QUARTET ALLIANCE: LEND A HAND (Wild Duty & Judgement)

Chapter 37: Haunting Progress

"You trust me, right?"

Rehan looked at Kazuo, "O-Of course. I..I mean—it's just—"

"Then don't doubt me," Kazuo cut him off and went back to looking at the creature, "I'm not scared," He told Rehan, "So don't doubt me."

"Sorry. I thought you were afraid. I..I don't know what to do."

"You don't have to do anything," Kazuo said. E.A was only leaning closer to Zen and the raven head's jaw clenched, "It'll worsen the situation. We stay out of it and wait until a good time."

Rehan nodded, "But he's...he's gonna hurt him," He said, voice shaky.

"Zen's strong, he will handle it. Also, that creature looks like he took an interest in Zen, so I say the chances have dropped by a few pitches. It's only a matter of time, for all that. So, we still have to be on the look out," Kazuo replied, voice monotone and as quiet as ever.

Rehan felt a tiny wave of relief drip over him. Only a tiny amount, though. Kazuo did know what to, after all. They just needed to wait for a good time. However, when will that good time come? And what did Kazuo even mean by that? Rehan decided to ask him later.

'If we stay alive, obviously,' Rehan thought to himslef.

"Come closer and I'll let your disfigured face have it," Zen hissed as he gripped the fabric over his knees harder. E.A ignored his words and replied with a smirk as leaned in a challenging manner.

They were breaths apart and Zen knocked the said thing out of E.A by sending him a powerful punch. As powerful as he could muster. The red head huffed and stood up, slowly swaying as his head pounded and he leaned on the wall for support. The creature's head was moved to the side by a bit. Like Zen didn't even punch him with all the strength he had left in him, but just lightly relocated it. This made him mad, furious, and annoyed, but still a small amount of apprehension prickled in the pit of his stomach as he stared at E.A.

"Now you've done it," E.A growled as he got up, body towering over Zen's smaller one. He glared at the redhead before grabbing his arm and pulling him closer, "You're coming with me."

Zen obstinately tried to pull his arm back as his other hand layed flat on the wall for support. He almost tumbled over from a certain harsh pull from the creature.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Zen shouted as he used his other hand to strongly grip on E.A arm. He dug his nails as hard as he could into E.A skin. It turned out to be a futile attempt when the creature didn't withdraw, but only brought his other arm behind Zen's knees. The redhead put up a fight as much as he could. Still, his strength was sucked out of him in the past days and E.A was no match for him. With his muscular body and inhuman strength, this was like child's play for him.

E.A pulled the redhead and Zen felt his feet lose contact with the floor and his body twisted in a way that had E.A carrying him bridal style. Nothing about this could relate to a wedding, however, as the redhead kicked and kicked, almost all of them landing on the creature's face. Zen's efforts were put to waste when E.A tightly gripped both of his legs with one hand. One hand! He wasn't even using his arm, but only his huge five fingers. It was insane.

"W-Where are you taking him?" Rehan spoke, he couldn't completely abide by the agreement between him and Kazuo. This was like a sense of déjà vu. Like the last time he asked Cesal the same question when he was taking Jiryu. The distinction here was that he felt much smaller and weaker. Unable to do anything to save Zen and practically useless.