Rider nodded at Satoshi's words, before following Forest up the stairs and into the room. Forest froze in shock as she entered, but Rider walked past her and into the room.
What she found when she got in there was utter carnage. There was blood everywhere, and on the floor were two bodies. One looked like Shuya, which Rider thought was no great loss, but the other....
Isa...
Rider stood there staring at the dead girl in shock and sadness.
She was such a sweet girl..., she thought, sadly.
Rider had killed many people in her time, but this was the first time she had seen someone she actually cared for die. Aside from her sisters, of course, but by that time she had been too far gone to care. Only a few hours ago, Rider had been talking to the girl, even promising to protect her, and now she was dead.
I failed her....
Out of the corner of her eye, Rider noticed Forest turn and run towards the fighting. Toshi had told her to go with Forest, but....
Some bastard killed Isa. She was kind, like my master....
Rider was angry and upset. She had been rather fond of the sweet young girl, and someone had killed her. She wasn't sure exactly who, but whoever it was, Rider wanted revenge and justice for the poor girl.
And, plus, whoever it is is still out there, and dangerous.
Rider wasn't sure exactly what had gone on, but it was pretty obvious that this had not been a mutual killing. Someone had killed at least one of the two people in the room, and most likely both. And, judging by the lack of damage on the rest of their bodies, whoever had done this was rather powerful. She knew Shuya was very strong, and he hadn't even so much as put up a fight.
What if Kiyo had been here?
Rider shuddered at the thought as she saw Satoshi enter the room and walk up to the bodies. He bent down to Isa and touched her.
Is he trying to heal her?
Momentarily, Rider felt some hope for Isa, but there was no sign of life in the girl. Satoshi placed some sort of barrier spell on them, before standing up and leaving, muttering an apology to her as he did.
Rider looked at the hole in the wall. Whoever had done this had clearly gone that way.
What happened to Jack?
Rider was somewhat suspicious. She didn't think the vampire had killed these two, there were no signs of a vampire attack and he had seemingly reacted to an existing situation, but she was still wary of him.
Regardless, though, she would not let Kiyoshi be the next victim. Whoever did this had to die.
Rider turned into spirit form and headed for the hole. As she did so, she heard Lancer and Mille enter the room and start talking. Apparently, they wanted to investigate what happened.
Well, let them investigate, I'm going to find who did this. And kill them, she thought, still clearly upset at Isa's death.
She moved through the holes from room to room, looking for the culprit until, finally, she reached one that led outside. Seeing yet another body down there, Rider jumped out of the hole. It was a young boy, his head ripped clean off. Oddly, though, there was no blood.
What?
Looking at the boy more closely, she could see that his internal structure was not normal. He seemed to be more like a magical construct.
A familiar?
Her thoughts were interrupted as Mille floated down and landed beside her. She seemed to be looking at the blood on the familiar.
Did this boy kill Isa?
Rider would have been shocked, but if he was truly a familiar, then his look was entirely unrelated to his capabilities.
Well, if he's the killer, then I guess there's nothing more to deal with.
Still, she couldn't be sure. For one thing, someone had killed his boy.
Possibly Jack....
It could be Jack, yes, but then it could not be. She needed to be sure. She rematerialised, and turned to Mille to ask her a question.
Before she could, though, a sound came from the familiar's detached head.
"S-sorry Finn, Ruu can't be friends with you anymore", he said.
Wait, did he just speak? Is he still alive?
Whatever had happened, he clearly seemed upset. He certainly didn't act like a cold-blooded killer, that's for sure.
Rider turned to Mille.
"Is he the killer? If so we need to make sure he doesn't get back up, he's too dangerous. And, we should find whoever killed him, if it's not Jack...."