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Alihi was still terrified even as the Barrier came up around her, protecting her from any magical assault (well, more like increasing her low resistance by a bit). Her heart was pounding rapidly, probably not going to slow down to a normal rate until this was over and done with.
... Why do I seem to get into danger a lot? I mean, first Halloween (which was my fault sort of, but that's beside the point), and now this?! The tactician sighed quietly. That's it, I'm staying on the sidelines for a while after this, I swear! Her gaze shifted from Renault to Rei and then back to Renault again.

... Yeah, right.

The bishop growled, glancing around the room for something he could use and not finding much. "Damn it. . . what the hell are you doing?" He stood there for a moment longer, trying to find something he could do. Well, he couldn't hit Rei directly, and if he tried to hit him indirectly that tendril would kill Alihi. . . he'd have to have the perfect shot here. But he couldn't do that just yet, at least not from here. He stepped to one side, but not much, just enough for Rei to get past and giving the bishop himself space to see the whole room. One hand still clasped his light tome; he wasn't going to give up just yet.

"But, I don't believe you'll hurt her - the moment she's gone, you've lost your hostage and you'll be taken down." Renault's voice was quiet but firm. "You seem to forget that I was once a mercenary. If I judge you dangerous enough to the others, I will not hesitate to eliminate you. One sacrifice is better than many." His tone was completely serious. "But, once you've begun to ascend those stairs, I'll be behind you. One hit, and you'll be out. What's to make you think I won't just do that? And if you turn to face me, someone may come down the stairs and knock you out. There's no way to escape, child."

Alihi tried to back away again, but the wall prevented her movement. She tried to stop Rei, but before she knew it, his arm was already her neck and a rather dangerous looking tendril pointing at her throat, ready to move if needed. The tactician couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at it, being unable to do much else except attempt to pull the arm away from her neck with her right hand, which proved to fail (who knew he was that strong?).

Damn it... Alihi looked to Renault, the fear clear in her eyes. There was nothing that she could do to save herself now. As much as she hated to think about it or admit it, her life was out of her hands now. Rather she lived or died was up to the two-- three people in the area capable of doing anything: Rei, Renault, and Amelia.

Amelia's expression slowly shifted from one of shock to that of anger, her hands tightening on the shaft of the lance. "Let her go!" she half-shouted, taking another step towards him. The muscles in her arms tensed, readying to strike... until Rei let the barb in front of Alihi's neck move away, as he simply shoved her right into Renault's chest. Amelia stumbled a little, surprised. "Okay, then. Well, would you expla--" she started. She didn't exactly have time to finish, though, not when a swarm of tendrils snapped up and shoved right into her back. "A-Aack!" she yelped, practically falling against Rei's torso. The lance fell out of her hands, clattering down the steps and falling still.

Amelia hissed, struggling against Rei's arms. "What the hell do you think you're doing...??" she demanded, trying to stomp onto his foot. "Let me go!" She faltered, suddenly thinking of his wound. He would've opened it farther by now, given how bad that gash had been. Why was it not bothering him all of a sudden? It couldn't have healed itself over for no reason... could it?

At that moment...

The door opened.

This shouldn't be confused with The Door, now--if The Door had opened, the word "door" would have been capitalized. However, it was not. It was simply "the door".

Now that any confusion was cleared up as to which door was opened, Rhys walked in through the front door, the sound of his boots stomping across the entrance, blissfully unaware of what was going on and breathing heavily from the effort of walking all the way to town and back.

The fatigue didn't dull his senses for long, however. He could certainly feel the flow of dark magic, manifesting itself in long tendrils... it felt as though they were around the area of the stairs to the basement...

Wait. Stairs to the basement!? THE DOOR! (Yes, The Door. Not to be confused with any ordinary door.)

He rounded the corner to the basement stairs, shouting something to the effect of "COME QUICK! I THINK THE DOOR'S LEAKING DARK MAGIC", shocked himself silly at the sudden appearance of Rei and tentacle-wrapped Amelia...

Tripped over his own shoes at the sight, and promptly fell down the stairs towards Rei in a flying hug of accidental Justice.

Rei turned his body a little as the Bishop hurtled down the stairs, watching him do little more than grab his leg as he fell. Kicking his leg a little, Rei shook off the Bishop's grasp. Turning Amelia to face the crowd of people at the bottom of the stairs, he gave her a shove down to the rest of the group. Walking up the stairs, he noticed Aran standing there in awe. With a brisk motion, he shoved him down the stairs as he passed.

"Let's add another to the heap..." He said, walking out the front door.

Rhys lay in a daze near the top of the heap, dizzy from tumbling end over end all the way down. The feeling of pain and discomfort was exasperated by someone landing on top of him. His left hand reached out and touched skirt--some girl...

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, still fondling the skirt, and looked down. "Amelia! Oh, thank goodness you're unhurt! So, umm..."

He looked down at the people underneath him.

"...What did I miss? What was Rei doing just now?"