The High and Mighty

9. Ticking of the Clock

"Stop! Keep your hands off until I am finished!" This was the fourth time Yao smacked Ivan's hand away with a wooden spoon.

"It smells good though," Ivan let out a sigh. The Chinese man simply glared before returning to preparing the soup for dinner. In the end of the meeting, Ivan ended up join Alfred's ragtag team of pirates.

"Yao, is the soup almost ready?" Alice peeked into the kitchen from the dining hall.

"Almost, be patient. Also take this idiot out of my kitchen," Yao gestured to Ivan. The Russian man chuckled before excusing himself to the dining hall where the others waited.

"Ivan you have no idea where your Uncle could be, correct?" Arthur asked as the man sat down.

"Correct. I was not fond of him to begin with, so I do not know much about him aside from him being crazy," Ivan explained.

"So we are back at square one... Lovely," Arthur gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Come on guys. No need to be down. Let's eat and not talk of this business," Alfred said from the head of the table.

"The soup is finally ready!" Yao declared from the kitchen door. The servants began distributing the food until everyone was served. Those at the table began to dig in.

Suddenly the lights went out and the room was veiled in darkness aside from the ominous lighting illuminating the room. The clanging of silverware stopped and a small cry escaped from Feli.

"Shut up!" Lovino barked at his brother before leaving the room. "I'll fix it."

"I can come with you," Antonio volunteered as he got up from his seat and chased after Lovino.

"This happens sometimes so we can just ignore it," Alfred went back to his dinner.

"Is that normal too?" Leon asked pointing with his fork up at the windows. Everyone then looked up to the windows to see a creature crawling on all fours along the windows. It had a skinny wood body and what appeared to be long hair atop it's head, perhaps seaweed and it mouth was agape, licking along the windows as rain poured down.

"W-What is that?" Mathew's eyes widened. Liquid began to appear on the windows as the creature continued along the surface with it's face down. Ivan stood up and took out a metal pipe from his coat.

"I suggest you all get ready to fight it. The Bagiennick is about to enter and whatever you do don't let that liquid touch you. It'll burn you and you may paralyze from the pain."

Arthur and the others stood as Alfred grabbed Mathew's hand and the two escaped from the dinning room to the kitchen. The rest of the servants followed the two brothers to the kitchen.

"What is that thing?!" Yao asked as he took out his giant wok.

"Some monster, I think?" Alfred shrugged.

"Whatever it is we can deal with it~" Alice said confidently as she removed her rapier from it's sheath.

The creature pounded it's fist on the deteriorating glass and the window it was atop of shattered. It stood up and staring down at the men. Soon more of the creatures crawled through the open window or shattered the other ones. They then hissed, some of the oil substance from their nostrils shooting out. The men evaded the liquid but the furniture and food was a whole other issue.

"Flip the table!" Arthur yelled and the men grabbed a hold of the large table top before pushing it over and used it as a shield. The emerald eyed captain then took out his pistol and began to shoot at the creatures. He got two in the head, but they were soon replaced by more. A few entered the kitchen and scanned the room before their eyes fell on Mathew and Alfred.

Alice stood in front along with Yao, shielding the siblings. "We should try and escape," Feli said in a shaky voice.

"We can use the back door but I'm afraid there will be more outside..." Laila said as she glanced out the back door. "We can give it a shot though..."

"Go ahead. Feli and Laila can protect you two," Alice said as she charged at the creatures. She sliced three with precision and they collapsed to pieces onto the floor. Yao did his best to knock at least two out while the rest stumbled from the hits to the head.

"Let's go then," Alfred took out his pistol and slammed open the back door, running out with Mathew as Laila and Feli followed behind.

"Hear my call bird of my light. Illuminate my darkest hour," Alice chanted as she held up her arm. The fire bird from earlier appeared and let out a battle cry before setting a blaze to some of the creatures. "Burn~" The french woman smiled.

"My kitchen!" Yao cried out in horror as flames began to spread to the nearby areas.

Matt and Alfred attempted to run to the front of the Manor and escape onto the streets while Laila and Feli attacked the relentless creatures with a pistol and halberd. Considering those two were the biggest scardy cats they had a job to do as well as a responsibility. The air came down hard as the four ran out onto the streets. The dragon also from earlier cried out, blocking their path as well as the man they had been looking for.

"You lot... You keep meddling with my plans. Why is that? You do know who you are dealing with, da?" The man smiled showing off his yellow and crooked teeth. "Get one of them. Hurry up!" Viktor barked at the dragon and new arriving swamp monsters.

"Stay away!" Laila cried at as she charged at the dragon but the creature hastily flicked her away with it's tail, the small maid colliding against the wall of the Manor. "Ah!" She cried out before the boddy fell from the wall to the ground.

Feli only shot at the swamp creatures before one of them got the liquid on the gun, making the brunette throw it to the floor. The creatures surrounded him as well as the two blondes. One reached down to grab a hold of Mathew while the others approached and were shot by Alfred. The dragon was among them now and swat Alfred away.

"Alfred! Alfred help!" Mathew cried out as one of the swamp creatures picked him up and followed the retreating dragon and man.

"Come to the West port. Closest to the cliffs at midnight tomorrow. I will be waiting and your brother will be unharmed," the man released a monstrous laugh as he rode atop The dragon.

"Mathew!" Alfred cried out. His glasses had been crashed when the young man went flying. He tried to shoot but the pistol was empty and he threw it furiously to the ground. "NO!"