Soul Eater: The Complex Soul of a Witch? Chapter 1

The air was murky, fog enveloping the large forest which surrounded the area. The trees, the trunks rotting with a thick, green patch of mold, stand tall, the branches swaying down to scrape the ground.  All through the area, an ominous and mysterious presence stood, one which would remain unknown to anyone who so decided to walk along this seemingly endless stretch of gloomy fog.

Where this absence of activity stood, the small town of Salem, Massachusetts resided a few miles away. Although this area seemed to be but a simple, calm town to many travelers, there was something hidden from those who did not live here or know of its history. Lost mainly by the people who tried to bury its secret, this small town was the home of many unknown mysteries kept locked within for centuries, only known to those who passed the stories down to newer generations.

Centuries ago, the town of Salem was inhabited by many townsfolk, who seemed disturbed at the practices of other locals around the area. They considered these acts as witchcraft, those which overwhelmed the power of human comprehension. No matter how hard those thrown on trial tried to deny this, the enraged majority of Salem would always shoot down their pleads of innocence, considering what they were charged of were sins against the divinity of god and his people. In the span of a few months, around 20 people accused of this act were sent to their graves, their corpses free to hang on Gallows Hill.

As more and more people were accused of these crimes, the less constant they became, until it reached the point where there was no ritualistic activity occurring whatsoever. Everything which seemed to happen before slowly died away, the townsfolk doing everything in their power to throw away the memories which would forever haunt them and this place.

Upon seeing this activity, Lord Death, the almighty reaper himself, and the head of the Death Weapon Meister Academy in Death City, would routinely send a weapon and meister pair to the area. This acted as two things: for one, to keep order in this town, and its people who were so determined about uncovering the existence of these witches, and also to be prepared should a witch be residing there. Lord Death made it a top priority to maintain peace and balance throughout the world, and with even the slightest chance of there being a witch in these parts, he could not take any chances.

Every so often, he would send a few students to scout the area, to get an understanding of everything that happened here. Their job was to usually search around and find any traces of magical activity, and act accordingly if they sensed anything. Of course, over time, witches were starting to become used to these tricks, developing new methods of countering them such as Soul Protect, which prevented a weapon or meister to detect the presence of their Soul Wavelength.

As time passed, so did the people of the town, and the pairs sent to scout and defend it. However, one thing did not change over time; there was one being who had lived here since those times, and one who knew exactly the events which transpired on those darkest of days, as being a key witness to them herself. This being, shrouded in total mystery since those times, simply called herself Hana.

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Through the cloud of fog which gave this area its dreary feel to it, a few wet footsteps could be heard, due to the moisture which collected on the ground below. It seemed to grow louder with every single step, until the figure of a dark silhouette came into view. It finally stopped, taking a stance as it surveyed the area around it. This only lasted a few moments, before it took its hands from behind its back and placing them near its sides, revealing two equally sized masses gripped tightly in its hands.

"Is this where we need to be at?" One voice asked, sounding like a strong young woman, with a bit of a timid tone in her voice due possibly to the mood set by the place she was at right now.

"I dunno, sis, but this place looks spooky!" Another girlish voice spoke, this one being much more lively and full of pep and energy. From how she spoke, it seemed more fun to be here than anything else.

"Well, this definitely seems like the place we should be at, that's for sure." Of the three, this could easily be determined as the voice of a boy, with a more direct and less muffled sound coming from him then the two female voices. What he said, however, also gave off more of a dedicated impression, more confidence and focus radiating from his voice than from the two girls who seemed to be following his lead with what was happening.

Now, from out of the smoke-like fog, the figure could finally be defined; he stood around 5 feet and 11 inches tall, a very formal young man who sported a black suit, with white rectangles spaced out evenly on both sides. On his chest lay a metallic skull, which looked to serve as sort of a tie. His eyes were yellow, able to pierce through the darkness and into sight, for whoever may be close enough to view them. The only thing which did not seem to match his attire was the three white lines which cut off at only the left side of his dark black hair…

It was apparent who this group was; it was Death the Kid, the son of Lord Death himself, who seemed to be scouting the area himself. As with his attire which remained (almost) symmetrical, so were the dual pistols he carried in each hand, being weapons of his and carrying the very souls of his partners, Liz and Patti, twin sisters who joined with him after he saved them from a gang of mobsters a long while ago.

"Wherever this witch is, we must find her before she can cause any more trouble." Kid stated, before exiting out of his normal defensive stance and walking forward yet again, tilting his head around on occasion to prevent any sort of possible ambush from any creature which resided here.

"Um… okay, so is there a reason why we're here exactly? You described nothing before or since we left."  Liz stated, confused as to why her meister was keeping so much to himself about what they were doing here.

"Now that we are here, and away from the townspeople, I suppose I can tell you both what's happening now. You see, there is a-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Patti stared at the many trees which made up the area, slightly giggling as each branch brushed softly against her in her weapon form. "Hehe, that tickles!" She squealed in her usual happy tone, just excited she would have another usual opportunity to have fun as with many of the other missions she went on.

"Patti, will you shut it for five seconds so I can explain?!" Kid yelled, annoyed at his partner, who was oblivious right now to the threats they may face ahead of them in the fog.

"Oh, okay Kid!" Patti said, now quieting down so both her and Liz could listen carefully.

"Thank you. Now anyway, we are here because the people of this town have been experiencing a bit of strange activity in the last few years or so. What has been occurring is a few individuals have been reported missing from the town, some even actually spotted walking into this forest, something these people know they should never do because of the danger that possibly lurks here."

