The roar of the helicopter blades was a physical force, buffeting Sparrow and Canary as they followed the other agents onto the rooftop.
The grey behemoth squatted there, a metal predator disguised in a coat of dull paint. Sparrow felt a familiar knot of tension in his shoulders. Missions were never clean, never simple.
He helped Canary clamber aboard, his hand dwarfing hers. She flashed him a quick, reassuring smile, her eyes bright with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. "Ready for adventure, Bro Cyclops?"
Sparrow grunted in response, settling into one of the uncomfortable seats. The helicopter vibrated to life, the noise escalating until it was a deafening drone.
As they lifted off, MIST Union Headquarters shrunk below, its innocuous façade belying the secrets it held.
The flight would be short, barely twenty minutes. Canary kept herself busy by fidgeting with her backpack and utility belt, making sure her prepared items were ready to be used.
Sparrow stared out the window, his gaze distant. He was already cataloging the landscape, committing details of the map he had just observed to memory. The rolling Greensea Grassland, the craggy peaks of Jaggedtop Hills – potential ambush points, escape routes, sources of cover.
Just as Sparrow started to settle into the rhythm of the flight, the intercom crackled to life. It was Autumn's voice from the front seat, crisp and professional, but with an undercurrent of urgency.
"Attention all units. We have a situation. The Horsewoman has manifested. Reports are coming in of a massacre at a small mining settlement north of Jollycolt Village."
A collective murmur rippled through the helicopter. Sparrow felt Canary tense beside him. Her cheerful energy had evaporated, replaced by a focused intensity.
"We're changing the strategy," Autumn continued. "Given the immediate threat, we are splitting the team. Sunwitch, Cyclops, and Pixie will be dropped near Jollycolt Village to investigate the original seal site and assess the damage. Monster Squad and the rest of Three Witches will proceed to the mining settlement to engage the Horsewoman."
Sparrow felt a surge of frustration. He wanted to be where the action was, where he could use his strength to protect people. But he knew Autumn's decision was logical. Understanding the seal was paramount. Without it, they were just delaying the inevitable.
The helicopter continued moving as if the nothing changed.
Some time later, it moved down, a few meters above ground, but did not land. The side door slid open, revealing the pastoral landscape of Jollycolt Village. It looked deceptively peaceful.
Sunwitch, resplendent in a form-fitting, midnight-blue suit that somehow managed to be both practical and outrageously alluring, gave the siblings a curt nod.
"Let's move. Time is of the essence." She jumped out, landing gracefully despite her heeled boots.
Sparrow followed, landing with a thump that resonated through his bones. He looked at Canary, who unnecessarily somersaulted down and landed in a cool pose, then turned to watch the helicopter roar away, disappearing over the horizon. They were alone.
The air hung heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth. He scanned the surroundings, his right eye subtly analyzing every detail. Canary summoned Breeze, her wind sprite, to do some aerial recon.
They moved quickly, following Sunwitch towards a cluster of weathered stones embedded in the hillside. This was it – the site of the broken seal.
Sparrow approached cautiously, his senses on high alert. The ground around the stones was disturbed, churned up by some unseen force. He forced himself to focus, pushing back the urge to rush into the fray. He needed information, and he needed it now.
He knelt beside the largest stone, his left eye, hidden behind the eyepatch, aching for release. He hesitated only for a moment, then flicked open the patch.
The artificial purple eye thrummed with power, its retrocognitive vision reaching back through time, peeling away the layers of the present to reveal the echoes of the past.
The world twisted and blurred. The surrounding turned colorless as images flashed before his eyes – the stones intact, the ground undisturbed. Then, a figure appeared, small and insignificant against the backdrop of the ancient stones.
It was a man. A small man in a grey suit, topped with a ridiculously tall grey hat. A black goatee adorned his chin, and a monocle perched precariously on his nose. He looked like a caricature of a bureaucrat, a pathetic excuse for a villain.
But Sparrow knew better. He focused on the man's hands. They held two pieces of paper, thin and crisp, like official documents. With a flourish, the man presented one of the papers to the seal.
The stone seemed to groan, to resist, but the paper pressed on, forcing its way into the very fabric of the seal. A web of cracks spiderwebbed across the stone, and the air crackled with displaced energy.
Then, the man produced the second piece of paper. With another flourish, he vanished, leaving only the shattered seal and the lingering taste of corrupted magic in the air.
