〆 𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 〆 ᵗᵖⁿ ⁺ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ

IX. Entering

Souei entered the grounds of the plant farthest from the demons' headquarters, and approached the orphanage carefully. It was early evening and the children were out playing. They'd discussed various ways to do this, and settled on approaching some of the older children. They might have responded better to Norman or Emma, but bringing them back was out of the question.

Who would approach the children, though, wasn't really Souei's concern. The demons lying in wait were his focus. The children, he suspected, could have walked past their hiding places and not been any the wiser, but to Souei, the forces waiting in ambush were fairly obvious.

That would make it easy. He bypassed three sentries without being noticed. When he was within 100 metres of the edge of the field surrounding the orphanage, he stepped on a twig under the perch of one of the watchers.

There was a confused noise and shifting from the branch over his head, and Souei repressed a sigh. 'This is embarrassing. I really have to allow these lumps to capture me?'

He began to move away from the tree at a clumsy run, as the demon finally registered his presence and dropped to the ground to attack him. His retreat attracted the attention his entrance into the plantation grounds had not, and he soon found himself surrounded.

The first demon to jump him was sent flying into two others with a simple body throw. He made a break for the new opening in their line, but the three were on their feet almost immediately. Two quick blows put the closest one on the ground with crippling injuries. The second merely received a broken leg before being kicked into a demon attacking from behind.

The rest were closing in, and Souei drew his sword. He rarely had to resort to it, but the numbers warranted an edge. The ambush had been expected, but there were nearly a dozen of the creatures around him and he could hear more approaching.

One of the larger creatures, the same type Milim had described, pushed through the trees.

"He's making a hell of a racket," one of the smaller demons complained.

"The kids are being pulled inside right now," another answered. "They'll never know."

The big one charged Souei, uncaring of the blade that removed one of its fingers. The spy danced away from the retaliatory strike, and stabbed a careless onlooker in the chest. Some of the others laughed and teased their comrade about his carelessness even as the wound closed and the demon got back to his feet.

"Regeneration. Interesting," He was not actually concerned, but he put a bit of tension in his voice for their benefit.

"Nothing you can do can hurt us," one bragged. "The best you can do is inconvenience us, and we'll make you pay in blood for every second you make us waste our time. Where's the meat?!"

"If you mean the children," Souei answered coldly, after beheading the speaker, "they're safe, and they'll stay safe."

Even decapitation didn't kill the demon, although it was definitely out of the fight. He could see the chest rising and falling, and the eyes following him. Souei began to experiment, as he evaded their blows and struck at them in what he hoped would be seen as a random and desperate manner. He made a point of kicking the severed head into the bushes while he was at it.

They were pressing him hard, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. The fact that they healed quickly and completely was the most annoying thing about them. He let a couple of them land glancing blows just to make them believe they were getting somewhere.

They were not unskilled, but the difference in their levels was very telling. The numbers they brought to bear was the main threat to him. He carefully allowed the fight to become a stalemate, needing to keep them busy as long as possible, so he took the time to experiment.