Summoned and Unwanted

From the cloud of dust, a faint green and brownish light illuminated the sky. The light began to fall, and the person illuminating the sky was quickly discovered.

It was Vincent, with a body riddled with shining sigil tattoos and hardened mud-like skin. His back was exposed, causing green steam to escape while the skin quickly recovered.

Vincent descended from the sky with Awa preciously held between his hands. Above them was Night in the form of a dark cloud to evade being injured by projectiles.

*Thud, Crack* Vincent landed on the ground while cushioning Awa’s body. The bones of his legs cracked, producing a horrible sound, yet he stood up as if he felt no pain.

Awa looked at Vincent. She was still shocked. Vincent chose to save her in this manner after acting enraged as if he only wanted to kill.

Awa gazed into his demonic-looking eyes. She could tell from his current gaze that Vincent wasn’t the Vincent she knew. He was still a different Vincent.

Regardless of which Vincent had protected her, Awa was pleased to know that no matter who was controlling Vincent’s body, he still cared for her.

Awa noticed the previous enraged expression on Vincent’s face had disappeared. She was confused as to what was happening inside Vincent’s body and mind at this moment.

.....

Sometimes Vincent acted kind and caring, sometimes Vincent acted curious, and other times Vincent showed signs of being filled with so much anger that he could not withstand acting violently.

The current Vincent was the kind and caring Vincent.

“I killed...” he said before pausing. “I protect. Family.”

Even though Vincent spoke with an intimidating hoarse voice, Awa felt warmth coming from his words. She felt reassured and safe. However, this kind of emotion didn’t last.

Awa was thrown away all of a sudden. She rolled on the ground. After she raised he head to understand why Vincent was acting uncaring all of a sudden, the reason was far worse than she expected.

Vincent remained looking at her warmly with his scary face. From behind him approached a large head. The large mouth opened and closed swiftly. It was a horrifying scene to Awa.

*Chomp. Bam!* The undead bear bit Vincent’s head and severed it.

A moment later, Night landed a powerful kick, but she was a moment too late. Vincent’s head was already severed from his body and eaten.

His body fell lifelessly on the ground. Even if steam escaped from his empty neck and blood spilled and evaporated, Vincent didn’t show signs of recovery this time.

Awa lost her strength to stand up. Her lips trembled, and her mouth didn’t have the strength to move. She couldn’t utter a single word. She couldn’t shout “NO” Or scream.

Awa saw Plow run while tears followed her. She saw the three Dullahans run to check if Vincent had died for real this time. The female Cefeye crawled while the tiger’s skull on her head was wet from tears.

One was missing. Zero remained rooted to the ground.

Awa noticed that instead of approaching Vincent’s headless body, Zero extended a few small vines from the ground and jammed the tips inside his body.

Awa did not see Zero becoming angry when Vincent was decapitated.

Zero’s action confused Awa as she didn’t know Zero loved to drink Vincent’s blood. Regardless, Zero did not act differently than before.

It made Awa think, ‘Why is the plant not angry? Is there something I can not notice?’

Awa punched the ground while blaming herself for causing Vincent to lose his life. She slowly got up while the little hope she had left changed to despair.

‘Why... why didn’t I take the chance to escape with Vincent and the others when he was still alive? Why did I keep fighting and leave Vincent in his strange state keep fighting as well?’ Awa shook her head. ‘Why do I have to lose Vincent for a second time?’

Awa was devasted to see Vincent die for her sake once again. She felt her fate to die was passed on to Vincent after he desired to save her life.

Awa felt miserable to pay for such a benevolent gesture with death.

“Is the clan leader a human or a Dullahan?”

Awa opened her eyes wide after hearing such words come from one of the three Dullahans observing Vincent. She looked at Vincent’s headless body and noticed how she had overlooked such a thing.

After putting two and two together, Awa started to believe there was a reason for Zero not acting angry. Her entire being became hopeful again.

“Vincent’s plant. Is Vincent dead, or is he still alive?” Awa asked Zero, hoping to hear a positive response.

