She'd eavesdropped for quite a while, hoping to find information that'd lead her to the source, or at least guide her to the most challenging spot. It was foolhardy and reckless, but she'd been plagued with the urge to want to prove herself for a while now. While technically unaffiliated to the Knights, she still had a duty towards the kingdom and its people. Besides, Adragna had promised that the orb would keep her safe, and Akira was tempted to test that theory. Although diving into the deep end, may not be the most tactical way to do so. The sceptic in her wondered if the healer's reassurances were just empty words, she did seem to be operating off of her own instincts after all. She hoped she'd be proved wrong though and wished that her faith wasn't misplaced.

Sometimes the Shimada wondered how important she was to the organisation and more often than not she came up with the unfortunate answer, that she was dispensable. It was how she'd felt when she joined and three years and a few rank ups later, that hadn't changed by much. How long was she going to remain a liability? Will they ever accept that some of her quirks could easily be of value? And how much of herself was she going to willingly change should they not?

It was difficult to walk through the town and witness the others struggle without stopping to aid them, but she knew that if she got caught up helping with the smaller rifts, she'd never make it to the bigger fish. Finally after following all the intel from the panicking defenders in various sections of the town she derived the information that there was a seemingly smaller and harmless rift just out of town, but it was being guarded by a few rather menacing looking demons.

They were so vigilant about their role as guards, that they weren't even tempted by the potential destruction and devastation they could cause in town. This seemed rather odd. Akira had a knack for sensing trouble, especially when the majority discounted something... She stopped a fair distance away from the rift and squinted her eyes and scanned the area. There was no one else here so far... She'd have to come up with a plan, now that she was here. At the moment it looked like if she engaged, there was a high chance she wasn't going to make it out alive.

Had she changed a lot? Had she sunken so far that she did not care anymore about names, about people that she did not remember, about people that she forgot only because of names. They were walking, like some beautiful golden wave in a sea of black and red. Blood and darkness, something people feared. She did not care. All she cared about was going home and fix the supper for the children and get them to bed on time and be in safety. The only reason how the Knights had convinced her to be here. She was brutal, violent and she was reckless. She did whatever it took to go back home as soon as possible because the nannies were unreliable. She was a single mother and apparently, not all babysitters thought she was kind to them. She was just very strict, the twin was the last of the long list of things she could miss and even if they had always been on top of the list, it did not matter much more. She had to protect them, she hated the nannies, the babysitters, every single one of them and not because of them, but because of herself. She had to leave her kids alone to work. Work that was unreliable and dangerous.

The golden wave was slowly splitting up. That had been part of the plan that they told Alice. The guy on her left was nervous, muttering prayers under his breath. She had learned years ago that prayers did not work, it only soothed her mind as she thought of something else when she prayed, but she did not say them out loud anymore. By the Divine, the Illumin would not listen to a woman like her. The guy on her left disappeared and soon she was alone. She did not stop and the golden armour shined with the reflection of other shiny objects, still clean, no drops of blood or sweat yet on it. The people who would have a second to glance at her back would see a round shield with a head whose eyes and serpents looked around. The Gorgon shield and the armour would make her slow but she was cunning and taunting enough to bring the demons to her.

All alone they send her to the biggest rift a little further away from the smaller ones. She had not cared, she would say that the Illumin would punish those who sent her to this unprepared, but they assured her she would be fine. With Natheal's sword at her side. She halted for the first time when she was not alone. The black haired woman in front of her was young, still, and yet older than Alice had seen her last time. She could not imagine what she would feel if her emotions would be able to focus on a strange reunion like this. "Akira?"

She found herself frozen in place. The humanoid demons had either not noticed her yet, or they simply didn't care enough to bother with her pesky life. It wasn't as surprising, she was still far enough to explain their lack of interest. But their cold distant stares, their stillness was eerie. Their stubborn and almost disciplined demeanour was cause for significant concern though. These were not the average monsters sent to simply desecrate. They had another purpose. What were they expecting from that rift that they refused to budge and step away? Not towards the town and not towards where she stood, leaning against the outermost wall that sought to protect the city.

The wall hardly mattered now, the city was already being decimated, the defensive structures of mankind meant nothing. She gauged the enemies her bravado dwindled significantly. She wondered if she should just attempt taunting them with a blast of light in their direction... Maybe if she managed to break their ranks and lure them towards her, she could try keep them occupied and maybe there would be back up? I'm probably going to die. she thought as she peeled herself off the wall that she'd slumped against upon sighting the enemies.

She took a few steps towards the force of five. She squinted and scrutinised their forms individually. They were all definitely bigger than her, but it was their weapons that truly embellished their menacing appearance. Two of them had feminine features, although nothing about them screamed beauty of grace. One of the women sported gauntlets the size of boulders, the other had a large seemingly sentient tentacle draped over her shoulder. Among the three males, two wielded swords. Both the large blades boasted cruel serrated edges, while one wielded his by normally, holding onto the hilt, the other seemed to have a magical blade that he simply summoned to his side. Finally, there was the least evil looking off the lot, or perhaps simply more familiar and humanoid than the others. He held onto a large scythe...

She took another tentative step forward before hearing a voice behind her. It startled her enough to almost want to attack the source without a moment to spare. The only thing that prevented her from acting instinctively was the recognition, of the voice and the fact that it addressed her directly. 'Adel.' she responded, stating more than questioning. Even though it was just one other person, the company offered a surge of relief, the way she uttered the name, indicated as much.

She wasn't surprised. The Shimada knew of the woman's affiliation with the other Knight faction. They seemed to have a knack for knowing where there was trouble. Aki licked her lips, but chose to not avert her eyes from the demons and turn towards the blessed woman for the time being. 'Is anyone else going to join us?' the young lunar mage asked. 'Regardless... I suppose we need to find a way to get their attention.' she stated more than asking. Now that there was a witness, it was even more important for her to prove herself, given everything that was at stake, or would be if she somehow managed to survive this. She held her palms out, angling them so that they were on either side of the demonic group. Magic circles appeared and ejected two beams of light, which met and exploded into a large area, kicking up a fair bit of dust.

