Third Person

~

The click of loading guns brought Kira and Kuro back to the present, eyes immediately leaving Arius' place on the building to the area around them.

The cops had surrounded them, Commissioner Kobayashi much closer than the other officers and her eyes were locked on her daughter.

"Surrender!" The Commissioner ordered sternly as she kept a steady aim on Kira's head.

"Gunshots won't kill us but it'd be a shitton of pain," Kuro informed, starting an internal count of just how many officers were around, "Arius' still has them on a leash with all the bugs hovering around."

Before Kira could think out a plan to get everyone on the same page, Moriko scrambled out of her hold, taking a stance in front of her and Kuro and spreading out both arms protectively.

"Moriko! What are you doing?!" Her mother screamed.

"They rescued me! Why are you pointing weapons at them?!" The younger blonde returned in equal volume.

Her mother seemed to flinch at that statement, mouth open to combat the statement but Moriko wasn't giving her any room.

"It's obvious who the problem here is, and I know you don't trust them but better the enemy you know than the one you don't, right?" She pointed at Arius was still watching on with muted interest.

The Commissioner hadn't lowered her weapon, eyes still on the green glowing swirls visible in the dark mass of Demona's mask. She didn't know who to trust, all she knew was that several giant insect things were buzzing around and holding people hostage.

"If I could, we'd be fighting him but we can't, all this..." The Commissioner gestured vaguely to the chaos around them, "Is more than we're prepared to handle."

"Then let Demona's team handle it!" Momo screeched, she turned her hopeful eyes back to Kira, "You can save us, right?"

Kira swallowed nervously, she wasn't sure yet, but she knew there had to be a way, yet they wouldn't know until they fought him head-on and gauged just how good he was. Until then, all she could do was hope and put the people's safety first.

"We'll do our best, but we need everyone to get out of his range so we can work," she answered the blonde despite the rapidly building pace of her heartbeat.

"Five hundred meters just to be safe, Arius is the center, when he moves the radius does as well," Kuro added.

"Did you get that?" Kira asked Momo who nodded frantically, "Tell your mom and tell her to get everyone out of here."

Arius watched as the younger blonde dashed away from the Demon Keeper. He couldn't hear her words but the brief hesitation on the Commissioner's face showed her skepticism. He was about to take it as his win until she started ordering her unit to pull back.

Megaphones were out, and officers giving directions for civilians to leave the surrounding area and keep low. He let out a disappointed sigh, their struggle was admirable but the longer it took to complete his mission, the more agitated he became.

"Punish them!" He ordered, the swarm closest to the ground launched forward, going straight for the unit of officers clearing the civilians out of the area. The insects didn't get far before several tendrils of golden light collided with their shelled forms and destroyed them in bursts of golden energy.

Troy pushed back an unruly lock of hair as he adjusted his stance on one knee, he cursed softly under his breath as he realized he'd almost missed one, "Might have to get closer," he muttered to himself.

'Cover those escaping, Kuro and I will take care of Arius,' Kira said in his mind.

'And how do you plan on doing that?' He huffed back.

"Have you identified any weakness Kuro?" She asked without paying attention to Troy's tone.

"Can't say I have, but he hasn't engaged us physically, which probably means he's no good in a one-on-one," the younger boy replied as he sprouted his wings once more.

"What are the odds he sucks really bad?"

"Not that high, unfortunately," Kuro mused with a chuckle.

"Best course of action?"

"We have to be fast, very fast. There has to be a limit on how quickly he can react to an upcoming threat, if we tire him out, there's a chance he'll become slower."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Kira nodded in understanding, a scythe forming in her grip as she readied herself for take off, 'Let's see if Troy's stupid training regimen actually pays off!'

'Speed enhancement at fifty percent and Strength at forty-five, you sure you're ready brat?' Lucifer mocked.

She locked eyes with Arius, 'I don't exactly have a choice, I either school this freak or Nightmare wins.' She adjusts her stand, taking aim before launching off the ground in a swift blur of motion.

Kuro follows just as swiftly and in a matter of seconds they're in front of Arius. She goes for a quick slash with her weapon which the villain dodges by leaping out of reach. He twists mid-air, avoiding a wall of net made from the simmering thread of Kuro's wire and talismans.

"Almost had me there, heroes," he scoffed, studying the thin line of blood that bloomed from where his elbow had made contact with a part of the wire, "You won't be so lucky next time if combat is what you wish for, then I shall engage and bring you three to your knees," he growled just as a dense sphere of dark energy formed in the open palm of his right palm. The sphere tensed, condensing into sleek bronze metal that shaped itself into a jagged curved sickle that glinted in the evening light.

