25

The Night Rises

The Hobgoblins let out a screech as they landed in the spot Shinichi and Rin had been standing in a moment ago. The two teens rolled away, Shinichi unsheathing Satsuriku and Rin pulling Kurikara off his back. However, Rin didn't take it out of his case, and he wouldn't unless he absolutely had to. It was easy to lose control with it.

The horde of demons rushed towards them with claws extended. Back to back, Shinichi and Rin swung their swords like mad, almost forgetting any technique they had learned. If they did anything else, they would immediately get overwhelmed. It was like there was no end to them. Shinichi knew nests were big, but this? This was something else altogether.

"Why the heck are there so many?" shouted Shinichi as he knocked a few away. At this rate, they were going to attract attention. They had to get away from populated areas.

"I think I know why," muttered Rin. He definitely considered this an emergency. "Okay! Follow me!"

The pair cleared the immediate path of Hobgoblins away as they sprinted across roofs, making a lot of risky jumps from building to building in the process. More screeches came from the surrounding areas and even more Hobgoblins flooded the area. Coal Tars had even begun to swarm around them as well.

"There's too much city!" said Shinichi, desperately batting away Hobgoblins and Coal Tars. We're in a section of Tokyo; we'll never make it."

"Ha!" said Rin, his daring character returning to the surface. He always hated having to be tentative anyway. He even allowed himself a grin. "That's what you think, Izumi! Now kick those legs in gear and let's book it!"

"I have very little stamina, you realize," replied Shinichi.

"Shut up and run! We wouldn't be here in the first place if you hadn't distanced yourself so much! I mean really!" said Rin, spotting a humungous park some ways away. "There's a park if we go further. Let's fight there."

Shinichi, even in the heat of the moment, couldn't help but find his sudden burst of leadership fascinating. Up until now, Rin had always been walking on eggshells around him, probably because he wanted to tear down the walls he had put up around himself. Well, alliances were a good thing to have, so nothing to do but go along with it. Plus, the park was probably their best chance at survival with minimal casualties and witnesses.

Migi would have approved of that train of thought.

After a lot more slashing and batting, the two arrived at the park exhausted. God, Shinichi really wished Migi were awake, but it would still be a couple more hours. At least they were dealing with demons rather than Parasites or they'd really be in trouble. A lot had happened in the last day or so, hadn't it? Shinichi, despite himself, rather missed the cram school setting already. It had been a nice dream.

"I guess the both of you make a pretty good team, don't you?" called a voice, a dark figure stepping out from the trees. He snapped his fingers and the relentless onslaught of Hobgoblins suddenly stopped. "I'm not supposed to kill you, but I sure would like to…"

"And who are you supposed to be?" barked Rin, immediately assuming a defensive position. Shinichi did the same. Whoever this guy was, he probably wasn't good news.

"Ah, I wonder if he would mind if I told you?" said the figure, moving forward a bit, allowing Rin and Shinichi to see him better. He had forest green hair with an odd spike on top, and he was wearing a tattered purple outfit. Shinichi took note of the fact that he had slightly pointed ears just like Rin's.

"If who would mind?" said a clearly irritated Rin. He sure had an explosive temper…

"Probably not. He always ruins my fun," the figure said bitterly, completely ignoring Rin. "Eh, whatever. What a downer. If you must know, I'm Amaimon."

Why does that sound familiar? thought Shinichi, shuffling through his memories as fast as he could. Why is that significant?

"Seriously?" shouted Rin. "Ok, this is an emergency. Izumi, please stop me if I lose control," he added, gripping Kurikara's handle so hard his knuckles were white.

"What? Who is this?" said Shinichi as he held Satsuriku in a ready-to-strike position.

"I'm surprised I remember it and you don't! Amaimon is one of the demon kings and we either need to do something about it," Rin answered frantically, never looking away from the green-haired demon.

"Of course he is," Shinichi murmured, heavy annoyance slipping into his tone. "Okay, but what are you going to do, Oku—"

Sure, Shinichi already knew that something wasn't normal. He didn't know what he expected, but not quite this. Rin yanked the sword out of its sheath and was immediately engulfed in an inferno of blue flame. His slightly pointed ears elongated and a tail flew out behind him in a gust of wind.

"Ooh, going all out I see," was all Amaimon said. "Cool. It's nice to have a bit of fun every once in a while. Give it your all."

As Rin lunged forward, Amaimon dodged with ease and smirked. Shinichi heard a sudden collective step forward behind him, whirling around to find that the Hobgoblins had stirred again. Pushing all other thoughts out of his mind, Shinichi ran to meet them in the middle. After all, this was what separated humans and monsters, right? Taking on fights one can't win was a human trait, wasn't it?

Out of the corner of his eye, Shinichi caught a massive yellow and green blur shoot out from the foliage, heading towards Rin at a frightening speed. Shinichi hesitated for a moment and the horde of Hobgoblins took the opportunity to start jumping on him and clawing him. Falling down was all it took for the rest of the mass to leap at him. He struggled and struggled, but too many kept coming to replace the old ones,

"Izumi!" came a muffled cry under all the demons and agitated screeching. Blue overtook Shinichi's vision as well as the feeling of being hot and cold at the same time. Most of the demons scattered upon contact with the blue, leaving enough room to Shinichi to stand on his feet again.

"You okay?" asked Rin, his eyes looking much more wild than usual. There was also a strange red lining around his pupil.

"I'm okay, focus on the demon king," replied Shinichi, staggering to his feet. He was covered in scratches that were probably going to get infected without treatment soon, but there was no way he was losing. Not when he had gotten this far after his life had gone to crap.

"That's what I like to hear," said Rin menacingly, turning back to Amaimon, who still looked astonishingly amused by the whole ordeal. But then, he was standing there with a horde of Hobgoblins on his side as well as what appeared to be an enormous Hobgoblin that he was currently riding on.

Shinichi hated to do it, he really did. Especially since Migi was asleep. But they were running out of options. He frantically rummaged through his pockets, his fingers finally touching a hard, dry, dusty object. Chalk. He had gotten it from Izumo a while back when she had given it to him to hold, but never came back to retrieve it.

"Don't tell me you're…!" Rin trailed off as he ran from Amaimon charging on his giant Hobgoblin thing. "Are you crazy?"

"Not as crazy as you," said Shinichi as he drew symbols on the ground as fast as he could. He stood over it and let some blood from one of his Hobgoblin cuts drip inside the chalk. "But crazy enough. May the power in you come to my aid!"

A brilliant flash of light swept the area. All the demons stopped moving momentarily as well as Rin and Amaimon.

"A bit risky coming to me without your partner," said the hazel demon, lifting its long bangs to look at Shinichi with pure black eyes.

"This is what separates humans and monsters."

Stuff is getting real now