Into The Light

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Alice snarled, firing a Blood Orb down at the duo who would have seemed greatly unlikely just a month ago. Deftly, they dodged it, and Alice snarled again. But she knew they were too powerful for her to deal with.

For her to deal with by herself.

"Charge!" she shouted. All at once, the doors burst open again, and a horde of demons came rushing through. Alice swiftly summoned a crimson blood bubble, encasing Lylia, Harith, and Nana. "I keep my hostages safe," she hissed, giving Lylia a subtle wink.

Harley and Barats were overwhelmed on all sides. They duelled fiercely, but they were outnumbered almost a hundred to two. Selena's traps. Cecilion's claws. Carmilla's bonds. Helcurt's darkness. They had to deal with all of that simultaneously, which was no easy feat. For all their talent and ability, the two of them were still students. Students facing off a crowd of angry and powerful demons. There was no way they could deal with that. Even the best demon hunters in the Moniyan Empire may have had trouble with them.

"Harley, we can't do this," Barats whispered, panicking. "We should run."

Harley frowned at him. "But what about Lylia, Harith and Nana? We can't just leave them!"

Despite the oncoming attacks, Barats grinned. "That's why we're going to rescue them!" He pointed to the blood bubble that Alice was holding the three captives in. "It's a bubble. We can burst it." he stated plainly.

Harley smirked, and a flurry of poker cards lashed out at the surrounding demons. One specific poker card whipped through the crowd, narrowly missing the demons at the front. Forward it went, course-correcting on Carmilla's ear, and veering to the left, where it dashed Moskov's face. The surprised marksman drew back and accidentally let loose a stray shooting spear. The spear flew up, up, up, and just as the Ace of Hearts that Harley had thrown fluttered to the ground, there was an audible 'pop!' and the crimson balloon that had been levitating above the fight blew apart, dropping a screaming Harith and Lylia, as well as a still-unconscious Nana, down to the clashing demons below.

With a snap of his fingers, a glowing net appeared below the three, catching them just before they fell. Harley grinned and high-fived Barats. Another snap and they are unbound. The ropes fell right off Harith as he stood and helped Lylia up.

"Gloom, go!" she suddenly shrieked, and out of nowhere, Gloom appeared and rushed for a stupefied Harley. Lylia smiled evilly, her expression almost a carbon copy of Alice's. As Gloom devoured her hidden shadow ball and exploded in front of Harley and Barats, she said to no one in particular,

"I'm back!"