge of the lake, hopping over roots and slipping behind the first row of trees. Taiga chased after them. When movement in the water caught his eye, he turned toward it, catching fins barely breaking the water’s surface.

  “Mouse, stay behind the trees!” But as he said it, a thin, long tongue launched from the water.

  It wrapped around the arm of the larger demon and yanked it from where it stood. The demon let out a single click before disappearing beneath the water’s surface. The water stilled within a moment.

  “Are we tasty or something??” Mouse yelled out, jaw slightly agape though he didn’t miss a beat in his chase after the second demon.

  “Just stay behind the line of trees, don’t let the Kikaua track your movements.” Taiga followed. Mouse widened the gap between them as he caught up to the demon.

  The black body zipped to the right, away from the water, and Taiga followed as Mouse pursued it through the trees. Then, cracks, a swoosh, and the loud rustle of tree leaves stopped the pursuit.

  Mouse yelped, followed by “what the fuck is this?”

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  “What happened?” Taiga pulled up, wrapping around a tree.

  Suspended in a net, hanging over the ground about two meters, Mouse cursed and glared. His fingers pulled at thick rope, looking it over and cursing again. Taiga watched him for a moment, the net twirling slightly.

  “Well, the demon didn’t build this.” There’s no way a demon could have the foresight to pull that off. So then, who would lay a trap in a relatively empty forest?

  A wind rustled the leaves. New creatures approached. Humans.

  Taiga whipped around at a distant voice, spotting two figures dressed in dark brown cloaks sprinting towards the fleeing demon. Did the mercenaries arrive already? But no, how would they have had time to see the demons, lay a trap, and wait for them to come through this area? Sure, they missed, but it was a lot of pre-planning for such a short time frame.

  “Taiga! Get me,” Mouse seethed, “out.”

  Taiga took a moment to freely laugh at him, which only garnered him a glare from Mouse. “Such amazing senses you have.”

  “Hey! You didn’t warm me either! I was paying attention to the demon, alright?” He snipped, shedding himself of blame.

  Taiga sharpened a thumb with bark, snapping it through the net. Mouse landed on both feet, dusting himself off with a huff. Taiga looked back towards the mercenaries, though they disappeared from sight along with the demon.

  Mouse took off in their direction. “Come on, I need to punch someone.”

  “The demon, right?” Taiga started after him.

  “That too.” Ah, so he meant the mercenary who trapped him. Taiga smiled silently at the image of Mouse caught in some silly net.

  “You can’t hit them. They’re here to help.” His obligatory response, although he wasn’t sure Mouse would heed him.

  Ahead, Mouse pointed out the dark cloth moving ahead of them. Mouse and Taiga sped, catching up quicker than Taiga expected. Well, one of them was of the forest, and the other was just ridiculously athletic. He supposed most humans couldn’t compare.

  Mouse overtook the shorter one, hooded, with a laugh not befitting of a once-knight. “Y’all need help?” He grinned. The show-off.

  The one ahead, hood fallen to reveal light blond hair and taller than Mouse or Taiga, glanced back at them, “uh, well—”

  The hooded mercenary shoved Mouse into a tree, hopping over a fallen branch and barreling after the demon. “It’s ours, back off!”

  Taiga slowed to a halt beside Mouse, who stood against the tree, stunned. His eyes met Taiga before asking, in a low and confused voice, “What was that?”

  “Mouse—”

  “What was that??” Mouse pushed past Taiga, eyes locked on the hooded mercenary.

  “Hold on,” Taiga grabbed his arm, “I’m sure there was a reason.”

  “I’m about to give them a reason for being dead.” Mouse’s voice regained its calm, almost monotone in delivery.

  The demon clicked, jumping over their heads and onto a branch in the tree behind them. The mercenaries pursued from below, running past Taiga and Mouse without a glance. A dagger flew fifteen centimeters from Taiga’s head, plunking into the tree.

  The tree rattled a cry, and Taiga let go of Mouse to pull the dagger out. He touched a hand to the trunk, “it’s alright, it was an accident.”

  Mouse, freed, took off after the hooded one. He quickly caught up, yanked the hooded one by the back of the cloak, and tossed them against a tree. “You motherfu…”

  Taiga caught up, rounding a tree to see the mercenary pinned beneath Mouse’s grasp. Mouse turned toward Taiga, an eyebrow raised. “Hey, so I recognize this one, right? I’m not crazy?”

  Mouse stepped to the side, revealing a woman with dark blond hair pulled into a braided bun. Round spectacles sat upon her pronounced nose, brownish green eyes glaring through them.

  He recognized her, though it took a moment to place the resemblance. Afterall, so much had happened since seeing her. Applegate, Mafgnesn’s death, their mercenary licenses, the attack on Winolin. He’d almost forgotten the face of the one who’d given them clues about the magical imbalance.

  Standing against the tree was the outsider, “Remy.”