14. Savage

"Is he awake?"

"Yes, I think he is..."

Sylvan opened his eyes, staring upwards at three faces. One of them was a man, with a dark-haired ponytail and dark eyes. A second belonged to a man with silver hair, and his eyes were rolled back-and Sylvan knew why. The third was...

"Kuroyanagi-kun..." Sylvan trailed off, trying to sit up, but Kuroyanagi gently pushed him back down. "Matsushiro...Shadow...H-how did you..find me?"

"We snuck into Yukino's palace to try to figure out what she was planning, and dragged you out of there in the process. That's how we found you." Matsushiro answered, adjusting his ponytail a bit. "You've been out like a light for a couple hours, and you lost a lot of blood. We could get you a few rabbits, maybe, so you can consume all blood you want from them, but until then you should rest a lot. It was thanks to Shadow who healed your injuries that you're still alive."

"Oh..." Sylvan paused, before speaking again. "I thank you for helping me, but...I think there are others that will need more help than I do..."

"...How much farther until we find those bloody Mystics?" Shachihoko groaned.

"...Um...Half an hour more?" Kanmuri suggested as the group continued to walk through the woods. "That's odd...I'm sure that we haven't been walking in circles..."

"How would you know?" Kawachi asked, curious.

"I tied one end of the string to a nearby tree after we got split up from Sylvan. If we cross paths with it, we would know then if we're walking in circles." The elven archer responded. It was then that the group saw something familiar... "The string? Wait, don't tell me that-"

"Yes, we've been walking in circles Kanmuri. Thanks a lot for your guidance." Mizuno responded sarcastically, crossing her arms. "Dang it, at this rate we're never going to be able to reach the Mystics for help!"

Monica paused, before speaking up. "Does anyone have a compass?"

Azuma face-palmed himself at this statement. "A compass...We could have used that earlier!" He exclaimed, before taking a small compass out of his pocket and handing it to Monica. "Here."

"Thanks." Monica paused, looking at the compass before speaking up. "We're not going south, but we've been moving eastwards...We have to go that way to go north and towards the Mystics." She finished, pointing to her left.

"Oh." Everyone else exchanged awkward glances with each other, before they continued their journey.

Matsushiro, Shadow and Kuroyanagi all stared at Sylvan in shock after he finished his story.

"You nearly killed Kanmuri, drank three wine bottles worth of Suwabara's blood, and then you got attacked after allying with Kai and everyone else?" Matsushiro asked, trying to summarize what Sylvan had just told them.

"Pretty much." Sylvan admitted. "It's okay, though. Kanmuri's still alive, Suwabara isn't going to faint anytime soon due to blood loss, and the rest of the group should hopefully still be alive as well. We just have to find them."

"Yes..." Kuroyanagi trailed off, looking around. "Um, I think we have company!"

A few demons lurked out of the bushes they were hiding in, snapping their jaws and growling at the three nobles and one demon.

"...I should have known this would happen if we decide to help a demon that decided to betray his queen..." Shadow muttered, taking out two swords and pointing them at the demons threateningly. The four exchanged glances, before the rest took out their weapons and leapt at the horrid creatures.

Shadow easily sliced one of the demons apart with his swords, as Matsushiro punched another and sent it flying. Kuroyanagi stabbed one demon before kicking another one that tried to sneak up from behind him. Sylvan, on the other hand, decided to rely on his more demonic instincts and immediately began ripping the demons apart, feasting on their blood whenever he had a spare moment to do so.

Kuroyanagi couldn't help but cringe as he saw the savageness of Sylvan's fighting. It was worse than a bandit, but more refined than your average, wild demon. It had been a while since he'd seen Sylvan...The last time he did, it was during childhood, before Yukino and her army of demons attacked...

He shook his head, ridding himself of the memory. He couldn't think about this right now. He had to help the others first. Kuroyanagi ducked an attempted stab from one of Yukino's demons, before stabbing it in the neck. Sylvan let out a sigh, before glancing at a nearby demon's corpse. He slithered over to the corpse, before starting to rip it apart with his bare, clawed hands and consuming the blood that poured out.

"At least we don't have to kill any rabbits now..." Matsushiro was heard muttering in the background. Shadow just nodded in agreement.

Kuroyanagi looked at Sylvan quietly. The kind village boy he'd once knew was now a savage demon, and daresay also, a cold-blooded killer.