Sureiyazu

Episode 62: Kyu

Heavy footsteps. Bell ringing. Loud. 

So loud . . . 

Akuma was practically fully awake now, thanks to their noise . . . and . . . screaming . . . 

She sat up, rubbing her temples to fight off a headache. 

"Second defenses are down!" someone yelled, very close, followed by footsteps tearing down the hallway, pounding against the floor. 

"- Akuma!" a guard was saying, crashing in through the door to her room. "Good, you're already awake." 

"What in Sekai is -" 

"Demons," the guard cut her off. It was all he needed to say. The dreaded word had a certain implications among demonslayers. He took off again in an instant. 

Akuma dressed quickly, the noise slowly becoming louder around her. 

In a few minutes, she had sprinted down the hall in the same direction. 

The hallway that she was staying in led almost directly to a turret, and, seeing others do the same, she followed the stairs and then the ladder to the topmost level, only a stone wall keeping them from falling from the tower and down the mountain. 

From here, she could easily see the demons. One, bright red, was climbing up another tower, its red tail slithering behind it, using its wings to lift it higher as it began to slip. 

Another, made seemingly of darkness, was seeping throughout the small castle, its form making everything it touched look darker. 

And the last she knew all too well. Dakufaia, with its body made of fire, was wreaking havoc all over, setting things aflame and making its way around . . . almost as if it were searching for something . . . 

"Only three?" she asked the soldiers who were standing around her. 

"So far as we can see," one said. "But they're pretty powerful by themselves." 

"Got it. Where are the other Sureiyazu?" 

The same man responded. "Yuri was alerted before you. She'll be out there soon. Kasai is still gravely injured, and Aya hasn't woken." 

"And the others?" 

"Mizuki is well enough to fight; Heishi too. Taichi and Hachirou were helping Kasai and Aya escape, last I heard. And Ryou is hurt pretty badly, but he insisted on helping in the fight too." 

Akuma drew in a long breath. "We're down in numbers." 

"Don't leave out the Army of Sekai." 

"You're right. We've got this." 

And, gripping her kyoketsu shoge tightly, she dove over the edge of the turret, plunging toward roofs below. 

"What the -" the guard called out. 

She was already too far down to hear him. 

She landed on her feet on a tiled green roof, over what would be the mess hall, running along the middle beam in the center of the slanting roof. 

Akuma had been about to jump through a nearby window in a protruding tower when - 

The red demon crashed down in front of her. 

Up close, its form towered over her, at least ten feet tall, and its large fangs made its grin seem sinister. Four horns adorned its face, two at the top and two from its cheeks. Its wings were as wide across as its body and its tail was twice as long. Its entire being was a shade of blood red that its leathery skin made look even more blood-like.