CHAPTER 84: escaping the city

Flying over the crowded streets, I could easily see the pure gaos down below. People screaming and crying were trying to get out as soon as possible.

In the distance I could her the soldiers scream that the first of the komainu broke.

I bit my lip and kept flying as fast as I could to catch up with the rest while trying to keep my balance with the struggling dwarf I carried.

Hundreds of carriages stood in front of the exit. Some guards could barely control the people that were fighting over who could enter first.

To my relief I found Alex. Allenya, Gert, Yohan, and Elisa. They were standing in one of the gaotic lines to enter the fifth carriage to the left.

People screamed and weapons were pointed at me as soon as I landed. I placed the dwarf on the ground wo quickly tried to convince the people that I was under his command.

It would have helped at any other time, tough they would be always a little warry with m. but now, now they could not take the risk. The elite soldiers were all on the other side of the city, so any demon that slipped through the lines could cause a massive number of casualties among the regular civilians and guards.

Without saying anything, I flapped my wings and flew to one of the guard towers on the outside of the walls. It was a distance of roughly five hundred meters so they should have a sense of security while I would be aware of when they left.

The people still shout worrying glances at me, but the dwarf reassuring them that I would not attack and me keeping my distance helped a little. Apparently, the dwarf, although not a leader of the city, had a high status among them. It did not surprise me, because he was the main researcher of the beings that were the reason that they had chosen to flee to Agartha in the first place.

It took another twenty minutes for everyone to get inside a carriage and leave. It was a good thing that they managed to evacuate this quickly. I found it hard to imagine that the soldiers even when equipped with holy weapons were able to hold the demons out for much longer.

After all they were only humans and their armour was heavy. It wouldn't take long before they couldn't go on due to exhaustion and dehydration. And when that happened, they were basically dead.

Eventually when everyone who could make it to the carriages alive were present, they left. And as they did, so did I follow the line of carriages filled with people.

But when we all entered the tunnel, one of the flying demons caught up. It resembled a rat with the wings of a bat and the face of a dog. Its eyes had a soft green glow as it let its gaze slid over the people trying to flee.

The carriages were forced to stop so the guards could come out. I saw that Gert was among the. Tough this was not his work time; it was an emergency so all forces would be put to work.

But I already attacked the demon. It did not surprise the demon in the slightest and I knew why. Demons fought among themselves all the time, either for dominance, food or fun. The only reason that they cooperated in this battle against the defences of the Stone city was because something powerful enough to command them all at the same time had ordered them to do so. But none of the demons exactly knew what it was. We all just knew that there was something. That something had made the gates in hell, allowing us to enter other worlds more easily. That something left the commands of temptation in the summoning circles. Making us willing to enter those other worlds.

The demon shrieked as we clashed against each other mid-air. Its long thin claws managed to find the cracks in between my scales and pierced deep into my flesh.

But I still had the advantage. The other demon only had fur to protect itself. Meaning that I could strike anywhere I wanted. We kicked, bit, and scratched each other while falling to the stone ground.

I gasped for air as I was slammed on the ground. The demon landed on top of me and tried to finch the job by ripping out my throat. But I spat fire in its face while I kicked its stomach area.

The demon snarled in pain and backed away. At that moment, a spear suddenly pierced through its chest.

One of the gourds had attacked it from behind while it was distracted by me. but the demon wasn't dead yet and was already trying to get the piece of metal out of its chest.

This gave me the chance to bite of its head.

I immediately felt extremely nauseous as the power of that demon was immediately absorbed into my mark. That other demon was not that strong, I probably would have been able to kill it on my own.

Yet, the world around me became fuzzy and the sounds became dull.

I could barely make out the guard that pointed his spear at me.

I caught a glimpse of the cross that was engraved in it. For some reason it reminded me of when my father had explained what that cross was all about back when I was still a small child.

He had told me how each side of the cross represented the god of order, the god of chaos and the two angels of time and space.

I really missed those times where my father would just explain random things to me. but this was not the time for that. I stood up and pushed the guard aside so I would no longer have that spear in my face.

When my sight became clear again a saw the blank expressions of the guards. I turned to see what they were looking at and saw how a dozen of flying demons made their way to the exit.

The number of soldiers was apparently narrowed down to such an extend that these had the chance to slip through.

The nuns who had helped me during the fight with the demon by the dragon lake village hesitantly left the carriages.

"We may be able to buy some time. Please, hurry and leave." Gwen spoke.

Not all the nuns had left the carriages, some decided to stay with those who fled to help keep them safe. They al felt that it was their duty to help others even at the cost of themselves. They just did it in two separate ways and respected each other for that.

I wanted to disagree. I had travelled with these nuns and did not want to leave them here to die. But they were right. Someone had to buy only just a little more time for us to make it out. And they were able to provide the most of that out of everyone here.