In the light from the burning mansion, Agni could see the standoff between William and Ciel. That man was obviously the leader of these beings. At least, Agni didn't have to worry about his prince in this battle. Agni had been fighting for several minutes but the reapers continued to carefully dance around him. It seemed they were very serious about leaving anyone other than Sebastian and Aliya unharmed. As for the father and daughter… Agni had seen the cinematic record come out of the one man. At that time Aliya was injured but when Agni looked back she was holding the knife and no longer bleeding. Agni muttered a prayer for forgiveness for ever doubting his god. Sebastian and Aliya weren't human but they were still their friends. Soma held Aliya in a protective hug as the reapers crowded around them.
Agni considered going over to help his prince guard Aliya and Ciel. Then again, the reapers were still mostly converging on Sebastian even though more were starting to notice Aliya or make moves to incapacitate the humans. Sebastian was the strongest but also in the most danger. Agni decided he would be most useful where he was so aimed a punch at the nearest reaper. The dark haired man ducked Agni's blow with superhuman speed. He gave Agni a disapproving look but didn't move to strike back. Agni took this opportunity to kick him.
The manor servants were being kept busy and hadn't noticed Aliya's injury or the cinematic record. The one blond man continued to be mercilessly pummeled by Bard who kept shouting at him to "stay the hell down". A female reaper came up behind the man tried to wrestle him into an arm lock. Her plan failed and now Bard kept two shinigami at bay. Four reapers tried to work together to bring down Finny without hurting the boy. Finny had plenty of stones and statures to throw so his opponents were getting nowhere fast. Maylene was being largely ignored with the hopes she would soon run out of bullets. That didn't stop the woman from stabbing and/or bludgeoning anyone who came to close to her.
Ciel still stood facing William as a reaper jumped Soma and Aliya from behind. Suddenly showing that he could defend himself, Soma whipped around and struck the man in the throat without even pausing to think. Aliya didn't waste his assistance and promptly used her borrowed knife to slice open his chest.
"What is that?" Soma gazed at the cinematic record that erupted from the wound.
"The story of his life, I think," Aliya watched with equal awe. Two more shinigami rushed forward to pull their injured friend out of Aliya's reach.
"You shot me! In the face!" Grell sat up and pointed an accusatory finger at Ciel. The earl didn't even dignify him with a response.
"Forget her," William snapped at the reapers who continued to circle Aliya and Soma. "Focus on the target." He turned to head in Sebastian's direction without a second glance at Ciel. Aliya made a move to attack him but Soma held her back.
"But…" Grell whined. Will unkindly shoved him in the proper direction with his foot.
"I need to help, Father," Aliya gave the prince a distressed look. She could have easily overpowered him if she wanted to but chose not to squirm in his grip.
"Agni's helping," Soma nodded to their left where Sebastian and Agni were fending off the reapers.
"That's not enough. If Father dies I'll…" Aliya bit her lip. Soma looked sympathetic but didn't know what to say so stayed quiet. The girl gritted her teeth angrily and fiddled with the knife she held.
Agni knew this was not going well. He hadn't done serious damage to any of the attackers. He struck their marma but they only flinched or became numb for less than a minute before they were back on their feet. If he tried, Agni could kill them but he didn't want to resort to that. Meanwhile, Sebastian had beheaded three and sliced off perhaps four people's arms. Like Aliya, he kept using weapons against their owners. It wasn't enough, though.
Two men moved to attack Sebastian while he was avoiding the woman in front of him. The men raised their weapons to swing simultaneously. Agni could tell that Sebastian wouldn't be able to dodge. Without thinking, the human intercepted the onslaught. He jumped in front and deflected one blade which carved a gash in his arm that he didn't even feel. The other reaper was forced to halt mid-swing as Agni got in his way. Sebastian took advantage of this and ducked around Agni. He sliced both the men in half with a barrowed sickle before they could blink. The woman who had been chasing Sebastian froze with momentary confusion as a human appeared between her and her target. Agni hit the woman in the shoulder. Her arm went numb and she dropped her naginata to the grass. She hastily retreated several yards before Sebastian could dispose of her as well.