"Well, wh… what's so bad about this area? It doesn't seem… too bad." Liz tried to state, not being able to hide the fact that she seemed a bit nervous even being here.

"You know, the typical myths that are spread in small towns; werewolves, vampires, zombies, witches, all of those ludicrous claims."

"Heh, yeah, that's just silly…" Liz tried to play off as if she was not bothered by this, but still could not cover up the fact she felt anxious about everything the boy had just brought up. Soon enough, there was a faint howling noise, making Liz shriek and slowly rattle, as she remained gripped in one of Kid's hands. After the sound ceased, giggles could be heard erupting from Kid's other side, as Patti seemed giddy over what she just did. Realizing it was just her sister, Liz felt a little less paranoid. "Patti, please don't do that, you know I hate that!"

"Will you two knock it off?! If you are any louder, she will be able to find us!" Kid yelled, causing the area around them to echo with his booming voice. Apparently, finding whatever was causing this in secrecy would not be a possibility, considering they would have already been detected by now.

"Oops, sorry Kid." Patti said, once again quieting herself enough so she could hear what Kid needed to say. Liz, also staying quiet, opened her ears as to listen to what he was going to say next.

"Anyway, it seems they were in a trance, considering those who tried to call their names were given no response. The odd part about all of this is that they return rather quickly, between a few days or even just a few hours, unable to remember where they were or what happened to them."

"So whatever is causing this is what we are looking for?" Liz asked.

"Exactly." Kid stated.

"But if it's nothing too serious, why the hell are we even here?" Liz asked, seeming a bit agitated. "If there's nothing that bad happening, what's the point of us wasting our time here if we have more important things to deal with?"

"I'm with sis, there's nothing here but a bunch of creepy old trees and fog." Patti simply agreed. "It doesn't seem like there would be anything here but that."

"Yes, but think of it this way; neither of us have any real idea as to what we're looking for. You could both be wrong, but however, perhaps you may be right and I am wrong. Still, it does not hurt to at least try to uncover answers and get an understanding of what has been happening. Besides, what we are truly concerned about is the town and its people. If they are led on to believe there is another witch in their presence, they will sure to be back the way they were centuries ago."

At that point, Liz and Patti could not argue this; they may have to rid the world of spirits that were deemed evil, but protect the people who coexisted with these beings as well. Even if there was no witch or spiritual entity to be concerned about, it would not easily convince the townspeople. Whether or not this was just a strange occurrence, there was still that possibility of there being a figure preying on their helpless nature.

"Also, to add to this, there is something I have wanted to tell father, about not trusting him and trying to meddle with his affairs which he tried to keep secrets for good reason. I know any other ordinary meister and weapon could tackle this assignment, but I felt I needed to take this willingly for him. When I spoke to him about it, he actually did not mind if I decided to do this or not. That being said, this is of my choice."

"What, so we don't get a say so in these things?" Liz asked, sounding almost as annoyed as before.

"Don't worry about it! We're a team, and what one person decides, we should all totally go with it!" Patti chimed in, trying to cheer up Liz whom only sighed, just wanting to get this over with so she could go home and rest up for school in the morning.

With this, Kid lightly smiled. "Thank you both very much for your support. I could not ask for two more reliable weapons to be partnered with. Once this is over, we shall go home immediately and have time to relax. Do not worry about how long we shall stay. We'll be out of here in less than 8 minutes precisely, faster than you can say symmetry."

That being said, Liz sighed, only to be slightly comforted with the fact her sister was not irritated in any way. Since they were little, Liz tried to do everything in her power to make her little sister happy, always sticking up to her and giving her support. It was only in her nature to go with what Patti wanted, considering just having her by her side was enough from her going insane by Kid's frantic ways.

With that in mind, Kid continued to walk along, still keeping a very watchful eye. This was going to be a long night for the trio, as they continued to trod farther and farther into the darkness of the forest.

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Kid slowly walked closer to the dark and haunting figure which stood only a few feet away. Kid knew exactly what he needed to do, at this moment. He needed to simply be a man and confront what he has been holding off of for some time now. As he felt it was completely necessary to do so, he went in on this alone.

Kid, finally reaching the figure, stopped as the sound of his footsteps died along with his movements. There he stood for a few moments, before he finally decided to speak out. "Father." Kid greeted, with that same monotone expression which described his typical speaking voice.

"Hm…" As soon as those words came from the boy's mouth, the figure then turned its attention from the mirror it was glancing it, revealing its front side to Kid who simply looked back up to him, not changing how he stood or how he viewed him. The figure, this being, completely towered over Kid, sporting a black robe with jagged edges all around. On its hands appeared to be large white gloves, and on its face it wore a rounded skull mask, with holes to reveal only more darkness. To the students of the DWMA, and all people who lived in Death City, it was more than clear who this trusted and highly-respected figure was; it was Lord Death himself.

"Heya kiddo, wazzup?! It's great for you to stop by and check up on your old man every once in a while!" Death greeted, quite a surprise to see his son to stop by. Sure, he probably needed something from him, but it always lightened his day up being able to see him.

"Hello to you as well, father." Kid replied. "I need to bring something up to you."

"Oh? Do tell, Kid."

"Well, it's that, you see, I um…" Kid was trying to choose his words carefully, that he still had regrets for what he did. He did not want to betray his father's trust in any way; he simply wanted to discover the truth with a series of cover ups. The secrets of the sorcerer Eibon and the magic tools he created were too mysterious for Kid to simply ignore, and this only made Kid more suspicious due to the fact that his father would always seemingly dodge his questions and concerns over the matter. It was only until the very end where him, and Eibon, explained to Kid why they kept this a secret to not only him, but to others as well. The only true motive behind this was to keep intelligence from falling into the enemy's reach, considering these tools could have very well held the key to their success.

