Hollows Eve

Chapter 14

.: HOLLOWS EVE CHAPTER 14 :.

It was now relatively late in the night, as the moon's luminescent glow shined down on a prestigious mountainside located on the opposite of Kyoto, Japan. This was the home of Tomomi Takuro, who just went through a rather puzzling and bewildering emotional experience.

One minute he was watching the starts and connecting the dots with his beautiful best friend Kaila Amiyuki, and the next she's hiding the truth from him regarding where she's been this entire time during her nightly outings. We all know where she's been going off too, but the thought of Kaila leaving during the night without telling anyone, especially Tomomi himself, not only disturbs him but quite frankly it frightens him! She could be in danger, even if it is sleepwalking, something could seriously happen to her in a state where she's vulnerable and not able to wake up like that if she's not careful.

But besides that…. The principle that the one person that Tomomi has known for over 10 years….not telling him where she's truly been going? Keeping secrets? ….. You can damn well bet that that bothers him. Just ask the guy pacing back & forth in his grandmother's dojo.

"I can't believe this! I just can't believe this! Why is she keeping secrets from me?! It doesn't make any damn sense!" Tomomi said, pacing back and forth in frustration and confusion. His Ah-ma, or in this case his grandmother, was sitting in a meditative position to calm her nerves at seeing Tomomi so upset. "Mmmmmmhhhhhmmm…" She breathed in calmly and tried to relax herself so as not to truly let Tomomi's emotions into her psyche. She also had her eyes closed, but she was indeed listening. She had actually been meditating for a while.

"Why would she keep secrets from me?! Is someone making her keep it all in? Is she doing something shameful that she doesn't want me to know about?! GGRRRRHH! I just don't get it! I've been friends with her for 10 years now! She should know that by now I'd understand her more than anyone and- AH-MA FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP MEDITATING I'M HAVING A BREAKDOWN OVER HERE!" Tomomi said with a comically angry look on his face while yelling at his grandmother.

His grandmother simply opened one eye, and then closed it. Tomomi jumped back a bit, disheartened that his Grandmother wouldn't listen, but then his ah-ma got up off of the pillow she was sitting on and stood up fully opening her eyes. After a long, awkward silence in which Tomomi blinked twice….

*SMACK* "OW!" Ah-Ma had given Tomomi two fingers to the head as the screen panned up to the sky. The next thing we see is a red mark on Tomomi's forehead with him pouting and having his hands on his ankles while sitting cross-legged.

" How many times have I told you Tomomi-san… DON'T INTERUPT MY MEDITATION! I must have silence young one…" Grandma Takuro said to Tomomi. Tomomi looked up at his ah-ma and apologized. "Sorry grandma…..but seriously! I'm having a dilemma here!"

"I understand your dilemma Tomomi-san. And I understand the confusion you must be going through, but simply pacing the floor wondering what might be going on is not going to help the situation….Do you remember the anecdote I told you about the Rooster & the rabbit?" She reminded him of the anecdote she told him in episode 8.

Tomomi blinked twice upon hearing his ah-man bring it up again. "Uhhhh….yeah? why?" he asked her.

"Have you thought about what I told you?" She continued to ask.

Tomomi put his hand on his chin and looked down slightly… "Not….recently….i've been too pre-occupied to think about that. Why does it matter ah-ma?! My friend could be in dange-"

"THINK about it Tomomi-san. Think about the anecdote I told you. Did you find exactly what you were looking for?" Tomomi blinked twice, he was too frustrated to truly think about his grandmother's anecdotes and stories. He wanted to know where Kaila was going immediately. But then a thought struck him…..

"Wait….the rabbit at the end of the story….he gets eaten right?..." Tomomi said.

"This is a very simple anecdote Tomomi. But it applies to something you made personal a long, long time ago. You must re-quip yourself with the wisdom gathered from this simple anecdote, and apply it regularly. That's the only way you'll be able to uphold your end of relationship." Tomomi blushed when she said the words "Relationship".

"Uhhhh….right….." Tomomi's expression changed from "Flustered" to serious. He got up on his feet and then thought about the anecdote in his head without speaking anything out loud…..and after a few seconds, he knew what to do.

"Alright…..Kaila's gonna hate me for this. Thanks ah-ma! I'll be back as soon as possible ok?" Tomomi told his grandmother as he started to run off.

