Crimson Fire

Chapter Five

The explosion from Sandra's Wind Spellbomb had cleared up already. Instead of worrying about what Sandra will do next, Stella had to focus on Andrew.

Andrew thrusts his Lance at Stella, but she steps to the right to dodge. With her left hand, she slashes Andrew with her Scythe. With his free left hand, Andrew grabs the Scythe and yanks it towards himself. Stella is not able to hold onto the Scythe, so she unintentionally lets it go.

Holding the Scythe in his hand, Andrew drops it to the ground. As soon as the Scythe hits the, a Dark Spellbomb comes his way.

Stella watches as the Spellbomb explodes in front of Andrew. Black particles disperse from the explosion. Using this as a distraction, she runs to her Scythe, but a black boot kicks in her stomach.

The kick came from Andrew. It looks like he had dodged the Spellbomb in time. He coats his Lance with his crimson-colored Fire Midrash and attacks with Pyro Thrust.

The attack grazes Stella's left arm. She had barely dodged, but the graze was enough to cause her arm to bleed. Blood came pouring out.

As soon as Stella has distanced herself, she lifts her left hand to create an upgraded Spellbomb called Shadow Spellbomb. Ignoring the pain, she throws the Spellbomb at Andrew. She knew Andrew would try to dodge, so she immediately goes after her Scythe and picks it up.

With her right hand, she attacks Andrew from behind with Dark Slash. The attack lands as soon as Andrew turns around to face Stella. It was his chest that took the slash. His shirt splits open and blood comes pouring out from the wound.

Andrew screams out in pain. During this time, Stella throws a Spellbomb to knock him out. The battle is now over.

With an angry look, Renee glares at Sandra "What the heck?!"

Sandra just smirks and turns to Cassie. "Let's beat her up like we talked about."

Before Renee gets a chance to respond, an orangish-red Wind Spellbomb comes at her. It explodes when it hits Renee. The attack came from Cassie.

The Spellbomb didn't cause much damage but was enough to knock Renee back. Before the twins could continue the fight, Renee transforms into a Phoenix. In this form, she flies above the roof of the house.

Cassie creates an upgraded Spellbomb called Whiff Spellbomb and tries to throw it at the Phoenix, but it misses and falls onto the ground. Sandra throws her Breeze Spellbomb and also misses.

The twins Cassie and Sandra continue to throw Spellbombs at the Phoenix, but she just keeps dodging them and slowly moves toward the barn.

Renee powers up her wings with Fire Midrash to attack the twins with Ashen Wings. The two girls jump to dodge the attack.

Still in her Phoenix form, Renee flies up and then slowly comes down next to the barn. She transforms back into her human form. "Florian! Jasper!"

Florian and Jasper finally come out of the barn. They are surprised to see Renee and the twins.

"Oh," Jasper said. "Will they be helping us with the sheep?"

Cassie and Sandra immediately throw their Spellbombs at the boys. The two Wind Spellbombs explode and Jasper takes the damage.

Florian throws a Sludge Spellbomb at the twins while Renee throws an Ashen Spellbomb. Jasper finally gets up and throws a Dust Spellbomb.

The twins have time to react to the first Spellbomb but not the second and third. Still mad at the twins, Renee throws another Ashen Spellbomb to finish the battle. Both Cassie and Sandra are knocked out.

While standing over Andrew's body, Stella sees Renee at the barn with the boys. She looks over her back and sees Georgios walking to her with his men.

Georgios is confused as Andrew starts to stand up. "Huh? What happened? I thought me and my men were here as backup? Where's Sandra?!"

Stella explained to Georgios about Sandra's betrayal. During the explanation, Renee, Florian, and Jasper came walking up to her.

Georgios notices immediately. "Where's Sandra?! I want to know if she really did betray me!"

Renee looks back at the barn and the twins are gone. "Huh? They were just there! Where and how did they just get up and leave?"

Andrew gets even more angry. "I don't care about that! Were you guys here to steal my sheep from me?! And where are my men?! Cassie hasn't called them yet!"

Stella sighs. "Alright, Georgios, to be honest, we're not to steal anybody's livestock. We were here for Andrew."

Andrew is still mad. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Georgios sighs. "Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I just wanted to tag along to see if that's true. I'll leave you guys! I gotta find Sandra and deal with her."

"So," Renee said. "My friend and I rejected you at the bar, so you had her servant chase us down? Is that true?"

Andrew scoffs. "Tsk! That's what you get for rejecting me!"

Renee slaps him on his cheek. Andrew screams out and curses. He stops when he sees Renee glaring at him.

"Anyways," Stella began. "What kind of trouble are you causing around here?"

"Tsk!" Andrew scoffed. "Like I said before, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Would you know if your cheek met my friend's palm again?"

Andrew immediately backs down. "Fine! You see, sheep meat is really popular. There is this benefactor, they made a deal with me. If I can supply them with sheep meat, they will make me a lot of money."

Stella raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Does this benefactor have a name?"

Andrew hesitates. "I don't want to be in this person's crosshair…"

Stella sighs. "This person doesn't have to know it was you. You gotta give us something to go off of."

After a moment of hesitation, Andrew finally gives in. "Alright, I won't give you this person's name, but I'll give you someone else's name. Damianos!"

"Where can we find this Damianos person?" Stella asked.

"He lives in the resort. It's south of here. Just go south!"

With that information, Stella and her friends spend the night at the inn and leave the ranch to go south the following morning.

Meanwhile, after the battle at Andrew's ranch, a man wearing a black uniform approaches the twins. "Sandra and Cassie! How would you two like to run your own ranch?" He turns to the six soldiers behind him. "Wait until Stella leaves and then arrest Andrew."