Despite having to pull them from an uncomfortable angle, she effortlessly drew her blades and dashed towards her target. Her limbs blurred as she moved, and you swore you could hear a distinct click as her heels skipped off of the ground. She closed the distance in the blink of an eye, skipped again, and she was suddenly out of range of its counterattack. You barely saw the silvery trail of her katana pass through its neck, and before its head could even hit the ground, she was already moving onto another target. With each clack of her heels, she darted around the battlefield, expertly dispatching the undead in rapid succession. It was almost as if she was dancing, the edges of her black robes and silvery blades whirling around her with dizzying speed.

You eventually snapped out of your awe-induced fugue state, and drew your own sword, moving to intercept another group of approaching zombies. But before you even got there, a bright red beam crashed down from above, turning the zombies into undead pulp, and reminding you that Harpy and the others were waiting to pick you up.

You looked up and waved at them. Shaggy was quite literally barking mad, and you just smiled and pretended that you couldn’t hear him muttering curses under his breath.

Louise skipped ahead of you and raised her swords defensively. She squinted up at the two, and you watched with mild amusement as her brows creased in confusion.

“What is that giant bird doing to that poor animal?” she asked.

“They’re friends.” you said simply.

And, as if to confirm this, Harpy unleashed another bright red Gamma Beam from her fanged maw, and completely obliterated another approaching horde.

Louise cautiously lowered her swords, her mouth hanging slightly open.

“Huh. I suppose the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree when it comes to keeping strange company.” she said, a bit of humor creeping back into her voice as she gave you the side eye.

You didn’t miss the implication that she considered Ben to be your father, and you didn't bother to correct her. Explaining your jacked up family situation would have to come after you survived this zombie invasion.

“Says the vampire hunting vampire living in an underground monster city.” you sniped back.

Louise pursed her lips and lowered her lashes.

“Ooh, touché~.” she said, clearly enjoying this little back and forth. She seemed genuinely happy to see you, and that made you a feel little better about how your day was currently going.

“HEADS UP!”

You both turned around just in time to see a green bundle of muscle slam down into the ground several meters away, causing cracks to spiderweb from the crater he had just formed. You managed to stop Louise before she could get her swords up this time.

“He's a friend too.” you offered. “I think.”

Louise’s flat expression told you exactly what she thought of your uncertain response, but...she stayed her hand nonetheless.

(Cont.)