Soon enough, Kid was left silent, before finally trying to bring something up to his father. "Oh yes, it was about a possible town I have read a bit about. It is the town of Salem, Massachusetts, where it seems famous for the presence of possible witches and witchcraft." Kid said.

"Well, um yes, but it doesn't quite mean there are witches there." Death stated, his eye opening now closed with one of his large gloves scraping the back of his head, slightly chuckling. "You see, the thing about it is I have almost recently given up around that area. It seems nothing there has happened over the last 300 years. I don't know if it was because there the presence of magic wasn't detected, or the fact that there was none of it to even begin with."

"Yes, father, but take a look at this news story I looked over just a few days ago, you might find it a bit interesting." Pulling a piece of paper from out of his pocket, Kid handing it over to his father, who graciously inspected it. On the paper contained an article about the disappearances of a few people over the last few weeks, as well as their eventual return and unknowingness of what happened to them.

"Hm… rather interesting, indeed. Well, it's not quite enough to indicate the presence of a witch, but it is enough for me to be more alert now." Death stated, the possibility of having another incident similar to the Salem Witch trials burned within his skull. "Perhaps I shall once again send another weapon and meister…"

"Father… let me go and do this for you." Kid offered, seeing as how this would be a perfect opportunity for him to make it up to his father for his distrust earlier. "I think it would be best considering these spells; I am of your blood, so that means they do not easily affect me."

"Well, you do have a bit of a point there, Kid." Death replied. "Well, with you saying that, I find absolutely no reason to stop you! But are you sure you want to take the time to do this? This is not a requirement whatsoever."

"Of course I am." Kid proclaimed. "I want to do this, not only for those people, but for you as well."

"Oh, and what makes you say that, Kid?" Death asked, curious as to why Kid was doing this specifically for him when he did not clearly request him to do so.

"Just to give you something to rest easy on." Kid stated, though slightly lying to cover the real reason behind why he wanted to do this.

Death nodded with this, unaware that his son was trying to hide something away from him now. "Fair enough. Just you and your weapons be careful now! I hope to hear only good from you, my son!"

Kid, before turning back around to head out and meet his weapons, simply smirked and headed out to accomplish the task now at hand. "I'll be just fine."

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"Symmetry!" Patti giggled, finishing the self-imposed timer Kid had set 8 minutes prior.

"Well, there you go, Kid. That at all prove to you we shouldn't be here?" Liz inquired.

"Okay, I might have exaggerated a bit when I said an even 8 minutes, but that's not the point. We are here to find whatever is causing this disturbance and put a stop to it. Time really should not be much of a concern anymore."  Kid had not the time to deal with Liz's constant stifling; that was also none of his concern as of now. Sooner or later, they would be out of here, but at this moment, they needed to focus on the task at hand, and end it before something tragic happens.

As Kid passed by one tree in particular, something seemed strange; there was an odd bulge, possibly an abnormal growth after sitting in a dormant state after all of these years. Kid thought nothing of this, so he simply continued to move forward. What he did not realize, however, that this was not just a simple lump conjoined to the bark of this tree.

Almost in an instant, the "growth" on the tree disappeared, revealing the figure of a human body. The movement was so quick and so silent, Kid did not even bother to turn around and notice it. The figure, seeming to be a woman, made a slight smirk, as if she had been expecting Kid to aimlessly wander through these parts. She now stood there, one foot propped against the tree, her arms crossed and the same uniform look on her face.

"Is that so?" The figure finally said, ridding itself of that stance against the trunk as it now stood up, walking into the open with the slight noise of its footsteps as they squished against the wet and dew-covered ground.

Upon hearing the womanly voice behind him, Kid stopped there dead in his tracks. It was extremely surprising to him that he had been sneaked on so randomly, as that he saw absolutely nothing to arouse any sort of suspicion. Yet again, there was still the possibility of there being a witch in these parts, so even Kid's powers could not sense one if they had Soul Protect on.

Kid soon turned around to confront the womanly figure, whose body seemed a bit hidden due to the heavy fog and darkness which matched the night. "So... I would ask exactly why you are here, but I'm being led to believe you are the one causing all of this, considering how quickly you snuck up on me." Kid stated.

The being simply chuckled at this. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, dear boy." She said. "I am but a simple wanderer."

"No, that is a lie and you know it." Kid countered. "If you hadn't noticed, I am a weapons meister, and I have the ability to detect the presence of souls, which I could not for you. That being said, I'm led to believe you are using Soul Protect, which only means that you are a-"

"Witch?" The woman cut the boy off and finished his statement before he could himself. She now started to walk closer to Kid, until she was finally in full view and visible for them all to see. She wore a thin, white dress, which was suited with even black stripes running down it. She wore pure white stockings; her feet secured in pointed and pitch black shoes. Her body was complimenting to all of this, as she had a very slender and womanly build. She had dark, blue eyes, and short yet flowing silver hair, a few strands touching her shoulders. Along with this, she wore a strange hat, pointed like her shoes, but light and baring a strange design, with beady eyes and what appeared to be a long tongue hanging from it like a reptile. The last notable image was the pure black amulet tightly secured on her neck, which appeared blacker than the very night itself.