For a moment there was peace... Perhaps... just perhaps that was enough? No. She was a sceptic and this was already quite hopeless, hope had no place here. When the dust settled, the demons looked slightly worn, but mostly, they looked pissed. Maybe she should have waited for Adel's take on the matter.

Spoiler:

She was absolutely anything but happy. That wasn't because Akira was here, at this point she had absolutely nothing against the Rune Knights, she had other demons to fight. Literal ones at this point but also not literal. There were demons in the shadow hiding and all she could think of was: why is she here? Of course, the Rune Knights would want to do something, would want to fight, protect their citizens and so on and she did not want to underestimate Akira as she had done before, or judged on matters that were now so silly and useless. Didn't she have a future? More than Adelaide felt she had and where the hell was Hatsuharu? "Not for as far as I know." She answered the question if more people were coming, no the ace had to go alone and sure as hell she might be reckless enough to hurt anyone else in the process and perhaps that was the whole reason as to why she came alone.

She took a few steps further to stand next to Akira and looked at the five demons a few meters away. Interesting, five against one had been a tough idea, five against two made it a bit better. She had not seen Akira in a long time and she was actually kind of curious what her past student was able to do, they never trained, discussed and so on. She did not want to ask where the healer was at first it was because he clearly wasn't here and it did not matter at this point. It would only make a distraction, she only felt a shiver going down her spine, she should actually stand here with Kon beside her, he always had her back and yet always when it was important they seemed to be split up.

Her thoughts already got quickly beaten out her brain because of Akira her reaction. What? No coordination, no plan? Just straight... play. Okay, she got it. She unsheathed Nathael's sword with her right hand away from her hip and grinned with the idea. It was funny to see how they seemed to be idolizing an idea, the demons, for they clearly did not look happy as well and two came at top speed running at them and more specifically at Akira. Blinded, that's what they were simply and only because of a human-like feature that triggered pain and they seemed to be answering to it. She closed her eyes shortly before opening them with the fire that she held within her but this time, she could go all out. Akira would be very well protecting herself. She lifted her right hand up with Natheal's sword in there and almost instantly, you saw one of the demons step aside, a short moment of the show of weakness. It would by far not be enough, but it would be fun to let it go.

She was prepared, getting the Gorgon shield on her left forearm now that she had the time as the demons haltered for a second. How long will it take for them to overstep the problem? She eyed them all separately, they looked so different and yet the same in her eyes. The one with the tentacle had moved closer until a sudden halt and Adelaide narrowed her eyes and tried to get a glimpse of what she was doing but had no time as she would have to keep an eye on the ones getting closer. Out of nowhere the demon with the purple magic atmosphere had disappeared and popped up right before Akira, swinging his sword that came out of nowhere as well. Shit, they were perhaps not fast but they had their tricks.

Two of the demons finally broke formation. Whether it was because they felt threatened, or whether they were just the sort who had been forced by obligation to stand guard and had been seeking such an opportunity all along, Aki would never be able to discern. They'd recognised and deemed her to be the source of the light magic that seared them so suddenly. She swallowed and grit her teeth. She couldn't just stand ground, they were still to close to the wall... If nothing else the wall still provided the illusion of safety and sanctity. While that illusion was certainly not worth her life, she still felt duty bound to defend it. And she wasn't dead... yet. She still had a good deal of fight left in her.

The large hulk of a woman walked slow, Aki assumed she could perhaps distract her away from the wall. And away from Adel. 'We split, I take these two. Help me... If I can't-' she couldn't waste more time in explaining herself. Her words were brief and curt and she had a feeling Adel would understand the brusque tone given the circumstance. Besides, Aki had never really shown her softer sides extensively to the now blonde woman. She lunged away from the boundary of the city and diagonally towards the demons who had started towards her. They were quick to change their own path. Somehow, they both were still walking, the woman and the heavily armor clad demon with a jagged purplish magical sword... Hadn't even bothered to break into a run. Cocky. Aki thought.

But not for long. In a blink of an eye, the armoured fellow teleported right in front of her, greeting her with a strike of his sword. She dodged instinctively, but met noticed a large shadow. The woman had lunged towards Aki while whipping up the large tentacle she carried as a weapon. Within a second it fell where the girl had been standing.  She lunged again, missing it by a whisker. But what she didn't notice was the fact that another tentacle sprouted right behind her and that it followed the motions of the one the woman carried. It slammed shoving her to the ground. While she stumbled and fell over, she noticed energies within her direct themselves to form a protective shield against the impact just in time. So at least there was no crippling damage... yet.

She rolled as swiftly as she could and got to her feet. Which seriously pissed off the woman. Meanwhile, the one with the magical sword, simply arced the sword in a slicing motion in front of him. Seemingly cutting nothing, but he expelled a dark energy that sliced towards the Lunar mage in a cone. She panicked... but once again it didn't do anything. Smirking in a brief moment of joy. She decided it was time for the counter attack. While she'd already hit her heavy hit, she still had smaller blasts of light. But when she tried to cast a spell it didn't work... An expletive escaped her lips. The woman was about to strike her again and Aki had barely had the time to gather where the other tentacle was, dodging could potentially be difficult. But just then. All the demons let out a piercing howl and were briefly disoriented.

Aki turned towards Adel to notice that she'd raised her sword into the air... If she was capable of hurting them all this way. Maybe they actually had a chance! But that pissed the other two demons. The two red-faced demon, male and female now dashed towards Adel, they didn't dawdle, they streaked and lunged right out. Gauntlet pulled back ready to strike and large red and ashed sword raised high as he practically flew towards the angel. 'Damn it! Tell me you can do that again!' Aki exclaimed helplessly, as she dodged yet another tentacle smash.

Magic, Stats and Demons:

It was only a matter of seconds, everything always seemed to go so fast. Years went by in the blink of an eye from time to time, within 3 months the twin would be three years old after all and she could remember how recent that seemed to be. Right now seconds did not even seem to be close to a second and just much faster. She was strapping on the shield, which was not that difficult and would normally not take that long but it felt like hours while lifting her sword in the air and get the attention of the other two. Her golden eyes caught how the last one remained standing, why? Was he like the end boss who would defend the rift. Well, shame he had not met this duo yet.

