There was no need for Allen to shout because Devina and everyone else saw the alarmingly endless swarm of ugly mechanical creatures approaching. Devina felt Lenalee turn in her arms and gasp at the sight.
"I take it they don't travel in herds," Devina joked.
"Why are there so many of them?" she heard Anita shout and Mahoja ordered the crew to arm themselves and be prepared for battle.
The swarm of black was indeed advancing fast and Devina tried to squint to pinpoint a single Akuma and determine their shape, but they all seemed to have various appearances and sizes and faces and weapons. Devina felt absolutely repulsed because they were ugly and devious and they looked like weapons; some held guns while others had built-in guns and most wore maniacal, mad smiles and had sharp teeth that usually wound up around a human's neck.
She had had a few conversations with Klaud before about the types of Akuma, and from the wild appearances of this lot, she guessed they were most probably Level Two.
"The timing of their attack can only mean one thing," Bookman mused.
"They're trying to slow us down." Lavi finished for him. He noticed Krory's shaking form, "What's the matter, Kuro-chan?"
"My teeth; they're aching to bite." Krory answered and activated his Innocence, and Devina made the wild guess that it had to do with his aching teeth. His face had changed in appearance; it became twisted and his teeth grew longer and sharper, like an animal's.
The rest of her friends activated their Innocence too, and it was her first time seeing Lenalee's Dark Boots, Lavi's Iron Hammer, Bookman's Heaven Compass, Allen's Cross Grave and Krory's Teeth in action. It would also be her first time showing them how much she'd improved after her training with General Klaud. She activated her Grim Reaper, which Klaud had helped her name and she generated a dozen creamy arrows from her liquefied bones.
Her companions looked at her with a mix of shock and pride but they said nothing. Instead, each launched in to attack.
But the Akuma weren't stopping; they were passing through, not bothering with their ship at all. Chaos was all around them.
"What is this?" Allen asked.
"What are they doing? Why aren't they attacking us?" Lavi was struggling to keep himself from keeling over. The Akuma's passage had conjured up strong wind, and they were all nearly whisked off their feet.
"Where are they going?" Krory asked, his eyes following the direction the Akuma were heading.
"I don't think it matters where they go, I think what matters is that we should not let them get to where they're going." Devina muttered, darkly; she had a horrible feeling about this. Klaud had told her how bloodthirsty and nasty the Akuma are, and them flying past a ship full of humans was just so surreptitiously erroneous.
"I think Devina's absolutely right," Allen said, and beams of light shot out of his left arm, which was now shaped like a big white gun.
Devina directed her arrows toward several Akuma bypassing the ship and they all landed. "Perfect hit! Akuma kill count: twelve," she jumped in the air triumphantly before she shaped more arrows and had them chasing some more Akuma; the arrows were more useful under these circumstances, since the Akuma were not stopping, the distance between her and them wide, thus, a sword would lessen her chances of landing a hit.
"Is this the first time you've killed an Akuma, Devina?" Lavi's question startled her, and the fact that it was Lavi asking her had set her cheeks aflame by the scorching heat she caught in his emerald eye. She felt her stomach ripple, waves crashing against the inside of her belly and she didn't understand it. She didn't understand it at all.
"Yes," she looked to her feet, and her arrows were falling. He was making her lose her focus and she was burning red, burning hot. She formed more arrows than she could muster and she sent them flying. She then sent some more, attacking nonstop, trying not to meet his gaze.
Lavi didn't gesticulate the enormity of the situation until the question had left his lips. The girl had never faced an Akuma before and she was standing there, battling on par with him and the others. She wasn't flinching or cowering in fear, she wasn't screaming or running away and she'd killed twelve Akuma all at once. Her little yes had changed everything. She was courageous and brave and a little insane, maybe, but Lavi couldn't help how impressed he was with her, how she was kicking more ass than he was, so he felt like raising the stakes a little higher.
