Arachne had no idea who the woman was. She had never seen the woman before. Or, if she had, she couldn’t remember. The woman wasn’t Genoa and she wasn’t the professor at the very least.
It was clear that she was an enemy of Eva.
Her Eva was in danger.
What more motivation did Arachne need?
Leaping over the half destroyed wall that might have been a window at one point, Arachne sprouted extra legs from her back.
Swinging three legs and a hand, Arachne raked her razor sharp limbs through the air.
The woman ducked and rolled, freezing the blood around the floor and walls as she moved.
“Another one? How many of you must I kill before you stay dead!”
Neither Arachne nor Eva responded. Arachne was far too focused on watching the woman’s every move.
Whether she had heard Arachne or had picked up on some tell from Eva, her dodge wasn’t unexpected. Eva would have killed someone weaker without issue. Her blood magic was strong enough to defeat most foes.
Therefore, this person was somewhat exceptional.
But still a mortal.
A mortal that wasn’t dressed like the nuns. Unless she had decided to attack out of uniform, that meant that Arachne wouldn’t need to worry about their horrible lightning.
Arachne didn’t pause for a moment. Pushing off the wall with her legs, she lunged forward.
Her hand caught the woman right in the stomach.
Arachne snatched her hand back in shock and pain. The tips of her fingers had crumpled, her carapace cracked.
The woman had a tee-shirt on. Nothing fancy. Simple cotton. And yet, Arachne’s fingers slammed into it as if they had struck a brick wall—something harder than a brick wall. Her claws could tear apart solid stone if she was trying. The only evidence that she had even touched the woman were a few dark pinpricks on the shirt.
Grinning, the woman stepped forwards as Arachne stared at her fingers. She grabbed hold of Arachne’s hand, ducked under a set of swiping legs, and used one of those legs as a brace for Arachne’s arm. Giving only a slight push, the woman managed to shatter the chitin on both Arachne’s arm and the leg it had been braced against.
“Arachne!”
Eyes blazing brighter than before, Eva charged forwards. One hand brandished the dagger while her other lit up in flames.
The woman raised her guard, conjuring a set of icicles as she moved away from Arachne.
As Arachne went for the icicles, slashing them out of the air, Eva blinked behind the woman. Dagger already raised, she brought it down, aiming for the woman’s neck.
Just as she did when Arachne attacked, the woman had something of a sixth sense about the direction Eva was striking from. She moved to the side, ducking just enough to fit her head between two of Arachne’s limbs. A swipe of her legs knocked Arachne’s legs out from under her.
Arachne had to use her extra legs to grapple onto the wall, preventing her fall.
While Arachne was busy catching her balance, Eva’s dagger did not slip by without resistance. The tip of it scraped against the woman’s arm as she dodged, just enough to draw a thin red line from her hand halfway to her elbow.
Eva immediately blinked back to the other side of the room. She let out a short, satisfied hum as she clapped her hands together.
A bright flash filled Arachne’s vision.
Arachne jumped back, not wanting to be anywhere near someone who could break her arm with her bare hands while blind.
Her loss of vision lasted only a moment. She hadn’t even landed on the ground near Eva before things returned to normal.
Normal for her, at least. The woman wasn’t quite so lucky.
Red blood dripped through her fingers as she clutched at a ragged stump. Her hand and part of her arm was lying on the floor at her feet. Face set in a grimace, she glared out with one red eye and one green eye.
“You’ll pay,” she said as ice started to form over the stump, cutting off the flow of blood.
Under other circumstances, Arachne might have indulged in a little meaningless banter. She had done so with the carnivean during their first encounter.
But now… this woman is standing in the way of my reunion with Eva.
Grinding her teeth together, Arachne stole a glance to her side.
Eva appeared healthy for the most part. There was a darker mark around her neck, roughly in the shape of a hand. A few cuts and scrapes dotted her skin and the carapace of one of her hands was damaged. All in all, things could be worse.
With a light twitch of her head, Arachne was back to focusing on their current enemy.
She readied herself by spinning a few quick threads. Thin yet long ones.
Arachne charged forwards once again as Eva blinked around the room. In near perfect sync, they attacked.
As expected, the woman dodged Arachne’s limbs.
The thread trailing off her fingers and legs weren’t quite so easy to dodge. Swinging her arms quick enough, she managed to loop a section around the woman’s body. With a flick of her wrist, Arachne pulled the threads tight, tying off her movements as Eva came in with the dagger.
A ring of ice formed around her neck just in time to block Eva’s dagger.
Not having any of that, Arachne used one leg to lift up the woman’s shirt and another three to plunge into her spinal column.
Eva took matters into her own hands. She went above the woman’s neckline, digging and dragging the dagger through her red hair. Eva didn’t try to cut the bone of the skull, but she didn’t need to.
Blinking away, Eva stared for just a moment.
Arachne pulled her legs from the woman’s back, letting her slump down to the ground.
The moment she hit the ground, the woman vanished. Nothing but the faint scent of sulfur remained.
A clapping sound echoed through the room just as she vanished.
Looking up to Eva, Arachne tilted her head. “Did you get her?”
“I don’t know. If she comes back anytime soon, I’ll get her right away.”
“Good,” Arachne said. Shifting awkwardly, she flexed the spare legs from her back. “I doubt that she’ll be back soon. If she can ever walk again.”
Standing there, Arachne didn’t know what to say. Looking at Eva fresh out of a battle—sweating and panting with her hair thrown in disarray—Arachne found herself at a loss. Before dying at the hands of the nuns, they hadn’t been on the best of terms. Mostly due to the Genoa incident.
What to do? What to say? Such a treasure in front of her and yet…
The decision was taken out of Arachne’s claws.
Eva blinked over to her, wrapping both arms around Arachne’s body.
“I missed you.”
Arachne stretched one arm and several legs around Eva, forming a protective net as she returned the hug.
“I missed you too.”
Chapter 028
Just before the bull slammed into him, it stepped on a bit of rubble. The rubble moved, causing its hoof to slip.
Clement’s fist, and the ring on his finger, went straight over the devil’s head.
Using the enchantments on his boots, Clement hopped back before the bulk of the bull could crash into him. He shook off the brief sensation of nausea—a sensation that had been getting worse as the fight went on—and took a moment to catch his breath. The devil being far enough away and still picking himself up off the ground gave Clement a brief moment to think.
Taking the hit and letting himself get bashed into by the devil might give him a chance to backhand the creature, but just the same, he might simply be crushed before having a chance to fight back.
If he got crushed without managing to tag the devil with the ring, the devil would be free to find Gertrude.
And Clement somehow doubted that he would be able to hit the devil.
Zagan had to know.
The first time that the devil had lost his footing and slipped right under Clement’s fist, he might have chalked it up to coincidence. The second time was a little strange, but perhaps this devil was just extraordinarily uncoordinated.