Grandma Takuro smiled at Tomomi as he began to run outside of her dojo and into the main house, where he entered into his relatively small room which had a poster garnishing several different popular swordsmen from Japanese culture. One of which had a green bandana and a sword in his mouth, as well as another with red hair and a purple kimono. There was also a picture what seemed to be an absolute legend of martial arts holding nun-chucks over his dresser drawers, as Tomomi put on a different, red colored shirt instead of the black & white one he had on earlier. He also dived into his closet and took out a sky blue jacket with thin black piping inside of it and on the sleeves. Once he slipped on the Jacket, it had a big red kanji on the back that meant "Dragon" adorned in gold framing with a darker shade of blue surrounding it. He also slipped on some black pants and shoes and then made one last stop….

Tomomi went to a very secret place inside the deeper depths of the large Takuro Gardens, it was an imperial dojo full of old weapons and treasures from the imperial era of japan. Grandma Takuro loved to collect imperial treasures to learn about Japan's history, as well as to enrich the minds of her favorite students, her grandson and his best friend, whom she's been taking care of most of their adolescent lives.

Tomomi opened the doors to the dojo and stepped inside, bypassing all of the armor used by several ronin and many other great warriors in favor of a sword sitting atop a mounted Takogane of other swords. This sword had a red sheath and looked no better than a normal samurai sword, but it was Tomomi's true weapon of choice.

Tomomi stopped in front of the takogane and got on his knees, then he bowed before them and looked up, taking the sword in his hands. You could feel an intense power coming from the sword, as a clearly felt spiritual power emanated from the mighty samurai blade. Its power was so great, that even Tomomi, someone who is not exactly considered "Spiritual", felt it's power almost instantly. With this sword, Tomomi felt like he could take on the entire world. As it was his eternal guardian meant to protect him from all that could spiritual, and even physically harm him.

"…. *sigh* …..I remember ah-man speaking about a "Spiritual presence"….if what she told me….ALL of what she told me is true, then I'll need your help. I know it's been a long time…..but now is the right time to wield you once again. Zakurein old friend." Tomomi said, as he started to unsheathe the sword itself. The sword somehow managed to feint a response by radiating with hot steam from the blade once unsheathed. Tomomi held it up in the air in his hands and thrusted it forward…..

"Alright….Spirit dragon, be my guide."

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The night was still somewhat young, and as we continue the story we begin to see a pair of familiar feet walking throughout the outskirts of Kyoto, and into the Yashima prefecture. The neighborhood is beginning to come into view, though it is still nighttime outside. These legs were a pair of black Mary Janes and white stockings, part of an outfit that belonged to Kaila Amiyuki. After her emotional confrontation with Tomomi, she was still distraught over the whole ordeal. The fact that she has to lie to her best friend, if not only because Jack told her to keep quiet, but because she didn't want to endanger him or involve him in any of her adventures in the world of the hollows. She was severely conflicted, caught between not wanting to tell Tomomi to spare him the danger, and not wanting to lie to him. But she had no choice, she HAD to lie to him, regardless of what Jack says or not.

As she walked, Kaila got a text from her mother, as her phone started to ring inside of her skirt sash. She took out her phone and read the text as it said… "Hey honey, you alright out there? Please don't tell me you're out by yourself again?" Kaila looked at the text with shadows over her eyes. She's also got her mother on her too, just to make things more nerve-wracking for her.

"No mom, I'm coming home from Tomomi's house, I'll be back home soon. I promise I won't go out this time." She texted her mother, re-assuring her that she won't be going out this time. However she'd soon come to find out that later on she'd have to break that promise.

After she texted her mother back, Kaila heard a clanging sound nearby, which caused her to turn around and look back to see if anyone was there out of alarm. Fortunately, no one was behind her, so she continued on home without a word…little did she know….

"*phew* ….that was close." Tomomi had peaked over the gateway into her neighborhood; he followed her back home in an attempt to observe where exactly she was going every night. He knew SOMETHING was up, and instead of waiting and wondering why, he'd go out and find out about it himself.

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After quite a bit of walking, Kaila had finally arrived back home and let herself in. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked, but it might've just been her mother letting her in by herself. When she came in though, her mother was not around. She decided to come upstairs and check on her mother inside of her room. Kaila remembers as a child she would sleep in her mother's room with her mother A LOT. Most likely because of the insane night terrors she would have about her father dying. Besides Tomomi, her mother was one of the only people in her life that truly comforted her and cared for her as a child. So when she entered her mother's room, she was fast asleep.

It was rather late in the evening, and Kaila opened up her mother's door and walked up to her bedside. Her mother was fast asleep with most of her hair and bangs going over her face. Kaila had this sentimental look on her face that communicated a lot of anguish and confliction, she also knew that she was lying to her mother…..it seemed like one thing piled up on top of another as she put her hand on her mother's head and hair without disturbing her sleep. "I'm sorry mom….I hope you can forgive me." She said to herself inside her own mind. Kaila then stooped down and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and even shed a few tears of sorrow upon coming back up. Just as she was about to turn around and leave….

