Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 35 - FORM

I slammed into the demon shoulder-first, sending it skidding across the pavement. It staggered back to its feet, but couldn't escape my second attack, my claws catching it through the neck.

As it died, I twisted around to fend off the other three demons at my tail. Wolves, but weaker than the last wolves I'd fought, and a few good hits were enough to break through their armoured skin. I crouched low and took a few steps back, used to their superior agility.

"But how do we actually retake a district?" Katie asked. Above, I could just barely see her twisting around, fire flashing as she took out demon after demon in the sky.

"Don't know," I grunted, feinting at the wolves. They darted back. "I wasn't told that much."

"How come you're the only one that gets a guide?" Katie asked. "Not that I really want some dragon ghost to tell me what to do, but it seems like we're putting a lot of trust in that one guy."

"Long story," I said. "Hey, Huang? Wolves?"

"On it." Seemingly out of nowhere, the Gargoyle burst from a nearby street, flying close to the ground. He clipped two of the wolves with his talons, herding them toward me. I charged and took both of them out in one fell swoop, then turned to face the last.

"What's this Leviathan person like, anyway?" Katie added.

I chased the wolf into Huang's waiting talons. He snatched it, rose high into the air, and let it fall. I reared up on two legs and smacked it as hard as I could, sending the body tumbling across the rooftops.

"Home run. Eh... I don't know. He's very intelligent. Talks a lot, but keeps secrets well. I wouldn't call him a friend."

"But he's always been right before," Huang added. "He's actually saved our tails more than once. You all right up there, Katie?"

"Just fine," Katie replied. After a few moments, she slammed into the final demon, tearing it apart, then descended toward us in a flurry of wings and firelight to land on a nearby roof. Huang landed on a roof opposite to her while I stood in the street peering up at them.

"Level 2s," Huang said sagely. "That means we can expect maybe forty more demons today."

I sighed, not wanting to rain on his parade, but still seeing little use for his cute rating system. "All right, but... about the construction zone. No Man's Land. What do you guys think?"

"That whole place... smells like danger," Katie said. "While I was there, it almost felt like the ground itself wanted to hurt me."

"I was getting kind of a toxic feeling off of it, too," I added.

"It's probably a simple matter of clearing out all the demons from that district," Huang said. "Leviathan always refers to them as a virus or as an infection. If we're the antibodies, we can clear infection from the district and let it heal."

"I'll... do whatever you two think is best," Katie said, glancing between us.

I looked at each of them in turn. "I don't know if this is the right time."

"It's progress, Camilo," Huang said, shifting restlessly. "It's... well, it probably won't be easy, but once we do it, we won't have to worry about these districts being overrun in every single entry. We can probably get some rest in between entries, too, maybe back to every week or couple of weeks."

"I think it's too reckless, and I know that sounds ridiculous coming from me," I sighed, settling on the pavement and curling my tail around my legs. The streets were silent; a light snow was falling in the Grey City. "Can't we focus on defending what we have here for now?"