"That's amazing, Devina," he stood, leaning against her so that they were standing back to back. "Let's see who kills more Akuma,"
But the Akuma were stopping, two had noticed Allen and Lavi, A third tried attacking Anita but it was kicked by Mahoja. The humans used barriers of light which kept the Akuma from coming near them, guarding them for as long as possible. Lenalee flew around using her boots-generated speed, launching kicks left and right while Bookman's needles were fending off whatever Lenalee couldn't finish.
Lavi extended his hammer, landing it on the Akuma in front of him and then the one behind Devina before she could do anything about it. "This isn't how you win a challenge, Devina,"
Devina was too distracted to roll her eyes at him, she noticed Allen was struggling with the Akuma he was fighting. Allen's weapon worked for the long distance between him and the Akuma he was facing but the Akuma was a flying bee-shaped Akuma, with a face that seemed likely to shoot at Allen at any minute. Next to it was another annoying flying Akuma, and Allen was getting overworked.
"Gouka Kaijin: Hi Ban," Lavi shouted, slamming his hammer into the ship, making Devina jump. A swarm of fire surrounded the ship and it burnt the Akuma. Many managed to fly out of its range. Devina noticed that the pillar of fire had a head shaped like a dragon's.
"Whoa, that was kind of awesome," Devina exclaimed.
"I'm in it to win it, baby," She rolled her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek, trying not to repeat the word baby in her head.
She heard Allen yelp and she looked up to see him caught between the Akuma's legs.
"Allen!" she and Lenalee called simultaneously. Allen was being led in the same direction the Akuma had headed.
"Lenalee," Lavi commanded, "go and take care of Allen, we'll handle things here,"
"But-"
"You're the only one who can follow him with your Dark Boots," Bookman explained.
"Go, Lenalee, Allen-sama needs you. He's fighting all alone right now," Anita told her, "we'll be alright here."
"I'll come, too," Devina interjected, "you can carry me, Lenalee,"
"That's not too wise, Devina," Lavi shook his head, "when Lenalee gets to Allen she'll have to carry him, too; she can't carry you both."
"But Allen… He's not okay, he's been-"
"Go, Lenalee," Lavi ordered, taking charge; Lenalee gave Devina a remorseful look. Devina gave back a faint smile before Lenalee took off. Devina began on her quest of creating more arrows and sending them flying in every Akuma's direction. Devina couldn't help keep her gaze from following Lenalee until she disappeared into the distance. Her two friends were now headed toward the Akuma's nest and she felt so uneasy.
Devina strung her arrows through invisible bows and struck at the Akuma. Krory used his teeth to bite them, jumping from one to the next, contaminating them by a sort of poisonous bit. Bookman sent his needles flying in each and every direction, attacking and defending, while Lavi extended and expanded his hammer, swatting the Akuma in his path.
They were at it for quite some time, and Devina kept losing count of the number of Akuma she's destroyed. Whenever that would happen she'd glance at Lavi and he'd yell her count number at her, which would make her laugh.
Devina pushed Bookman out of some bullets' way and they hit her instead.
"Lady Devina, what have you done?" Bookman asked, guilt ridden.
"Don't worry, they don't hurt me," she smiled at him.
"But these have Akuma poison-" Bookman stopped talking to shied his eyes seeing as Devina was about to unzip her uniform. "What are you doing?"
"Look," she told him, bending her left hand backward to aim it at an Akuma and send an arrow to finish it while her right hand continued to unzip her suit. Bookman could see what she was showing him. The bullet holes did not go through her skin but instead they were lodged inside a barrier that was creamy in color. He could only guess it was also made from her bones.
"Incredible,"
"Isn't it-" but she didn't have the time to tell him Klaud had thought it up. She'd never realized it but her body had been doing it every time she was in danger. She couldn't spare it another thought, because there was a fire, a huge raging fire that looked so deadly. It seemed to have something to do with the swarm of Akuma that whisked Allen off. Devina didn't know what she was doing but she jumped off the ship.