"You done sayin' your goodbyes?" Jack's voice was heard, Kaila turned around and there he was in his human form, sitting on the side of the entryway into her mother's room. Kaila sniffed and then wiped the tears from her eyes. "*sniff* …..yeah….i'm done." She said still sniffing.

"…-sigh- You're such a mess…c'mon then. Let's go. We've got work to do." Kaila despised having to do "Work" in the afterlife, especially when it costs her the trust of the ones she loves. But it was something she couldn't escape. Something bigger than her. And as a result, she has an obligation to uphold the same duty that was bestowed upon her. So she reluctantly nodded and went off with Jack once again in order to get the scoop on their next mission….. or…..possibly a progression on where to find their greatest enemies?

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Meanwhile, Tomomi continued to follow Kaila all the way to her residence and saw her go inside, he figured he would go straight up to her room. "Dammit! She went inside….. Now what to do?...Hmm…. this might be an invasion of privacy… but it's better than not knowing." Tomomi jumped up and grabbed onto the window ledge that led to Kaila's room on the top floor. He then climbed the ledge and took a small peek inside her room, strangely she wasn't there at the time.

"Hmmmm…..where could she be?... I saw her go inside the house so there's no way she could-" Suddenly….. the door opened! Someone was coming inside!

"Oh s**t!" Tomomi ducked his head down as someone began to enter into Kaila's room. However he didn't duck down completely, he peeked over just a TEENY bit, enough for him to see what was going on inside of her room.

Jack entered the room right before Kaila and caused a purple puff of smoke to explode in her room, causing Tomomi to wince and close his eyes, when he opened them, what he saw, or at least to him, was unreal…..

"What the…..?" Tomomi said quietly.

Jack had transformed back into his Pumpkin Monster form, as he prepared to lay out the information he had gathered regarding the situation in Pugatory. "So what's the word?...Have they found her yet? And is the blood moon still going on?" Kaila asked with a rather somber tone of voice.

Jack folded his arms and leaned on Kaila's bedside. "Both questions get a full on yes. Steinman like I said deciphered the riddle, the clever buggar. So now it's time to gear up and get ready for a manhunt. The blood moon is still goin' on, as the sky hasn't changed since." Jack said with a calm, but serious look on his face.

Kaila was somewhat pleased to hear the news, but still couldn't help but feel down about all she's had to go through recently. "Ok….that's good." Jack could feel the depression in her voice….

"Ey…..If it were up to me ya' wouldn't be goin' through this…..but it's the way fate is workin' it's bloody magic right now. I'm sorry it has to be this way Midnight….." Jack said, trying to offer some words of straightforward comfort.

"Yeah….me too…." She said while not even looking at him.

Tomomi blinked twice and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was that Jack? THE foreign exchange student Jack? He couldn't believe his eyes! It was literally like seeing something out of a Halloween haunted house come to life! "This can't befor real right now….can it? Is that the same guy Jack came to school with?... the one with the orange hair?" Tomomi questioned himself inside his own head. Briefly after, a flash of blue light filled up the room, and a spirit portal was opened right in front of him.

"Let's get goin' Midnight bliss." Jack said as he started to walk through the portal, Kaila gripped her fist in front of her chest and started to walk through as well.

"So that's where you've been going off too huh?! …..Ah-ma was right…Alright Zakurein….I don't know where this leads….." As soon as Kaila made her way fully into the portal, Tomomi opened the window as fast as he could and jumped into Kaila's room before the portal closed, diving In straight after her. "But please….. Protect me in this uncharted territory!" Tomomi said in his own mind as he jumped into the portal just as it was about to close and took his Zakurein sword with him.

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And now we return to the desolate, creepy, blood baron world of the hollows, where the sky still blows with a disheartening bloody red. Even over the castle of nightmares, as we see our main heroes walk into the castle undisturbed. Inside the sacred chambers, everything was lit up in blue, as Professor Steinman was trying to figure out the last little tidbits of the riddle Blood Rose left by using hieroglyphs sent by the angels as a decoding method. Steinman tapped his fingers to the stone tablets, as Wolfie, Amuki, even Gayami, Akuyama, Kozuto & The nightmare triplets were all awaiting the answers to where Blood Rose & Dracula might be hiding.

