Suddenly a chain appeared and dragged the monster down to the ground. Seeing that Leo immediately jumped down to help his brother. Senzi ran to the rails and looked down to see two executioners fighting shadow. All his hair was up. All his senses tell him it’s dangerous. He came closer to Theo’s spot and listened to his prayers. 

 

“Sounds like he needs five more minutes… Almost done! But… Can they last that long against… Against that? I’m sorry Master. But I need to help them.” 

 

Senzi took Theo’s musket and lay down on the floor near the edge. He tried to aim at the monster but it was moving too fast and his allies were often in the line of sight. He stood up and took a deep breath. He threw the golden sword down and changed into a cat. He jumped down and used the tower’s construction to join the fight. 

 

“What are you doing here?! It’s dangerous!” Shouted Leo as he noticed Senzi coming down.

 

“We need four minutes! Four minutes and Theo will end his prayers to help us!”

 

“Four minutes? He doesn’t need to join us. If that thing became a shadow… The ritual should be enough!” 

 

“Focus Leo!” Shouted Noah as he barely avoided the monster’s claws. 

 

Noah was pushed back by the monster’s attacks. All this time he was so focused on what was in front of him that he didn’t notice the feathers slipping away. He wanted to make another step back but the feathers were falling right in that direction. He stopped to avoid the attack but the monster was already in motion to bear its claws at him. Noah was sent flying with blood spraying around. He hit the tree and no longer moved.

 

“Brother!” Shouted Leo as he dashed at the monster with his fists covered in flames. 

 

The monster reached out the spear toward the executioner. Leo, blinded by anger didn’t even acknowledge the presence of a weapon in the monster’s hand. He only had his eyes on the head he was going to crush. At the last second Senzi tackled Leo out of the way and saved him from being pierced in the chest by the spear. 

 

“Senzi…” Whispered Leo as he shook off his rage. “How did he move so fast? And see something I wasn’t able to? Is this the new power he got from that cat transformation? A power to feel the coming danger?”

 

“You… A cat… How… How. How?!” Mumbled the monster.

 

“What do you want from us?!” Shouted Senzi.

 

“Revenge…” Said the monster as it howled loudly. To the monster’s call answered his army of undead. They walked down the street toward the tower. All of them had the clothes of an average worker.

 

“Greve Des Pauvres…” Whispered Leo. “They wouldn’t be a problem if I had my spear…”

 

Leo looked at Senzi’s face to see him covered in sweat. It wasn’t sweat from moving his body. It was a sweat from the pressure of the situation and him thinking of the solution to that problem. Senzi got his eyes on one thing only. On the Flammeum Iram, on the spear that the monster had in possession. 

 

“What are you doing? Don’t do it…” Said Leo as he watched Senzi walk toward the monster. 

 

The monster gave Senzi a chance to get close to him without attacking. Senzi raised the sword to his head and was ready to pierce the monster with that attack. Senzi attacked with his sword but the monster parried it with the spear. The boy tried again and again. The monster parried each of his attacks without an effort. 

 

“Cat…” Whispered the monster.

 

“Am I just a cat to him? Is he playing with me? Just like with a pet?”

 

Senzi went with another attack but at the last moment, he pulled the sword away and swung at the monster’s wrist. He was able to cut it off and throw the spear to Leo. A furious monster punched Senzi into the ground and left him unconscious. 

 

“We’ll pay? No… You’re the one who is going to PAY!!!” Shouted Leo as he unleashed flames from his spear to keep the monster away from Senzi.

 

Then he used the flames to burn all the undead. With one swing the flames spread through the whole crowd of undead. This time the flames were of a bright red color. The monster saw an opportunity to attack Leo but once he got close, Leo used flames to back away from the monster.

 

“There is no way for me to exorcise him… I have to stall on time and hope that it really became a shadow that can be exorcised with the ritual.”

 

While Leo was losing strength, the monster was still keeping the phase. The flames didn’t become weak but how often he made them wasn’t enough to keep the monster at bay. 

 

“How much longer?! At least a minute? Right?!” Thought Leo as he looked at the sunset. That split of a second was enough for the monster to land a solid hit on Leo.

 

The monster was ready to finish him for good but it suddenly felt something. It was dangerous and was coming from the top of the tower. The monster felt that if it didn’t stop it, it might die. It spread the wings ready to fly away and stop the ritual. 

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” 

 

A chain appeared and pinned the monster to the ground. Noah was barely conscious and still lying by the tree. Bleeding out. He grabbed the chain and tried to pull it but the monster was fighting against him and crawling toward the tower. 

 

“Unfortunately I used my spell on the wrong copy. If only I could use it more than once a day… I… Can’t… Keep… It much longer!” 

 

Noah passed out and lost a grip on the monster. The monster jumped, ready to fly off but it wasn’t paying attention to the surroundings. It was only focused on ending the ritual. Senzi with blood on his face jumped toward the monster and sliced off one of its wings. He used all the strength he had left to do it. 

 

The monster lost its balance and landed hard into the ground. But it wasn’t enough to stop it. The monster walked out of the hole. Ready to run up the tower.

 

“The time had come.” Said Senzi leaning against his sword to not fall, as he looked at the sun disappearing from the horizon. 

 

The monster slowly faded into the dark dust as it let out the last screams of desperation. Looking at the boy and cursing him. The moment he cursed him the monster felt fear. Fear of a strong presence that was near.

 

“Mister Leo! Mister Noah!” Senzi ran to Leo to check if he is alive. “He is still breathing… Probably just unconscious… What about Mister Noah?” Senzi ran to Noah covered in blood. Even the tree behind him had blood over it. “Mister Noah? He is not bleeding anymore. But he did lose a lot of it. Is he still breathing?” He wanted to make sure by striking a hand to his nose and mouth but once he heard snoring he knew that Noah is alive.

 

“What happened here?” Theo finished the ritual and opened his eyes to see what was left of the battlefield. 

 

While they were waiting for the monks from the monastery to take injured Leo and Noah, Senzi explained everything that happened while Theo had his eyes closed for the ritual. 

 

“So my hunch was correct. Maybe if Victoria was here. There wouldn’t be that much damage done. At least all of us are alive.”

 

The monks came and took Leo and Noah to the monastery to treat their wounds. Luckily none of them were life threatening or impossible to heal. Senzi had the least amount of injuries but the monks decided to take him away and take care of him for the night. Theo had some business to attend to he wished Senzi good night and went to the church. He entered the confessional.

 

“What may be your sin, child?” Asked the priest.

 

“I have but six sins. The seventh was forgiven by the god. Envy.”

 

“I’m here to listen. Saint Of Envy.”

 

“Inform the Vatican that I need a ritual to be prepared for the fifth month of next year.”

 

“What kind of ritual?”

 

“Binding ritual…”

 

“What do you wish to achieve with that ritual?”

 

“We need to strengthen the binding of the demon…”

 

“By demon, you mean that boy?”

 

“He is not a demon… but he is a container for that demon. Looks like it was able to slip away for a moment.”

 

“I shall inform the Vatican about it… My the god be with you.”