The Demon Saint is Missing, so I Ran to Another World

Kuro's Love (Part 1)

**Kuro**

Just about two hours after the hour for long sleep, we were down to evacuating the army of Princess Noir. Her household servants, including Angelli and Leiver, had already crossed into Chersea. Shevaun and the princess refused to be evacuated first, preferring to leave Cherflammen last, if possible. However, Maddie, Ruro, Seirna and Natasha...I mean, Alexa, insisted that they'd be the ones to close the portal, and so common sense dictated that they'd be the last to leave.

As for me, I can't possibly save my own ass while the saints—especially Maddie—are still in danger.

So, as the demon soldiers left their positions and queued up at the portals, Seirna and Natasha manned the abandoned defenses of Helfan themselves, while Maddie and Ruro took charge of powering the last magic circles. It was a near-impossible feat, but we didn't want to leave anyone behind at the mercy of Gaius.

"..."

Since I got nothing else to do, I joined the patrol of the two saints at the wall.

"..."

Looking towards the direction where Gaius and his monsters appeared, I couldn't help but be frightened. While the celestial dragon ate up Cherflammen's 'sun', it was replaced by an unearthly crimson light that caused the desert of the Sea of Sand to look like an ocean of blood. There were also flashes of lightning and peals of thunder heard from where I was, and I couldn't help but imagine that those dark lines from the distance seemed to move closer to our positions.

"..."

Wait, those are moving to our direction, indeed.

I looked at my companions, who kept watch atop two towers on my each of my sides. They were similarly concerned.

"Shadow children," Seirna called out to Natasha.

The Saint of Darkness nodded and prepared a magic spell to defend our positions. Likewise, I readied my bolt-heater and took aim at the incoming monsters, their glowing red eyes reminiscent of the zombies I fought in the town of Huirot during the Great Rising of the Undead. But then, just like what happened in the earlier battle, the 'shadow children' stopped at a certain distance, creating a clear limit between them and the walls of the city of Helfan.

Natasha didn't waste any moment; she hurled her magic spell towards our enemies. But, much to our surprise, it quickly dissipated midair, as the 'shadow children' made way for their master, the former god, Gaius, approaching our positions.

"You think I'm not aware of your illegal 'portals'?" was his greeting to us.

"Someone who allied himself with the accursed creature of the Void has no right to lecture us!" Natasha answered. "We may be violating the heaven's decree, but at least, it's because we're working to save everyone."

"Right..." Gaius chuckled. "How kind of you. But in any case, don't you think I can always close your pathetic portals?"

"I'd like to see you try!"

At once, the former god snapped his fingers, and the portals opened by Maddie and Ruro immediately closed. By then, Princess Noir had just crossed, having been persuaded to do so by her chamberlain, and Lily on the other side. The only people left in Cherflammen were me, Maddie, Ruro, Seirna, and Natasha.

"Oh look! The four saints and a useless, spineless human remained," Gaius mocked us. "What a lovely, heartwarming, reunion."

All of us were silent, as we all knew that the last magic circles were already used up, and we had no paper or ink left to draw one more. However, we're aware that it was not our end just yet, for while we couldn't create on paper, we could always draw a circle on the ground, using blood as ink.