Stein traced his fingers on the tablets and the hieroglyphs formed some sort of strange Anglican language that decoded the riddle and inscribed it into a pillar of light, bringing it into view. "Ahhh… I see." The answer was very clear; however it was only readable in Anglican language. Otherwise known as Hebrew.

Just as the answer was revealed, Jack & Kaila walked into the chambers with Kaila still looking down. Amuki looked to her left and gasped excited that two of her favorite people were back.

"*Gasp* Jacky! Kaila-chan! You guys came back just in time!" She ran over to hug them, but Jack put his hand up and stopped her. "Not now love….we've got business to attend too. Oi! Psychopath….what's the bloody scoop?" Jack said as he walked over to the pillar of light where Steinman was at.

Amuki watched him walk over to the pillar and wondered why Jack was so dismissive of her? But then she was even more concerned when she looked at Kaila after looking at him, noticing her sour attitude. "Kaila-chan…..are you alright?" Amuki said to her.

Kaila perked up slightly and looked straight at Amuki, who had a very worried look on her face. "I'm….I'm okay Amuki….don't worry about me….." She said, rubbing her arm nervously. Amuki could tell something was wrong with her it seemed like she had more to grieve over than she did in a way.

"Well…I've figured out where they are hiding indefinitely after some incantations and a lost arm or two….." Steinman spoke the last part of that sentence rather quietly and quickly.

"Scuze me' mate?" Jack said with his arms folded.

"Ehhhh… Nothing! Nothing at all." Steinman said, as a beat of sweat dropped down his head. He didn't want to admit it to Jack, but he secretly offered up his salvation in order to figure out the riddle and cheat his way into doing so. In order to appease the creator, he needed a holy sacrifice to give to heaven in order to leave a soul purified. He did so by chopping off the arms of several hollow beings with a holy cross and sending them to heaven through false purification, he finds ways to cheat the system ALWAYS.

"You cheeky bastard….what's that supposed to mean? You've been at it again with the crazy experiments?" Jack asked while looking at him suspiciously.

"Let's just focus on the mission at hand." Steinman looked back at the pillar of light and pointed to the message written in Hebrew.

"It says here if I'm correct, this message is prescribed as , ….. Which means "Place of Neza, separation of he that torments and he who is tormented." The blackness must refer to Neza…." This puzzled Kaila, who wondered just what Neza was.

"What's "Neza"?" Kaila asked out loud.

"Y'remember that li'le bile of black on ya' blade you used to strike ol' Ziro down?" Jack said whilst looking at Kaila, this caused her to think back to when the certain blackness Jack spoke of enveloped her blade and she managed to dispel her form.

"Yeah…. I do. Is that…..?" Kaila began to speak, Ziro intercepted her comment.

"It is the blackness that exists inside of you…..All death hollows have the power to control the energy of the netherworld….this energy if harvested correctly, is powerful enough to erase those from the afterlife and put them in a place of non-existance, where they will cease to exist as souls no longer, and become…..black spirits." Ziro said, in her creepy, unusual, monotone voice.

"What are….Black spirits?" Kaila said, somewhat trembling in her voice as she was a little creeped out.

"Black spirits are commanded by the master. They exist as spiritual beings without a conscience, they are essentially nobodies who shouldn't exist, but they are only seen through the eyes of a death hollow, the one that commands them. They exist underneath the layer of purgatory itself, and stretch far and wide throughout the kingdom…they can do all sorts of things…..they could kill ya' without even harmin' ya' visage….. Heheheheheh…." Here he goes again, continually upsetting Kaila in a rather subtle way but creeping her out with talks about "Black spirits"…..

"Let's ….get back to the important stuff…. Before I die of a heart attack….." Kaila continued to say without showing her unsettled attitude towards the situation. She swallowed her pride and looked straight at Steinman. "Alright Stein….where is she?"

"Hmmm…from what I can tell, the Neza refers to the deepest, darkest blackness inside your own mind. This Neza can be controlled by demons who eat souls as well, and is the primary source of energy that separates hell from purgatory. The only place that hell & purgatory seperates…..is on the faultline, otherwise known as the true first circle of hell….Limbo. This is technically the 2nd circle, but it houses one of the most despicably haunted ruins known in the afterlife….. The black castle." Steinman said, as a haunting castle that was completely black as Steinman said came into view inside the pillar of light that emanated from the ten commandments.

"This castle is an abandoned place near the faultline of Purgatory and hell... the 2nd circle, the barren, crimson-colored wasteland known as Limbo is essentially where the REAL party starts…" Steinman said.

"W-why?" Kaila uttered out of her mouth.