"Devina, you idiot," Lavi yelled after her and extended his Iron Hammer but he realized she didn't need it. Devina was walking on water, or so it would appear, but in truth, she'd created a plank of bones and it carried her but it was whizzing and she couldn't quite control it yet.
"Lavi," she began as she levitated up to meet him, "I have to go, something bad-"
"Go," he nodded once.
She leaned forward and extended her right arm, but the plank shifted beneath her and her hand ended on his left shoulder but she focused and steadied herself. "Take care of everyone," he gave another nod, "and don't do something stupid,"
"Same to you,"
And she was off. She felt silly for saying anything because she shouldn't have. She should focus on Allen and Lenalee and the fire. But she was leaving Lavi behind, too. She didn't know if he'd be okay; if the others were going to be okay.
Her control over the plank grew with time and she managed to get to the island after killing a few Akuma; coming at them from behind gave her a pretty definite advantage. She passed the shore and came across a turf, which led her into a forest. She wasn't sure which way to go and she was about to fly higher when she heard his voice. Tortured and pained and tired and screaming, "Suman!"
Devina's control over the plank vanished completely and she was on the floor in a matter of seconds. The fall was quite painful and the distance quite high, but she pushed her arms and legs and she sat on all fours. She grunted before she forced herself to stand up.
She heard him yell again and she called his name, "Allen!" she called again and again.
"Devina, help!" and she was running. She couldn't tell how she was doing it but she did it, she ran toward his voice.
"Allen!" she yelled.
"I'm right here, Devina," and she was close, she was so close; her heart was thumping so loud it was deafening. She finally found him in the middle of a clearing, sitting on his knees in front of a pale looking human. Yes, Devina thought it was a human but she couldn't make sure. She took a step forward and she saw that Allen was crying. She felt her heart split as she took another step forward.
"Allen…?"
His head snapped in her direction, "Devina," his voice broke and her heart broke and she was sure everything was breaking.
"What… what happened, Allen?"
"Devina, I pulled Suman out, I pulled him out but he's… he's… his life energy has run out; he's only alive because his heart still beats but- but," Allen was crying and she didn't know what to do, she didn't know what was happening. She looked at the man, or the shell of a man in front of him, eyes rolled, mouth drooling, with silver skin and hair all fallen.
"A-allen, is he a… an E-exorcist?" Devina could barely make herself say it, she could barely make herself ask him. Allen seemed to be holding back a sob. Something in his left hand glistened and Devina turned all her focus on that instead, "what's that, Allen?"
"Suman's Innocence…" That settled it. Suman, the man in front of Allen was once an Exorcist but for some reason he wasn't one any more.
"Did the Innocence reject him, Allen?" she knew Allen was barely listening to her; he was so grief-stricken and broken and she needed to nail him to the ground.
"Why… is this happening? Why did it have to end up this way?" Allen punched his right arm into the earth, burying his face into the ground. "This isn't the end. Suman isn't dead yet. He can still be saved."
"Allen…" Devina started but she didn't know what to say again. She wanted to ask him about Lenalee and why she wasn't with him but she was almost sure he was going to ignore her, the way he had ignored all her questions. She stood up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Allen."
"Devina…?" he said her name in a manner that made it seem as though he just realized she was there. He looked around him before his eyes landed on Suman again, "Come on, Suman; let's go home."
As soon as those words left Allen's lips, Suman's forehead ripped open and purple butterflies strewed out of him. But it was not possible. Devina could only assume the butterflies were actually devouring him from the inside out… but how did they enter his body to begin with? Devina thought she heard footsteps earlier, but she was sure someone was with them now. She turned around, a blade forming in her hands, ready to attack.
Author's Note: I can't believe this has made it this far, almost at double digit chapters now. Thanks for everyone who's followed or reviewed. Please keep them coming :)