She did not react to Akira before, because it was no use and only would be a distraction but she now held up her sword with her right hand, diagonally in front of her face to avoid the collapsing of the first sword against her own skin. "I need to gather magic, it will take a bit." She yelled back to at least make sure to Akira that she heard her. For god sake those four were definitely not the easiest, not the worst either yet, her heart was already heavy, so this could be added anyway.

With a loud thud, she had heaved up the shield to avoid getting red gauntlets in her face but was pushed several inches backwards. She had felt that and cursed under her breath, her arm already felt heavy from that one collision and it didn't stop after that. She had no idea what the system was but clung her sword into the one of the red sword wielder to avoid getting it pushed through her ribs. "For god sake cowards. Two against one." And they would lose, she did not plan yet to use the power bestowed upon her ages ago, that she had avoided, that she had almost forgotten as it did not seem important had Odin not asked about it.

She noticed in the corner of her eye another moment that Gauntlet wanted to hit her and she moved up her shield that she could avoid a collison again, she felt her arm shaking and almost numb, so she had to get rid of... wait... It looked as if she was charging to do it a third time. That would surely break the shield and possibly break her arm as well. She took her sword back, and instead of aiming to block it, she kicked the high demon against his knee in a half attempt to break it, surely her armour and her own strength would be strong enough but it did not seem to work as much as she had wanted. For now, she leaned away and channelled another piece of magic within her. She had to wait for Gauntlet to strike again, who seemed to have grasped the idea that one more strike would break her shield and would go for that. Instead, the red eyes of Medusa and the eyes of the snakes on the shield turned to Gauntlet, who laughed a strange eerie laugh while dashing towards her, before she could hit her, she turned into stone and Alice rolled away to avoid any issues with the second demon that was on her way. For god sake, her left arm felt so heavy, she should avoid using the shield at all costs. She would simply have to dodge with all costs.

The two Knights were overwhelmed. Akira dodged the tentacle smashes and lunged around to keep out of that monstrous armoured demon's range. This exhausting and lethal game was taking a lot out of her. They were strong, but at least they were slow and at some point, it became a rut, the more they attacked, the more she felt like she was better able to predict their motions. But that didn't mean she could do this forever. Her muscles began protesting, she needed to find a moment to at least be able to cast her spells. Two against one was indeed cowardly. But who was to fault for that, the humans who didn't have enough or didn't bother enough with reinforcements or the demons, who were merely catering to their own urges?

She heard sounds, gruff evil sounding... words? Clearly there was some communication between these monsters and it elicited more chortles, although this time they were tinted with bitterness. They were not amused by the way she danced between them. Their expressions soured, but not in a way that betrayed fear. More like they were annoyed, akin to the way a human is when dealing with a particularly evasive insect. They definitely wanted to squash her like a bug too.  

In her steadily growing tiredness, her sidestep wasn't enough and while still enough to miss the the brunt of the damage, she did stumble yet again. Grunting, and wincing she righted herself to face the woman, expecting to have the shadow of the weapon looming over her. The large muscled demonic woman just chuckled. It was something that sounded like a throaty gurgle, like a rumble of an earthquake in the sea. The sadistic mirth in that sound was hard to miss though, and it chilled the Lunar mage to the bone. Her tentacle lashed out straight out the Shimada, its cruel tip flicked against the young girls stomach. But she felt no pain, neither did the orb atop her head direct the forces of her magic to protect her... Which was strange.

Before she had the chance to fully grasp what was happening, the armoured demon was behind her again, and struck her in the waist, she thought she managed to dodge, but her movement was suddenly rather sluggish. Luckily the orb did function as promised, generating a shield well in time. Using the time the orb bought, she lunged out of his range again, diagonally between the two demons. But she landed closer than she had initially anticipated. A feeling of heaviness had taken over her. Her breath felt like it was getting shorter. That's when she whipped around and noticed something akin to her form in front of the female demon, tethered to her by an intangible looking rope. It was still, frozen and ethereal, standing there idle and useless.

Aki's eyes widened when her ghost like form was struck, brutally lashed by that gigantic tentacle. That tether transferred the damage her statue took to her. Her orb couldn't protect her from this internal damage either. She felt pain like she hadn't ever felt before. It elicited a loud cry from her mouth as she fell to her knees, barely managing to keep her hands off the ground. Wincing and groaning as she slowly recovered. Through her lashes she noticed a dark orb heading straight towards her. Having dealt intimately with darkness, considering it was one of the elements she frequently employed. She had the instinctive sense to summon her light to protect herself. She was quick to cast limit and create the shield that protected her from the orb this time.

Having felt this pain once, Akira was determined to never feel it again. So she rolled and slid to somehow get that tether to break. She really had to do all she could to avoid experiencing such a thing. Though she also had to ensure that while the tether still existed the woman shouldn't strike the statue again, especially not along with the tentacle that spawned near it. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Adel had created a statue of her own... She hoped the Holy Knight was having a better time. If she finished up things would look up. If Akira survived this, there would be so much more she'd have to study and learn. These strange abilities and magic, if nothing else maybe seeking that knowledge was worth living for.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

Her left arm felt so heavy, everything felt so heavy and the party had only started. There were only two faces at this point in front of her eye, the twin that she had to protect from the nasty creatures in front of her. Who better to do that than their own mom. Next step after this rift was getting back their dad. She should promise, she should do anything that was necessary, no longer dodging and failing, no longer avoid. She now had to fight one enemy as she had made red gauntlet into a fine piece of art. She had not much time, she did not know how long the demon would be able to take the spell or better how fast she would be able to fight the stone. She had to fight the bad red before that and make sure to push his ass back into that green blob of a rift before she would be less of a piece of art.

She blocked with her shield, not able to lift it for a second time, that's how heavy it felt and she slashed with her own sword. She had no idea what he did, but his sword lighted up and instead of even trying to aim at her, he aimed at the ground, an eruption of light made her fall over and she rolled around to recover her feet quickly but not only that, she needed to get away from him and the only way she believed how to do so, was the quickest one. While hunched down still, gathering her own power, she looked up and scared the demon, that was obviously clear as her golden eyes would form a bright white light. If he had not felt the fear before of facing a Nephilim, then so by the Divine he would now. Her beautiful white wings materialized behind her and her long blonde hair, now cut out of the hair tie, showed that she was ready to fight him again. She just needed her bearings and as she felt the energy channel in her, she flew up, ready to attack again. While being high enough as not to be grabbed by him, he hooked his sword around her right feet and dragged her down with a smooth move. She felt the sword cut her leg but her wings managed to keep her from falling on the ground immediately and she spurred towards him to clash her sword against him, remaining in the air and speedy trying a cut from left, right, slamming the shield in his face, hurting her own arm. She heard a loud crack. Shit. Gauntlet.