"Because…..it's crawlin' with demons. The 2nd….or first…circle of hell is pretty much a gateway into hell's stinky, stenchy, raunchy, demonic world. And it looks like we know where to go. Let's not waste any time lads, we've got to take a carriage out there and bypass all the places that come before it, we ain't got no time to waste." Jack said, as he immediately started to head off very quickly bypassing Kaila and Amuki as well.

"I'll have a chariot ready to take y'all there in a flash. This mission is no place for amateurs, so the rest o' ya' stay here while me & the main crew get ready to take that bloody b***h down." Jack said without even turning to face them.

Amuki gripped her fists extremely hard and had a look of intensity on her face, she couldn't wait to get her hands on that evil witch that ruined her life, killed all her friends, and took her mother away from her. Kaila noticed her intensity, and it seemed to rub off on her a bit….

"I almost forgot…" Kaila began to say inside of her own mind.

"I can't wait…this time she'll pay for her evil, unforgiveable actions! I'll rip her apart! ….I don't care if she managed to catch me off guard last time….this time…will be different." She said to herself as Kaila looked at her and gripped her fist as well.

"I'm doing this for her too….."

"Hey Kaila? You….alright?" Amuki said, as she turned to meet her friend halfway, and took her hands in hers. "You've been looking very down lately. What's wrong? It feels like….like your not prepared for this mission." She said, being earnest about what she's been seeing in Kaila's body language and attitude.

"Oh….I'm fine Amuki, really. Don't worry….Although I can't say I'm 100% ready to face off against Blood Rose…..But….I know what I said…..I swore I'd bring her to judgement for what she's done….for the grave sins that she's committed….." She said back to her.

"And that's what I'm gonna do….She MUST die. And she will, whether it be by my blade….." Amuki gave her a look of re-assured confidence. "Or MY blade!" The two of them shook hands and then Amuki pulled Kaila into a comforting hug. "It's okay to admit you're scared though…Like I said….we're all right here for you. You're not alone." Kaila just realized something within that sentence…..all that she has to face….all of the brunt of which she has to bear…..she's not going to thankfully bear it alone. Pretty soon, Kiro and Nero also joined in the hug as they hugged Kaila's legs.

"Good luck Reaper girl!" Kiro said, as he purred and rubbed against Kaila's legs. "I hope your flesh stays alive! …. I kind of want to still taste it." Nero however wasn't as…..affectionate as Kiro. He simply licked Kaila's leg with his long, snake-like lizard tongue.

This earned him a sharp "BOP" on the head from Amuki. "Knock it off you little lizard boy!" Amuki said with her fist raised.

"OW!" Nero said whilst rubbing his tiny, chibi head.

Akuyama was the last to walk up to Kaila and prepare her for the mission at hand, though part of her still feints confidence, she decided to just "fake it till you make it" instead of just act completely 100% terrified all the time. Akuyama put his hand on Kaila's shoulder and said to her… "You're one of the strongest people I know. If you've lived through what happened in your past….you can go through what life brings you in the present. Don't lose faith." Akuyama said to her. He then moved his hand and stroked her cheek.

Kaila smiled at this and hugged her friend…. "Thank you…..I promise you I'll do exactly what I said I'd do." Kaila said.

"OI! ….. if we're done with the li'le love fest….let's get movin'." Jack said. Kaila, Steinman, Wolfie & Amuki all began to follow Jack to the outskirts of the castle as they all disappeared in the darkness.

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The drawbridge to the castle began to come down once again, as a gothic looking carriage carrying our heroes began to pull its way out of the castle doors and walls, busting through the gate as the horses, with black skin/fur and white, boney looking muzzles and limbs all started to race outside into the path leading into the city of nightmare. As they began to bypass several places in-between, Steinman directed and whipped the horses in order to get them to obey.

"HI-YAH!" He struck them with a whip and the dark, hollowed horses continued to gallop down through the Nightmare Kingdom, and began going into a medieval looking kingdom with big castle-like structures and Transylvanian architecture. This was Transylvania, where the monster hollows lived. The 2nd part was a shiny kingdom with magical structures that seemed rather different from entirety of Purgatory itself. These structures, houses, and roars were all paved with beautiful shining, glistening rocks and crystals, and the sky was lit up with different colors. Almost like the northern lights were shining in the sky.

Amuki looked out and beheld the amazing sight, extremely enamored by the sky's colors…..but then she sighed and held her head down as she poked her head out of the window of the carriage she was riding in. She went back inside and sat down with a rather somber feeling. "*sigh* …..just like…..back home." She said. As the carriage continued heading towards the outskirts of Purgatory.

