“Ghh…”

Dauma’s head was throbbing as he emerged back out onto the surface of the city.

The surgery-like room had been completely destroyed during the thing’s awakening. Whatever had been left in that room, probable research, information on the thing or even any last resort method to stop it by the people who kept it captive was now most likely gone, buried under several tons of rubble.

However, the journey back up to the top and out of the collapsed room had been surprisingly easy for him. Once the thing had moved out of the room it was held in, the space it had once occupied had less debris blocking his path.

As such, once he had made his way to the empty space, and once he waited a few moments for the thing to move away from the possible exit point, he made his quick way up, along with the others he was carrying along with him.

“Uhhh…”

Having reached and shielded her with his arms in time before the rocks fell on them, Kara groaned, causing him to remember her presence, and he focused his attention back on her.

Half-dirtied and half-bloodied, she was still heavily injured from the bullet that Masse had fired into her waist, and blood was still flowing out in alarming quantities. It was not looking good for her.

To top it off, as dangerous as her present condition was, and despite the fact that he knew she needed help, the present situation they were in at the moment was not the most optimal to treat her wound.

If only Anten were here…

He gritted his teeth as he moved his hand to the wound and pressed down on it in an attempt to put pressure and minimize the bleeding.

I need to get her out of here, fast.

“Hello!”

“Hi!”

“How you doing?”

A sudden barrage of loud sounds disrupted his plan and added more chaos to the mix.

A few meters away from him, the thing was already rampaging through the underground city, its numerous mouths spewing different voices and words at the same time.

It did not seem to be moving very quickly due to the fact that it had no legs to support its body, but as it trudged like a snail, making its way in what seemed to be a completely random direction, buildings and people alike were getting crushed before its massive body.

“!!!”

In the distance, he could hear the sounds of scattered gunfire and people yelling as they attempted to stop its advance.

“…”

He knew it had to be stopped, there and now, but he still had Kara to worry about.

Damn it, what should I do?

As he racked his head trying to come up with his next plan, a footstep crunched near him, and he looked to his side.

“You alright, devil?”

It was Claine, who had also come back out onto the surface, with Yuu right beside him. Similar to what he was doing with Kara, her arms were wrapped around his torso, which he quickly shook off, causing her to move away.

Using his hand to wipe away a trickle of blood that was running down his head, he angrily kicked one of the loose rocks that now littered the surface.

“Shit! Shit! SHIT!” he swore as he watched the thing crush another building, “This wasn’t supposed to happen! We were supposed to control it first!”

“I told… you…”

Even though she was still significantly weaker than before, Kara still cracked a weak smile as soon as she heard him and did her best to come up with a witty, sarcastic response.

“You’re still alive, Kara?”

“You… make it sound… like you want me dead…”

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“Of course not.”

Her response snapped him out of his rant, and now that his logic and reasoning were back, he began to assess the situation and quickly come up with a plan.

“Devil. You need to bring her to a safe place and bandage up her wounds. I think her place is still intact, so you’ll find stuff there. You need to do it as soon as possible or her condition will get worse.”

“Wait, don’t you need me to stop that thing too?”

“You’ll help us with that after she is stabilized. In the meantime, I’ll gather up the remaining Foxes and launch a counterattack. Hopefully we can stop it before it tries to go for the surface.”

He then turned to Yuu, who was standing by.

“Spirit girl, you’re coming with me.”

“?”

“I think your abilities might be good for the fight. Just help us however you can.”

She glanced at the thing, then back at them, before nodding.

“Mm.”

Her face still had a hint of fear, but there was also a growing feeling of determination in her eyes. It was the same look she had given to him and Anten when she had made her decision to go to the temple.

“Good. Let’s move!”

“Wait,” Dauma interrupted him just as he was about to move, “do you know what happened to Masse?”

He paused for a while before shrugging uncaringly.

“Who knows? He’s probably dead. Anyway, we don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

“Alright.”

And with that, the group of survivors split off to their respective destinations.

**********************

Under her directions, even if they were slightly unintelligible and slurred due to blood loss, Dauma managed to locate Kara’s place very quickly.

As Claine had mentioned, it had been untouched by the thing as it was in the opposite direction of where it was rampaging. Aside from the dust that was still lingering in the air and filling the entire house, none of the equipment around seemed to be damaged in any way, including the medical ones.

Regardless, even though it was technically in a safer zone, and the fact that there was medical equipment inside to treat the injured, the place was completely deserted. It seemed like all the available medics had most likely gone to the battlefield.

“BANG!”

As he kicked down the door, Kara stirred in his arms again, having drifted in and out of consciousness throughout the entire journey.

“My… room… bandages…”

Her speech was getting worse, and a quick check indicated that she was feverish. He had to move faster.

Placing her down on a wooden table close to the entrance, he hurriedly began to check every room, search every cabinet, go through all the nooks and crannies to find her room, until he finally obtained the bandages, with some additional tools to help stabilize her condition.

I need to hurry…

Bandages, and some painkillers for good measure. Luckily for him, once he had located her room, it had contained a sizable stockpile of them that he could easily grab.

But how do I deal with the wound?

She had proclaimed herself to be a doctor, but he was not one. Despite that lack of knowledge, he immediately jumped to the simple solution of merely bandaging it, but he knew it was not enough.

Not good. Not good at all.

His head began to throb again, but this time it was not from the wounds he had been given earlier by Azwar.

Another memory.

He had done this sort of thing before.

It was cold…

Dead bodies piled the streets…

The stench of blood filled the air…

No, stop. Come on, do I remember anything else?

To his dismay, that was that. Just mere fragments with nothing useful for him to remember.

Guess I’ll just have to make do…

With the tools at hand, he returned to Kara and, without hesitation, began to undress her to get to her waist.

“Stop… pervert…”

“Stop talking,” he pleaded as he unrolled the bandages over her wound, which immediately turned red, “I need you to take these.”

He shook out a few painkillers and, since she could not take them herself, crushed them into smaller pieces before pushing them into her mouth, where she painfully and slowly swallowed them.

That should bring down her fever…

“Hey…”

“I told you to stop talking.”

“I’m… fine… you… go…”

“I can’t leave you like this.”

“Ue… he…”

She tried to give her usual stupid laugh, but it came out as several weak coughs instead, so she gave up and continued.

“Be… devil…”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Is she hallucinating? Should I give her more medicine?

“No…”

She slowly placed her hand over his.

“You… devil… leave…”

“I told you, I won’t!”

“Do…”

With that last word, she fell unconscious again.

“Damn it…”

He immediately checked her breathing. It was weak, but it was still there, which was a good sign. However, despite her order, he was still doubtful on whether he should leave her.

Following what Claine had ordered him to do, her condition was still critical and certainly not stabilized, so there was no way he could.

It would also take too much time if he went up to find Anten and ask her to heal the wound, and he had to go back to the field as soon as possible.

He knew that there would be people involved in the fight who were more equipped, but seeking their help would be too risky for both them and her, since they would be right in the thing’s attack range.

Be… devil…

Her words continued to echo in his mind even as he moved her to the more comfortable bed in her room.

What would other people do in this situation?

As he racked his brain, he suddenly remembered what she had said to him, back in Mahu Village.

“You need to take the next step forward by yourself.”

“…”

Regretfully, he made his decision.

Leaning close to her ear, he whispered some words of assurance before he left her room.

“I’ll come back.”

However, even as he headed back to the fight, he was unsure if she had ever gotten the message.