"You would be correct on that." She stated, looking to the slightly smaller boy with a smile on her face. "I think it's rude for me to be so bland to someone I just met, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Hana, or as I like to see myself, the Chameleon."

"That doesn't matter to me whatsoever. Skip your simple formalities and tell me why you are doing this. I have been sent here to stop you." Kid declared.

"Hm, it's apparent I'm not the only one being rude." Hana grumbled.  "Unfortunately for you, there is nothing to truly stop. If that's what you're here for, it's all in vain."

"You're avoiding what I'm asking you! I know for a fact it has been you, do not try to deny it! Those missing townspeople, were you responsible for their temporary disappearances or not?" Kid was starting to grow impatient, considering this witch was not going to cooperate, which really didn't surprise him if they had intentions of pure evil.

"Oh, THAT'S what you were referring to. Yeah, I've been leading those folks right to me, what about it? A woman should be entitled to have a bit of fun every once in a while."

"Fun? What others have to worry about it what you consider 'fun'? All you are doing is manipulating the minds of others and causing the people of Salem to enter a fit of hysteria. If this continues, they'll go back to the way they were before." Kid said.

Hana once again chuckled at this, finding it rather humorous that the town was close to entering this state due to her actions. "You actually think I care about them? If they want to rip each other's throats out at thinking there's someone like me out there, I'll let them. It would be some sight to see."

"Unfortunately for you, that is not going to happen." Kid pronounced, now setting himself up in a fighting stance, raising his arms and crossing his dual pistols against his chest. "Now before your life ends here, tell me this: how is it exactly you were able to avoid me and use your powers? If you were not able to use your abilities, I would have easily detected you.

"Ah, so you must be aware of my technique. It's one I have developed myself called Soul Camouflage. What it does is allow me to split my soul wavelength evenly in half, allowing one half to be used for my regular powers and the other solely for Soul Protect, so I won't be easily noticed by meddlesome do-gooders like you." Hana explained. "When I switch off Soul Protect, my two separate wavelengths combine to form a stronger and more definite wavelength, one which allows you to see a full grasp of my power. Shall I give a demonstration?"

Hana took a ready stance, as Kid drew his weapons, unaware of the witch's next movements which could very well be to attack head on. The witch, however, did not budge, standing directly ahead of Kid as she appeared to be preparing for something. With her hands tightly gripped now, what appeared to be a field of dark energy surrounded her, being separated by two parts. Very quickly, these two masses joined together, forming a larger field of energy before receding into the woman's body.

Kid could now sense it clearly; her Soul Wavelength, one which felt so strong and so direct, completely opposite to what he experienced before, which was nothing at all. How she had gone from radiating absolutely nothing to this large field of energy and magic astonished Kid, seeing as how he had not once encountered anyone with these capabilities.

"That's quite the magic trick you put on there, Hana." Kid said, putting an act on for the girl to cover how impressed he truly was just by simply seeing this.  "But it's going to take a lot more than that to convince me you'll stand even a decent chance against me."

"Hm… maybe this might help, then?" Before Kid could react, she once again split her powers into two, this time being at lightning speed. Only a few moments later, Hana vanished within thin air, gone without so much as a single trace. Kid now stood, understanding she had her own plan in mind of attacking; Kid realized she had used this trick once before to become invisible, and would now strike at himwithout him being able to detect the presence of her Soul Wavelength. Unfortunately for her, though, Kid knew that splitting these attacks would simply cut her power into half, so the threat she imposed in this state became far less. Still, she remained a danger to him, considering he had absolutely no view of her whatsoever.

Kid stood in his stance, both guns drawn and extended to give him a full view of the area around him. He contorted his body in a way that he could get an entire view of his proximity, should she plan an attack from any direction. "Liz… Patti…" Kid said, gaining the attention of both weapons now. "I need you to be my second pair of eyes and ears, wherever this witch is, she will be planning to strike at any moment."

"Okay!" Patti chimed with her usual happy tone, taking her fingers and opening her eyelids wide in her weapon form.

"Got it, Kid." Liz agreed. "We'll help any way we-"

Before she could finish, she was interrupted when Hana came back into view, her body in the air preparing to lunge. She chose this opportunity because Kid was not properly watching as his back was turned. "Kid, watch out, she's in front!" Liz warned, immediately gaining Kid's attention as he turned back around to see the witch.

"You go no further, witch." Kid declared, quickly pointing both guns in her direction and beginning to unload at her.  Seeing the boy now turning to offense, she quickly switched back to her normal form of power, before swiping her hands and creating a dark field in front of her. As she levitated in the air, this wall of energy deflected every single shot taken with ease, as she slightly yawned at the boy's attempts at breaking it.

"Is that all? Come on boy; is there nothing else you can do?" She questioned, before taking both palms and pressing against the wall of energy, now causing it to fly down at Kid on the intent of crushing him. The meister, seeing the manifestation coming at an alarming rate, did a quick backflip, not disturbing the symmetry he was creating for himself. As he dodged it, the wall crashed into the ground, causing the area around them to shake and rumble a bit. Once he landed, Kid tried to think of how he would counter. The woman seemed to be powerful enough to simply bounce his bullets off, but Kid realized; what if there was a way he could get her in a position with her back turned, and a clear opening to strike? With that in mind Kid knew what he must do.