As they begin to cross over, you could hear the haunting howling of a werewolf in the distance that ISN'T wolfie himself. As the carriage that Steinman was driving entered into a long, large forest with a dark, stone path, red eyes began to poke through the trees, leering at the carriage with the intent to destroy. The trees themselves were jagged and prickly in appearance, as they were also all black with an accompanying demonic glow to them. Kaila didn't know whether to think that the glow was due in part to the moonshine or the trees themselves, but one thing is for sure….they were headed into hell itself, as the demonic pressure began to surround and ambush the carriage, casing red dust to gather along the pathway to create some sort of fog.

"Ahhh…dammit! There's all this fog in the way!" Steinman said, as he raised his whip to stop the horses from galloping. However, the watchful eyes of the demons that lurked in the forest trees began to spring forth in greater numbers, watching the carriage as it trotted along.

The horses became alarmed and stopped galloping, whinnying in fear at the sight of demon eyes leering outside of their range of vision. "What is it?! What's going on-" Steinman looked to his left and saw the massive amount of demons surrounding them.

"Why did we stop?!" Kaila said in alarm, she then looked outside, and was met face to face with a demon right outside her window, as it glared down at her with a disturbing glare on its face. "AAAAAH!" Kaila jumped back and bumped into Amuki.

"They know we're here…." She said, commenting on their situation.

"This is what we got ourselves into when we took this mission…." Wolfie said, busting his way out of the carriage.

Jack simply walked out, drew his giant pumpkin pistols and prepared for a fight, as tons of incredibly grotesque and evil demons began to surround them in the forest, looking for blood and flesh to tear apart. "And now we gotta get ourselves out…..Let's do this rugrats."

Amuki helped Kaila out of the carriage and gave her a directive. "Me & Stein will protect the carriage! You go with Jack & Wolfie to slaughter the other demons! Think you can do it this time Kaila?" Kaila was breathing rather harshly, as the demons began to slowly walk towards everyone. Some had malevolent smiles, others had hostile glares, and some didn't even have faces at all, they just had eyeballs, mouths, giant demon jaws, or god knows what. But Kaila once again swallowed her pride, and sucked up enough courage to get her through this one fight, if not for Amuki….then for Tomomi as well. Who she assumed was back at home.

"Yeah….I got this…..Just protect the carriage!" Kaila said as she dashed forward with her scythe raised in the air preparing for battle with the treacherous demons in front of her. "HAAAAAAHH!" Kaila uttered a battle cry, as she raised her scythe and it gathered enough Neza energy to create her signature reaper claw attack. The Demons responded by roaring at her, preparing to strike and kill Kaila by bum-rushing her all at once.

"REAPER….CLAW!" She swung her scythe at full force and blasted the demons with a black & Orange reishi claw that came from her weapon. It managed to clear a path as several demons were reduced to rubble all in one shot. "Wow….. this thing is more powerful than I thought…." Kaila said whilst looking at the reaper claw in her hands distracted. The skull at the top of the blade opened its mouth and glowed dark magenta on the inside.

Kaila stared at the blade completely confused, but she didn't have time to be distracted! "KAILA LOOK OUT!" Amuki said as one of the demons, a large green-skinned ugly demon with sharp claws, similar to that of a Goblin, tackled Kaila viciously and pinned her to a nearby tree. Luckily none of the spines on the trees pierced her body and she was able to block said attack with her reaper claw in the nick of time.

It raised its claw high in the air ready to strike down Kaila, but Kaila issued a snap kick to the Goblin's hull, and then used the bladed part of her scythe to swing around and drop kick it's face by lodging the scythe into the tree's hull and spinning around it. She then dislodged it from the tree and ran once again at the demon, slicing it in half. More demons came at her from all sides, and one by one she began to take them all down, cutting one's head off while spinning her blade and then hitting another one on its head while throwing her own weight on her scythe and spin kicking another one while chopping it's head off.

The demons were ambushing everyone all at once, but it's not like Jack or Steinman were struggling exactly. Jack used his dual pumpkin swords and sliced through multiple demons all at once in a spin attack, and then used the shadowy technique he used before to get behind another one and cut its head off without it looking.

Jack held the head of a demoness up by its hair… "Hmph…these are scrubs…." He then tossed the head into the air as more demons came at him, some of them were winged Gorgon demons with snakes for hair that shot snakes at Jack. Jack pulled out a pumpkin bomb and tossed it at them, catching the head as he then spewed fire all over it from his mouth and threw it like a grenade, causing a massive explosion away from the carriage everyone came out of. Jack's sinister look communicated the pride he took at destroying demons, as he took great pleasure in mercilessly ending their pitiful existence.

