81 Another Problem (3)

- Saint and the five -

Sabu and Heinrich were preparing themselves to intercept the demon army when they saw one of the three wyrms that attacked them get launched overhead. They turned to Saint who was holding one of the other two by the lower part of its mouth.

"Up we go!" She gripped both hands on the mouth and started to spin.

Another flailing wyrm was thrown at the demon army who were now dealing with the two creatures.

The flying demons ignored the wyrms and closed in, shooting their magic towards the rescued.

Sabu and Heinrich caught the attacks, while Elijah shot a few of the demons out of the air by aiming at their wings. Elijah still couldn't create a lethal bolt without losing a hand. Instead, he decided to use his lower power for utility.

The demons that fell to the ground were swiftly executed by Lao. More fliers moved in to stop Lao, only to be met by knives in the head.

Yvere was staying with the rescued, assuring them that there was nothing to worry about.

"We want to fight with you," One of the rescued lycans said.

"What are your magics?" Yvere asked looking around at the rescued.

Saint threw the last wyrm towards the demon army and joined Lao.

"They're attacking the rescued?" She questioned. "I want you to be on wyrm duty," She ordered Lao.

Lao nodded. The look on Saint's face sent a shiver down his spine. It seemed similar to Death's back at the headquarters after learning about Satan's betrayal.

Saint lowered her hands into the mud and took a stance that looked like a sprinter. Her arms, legs, and hair started to glow white.

'I'm sick of this,' She thought. 'Just leave the injured be. Why...can't...you-' Her thoughts slowed down.

In a blast of speed that sent mud flying behind her, Saint rushed towards the demon forces. She sent large waves of mud as she ran, the white energy of her body leaving a temporary trail behind her.

The demons had finished off the wyrms and were now looking towards the rescued. They were worried about whoever or whatever had sent the wyrms flying. They all noticed Saint's blurred figure heading towards them.

"The Sai-" One demon said before their face was caved in by Saint's fist.

Saint was now in the middle of the demons. Time seemed still as she scanned her eyes from demon to demon.

"One rule..." She mumbled to herself. "One..."

Once the initial shock of her entrance faded, she was assaulted on all sides by magic and weaponry. The demons feared her but they weren't foolish enough to just stand around and let her kill them.

"One..." She kept mumbling as she broke her way through the enemies.

One demon attempted to bring his sword down on her shoulder, only to miss as she dodged and slammed her fist into his throat, crushing it.

"LAST CHANCE!" She screamed, stunning the demons that had been attacking her. "RETREAT!"

While the scene had caught the demons off-guard at first, after hearing the word retreat they started to laugh. Retreating was never an option. By accident, Saint had just reinvigorated her enemies.

"So be it..." She mumbled.

Yvere approached the other four with a mixed group of the rescued.

"They're going to help us," She told the four that were currently watching Saint tear her way through a crowd of demons.

"Is, is that the Saint?" One of the rescued vampires asked.

As Lao watched the scene unfold before him he thought about an old conversation he had with Lucifer.

(The past)

"She has more names than I do," Lucifer joked. "Saint is just the current one."

"What's her real name then?" Lao asked.

"Don't know," Lucifer shrugged. "I can tell you though that her old name used to be Miracle, before that, was Savior, and even older than those, was Mercy."

"I guess those names make sense given what she's done," Lao assumed.

"Yeah...not really," Lucifer shuddered.

(Present)

Sabu, Elijah, and some of the rescued were dealing with what remained of the flying demons. They would incapacitate some of the demons and throw the rescued vampires and Yvere the bodies so they could refill. The non-vampire rescued that were helping didn't have much mana, so their help was sparing.

Heinrich and Lao were keeping watch for more wyrms appearing, or at least Heinrich was. Lao was enthralled by Saint's performance among the demons.

- Team one, Mileera -

"Why the fuck did ya activate your contract so soon?!" Peter was yelling at Yamato as the two were running to assist Oliver.

"If the Rider failed, then the other two might have as well..." Yamato said. "I didn't want to activate it so soon, forgive me."