Very quickly, Kid started to run, still firing at the witch to try and divert her attention for a few moments. As he did so, the witch created another small forcefield to shield his attacks, turning her body and the wall to prevent having an opening for the boy to shoot at. Once she found an opening, one where the boy had stopped firing to gather his thoughts, she quickly ridded herself of the temporary cover. Soon enough, her arm started to emit a black light, before finally swiping it in Kid's direction. From her limb shot what appeared to be a dark crescent, similar to the movement of the swipe of a steel blade. Considering this was a clear attack, Kid dodged it as well, bending his body and allowing it to pass overhead. The crescent shaped figure soon collided with an object, slicing through a few trees with relative ease and causing them to fall to the ground.

Now seeing as how he would have to evenly mix offense with defense, Kid simply smiled. "Ah… perfect symmetry. Just what I will need to defeat this witch." He calmly said. To him, mixing these two created a perfect balance, allowing him to focus on each element equally.

"Oh brother…" Liz grumbled, while Patti giggled as the boy's obsession with symmetry was about to come into play.

Soon enough, Kid soon again started to run, trying to disorient the woman and gain a bit of momentum over her. He continued to unload upon her, only to serve as a distraction before he seized the perfect opportunity to strike. With a chuckle, she blocked off these attacks with ease, all while throwing the same amount of energy she did prior his way. With every attack, Kid was aware, and took action accordingly, missing every stream sent barreling towards him.

Soon enough, Kid now stood in front of the woman, who seemed to stop fighting truly fighting him at this point in time. Realizing she had a good method of guarding her front, Kid knew it was time to attack in a different direction. He now needed to assume a different stance and allow the power to flow through him in order to take her down. Kid took his right leg, bringing it to the ground and planting it down, pivoting it slightly. He raised his guns high, pointing them in a twisted position towards Hana who simply watched down at him. He then bent the lower portion of his torso to complete this change of position.

"Reaper Combat Art: Mortal Sin Stance." With this declaration, Kid heavily focused on the target at hand. He gripped both pistols tightly once again, straightening his arms and pointing them towards Hana. "Witch Hana, prepare to die now."

Before the woman could respond to this, Kid jumped to the air, extending his arms in an even motion and vanishing without any way of indicating it. Hana simply remained levitating, waiting for whatever the boy was attempting next without any worry expressed from her face at all.

About a moment later, Kid reappeared, now ascending in the air in a symmetrical form, his guns crossed once again against his chest. "There is the opening I have been waiting for. Time to end this!" Kid thought to himself, now uncrossing his arms and pointing the barrels towards Hana, who did not move since Kid jumped into the air. He then started firing upon the witch another time, this time stunned at what he was now seeing; the motions did not phase or cause the witch any alarm at all. Instead, she simply allowed the force-field to expand and adjust accordingly to whatever movements the boy tried to make. As he now shot over her head, the field followed his change of direction. Hana was completely entertained at the show he was putting on. It had been the very first time she had encountered a weapon and meister pair such as this, and the spectacle of having him attempt to kill her made her blood flow faster within her veins.

Kid stopped shooting, still in mid-air after realizing he could not land a clear shot on her. "Thanks for the ride, boy, but this is where you get off." She maniacally chuckled, ridding herself of the shield and taking her right palm, blasting a shot of pure darkness into the boy. As this energy struck him, Kid went flying back, the force causing him to crash back down to the ground. He slid a few feet, before a lone tree broke the momentum the witch had caused.

"Kid, are you alright?" Asked Liz, a bit concerned as he stumbled up slowly to his feet.

"Yes Liz, I am fine." He said, but the looking to his black suit, noticing a brown smudge of dirt on the left side of it and not on the right. His face now red with total rage, Kid glared back to the witch. "God damn it, you are going to pay for that! You completely knocked the symmetry off of my suit, it's completely ruined! This only gives me more valid reason to kill you!"

Once again, Patti could not help letting out an adorably high-pitched giggle, as Liz sighed yet again. "And… now you've done it." She said, seeing how it would be moments for Kid to allow his true nature to show itself.

"Liz, Patti, this witch is going to die no matter what, so prepare for Soul Resonance!"

"Okay!" Patti happily replied.

"On it!" Liz stated, as the three now started to ready themselves. Kid stood with his arms against his sides as his body slowly started to lift itself from the ground in a psychic manner. A slow draft of wind circled around the weapons and meister pair as they started to focus the power of their souls together. When they were all ready, this was topped off by a shout they yelled together in unison: "Let's go, Soul Resonance!"

Now with their souls linking together, their power started to grow, as a blue ball of energy rounded around his entire body. If Hana had not the ability to sense the presence or strength of an individual's soul, she could see it, whereas someone who did not possess this would only see Kid's transformation. She now floated back to the ground, her pointed shoes coming in contact with the wet grass of the forest. Quite impressed by the boy's growing ferocity, she waited for his next move, her eyes not moving away from him.

With their souls now properly bound together, they could begin. In the sphere, Kid extended his arms out, as the lengths of these limbs grew three dark spikes. Both the weapons in his hands started to glow pink, with black bolts surging from them. They started to grow at an exponential rate, before stopping and breaking away from the light, revealing two large and metallic cannons seemingly strapped to his hands. With the transformation now complete, Kid swished his arms to break away from the field created by him and his partners when their souls resonated. He then came back to the ground and assumed a crouching stance, the barrels now resting on the ground.

"Execution mode ready, time to die." Kid said, darkness flowing through him and allowing him to acquire more of a charge. Once this proclamation was made, the ends of the weapons started to glow, the light intensifying as it would soon find its release. With this attack, Kid would send a tremendous amount of his own wavelength towards his opponent, in the form of two large balls of energy intended to explode upon impact on whatever its target was. With his execution mode now in form, Kid had only one intention: to kill.

