282. The 'Universal Battlefields': The solution of escaping - Part 1

[Demon's War (Recovery of Allies): Arc 13]

Year 2003 the Light has soon appeared and the newly born girl has shined over the humanity's responsibility.

The birth that once appeared had been now unknown for the entire Human Society and her existence was yet unknown, nor was it seen.

With the born girl's full-caring personality from baby's perspective, this girl was sent onto the Planet Earth to secretly live a Human's Life, without even herself knowing what she truly was.

Now, in the year 2019 the first human coming in contact with this girl was a 16 year old Teenager boy, who had become the next Substitute-Duelist and the ally of the potential future Godess.

Through the year of their meeting, the Substitute-Duelist never understood why her existence was so important and even before he managed to understand, his promises to keep her protected was a significant shock.

Due to this girl's crooked knowledge about herself, even herself couldn't believe what a mere human had spoken, but until now, year 2020, this teenager had held his promise straight and never let go, but due to the accident of her ally falling and seeing her 'killed', the teenager gave into his inhumane actions, and the first appearence of the disordered 'Fiend' all he had seen was a revenge over this girl's 'killer'.

But then, in sudden appearence, after this teenager finally broke the seal that kept his humanity hidden, the Demon God himself appeared out of nowhere and claimed that he'll use the power of both, The Semi-Godess and the Substitute-Duelist, for himself and without wasting time, the two teenager were both held, unconscious in Demon God's palm, taken to the underworld.

But due to the Demon God not being aware, his own son, known as the Half-Demon entered the underworld and was put under a difficult responsibility...

....Katorishi Codey, his hatred toward father was seen and as much as his fear prevailed over, he never let go of his allies.

In the unexpected, this Half-Demon promised himself to bring back, both Kirashito Ayuka the Semi-Godess and Shinkaku Timoshī the Substitute-Duelist to once again see Humanity.... To achieve this goal, his journey will be hard, long and with the Demon God in front of him, he's aware that his risks of entering the underworld might ended up in fighting his own father.....

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - Southern-East - Friday,12:20 p.m.]

While the Sixth Squad was entirely wiped out, the Second Squad had much better chances, but the two of the Duelists, Nagamine Tsutomu and Fujikawa Sayuri were both devoured and even the signs of their blood was nowhere to seen.

At the same moment, while Ellie managed to protect most of his entire squad, he then commanded them to escort the remaining people back to the center, but in doing so, additional two were killed, leaving his Squad at only two members and himself, Haruko and Izanagi.

"They've fought with full might at their best interest and power. I'm aware that most of them have still been learning the correct combat against Demons, but I still don't like the knowledge of them being killed, in front of me while I couldn't protect them, due to the bizzare amount of Demons that were on the South-East. What was I supposed to do, I've tried and tried to save them, but I was too late." Ellie was looking at his palm once seeing the first few rain drops fallsing and splashing.

"Couldn't these filthy Demons wait additional month at least? In that time, we'd be pretty much taught well, and not so many lives would be lost." Ellie's fist and mouth shook. "But I must say, my entire Squad, it was built among the best students, even then, the Demons outnumbered us and forced us to fall behind on our numbers. I just hope Inazanagi and Haruko have managed to bring the people back to the center... There was not as many Demons remaining and even before that, they didn't have much trouble dealing with them. And if those two die as well, then I truly have no chances of being a 'Squad Leader'. I knew that my existence in among my squad would not bring them any luck, nor would I be skilled enough to protect them." While Ellie thought aloud, the rain heavily began to fall, and the blood of the Demon's body that were glued on the roads have soon began to get wiped away, with the Human's teared body parts, ruling over the roads.

"This is not Chaos. This is a Death Field and at the end, I believe that only a few of them will survive... I just hope that everybody else will manage to finish their job."

However, he was mistaken...

Three squads were already wiped out;

- Chino Shoji's Squad that died within the teeth of a Titanic Demon, due to the weak power of his squad

- Ikehara Hideki's Squad that died within the teeth of the Winged Demons and due to their massive spread

and lastly

- Shiro Kazuko's Squad that died within the teeth of the Beast Demons, who were defined as different species, and because of such unpredictable numbers...

