"Exalted is he who walks behind the rows. Grows the corn and wears a cloak of Death. He shall have his sacrifice and the blood moon shall rise. And our holy demon lord shall rise again! Eight rows, eight rows, eight rows, nine!"
"Ame, are you sure you should come along?" Kid asked for the hundredth time. The nine of them had all woken up once they were told what was going on. They were all disappointed in the serious turn of events, but they got ready to leave without a fuss. If someone was hurting their friend, no questions were asked. They were all standing right outside the onsen, ready to go in pursuit of this mysterious force. Ame was sitting on Nagi's back, or, more like, laying on it because she was doubled over so far. She straightened and put on a brave face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she insisted. Kid frowned. He'd never seen her so weak before. It wasn't natural. He didn't like it; it scared him.
"So you sense that?" Maka asked, looking out at the dark forest with narrow eyes.
"It feels dark," Kid nodded. "Come one; that evil won't fight itself."
Evil Brewing 2; A Force More Powerful than God?
The children all stood in a half-circle around a blood-stained cross. They were waiting for their sacrifice. The leader of the demon children stood in the center of their formation in front of the cross.
"This will be the night," he spoke. "The night of the dark moon shall be the night that our sacrifice comes to us. Once we kill Inochgami Amaterasu and give her soul and flesh to our master, he shall rise again with more power than ever to be imaginable. We will resurrect the Demon Lord from his eternal slumber."
"Are these kids crazy?" Soul asked from where he and the others were hiding in the corn stalks. The weapons were all in weapon form in case something happened.
"They want to resurrect a demon?" Kid narrowed his eyes. "This is bad. I have a feeling that whoever we're up against won't be easy."
"Yeah, but we've fought Asura and several witches, including the Spider Queen," Liz said. "How hard can it be?"
"… I'm just not so sure this time," Kid said. He glanced at Ame. She was shaking, holding one hand over her golden eye. "What do you see?"
"Death," she said, pointing at the scarecrow in the center of the clearing. "Death walks behind the rows. Death blooms the trees and lets the corn grow. But it's Death. Death, Death, Death!"
"Ame, be quiet," Kid chided, putting a hand over her mouth and holding her close to him. "They'll hear you."
"We already did."
Ame's head snapped up and she transformed into a white wolf, taking her sword in her mouth and lunging at the children that had surrounded them. The others leapt into action as well. The children were stronger than they thought; as if they had supernatural demonic powers. Ame leapt at the leader of the demon children, reaching to stab her sword straight through him. These enemies were just kids; they could be easily defeated. However, when Ame's sword made contact with the kid, she was repelled backwards, electricity stinging her fur. She whimpered and dropped her sword, transforming into a human like she couldn't control herself.
"You foolish beast," the child scoffed. "You think a benevolent goddess like yourself could kill a child? Our master made a wise choice—with an upper hand like this, we'll defeat you easily."
"You demon," Ame choked out as she felt someone tie her up and bind her to the cross.
"Ame!" Kid shouted in panic. This was bad. The children were too strong for them to simply fight like other enemies, and they were too fast to initiate any advanced form of soul resonance.
"You aren't children!" Ame shouted. "The idea of being a child is being innocent! That's why I'm so small. Innocence is what separates children from grown-ups. I'll kill you if I want to."
"Oh, so then are we grown-ups?" the leader mocked her. "If our games are so childish, yet we are not children, then what are we? Animals?"
"Don't you dare defile that word," Ame growled in warning, flattening her ears back in anger. "You're neither child nor grown-up. You are not human, nor god. You're demons! Do you hear me?!"
"Such a feisty sacrifice…."
Ame froze, turning her head as much as she could to get a better view of the dark cloud of death behind her. The voice was dark and deep. Ame felt cold mist wrap around her and start to suffocate her. She growled.
"Get away from me!" she yelled.
"Ame!" Kid shouted, shooting one of the demons and running towards her.
"Kid, be careful," Liz cautioned. "That mist isn't killing her; it's taking away her power."
"You're right, but we have to try something," Kid argued. He stared at Ame for a moment as her head was forced backward and her eyes began to glow a haunting golden. Her mouth opened and she no longer seemed there; as if something possessed her.
Ame forced her eyes closed, lowering her head. She shook her head and glared at the children as they approached her with a torch. They lit the pile of brush underneath her, setting it aflame.
"These kids are crazy," she thought bitterly. "What do I do? There's no water around here. I can't just use wind to blow it out; they'll just relight it. I need something that will get rid of everything. The corn, the children, the mist…. Someone, help!"
Suddenly, just in time, a light began shining down on her from the heavens. The mist retreated from the vile substance, leaving Ame free for being bound. She looked up and saw the constellation of a rooster complete, and the rooster floated down from the heavens and engulfed her in divine.
"I'm a bit late, so I'll make this quick," he said. "I'm Moegami, the god of fire. You can use it to burn the corn, Amaterasu. The children will die when the corn is burnt. Without its followers, the Demon Lord will retreat."
Ame nodded once and the light faded away. She looked at the fire beneath her and drew a scratchy line from it to the corn in all directions. The grain caught on fire immediately and the children screamed as their flesh was burned off of their bones. Kid moved quickly to untie Ame. She fell into his arms, and he carried her out of the burning corn field. The others made it out alive and unscathed as well.
Soul Eater
Once the fire in the corn field died down, the dark mist was called up from the ashes.
"You have failed me," the Demon Lord muttered to his faithful servants. He turned his head in the direction Ame and Kid went. "But I know where to go to get the job done myself."
It's a shorty for sure. (It's not short, it's Fun Sized!) I just couldn't think of a better way to divide the chapters. Anyway, this is the first scratch chapter I've had to write! I only got 60 of the 88 chapters written, so it will be a bit later for my updates and stuff. I think this is getting to be a very serious arc now, and this will take more than just a few chapters to resolve. The idea I'm going for here is that this Demon Lord makes Asura look like a joke.
Leave a review telling me all about your lives and stuff. Don't worry; I'm lonely and usually bored, you aren't bugging me by review and PMing XD