She had to be quicker, at least he staggered thanks to the shield in his face and she cut a diagonal wound on his chest and pushed him this time harder with her foot in his face. It would be nice if he stayed down. She kicked his sword away when he staggered and moved in time to feel the cut miss her and just toss her hair and feathers. Gauntlet managed to get half out of the stones and she would have a few more minutes or seconds left to fight this big red before she would have to get a one on one fight with the other. She looked at Akira to make sure her partner was doing fine. She turned her sword to hit it in the gut of bad red as he was still on the ground, he growled and she turned around in time to avoid the attack that Gauntlet threw towards her. Damn, this wasn't even far from over.

The armoured man was not happy at having his spell destroyed with the shield Akira had summoned so swiftly. While the female with the tentacles looked like she had hit jackpot, the man wielding the magical purplish sword, was no longer just annoyance but slowly betraying something akin to fiery frustration. His sourness was turning into bitterness. While this was cause to be smug, the Shimada was hardly in a position to be. She didn't have time to get out of range. The woman was prepping her strike. Having realised the potential of her soul pull, she spawned yet another tentacle to attack in unison with hers. The armoured man teleported to her yet again. Striking her to no avail as her mana shield leapt to her protection. He was stalling, if nothing else, she couldn't afford that.

The Joyan had another hard hitting spell at her disposal, the only problem was with the way they were currently placed, she'd only get one of them. In her desperation, that was probably the best she could hope for, but there was another way. Given the precarious situation and the fact that time was of utmost importance, her planned move could definitely backfire. It probably was too much of a risk, but Aki did it anyways. She cast a light disc under the armoured man, flipping her hand away from her and angling it in a manner that he was also away from the woman and Aki's soul statue. With her other hand, she summoned another disc, this time made out of darkness, under the woman, propelling her away from the vulnerable, frozen and ephemeral magical structure and in the same direction as the man.

With seconds to spare, before the demons oriented themselves again, she used her free hand to summon a magic circle at the location where the demons were to land. Since they were slow, their trajectory towards the targeted location did buy Aki some time. Having them both tossed away from her and the soul that had been tugged away from her, was the best idea she'd had and the best move she had managed to execute. From the magic circle emerged a beam that was silverish in its hues.

Just as the armoured demon helplessly landed, a fraction of a second before his companion, the beam made contact the soles of his demonic feet and both the Abyssinian creatures were engulfed in a large blast of light, it was eight meters at its widest. The explosion took with it all the tentacles that had spawned. Either the damage or the fall had caused the female demon to lose focus and she could no longer sustain the magic she'd used to create a weakness in Akira. The Shimada sighed softly, as she was afforded a moment of contentedness, her soul returned to her... heavily bruised, but still intact. She staggered and stood up again. Never had she thought she'd enjoy a painful shrieks of that sort. They mingled with those one of the demons that Adelaide was dealing with. She whipped around to notice him fall to the ground rather lifeless. Noticing one of their own succumb, the other three only wore looks that promised a greater ferocity.

In the distance the most humanoid of all the demons, the one that bore the menacing and gigantic scythe, took some interest, gripping onto his weapon tighter and holding it up straight now, much like the grim reaper. But just as the demon with the blood red, jagged sword fell... he rose again. He rose high into the sky, but remained rather still. His arms and torn wings were outstretched and a frenzy of crimson surrounded him, like a flurry of blood. Any wounds on his body, slowly began to fill in and started healing. This seemed to be a slow process, so maybe they still had some time to get rid of the other two, but the fact that it was happening was shocking in itself.

Aki was rather flabbergasted. His healing form looked weaker than before, but he was definitely coming back... Did they all possess this ability to resurrect? If they did, this was definitely going to be the end of her. Witnessing this had been so distracting, had her magical spirit not been reassigned to shield her, she wouldn't have noticed the strikes she took. The armored man seemed to be at the ends of his wits and in a last ditch effort, he'd teleported to her yet again and landed two empowered and swift strikes to her sides. Her Divinitas protected her from the damage, but she cursed herself for being inattentive. Every dodge mattered as was crucial after all.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

The dent in her armour against her chest, something she had not noticed in the first few seconds of the fights made it only obvious that breathing was hard and difficult. She felt rapid and ragged breaths that she inhaled as she stared at Gauntlet who was still struggling to get her legs out of the stone statue that Alice had turned her into. Even if she was struggling, she did not show that it annoyed her but only giggled and giggled and giggled and that annoyed the blonde so much that she wanted to tell her straight out to shut up. As she was prepared to fight Gauntlet this time around, she had the struggle with lifting up her own left arm. It felt tired, heavy and painful because of the strikes she took with the heavy Gorgon Shield.

She remembered the times before that she fought, still a Rune Knight, she had to wait according to the higher-ups for the back up to come but her cousin, Selena did not show up and her now cousin by law, LeeAnn had not shown up either and she had not waited, she had fought. She had been dangling on her broken legs, everything broken and battered and yet still pregnant and no miscarriage or anything. By the Divine and the Illumin it had been meant to be to get kids, albeit at that point she still thought she would get one kid who she had called little peach out of affection as she had not been able to tell Kon yet. Six weeks she had been in a hospital like a prison, no one knew where she was as some suspected the worse. When she finally got out, she had wanted to find Kon but her legs could not carry her for too long a day and he had found her on the beach and as much as she cried and was happy with him she had to inform him that she was pregnant.