Sparrow snapped back to the present, his head throbbing. He clapped the eyepatch back in place, shielding his mind from the onslaught of sensory information.
"I saw him," he said, his voice a low rumble. "A man. He used… a piece of paper to break the seal and and another one to disappear."
Sunwitch's eyes widened. "Describe him."
Sparrow recounted what he had seen, detailing the man's appearance and the strange documents he had used.
Sunwitch's expression hardened. "Mr. Decree," she said, her voice laced with venom. "A Surreal Lawtwister from SSS. Sentient Surreal Syndicate. He's an internationally wanted fugitive. His power is to twist the rules of rituals, arrays, seals… anything governed by a system of laws."
Sparrow immediately recognized the name. It was mentioned in MIST Union Secret Information Series, in their Secret Library. This was the name of an organization suspected to be created by sentient surreal entities.
However, the operation range of this group should be around the United Kingdoms of Leocandome, overseas, in a different continent.
Canary, who had been silent until now, piped up. "I think I have something! Echo found all the little bits of the seal-plate."
She scurried over to where Echo, her sound-manipulating sprite, had gathered the shards. With nimble fingers, Canary began piecing them together, creating a mosaic of broken stone. She was good at puzzles.
Soon, it was done. The shards were arranged, revealing the intricate carvings that had once adorned the seal.
Sunwitch examined the reconstructed seal, her brow furrowed in concentration. "I see it now," she murmured. "Ingenious, and utterly insidious. He didn't just break the seal, he perverted it. He twisted the underlying rules, creating a loophole, a weakness that allowed the Horsewoman to escape."
She launched into a lengthy explanation using words that Sparrow simply couldn't comprehend. It was a mix of magical jargon that went straight over his head. He only caught words like "fractured syntax", "metamagic override" and "rule of exception".
Sparrow glanced at Canary, who looked just as lost as he did. He sighed.
They were trackers, fighters, protectors. Not mages. Hopefully the information Sunwitch had gleaned would be enough for Three Witches to recreate the seal and stop the Horsewoman.
---ooo---ooo---ooo---
Sunwitch, with a manic grin, slammed the stolen truck into gear. "Hold on tight, kiddies! Sunwitch is taking you to the party!"
Sparrow braced himself against the dashboard as she tore through the village streets, narrowly missing laundry lines and startled chickens.
He clenched his fist, the urge to take the wheel almost overwhelming. "Sunwitch, perhaps I should drive this. I have experience with larger vehicles."
Sunwitch threw her head back and laughed, a sound that grated on Sparrow's nerves. "Relax, Cyclops! Where's your sense of adventure? Besides," she winked, "I wouldn't want you messing up my perfect driving record... of this borrowed vehicle."
Canary, squeezed between them, giggled nervously. "Bro, maybe just let Sister Sunwitch drive? It's... certainly an experience."
Their argument continued for more than fifteen minutes before it was cut short by a scene of utter chaos unfolding ahead. A plume of dust billowed from the road, and the unmistakable sound of screeching tires and roaring engines filled the air.
As they rounded a bend, the source of the commotion became terrifyingly clear: the Headless Horsewoman, astride her nightmarish steed, was tearing down the road, pursued by the Monster Squad and two of the Three Witches on a motley assortment of vehicles.
A pickup truck was being driven recklessly by her aunt 'Starwitch' Autumn, carrying some of the crew. 'Ogre' Glaive and Werewolf followed closely on off-road motorcycles.
"Well, looks like the party came to us!" Sunwitch cackled, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous light.
Without warning, she executed a sharp turn, sending the truck into a controlled drift, before expertly ramming its flatbed side directly into the Horsewoman's flank. The impact shuddered through the vehicle, momentarily disrupting the monster's escape.
"What in the world?!" Canary cried, grabbing Sparrow's arm.
"Hold on!" Sparrow shouted, his senses on high alert.
The Horsewoman, momentarily stunned, reared back, its spectral horse pawing the air. The monstrous figure, cloaked in shadow and wielding a wickedly sharp scythe, was a terrifying sight.
The mystery agents jumped down their stolen vehicles and engaged their surreal enemy with unrestrained ferocity.
The battle erupted. The Monster Squad, seizing the opportunity, unleashed their fury. Glaive, shouting a war cry, swung his weapon, a spiky metal club, while the others laid in on the Horsewoman with their own methods.