“Master. Is. Alive.” Zero responded while feeling the connection between them was still active.

Plow looked at Zero. *Pho!* “Is it true Vincent Vincent is alive?” *Pho?*

“Zero. Feels. Master. Bond.”

Plow wagged her tail. She nudged Vincent’s arm while begging, “Please, Vincent Vincent. Grow head again.” *Sniffle*

“Please return to Plow.” *Sniffle* “Plow promises to be a very very good girl.” *Sniffle*

Awa heard Vincent was still alive. After hearing Plow mention “Regrow head” and “Return,” Awa felt she knew what she needed to do.

Awa’s determination was lit ablaze. She needed to do as all Dullahans need to do when they lose their head. She needed to recover Vincent’s head and put it back in its rightful place.

Awa jumped high up in the sky. She moved her head to the side and saw Night jumping beside her.

After nodding their head once, both started attacking the undead bear’s head with a reckless offense. They needed to recover Vincent’s head before it was all too late.

Upon arriving in front of Vincent’s body, the female Cefeye shoved her hand in the boiling green steam of Vincent’s empty neck.

The female Cefeye withstood the pain and withdrew her hands. Her small hands trembled from boiling mutated blood. As the blood evaporated, steam rose from her hands.

The three Dullahans started to question what the female Cefeye was trying to do. They saw her hand covered in steam and saw her in pain.

After becoming confused about the whole situation, they heard the female Cefeye let out a high-pitched screech out of the blue. Afterward, she shoved her small hands in her mouth.

The three Dullahans saw the gathered Cefeye begin to move. All of them locked their gaze on the undead bear and started running.

*Bam*

Awa landed a dropkick on the undead bear’s left swing paw, and Night landed a dropkick at the right shoulder. They jumped after causing the undead bear to some of its balance.

“Huh?” Awa became surprised to see the Cefeye plucking out their needle hair and attacking.

The undead bear slammed its foot down and squashed a few Cefeyes. Its gaze landed on the horde of Cefeyes underneath it.

The little Cefeyes were attacking without dealing any damage. The fur hardened with earth magic was too tough for their meager strength to do anything.

Regardless, they were annoying, like dozens of bees trying to attack a protected beekeeper.

“Don’t forget about us!” Awa shouted before attaching a shadow line to the undead bear’s neck. She shot her body down and heard a crack.

Awa jumped, and in her place, Night landed, causing the bones and the neck to produce a louder sound.

The undead bear moved on instinct. It used its eyes to see because it was its instinct to see its prey.

The undead bear also used earth manipulation to track any nearby moving prey from the instinct of hunger.

Cefeyes relentlessly attacked, and they were making the undead bear’s overwhelming sense work against it. As such, the undead bear was tracking too much movement and using too many earth spike spells with worse accuracy than before.

Less and less Cefeye were being killed as the seconds passed.

It became apparent this was the first time the undead bear was in this kind of situation. It needed more time for the mutation to help its instinct adjust and learn to act against it.

The couple of seconds of distraction the Cefeyes could buy was enough for numerous tendrils, with steam coming from them rise from the ground unnoticed.

The tendrils pierced the jaw of the undead bear and wrapped themselves around the tongue and teeth.

Before the undead bear moved its head and tried to pluck out the tendrils, Zero pulled the tendrils down and dislocated the undead bear’s lower jaw.

Awa and Night landed on the ground instead of landing another attack. One was on the left side, and the other was on the right side.

Awa and Night raised their leg and shot a shadow line at each cheek of the undead bear. They quickly skipped at the same time before pulling their attached leg backward like a trigger and shooting their bodies at the undead bear.

However, a thing that never happened before transpired. Awa missed the head by passing over the head, while Night missed the head by passing under the lower dislocated jaw.

After extending the shadow line by a couple of meters, Awa and Night kicked the shadow line at the same time.

Like a stealthy assassin attempting to kill a person from behind by snapping their neck, the head of the undead bear twisted and dislocated itself from the sudden force.