22 That familiar dark energy signature.

"Master Ryu! We...can't...stop them...forever.." Izumi struggled to complete her statement as she held the barricade to the entrance.

"Huh...I guess so...Lia, get me the box..." Ryu ordered Lia as she glared at Ryu.

"Are you sure, Ryu?" Lia asked with an uncertain face.

"Well, he is of age...I was planning on telling him anyway and we have no choice but to let Izumi know as well." Ryu stated as he let go of the barricade.

"Master Ryu! what are you doing?...Ken and I can't hold it down alone!" Izumi and Ken were being pushed back by the demons on the other side.

"Ryu...here you go." Lia handed him a big wooden box which she rushed to bring from the attic.

Ryu put the big wooden box down as he said "Miss Izumi, you are not to tell anyone about anything you are going to see now. Chief Zeyner would order you to do the same as well."

Ryu took out a Sledge hammer from the box and held it with his right hand.

"Move...let those scumbags come in" Ryu smiled mysteriously as his eyes fixated on the opening door.

"Come to papa...you scoundrels." Ryu lifted the hammer with both his hands with a smile on his face.

As the barricade broke, the door hit the wall as it swinged to it's left. A horde of demons tried to rush into the workshop, but before even a single demon could enter the shop.

'BAMF!!!' A gust of air shrouded the workshop as Ryu hit a demon who was trying to enter the shop with an energized sledge hammer, all the demons who were trying to rush in got blown away into a distance.

"Don't you dare think you can enter the workshop of the Takahashi's, without their permission." Ryu stated as he stood firmly as he held the sledge hammer supporting it on the ground.

"Aprum!!!" A Boar spirit came out of the sledge hammer as if it woke up from a long sleep.

"They tried to enter our shop without our invitation. Time to discipline them...make sure none are left alive or intact with all their limbs. GO!!!" Ryu shouted as he slowly entered the shop.

"Miss Izumi...no one is to know about this or the fact that I am an A-Rank, there are reasons for us to..." Ryu stopped talking as he saw Wakanabe and a big crowd on his back watching the whole scene.

"What the...?" Ryu had those words written all over his face as he realized he was busted.

"Sorry Master Ryu, but I guess there is nothing left to hide." Izumi stated as she looked at a shocked Ryu with pity.

"I never knew you were an A-Rank...!" Both Wakanabe and Ken shouted in unison.

"Tch...what do you even know Ken!?" Izumi shouted as she witnessed a surprised Ken.

"Why are all of you here?" Ryu asked as he looked at Wakanabe.

"A masked protector told us to come here. He told us there were three A-Rank protector's in your workshop." Wakanabe answered as he looked at the wild spirit, Aprum rip the limbs of demons.

"You did a great job...now rest. You are relieved of your duties chief Zeyner." The man in front of Zeyner smiled with a soft look on his face as he sensed a familiar dark energy signature in the west side of the city.

"Roger that...Commander..." Zeyner passed out of consciousness as he uttered those words.

"Fast as ever...Commander..." Two protectors appeared out of nowhere. These were the second and third in command after the Commander, Leonard Edgar.

"Yamato...Fujio...create a barrier to repel all the dark forces out of the city..." Leonard ordered as he looked around to witness a burning city.

"Sir, even though we both are S-Ranks, we can only cover half the city." Yamato, the second in command reported as he looked at Leonard.

"Don't worry...someone else is taking care of clearing the west side of the city." Leonard informed as he left to clear out any and every demon in the city.

"Got it sir! Fujio infuse..." Yamato and Fujio started to infuse their energy to create a barrier as Leonard left.

In the west of the city, the masked man looked around to sense what was happening in the city and count how many dark entities remained in the city.

"378 demons alive....191 in the west and 187 in the east...hmm...he is here huh...I guess I will take care of the west then..." The masked man whispered to himself and suddenly as if he disappeared into thin air, he left the premises at such a speed that any normal human wouldn't be able to see.

Within a few minutes, all the demons in the West side of the city were either met with an energized fist to their face or a kick to their torso, every single one of them laid lifeless as they were met with either of the both.

"CLYPEUS DIVIE...!!!" One of the most powerful kind of barrier that would push back any dark energy from the entire city, started to expand slowly with Yamato as the centre of it. The barrier started to push every demon back. The demons who met with the barrier without any other way to escape were crushed against the wall or anything that prevented them from escaping with the dark energy flowing inside them forced out.

Leonard stood on the top of a pile of dead demons as he ripped a demon in front of him into pieces with his bare hands. He looked back to face the west side of the city as he sensed that all the demons in the west side of the city disappeared, except one with a powerful and a familiar dark energy signature. He smiled as he confirmed his assumptions after sensing the dark energy flowing inside him and the pure energy he was emitting.

"Chief!!! Miyazaki heal the chief immediately!" Nariko rushed in with a bleeding left eye with the other protectors only to witness Zeyner with a crushed right shoulder.

"Yes Mam!" Miyazaki, the healer's squad chief made her way to heal Zeyner. "Sana Grigora..!" Energy flowed out of her into the chief.

"Sir! We cannot sense any demonic presence in the city any longer. Both East and the West side of the city is rid of the demons.

"Huh...yeah, well not everyone can sense everything." Leonard whispered to himself as he diverted his attention towards the North side of Areon towards the barren plain of Yodha.

"Commander...forgive me, I cannot salute sir...I can't lift my...right hand" Leonard looked back to face a wounded Zeyner trying his best to stand in an attention position.

"Zeyner...drop the protocol and cool yourself. You deserve rest..." Leonard came close to Zeyner as he sat him down.

"Now, Zeyner...tell me what happen..." Leonard asked patiently as he looked at a severely wounded Zeyner.

"I am pretty sure you sensed the dark storm, commander." Zeyner looked at the commander as he started to explain.

"Yes, I assumed you could take care of it." Leonard replied with a nod.

"Yes, I though we could too. But the storm ended earlier than I expected it to. The amount of dark energy that passed through us wasn't equal to what I sensed. We had no protectors left with enough energy to guard the gate except the healers squad...." Zeyner was interrupted by Leonard.

"I understood what happened. You don't need to explain the rest of the story. Rest for a while, old friend." Leonard landed a soft gaze on Zeyner as he said those words.

"We got busted alright..." Ryu looked at Lia as he sighed heavily.

"A masked man...?" Izumi contemplated within herself as she said those words out loud.

"Oh, don't worry about him. I probably know who it is. and you will too...soon, perhaps." Ryu smiled as he came to a conclusion.

"Miss Izumi, hurry to the East side of the city. All the demons that entered the city are dead." A protector who ran from the East side of the city informed as he proceeded to gather other protectors in the city.

"What?!! All of them were cleared out...Understood. Master Ryu thank you for doing my work and protecting everyone. I will take my leave now." Izumi rushed to the East side of the city as she bowed before Ryu as a token of gratitude.