Sezel's gaze sharpened as he watched the trio with an intense focus. He studied them for some more time. The girl, she was swift and graceful in her attacks.

He ordered his puppet to get closer, so that he can have a better look. The puppet skillfully went ahead, hiding in the shadows. As it ventured forward, Sezel's pulse quickened. That unmistakable face… he had seen it before. The cafeteria, a brief, enigmatic encounter.

The red haired girl was the one that he met on his first day in the facility.

And the boys, he had seen them many times in the campus for sure during his two months stay. But the girl was a mystery, he only met her once and then she disappeared.

Okay, why am i thinking so much about them. he chastised himself Focus on getting out of here.

The battle raged on, the beast was smaller than the rest of the hoard that had just passed, but it fought with a desperate ferocity. Sezel was completely invested in the battle, it was a great thing to gauge the beast's weaknesses and strengths.

The two boys, flanked the beast from both sides and attacked together, their aim locked at its front legs. The beast looked between the two sides in a frenzy, a mindless beast indeed.

Good idea, Sezel commented. The beast is of Enhanced category or maybe possible that its just a high ranked common beast.

The beast completely put its whole concentration on one side and It lifted its spear-like forelegs to swat at one of the boys, leaving itself exposed. The other boy, seizing the opportunity slashed one of its leg clean. Black blood, thick and viscous, splattered wildly.

The beast looked towards its severed leg and before the beast could even register the pain, the other boy severed its remaining front leg.

It fell with a gurgling, agonized cry in a pool of its own blood, and started screeching. The high pitched voice was so shrill that even Sezel and his group had to cover their ears. But Sezel's focus didn't waver he continued to observe how the battle will end.

Since, the two boys had already cut of two of the legs of the beast, it was rendered useless and sprawling on the ground. But the spirit beasts weren't so low on their will, even with its legs gone, the ant was trying its beast to crawl towards the group of slayers.

They however stood calm, the boys had long since sheathed their swords and the girl was raising one of her arms. The girl closed her eyes, a look of intense, almost painful concentration on her face.

Minutes of tense, heavy silence passed, and then, the beast started to wildly thrash its face on the road.

After another minute, it rolled upside down and started to stab its own belly with its left hind legs. Sezel's eyes narrowed, This is certainly interesting. What is her ability?

After some time, a grim realization drawn on Sezel as he witnessed the beast kill itself by piercing itself multiple times.

For her ability to work so slow, she might just be a Rank-3, but the ability itself is horrifying. He came to another, more practical conclusion. She wouldn't be able to survive for long alone. Her ability, however powerful, was too slow, too cumbersome, for a solo fight. But their coordination, their synergy, was better than anything Sezel had ever performed with anyone.

He turned around, slowly facing Vesta who was looking at him with such a bored expression that he might just have believed that it had been over an hour.

"So what did you see?" She asked, more curious because of the time he had taken to turn around.

Sezel sighed, and explained everything that he had witnessed in a easy language, his voice a low murmur. Vesta and Shiki both listened through his explanations with a steady, unwavering look. But as he started describing the girl's ability, their expressions turned dark.

Okay, and now they have the girl on the danger list.

"The fight is over, the group is just collecting their haul from the beast and then i think they will move towards the factories." Sezel concluded his report with his final statement.

Vesta and Shiki were lost in a silent thinking, Mari just sat on the side, her small body a silent, trembling testament to the horrors she had witnessed. She was just a kid, and she had seen more, far worse things, than she should have at her age.

But, she is brave... unlike me.

Suddenly, vesta's voice shattered the fragile silence. "Let's move. We need to obliterate those slayers."

Sezel's pupil shrank, "What? but why?" he asked frantically, surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Vesta looked at him, her face grim. "They are dangerous, if we let the girl live, it would be a nuisance later on."

"But… they haven't done anything to us. And they are clearly weaker. Why bother?" Sezel tried to calm her down, to reason with her. But deep down, a part of him, a foolish part, wanted to protect the group.

Vesta's eyes squinted. "Don't tell me you are trying to show sympathy for a group of Slayers who are clearly our enemy."

Sezel didn't know how to react to that. She was right. Here, in the Spirit Realm, showing sympathy to an enemy group might just spell your end.

But they were not enemies. Not for Sezel, at least. The girl wouldn't attack him. But they sure as hell would attack Vesta or Shiki.

And another, more practical problem was that he had no way of explaining his relationship with them to Vesta and Shiki. That would create a string of actions, a chain of events, that would ultimately lead to breaking of the trust he had conjured up until now.

Okay, shit, this is bad.

Sezel was lost in the racing thoughts in his head, Shiki and Vesta, he was almost sure, were not going to listen to him.

Suddenly, a large concussive blast, shuddered the ground,, a shockwave of air followed carrying dust with it. It came from the direction of the gate.

Everyone was frozen stunned.