[x] Anger

From the shadows of the second floor hallway, a fierce wolf beast emerged. It ran straight towards us. I didn't even have time to raise my rifle.

"Watch out!" cried Meiling.

She jumped right in front of me and swung her leg in a great arc that reminded me of the crescent moon. Her heel left golden trails of light as it connected with the shadow creature's skull.

"Crack!"

The beast whined in pain for a moment. Then, it dropped dead on the ground. And as we watched, its form slowly melted back into the shadows. It left no trace that it had even existed, almost as if it had been just a bad dream.

"Damn it! It's those things again!"

"Again?" repeated Meiling.

"Yeah. Elena and I encountered them in the greenhouse while you were at the front gate."

"So it had started even earlier than I noticed..."

"Started? What the heck are those things, anyway?"

The gate guard had a serious expression on her face. It was very unlike her.

"Familiars," she whispered.

Before I could ask, she suddenly struck a combat pose. Several pairs of glowing red eyes approached us from the shadows. Some came from in front of us, and a few came from behind. We were surrounded. Without hesitation, I raised my gun and prepared myself. I understood immediately that we would have to fight in order to break through.

"There is no place for us to escape to, is there?" said Meiling. "I have nowhere else to go besides here."

"Doesn't look like it. But I'm not planning on abandoning our home."

"Neither am I."

I smiled grimly.

"It is settled, then. So why don't we give our uninvited guests the warm welcome that they deserve? It would be quite rude if we left them unattended."

Meiling laughed softly.

"Yes. That sounds great."

And with that, we began to charge through the hallway. Two shadow wolves emerged to intercept us. I aimed my gun at the one on the left and fired twice. The second shot hit right between the eyes, and the creature fell dead immediately. And as its corpse disappeared into the shadows, Meiling dashed forward and shattered the skull of the other wolf with a carefully placed punch. Three more creatures came running toward us. I turned around and emptied my rifle on the one coming from behind, while Meiling quickly dispatched the other two. Then the gate guard stopped running and waited as I reloaded my rifle.

"Are you alright back there?"

"Yeah. Just pray that I brought enough bullets."

We continued running through the hallways while fighting off the shadow beasts. Somehow, we managed to get through uninjured, though we did have a few close calls. And after what seemed like an eternal battle, we had finally made it. The last hallway toward Remilia's room was well-lit with chandeliers and candlesticks, so there were no shadows for these creatures to emerge from. We paused to catch our breath.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, one of the doors to the side burst open. Meiling and I both readied ourselves for another attack. But the person who emerged was no enemy of ours. A familiar little devil stepped out, holding her stomach with her hands and limping. My eyes widened in horror as I realized that she was bleeding from a large open wound.

"M-Miss Koakuma!"

"Koakuma!"

"Eh? Ah, it's you," she whispered.

I barely had time to catch her as she began to fall.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?"

Koakuma smiled weakly and shook her head. Even without a careful examination, I could tell that her wounds were most certainly fatal. She seemed to be aware of this as well, so she wasted no time.

"Miss Patchouli told me... to give you this..."

She motioned for me to come closer. I lowered my ear right beside her lips. Very slowly, she moved her face even closer. I could feel her warm breath. And before I had time to react, she gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. Then, she whispered three short words into my ears.

"Why did she..."

I turned to her, and she gave me one last smile before dying in my arms.
[ ] Stay silent
[ ] "Koakuma..."
[ ] "Patchouli..."
[ ] "It's all useless..."
[ ] "..." (Specify)