Water splashed on Yukio's boots as he continued to run. It was freezing cold inside this cave. His glasses started to accumulate moist due to the difference in temperature. Yukio gritted his teeth. A minute ago, he was still with his friends, but now, he wasn't sure where he was. The last thing he remembered was a loud crash which was later on followed by the screams of his friends. The brown haired boy gripped his gun tighter.
Damn that Mephisto. He thought. The former had sent him and the exwires on another high profile mission. He hated the fact that his older brother would have to use his demon powers again. However, he cannot disobey a direct order from his superior.
The mission consisted of an investigation regarding the surge of demons in a certain cave. Yukio hoped that there would be no need to resort to his brother's demon powers or even that…
"That's the demon look."
"Damn that man." Yukio skid on the wet ground. He punched the mossy wall and cursed under his breath. The battle with the Impure King took a toll upon him. Am I turning into a demon? His heart pounded so hard as if it was going to break his chest. Yukio glanced as his hands. He was shaking uncontrollably just by the thought of it.
Calm down, there's no need to lose your cool. He convinced himself.
Moist covered his glasses with every heavy breath he took. "Focus on the mission." He told himself. The faster they get this over with, the better.
Yukio resumed moving. This time, his pace was slower and more careful. Finally, he reached a curb. He placed his back against the wall and slowly peered through it. Demons, he thought, lots of them. Yukio silently hid on the adjacent wall. He took his time to analyze the situation. He found it peculiar that demons are grouping together. Demons are individual creatures. It is improbable that they move like a hoard unless they are of the same species or following orders from a higher demon.
Shit. Why did it take too much before he realized that it was the latter? Their situation became a little bit disadvantageous.
Yukio looked at the number of demons near him. Less than 50, he thought. He can take them on. He drew his second gun. And as fast as lightning, he started shooting at the swarm of demons. Slowly, every monster in the area started disintegrating.
Something's wrong. He thought. Yukio was shooting the demons mercilessly but nobody was paying attention to him. They weren't attacking him back. Instead, the demons continued to move forward as if he wasn't existing. Yukio made a loud tsk sound and landed on the shoulders of one of the demons. He placed his gun on top of its head and shot it. It would be impossible for it not to retaliate in that distance. But it did not do anything. It just let Yukio shoot it in its head.
"Lu..ci..fer.." One of the demons said. "Or..ders.." Another said.
Yukio landed on his feet. "Lucifer?" He whispered under his breath. Realizing his futile efforts of extermination, he holstered back his guns and followed the hoard.
"Yukio!" A faint voice echoed through the cave.
"Nii-san?" Yukio shouted in reply. Rin must be near. Yukio ran towards the direction of his brother's voice. It is best that they first regroup and think of an alternative plan, especially when they do not know what they're up against.
"Yukio-kun! Rin!" Another voice echoed in the darkness. This time, it was Shiemi's voice.
They are all close by, he thought. Yukio ran passed the hoard of demons that he was following. The cave passage seemed to go on and on. However, after minutes of running, he finally reached what seems to be the center of the cave.
Yukio went on full stop as he was astonished on what he saw. Hundreds -, no, thousands of demons were swarming at the middle of the cave. But what was even more overwhelming than the large swarm of demons was the silver crystal rock at the center of the cave. The crystal was like a huge tree, with branches extending from one point to the other. Demons, small or large surrounded the crystal structure and attacked it with their full might. The ground began to shake, however, no matter how strong the attacks of these demons were, the crystalline formation did not break.
"Kyaaaa!" Shiemi shouted from a distance. Yukio searched for her until he saw coming out from another opening of the cave. Shiemi's own demon, nii-san was lifting her above its head. They were being carried away by the stampede of demons which came from her direction.
"Shiemi!" Yukio cried.
"Yukio!" She cried back. Tears were brimming on her eyes. "There are too many demons!" She managed to say before she and nii-san were engulfed by the wave of demons.
"Shiemi, attach nii-san to the ground, I'll come and get you!" Yukio said as he jumped over the heads of the demons. He then brought out a gun which was equipped with a harness and fired it upon the crystal. As its hook attached itself to the crystal, Yukio swung towards Shiemi's direction.
Passing over the crystal rock, Yukio's eyes widened as he had a glimpse of what was inside the crystal. "What the—", he managed to say.
Yukio finally got a hold of Shiemi's wrist while they both got suspended in the air. The pendulum swing brought both of them to the nearest wall. Nii-san grew a thick moss which attached itself to the wall. Yukio gently placed Shiemi on top of nii-san's head after which, he secured himself a spot on the wall.
Yukio and Shiemi stared at the multitude of demons below them. "What are they?" Shiemi quivered.
Yukio was about to explain when they heard other shouts. "Rin! Izumo!"
Rin rolled along with the demons. He was shouting hysterically as he struggled to maintain his footing. His blue flames were the only indicator of where he was moving. Izumo on the other hand, calmly stood at one of the demon's heads.
"Rin, Izumo! On the walls." Yukio yelled.
Izumo swiftly jumped from one demon head to another and reached for Yukio's hand. Yukio then swung and threw her which made her land on nii-san's arm. Rin in contrast, tried to fight the demons and carelessly emitted his blue flames.
"Brother, that's pointless!" Yukio growled. Rin, realizing this, followed soon and grabbed himself a spot beside Yukio.
"What the hell is going on?" Rin panted. "Where's Bon and the others?"
Yukio observed the cave. "See those openings?" He pointed. "Every passage in this cave leads here. If this theory is correct, they'll be here soon."
"What is that thing?" Izumo stared at the crystal rock with bewilderment.
"I don't know." Yukio answered. "But I know one thing is for sure." He paused as he inhaled air. "There's a person inside that crystal."
