An explosion ripped through the silence of the night. As the light slowly faded a white cloaked figure dressed all in black dropped through the smoke. Landing lightly on their feet the figure spun around and slashed at something in the darkness. Several explosions were heard off in the distance as well as people shouting. Looking up the figure saw several people come running up from the tree line.
"Allen! Are you alright?" one of the girls shouted, her short green-black hair waving about her ears.
"Yeah, I'm alright, Lenalee," Allen replied before looking at the others, "What about you guys?"
"Che. Don't worry about us, Moyashi. We're not the ones who've been fighting for the last hour." the raven haired samurai snapped, adjusting his grip on his sword.
"Yuu's right, Allen. We just got here. It's us who should be worried. Not you." a green eyed redhead said twirling his trusty hammer.
"Call me that again and I'll slit your throat, Baka Usagi!" the samurai hissed glaring at the red head.
"Kanda! Lavi! Stop! We don't have time to deal with this right now. The Earl and the Noah are on their way here right now." Allen said, pushing in between the pair.
Kanda was about to say something when they all heard a large crash. Turning they all brandished their weapons with grim looks. The Noah had found them. As the all moved into a circle with their backs facing in their eyes scanned the trees, looking for a sure sign that the Noah and the Earl were close. Suddenly a swarm of black butterflies burst from one side of the clearing. With a shout Allen threw the long white cape at his shoulders over his friends. One butterfly managed to get under the cape but was quickly eliminated by Mugen.
As the swarm ceased Allen and the others stood up. Tyki Mikk stepped out of the trees, holding his top hat lightly in one hand and a smirk on his face. Kanda and Lavi unconsciously tightened their grip on their weapons while Allen, Lenalee, Miranda and Krory tensed up. Hearing a dark chuckle Allen turned to look up at the Millennium Earl and the rest of the Noah. They were all gathered around the small group. Road was clinging to the Millennium Earl's shoulder, smiling like a maniac. She waved at the white haired teen.
Allen shivered slightly and glared at the blue haired Noah. She cackled while jumping from the Earl's shoulder. The other Noah laughed softly as they moved to surround the group of Exorcists. Slowly they started to move in toward the small circle. Kanda lashed out at the nearest Noah with Mugen and the gray skinned superhuman jumped back with a growl. With a nod from the Earl all of the Noah leaped forward.
Tyki lunged forward at Allen with a demented grin. Raising his left arm Allen slashed through a small swarm of the butterfly golems. A few slipped past his guard but the white cape formed a barrier around the Exorcists body. The Tease simply disintegrated as the touched the fabric and Allen smirked. Tyki growled and lunged forward, using his Noah power to boost his speed. He slammed into the white haired teen's arm with enough force to push him back a few inches. Now it was Allen's turn to growl in frustration. the Portuguese Noah was stronger than the last time they fought.
Putting all of his strength behind his arm the teen forced Tyki away. The dark haired man flipped back away from him. They glared at each other for a moment. Allen briefly thought about going after the Noah but he quickly shook his head to rid himself of the thought. If he were to move out of the circle that would leave his friends backs defenseless. At least until they noticed that he was gone and closed the circle, anyway. Even so he wasn't going to jump recklessly into a fight if he could avoid it. Besides, if they survived, Kanda would rip him out for jumping stupidly into a fight if he did. Speaking of Kanda, Allen risked a glance over his shoulder and the samurai and his other friends.
They were all holding their own against the Noah, fighting back with all they had. silver eyes widened slightly when he saw that the circle had expanded quite a bit over the last few minutes. Opening his mouth to say something the teen was cut off when a strange glow appeared in his peripheral vision. Turning Allen found himself staring at a Gate. It was similar to the Gates made by the Ark but he hadn't summoned a Gate. A dull thump behind him made him spin around with wide eyes; the Millennium Earl was standing behind him, looking at the Gate.
"Hmm... Well, now, that's interesting." the Earl mused, rubbing his chin.
"How is it interesting, Earl?" Allen snapped, turning to the fat figure.
"It simply is. Now, I believe it's my turn." the other replied pulling out his sword.
Cursing silently Allen transformed his arm into his sword as the Earl lunged forward. Their blades met with a ringing that resonated through the clearing. All other fighting stopped momentarily as the other combattants watched Allen and the Earl duke it out. At first the two were evenly matched but it quickly became apparent that Allen had the upper hand. He'd been training with one of the other swordsmen at the Order (Kanda had scoffed at him when he asked) and had gotten better. The Earl seemed to be figuring this out too because he was unobtrusively maneuvering them so that Allen had his back to the Gate.
As the Earl jumped back his eyes flashed dangerously. Allen was unfortunately oblivious to this. With a shout the Earl lunged forward again, reaching out with his sword. Kanda notices something different about the others stance and was about to shout a warning to the white haired exorcist but found himself frozen and unable to speak. He knew immediately that it was one of the Noah; they were trying to keep him from helping Allen win. They could only watch as the Earl dropped his sword arm and reached out to Allen.
Catching the teen around the throat the Millennium Earl used his momentum to carry them through the Gate. As soon as the white haired teen's back touched the Gate his Innocence deactivated. Reaching out with his left hand Allen tried to dislodge the Earl's hand from his throat. His efforts were wasted and the last thing he heard were all his friends screaming his name, even Kanda.