Once the resonance was stable, and their wavelengths fully charged inside of the massive barrels attached to the boy's wrists, the countdown now began to fire upon the witch. "Oh, oh, oh, can I do it this time, Kid?" Patti requested, considering she always had to share this opportunity with her sister. With the younger girl's more childish state of mind, she wanted to have this moment all to herself.

"Fine, Patti, just don't distract me!" Kid replied, not wanting to allow his pattern of thought to slowly drift away. His only bit of concern was the opposition staring straight at him, his intent on ending the life of this wretch who was bringing so much concern to the town of Salem.

"Okie dokey!" Patti cheered, as she now began the countdown, slowly uttering each number. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… All ready to fire!"

Kid now smirked, taking both arms and joining them together, aiming them straight at Hana. The charge now started to grow even further, until it reached the point of release. Now completely ready to end this fight, Kid said two words, the two which declared his victory over his opposition who would not live to see another day:

"Death cannon."

From the two massive guns he bore in his hands, he now allowed everything built up to escape, the streams firing directly towards Hana as the initial shot pushed Kid back a little. Hana's eyes now widened, completely unaware that this boy contained so much power. She wasn't even expecting this amount of energy, considering he was but a simple child. What she did not know, however, was that this complete stranger was the seed of Lord Death himself, whose main goal was to eliminate entities considered evil, including witches like herself. Had she known this to begin with, she would have sliced him in the back to begin with…

The two bolts of energy soon landed right at her feet, though Kid was not able to notice through the blinding light of his charged shots. Almost immediately, dirt and grass was kicked into the air by the blast, the sound echoing through the expansive woods. With the magnitude of the sound, the blast could be heard from the town itself, even as the trees blocked the constant progression of these waves. Right now, it did not matter whether this partial area of the forest would be left as a simple crater or not, it only mattered that this witch now lay dead as a pile of ashes.

Kid, confident enough that his job was done, now stood up, as the two weapons on his hands started to decrease again in size, until reaching the normal form of two pistols. However, from the looks of it, this form was no longer needed, so dropping their offense would not bother them. With the battle over, Liz and Patti soon retained their normal forms, standing closely to Kid as the cloud of dust and dirt hovered over the area.

"Woohoo, we did it, we did it!" Patti cheered in a sing-song voice, as her sister simply looked over to her with a smile. Kid, however, did not change his position, as there was still one important matter to attend to.

"Liz… considering this is a pure witch, and the fact that your sister has eaten a witch's soul and you have not, I want you to consume this one." Kid requested, seeing as how it would evenly mix the amount of souls the two had stored within them. Not only was this keeping the symmetry in check, it was also an easy method of figuring out as each girl would either have an equal to very close amount of souls collected.

Liz knew exactly why he wanted her to take this, but considering this was an easier way for them to keep track of everything, she could not argue against the boy's logic. "On it, but just let the smoke clear. I can't see a damn thing." She coughed, as the air from both the actual blast and the smoke from the debris started to fill her lungs.

"Yes, I understand. Just allow time for this to clear so we can get out of here." Kid stated.

For about another minute they waited, until the thick smoke from the attack diminished.  Soon enough, the damages from the explosion could be clearly examined by the trio: it left a deep crater within the ground, with trees snapped and facing away from the blast radius. It appeared as if a small meteorite had impacted this stretch of earth, as the ground still seemed scorched from the impact of the bolts directed towards Hana.

Once everything had vanished, one thing was noticed by Kid, as if something pivotal to their success was missing. When he slowly approached the crater with the two girls, he peeked into the deep depression. Looking into the middle of it, he was shocked at what he discovered. The soul of the witch, which should have been sitting in this very spot, was absolutely nowhere to be found. Not in sight, not a trace, nor even a single detection of the soul could be picked up by Kid. He knew that because they were the only four established souls in these woods, and that this witch had abilities which extended beyond that of Kids, that could only mean one thing…

"My attack… it, it-"Before the reaper could complete this statement, a sharp pain could be felt in the upper portion in his back. He now felt an open gash, as the air traveled within and caused pain within him. Blood then started to gush down the backend of his black suit, every drop of blood dripping and causing the bladed grass around him to stain red. As the pain quickly shot inside of him, he let out a deafening holler. He then soon crashed to the ground, the red liquid creating a large puddle around the boy.

"Missed?" Hana chuckled, who had planned this all out. When the shots were fired directly at her, she knew that trying to stand her ground would be the end of her. Right at the moment when the blast had occurred, she quickly transported herself away to a safer position, where she could watch the distraction unfold. When she knew the young meister was not paying any mind to what else was happening, she returned to inflict upon him the final blow.

As Kid fell, Liz quickly rushed to his side, seeing as how he was still clawing his way to even simply stand. Liz tried shaking him to help him get to his feet, only to have him collapse back to the ground with blood now tainting her fresh shoes. Usually, she would be incredibly concerned with her own personal appearance and possessions, but this once selfish instinct melted away once she noticed her meister was in danger. "Kid, Kid, please tell me you're alright!" Liz pleaded, only hoping he would at least give her somewhat of a response to indicate there was nothing seriously wrong.

"I'm… I'm fine…" Kid grunted, still struggling to even stand as he gripped upon the rotting bark of a tree next to him, trying to use it as leverage.  This was repeatedly in vain, still collapsing back to his knees before finally resisting the urge to try and stand to fight her once again. "She'll pay… she sliced the back of my suit diagonally, and it's no longer symmetrical… I swear on my soul… this is your… end, foul witch Hana." With these parting words, Kid fell into a state of unconsciousness, starting to slowly fade into a sea of looming darkness.