The group stared in fright at Yukio.
"What should we do? We should get him out of there." Rin protested.
Yukio bit his lip. Mephisto's instructions were to investigate the cause of the surge of demons, there was no mention of immediate action against it. It was best that higher level exorcists deal with this chaos rather than risk the exwires' lives.
"Brother!" Rin shouted. Yukio could see his brother's zeal in rescuing the person inside.
One way or the other, Rin will attempt to rescue this person. "I know, I know." Yukio clenched his fist. "We'll get that person out of there."
"Wooaaah!" A unison scream was heard. Finally, Bon and the others appeared.
"Rin, help them get to the walls." Yukio ordered. "I'll approach the crystal and examine its composition. We have to know what it is made of in order to know how to easily destroy it."
Yukio swung in full force towards the crystal. He landed on one of its thick branches. This is not a normal crystal. He thought. The components are not from earth, demonic origin? or perhaps something else?
Yukio touched the main trunk of the crystalline formation.
Lab-dub.
Lab-dub.
A pulse? Yukio tightened his grip on its surface.
Lab-dub. He heard it again, this time louder.
The demons below grew restless. Every time the pulse would beat, the demons underneath him would attack the crystal. Roars and explosions filled the air. The cave shook upon the monsters' simultaneous attacks.
"Yukio!" Rin screamed as he saw his younger twin lose his balance and almost fall on the swarm of demons below him.
Thankfully, Yukio was able to hold one of the crystal branches. He pulled himself up and regained his footing. The person inside is still alive, he thought, and the demons are causing some kind of reaction upon it – a defense mechanism? Then, If brother would go near it, it might cause some serious damage to the cave.
But it was too late, Yukio saw his older brother flying towards the crystal and stabbed his sword upon it.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Yukio growled.
"What do you mean what am I doing? I'm helping you!"
"You… You just stabbed the rock!" Yukio said in sheer panic.
"I don't have any of your exorcist tools so I had to rely on my sword!" Rin grinned as he dangled below his sword.
Yukio wanted to punch his older brother's face. Instead, he just let out large sigh. "Whatever is inside that crystal is reacting to the demons!" He spat. "The son of fucking Satan, The. Son. Of. Fucking. Satan just had to stab it. I told you to wait until I figure out what it is!"
"But, I thought you needed help." Rin made a puppy demon eyes.
Yukio rolled his eyes. "You know that does not work on me." But his brother kept doing it anyway.
Lab-dub, Lab-dub, Lab-dub. The pulse went on again, this time, faster, stronger and louder.
The demons below reacted hysterically. They again began attacking, this time fiercer and more relentless. The ground shook and debris from the cave started falling from the ceiling. Demons below started climbing the crystal rock: attacking and biting every piece in an attempt to take out what's inside.
Rin, realizing his mistake, apologetically looked at his younger twin. "I… I'm sorry." He said.
Yukio let out a small grin. It's not all the time you can make Rin Okumura admit his mistakes. This made Yukio pleased with himself.
"Break the crystal from below." Yukio finally had a plan.
"Huh? But you said it reacts to demon powers." Rin stared at him with confusion.
"I know what I said." Yukio calmly replied. "Look, it's either the demons break the crystal or the crystal destroys them along with the cave. If the latter happens, we might die from its collapse. Rin, out of these thousands of demons, you're the only one who doesn't want to injure the person inside and the only one who managed to stab through the crystal."
Rin nodded in agreement with Yukio's plan. "What of the person inside?"
"Once you cut through the crystal, I'll grab him out. Lastly, we need protection." Yukio replied.
"Bon!" Yukio yelled. "Rin's going to destroy the crystal. Once he breaks through, I need you to make a barrier against this swarm of demons."
"A..are you kidding me?" Bon yelled back. "With this number of demons, the barrier won't last for more than five seconds."
Yukio and Rin grinned together as they looked at each other. "Five seconds is more than enough." They shouted in unison.
Bon reluctantly agreed. "You'd better be out after five seconds you damn idiotic brothers!"
"Nii-san," Yukio said as he stared at the swarm of demons below. "Ready when you are."
Rin leaped from the crystal branch and started free falling towards the ground. Before he could even touch the earth, he spun himself and slashed the crystal. The force made a slight crack at its center. Yukio followed his brother towards the ground and began shooting any demon that would get near Rin's line of attack. Izumo's foxes and Shiemi's demon assisted Yukio in guarding Rin.
Amidst the chaos and retaliation that the crystal did to defend itself, Rin managed to land another attack on the crystal. A huge chunk fell off, this time exposing half of the person inside.
Rin and Yukio stared in bewilderment at the person inside. It was a girl. Her silver hair swayed with the wind. Several unidentified markings appeared to be engraved on her face. Her eyes were closed as if the chaos outside did not faze her. She was seemed to be attached to the crystal; like the crystalline came out from her skin and body.
"Ready, Yukio?" Rin gritted his teeth. One more attack and she will be free.
Yukio nodded.
Rin finally launched his last attack. There, he saw with his own two eyes that the silver haired girl inside was free from the crystal that held her. "Now, Bon!" Rin screamed.
Bon set up his barrier.
Five seconds to save her.
Five…
Four…
Yukio rushed passed his brother's shoulder as he tried to grab the girl on her waist.
Three…
But before he could do so, Yukio saw her pair of eyes open as she stared at him.
Two…
She mumbled something on her lips. She was saying something in old Aramaic language. Destroy… everything? Yukio's eyes widened.
The younger twin swiftly spun around and kicked his older brother away from direct fire. "Bon, protect Rin!" Yukio managed to scream.
One…
A small blinding white light appeared and in an instant, the minute beam exploded into a humongous ray of light obliterating every creature, human or demon in its path.
