The humblest of little doors, made of poor-quality wood and crooked nails, was already open; Princess Moanna herself—or Ophelia Castillo, as she was known at the time—had opened it decades ago.
From inside, she had taken the dagger carved with a faun, a girl and a baby on the hilt, a dagger she would need for the final of her trials.
'That leaves me with two options, but without the keys I can only resort to more rustic methods.'
William unfurled his long black claws, which reflected the light—the claws of a Grimm; William had realised long ago that they were made of the same material as those of the immense beast.
And, of course, their sharpness and edge were just as magnificent; the small, palm-sized door, made of silver inlaid with pearls, was torn from its hinges; behind it lay a dark hole as deep as an arm's length.
Before William could think of reaching in, the cold-blooded, diamond-scaled viper hibernating within leapt through the air, so swiftly that it cast barely a shadow and left only a blurred image.
Wielding its four long fangs dripping with venom in a potentially fatal bite, William grabbed its head with his right hand, pressing down hard with his fingers and forcing the snake to close its mouth, retract its fangs and coil its body around his arm.
"A basilisk hatchling, what poor taste; if Princess Moanna were to knock on the wrong door, she would die a most cruel death."
A basilisk, a king of serpents when fully grown, endowed with a gaze that takes life, with a breath that poisons water, corrupts the air and shatters stone.
"A basilisk?!"
Bruma stroked her chin; she didn't know enough about these ancient beasts to identify the little snake 'held captive' by William.
"They aren't usually, you know, huge and with a gaze capable of killing instantly, are they?"
"The young ones don't yet possess the deadly gaze of their kind, but their venom is just as potent as in adulthood."
"The crown-shaped mark on its head shows its breed, though with that intense blood-red colour… perhaps it's a variant species; basilisks usually have a white crown."
(You'd make an excellent pet, if you didn't grow to the size of a house and have a killer stare.)
*Crack!!!*
William clenched his fingers until he snapped the basilisk's neck with a sound like a snap of the fingers.
The next door, the one right in the centre, was just as beautiful as the previous one, covered in a mantle of gold.
This time there was no serpent, only darkness and silence; William reached in until he felt the softness of the fabric and the cold of the steel.
He took the object in his arms; it was long, somewhat heavy, yet light for a sword; the fabric, incredibly soft and with a silvery sheen, wrapped completely around its body, revealing not a single part of the blade.
William felt tempted to unwrap the sword he believed to be special, given that he was in a place like this—the hall of an immortal, preserved in time.
'Aren't you going to unwrap it?' Asked Bruma, following William and watching him pick up the wrapped sword, showing no intention of revealing what it looked like.
"I have little time left. Did Princess Moanna literally demand the pale man's head, or merely his death?"
"Please, let me handle that. The head as proof of subjugation was demanded only by the king; it was one of the conditions for allowing him to be given a weapon forged by his clan as a reward."
Bruma flew across the room to alight on Black Phillip's head, clasped her hands, closed her eyes and, after reciting a few lines in the ancient language of the fairies, a gust of wind cleanly severed the goat's neck.
'... It only works on corpses!!!'
Bruma quickly clarified, sensing William's gaze; such a spell, combined with her ability to turn invisible, would be formidable if used in combat.
"Are you going to take that head with you?... —Black Phillip's head was several times larger than Bruma's body; it would be like seeing an ant carrying a large leaf on its back—. Oh, that's very practical."
William said as he watched Bruma place her hands on the severed head and see it shrink in size; the little fairy, with her nimble hands, quickly wove a net from the rope she carried at her waist, wrapped it around the goat's head, and hung it from her waist.
"Could you do the same with something longer?"
William lifted his cloth-wrapped back with his arms; it was clear what longer object he was referring to.
"What do you mean?... Oh! I can give it a go."
The procedure took longer than expected, and even the little fairy seemed more tired than usual when it was over, but in the end she managed to shrink William's new treasure to the size of a palm.
[Mission: Hunting Pact. 'Child Eaters'.] [Status: Completed.]
'Thank you, and you can take the pale man's head now; as for Ruuttus… that seems complicated.'
A notification from his System informed William that the pale man's suffering had already ended; although most of his internal organs were intact in the upper half of his body, massive blood loss had slowly taken his life.
Bruma repeated the 'head-harvesting' on the pale man once more; as for Ruuttus, William had rendered his two remaining heads unrecognisable.
''If it is not possible to take his head,' Bruma leaned over Ruuttus's chest and gently stroked it with one of her fingers, 'I shall take his heart."
The fairy's fingers cut through Ruuttus's flesh and bones like a scalpel, exposing a large, black, lifeless heart, and with her small fingers she tore the heart from the dead King of Rats.
"All ready?" William stopped looking at the ceiling murals and said, "Then let's get out of here."
There was nothing else in the Pale Man's lair to catch his eye; the wine bottles and glasses they had used were all broken, so he could take none as a souvenir.
And so, the man and the fairy left the place, leaving behind three disembowelled corpses, two headless and one heartless; shortly afterwards, the fire in the hearth went out and plunged the old banquet hall into eternal darkness.
"Okay, puppy, I need a hand."
William smiled as he saw the little white hand peeking through the hatch; with a leap, using the wall as a springboard, he grabbed Enid's hand with his right and, with his left, clung to the edge of the chalk door.
He'd planned to climb up under his own steam, leaning only slightly on Enid, but he'd underestimated the strength of a werewolf; the girl, who was no more than three blocks tall, lifted his body and pulled him towards her.
"What?"
Enid asked, confused, as she felt William's gaze on her.
"Nothing."
"Awww!!!, did you hear that!!!"
"Hecalls her her puppy, how 'cute' they both are!"
The girls couldn't contain their laughter and burst out laughing.
"What's the matter? Jealous?"
Enid wasn't embarrassed and replied without letting go of William's hand. Yoko and Divina, sitting side by side on the floor with their backs against the bed, smiled and waved to William.
"Ooh, he's defending his pack."
"I thought you'd be with Bianca,"
Asked Enid, who had invited her friends in without asking why they were in her room at that time of night.
"She had an urgent matter to attend to, a chat… with Xavier," replied Yoko.
"And we've come to do our nails." Divina pulled several bottles of nail varnish out of her crossbody bag.
"Don't look at me, I've no idea."
William didn't know what Xavier's plans were for that night, although, knowing Bianca, he could guess what it was all about.
William tried to slip quietly over to the window during the conversation.
"You're not going." Enid squeezed his hand. "The T-shirt."
Enid's tone brooked no objection; it was indisputable. William knew this from the way she looked at him, from the slight movement of her chin, and from the way she pressed her lips together.
(She tightened the strap on him!) Divina wanted to shout it out loud with all her might and tease her friend, but she had to hold back; Yoko felt something similar and, in fact, it was she who stopped Divina from saying it by squeezing her arm tightly.
William sighed and pulled up his long-sleeved T-shirt; apart from a few snags in the fabric, William's body looked perfect.
The black veins on his ribs had vanished thanks to the combined action of the Queen Elf's Medal and the Dawn Moth's bracelet; the moth was so powerful that it was able to purify the influence of an ancient Aztec god.
The residue of the Rat King's poison contained in the young man's veins evaporated on contact with the light of the gem in the moth's belly; as for the blood on his hands, it had slipped from him when he took Enid's hand, activating the functions of his many rings.