"I will handle most of the ghouls. If any come close to you, take it as a chance to practice your magic," said Ellie."Can you slow down a little? I mean… I haven't fought a ghoul before. Even though you showed me how to fight one, it's just how you did it, so if you—""It's settled then! Try not to get yourself killed before I finish clearing out this place!"
Ellie then rushed off like last time, leaving Lucas speechless behind.'You know that I only followed you in here just to save you, right? Oh right… she doesn't!' Lucas complained in his mind.'What should I do now? She already left before I could ask her to lend me a hand! Last time I was standing here, the ghoul should be…'
Lucas brought out his knife and cut at the spot on the ground like last time. A ghoul that crawled out from a grave jumped on top of him, but this time, Lucas already knew what to do."Frostbite."
The ghoul slowed down slightly and fell down the hole. Lucas then left the ghoul and started to walk back to the entrance.'The place itself can expand infinitely, but maybe there's still something I could find if I walk backward? It's not going to hurt to try anyway.'
The werewolf then ran back to the entrance, and to his surprise, the entrance was still there—just… locked. The two fallen steel gates had now come back up like nothing had happened. The gates were sealed with chains and a big, weird-looking lock in the middle.'At least I know the way out, but where do I find the key?'
Based on how big the place was, Lucas thought about the structure of the cemetery for a little bit. Then he remembered the horror movies and video games he had played that had graveyards in them—and something came to his mind.'What if this place has a mausoleum?'
Lucas then tried his best to look for any building that looked like one that could be holding treasure or something similar inside. But sadly for him, besides the path that Ellie had cleared out for him, most of the nearby areas were filled with ghouls.'If the place itself is holding the key to exit, then it should contain a lot of runes, right?'
Lucas then focused his mind on his True Sight, looking for any position that had a huge amount of runes and magic symbols floating in the air. About 40 degrees to the left of the "flaming path" was the place that most likely was his destination, as the amount of magic symbols on that side was just too ridiculous.
Lucas headed in that direction, covering his nose as the smell still bothered him a lot. On his way, Lucas encountered tons of ghouls—just as many as when he helped Ellie buy time for her spell. But right now, he didn't have time for them. He needed to find the key before Ellie fought the thing.
Lucas then ran into the ghouls, without even paying attention to any of them.'It will heal, I just need to… run for it.'
The werewolf ran as fast as he could, pushing the ghouls away without bothering about them. If any ghouls grabbed him or jumped onto his body, Lucas just used Frostbite and pushed them away. In the process, the ghouls kept on scratching him—blood spilled out from all over his body, and his outfit got badly damaged, revealing the white fur dipped in red.
The werewolf experienced unbearable pain, but he pressed on, ignoring everything in his way with only one purpose—save himself and Ellie.
Several minutes later, he managed to arrive at an old, abandoned house that looked like a mausoleum."Hah! I was right all along," Lucas smiled, still panting from the wounds on his body. He then used all his might to reach the door and, with his last piece of strength, entered the place and closed the door behind him.
Inside, there was nothing but a floating key in the middle. But the problem was, the key was inside a barrier that looked like the one that protected the doll."YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!" Lucas yelled, as his very last hope had now turned into despair. There was no way he could do anything about the barrier—unless that thing was extremely weak and he could use his knife to cut through it.
'It's so over. Am I really going to die again? Maybe next time I'll just leave Ellie… Why did I even get into this place to save her anyway?'
Lucas lay down, laughing at his dumb decision of protecting Ellie from the very start.'If I just let her die, I would be free from her contract. I only needed to find someone that could help me return to being human. Maybe my parents would help me if they found out what happened! Why would I even need to rely on her to turn me back?'
The guy kept blaming himself over and over inside his head. Minutes later, the wounds healed—but not just the wounds, his outfit fixed itself too.'I still don't understand what is happening to me right now… at least it helps me through this stuff.'
Lucas stood back up and looked at the key. He then remembered something:'If I could recreate that spell—even if just the element—I might be able to…'
Lucas looked around the room and found many runes floating around. He smiled, then brought out his knife and started cutting the floor like crazy.'Please be correct! Please memory don't fail me right now!'
Last time when he saw Ellie do the spell, he tried to memorize as much as he could so that he would be able to use it this time. Although he hadn't memorized all the symbols, Lucas knew how the spell worked, what the magic circle looked like, and what the symbols inside it meant—so he should have about a 70% chance of success in trying to recreate it."PLEASE, JUST THIS TIME, WORK!!!"
Lucas finished the circle, and then all the symbols around started to gather around him."Fire Dragon."
A fire dragon appeared and swallowed the barrier—then exploded. The explosion was strong enough to blast away the house itself, and so did Lucas. The werewolf got pushed from the explosion and landed on the two front doors ten meters away from the key.
Lucas then got himself up and looked at where the key was. A smile appeared on the werewolf's face, as in front of him was that very key lying on the floor. Without hesitation, he rushed forward and took the key."YES! I DID IT!" Joy overflowed in Lucas as he had succeeded in finding their way out of this place.
But the joy did not last long, as the black air started to fade, revealing the sun shining above his head."No no no, this can't be. No, Ellie, no—please don't die…"
Lucas looked in the direction where Ellie should be based on the flaming path. He fell in place when he saw the thing in the sky—a seven-element dragon that was about to descend."I'm late already, huh…" he mumbled.
"Another one."
Lucas then closed his eyes and focused on the anchor he had set, but nothing happened."Why? Why doesn't it work?"
He then tried again and again, but no matter how much he tried, nothing happened. He was still holding the key in his hand, looking at the elemental explosion happening not far away. Suddenly, a voice inside his head reached out to him."Hey kid, I don't know what you planned to do, but I can't let you use that power."
"Who are you?" Lucas panicked. He looked around to find the source of the voice, without noticing it was coming from inside his head."I think you know too well who I am. After all, I'm the reason you're a werewolf, you know.""Wrath?"
Hearing Lucas's answer, the devil itself let out a small sigh."You're useless—but at least not dumb.""That… doesn't matter right now. Why can't I use my power, Wrath? I need to use it to save Ellie!""Hey look, the thing is—your power is something I can't let you use under any circumstance. Even if it risks the life of my master, I still won't let you use it. So be a good boy and stay here.""No, please—just let me use it. I can't let her die!" Lucas begged the devil, but it didn't even respond to him anymore."Not like last time… with Anna," he mumbled.
Lucas then remembered something—something very unpleasant. Something that he would never want to experience a second time. Then he remembered the last time he died with Ellie. The devil didn't appear to stop him like this time.
Lucas then smiled:"If you stop me from using my power, then I'll force it to activate on its own!"
Lucas pulled out his revolver and pointed it at his head."Hey kid, what are you doing??" The devil tried to stop Lucas, but before it could do anything, the sound of a gunshot spread across the place.
Lucas was now back at the moment when both of them were still walking toward the cemetery—for the third time.