Most of them were wiped out with civilization, due to the the unbelievable number of the Demons on their side, without trace of why their numbers were impossible to overpower the Demons', they've been known as the 'Failing Squads'.

The bodies of the killed Duelists were spread through the City and were getting feasted over by the Demons, Shoji, Hideki and Kazuko, the three of the Top Tier Duelists were killed and had no other chance of survival...

[Planet Earth - Innerlight City - City Center - Friday,12:22 p.m.]

In luck of the Demons' number dropping, the two members of the Ellie's squad successfully reached the middle and while the main road was pretty clear of Demons, they weren't allowed to leave the Center until the Demon's existence is erased from the city. "This is concerning. Only a few of the Members managed to return, three of our Squads had no reports back, even after calling them." Claimed Ume, while she successfully finished her mission. "This doesn't look good. Do you by any chance think that Hideki's, Shoji's and Kazuko's Squad got wiped out? We can't connect to them and our watches won't connect either." Exclaimed Yutaku.

"There's no knowledge about it. But we're deeply troubled if they've been killed. Less of our Top Tier Duelists are gone... Only 35% of the Assassinating Team are still active and the rest 65% of the Assassinating Team have all been eliminated. It may be true that most of the Demons have been eliminated, but there is still a ton of them, and it's expected that the ones who returned have cleared the Streets fully." Exclaimed Mayumi, worried as she held her forehead.

"I really hope that's not the case. If Hideki, Kazuko and Shoji have been killed, then what's been going on in the Underworld? Three of our aces are down there and none of them are able to be breached over by a phone nor Zero Watch...." Added Ume, when she showed her signal. "And the rain is making this much more difficult. The Police Department's Captain has yet to show up after so many hours... I don't believe she successfully survived either, there have been no activities in the Center at all, we may say. But at the same time, there hasn't been much activities at all, right now." Midori stepped closer to Mayumi and Ume, after saying.

"Another worry that we must look over is Zero, she seems to have been losing her energy more and more, and she can barely open the portal in the distance. Just what is it that causes her to lose power?" Wondered Midori.

"The one possibility is that, while Ayuka is trapped in the Underworld and she isn't, the connection among their Bloodlines is completely devoted... She has only managed to open the portal's 7%, and it's slowly increasing...." Sighed Kanji, while crossed arms.

"W-what about Ellie? Did he make it?" Midori looked at the Ellie's Squad Members. "We can't tell. He commanded us to escort the few people to the middle, he's been fighting with most of the Demons that remained our clients... For once, I am actually worried that he might have problems for his survival." Explained Izanagi as he knew that Ellie wasn't the best when it came to talking to girls. "I hope he is, losing him would also mean a massive drop of our Dueling Strengths."

[Underworld - Jail Cell Keeping - Friday, 12:30 p.m.]

Ayuka and Tim were still running through the hallway once they've came to a widely opened door that was seen by them from behind the corner. "Do you think that this room is where our 'Ginkens' are being stored?" Wondered Ayuka, looking from the same spot as Tim. "... I'm not sure. But it's worth to give it a shot? If they aren't there, we'll have difficulties of escaping. They are the 'Main' Source to our power, so whatever it takes, we must retrieve them." While Tim spoke, they made sure that nobody was around and then quietly ran over the hallway and between the large door frame, at luck once they entered, they've managed to spot both of their Ginkens on the opposite side of the hallway.

"That's them! B-But, why would they put them right besides a door frame?" Tim wondered, annoyed. "We can both agree that it's gotta be some kind of a trap. Just looking at it, it's clearly a trap." Spoke Ayuka, calmly. "It probably is. But we have to grab them and then continue through the door..." Tim spoke, making a step forward but felt how Ayuka caught his arm. "Hold on. We don't even know what the trap could be. If we aren't careful, we might not even be able to get to them." Explained Ayuka, being dead serious while she exchanged looks. "I know. So let me go first and I'll see how the trap works." Tim spoke and gently dragged out his arm. "Are you crazy?! We'll have better chance if we stick together. What if the trap involves some kind of 'splitting' and we may be unable to reunite?" At Ayuka's warning, Tim faced back at the door frame.