Wolfie simply sliced n' diced his way through all the demons with intense ferocity and speed, as some of them he grabbed on both sides and ripped apart completely, causing quite the bloody scene. He then grabbed one that bit his tail from behind and slammed it into the ground, elbow dropping and crushing it's head. He then roared at the demons with such a fierce roar that it pushed all of them back. "RRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!" He said, as the demons were pushed back so far, some of them got impaled on trees.

Though in the background you could hear distant footsteps, footsteps that were large & thunderous in size. However, the ten commandments were too busy fighting demons to notice. Amuki took the fight right to them as well, as she made her magic wand appear and got to work putting the demons down and defending the carriage with her magic.

"Magic Spell #2: CRYSTALLINE FREEZE!" The demons were instantly frozen in cases of crystalline as she shot a wave of her powerful crystalline magic in order to freeze them all. Steinman followed suit and shattered them all to pieces, in his hands held his own powerful reishi that was red in color. It was imbued into his fists and made them glow intensely as he began destroying more and more demons all while cackling manically.

"HAHAHAHAHHAH! Die pathetic creatures DIE! AHAHAHAH!" He laughed as he too, just like Jack, enjoyed ending their miserable existence.

The thunderous steps of an unknown demon began to get louder and louder, as they started to shake the ground. Jack, Amuki, Steinman, Wolfie & Kaila continued to slaughter the demons one by one. Pretty soon , the ambush was over and the battle had been won with the demons reduced to nothing but bloody corpses and scattered, rotten flesh.

Kaila breathed heavily and panted and let out a sigh of relief, as she was somewhat exhausted after fighting all of those demons for so long. As did Amuki, Steinman, and even Wolfie. But Jack seemed undettered. "C'mon rugrats, ya' can't tell me y'all tired now are ya? Get you' act togetha'. We got a long way to go so let's dilly-dally eh?" However, just as Jack had finished his sentence, he looked to his left, as he felt a strong spiritual presence coming in through the forest.

Kaila felt the ground rumble beneath her in sections…. *BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM….* Only continuing to get louder as the steps approached the group.

"Oh s**t….Get out of the way!" Steinman said, just as an enormous demon busted through the trees and brought its giant fist down on everyone. Steinman, Wolfie, & Jack managed to dodge the creature's attack, but Kaila was thrown backwards into a tree. She hit the tree extremely hard and landed on her stomach.

"Ah s**t….." Jack said as he looked up. The enormous creature had a massive amount of girth and weight to him with only one singular eye to boot. "A CYCLOPS DEMON!?" Amuki said, as the ruthless cyclops demon roared and once again went for another attack by bringing its fist down on everyone who wasn't protecting the carriage.

Jack, Wolfie & Steinman dodged said attack, but Steinman slid backwards as did Jack who landed right next to him. "The hell's a cyclops doin' in this neck o' the woods?!" Jack said, staring down the cyclops without fear.

"I dunno! But I'm gonna wear it down! Attack it's arms & legs when I say so ok!" Steinman was the genius here, so Jack nodded and went along with his supposed plan, even though he didn't exactly enjoy sharing leadership or direction.

Steinman powered up his strong reishi aura and ran at the cyclops demon, who brought its huge fists down in a spike attack on Steinman. Stein blocked using the power of his spiritual aura, and repelled the giant cyclops, rising up and knocking it in the face two times with extremely strong blows. "HAAAH! HAAAH! Now take this you one-eyed cretin! LUSUS IMPETUCLIMENS!" Lusus Impetu Climens in latin meant "Freak Onslaught". One of Stein's signature attacks.

Stein bombarded the cyclops with a series of extremely powerful blows that hit like cannon blasts all at once. The cyclops blocked with its arms and spread them out, repelling Steinman and causing him to slide back. It once again raised it's fists and slammed them down into the earth below it, causing an earth wave to come flying at Steinman. Steinman jumped up to avoid getting caught in the earth wave, but the cyclops grabbed Steinman and slammed him down multiple times.

"GAAAH! GGRRRH! YOU….DAMN DIRTY…..DEMON!" Stein powered out of the demon's grip and ran on its arms straight for its eye. It tried to smash Steinman underneath the weight of its large hand, but Steinman was quick enough to avoid getting crushed by the fat cyclops monster. He then falcon lunged at the monster and instantly socked it in its eye, causing it to grip its face and roar out in pain.

"ALRIGHT! Now everyone aim for the limbs!" Jack, Wolfie & Amuki sprang into action while Kaila was still feeling the after effects of being hit so hard.