"You're very useful in this battle, Mr. Agni." Sebastian rose from his coaching position and took advantage of the slight lull in combat to speak. "But do be more careful, won't you?" He eyed the shallow cut on the man's arm. Agni didn't want to study the two disemboweled corpses so instead looked at Sebastian's face. This turned out to be the much worse option. Sebastian's eyes glowed a deeper red than the fire light they stood in, his pupils were slits, blood splattered his clothing and his white gloves were now died crimson, but there wasn't a single drop on his face as if he had to power to carefully avoid getting dirty. The aura of control and power that the man normally exuded had suddenly been amplified from that of a strong human to something terrifying. His handsome face hadn't changed but everything about him was off, too carefully placed, poised as if ready to move but very calmly holding himself back.
"What…are you?" Agni chocked out on reflex, before he could think better of asking such a question. Sebastian delicately raised an eyebrow at the question. Ever so slightly the corners of his mouth turned up to show his amusement. The small grin on his thin lips shouldn't have been creepy but it was. A glimpse past a carefully crafted mask, a hint at the predator in human guise, and the sight chilled Agni to the bone. He reflexively backed up half a step and held his hand over his mouth in trepidation. Sebastian smirked at the taller man's reaction but didn't make any motions to scare him further.
A faint whooshing sound was the only warning to announce William's incoming attack and the interruption to their conversation. This time Sebastian took a different strategy, he literally hid behind Agni to avoid the retractable spear. Will glowered at Agni as if it were some how his that Sebastian was using him as a very effective shield. Agni glanced over his shoulder to see Sebastian smirking with mild amusement as he stood behind him. "Try to stay close," he instructed the human then dove to the left and flung a handful of knives at the reapers.
"Sebe!" Grell came out of nowhere. Sebastian barely caught his chainsaw with the sickle. "An angel, Sebe? Do you realize how jealous that makes me? If it's the white clothes that turn you on, I could…"
"You're disgusting." He kicked Grell in the stomach which, sadly, wasn't a fatal blow but earned him some breathing room.
"Ciel, I should fight," Aliya turned her appeals to the young earl.
"Stay," he answered flatly.
"I can fly, they won't hurt me," she insisted.
"Fly?" Soma blinked. As an answer, she popped her shoulders forward and unfurled her impressive wings from her back. "Whoa, are those real?" The prince tentatively reached out a hand to touch the gray feathers. With Soma distracted, Aliya addressed Ciel again.
"Fine. I'll do as you say and stand her like a coward." The boy flashed her a glare for implying that he was also being a coward. "But if Father dies…" She held out the knife, hilt first, towards Ciel. "I don't have the proper leverage to cut off my own head."
"You think that will solve anything?" he snapped, angrily. "She will go into hiding until she can create another creature. It would be decades before anyone could find her again."
"I don't care! I'm not going back to my mother, Ciel."
"Now who's the coward?" He fixed the girl with a stare. Aliya gave a frustrated growl but withdrew the knife.
"What are you shouting about?" Soma glanced away from running his fingers through Aliya's feathers to look at the children.
"Nothing," Aliya instantly lied. Ciel ignored the question. Soma didn't seem to believe it but didn't ask. He instead plucked a single feather from Aliya's wing. "Ow! I can feel that." She flinched away from his touch. Soma twirled the long, monochromatic feather between his thumb and forefinger.
"This is different from a bird's feather," he commented. He seemed completely distracted from the fact they were in a desperate battle.
"I wouldn't know," Aliya turned sideways so he no longer had easy access to her wings. Ciel had already spent plenty of time marveling at the girl's feathers so looked back at Sebastian.
Shinigami were ganging up on the demon again. Grell wanted to get in on the action but Agni had recognized he was a particularly nasty reaper and refused to let him get close to Sebastian, much to Grell's chagrin. Sebastian concentrated on avoiding the death scythes and watching for any opportunity to counter attack. He had to be careful; dodging one blow could easily make him a target for another. He flicked a knife at one bespectacled reaper. The young man failed to block and lost his eyewear. Sebastian tried to decapitate him with the sickle but another reaper dashed forward. Sebastian was forced to abandon the stolen sickle in order to keep his hand.
