Chapter 8.
Rei looked to Hiiro, her face contorted in a paralyzed fear. They would have gone after Usagi too, and she had no way to save her princess. He snapped into action, immediately taking what he deemed as the appropriate action.
"Quatre, Wufei, I need the car. Are you coming?"
"We'll work clean up, and head over to Treize's. You go on, Hiiro, and meet us at headquarters," Quatre replied, effectively giving Hiiro the go-ahead.
Neither of Rei nor Hiiro wasted any time, and covered the distance to their vehicle in seconds. Hiiro hit the accelerator, and Rei was nearly thrown out of her seat. Hiiro's driving now didn't even compare to how he had driven thus far. They were darting in and out of oncoming traffic for half the ride, and the rest of the time they disturbed rows upon rows of poultry salesmen, just setting up their stands for morning business. But the destruction turned out to be worth the ride. Rei's eyed soared upward in awe as she saw the dark MS tower above the compound's buildings, a bright green energy weapon spiraling in its distinctly human-like arm, one stroke impaling one creature that was leaping toward the 'head' of the machine and another that had crept onto its shoulder. Both fell to the ground with a sickening splat, but just as quickly, a swarm of winged creatures, like the goblin who had attacked the gang's car, came charging forward. Neither could help but cringe at the screech of their strong claws against the gundamian alloy, but it managed to bring both of them back to action.
"Hiiro.what is that?"
"It's what we call a gundam. We'll give you a grand tour someday. For now, though, we should get going."
Rei shook her head at herself again, and hopped out of her already open car door, Hiiro quickly following suite. She took a look at the terrain, and the still plentiful youma here and there, all still focused intently on the gundam. She identified two main groups, then looked to Hiiro, and was suddenly puzzled.
"Do you.still have my sword?" Hiiro also looked perplexed, staring intently at his hand, where he had last held the sword. As he turned it over, the double-edged long sword fell out, and almost hit the ground before he caught it. Both of their eyes went wide, and the two of them just stood there as the two groups of youma were distracted towards their lone figures on what had turned into the battleground. They nodded, postponing amazement to a more convenient time and set off in opposite directions.
Hiiro ran toward the collective uglies that were simply waiting fairly far away from the action. and set to it. The heavy steel of the blade seemed light in his arms, as each swing cleaved away and arm, a head, a tentacle. Eventually he was surrounded by only the largest three of them, each emitting a swirling cloud of dust and gases that clogged his nose and irritated his eyes, which naturally started to water. Of course, ever Hiiro-like, he refused to drop his guard or wipe his eyes, but he knew that once the monsters attacked, he would have little chance of surviving. The one directly behind him darted in, and as he twirled around, the other two closed in. Nearly blind, he thrust upwards in front of him quickly, the slick resistance telling him he had hit flesh. A wrenching scream that came a second after confirmed it. Something sharp lodged in his shoulder before he could turn around to face his last two adversaries, and he only briefly caught a glimpse of some thorn stuck in his back as he pivoted on one foot. He took most of the weight of the blade in his right arm, and shifted his body and guard accordingly. Both of the dust-demons had come in close enough that Hiiro could still see them, no matter the pain of the toxic gases they emitted. One long stroke was enough to cut a deep enough score across their stomachs that they backed away, and Hiiro stalked after them, each step becoming more painful. Two more wild, extremely un-perfect-soldierish slashes were enough to take care of them. As they swirled into nothingness, the gas and dust disappeared, and Hiiro Yuy could take it no more, collapsing into heap, curled in a fetal position around the sword that had served him well.
On the other side of the unused warehouse, Rei faced a different sort of creature, a good deal like something she had faced in her younger days, fighting with Usagi and the rest, not as a single warrior. It was jelly like, and flowed in puddles, attaining a faintly human state only briefly, and solidifying to strike a blow, sinking just as quickly out of the way of her punches or kicks, and multiplying when she did manage to destroy it. There had been quite a few, at least thirty, but almost half had succumbed to fire. But she didn't have enough power left for any large scale torching attacks like the ones that had destroyed the first. Her arrows were useless, as were the piercing rings of the burning mandala. But her mind drifted back to another attack form, one she hadn't used in years. Since her early teens, Rei had learned more about the nature of the firebird. Her power had to call up a transient spirit from another world, to inhabit the substance of her fire, only after fighting, could it return to its home. She hated to tear away, enslave the souls of the magnificent phoenixes from some distant universe, but today, it seemed she had no other choice. As soon as the words left her mouth, a creature like nothing she had seen appeared before her, a firebird more three times as large as any other she had called, and as it lifted off to face her foes, she could see intelligence in its eyes. It was truly gorgeous, flaming plumage ample and bright, and it destroyed each of the amorphous creatures in three or four fiery breaths. When the final was gone, it looked directly at Rei, before burning up and disappearing. She was still awed and confused, and could only and offer a prayer to the wind it had left on.
Still, with the phoenix on her mind, Rei turned the corner to the next building, and saw Hiiro's prone form, and sprinted as fast as she could. She kneeled next to him and paused briefly before removing the sword from under his arms, and taking it back into herself. She noticed the thorny sting in his back, and pulled it out without hesitation, then tearing her clothing to wrap around the wound. He opened his eyes, as she leaned over his body and reached for her arm.
"You're ok."
"Yeah, I'm alright, Hiiro."
"What was that stuff? It was like dust, and nerve gas or something."
"Hiiro, that was... that was just magic."
"Oh. Rei?"
"Yes?"
"I'm happy you're alright." He reached up to touch her cheek, when they heard a cackle from behind them. They both looked, and Rei saw what she hated to see. The male exuded lovely evil, dressed all in black. His long black hair was unadorned, but accented his white-blue eyes. It was by the amulets he wore on his neck that Rei identified him. The master of the demons had finally arrived