Chapter 26, King of Earth
Warning: Language
The relaxed banter of the camp was abruptly interrupted when the green haired demon slammed to the ground. He quickly released the hobgoblin that followed, and it launched into the camp, where screams of shock sounded from. Despite the amount of alcohol she had consumed, Shura acted fast, pulling a demon sword from her chest and swiping the hobgoblin Behemoth outside of the camp's barriers. The exwire's shrieked as an astral snake emerged from the fire, lighting the sigil that was drawn all around the camp, erupting into great beam up light that shot into the night sky, sending the demons flying. The whole camp was on edge as they shook, fear rising through their veins.
"What was that just now?!" Izumo shouted anxiously.
"Training has ended—we need to prepare for Amaimon's attacks," Shura ordered, pinning her hair up and pulling out some containers of liquid from the camp supplies.
There came a chorus of gasps. Amaimon, the girl repeated to herself. The King of Earth, one of the eight demon kings. She was right all along, she thought, thinking back to the old painting of the demons she had seen at the headmaster's mansion. Which meant that the brother he had spoken of, might've meant brothers – and in which case, there was more than one demon king lingering around True Cross University, the girl thought as she scanned the dark between the trees, hair rising on the back of her neck. The picture was starting to come together in her mind, and it was clear to her now that they were not alone. They were never alone.
Her thought process was abruptly interrupted as ice-cold liquid was strewn all over her body by Shura. "It's holy water," she said plainly as the girl spit out whatever fluid had gotten into her mouth, and wiped away any that was on her eyelids.
"I may have to make her bathe after that," Mephisto chuckled to himself as he sipped his tea, still joyously undetected from the majority of the humans below.
Shura continued to douse each student, only halting when she came to Rin. "Oops, that would have been bad!" she jested, cackling.
The girl looked Rin up and down. Why wouldn't he be splashed with holy water, as well? She, like the rest of the group, had never heard of anyone being allergic to it; after all, it was just water blessed by priests and such – how could anyone have an allergy to water? Wasn't the only thing affected…demons? She eyed the boy strangely as she questioned. It was possible that Shura was making a joke, but if so, why would she not still put holy water on Rin? A plethora of thoughts and questions which would remain unanswered for some time flooded her innermost thoughts, as she scanned the surroundings, waiting for the King of Earth to return.
"Shiemi?" she started, watching the dazed blonde walk towards the edge of the barrier. There came no answer. What the hell was she doing?! "Guys—Shiemi?!" she shouted, trying to get everyone's attention, including her shy friend who seemed to have no idea where she was going as she lumbered towards the woods. Everyone at the camp turned to see what the girl was making a fuss about, only to catch the sight of Moriyama stepping just out of the sigil barrier. Before anyone had the chance to do anything, the green haired Amaimon swooped down, plucking her up from the ground. The girl watched in horror as his arms sizzled a bit as they wrapped around the blonde.
Shura tried to hold Rin back to no avail—he launched into the forest after the demon king, growling ferociously through gritted teeth. Amaimon's Behemoth came bounding after Rin, and Shura smacked it off course once again. "Run!" she screamed at Rin, knowing that he was the best bet at the moment to reclaim Shiemi.
After watching Rin and Shura dart off into the dark, Suguro clenched his fists tight with anger, finding it unbelievable that Okumura was doing it again – running off and risking his life, all on his own, without enlisting the help of his friends. He couldn't believe it, how dare he, he grumbled to himself. The group watched in horror as the demon king kicked Rin in the ribs, sending the boy flying through the air and crashing into rocks in the distance. And like a bomb ready to explode, Suguro sped off after them, determined to help Rin whether he liked it or not. Shima tried to reason with him as best he could through the fear, only to be pushed aside; and out of concern for their Bon, he and Konekomaru chased after as well.
"Fucking idiots!" the girl screamed as she shook inside of her skin. They stood no chance against a demon king; as Shura had said, even a most experienced exorcist would have an extremely difficult time defeating a demon like Amaimon. The only armed exwire was Rin – how in the world were the three boys supposed to protect themselves against such a high class demon? Kicking into a survival mode, the girl began rummaging through some of the absent Yukio's things, until she wrapped her hands around a cold pistol, packed away neatly with two clips of bullets, as a spare in case of emergency. The sound of Izumo's babbling caught her attention as she loaded a clip into the firearm.