And now... She turned to look around where Gauntlet was looking at and stared at Big Red being resurrected. What the... She gripped her sword only more furious. Now he did not even remember. She did not know where to start, he was clearly healing and that meant she would have to fight again but at this point, Gauntlet might be the bigger issue, maybe she could simply stop him from healing but what was causing the healing? She stared at the demon the furthest away from all of them. It must be him. She heard a loud giggle and fell on the ground, her sword being dropped by the pressure of the woman on her back. Shit, mistake number one. She rolled around to be on her back, having her wings folded underneath her for protection and moving her head from left to right to avoid Gauntlet's punches. Trying to kick and push her off herself with all legs and arms. The left not being able to push too much but sandwiching the shield between them was a good start. Now that she got them apart she tried to grab Nathael's sword with her right hand again. She had to hurry because dodging like this would be quite problematic in a few seconds as her left arm would give up on supporting gauntlet off her.

Adelaide was definitely much stronger than Akira was, but the Lunar mage had some tricks up her sleeve too. The protective orb offered her the ability to take a few hits, at least it cleared Adragna of any foul play. Akira was grateful that some of the higher ups meant what they said. The Shimada owed the woman her life, technically. But apart from just the orb, the lack of armor meant that she wasn't weighed down and all the time she'd spent training her legs, offered her the option of being quick and nimble. She noticed that the armoured demon no longer had his armour. His sword's glow became more menacing though, and his ethereal form was... a rather distracting and chilling sight.

When she heard the constant clanging of the gauntlets against the armor. If Adel kept being pummelled that way, she was going to have a hard time getting up. Aki couldn't see that. Despite all the differences the two had had, she winced in unision with the Sokolov as she struggled to get the demon off. Once again the Shimada came up with a rather dangerous plan. She just hoped that Adel would find a way to trust that she didn't mean any harm by putting her at risk. If the Shimada succeeded, perhaps the intent would be clear enough.  It would involve her being still for a bit to ensure that everything fell into place, hopefully the protective orb would allow for it.

She got up and noticed the large woman making her way to the man with a sword, straight towards Akira, which only made her plan easier. She took a few steps back, towards Adel... closing the distance between them by a fair amount, but not absolutely. The Shimada was luring the two demons ever closer. She knew this was a bit of a reckless move, but the demons stood to lose a lot more than Adel did, when hit by her light. When the time was ripe, she swiftly cast her darkness disc underneath the sword and tentacle wielding demons respectively, angling her hand in a manner that they were both tossed, towards the woman with the gauntlets.

Akira attempted ducking to prevent being knocked over, but she always knew the potential risks. Naturally, the woman allowed her heavy whip like instrument to trail under her, flapping as she flew and slapping across Akira's side, while the sword attempted to sever her neck but in its awkward trajectory managed to only attempt nicking the angle between her neck and shoulder. Lucky yet, the orb still instinctively aided her in channelling her magic for protection yet again. The two demons landed in a manner that knocked their companion off Adelaide.

Now that the four were in close proximity to one another, she harnessed the power of her light yet again and held out her hand towards them, creating a seal behind them that released a silvery beam of light. She winced as it exploded into a bigger area, not exactly managing to get out of the range of the blast herself. If nothing else, at least that'd prove to the Sokolov that she didn't care for her own safety either. 'Sorry...' she called out as the dust settled yet again. The winged demon seemed to be invulnerable to the damage as he healed up. The other three were pretty disoriented. Hopefully, Adel was ok and would be able to reach for her sword now.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

When was the last time she lay on the ground, struggling like this? She had grown so much to fight off every single enemy that came onto her path and yet, she bit her lip harshly, yet it was not enough. She tasted the bitter taste of iron and the mix of blood in her mouth as she struggled on to get this demon woman off her. When was the last time a fight like this?

With her pregnancy nothing like that happened, no demon that she fought and she could not remember if she had been caught unaware in a fight that got her this far on the ground. She did remember the fight in Hargeon, vividly still although the nightmares no longer took on a fight like that. The nightmares were worse. The nightmares were like that in front of her face and yet he wasn't there, she was all alone. She had not forgotten Akira in general only at this moment she did. She had not stepped out of the way to fight alone, she never did, as long as she got back up somewhere in case she did lose, but that did not happen. After being rescued and after the months of recovery she needed for her back, she had jumped into every challenge that she could get. The loss of her magic did not matter, who cared about magic if she could use the weapons that she had used all the time when working out her Requip magic. She did not need magic, she needed a good weapon and she was fine, probably the whole reason Midas went to find Nathael's sword for her. The one now out of her reach by some stupid centimetres. As she gave up on taking that back, she struggled again with two hands to fight of the gauntlet demon from her upper body.

Her left arm felt so heavy and painful and she felt a sting on her back when the pressure of her armour ticked against the scar that she still wasn't used to. From time to time she would even have too much pain in her back that she could not stand straight up but that was, thank god, not the moment right now, it was a nagging pain that she endured so many times. It was nothing compared to the torture that she had to go through when she was captured and taken hostage by her... whatever her stupid name was, all she did know later on that she must be Cornelia and thus she was on top of her list. The list that seemed to grow instead of shortening and she could only depend on so many people with the pain in her mind. She had never shared her list with anyone and at this point, there was no reason for it either. She would take them out, one by one, all by her goddamn self.

She struggled left to right to get Gauntlet off but she was too heavy to get to this point and without the sword to make a counter attack, she could only depend on the shield to not be sandwiched by the earth and Gauntlet's body. Thank god for the Gorgon, if only she could switch it to make another nice stone sculpture of that thing, it would be wonderful. It felt so damn heavy, she remembered how she almost lost her left arm when fighting in the woods. Some stupid wacko over there had demanded them to fight, them.. him. She felt tears in her eyes as she struggled on, she could not be defeated! Not while her goal was still so far away from being accomplished. She had no idea how to get out of this and for a second attempt tried to get her sword when she blinked in surprise when Gauntlet got knocked off her. She looked up shortly to notice Akira standing a bit closer than before, she had not much time to just look at her companion at this point and grabbed the sword and got up very quickly. "No need to apologize." She did not care for the potential: what if that had gone wrong, because it did not. She massaged her shoulder shortly before getting ready for the next round. She felt as if she was already out of breath and took out her wings again, she felt for the power of the sword but it was not fully restored yet. She jumped up in the air to get higher ground and to avoid to be slammed on the ground again, she met Gauntlet midair and slashed this time with her sword from her left shoulder to the right. She needed to hurry if she wanted to be able to do much more. Maybe right now it sucked to have no more magic, but she wanted to get rid of the heavy patches on the shoulders of the demon, that would make it easier to hit her target, maybe just try to cut off her arm. But what was the point if she would just regenerate that? Maybe they needed to take out the guy close by the rift first. But would any of them be able to fight off three, potential four demons and how bad would the fifth be?