What made this odd was that Kid was very resilient; he was very strong, gifted with the powers and natural abilities of a reaper. Granted, a defeat such as this would be damned near impossible for a warrior of his caliber. It was Kid's sworn duty to protect the innocent, and keep the natural balance among the living and the dead. This specific job had those same concepts, but only with the added twist of having a figure shrouded in obscurity. He had no idea of the powers this witch would have in store for him, or the desires she wanted fulfilled, not until he received a crucial blow to the back, of course. Now he understood why this witch was so dangerous, and why he needed to start her before her presence can be truly felt in the town of Salem. In Kid's current condition, however, even trying to move was a chore within itself, as he just laid there, many thoughts circulating about the defeat handed to him by the merciless Hana. "Father… I failed you… I'm sorry for everything I've done." In his mind his words spoke so clearly, but could not escape his sealed lips as he allowed a few placid breathes of air to travel from his nostrils and into the open. He just wanted to stand, he wanted to continue this fight, and he wanted to atone for the mistakes he made in the past against his own father… but all of it could not possibly be done.

Liz knew for a very fact that the boy had not passed on, but rather knocked himself out to conserve his strength. These gashes may have been deep, but they weren't anything Kid hadn't handled before. This was just the start of the process of his healing, so Liz could at least rest easy knowing that. This did not deter from the fact that Hana had so unexpectedly intended on killing him with the surprise attack she planned out. Even if Liz considered herself a bit of a coward, she did not like the idea of an opponent gaining the upper hand by methods of stealth and silence. Battles, in her mind, were intended to be face-to-face conflicts where both sides showcase their strengths and weaknesses to each other, not to be completely blindsided in a cowardly attempt at ending the fight.

Liz stood back up, as Kid lay motionless. She gave Hana a notable scowl, angered that she had done this to her partner. As she did so, Patti walked closer to Kid, a bit worried but completely aware that he would be fine. Even if her pattern of thinking wasn't as advanced as her older sisters, she still knew that Kid could easily pull through from this. She had enough faith in him to know this, considering he had provided her and her older sister with everything they could have possibly needed to keep from living another life ruled by greed and uncertainty. She trusted him based on this alone, and knew for a fact that he was tough enough to survive a cut to the back like this. She then patted him on the head with a smile, before standing up and turning her attention back on Hana. She followed the example her older sister was showing, tempered that she had hurt her good friend, but not from the method that she did so.  

"Hey, that was really mean! You're gonna pay for that, witch! You're not gonna hurt our friend and get away with it!" Patti yelled out, sounding more like a frustrated child than anything, no cause of concern for Hana to worry about. She could have just lunged straight towards her, with a desperate and retributive attempt at making the witch for what she did, but even she knew she was too powerful for that. She could only stare her down, standing side by side with her older sister with nothing to do but express animosity towards the witch.

Liz, after Patti went on her slight rant on the witch, now slightly tilted her head to speak to her sister. She was now informing her on a plan, a last ditch effort to hold the witch off and give Kid enough time to recover; as Liz was more visibly upset over this than Patti, more of her anger situated within her, which could be focused into her Soul Wavelength for more power. As Patti was the better shot of the two, Liz would transform into a pistol, allowing her sister to shoot her anger out at the witch, as this might give them a slight advantage. The unfortunate part of this was that Hana had very keen hearing, able to detect even the slightest sound from a mile away. Even with a hand covered over her mouth to try and remain secretive, Hana could hear every single word loud and clear. She simply smiled, a wicked laugh erupting at hearing the girl's final efforts at trying to stop her.

"Aw, are the two little girls trying to make up for their partner getting hurt? How entertaining." Hana teased, standing prominently in the fog as she watched the two of them contemplating what to do now. "I am sorry to tell you this, but you are not in the position of hurting me. Don't you see your partner their sitting in a pool of his own blood? What makes you think I couldn't do the very same to you both? It seems apparent to me that he controls you both, and that you two are merely extensions to the limited amount of power he holds. To state it simply, you two are nothing."

This finally caused Liz to snap; she had dishonestly attacked Kid from behind, and now she was insulting him and the two of them? Such a person like that would have to pay for their actions, no matter what. It was immediately decided within Liz; action needed to be taken, whether her life was in danger or not. "That's it! I've had enough!" Liz hollered her anger right out, as she charged straight into the witch, at least hoping to land one good punch into her pretty little nose. Patti wanted to stop her, but seeing as how she was older sister and made many of the decisions that benefited them, she did not. She watched on as Liz threw her right fist into the witch's face with a determined yell.

As she did so, her tightly clenched hand was immediately blocked by Hana's left hand, with no movement from the witch. It was almost if Liz had tried to land a blow on a brick wall. With a smirk, Hana now closed her fingers and wrapped around Liz's fist, whose eyes now grew wide. "Fool, now you see my point." Hana brought her right hand up against Liz chest, before letting go of her right hand. With a fairly weak burst of energy, she channeled her power into her palm, sending it into Liz. The Thompson sister was now sent flying through the air, as the force knocked her up against a tree, causing it to almost completely snap. To think, this was only a small sample of the energy she had in store. Had she shown her true power, Liz might not have survived.

