Belle let out a sigh of relief escape through her lips. Turning to Lucas, she saw him give her nod whilst he supported her in his arms. Getting up while coughing, Belle went to stand beside Preciosa who was floating in mid-air. She didn’t know how to help Crane to get his memories back but at the same time she hoped that a little trip to the memory lane would help the Hawvert. 

Crane followed her, standing on the other side of Preciosa’s body, watching Belle who was losing her life rapidly. 

Even Lucas who had been sitting had stood up, holding his scythe out while keeping an eye on Winston to make sure he wouldn’t step out of the markings that Belle had placed. Belle placed her one hand on the girl’s chest and her left hand was stretched out for Crane to hold. Belle had never tried something like this before, and it was only because of the book of Vervus that she had stumbled upon the spell. 

Winston was on the other side raging in anger because Crane was supposed to listen to him, to let him out of this little cage that the girl had made but instead of helping him, Crane was listening to that lowly mortal! Winston tried to use his scythe to free himself from the circle. Some invisible force kept stopping him from moving forward and he could get out from the lines of circles had been created. 

He had planned for years and this was the time! Winston was not going to let a mortal screw up with his plans. The soul of Preciosa was there and so was the book. For a white witch, the mortal appeared to be doing fairly well. 

He went on to work on how to get out until he noticed a small space that had formed on one side of the circle because of the water. A smile crept on Winston’s face. 

In the meantime, Crane finally placed his hand on Belle’s hand. In less than a second, he noticed smoke around him and the mortal, to finally be sent to the past. 

It took a minute for Winston to use his scythe in getting rid of the magic that was around him. He wasn’t a Hawvert just for namesake but because he had higher power compared to the other creatures of the dead. 

When Lucas noticed Winston’s movement, he quickly brought his scythe forward as Winston had somehow stepped out of the circle. 

“Stop right there, Winston!” Lucas warned him but the Hawvert didn’t listen and brought his scythe forward to harm Crane. 

Both Lucas and Winston’s scythes clashed against each other. Lucas made use of the magic he had received from Crane but that wasn’t good enough as at the end of the day, he was only a Grim reaper and not a Hawvert. 

Winston released another mighoul out of the ground that crept up behind Belle. When Lucas caught sight of this, his concentration on Winston broke, leaving the Hawvert an opening to attack him. But before the scythe could touch him, a hand appeared to hold the sharp blade that belonged to Winston. 

It was Crane’s hand that had stopped Winston from attacking Lucas. Crane’s eyes opened and so did Belle’s who turned around to hit the mighoul with the bolt of lightning in her hand. 

Crane turned his neck around, “That is enough,” he said with his voice emotionless and in a blink of an eye, Winston’s scythe broke into pieces because of Crane’s fingers that had pressed the metal. 

Everyone’s eyes widened at this little action, “You have caused too much pain in this world.”

“That is just a lie! We all know how there are fabricated worlds!” Winston defended himself. All this while, Winston had thought he had the enormous strength while Crane had only the forbidden magic which was why he was in shock. 

It wasn’t just Winston but every other creature who witnessed the scythe breaking have a look of shock on their face. It was because no one could break a person’s scythe easily, especially not when the scythe belonged to the high standing Hawvert in the land of the dead. A Hawverts scythe was always stronger than the rest. 

Crane turned to his side, the corner of his eyes looking at Preciosa who was still floating dead behind him before looking back at Winston, “You should have let it go. Dragging not only us but also the creatures of the living into it. You have caused too many troubles,” said Crane to Winston with a look of anger on his face. 

Winston took a step back, “You don’t know what you did. The powers that you so proudly wield, it was supposed to be mine. I was going to be the black witch who was going to be the most powerful one but you had to come and spoil it. She was my fiance-“

“She never gave her heart to you,” Crane stated, taking a step forward and Winston took one back, “You forget that she had to give it willingly. Similar to how your bone is being used.”

“My bone was stolen from me!” Winston raged, and pulled out another set of mighouls who climbed through the ground to stand, “Everything was stolen from me! The girl, my position, my powers. Preciosa was supposed to be with me, but you were the one who tricked her! All these years, I have been patiently looking at you standing next to me. Taking the throne and power of the land of the dead. When I finally realized about her existence still in this world, I decided to take her away so that I could make use of her.”

“You have a very elaborative plan, Winston,” said Crane, “I trusted you and I would have forgotten about it too. You could have continued enjoying your position but you made the mistake of not only stealing the person whom I loved but also causing chaos out there in the living. Not to forget, you were the reason why my Grims and the others have been not wanting to work.”

Winston laughed, “What are you going to do about it? Doesn’t that just tell how unfilial the Grims are towards you?”

When Winston gave a look to the mighouls, the creatures started to run towards Crane, Lucas and Belle. But Crane only raised his hand, snapping his fingers for the mighouls to splatter into liquid and fall on the ground. 

Belle’s eyes widened when she watched what Crane was capable of doing. He had killed more than fifteen mighouls with one snap of his fingers. Was this Preciosa’s ability, the power of forbidden magic that was given to the Hawvert before he died? 

In the back of her mind, she remembered the first time she had taken a glimpse of Crane in the graveyard. It was the time when one of the hellhounds had taken a bite on her leg. For fleeting seconds, she had seen him before returning back to land of the living. She doubted she would be alive if Crane had seen her lurking in the land of the dead.