She managed to execute things rather well. Of course, the moment was unforgiving, she wasn't even offered the respite to gloat, or to let that feeling of pride fill her. Not a second to enjoy the small triumph. Adel was forgiving, Aki had to admit that despite her rarely being wrong about people, Mrs. Sokolov had definitely snagged the spot of the outlier. Their journey had been rocky at best, filled with assumptions and misunderstandings, but as Aki rose through the ranks, her retrospective understanding of the woman's decisions sharpened. There were decisions that the Shimada had made, that her young, fresh page self would've balked at...

Now here she was. With demons repetitively at her tail. Adel had used the opportunity Aki had sought to provide rather swiftly. She'd picked up her blade and sliced through the woman with the gauntlet. The demons she'd tossed towards the nephlim, now wanted a piece of her. But they were the Shimada's responsibility. She didn't want to leave Adel overwhelmed just to help her get out of the pinch she was in before. She hoped to buy the woman some time yet again. But first she needed to garner their attention again.

It was a simple plan this time, she just ran and skid closer, so she was within range to throw a small light spell, just to hope to piss off the pair that'd been on her to not switch their target. She performed the motions, making sure the spell originated from her so they were well aware of its source. The hit the guy with the purple sword and the woman with the tentacle woman. Surprisingly, the guy fell to his knees, unable to move anymore. Having lost her partner, she let out something akin to a growl. Even better.

The large woman's heavy stepped thudded and the ground shook as she approached Akira. For the first time in forever, the Lunar mage smirked. Akira was just so much faster. It was easy to get her to chase in a rather futile manner. From the corner of her eye, she swore she saw the man wielding the scythe look rather disappointed. But he still didn't engage the two. For some reason, the more he stood there idly, the more the mage wanted to bait him into the fight. She had a feeling that he was a trump card of sorts.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

She had to keep her wings steady and she almost fell down because she felt so tired and heavy but she landed down on the ground and wondered what to do now she stumbled. She stared at the white-haired demon a bit further away and she wondered if she should dash towards, she had not the power or speed to dash towards someone like that and perhaps not even the energy to go on at this point to fight. She heard a groan behind her and she turned her heel very quickly to see the bad red to stand up again. Shit regeneration was done. Where was his sword? Did she have to fight that again? She was too tired and the shield felt too heavy, she decided to strip it off her arm to be able to fight a tad faster than she actually believed she could be.

The Gorgon shield came down with a thud and the Bad Red demon stood with a louder thud back on the ground, sword in hand and slashing that around, waiting for her to come. She should have had her eyes on where Akira had gone and where the other demons stayed after she let Gauntlet drop down. Her white wings were in contrast with the bar land and the blood on her chin, that came from her cut lip. The bruises from her left arm where now visible now that she had dropped the shield. Hoping she would not need it and that it would be better without as it had seemed to slow her down. With the bow that Bad Red made, she jumped it to cut Nathael's sword within the zigzag pattern that it had to avoid getting hit and she missed having the shield with her already as she remembered she pushed it in his face before. She unslung her sword, ducked, give a kick and a good uppercut with her left hand before stabbing her sword in his shoulder.

She felt blood drip on her right leg, a thing he had done before as she stood too harshly on it when she kicked him with her left. Damn this was not going well if there were still more to come, thank god Gauntlet did not resurrect, because that would be a hell of a shit fight. She had no power to pull her sword back as he swayed and she had to dodge his sword, but she managed to grab it back and with a fluent movement chopped his head off, not something she had expected to be able to but she surely wasn't going to complain. The blood splattered over her and she felt the moment that she needed to puke. This was so gross.

Akira didn't waste time this time. As the woman charged towards her, she'd created enough distance to land another one of her hits. If nothing else, she hoped this one would at least serve to cripple. If one of those soul tugging tentacles flew out again, Akira would have no chance. She oriented herself to face the woman, who clearly felt rather belittled by the smug expression Aki had offered. But her precise alignment wasn't just to get the tentacle wielder, but also the white-haired, scythe carrying man. The one who still stood by the rift, to fulfil his duty.

Once the plan was set. She used the large woman to block the vision of her gesture. She angled her palm upwards, so it was behind and above the demon by the rift. From it emerged a silvery beam, just as the gigantic woman picked up her usual weapon, having the support of an additional one that had spawned right next to Akira. It wouldn't matter though... The Shimada clenched her fist and winced. A lot of her calculations were based on estimation, she just hoped that it would work out all right. That she hadn't allowed her small victories to color her caution.

The woman fell to her knees as the light blast hit her from behind. So at least that part of the package worked out. Akira side-stepped to squarely lay her eyes on the demon by the rift. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Adel brawling with the resurrected demon... The Sokolov had really done a lot of heavy lifting for the two of them already. Akira found herself regretting the fact that she hadn't had more to offer. She felt the wave of exhaustion and was more and more aware of the fact that her resources were depleting fast.

The woman was still on one knee, the pain was evident in her expressions and Akira noticed a significant wound covering her back. If she hadn't been such a menace, perhaps the Shimada would've felt pity. The demon by the rift leaned into his scythe ever so briefly. His eyes were narrowed, but other than that he didn't betray much. She almost wanted to taunt him with words. But instead she too just stood there. They locked eyes, each resolute and stubborn. The Shimada just hoped that all the collateral damage he'd suffered, weakened him.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

Alice wondered how much she could take but that head rolled away and she wondered for a second if she had made it up in her mind that the eyes still blinked. Which made her fall on her knees and she put her hands on the ground, leaning on her right more than her left and finally she made this ugly sound as her lunch rolled back up from her stomach to her mouth. She stared at her vomit on the ground, realizing that it was not over yet. She whipped away the drool in the corner of her mouth and pushed herself up to get up. She took Nathael's sword from the ground and stumbled upright, having to catch herself not falling over as her right could not immediately support her. She needed to find the last bit of power that she had in her and she remembered their small round faces with their golden eyes and blonde hair and their little smiles and she remembered him when they got married and this wasn't over yet. Meaning the fight she had to fight to get him back and that fight was going to be a tough one. Mentally, this one was just physically and that would restore, she would have to hurry up with this fight and now that she was standing on two legs, she exactly knew what to do and trusted the sword back up in the air, feeling the lasts bits of mana leave her. She would have some bits left but not enough unless some mysterious magic would happen to pass her again, she would not be surprised about it. She fell on her knee and went to find her shield. This fight wasn't over and she waved her wings to get them back into action after folding them as not to get hurt, now that was not necessary.

