"So, looks like it's a four on four now." Drake said, flanked by the others, who had come down to help at his request. Tristan looked pretty pissed off.

"So you had backup." He said. "You think that's all it'll take to beat us?"

"Guess we'll have to see, won't we?" Simon said. At this, tension crackled between the eight people standing in the open area. Nobody moved for a moment, probably waiting to see if the other side would make the first move instead.

Finally, after a while of silence, the first move was made.

Tristan lashed out with another barrage of blasts, and the four all moved in different directions to avoid it.

Simon used his Heavenly Body magic to fly in between the blasts and tackled Tristan backwards, causing the blasts to stop. At this, Steph raised a hand, which crackled with electricity as it did. She aimed it at Quinn, who noticed this and jumped out of the way as Steph shot at him. Swords made of holy light appeared in his hands, and he ran towards Steph to try and slash at her. Elise met him halfway and iron connected with the light, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Quinn smirked at Elise, who had a more serious look on her face.

Drake took initiative and attacked Quinn from behind, but the other man was already ready and blocked his poisonous strike with a second blade in his right hand. Both Elise and Drake pushed at him, but neither were able to get past him. After a few more seconds, Elise`s eyes widened.

"Drake, behind you!" She shouted. Drake turned to see a blast of light coming right for him, and he clicked his teeth in annoyance. He backed up from Quinn to dodge Elizabeth's attack, who redirected her attention to him. She fired more bursts at him, but Drake flipped all around to dodge them, forcing himself to rely on his eyesight to do so. He stumbled backwards towards the others, and watched the Members of the Cross carefully.

"They're definitely not pushovers." Elise said. "They know what they're doing."

"We should try and separate them." Simon said. "Keeping all four of them together only makes it easier for them to work together. We need to fight them one on one."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Drake asked. "We don't know what they're capable of."

"I'd rather not find out when they're all together." Simon replied. "I'll take the black haired pompous prick."

"I'm taking Quinn." Steph muttered, electricity crackling around her. "He's going to pay for what he did to Damien..." Drake understood her want for payback.

"Which chick do you want, Elise?" He asked. her. She shrugged.

"Brown haired one, I guess." She replied. Drake nodded, neglecting to mention he couldn't hear Elizabeth. He wanted to deal with her.

"Good luck, you guys." Simon said. With this, he glowed once more and shot forward, tackling Tristan away from the others. Steph did a similar move with her electricity, tackling Quinn off into another direction.

"Ah, I see." Abigail said. "We're splitting off into one versus one. Well? Who's taking me on?"

"That'd be me." Elise replied. Abigail nodded.

"Alright then. Shall we be off?" Elise seemed confused by the manners of the woman, but nodded. Abigail turned to Elizabeth.

"Good luck with the boy." She said.

"I'll be okay." She replied. Abigail then gestured for Elise to follow her, and together the two wandered away, leaving Drake with Elizabeth.

"Well?" Drake asked. "Shall we?"

"I suppose." Elizabeth replied. "One thing you should know though, Drake."

"Which is?" Elizabeth lowered her gaze slightly, making Drake's spine tingle.

"You won't be able to beat us. The Members of the Cross do not fall." Drake made a face.

"That right?" he asked. "Color me intrigued, then."

"Sounds like a full blown fights started." Ultear said. Gin had to agree with her there. A fight involving everyone had surely started. Of course, they were only trying to get out safely. That was what Drake had told them to do.

"I'm sure he's okay." Gin tried. "He's strong."

"I know." Ultear replied. Gin watched with her as Hunters fought what appeared to be explosion of ice and water. "And that would be my parents fighting too. Clearly they're dealing with the underlings." Ultear was silent for a moment, but then she turned back to Gin. "Let's get out of here, before someone tries to hurt you."

"Okay." Gin said, following Ultear as they ran through the empty sides of the camp, making their way to the cliff they had apparently entered with. Once they made it there, Ultear arched her head back to look up.

"Alright, I think I got this." She said. "I haven't done this in a while, though."

"Done what?" Gin asked. He watched as Ultear aimed her hand up at the cliff, and water shot out of her hand and arched towards the cliff before latching on and freezing to keep a grip on it. She tugged on it, but the liquid was still under her control, and firmly latched on due to the frozen end. After she made sure it was good, she turned to Gin and offered her hand to him. Gin took it cautiously, and held in a cry of surprise when they shot up the cliff side and right to the top, tumbling over as they made it.

"Alright, the landing could have been better." She said. "But I think that went fairly well."

"I guess so." Gin replied, brushing the dirt off of him. Ultear stood as well and looked back down at the campsite turned battlefield.

"Think you can get back to the guild hall on your own?" She asked.

"I probably could." Gin replied. "Why?"

"I'm not going with you." Ultear replied. "I'm going back in there to help." She then turned back to Gin. "Go back to the guild hall. Everyone else can keep you safe there. Okay?"

"...Okay." Gin replied. Ultear smiled at this and turned back to the cliff. Gin watched as she turned completely into water, and disappeared down the side of the cliff. Looking down revealed her back in her human form running back into the camp. Sighing, Gin leaned back and stared up at the stars, pondering why he was even in this situation.