Nearing tears, Izumo wailed how she didn't want to die. "Not here, not today…"
Sighing, the girl returned to Izumo, who was slumped down to her knees, streams of tears rolling down her face. She might have been one of the most abrasive people the girl had ever met, but she couldn't stand to see anyone so upset. Placing a hand on her shoulder, the girl tried to console her, but the words were a hard reach through the many emotions and thoughts racing through her at the time. "Hey, don't worry. Be brave." That was all she could manage. They might end up actually dying on that night, and all she could muster up was 'be brave.' It sounded silly in her own head, but the way Izumo had stopped sobbing, and looked at her with large eyes, made it seem like it was best words ever strung together by any adviser in the history of warfare. The girl smiled as warmly as she could in that moment.
Suddenly, the sky illuminated with the same blue light as before, only this time the light exploded and roared into towering flames. It must have been the demon king, the girl thought; there was no other logical explanation. The demon king's were sons of Satan, after all—so it had to have been Amaimon. Her heart pounded as her feet began to take up speed, pulling her into the woods and towards the direction of Shura, for what reasons even she wasn't entirely sure. She ran through the thick brush until she heard the clang of metal before her. Raising the gun, she planted a bullet within the hobgoblin right as it was about to land a blow on the redheaded woman, which sent it flying backwards. Shura hastily turned to face the girl, disappointed that it wasn't Yukio coming to her aide.
"You need to get out of here!" Shura shouted, resuming her attention to the behemoth as it leapt at her once more. Its claws met with her sharp sword with another clang, before it was pushed away again. The sounds of trees being ripped from the ground echoed through the forest, where Amaimon and Rin battled.
The girl aimed down the sights and shot three rounds towards the demon as it scampered across the ground, dodging the bullets; her hands shook as she took in the demon's form. Why was she starting to see so many demons? "You said that demon is Amaimon?" she shouted, dodging swipe from the hobgoblin. Part of her didn't know why she had asked. Maybe she had heard it wrong; maybe she wanted to be wrong.
Shura bore down with a great swing, only for the demon to bounce away. "Yep, that son of a bitch is definitely here to play," she snarled, a lively smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, figuring it was probably all part of Mephisto's scheming.
To play. Like these humans were just mere toys for his entertainment. Spinning tops, bouncy balls, punching bags; they were as ants, carefully tunneling through the shit of life to craft their civilization, only for some child to come by with a magnifying glass, kicking everything they had worked so hard for until it toppled and collapsed. She fired more rounds, landing a few hits on behemoth. Amaimon was doing exactly as he told her he would – he was here to play with his brother. Who? According to him, the presence she had felt ever since she was a child was supposed to be his brother. What brother? He had many, all of them being demon kings.
"What other demons are here, Ms. Kirigakure?" the girl finally snapped with a cold look in her eye.
Shura smirked as she swung. "It sounds like you need to do more research, girl."
The way the redhead put it, it sounded as if she knew. The girl froze. Do more research, like the answers were right in front of her, if only she looked a little harder? It became clear to her that Shura knew more than she was letting on, and keeping everyone else in the dark about it.
"Watch out!" Shura screeched, whirling around as behemoth bounded toward the girl as she was lost in thought. As it nearly came down on her, Shura managed to land a double-barreled kick, sending it into the trees. "You're going to get yourself killed out here!" she chastised as the hobgoblin got back up to its feet, it's eyes locking back onto the girl.
"Well that won't do; run along now, beast, that's enough of you," Mephisto mumbled, snapping his fingers. The behemoth halted for a split second, as if it has been electrocuted, and then quickly turned and scampered deep into the forest.
Wiping her face, Shura turned back to the girl, her blood boiling. This girl was not ready for any combat, she thought to herself as the young one fell to her knees, a defeated look plastered on her face. "Get to safety."
"B-but—" the girl began in a feeble protest.
"That's an order!" Shura yelled as she stood. "Get as far away as you can!"