"You're probably right. But still, stick very close." And after committing, both of them quietly ran for the door frame at where the Ginkens were attached by a chain. "How were they even able to disarm us without dying?" Questioned Ayuka, confused.

But as much as the two couldn't understand, they both felt a bit risky and grabbed their Ginkens, at once they were reunited with their weaponry and nothing seemed to have happened. "Well, this sure is strange? If grabbing them wasn't a trap? Then what is?" Wondered Tim, looking at the chains. "There's gotta be some kind of reason to why that is, but we won't know and we won't be able to figure out if we stay here. Let's get going and find a way out." After Tim agreed to Ayuka's wording the two of them ran through the 'tighter' corners and hallways once coming to a rather widely opened room.

The floor were chained up to the top of the massive room while reaching all the way to the next room, there were giant staircase on the side also reaching for the top, and while below them seemed tp have been a gigantic pool of lava. "This sounds like some kind of a battlefield, but why would it need to be this gigantic?" Tim wondered, however in that moment both of them heard a crazy laugh.

"Well, aren't you two brave ones to be escaping under commands of Demon God himself? You've probably been wondering why am I here and what is this place, but all I can say is that this is the 'Underworld'! You've been brought here by our Demon God so that we'd balance your powers in sufficient salary? Too explain it clearer, our commands and jobs are too keep you down here for as long as we were told." Smiled Ryota, standing at the top of the staircase.

"Who the hell are you?! You look like a guy who'd be willing to kill an opponent for sure!" Tim angrily called while looking up at the staircase. "Who am I? My name is Kaneko Ryota, one among the five 'Most Trusted' Guards under Demon God's commands! I am the number two of the five and I am here to eliminate that little girl next to you! I'm quite amazed that Demon God would actually consider you as an enemy to absorb powers from... And you're just a mere Duelist." Laughed Ryota, pointing at the two.

"You're not getting your dirty hands on her! If you plan on doing so, then you'll have to eliminate me! No way I'm letting you get your dirty hands on her again!" Tim angrily shouted.

With the laugh the utterance was heard. "You're very predictable, but that won't be necessary. My command was only to fight her, not you." Spoke Ryota, having his arms in his pockets. "Damn you. Do you consider me as unworthy of an opponent?!"

But Ryota denied. "That's not really the case, but if that supports you, then maybe yes." Ryota stretched and kept on looking down at them.

Tim was aggressive due to what he had witnessed, but before he went attacking, he was successfully stopped by Ayuka. "Get your mind together. I can deal with him, you've gotta continue and reach Rez. Once I'm done here, I'll come behind you!" Spoke Ayuka, calm enough to stop him. "Why are you always so dumb? You've clearly been weakened to a state of where you could easily be killed and my protection is needed, I've given you a promise, and I plan on keeping it." Tim spoke, annoyed.

"I understand, okay! But you gotta get through. Rez is much more powerful than this wimpy Demon, and due to me being semi-weak, I may as well rely on you to defeat him. And not just that, if he spoke about them being five, then that must mean there are four others before you'll be able to reach Rez." Spoke Ayuka, being passionate about her choices.

Tim's eyes were shaken up due to the high worry and fear. "F-fine... If you'll be so insisting, then give' em the true Hell." Tim pulled out his arm and immediately ran up the stairs and came to the same height as Ryota stood.

Tim gave him a severe look while seeing him smile, but without fighting back, Ryota let him pass, through the door frame.

"Now that we're alone, shall we begin to spare?" Questioned Ryota when making a step to the edge. "Whenever you are ready." She claimed, dragging out her sword from the right hip and pointing it ahead.

With a smile, Ryota dropped down and his eyes immediately turned red, once a black aura began to be released.

"Very well then.... This will be your last time of walking alone!"

- With Ayuka and Tim slowly proceeding through the Jail Cell Castle, they have once again been split.

With disturbance of leaving Ayuka behind. Tim is now on the dash to reach the end of this 'maze', and with his stress breaking among his mind, he cannot stop to worry about potential risks that he had made...

To be continued...