"You gonna stay up here?" Gin coughed at this and covered his eyes with his arm.

"I can't go down there." he replied. "I'll die." He looked over at Mortavius', who seemed as unhappy as always. "And you can't make me."

"I never said I would." He replied. "Just know, Gin. This is far from over."

"I hate how you have to make my fears ten times worse." Gin replied quietly. Mortavius just laughed at this and disappeared, leaving Gin alone again. Staring up at the stars, Gin listened to the explosions ringing out across the camp.

They didn't have to start this huge fight for me...And yet they're down there fighting to keep me alive...Why?

...

I guess not everyone only cares about themselves.

"I got to give you credit, kid." Tristan said. Simon raised an eyebrow at this. "At base value, separating the four of us is a good strategy."

"You're agreeing with me?" Simon asked. "That's a bit odd." Tristan snickered.

"Well, sorta." He replied. "It would've been a good idea, if the four of us were any good fighting together. To be honest with you, all three of those pansies piss me off."

"Do they now?" Simon asked. "I thought you four would've been close, all being Members of the Cross."

"You know about that, huh?" Tristan asked. "Suppose that fucker Quinn can't keep his mouth shut. Well, allow me to introduce myself then." He held his arms out wide. "Tristan, Right Arm of the Cross."

"Simon." Simon replied. Tristan nodded.

"Nice name." he commented. "You know what the Members of the Cross stand for, Simon?"

"Not at all." Simon replied. "Though I suppose you're going to tell me."

"I am. You're clever." he replied. "The Members of the Cross make up the strongest of the Skylance Demon Hunters. The Base, The left Arm, The Right Arm, and The Head."

"Am I to assume the Head is the strongest?" Simon asked. "That makes sense to me." Tristan laughed at this.

"Who knows?" He asked. "I don't. I don't give the slightest shit about the other three. Quinn's a jackass, Abby's a stuck-up bitch, and Elizabeth's a teachers pet. Well, leaders pet I guess." He smirked. "You want to know another perk of being one of them?" Simon tensed at this.

"What?" Tristan's smirk only deepened.

"I'm in charge of a fourth of our forces." At this, Simon's spine tingled. He ducked just in time to see a blast go right over his head. Turning, Simon found many Hunters closing in one him. No doubt under Tristan's orders. Telepathy, perhaps.

Requipping into his Fire Emperor Armor, Simon went after the Hunters to thin them out. At least that's what he wanted to do, but for every one he too out another three appeared to take his place. Simon received a fair amount of hits to his armor, causing him to grunt in pain. These guys sure hit hard. Before Simon realized it, he was surrounded by Hunters.

"Everyone all at once!" Tristan's voice called out over all the chaos. Simon looked around as everyone one was charging up an attack. Requipping into his Adamantine armor, Simon prepared himself for every attack he knew was coming for him.

BOOM!

Once the impacts began, Simon gritted his teeth as he felt pain searing up and down his body. If they kept up barrages likes this, he seriously doubted his ability to take them out.

"Again!" Tristan called out. Simon barely had time to recover from the first one as the Hunters repeated the attack and Simon was once again hit with a multitude of attacks all at once, and pain shot up and down his form as his armor strained against the hits.

Shit, there's so many of them I can't even get out of this ambush...

Elise's iron coating around her body wasn't in the best shape, which was due to all of the hunters coming out of the woodwork to attack her at this woman's command. She had assumed that this would be a one on one, but at the moment it was more like a countless against one. Elise dodged more attacks and landed upright, clubbing two more Hunters in the face as she dodged around.

"Hold!" The hunters stopped, and Elise paused in confusion. Soon enough, the woman appeared out of the groups and stood there, arms crossed.

"What?" Elise asked.

"I don't usually do this." She said. "But I'll give you a chance. Back off and leave. I'll let you walk out, as oppose to crawling."

"Like hell." Elise spat. "You'll just go after Gin instead."

"And what if we do?" The woman asked. "He's a threat to all of us, and yet you protect him."

"Of course we are." Elise replied. "Poor guy doesn't deserve the fate you're trying to give him.

"Now that is where you're wrong. He's a demon, a Demon Lord at that." She said. "He deserves everything we're trying to do."

"Why?" Elise asked. "Because one hurt you a long time ago?"

"And what of it?" Elise made a face.

'I've been hurt before." She said. "In...A lot of ways."

"I...I was raped..."

"But that doesn't make me hate everyone one." She said. "You have to see the differences in people."

"I wouldn't expect a girl raised with a loving family to understand." She replied. "We of the Cross have lost everything to 'people' like Gin. Showing mercy would be like allowing it to happen all over again."

"If that's really how you feel, sure." Elise replied. "Bu we don't agree. That's why we're in this situation."

"Yes, quite." She replied. "Hunters, if you'd be so kind as to-!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Elise stumbled around as explosions rang out around her. Looking around in confusion, Elise noticed that the explosions were coming from the group of hunters, causing them all to go flying everywhere.