Oliver had closed the distance on Mileera. His spear had been stolen but it didn't matter. Rebecca and Julia had pushed around Mileera, and the three were about to pincer her. As they closed in Mileera smiled.

Mileera dashed towards Oliver. She had activated surge, confident that the Grim giving her trouble was running low on mana. As she shot an electric bolt at Oliver, he faded. She feigned surprise, grabbing Rebecca's hand before the curved sword made contact with her.

Julia looked into Mileera's eyes and saw her death. She brought her other sword towards Mileera's face, hoping to deal some amount of damage before dying.

Mileera grabbed the other hand and twisted her fingers, snapping Julia's wrists. She was about to finish her kill when a stone spike shot up towards her face, quickly followed by an explosive orb that followed her as she jumped out of the way. She landed, only receiving minor burns on her face.

Mileera disappeared into the growing force of demons. She was confident that she had done a good enough job of baiting the Grim into trying to kill her.

Oliver picked Julia up as Rebecca covered him. The three were being swarmed by demons, with nowhere near enough mana to get out safely. Oliver handed Julia over to Rebecca and picked up the dropped swords.

"Go," He ordered.

Rebecca propped Julia up onto her back and started to run. As much as she wanted to argue, this wasn't the time or place. She knew the right choice was leaving. She couldn't even risk turning to look back. She saw Yamato and Peter approaching and wanted to yell for them to help but knew better.

Peter and Yamato both cut their way into the force that had surrounded Oliver.

"Move with us," Peter ordered. "Yamato, middle, Oliver, front."

The two weren't going to argue. The moment Oliver and Yamato started to move, Peter's sword roared with flames as he swung the weapon behind him. The surrounding demons were incinerated in a large sweeping wave of flame.

The three ran back towards the resistance soldier. They were going to give the order to fall back as soon as they could. As they ran, they heard the screech of a whistle.

Ming had been slowly backstepping the entire time her golems were fighting. She couldn't risk getting caught out while controlling her creations. Her mana, along with the mana of the resistance soldiers behind her, was getting low. She stopped controlling her golems and blew into her whistle as hard as she could.

As team one started to fall back they couldn't help but stare in horror at the still-growing wave of demons spilling forward. All of this led to a terrifying thought for Peter.

'We still have Satan to deal with. Death, Luce, whatever's happenin' on your side, ya need to get back now.'

- Death -

(Around the same time as Lucifer and Kahvis's contact with Moloch's army)

Death rode to his side of the coming battlefield in his hunter form, a small breeze wrapping around his body. He looked around at Passage as he rode closer to Baal's army. Thoughts he couldn't help thinking about played in his head.

(The past)

"Lucifer will be helping you from now on," Death told Satan.

"I don't need the help," Satan huffed. "You're not his father. Even his father isn't really his father, so why do you care so much about this?"

"I'm not letting our mistakes ruin his life," Death said. "I'm not saying you need the help, just that him working with you could be good for him and humanity."

"Humanity I understand," Satan responded. "They're fragile, but that fallen? You can't help someone who won't help themselves, especially if they're an angel-former angel in this case."

"Don't call him that," Death sighed. "You're in no position to judge someone for their past mistakes."

"Neither are you," Satan retorted.

"I know. Please, I'll owe you a favor if you help him," Death said.

"A favor?" Satan smiled. "Of course then."

"On the condition that you don't tell him about this conversation," Death added.

(Present)

Death could see Baal's army approaching. He stopped thinking about the past and put his hand on Hrom's head. He fed far more mana than he had previously on this mission. Hrom's body became completely covered in a black flame, Its eye sockets filled with a pitch black energy that spilled out of the sockets. Death held a shadowy rein as he gave his command.

["Hunt,"] Death ordered.

Hrom shot forward.

The only thing Baal's army could see was a blurry mass of black flames rapidly coming towards them.

With one swing of his scythe as he rode Hrom, Death cleaved a dozen enemies while trampling any unlucky enough to be in front of him.