The group arrived at the palace a good half an hour later. The fighting could still be heard from where they now were though, as they stood outside the gates of the Grey Chamber.
A handful of knights watched them walk up and Keiko ran up to them.
She was about to tell them that she needed help sheltering the civilians behind her, but instead, they wordlessly allowed her to walk in.
Huh. Well, that's con...
However, when Keiko saw what was behind the door, her jaw dropped. There were so many people here that the Zayama feared she would not be able to take a single step without tripping over someone.
Did everyone leave their homes already? Keiko wondered as she and the others maneuvered through the bodies on the ground. Many of them were wrapped up in sheets, asleep as soldiers watched over them from the walls. Ahead, however, they slowly began to clear out, the bodies growing sparse as the group walked up to Eliza, who was on her throne watching over everyone.
"Thanks for the escort," Caroline told Keiko. "I guess I'll find a place to lay down. Come on, Tye."
"Yeah, thanks," the boy replied and the two of them walked away.
"I should probably find a place for this one too," Metsumi said as she gestured at Opah who was yawning, but with a fearful expression on her face. Keiko felt sorry for her, as the sounds of battle must have been scary.
"Right," Keiko replied and thus, as Yumi and Satsuhiro also walked away, she was the only one who walked up to Eliza.
The Lord of the city was holding a cup of wine, her eyes closed. She took a sip and opened them when she heard Keiko drawing closer.
"Uh, may I ask-"
"Of course," Eliza interrupted her. "Ask away. You and your group have done enough to prove yourselves, not just here but around the world. I will hear what you have to say. Just speak."
"... Okay," Keiko nodded. "What's the status of the other fights around the city? The one at the gates was lost."
She raised a brow at that.
"... Hm, I had hoped my general was exaggerating. He had received reports from other soldiers at that place a few minutes ago about a monster that had torn everyone apart single-handedly," Eliza explained. "I see that he wasn't."
Keiko nodded.
"The monster is... incredibly powerful, from what we could see. Without Ash, who hasn't come back yet, we can't see its level, but yes. What we know for sure is no one here can fight it."
"... With a creature like that, it'll be interesting to see where Niven stops tonight's siege," Eliza said. "The creature may be powerful, but if the god of death leaves it out on the field for too long, someone is bound to land a lucky crossbow shot. Unfortunately, though, that seems to be all we can hope for. We prepared for a siege, but not for this. Not for a single enemy to be this strong."
"But, what are you going to do?"
"Well, currently, reinforcements are coming in from Jade which should help quite a bit. However, for now, we'll have to wait and see how the half-demon's journey went. Once we know the status of the southern portal, we can adjust accordingly. For now, feel free to make use of the guest bedrooms, since you're not part of the common rabble and all. The masked girl knows where they are, just ask her."
With that, Keiko took a deep breath and looked back out onto the hall full of people who would likely all have nightmares tonight given what they'd seen and heard, wondering how long it would be before these people saw their homes again.
---
Ash
Standing outside the city, just past the barrier of flames, Ash and Kaori could hear the sounds of soldiers screaming beyond the walls.
"How strong is this thing though?" Ash asked aloud. Kaori walked up to it and then, hesitantly, placed her non-metallic hand in.
"Ah," Kaori hissed lowly as she pulled it back. "I-It hurts, but I think we should be able to go through."
"... Alright," Ash nodded. "There's no telling what'll be waiting for us on the other side though, so, be ready."
"Yeah."
The two of them glanced at each other, and then looked back at the fire. With a deep breath that almost felt like it burned her lungs, Ash ran forwards. She passed straight through the fire and her eyes bulged as she gritted her teeth and pain flashed throughout her body.
"Shit!" She cursed as she fell to her knees, her skin burning. Kaori, however, was mostly fine.
"Oh... wow..." Kaori mumbled as Ash was still feeling the fire. She tried to calm herself down and slowly got back up to her feet.
"What are you tal...?" When Ash looked up though, she understood.