"What the hell?!" The woman asked. "What's going on?!"

"I was going to ask the same thing!" Elise replied as more explosives went off. "Who is that"

"What the hell is that?!"

"They're above us!"

"Look up, you idiots!" Elise made a face as she heard other voices calling this out, so she looked up in surprise.

And a smile slowing creased her face.

Wendy sighed as she stretched, and decided it was time to go back upstairs and check on Damien. She'd been downstairs relaxing for a bit, but if she wasn't careful he might worsen if she didn't pay attention.

I just everything goes okay...This isn't a good situation.

Wendy paused as she reached the door into the infirmary. There was a smell coming from the door that Wendy didn't recognize right away. This made her on edge. Was there someone else in there?

Slowly opening the door, causing it to creak a little, the infirmary was opened to Wendy, who looked over by Damien's bed. Sitting next to his bed was a blonde girl, who seemed to be staring at him. Once Wendy got a clearer look at the girl she recognized her, but it didn't clear up her confusion by any measure.

"You fucking idiot..."The woman sitting by Damien muttered. "You know they can kill you, why would you just jump into the fray like that..."

"Uh..." Wendy started. Her saying this caused the girl to jump, and from what Wendy could see it appeared she'd been holding Damien's hand. The girl jumped up and turned to stare at Wendy, and Wendy's eyes widened.

"O-Oh..." She said weakly. "S-Sorry, I didn't hear you come in..."

"That's okay..." Wendy muttered. The girl rubbed her eyes with her arm and pushed past Wendy to leave, who watched her leave. Once the door was shut she walked over to Damien and stared down at the boy. The blanket covering him had damp spits on it where it had not before.

Why was Bella in here...?

Drake coughed and stumbled to his feet, still keeping his eyes on Elizabeth. He was so unaccustomed to fighting deaf that he was really in a bad position with her. He couldn't even reach her.

"Why don't you just give up?" Elizabeth asked. "There's no point in fighting me."

"I'm not giving up!" Drake shouted. "I have to beat you, there's just no other way!" Elizabeth sighed.

"You're actually not paying attention." She said. "I'm saying you can't. Not because I'm stronger, or you have a no trump card, I'm stating facts. You cannot beat me. You just can't."

"Stop spouting bullshit!" Drake snapped. "You're so fucking full of yourself!"

"I disagree." Elizabeth said. "I'd say you are. I keep saying you can't win yet you continue to stand. Why?"

"Because I can't give up." Drake replied. "Because if I do you'll kill Gin. And God knows who else. I can't let that happen. I won't!" Elizabeth just stared at him before she sighed.

"If you views laid elsewhere you would be an excellent asset." She said. "But oh well. Can't win them all." Waving her arms around and muttering, Drake tensed as Elizabeth pointed at him. He'd been expecting a blast, but at first nothing happened.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Look down." She replied. Drake looked down and his eyes widened. Below him was a white magic circle, glowing brightly. "Trap Enchant Number 22: Spark" The circle glowed even brighter, and Drake cried out in pain as white electricity coursed through his body. It went on for a good ten or so seconds before Drake collapsed to his knees, trying desperately to stay up. He couldn't fall, or they'd be in trouble.

"Shit...Come on, you've survived worse." He muttered to himself.

"Holy Attack Number 14: Holy Barrage." Drake looked up just in time to get a face full of holy light, causing him to fly back and land in the shambles of a tent. His body tried to force him to stop, but he ignored it. He was fine.

"Come on, she has to have a weak spot..." He muttered, trying to free his leg from under a part of the tent.

"Holy Cannon" Drake looked up to see the woman firing a huge blast at him, one that currently he'd have trouble dodging. Starting to panic a bit, Drake slashed at the debris trapping his leg, but he didn't free himself in time.

Shit!

Drake braced for the hit, knowing full well this one would hurt.

It never came.

Confused, Drake opened his eyes and looked around, realizing he was still stuck.

"What the hell?" he asked.

After a moment, a large suction sound could be heard. Drake looked up, and his eyes widened.

"Wow." Michael said, wiping his mouth. "That tasted fantastic." Elizabeth looked confused.

"What?" She asked. "Where'd you come from?" Michael laughed.

"Up above." Michael replied. He looked over his shoulder at Drake. "You okay man?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Drake replied. weakly. Michael aimed back and freed Drake with a blast of light, allowing Drake to get up. Elizabeth made a face.

"Fine, I can handle two." She said.

"Three." Michael said.

"Huh?" Elizabeth asked.

"Three." Michael said again, pointing downwards. Elizabeth looked and as she did, the shadows below her erupted up, and Keita uppercut her in the chin, causing her to fly into the air and hit the ground hard farther away.

"Nice one Keita!" Michael said as Keita walked over to them.

"No problem." He said, looking at Drake. "You okay?" Drake nodded.

"Yea, I'm good." he replied. "But where did you guys come from?" Michael grinned and pointed upwards. Drake followed his finger, and his eyes widened.

The Christina was flying overhead, dropping magical explosives down on the Hunters."

"Backup's here." Keita said.

Chapter 250: You Can't Win