"Jacknife….." Jack said as the bladed edges of his dual pumpkin swords lit up on fire, he then went for the Cyclops demon's leg and cut it off completely, causing it to cry out in immense pain.

Amuki then jumped high into the air and her Crystalline snake sword expanded as she twirled it like a ribbon in the air. "Magic Spell #1: CRYSTALLINE TRAP!" She then flung her sword at the 2nd leg of the cyclops demon and it wrapped around the demon's leg completely. Her sword then started to burst open with icy spikes protruding from every part of the sword, except the spiritual energy chain that holds each part together. The icy spikes wrapped around the demon's leg, impaling and piercing it.

"RRRRRRAAGH!" Wolfie then dive-bombed the cyclops demon and slashed its arm, leaving deep cut marks on its skin. The cyclops demon roared out in even more pain, but its singular eye started to glow.

"Oh crap…WATCH Out!" Steinman warned everyone to get out of the way, as the cyclops demon's mighty eye glowed brightly and shot out a powerful laser that laid waste to everything in its path, causing explosions and fire to surround everyone.

Wolfie was blown into a tree afterwards, but he managed to stand his ground. Once he got up however, what he saw next completely horrified him. "WHAT…..?!" He said, as the cyclops demon's wounds began to heal completely! Its cut off right leg, wounded left leg, and slashed left arm all healed within an instant.

"Cyclops demons aren't known for their healing powers?! How did this one get a dose of immortality?!" Steinman said as he looked on in shock. The cyclops demon turned around and looked dead at Wolfie, its eye communicating that it was NOT playing games anymore. The cyclops demon was officially angry.

"RRRRRGGHHH….BRING IT ON YOU BIG ONE-EYED FREAK! RRRRRAAAGGHH!" Wolfie furiously charged at the giant one-eyed goliath. But once he raised his claw for an attack…. "RRRRRRRGGHHH-!" He was instantly struck down by the power of the cyclops demon.

"WOLFIE!" Amuki screamed out in a panic.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Now Stein was officially pissed, as he powered up so much, he pumped an egregious amount of energy into his muscles, causing them to grow and expand at a freakishly large rate. His muscles were so large, that his skin turned from a pale olive, to completely green, you could also see the veins in his muscles. He then charged the demon and clashed fists with it, as it punched him back down with enough force to send him crashing into a tree on its own.

"Dammit ya' bloody i***t, why'd ya' have to go and attack the damn thing?!" Jack said as it roared its mighty roar at them.

"Guess it's just you n' me love…" Jack said, standing side by side with Amuki holding both of their swords. "Right….let's kill this thing and get back on track!" Amuki said, as the two of them charged fearlessly at the cyclops just as Kaila shook her head and began to awaken.

The cyclops brought its hands backwards; as Jack & Amuki brought their swords downward inciting sparks into the ground as the dragged their swords. "Sword stream…" Jack said as he prepared an attack. "Magic Spell #5 ….." Amuki also prepared to unleash one of her own attacks, but the cyclops intercepted them and clapped a thunderous clap that caused an insanely powerful gust of wind to blow in front of them, sending both of them flying far away and screaming.

Kaila woke up to the sound of turbulent gusts of wind blowing in her face, she covered her face and was eventually swept up in the thunder clap herself, knocking her back into another tree. "AGH!" She grunted as she fell to her knees. Kaila slowly got up though, as the reaper claw was also knocked out of range. She was met with the glow of a red light that shined from the cyclops demon's eye…..it seemed like this was it…..they couldn't win….her worst fear had come to fruition…that she would die in this world…. Kaila had a look of absolute terror and regret on her face…..as she shed tears over what she had to suffer through in order to make it this far…..

"Tomomi….I'm sorry…" Kaila said to herself, as she braced herself for her perpetual annihilation at the hands of the gigantic cyclops demon. But before the cyclops demon could utter a powerful roar and blast Kaila to smithereens…..

*s***h* Something struck the beast! It roared in massive pain as the pupil of its own eye was somehow slashed in half! Kaila was grimacing with her eyes closed, subtly submitting defeat at the hands of the enormous cyclops. But she opened them and saw that the glow of the cyclops demon's laser had faded.

"Wait….what just happened…..?" She said as she observed the cyclops demon in intense pain.

Suddenly, the image of a sword swishing across the atmosphere came into view, Kaila also heard the withdrawing of a sword going back into its sheath and turned around. She couldn't believe what she saw…..her knight in shining armor had come to rescue her in the nick of time.

"What…..? But….How…? When did you get here…?! TOMOMI?!"

.: TO BE CONTINUED :.