The enhancements that Estoria received allowed her to stay ahead of the rest of the witches as they ran.
This did not sit well with her, however.
The witch hunters had all gathered after finding them and were waving their weapons threateningly.
"You damned witches! Capture all of them!"
The witches were forced to escape, leaving all of their incriminating evidence behind.
Some of the slower witches were caught and tied up, their futures grim.
Estoria could not help but want to help them even though she did not know that it was her fault to begin with.
"What do we do? They've already caught a few of us!"
"Follow me," Estoria yelled, "I have a place we can hide!"
Her house was not too far away from the community though it was not close either.
Most of the witches followed her, but a few thought that they would be better off splitting up.
Fortunately for them, the group of witch hunters decided to follow the larger group of witches.
Unfortunately, the raucous caused by the burning building had garnered the attention of the rest of the community.
The people were going to get to the bottom of the mess and when they did, the identities of those who were in the building would be jeopardized.
They were known by those in the building who had not only seen their faces but interacted with them regularly.
For now, though, they ran.
Before even getting halfway there, a burning figure shot towards the group of witches.
It stopped and floated above them before receding and showing a figure enshrouded by a cape of grey flames.
His deep red skin and long, black horns made for a frightening view, but for the witches who knew a little about higher beings, they rejoiced.
The witch hunters just behind them were perplexed by a being that could fly in the air and figured it was connected to the dark ways of witchcraft.
"The witches have summoned a creature from somewhere beyond! These vile creatures must be eliminated at all costs lest they destroy our precious communities!"
"You heard him! Archers get ready!"
"Let's purge all that is unwelcome!"
The witch hunters had all prepared to take down the floating Devil thinking it was possible.
How wrong they were.
Columns of the grey flames rose between the hunters and witches that went on to entrap all Edmond saw hostile.
The witch hunters immediately grew cautious.
"Let your arrows loose! These petty tricks can't stop us. The lord is on our side! We are the righteous!"
Needless to say, when the knocked arrows flew, they failed to find purchase in the target.
Edmond caught each arrow and finally spoke a single word, "Lord?"
He was suddenly reminded of the sick bastard that had his way with his lover while he dredged his time alone.
'The witches support me. Does that mean these people have a connection to that pig?'
'I've actually been thinking about that myself,' Ego piped up, 'Given that they could summon beings like demons, there must've been some sort of evidence, but this whole time the Hallowed Plane remained untouched by any outside forces.'
'Do you think it has something to do with the other demons of the Mortal Plane then?'
'That's my theory at least. There might be another Devil out there and another God of the Mortal Plane. The Hallowed Plane is a sort of separate coincidence given the environments. I assume Tino's blood and ties with the Cosmic Structure had something to do with summoning a demon from your Demonic Plane.'
'Otherwise, he would have simply summoned a demon from the Mortal Plane.'
Ego's words made some sense, but without any clue about the demons of the Mortal Plane it was mostly just assumptions and theories.
Still, remembering the God of the Angelic Realm ticked Edmond off.
He descended into the cage of flames and spat, "So, you think that your lord applauds your faithful actions? But then what about I?"
"You can crawl back down whatever hole you came from and wait for divine retribution!"
"Yeah! The Almighty will eviscerate you with no mercy for desecrating this holy land!
"Oh? Is that so," Edmond chuckled to himself, "Does your Almighty answer your prayers and protect you from evil?"
The witch hunters just looked amongst themselves thinking that the question was rhetorical.
"Let me enlighten you about your higher powers: they don't care as much as you think they do. Justifying your actions by relying on the backing of someone you've never met is not righteous. It's cowardly."
"We won't listen to such blasphemy! Come now, men! Attack!"
One of the hunters yelled to which the rest followed with screams and shouts of their own.
Edmond stood still as he welcomed the futile efforts of the pitiful men blinded by their faith in something they could not even begin to understand.
As blades sliced across his skin and pitchforks pierced towards his vital organs, the witch hunters were about to cheer.
When their blades slid across his crimson skin without breaking it and the pitchforks pressed hard without penetrating, their cheers were stuck in their throats.
"You finished proving your weakness? If so, then prepare to meet your maker," Edmond allowed the witches see what he was going to do next.
"Wait!"
Edmond turned to see Estoria rushing towards him.
"Don't kill them! It's not the right thing to do!"
The mortified witch hunters stammered in agreeance.
"She's right!"
"Let us go, you monster!"
Edmond glared at them to make them quiet down, "I won't kill them if that's what you really want, but they will try and try again to track your kind down and show no mercy unlike you. They already have a few of you in their clutches! Is that what you really want?!"
Estoria looked in the distance at the tied-up witches who failed to escape.
Witch hunters held them and turned their weapons to them.
"Let them go or we'll kill the ones we have!"
Whether it was through sheer bravery or fear, the witch hunters felt that victory was still in their grasp.
"Do you see? They don't see you as people. They only want death for your kind."
"But we can't fight their violence with more violence! Else what is life worth living when you're constantly taking it for granted."
Estoria was beginning to tear up.
Edmond sighed and shot flaming spears towards the witch hunters with the captives.
"Ahhh!"
"It burns! It-," one of the captors screamed.
As swift as a bullet, Edmond appeared before the captives and freed them.
"Quit your bitching. Those flames don't burn."
Realizing the truth behind his words, the captors marveled at the yellow flames before noticing his actions.
"Stop right there!"
"All of you heretics are coming with us to your executions!"
Growing tired of what seemed like an endless loop of aggressiveness and victimhood, Edmond happily broke the bones of the screaming witch hunters.
"Argh!"
"My arm!"
"You monster! My leg!"
"I won't kill you, but I'll gladly break every bone in your bodies until you beg for death."
The yellow holy flames instantly began healing their broken bones and ruptured skin much to their amazement.
"How does this monster know how to heal as well?!"
"My bones are fixed! It's a miracle!"
The clueless witch hunters had bitten off more than they could chew as Edmond smiled at their ignorance.
"Will you cease your pursuing of these witches or not?"
His question reached the ears of the dubious hunters and they all laughed.
"You may have mystical powers beyond our reach, but we will never stop hunting down the pests that are witches until the day we die!"
It only took one answer before Edmond responded, "Good. Then I can continue."
Once again, he broke several arms, legs, and ribs leaving the pompous witch hunters in tears themselves.
When he finished with the captors, Edmond swiftly bolted towards those that were trapped inside the cage of flames and wreaked havoc on them as well.
Without even admiring his work, Edmond looked back towards Estoria and with a toothy grin said, "Surely this lies within your realm of acceptance, no?"
Estoria could barely hear his voice over the screaming and howling of the injured men and only nodded, "As long as you heal them back up, I have no qualms."
"Perfect. Run home and let your children know that you're safe. I'll finished up with these idiots."