Hare of Misfortune

Rachel didn’t have time to listen to Nia’s shrieks as half the house was enveloped in solid-red fire, the blazing visage of Irida’s hound-like jaws ripping it away. Hammer spinning in Rachel’s hand, she held it against her chest as the redhead skipped through the ruby inferno.

Take your hammer and first meal, Nia!

”Got it! Now knock that bitch out! Her sister is trying to bite off my tail! She knows everywhere I go—she’s tracking my teleport energy!”

Recalling the hammer, Rachel grinned as it now resembled her own transformation after taking in Nia’s attribute with Lunar Energy. Do your best.

”Knock, knock!” Irida sang, sucking in the fire before licking her lips. ”Will you run, run, little hare, or jump into my mout—”

A black metal hammer struck the wolf between the eyes, twisting her into a backflip before hitting the ground face-down, to Nia’s gleeful cackles as she jumped over the building, Aleka in casual pursuit.

”Hahaha! I didn’t think you’d just throw it at h—yikes!”

”Best watch your tail, little bun! Way to take it to the face, Big Sis,” Aleka hummed, hot on Nia’s heels. ”Embarrassing! Oh, I could use a little luck, so maybe your leg?”

”Leave my pretty legs out of your mouth, you sicko!”

”Run, ru—dig?! Hey, get out of there!”

”Ho-ho-ho!” Nia chimed through their personal connection. ”Didn’t expect me to have digs as a bunny, did ya, hussy! Dig! Dig! Dig! Huh?!”

”Hah-hahaha...”

Rachel recalled her Hell hammer, leaning against it as the black flames licked down its length. Irida forced a laugh, slowly getting up, her skin turning a light shade of red. An earthquake lifted Rachel’s eyebrows as her hammer’s rubies lit up, absorbing the kinetic energy as Aleka dug after the surprised Living Denier.

”Mad?” Rachel asked the snarling girl as she fixed her tank top and cracked her neck; hellish eyes locked onto her. Her brain told her to run; her gut told her to stand her ground. ”Are you the joke of your sisters?”

”Funny. So...funny! Why don’t you—” Aleka snickered, prowling forward and twisting to kick her in the face; twirling her hammer upright, Rachel braced for the enormous impact. Her forearm tensed as the blow sent her legs into the floorboards and into the polluted soil underneath. ”Huh—ahh! No way, what did you...”

A little unstable after the strike that should have blown away a whole city block, Rachel thanked her baroness-enhanced abilities and physique. Twisting her shaft around, she swept the stunned Cerberus’ legs out from under her before grounding herself, activating her weapon’s ability, and punting Irida’s head like a golf ball.

”Bye-bye!”

”W-Wait!”

Her hammer, max-charged, unleashed an eruption of focused kinetic energy that struck the hound right where her human ear would have been; a gale exploded through most of the building she was in as the redirected vector wave force-fed the girl a taste of her own medicine. Irida launched into the air, her brain totally checked out after she’d taken a blow that should have been instant death, in her embarrassment.

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Rachel unclenched her fingers to find them shaking after Irida’s absorbed attack. At least she knew how much it could absorb at its max, and the Hellhound had probably been significantly holding back. Still, the shock would break her tunnel vision and hopefully make her rethink things.

”Now...time to run,” Rachel mumbled, returning her hammer to Nia’s storage and jumping out of the house to run along the streets.

The frightening part was that Irida’s kick had better form than she did, and she’d been called a natural, gifted fighter; the girl may have been a tad dense, but she was possibly better than her. The redhead would be on her soon enough since even her big sister’s attack hadn’t held her off for long.

Spreading out her Infernal senses as a baroness, Rachel could feel the pulse of Yomi and its negative influence across most of the city. Time slowed, a dagger twisting her gut as Irida’s grinning face appeared in front of her, sharp teeth gleaming in the gray, overhead light of the polluted moon.

”That was unexpected!”

Rachel barely jumped over her swipe, only to see her heel coming right for her face; it had been a feint. Hellfire took her into the building to her right, with Irida’s scarlet fingernails already reaching for her face as she appeared, glee in the hound’s ruby eyes.

”You’re fun!”

Doing a backbend, Rachel came to a complete stop as Irida’s grip tightened around her dress shirt collar. Was she really caught this easily? Irida giggled at her struggles. Rachel twisted to kick the side of the hound’s head, but the girl easily blocked it. She tried to Hellstep away, only to be met by a System message.

[Hell Step Blocked]

Panicking as she felt parts of her Baroness abilities being sealed away, she tried to send a wave of spirit-disrupting energy at the hound to disorient the girl and shrug her off.

[Hell Pulse Blocked]

”What?” Rachel whispered, eyes going wide as the thoughtful redhead’s blazing fist held her. A hum rumbled in the wolf’s throat as she promptly picked her up; the shock-factor roles were now reversed. ”Shit!”

”Heh. I think—hmm?”

”I got you! Eesh! It hurts! It hurts!”

The buttons popped off as Nia’s fabric slid through the flame-enhanced fingers of the hound; she burned part of the shirt, but it gave Rachel just the time she needed.

I owe you, Nia!

”More than that, Major!”

Sparkling light shimmered in front of her as she felt the girl give up her form and recreate it; the problem: it took a second to reconstitute her body, and while Rachel Hellstepped away, she saw Irida snatch Nia’s flying kick out of the air and throw the screaming child into oblivion.

”I missed—thanks a lot for the back—eep?! Oh no, she spotted me in the air—Rachel! Help! Help!”

Outside of the house, Rachel forced a laugh as Irida appeared right in front of her. These ladies had powers she’d never seen before that could mess with souls; she couldn’t believe Nia would be fine if caught.

Her hammer met the blow, stopping the wolf’s momentum dead in its tracks, allowing Rachel to land an elbow against her stationary figure. The Hellhound was holding back by a large margin, judging by the bright grin she wore upon taking it to the face.

World slowing with her constant use of Accelerated Mind, Rachel swiftly spotted Nia high in the sky and threw her hammer as Irida returned for more.

Catch! It’s charged!

”Ack—got it! Ahhh! She’s right—get blasted, mutt!”

Rachel’s heart stopped as the Hellhound blurred faster than a blink, and the feral girl’s flame-wrapped fingers closed around her neck. A weight slammed against her spirit in a way she’d never felt before; a cage of some kind.

[Baroness Powers Blocked]

”Got you—oh, haha! I got a little carried away,” Irida said brightly, quickly letting her go and patting her sides.

[Baroness Powers Released]

”I’m not supposed to be so rushed. Thalia would scold me if I got upset. Now we’re even! You surprised me. I surprised you! Aleka is having fun chasing your little rabbit, but that’s not fun for me. Show me what you got, hare! C’mon!”

Rachel forced a smile as Irida threw a few playful jabs, making her realize just how far out of her league she was in a Challenge Rating 3 when properly handled, as Izanami was doing. Even with the Blood Moon, she could see these sisters being a real challenge. A Marchioness of Hell demolished a Baroness—it was no contest.

”Wow. Umm. So, you’ve...had formal training?”

”Pfft!” Irida snickered and rolled around her neck. ”It’s Hell, sweetheart! I meet all sorts of people, and you learn a thing or two from escapees. What did Thalia do there?”

Taking a turn Rachel hadn’t expected, she heard Nia screeching in the background with the hound hot on her tail as she had a chat with the ’most hotheaded’ of the triplets.

”A contract...”

Irida’s face sparked with understanding. ”I see... Well, we need to find my sister! If you don’t find her, then we’re all in trouble.”