But the monster swatted their attacks easily and event sent many of them tumbling away with her simple counter-attacks. It was too strong and seemed invulnerable to anything.
Sparrow knew they couldn't win with brute force alone. He activated his [Greater Appraisal] skill, focusing his {Eye of Wisdom} on the Horsewoman.
The world swam with arcane energies as he sifted through the monster's essence, searching for a weakness. Time seemed to slow as images and data flooded his mind.
Then, he saw it. A flicker. A subtle anomaly that the others had missed.
"The Headless Horsewoman hadn't recovered to its perfect stage," he realized, his voice barely a whisper.
His [Greater Appraisal] told him that her weakness still exists. It's a small hidden spot on the lower back where the female human body and horse body connect. The spot is covered by long hair and thick mane, but that spot can be damaged by holy iron.
He couldn't reveal his {Eye of Wisdom}. It was too dangerous. He reached into his coat, pulling out one of the fake magic cards Autumn had given them.
"Appraise!" he yelled, placing the fake magic card on his temple, as his eldritch power entered the card. It immediately burst into light.
Simultaneously, he gave Canary a subtle nod. She understood instantly. She pulled out her own fake magic card. The card glowed faintly as she activated the [Mind Power] of her {Grand Telepathy} talent. The world around them seemed to shimmer for a fraction of a second as she linked her mind to the others.
A wave of information washed over the minds of the MIST agents. A precise location, a vulnerability, a method of attack.
Autumn, hearing the message, her eyes widening in understanding, dropped her three-section staff. With practiced ease, she drew her Agent Tactical Knife.
Moonwitch, without a word, tossed her a small vial filled with shimmering liquid. Autumn caught it, recognizing the holy water instantly, and coated the blade of her knife.
The Monster Squad had managed to restrain the Headless Horsewoman using their team's artifact, the "Hell Chain," a mystical chain that burned with holy fire.
Sparrow grabbed and barehandedly wrenched out the truck door that had come loose during Sunwitch's extreme driving, using it as a makeshift shield to deflect the Horsewoman's scythe attacks, drawing the monster's attention.
Autumn, taking advantage of the distraction, leaped onto the back of the creature, scrambling towards the vulnerable spot. With a grunt of effort, she plunged the holy water-coated knife into the monster's lower back, right where Sparrow had indicated.
The Headless Horsewoman shrieked even without her head, the sound a chilling echo devoid of humanity. It thrashed violently, the Hell Chain straining against its power. Autumn was thrown from its back, landing hard on the asphalt.
The dagger remained lodged in the monster's flesh, but it wasn't enough. Instead of weakening it, the wound seemed to enrage it further.
Canary, seeing her aunt fall, reacted without hesitation. She aimed her semi-automatic handguns and fired a barrage of shots. The bullets, imbued with arcane energy, pierced the Horsewoman's flank as if it were made of paper. The seemingly impenetrable invulnerability was gone.
A collective gasp rippled through the group.
"Its vulnerable!" Moonwitch shouted, her voice filled with renewed vigor. "Attack now!"
Sparrow, seeing the opening, dropped the truck door and grabbed a soultool card from the air. He summoned his Power Gauntlets. Channeling lightning energy from a lightning shard into his gauntlets, he began pummeling the stallion's body with brutal efficiency. Sparks flew with each blow, the scent of ozone filling the air.
The Monster Squad, emboldened by the revelation, unleashed their full potential. They released their holds on the Hell Chain and moved to assault the vulnerable opponent.
Glaive, whose weapon had already gone, lifted the motorcycle he'd been riding and slammed it against the Horsewoman's side.
Werewolf, transformed into a terrifying half-dragonwolf hybrid, leaped onto the monster's back, tearing at its flesh with razor-sharp claws.
Ghoul cracked the Hell Chain like a whip, lashing the monster with burning energy.
Grim Reaper, with a flourish, produced a sabre from the depths of his coat and sliced at the Horsewoman's hand, forcing her to drop her deadly scythe.
The tide had turned. What had seemed like an impossible battle moments before was now a furious, coordinated assault.
It took only minutes before the Headless Horsewoman finally succumbed to the combined onslaught. Her spectral form flickered, then dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind only the mangled remains of a headless corpse and a dead horse.
The air crackled with residual energy, and the silence that followed was deafening. The Headless Horsewoman was no more. Their mission was more than just completed.