The obnoxious naginata woman had retrieved her weapon and came at him again. Sebastian hastily preformed a backflip to avoid her arching swing. He barely landed on his feet when he noticed William lucking in wait. Damn.
"Sebastian!" Ciel's shout made everyone freeze. Sebastian stood motionless as a cinematic record floated out of the wound in his lower back. William T. Spears wore a very satisfied expression and smugly readjusted his glasses. For a moment of utter silence there was only the clicking sound of Sebastian's life record and the roar of the blaze behind them. This quiet lasted only a second however, because Agni noticed movement on the otherwise still battle ground. One reaper wasn't paying attention to the fallen demon. She instead headed straight for the children. Somehow, Agni knew she was dangerous. Without a second though, he bolted past his injured friend to protect his prince.
Agni wasn't the only one to see the woman's advance. Tanaka stepped forward to stop her from reaching Ciel. The elderly man barely moved before the reaper plunged her sword through his abdomen. "Wha-?" Ciel jerked his gaze away from Sebastian. The boy almost screamed when he saw Tanaka skewered by a bloody blade through his chest. The reaper tossed the limp man and her weapon aside without waiting for his cinematic record to materialize. Ciel stood like a statue as the woman descended upon him. She reached for him but didn't make it. Agni's well aimed fist collided with the side of her head. The man skidded to a halt as the reaper woman crashed to the ground. He dropped into a hasty fighting stance and didn't let his eyes waver from the woman's form, not even to check on Soma. Agni had felt her skull crack under his fist but he knew she wasn't dead. It was probably only a matter of seconds before she would be on her feet again.
Ciel and Soma were in a confused daze as their minds tried to catch up with everything they were seeing. Aliya, however, had a brain designed to move and think faster. She could feel her body shaking; there was no doubt who that woman was. All the reapers stood still as they tried to figure out what was going on. They didn't seem to sense her holly power underneath her disguise. Father was incapacitated. Tanaka lay unmoving. Could Agni hold her off until the reapers decided to help? Aliya knew she couldn't win against her mother, even with a barrowed death scythe. Ciel and Soma were…right in harms way. Mother would kill them. Aliya dropped her knife to grab Ciel's jacket collar and pull him towards her protectively.
After only a moment to recuperate, Ariel leapt from the ground to attack. Agni anticipated her movement and managed to block her jab at his face. The hat she wore to hide her hair had fallen off and veil of gold flowed around her head as she moved. She glared at the man for daring to get in her way then pulled back. Agni didn't even consider attempting a counter strike he just tensed to receive her next blow. In a fair fight, Agni could hold his own and the angel knew it. In order to remedy the situation, her white wings spread from her back. The reapers all suddenly started to get a clue and glance among themselves but they didn't have time to act. Agni didn't even twitch when her wings appeared or when she started to scream. The angel threw back her head and let out an inhuman cry. Her wings began to pulsate with blinding light.
Only one person recognized what she was doing. "Get down!" Aliya screamed. She tightened her grip on Ciel's jacket and spun around to latch onto the front of Soma's shirt, dragging the earl along by the neck. Ciel gagged and Soma stared at her but couldn't say anything before she hefted each boy in the air with one hand. "Go!" Aliya gave a rather pointless instruction considering neither boy had contact with the ground. She hauled them both as hard as she could away from her mother. Before Ceil and Soma even hit the grass, Ariel exploded. Daggers of white light shot from her wings in all directions. The nearby reapers yelped and threw their arms in front of their faces. It looked like Agni managed to shield himself at least a little bit as the darts of holy light stabbed into him. Exactly what happened was impossible to see as the light of a small sun forced everyone to look away.
Aliya blinked the daze from her eyes only to see her mother's face looming above her. The girl gasped but the sound died in her throat when the angel's fingers curled around her trachea. The girl tried to jerk away but Ariel's other hand latched onto one of her wings.
"Ah!" one reaper made a surprised sound as he suddenly found himself hastily pushed to the side. Sebastian was on his feet and shoved the useless shinigami between him and Aliya out of the way. Ariel paid him no mind and burst into the air with Aliya securely in her clutches. Sebastian coiled into a crouched position then leapt upwards and disappeared in a shower of black feathers.