"You Nightmare clowns really piss me off," Kuro spat withdrawing his weapon, "If you're gonna do something big then do it already. What's stopping your big bad Master from carrying out his plan right now? Is he too weak-"

An angry buzz filled the air immediately, several locust were diving for Kuro as soon as the words left his lips. Arius was glaring at the younger boy with wide eyes, Kira reacted, chains sprouting from the ground to hold the villain down but he dissolved into a pillar of insects and dispersed as they tried to clamp around him.

"We're probably worrying our heads over nothing and he's just going to keep sending grunts like you to take his losses while he does what exactly?" Kuro continued to taunt as he continued to dodge Arius' insects and Kira tried to attack the villain himself.

She saw no point in keeping this up, Arius was moving just as fast, if not a bit faster than her attacks while he still going after Kuro. She'd thought distraction was the end game here, but since it obviously hadn't worked she thought, they'd be trying out something else.

Several bugs came for her, forcing her to focus on losing them instead of fighting. Slashing through guts and rapidly beating wings on the other end of the field, she could hear Arius screaming at Kuro.

"The Master's plans are far beyond your mortal comprehension you filthy urchin!" He lunged at the younger boy sickle raised to strike but Kuro formed a feathered shield around himself, the force of the connected hit sending him back only a few feet.

"Without complete daggers it's hard to see his plan be anything more than a mere pipe dream, you're fighting for nothing buddy," Kuro spoke with a nonchalant wave and a smug smile, "To have come so far and realized that must be getting to him."

"Master Nightmare fears nothing!" The villain launched again, Kira took the chance to break from her struggle with the bugs, he was fully distracted now, and she'd take him down while he went straight for Kuro.

She dashed from his blind spot at an increased speed, her blade merely making contact before he burst into insect bits again.

"Damn it!" She swore as she roughly skidded to a halt.

Arius materialized in the air some feet in front of them on top of a very large locust, glaring menacingly down at them, angry breaths audible even through the material of his bandana, "The daggers will mean little when the stars align in pure chaos opening the gateway for the monster's that will bring a new dawn."

"Bingo," Kuro hummed, a satisfied smile on his face, "I'd love to know more but I think I have an idea of what you're talking about, we can stop playing around now."

Kira gave Kuro a deadpan look, "I wasn't playing around actually, and what the hell are you on about?!"

"Later, right now, we fight and win."

"Bold of you to assume I'll allow that, I do poorly with being made a fool of," Arius scowled. Kira was about to go for an attack when a shadow fell over them. Looking up, one would be able to see a cloud of extra, extra, large bugs. Glinting stingers and jagged mandibles as far as the eye could see.

They'd probably be able to fight their way out, but by the time they'd have gotten through, they'd probably be too exhausted to take Arius on. It was a sticky situation all around.

"Any last words?"

A scoff rang through the silence, "How revolting," Troy flapped down to Kira's side, glaring up at the swarm. His wings vanished and he snapped the fingers of his left hand. A trail of lightning-sparked, following his hand's movement as he formed it into a circle that quickly grew larger and floated up to the sky forming a reasonably large spell seal.

Arius seemed to realize what was about to happen and gestures some insects their way but Troy forms a single large arrow and launches it toward the seal. The projectile split into several hundreds of itself as it passes through, taking several members of the diving swarm down.

"About time," Kira grumbled.

"I was dealing with the evacuation, it's not like you managed to make any progress on your end," The blond replied her annoyed tone, he tilted his head towards Arius who was still surveying the damage of Troy's attack with mild disbelief painted across his features. A decent amount of the swarm had survived but it was significantly smaller now and they were buzzing about in a frenzy like the light alone had blinded them.

"Now do we have an actual plan to take down this disease ridden freak show?"

"I realized something while Kira was trying to go after him," Kuro voiced.

"He's got a freaky sixth sense?" She huffed, still pissed the villain had seemed to be able to dodge whenever she was super close.

"It's not that, it's the bugs, they're his eyes and ears too, just like my feathers. He has them watching his back. The best course of action would be to keep him from moving and weaken them through weakening him."

"Kuro, get to the point," Kira pushed, a swirling mass of darkness around Arius had started to form, shaping and sprouting insect parts.

Kuro pulled out a talisman paper, slicing up his finger and quickly drawing down the symbols. It glowed a dim purple briefly before settling back to its original color.

"Remember when we fought Nightmare?"

Both their eyes widened, Kira stared up at him and then back down at the paper, the Moon Lily poison. It seemed extreme but she guessed times called for it.

"Takes some energy so it'll be a bit before I can make another one."

"How long?" Troy questioned, charging up as insects hissed at them.

"Too long since I can't exactly take a break, now can I?" Kuro replied taking a stance too.

Kira nodded in understanding, "Then we make sure we end things in one fight, Now let's do this!"