She turned her heel to see where the last demon was but he was still at the rift, he did seem to be very angry but not moving. She turned to Akira, on one knee as well, "You okay?" she grunted, not being able to bring up a normal speech because of the dent in her armour, surely the breastplate was fine but it hurt to breathe from time to time. She would manage when she was back in control again of her day, first needed to get rid of that nasty rift.

Adel hurled, throwing up as a result of the exertion. She turned and asked if the Rune Knight was doing ok... Aki's dark hair was slick against her face, and there was a dull ache all across her body. But she nodded, slowly. She was fine, she had to be. Her eyes were set on their last enemy, just as Adel reached for her sword. Maybe this was game over. The other demons were all barely in a state to fight. Using the moment of respite to rally their strength, but to no avail. Perhaps, the female Knights had succeeded.

Then, it happened. Just as Adel began pointing her sword skyward, in a blink of an eye, the man with the scythe dashed forward towards the Lunar mage. It was almost as though he sliced into her. Her orb protected her yet again, but it would seem he'd found an opening of some sort. She felt something press against her chest. and a presence sneak into her. Her vision grew blurry and had a reddish tint, she rubbed her eyes and noticed that the demon was nowhere to be seen. While his compatriots suffered copious amounts of damage and fell.  

That's when it hit her... He was inside of her. She heard voices and saw visions, memories of her past... Mostly unpleasant. It forced her to her knees. It felt as though Adel's sword smite, had hit her, instead of the intended target. Her orb protected her yet again, but she noticed how weakened her magical spirit was. Her face scrunched up as she strained against the force of her mind and his. While there was no physical agony, this was stressful. She heard a mirthless chortle, which sounded more human than the others. He was the last demon standing.

Then nothing, the presence was gone. It would seem he'd used her body as a shield against Adel's spell. Something that he cruelly decided to explain. 'You did this to her.' he said with a smirk, addressing the nephilim. Aki was on her belly on the ground with something heavy pressing onto the small of her back... His foot. The scythe's tip rested casually against the nape of her neck 'You move, she dies... She moves, she dies.' His voice was so human and yet so eerie. 'Go on, ask her how she's doing now...' he taunted.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

Everything at the end went too fast. It wasn't her fault and it did not seem to be very bad at the point of happening but while she held on with her left hand to the Gorgon Shield, she grunted as she pushed up her right hand to start the incursion of Nathael's sword. He disappeared, her eyes had not been on any demon at that point because she had to concentrate and bits of her magic power seemed to disappear. Why was it not enough? She did not know she felt weak, she felt like it did not matter and she still tasted the blood of her lip, she was perhaps unconsciously searching for it, the reason why it did not stop bleeding.

The demon with the scythe was gone and she had no idea where he had gone and turned her golden eyes to her fellow Knight next to her. She hurried over to Akira when she fell to her knees and hunched down to see what was happening and what she could do. How come she seemed to be hurt by the spell Adelaide just used, but that was impossible, the first time it had not hit her either. She wasn't one of the bad races, she knew that she was a human right? Her bright eyes looked at Akira worried, not being able to say a word at this point, she had asked if she was okay and Akira had nodded, what happened in those seconds?

She fell backwards and moved a few steps away when the demon out of nowhere returned and she stood up with a fierce look on her face, her wings ready for her to take flight, holding on to Nathael's sword with a firm grip. She stared at him, he was everything she hated to the world, the arrogance, the taunting, the taking things that did not belong to them and blaming her. She folded her wings against her back and let them disappear eventually, she should not move. She would have to play it carefully, maybe she could move the shield better and let it hit him with the Gorgon's eyes but she wasn't sure how to channel the spell in the tip of her fingers. She looked at Akira before turning her eyes back to the demon. She did not want to taunt him but she also did not want to say nothing, "Do you want congratulations on a job well done?" She asked, yes, she could use the shield, she would find a way.

It wasn't fair. Nothing ever was and nothing ever will. She had people to protect, even if most of them could take pretty well care of themselves. Maybe she was the flaw in the whole game the world was playing with her. Maybe the Divine knew, maybe she was waiting for Adelaide to give up. With these thoughts, she only held a firmer grip on her sword. She could not give up, who would take care of the children? Odin offered but even if he was their godfather, she was their mother. She had her duty as their mother to take care of Tanya and Anton and she would. She felt weak, she felt tired and her right leg hurt her very much when she stood on it. However, whatever she thought did not matter because she could not show the weakness to this thing, this demon. She needed to get Akira out, that was all that mattered. Her left arm strained as she was holding on to the heavy shield with just the tip of her fingers, what if she dropped it, would Akira die because of that motion? Would the Rune Knight be able to stop it? Too many questions without answers or without the answers she wanted to have at this point. The only option she had was to stall time to be able to use the incursion again but that would require her to lift up the sword, how fast did the demon move? Too fast, she assumed from the last motion, she had not seen him dash towards Akira and had been looking for him, surprised he could jump into her body. It felt like a violation and she could not forgive him.

She wanted answers, dammit, so many answers to a long list of questions that seemed to be never-ending. She wished that she had some sort of code that would make her able to ask Akira if she was okay or if she had a plan, but this all made her like she was stone. That the Gorgon shield had hit her instead of the other way around. It reminded her of the moment that they were taken, captured, hostage, kidnapped, whatever the right word was. When all she could hear was Kon and her own screams, the laughing of the guards but she could not see him and now she lost him, for how long or for forever, was the question?

