"Good to see you've got some intuition... Let's get going." Lyric hopped up and through the shattered wall, and Kyoya following suit. She easily outdid him in agility, though raw speed still kept him at pace.

"Got any idea how we're gonna handle this?" The Miscreant looked to her as they ran.

The reddish haze was considerably thicker as they pushed onward. To his relief, their being on the main road meant that it was a straight shot to the courtyard; no crafty navigation was needed.

"It's definitely Demons, but no dice on what Class. Not even sure if it's more than one."

It wouldn't take any more than another thirty seconds in a dead sprint to reach the castle wall's outer line. The scene thrust fragmented recollections of a crumbling Teleo through the boy, but his mind was elsewhere.

Instead, his thoughts were on the opportunity for revenge.

He'd never so much as put a dent in a Demon's armor or scratch one's hide, but now he sought to put a swift end to whatever dared threaten his peace.

The oppressor's aura was more clear to him as they stepped beneath the archway that led into the courtyard. The space was just as massive as expected, with coliseum-style seating squaring off the east and west sides, leaving two points of exit and entry through equally massive gates on the north and south. In its center was a square podium, roughly 30-by-30 feet, standing some five feet from the ground.

A staircase led up to all four sides, with the pair finally able to get an eye on the commotion.

Citizens of all kinds were fleeing the courtyard, with great waves surging out of both exits. Kyoya had to shove through everyone that passed, clearing a path for Lyric as she, too, bumped and weaved her way through the masses.

They both emerged from the thick of it, finally standing some 200 feet from whatever was the source of this hysteria. It wasn't long before frantic glances to and fro yielded the pair their answer.

Atop the platform, a hideous mass of skin and darkness croaked up demented laughter at its scurrying prey. It was huge, by his standards: easily towering over him from at least five feet past his six—and this was when it stood hunched over.

The Demon's body consisted of long, spindly limbs ending in five-digit talons made purely of shadows, easily capable of wrapping around a person's torso and then some. They were attached to a core reminiscent of a human's, twisted and warped beyond recognition.

Some kind of smoke-spewing organ lined its back, coughing up that red mist with each exhale. Its lungs glowed an eerie crimson with the depth of every subsequent inhale. Its skin was devoid of pigmentation, visibly coarse, and even more vile to look at.

Yet, the monster's face was what truly offered the most reason to turn tail in that moment. It had no mouth, but was staring straight through him with wide, ever-attentive eyes. Ghoulish yellow pupils tracked so little as the rise and fall of his chest with laser focus.

Though, even if this was already an anomaly, this particular case was still concerning in another way.

"Why does it look so human!?" He caught himself squinting in something like disbelief. The boy didn't even realize his knees were shaking until they nearly gave out from under him.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Glad I'm not the only one who noticed." Lyric's voice put him back into attack-mode, eliminating all the thoughts that came from his observation.

"Come again?"

"That thing: it's a Humanoid Demon... but I can't tell if it's here on its own terms. It's a bit of a new thing, but when they're like that, it means they derive from our world."

"So you're saying...?" Kyoya raised a brow, despite already knowing the answer.

"Either someone summoned this thing, or it is that someone."

"...Great."

Lyric stood at the ready. She and the Miscreant both knew well of the danger that lay before them, but neither seemed willing to let a moment pass without having to prevent themselves from acting too soon.

However, the Demon's success in grabbing hold of a young boy that had tripped while trying to run spurred them into action.

"No more time to waste! GO!"

The Seraph bolted into a sprint, a thunderous glaive materializing in her hands. As soon as a blast of lightning sounded from its completion, an electric veil enveloped her form.

Her staff cracked down on the enemy's shoulder and forced it to release its bounty. She caught him in her arms, looking to her partner, who'd yet to even move. "HELP ME OUT, WILL YOU!? I have to make sure the Void's effects don't progress; deal with him!"

"Right! Don't gotta tell me twice..." Kyoya grinned and made fists, his blazing blue pride burning away whatever of the smoke wasn't shocked out. "BRING IT ON!"

He broke stride, stepping off one foot so hard that it rocketed him forward, fast enough for his fist to collide with the Demon and blow it back away from those trying to escape. Despite recovering, it was met with the second strike of Kyoya's combo.

He attempted to keep the rush going, but a dodge far too nimble for something its size left him too off-balance to act further.

It finally managed to break his chain, morphing its upper body to avoid his attacks and clawing him away instead. Even though it didn't draw any blood, the hit burned—like he'd just poured boiling water on the point of impact, let it settle, and then reapplied another coat for good measure.

It left a mark disgustingly similar to the ones on his body that Reika had pointed out after his experience during Not Forgotten.

Just the thought of something that vile so much as touching him was revolting.

Kyoya snarled, launching off again, but this time with fiery claws of his own. They went blow for blow until the boy ducked a swipe and returned with an uppercut, after which he chased the airborne enemy with another series of aerial slashes. However, he refrained from using a finishing hit quite yet.

Then, their target revealed how it had been laughing earlier, a mouth forming from its upper and lower jaws separating.

"What a joke! I was never told of resistance of this degree!" It spoke frantically, as though even the manifestations of fear themselves could feel such a thing. "You're mistaken not to cower before me, human! I AM—"

"DIDN'T ASK!" Rather than swinging again, Kyoya gambled and let it attempt a move; he aimed to set himself up for a single breakthrough instead of a continuous assault.

After it lurched forward with a sweeping claw, he evaded beneath the swipe and sprung up from a slide to grab his opponent by the throat.

However, tides swung when his feet couldn't reach the ground. There was no way to gather any leverage from this position.

"What a twist of fate." The Demon quickly loomed over him, a mile-wide smile preluding it taking hold of the hand he used to grab it. That same acidic sensation swiftly came about once more. "Is this truly all it would take?"

Struggle as he did, no amount of prying could wrestle his arm back, ultimately leaving him with no immediate answer to the current dilemma.

With every passing moment, a gaping maw smiled wider at its would-be prey. His attacking arm was unusable, and he may as well have been rooted in place. Lyric remained occupied with the child, and with that, he knew help wasn't coming quite yet.

It would seem that, now, he would be the one fancying himself a challenger to the champion of the depths that stood before him... but, if the Miscreant failed here, he'd be leaving his company to combat the threat alone.

Kyoya swallowed the lump in his throat whole; he had debts to pay, after all.