The Devil Takes the Night Shift

Chapter 17: The Hunter Reveals Himself as...

There he was, standing right before them as they exited the haunted house. Though, given who he was. That haunted house was looking a lot more inviting. Now there was a tense standoff between the two and this unknown figure.

"Seems you're better at surviving than I expected." He said to them, impressed by the quick little move that Juuto pulled off earlier. "I was hoping to snuff you without too much attention."

"Who are you?" Rame asked, preparing herself for another battle. However, unlike last time, she wasn't going to be nearly as strong as she was back then. If there was going to be a fight, then things would look pretty bad for her. Perhaps, she thought, that they might be able to buy time for Asaga and Mifuru to arrive and give them aid.

"..." The person sighed in response to that question. Something about the tone of that sigh sounded as though he was... Disappointed. "Oh come on!" He yelled out in frustration.

"Huh?" The two of them looked at him in bewilderment. That was quite different from the way he presented himself the entire time. Instead of that cool demeanor, he seemed rather upset.

"How can you not tell who I am?" He said it as if that should be an obvious fact. Yet Juuto hadn't even seen his face before. He ripped off the hood to reveal himself. To which that still didn't aid in telling either of them what his identity was.

For starters, he was a lot younger looking than Juuto was expecting. Sure, the voice didn't lend itself to suggesting he was an older man, but this person here looked like a kid in high school. The only feature that he'd say stood out about the boy, would probably be his snow white hair.

"I still got nothing." Rame responded to the sight. To her, this was the first time she was certain they met.

"You still don't recognize me?" He looked at her in shock. "I'm the great wizard? You know, the wizard Merlin?" While that name had shown up to Juuto before, that was of course in reference to legend on Earth. And he certainly didn't look like the wizard that aided Arthur in those stories. "I even live under your apartment, you've never even noticed me?"

"Can't say that I have. Not really sorry about it either." She replied.

"That's it, I'm killing you now." He put out his finger like a gun and shot off a bolt of ice at them. Rame dodged it by ducking, which caused the attack to pierce through the top part of her hot dog costume. It was time to make a run for it.

Quickly, Juuto grabbed her arm, and dragged her out towards the roads.

"Where are we going?" She asked him as the chase began. They were running away from the festival now, heading out to the empty streets of the town. "There's no one around here."

"Exactly." He responded. As dangerous as it was for them, they'd cause more suffering for everyone if they ran through the crowd. There was no chance that he'd ever consider using the people close to him as a shield. Not that the guy chasing them seemed to care. And so they ran through the dark streets of the town he grew up in. The only edge that Juuto could provide in a situation like this was that he knew these routes well. Even in dimly lit area's he could get them through quickly.

However, Merlin was moving fast himself. As well as the fact that the two of them were burdened by these bulky costumes that slowed them down. He was following closely on their tail, all the while taking pot shots hoping that one would hit. However, being on the run while using magic means that one won't be as accurate as they'd like. Though they were still close, as shards of ice shattered along the walls near them.

At this rate, they both knew that it was only a matter of time before they fell. However, what could they do in response to this attack. It was a shame that they agreed to be prepared for a situation like this, yet were caught with their pants down. Well, if either of them had pants on at the moment.