Aki struggled to breathe. Her face was angled in a manner that she could see Adel's figure looming beside her, if she craned her neck. Her cheek rubbed into the dirt underneath. The demon seem to have left her body with more knowledge than she'd hoped. He seemed well aware that Aki was rather drained and that meant and the orb would no longer be able to protect her from the potential onslaught of his weapon. Unlike his companions, he'd quickly found a way to deal with the flitty mage, by simply pinning her down. To be fair, he had an unfair advantage.

'Wouldn't hurt, but it'd hardly change your circumstances.' the demon retorted. As he picked the scythe off Aki. The girl winced as she drew one long breath and held it, struggling against his foot constantly was painful. Her plans had worked so far, maybe she could come up with something yet again. 'Uh huh. Be a good little angel and don't change your mind about moving, I can still break her with my foot.' he warned. She felt him press down against her back harder, almost as if to make a point. She wanted to remain stoic for Adel's sake, but he continued to apply pressure until she could hold on no longer. A whimper escaped her lip and deepened into a frustrated groan.

Akira noticed the blade interrupting her vision as he pointed it at Adel. He definitely was smarter than the others had been. In one fell swoop he'd used their familiarity with each other and had them both essentially stunned. Aki was in half a mind to get Adel to attack and not care about the repercussions. He was the last one standing between them, if this meant they could close the rift, the Shimada would just be an unfortunate collateral damage. 'The darkness inside you made it so easy for me...' he teased, now addressing Akira. 'Perhaps if you used it more, it wouldn't feel so bitter about your light...' he added, smugly.

If not Adel, perhaps she could do the same after all. She pressed her hand into the ground, swiftly creating a magic circle under them both. The moment the circle formed, the demon realised that she was willing to harm herself to get rid of him. It was like he knew he may go down and now simply wanted to take her down with him. She didn't see the way his eyes widened as the realisation struck him. Its what made humans different from demons. The empathy that kept Adel rooted, was also the empathy that allowed Akira to recklessly put herself through harm to save the others.

Aware of what was going to happen, the demon groaned in frustration and swiftly used his scythe to open a gash across Akira's back, just before the beam exploded, engulfing them both. A mangled cry escaped her lips. The pain was overwhelming, the deep gash in her back, extended from her left shoulder to her right hip. Additionally her own light seared her front, but she knew that it would affect the demon worse. She lay there rather motionless. There was no longer a foot on her back. Did that kill him? For the moment, she just used the last of strength to form a whisper, just to reassure Adelaide once the dust around her settled. 'I'm ok... still alive.' unwelcome tears stung her eyes... Out of the agony and from a distant sense of relief.

Spells, Demons, Damage and Mana:

The member 'Akira Shimada' has done the following action : Spin

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'Dice 100' : 17

Her mind racing through options of what she could do and what was possible, she wanted to use the shield but she would not be fluent and fast enough to move it with her bruised left arm and what happened if the demon would turn into a statue on Akira, a bad idea the longer she thought about it. She had been mean but it was mostly the words of one unable to do something. Dammit, she was useless. A good little angel, with the emphasis on little. She took a deep breath but did not do anything, she needed a better plan, which she did not have. Too tired and the heavy armour too heavy.

She moved when the light of someone's magic was too heavy for her bright eyes and she blocked her own eyes with her left forearm, still holding the shield. She cursed to herself in her mind because what if the demon did something but it must be Akira her magic and she heard a cry and lowered her arm when the magic died out and hurried to Akira as soon as the demon seemed to have faded away. "You better be alive." she said with a reassuring smile now that she looked at Akira, damn that gaze, she was no healer and she had no longer any companion who would be able to fix that. Her right foot ached, her left arm too but they needed to get out of here.

A sound that went like a pop, made her look up at the rift which was gone and she stared at it for a second, "At least they are gone." She had no idea how it worked but it had worked and she asked Akira to get on her side, so she could carry her back to a healer. That would be tough and a heavy job for both of them, Alice was exhausted but she would not let Akira here while she would go fetch a healer. She put the shield back on her back with the straps, which was easy now that her wings were gone and she would lift up Akira, holding her as loosely as she could around her shoulders because of the wound the demon made and underneath her knees if Akira let her, to walk back, albeit with a little bit of a tremble in her right leg. Akira sure wasn't heavy but when your left arm and right foot barely functioned, it became a lot heavier in general. She would try to find the first person that she knew that was a healer and else bring her to the Orchidia Church where she knew a healer.

Exit.

The member 'Adelaide Sokolov' has done the following action : Spin

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'Dice 100' : 79

The pain got to Akira, her adrenaline faded and gave way to utter exhaustion. She hadn't even realised how much her muscles complained until they each throbbed in unison with the gash across her back. She was losing blood, the crimson soaked through her clothes. Her vision grew blurry yet again. Adel's face swam into her view, she looked concerned, but nothing was attacking her. She heard something about them being gone. Her head whipped around to confirm.

Indeed, all the demons' bodies were turning into some kind of dark black, red and purplish mist. The one she'd blasted last, was the last to start turning. Before it did, Akira heard a voice, coupled with a mirthless cruel laugh. 'This is far from over, consider today to be the last time you use your light against any of my kind... or at all really...' Adel didn't seem to react to this voice, maybe he just had telepathic abilities, or Akira was so out of it that things weren't making sense.

Then his body too turned into dark dregs which collated with the others into something akin to a deformed spirit and escaped into the rift, following which the rift shrunk and vanished. Her sight wasn't perfect in her current state and she felt woozy enough to wonder if she was imagining things. 'Gone? All gone?' she whispered, her voice straining and laced with a certain anxious desperation. Either Adel didn't hear her, or didn't have the strength to answer... or Akira couldn't hear the woman anymore as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

She felt like she was hanging onto life by a thread. Gently Adel lifted her, Akira winced and bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn't want to make the Sokolov feel like she was causing her more pain. It was just unfortunate that even the gentlest of twists and turn of her torso caused shooting pains through the cursed cut. Finally she settled into the cradle her ex-boss made. 'Good...' she whispered, perhaps nonsensically.

The memory of their first encounter, in contrast to today drew a bittersweet smile to Aki's lips, which basically appeared as a twisted grimace. Finally, she let go of her consciousness, it was easier to give into that darkness... The demon's last words echoed in her mind though, she wondered what they meant. For the moment though, she just closed her eyes.