Akuma filled the sky and every single one of the blank people bore a soul sprouting from their bodies. That wasn't counting the regular Akuma drawn into the area by the Innocence in the fountain. Which was exactly what Jump meant by "All of them".
Star manifested glasses for Lavi and Lenalee as well.
"Now you see. Every single person here is an Akuma. They're not visible to anyone except myself, Mahoja, and Jump."
"Whoa!" Lavi said. He immediately went pale and pulled off the seeing glass Star had given him.
"But they look strange…they're all white," said Allen. "Like the blank people."
"So many. Hundreds…maybe thousands. Is this some new Akuma the Earl has created?" said a shaken Lenalee.
"For now, they are confined here in the Blank Town," Star explained. "But if I get the Innocence now, this terrible legion will disappear."
There was motion near the fountain.
"Hey!" Lavi shouted.
A figure in a white cloak approached the the fountain, stepping over the townspeople under the Innocence's spell.
"They're going for the Innocence!"
Star raced forward, dodging through the normal Akuma and going for the stranger at the fountain. She ignored the protests of the others. I should've come sooner. This is my fault.
With her Innocence already activated and using low energy to enhance her vision and the people she shared her seeing glasses with, Star called out-
"Parasite Eve, Level 2—Action Figure!"
Phantasmal red and gold flames covered Star's body in a glowing ornate armor. With a burst of speed, she literally flew towards the cloaked figure instead of gliding.
"If I can't get it then neither can you!"
Swinging around, she kicked him hard before he could blink or draw another breath let alone grab the Innocence. Kicked with such speed and force, the cloaked intruder soared through the sky and out of the dome altogether.
Kanda dropped in right after, roughed up and blood-spattered.
"Get outside. The area is overrun with Akuma," Kanda said. "What's taking so long in here anyway?" They explained the situation quickly and he amended, "Fine, we don't need those people in the way." He pointed Mugen at the people sitting around the fountain.
Lenalee nodded.
"Let's get the missing people out of here and then we'll come back for the Innocence. Since we may not be able remove it without awakening the Akuma under it's spell."
They tiptoed through the listless Akuma and started moving the people out of the dome, careful not to wake anything they didn't want woken. Star glanced into the fountain at the shining thing inside. A resonance echoed in her body now that she was so close to it.
It'll be over in a moment, Star thought.
Helping two dazed townspeople, she headed down an alley after the other Exorcists towards the edge of the dome.
Outside the dome an all-out battle hit Star in a wall of sounds and explosions. Miranda was holding Time Out around the Finders.
At the edge of the forest opposite Hayden, the outskirts of Myre was lined in dilapidated buildings from an old attempt at expanding their village. After they moved all the people into Miranda's shield with the Finders, Lenalee, Lavi, and Kanda dove into the fray, eliminating any immediate threats to them. Star geared up to fight too, saying—
"Miranda, you and the townspeople go into the ruins over there. You've earned a rest. We should—"
Abruptly, Star's Innocence deactivated. She collapsed to her knees.
A horrible, loud chorus of gurgling, whining growls filled the air.
"What the heck is that noise?" someone said.
Pausing in swinging his hammer around, Lavi said, "I know this sound…Star, you too!?"
Allen and Star were both on the ground, their Innocence inactive and their stomachs growling so loudly that even some of the Akuma stopped and stared in horror.
"I guess I'm hungrier than I thought," Allen said drearily, chewing on the collar of his uniform.
"My Innocence needs a lot of power, you know," Star said. She was so drained her cheeks were starting to hollow out.
Ding. There was a flash of a twinkle above them, then yet another thing rained down from the sky. A few of the Black Order members yelped when they recognized it.
"Komlin!"
"I am the Komlin-110 mini," the mini drone said in it's robotic voice. It retracted the helicopter blades it had used to fly to them into the proper compartment in its body and continued, "I am a Komlin mini-drone sent by Chief Komui Lee to deliver emergency supplies."
It indeed had a large package tied around its back. Finder John untied and unfastened the tarp around the package. He withdrew what appeared to box and it had a delicious smell wafting out of it that made Allen and Star's stomachs get even nosier.
"The Chief sent us bento boxes?"
"I believe he has," someone else sighed.
A few heads shook in disbelief.
"He should've sent us a few more Exorcists!"
Author's Notes:
I wrote the scene in Chapter 14: Komlin-110 under the assumption that anything Miranda allows to enter Time Out can enter the shield.
Komlin-110 is named for the title of the fanfiction.