Night Rescue IV

"Good job," Kies told Jasyeu. The small demon looked up at him with clueless eyes. She didn't understand what he said. "Ah, never mind." Kies looked down at his hands. He called upon the winds and they rushed to his palm. His magic was still too weak. It took him too long to cast spells. He should have probably used Wind Javelin instead of Wind Cannon since it was a lot faster to chant, but his point still stood.

Kies really needed to master these spells already so that he could cast them just by calling out their names. If Jasyeu hadn't been here with him, he would have been in serious trouble. Kies flicked his wrist and sent the wind in his hand spinning into a wall. All the training he did back at the village was practically useless in a real fight. All he did was shoot magic at trees and other stationary targets that couldn't fight back. As he just saw right now, none of that was going to help him in an actual fight.

What he really needed was real combat experience. Kies balled his hand into a fist and put it on his chest, where his core was. 'Hurry up and get stronger,' he told it. He wasn't sure if thinking that would actually do anything, which it probably didn't, but he didn't want to be this weak and useless any longer.

Kies looked back at Jasyeu who was silently watching him the entire time with no idea of what he was doing. Kies pointed back down the alley where they came from to signal for her to follow him. It was a bad idea to continue through the alley where the two beastmen disappeared off in, since there may be more of them deeper in. They have to find another way.

While they were aimlessly navigating through the alleys, Kies tried to think of a place that they could use as a base. The only two options that came into mind were the sewers and the slum. Both were pretty terrible choices, but it's not like they had the luxury to choose a better place. But out of the two options, the slums were definitely the better one.

The slums had no one living there since most of the people from there had to enlist in the army. The rest were forced to move when it was ordered that the entire place would be torn down for future buildings and projects. The people that tried to stay were turned into slaves, causing the remaining ones to flee somewhere else. Even if there were still some people hiding in here, the chances were that they would leave them alone since the last thing they wanted was trouble. Of course, the feeling was mutual since none of them wanted trouble either. Therefore, both sides would leave each other alone.

Kies looked back to make sure that Jasyeu was still with him and when he saw that she still was, he continued through the alleys without stopping until they made it to the slums. The trip took a while and Kies looked back again to make sure that he hadn't lost Jasyeu. Thankfully, the small demon had managed to keep up with him and was right behind him.

Kies exited the alley and took a look around at the slums. There were broken houses with broken windows and broken doors. There was barely any furniture inside of them and most of them were destroyed as well. Kies walked past one of the houses, which could barely even be called a house. It was smaller than the hut back in the forest.

As the two of them walked deeper into the slums, a terrible smell started to fill the air. Jasyeu gagged at the stench and refused to go any further than that. It looked like they would have to pick a house on the outskirts of the slum where the smell wouldn't be as bad. Doing that was more dangerous than choosing a house deeper in, but at least they wouldn't suffocate from the bad smell.

Kies looked around for a decent house and found one that still had its door intact. The windows had cracks on them but were surprisingly still in place. "Jasyeu!" He called out to her. She was exploring the slums while he was finding a house. It didn't take long for her to respond to his voice and the small demon ran over to Kies.

She looked at the house that Kies had chosen and walked past him and went inside. There was a small worn mattress on the ground with a wooden stool next to it. Other than that, there was nothing else in the house. It looked big enough to hold the four of them, or five if they managed to bring back the demon that was trapped under the castle. But if it was too small, they could always just split up and go to different houses. There were a few other decent ones in the area.

Jasyeu immediately went over to the mattress on the ground upon seeing it and yawned. She laid down and fell asleep within seconds. Kies was surprised at how fast she fell asleep and how she even fell asleep in the first place. They were in a place where if they were discovered, they would die. But despite that, Jasyeu went to sleep so easily. But considering how young she still is, she probably doesn't realize the danger they were in.

Kies guessed that was both a good thing and a bad thing since it meant that she could still be easygoing in times like these. Kies walked out of the house, gently closing the door behind him without a sound so he wouldn't wake up Jasyeu. He cleaned the area around the house and then sat down next to one of its walls. What should he do while waiting for the other two to arrive?

Kies could go to sleep like Jasyeu, but he really didn't feel like it. He was still thinking about what happened earlier. His body shook, remembering how he killed those humans. This wasn't the first time he had killed them. Back then during the battle with Otane, Kies killed a man but he didn't feel anything. So why was he feeling something now? None of this made sense to him.

Kies leaned back and looked up at the sky. The stars were shining bright tonight. It almost looked as if they were putting on a show with how dazzling they were. A strange feeling came up in his chest. 'Hm?' Kies put his hand on his chest where his core was and felt it shaking. A sudden burst of pain erupted in his chest and Kies hunched over, clutching his chest with both his hands.

Kies lied on the ground while breathing heavily for a few minutes. After a bit, the pain in his went away as suddenly as it appeared. What just happened? Kies looked around and saw that his surroundings were all wavy. No, that was him. His head was spinning.

Kies closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. He didn't know what was going on, but he thought that this was the best course of action right now. He needed to rest after what just happened. But before he could rest for even a second, a laugh came from somewhere in front of him.

Kies' eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet and got ready to fight. He quickly scanned the area. To his left, he saw nothing but houses. To his right, he saw some trash being blown along by the wind. There was nothing. Was it all an imagination? Maybe it was his head playing tricks on him. Kies slowly sat back down and laid against the wall. He should probably go to sleep.

He closed his eyes and laid there. A soft wind blew by him, rustling his hair. "That wasn't your imagination just now you know," a voice said.

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