There had to have been more than a hundred bodies, belonging to both soldiers and demons, laid out across the street. Dead men, women, and monsters, all either ripped apart or with a crossbow bolt in their chests in the case of the demons, were sprawling in front of them. The smell was what got Ash though. She covered her nose and grumbled as she turned to Kaori.
"Come on, we need to check the inn. Those things might have gotten there already."
"R-Right..." Kaori said, but she couldn't look away from the scene in front of them. Ash, however, was more focused on trying not to trip.
It was a moment that reminded her of the talk they'd just had. And, in this particular moment, the difference between herself and Kaori showed up as the two walked deeper into the city. However, not everyone and not everything was dead, as soon, they came across an ongoing battle where a few soldiers were still holding off the invading demons.
Ash transformed her Lust into her gauntlets, and as she saw a demon tackle a man, she ran forwards.
The demon opened its mouth to bite through the guy's neck but instead, its head was sliced off by a swing of Ash's weapon. The human watched it fall in front of him and, with disbelief in his eyes, looked up to find Ash looking back at him.
"Go. You're done," Ash told the guy as she walked away, towards more demons.
The two Saviors were able to help a few extra soldiers, but Ash really just wanted to clear a path to the inn. She hoped, with all of her heart, that Keiko, Metsumi, Satsuhiro, and Opah were still okay. If anything happened to them... Well, Kaori's fears were becoming more and more understandable by the second.
She didn't waste time fighting. Instead, as the two ran to the western gates, Ash only killed any demons she had to. Kaori wasn't fighting much at all, outside of holding demons back from finishing off wounded soldiers. Eventually, the two of them arrived at the inn, finally, which had its door swung wide open. This made the concern in Ash's gut bubble as she ran in.
It was empty.
There were, however, a couple of demons roaming the main room mindlessly. Ash tackled one of them and stabbed both her gauntlets into its chest, then, as the other noticed her and came running towards her, Kaori grabbed it and held it in place. This allowed Ash to stab it as well, and both demons were promptly dead.
Okay, now, where the hell...?
Ash walked up the nearby stairs and found the bedrooms' doors open, but no one was inside. Walking back down, she wondered if maybe people were in the backroom. So, she walked over to it, opened the door, and looked inside.
"What the fuck?" She muttered as she saw an assortment of different things she had no clue would be waiting here. There were a few metal poles that went from the ground all the way up to the ceiling, with some furniture around them. There were some strange-looking rubber toys on a table to the right, and there were three beds with veils that looked like they could be pulled down to hide the people in the bed.
Ash blinked and quickly walked away.
"No sign of anyone," she said to Kaori.
"Hm... Maybe they already left?" Kaori asked.
"Probably," Ash nodded. That's the best thing they could have done, so, good.
"Let's head back to the palace then. We'll tell Eliza the portal's closed and, yeah, we'll wait to see what else they want to do."
"Alright," Kaori agreed and the two exited the room, emerging back onto the chaotic streets. Ash walked a few steps to the left, looking ahead and taking a deep breath. It sounded like there were demons close by, to their right, but Ash figured they were far enough away to where they could discuss their next move.
"Okay, so, let's..." However, Ash was cut off when she heard a demon approaching from behind and she turned towards it. Huh?
When she saw it, Ash froze.
"Where do we go now?" Kaori asked her, but Ash was too busy looking ahead at the demon.
Kaori raised a brow and then turned to where Ash was looking.
"Oh... Is... Is that a Nightmare?" Kaori asked, some concern in her voice.
That wasn't what made Ash freeze like this though.
The demon towered over every other creature next to it, with the kind of build that would have put Ren to shame. It was dragging with it a greatsword bigger than Ash's own body and had a pair of chains wrapped around its wrists. Its violet eyes were fixed on Ash, and it was approaching her slowly.
But, as frightening as it appeared, what made Ash freeze were the numbers above its head.
Level 90
MP: 900/900
What.... What am I looking at? Ash wondered as the demon slowly walked towards her.
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