Strider: - Don't worry. Very soon you will meet her. -

At those words, Strider only received the murderous look that emanated from Stollas' eyes. The owl had never been so angry before, and his demonic power struggled with the sacred chains to overflow and end the life of that wretch. Still, sacred objects have incalculable power, and Stollas' power was only able to slip away from his restraints for a few seconds in the form of the same black and red.

On the other hand, Stella was unable to look away from her daughter as she screamed her name desperately. She stretched her body as much as she could, even when her wrists, trapped by the chains, seemed to want to break at any moment from the very force she exerted. The pain and desperation she felt trying to reach her was horrible, and she had never felt such agony before in her life.

Stella now saw the pain of Stollas' betrayal as banal. Something stupid compared to what she felt. She knew deep down that this was her fault. A consequence she didn't think at the time was possible when she hired Strider. Something that she now regretted with her entire being.

There was no turning back for her. Strider was now walking slowly towards them, leaving Octavia's dying body behind her, clutching the sacred knife tightly in her hand, the black owl's blood still dripping onto the ground.

Stella still didn't look at him. She didn't care. She just wanted to get to her daughter. Stollas looked at Strider, and if he had his powers freed from him he would kill him in the most painful way he could think of. His face only showed hatred and bloodlust, not fear of death. Just a few more steps to end all this. But it wouldn't be today.

The walls of the caverns shattered as a huge vehicle crashed madly against the solid granite. A normal car would not have withstood something like that, but the I.M.P van was not a normal car.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, the four members of the I.M.P got out, taking advantage of the curtain of dust and confusion to prepare. Millie and Moxxie had been there before, and the memories they had weren't exactly the best. But those memories would hardly be a headache when the curtain of dust fell and revealed the heartbreaking scene.

Everyone, without exception, watched in shock as Stollas had become a deformed mass of dark magic and blood desires tied to sacred chains that devoured his demonic power, even though these same chains were causing heartbreaking pain to the user. Stella was next to her, wrapped in tears and screaming like crazy the name of the cause of her pain, and just a few steps away, Octavia's limp body was bleeding as life drained from her eyes.

Blitzo: - DAMN! -

The red devil lashed out at the viper wrapped in rage and anger. The bloody and dystopian scenario had broken her sanity, still charging head-on like a touched madman at the one who carried sacred weapons in his hands.

Gunfire exchanged deadly roars from him. The bullets crossed the empty spaces looking for a poor victim in their path, but the only thing he found was the so-called stone at the end of their trajectories.

Even wrapped in anger, Blitzo had enough reflexes integrated into his subconscious to be able to hide behind the stalactites before continuing his frantic race toward his targets.

Strider's holy bullets had the power to kill a high-ranking demon, but used conventionally they had the same firepower as ordinary lead. A waste of ammunition, but something the viper enjoyed in great detail.

To Strider, all that hatred, anger and suffering was his pure delight. Seeing them suffer caused him unimaginable joy, wrapped in a ruthless aura of thirst for revenge. He would make them pay... one by one. But not this time... This time he had already fulfilled his mission.

Before Blitzo could even get close, and anticipating a possible four-on-one confrontation, Strider had a ploy up his sleeve. Nobody like him would make the mistake of being defeated twice in the same place and under more unfavorable conditions. No no. He had returned to his old haunt for a good reason.

"Today I would leave everything buried in the past."

The sound of a detonator alarmed everyone immediately. His gaze shot up, only to look with concern at the flashing red lights shining overhead. Dozens of explosives placed on the ceiling would make those caverns his tomb. One that Strider will delight in watching from a distance, since all he had to do was look away for the thieving snake to escape without a trace.

Blitzo prepared to follow him, but when he heard Stollas scream in rage at Strider's escape he had to stop and rethink the situation. For a second, his mind hesitates between following that viper or returning for his own.

Behind him he could see Moxxie doing his best to break those sacred chains, but not even the power of her firearms was able to do anything to them. Millie did her best to stem Octavia's bleeding, even though her owl showed no signs of movement. And Loona... she could only see with the worst of her bitterness how her only and best friend vanished in front of her eyes without being able to do anything but cry with rage and helplessness. All... while the beep and the red lights above her heads announced that the end was too close.