As Liz now lay against the broken tree, Patti ran up to her sister, as much if not even more concerned for her as she was for Kid. Her sister was acted as an influence upon her, so seeing her like this came as a complete shock to her. She did not enjoy knowing that her older, much wiser sister was in any pain, considering that she had been the only person there for her before Kid changed that. "Sis! Are you alright?" Patti said, concerned as she grabbed her sister's head, bringing it closer to her. Liz's eyes were closed, and she at this moment was not moving, so Patti could have only expected the worst had just happened. The thought that she might lose her older sister was too much to handle, as her blue eyes started to water. As she shed the first tear, a small groan could be heard coming from Liz, as she slowly started to open her own eyes, looking back at Patti. Seeing that all had not been lost, Patti wrapped her arms around her neck, so very thankful to see she was still alive.

"Patti…" Liz slowly said, her voice not surpassing the threshold of a faint and pained whisper. "Don't go after her…"

Patti, seeing as how her sister did not want her to fight, was about to take her advice, but she could not. That witch had hurt her pretty bad, to the point where she could hardly stand on her own. She might not have had the power to completely stop her, but she wanted that horrible Hana to feel how she felt. "But sis… she hurt you. I'm not gonna let that go." Patti stated, somehow managing to lift her sister from the ground, brushing off the pieces and shards of wood lodged on her back and jacket, before propping her up against a fresh tree.

"No Patti… she's too strong… you can't manage to take her…" Liz warned, trying to plead to her sister not to make the mistake she just made. "I don't want you getting hurt…"

"I'll be fine, sis." Patti replied in a positive tone, trying to assure her that she would be fine, not knowing the sort of trouble she would be getting herself into. "Besides, I'm a Thompson sister. People need to learn to respect that." With Liz now safe and slightly comfortable, Patti turned once again to the witch, who still stood in the same position she did before, amused by the girl's sudden brush arrogance and determination to stop her. Liz, if she could have, would have stood up and quickly stopped Patti from possibly hurting herself, and she tried to, only to fall again and again once on the ground. With her body now battered and bruised, she could only watch on, hoping her sister would at least have enough sense to realize what she was doing and turn back.

The younger girl, however, did not, marching up towards Hana with anger fueling everything she was now doing. Hana watched on as the girl trotted closer and closer to her, before finally stopping and unloading on her, not with fists, but with words.

"Hey, that was really mean what you just did! You came from out of nowhere and hurt Kid, and then you hurt my big sister! Why are you such an asshole?" Patti, at this point, let her true side express itself. Even though she was a mainly calm and collected girl, she had the habit of easily losing her temper when something like this happened. Her tone of voice, even as it grew more spiteful and hateful, did not change how the witch felt about her at all.

Of the three in this group, Hana found the most interest in Patti; her smooth face, her red and puffed out cheeks, her notably shorter height than the other two. It was clear that everything she wanted for what she had in store was right in front of her, yelling her head off like a child. She did not want to give this away just yet, however, as she started to grimace, now showing her own disgust to Patti, who soon slightly backed away from the glare the witch was giving her. "Foolish child, you should know better to talk to an adult like that." Hana said, now grabbing onto Patti's wrist, who now tried to struggle away from the woman. As Patti attempted to break away from the vice grip the witch had on her, Hana brought her other hand closer to Patti's face, before stopping it a few centimeters in front of it. "I'll be sure to teach you a lesson you won't forget." Now, with more of her dark powers, Hana sent a black and gaseous form of magic inside of Patti, as it entered any orifice located on her face. Soon enough, the substance was now within Patti's body, starting to slowly take its effect. All this would do is put Patti in a temporary state of unconsciousness, so Hana could restrain her and prevent her from doing anything to prevent what would happen next to her. It could be said this was Hana's own variation of sleeping gas.

Soon enough, Hana let go of her wrist as Patti stopped the hopeless resistance. Patti could start to feel a bit woozy, before ultimately collapsing on the cold, wet ground, her arms and legs growing limp and sprawling out in a peculiar position. When Liz saw this, she almost screamed out, but could not due to the sores still around her body being one of major focuses. She stood up, slowly trying to tend to her sister, before once again collapsing to the ground only a few feet away from her. "You're not going to… do this to her, Hana. I won't let you…" Liz slightly groaned, hardly having the energy to bring her head up to speak to the witch.

Hana, once again, was amused by the persistence of the girl, but her fun with her was over. There was no need in hurting her or the boy who remain sprawled in a puddle of blood a few feet nearby. The damages to them were already done, so they served absolutely no use to her. Patti, however, had more to her than the other two, which is why she chose not to hurt her. "What are you going to do, mumble me to death?" Hana chuckled and walked over Patti. With her womanly strength, she managed to lift the girl up into her arms. She then twiddled around her fingers and pointed near the ground, as a cloud of smoke emerged and quickly diminished; now revealing a brown broom stick levitating in the air. As this was her plan of escape, Hana now sat on it; the stick between both of her legs, with Patti rested and slumped over in her arms. "Besides, you have nothing to worry about. She'll be just fine." With those departing words, she let out a hardy and womanly laugh, flying into the darkness of the woods and soon out of sight.

Seeing as how her sister was taken from her, Liz now became scared out of her mind. Her baby sister… the closest thing she had to her in this world, stripped from her, due to an idiotic choice that Liz herself had made. Had she not let her own anger get the better of her, Patti would not be in the trouble she was in right now, and as the witch seemed to be very merciless with the way she handled Kid and herself, there was absolutely no way in telling what she would do to her dear baby sister. "Patti… no… I'm so sorry…" Liz started to cry, allowing her anger and regret to pour out of her as lay battered and bruised on the ground, the fog now consuming them both in its depths as the night resumed.