Ch. 19: "SQUADRON I pt. 4"

"You saw it too did you?" Erika asked Rei.

Rei stood in silence, he had no idea how to answer after what they both had just seen, Rei was still traumatized that blinking makes him remember horrifying face it showed.

"Wh...what... wa...wa...was that t...thing?" Rei stuttered.

Rei looked at Erika with his eyes lost in fear, while Erika did the same, as the two was lost from what they had just seen a light suddenly struck from a distance outside the wall. Rei glanced towards the direction of the light and saw a large black creature walking towards them.

"The real demon is here" Rei declared his eyes still glancing over to were the demon was.

"Rei we should call the others" Erika suggested.

And immediately Rei called the others checking if they were still alive and telling them that the demon is on its way, the other squadron member made haste and in an instant they were all located where Rei and Erika is.

"So where's the demon?" Glenn asked.

"There!" Rei pointed.

"I don't seem to see it but I can feel its presence, it's pretty scary" Elaina said while trying to see what the creature looks like.

All five of them stood on top of the wall trying to figure out the exact location of the demon.

"I'll check on the commander" Glenn spoke.

Everyone agreed, Glenn walked a bit further from his comrades and called the commander.

"Have you spotted the demon?" Stella spoke.

"According to Rei the demon should be further south from the walls, but as it is dark we can really determine what the exact appearance of the demon is" Glenn answered.

"Is that so? Then stay there... wait until sunrise so you can see how far it still is, as soon as I finish up here I'll meet up with all of you" Stella said before ending the conversation.

"The commander has given her orders, the sun will rise soon, so we stay here until morning comes and the commander arrives" Glenn said.

"I'll get some stuff from the vehicle anyone wants to join me?" Elaina spoke.

"I'll go if it's alright" Rei spoke.

Rei and Elaina went to the vehicle while the others were up on the wall trying to figure out where the demon was and how far it was from the walls.

While they were walking they encountered over 5 zombies which Elaina had dealt with.

"Hey, why'd you join me anyway? Is the numbness already gone?" Elaina asked.

"It's alright now, I'll remove the bondage once we get to the vehicle" Rei answered.

Elaina smiled at Rei as they got closer to the vehicle, they were only a few meters away when Elaina suddenly froze.

"Elaina?" Rei tapped her shoulder.

"Why are you here?" Elaina asked.

Rei got confused as he saw Elaina suddenly clench her fist and lower her head.

"Why are you here?" Elaina Repeated.

Her voice got louder, Rei immediately looked towards the vehicle and saw a person with lavender colored hair and light brown eyes, she wore a military uniform composed of a long white jacket with red trimmings and red and red cuffs, her skirt are matching white with two red stripes at the side and a high knee black boots.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Elaina screamed.

"It's a woman"

Rei stared at the woman as she jumped down of the vehicle and walked towards him with a grin on her face, she stopped when Elaina suddenly stood in front of Rei.

"ANSWER MY QUESTION! WHY ARE YOU HERE MIKAELA?" Elaina screamed once more.

"I called her" a voice answered from a distance.

And from the other side of the vehicle emerged the commander, Rei took the chanced and walked away from what seemed to him was a very dramatic scene, he tiptoed his way towards the back side of the vehicle were the compartment was located.

"Phew... I guess I got out of that scene"

Rei opened the trunk of the vehicle, he felt like his heart dropped the moment he saw what was inside.

"Rei please close that the smell might spread" Stella spoke.

Rei followed orders and closed it, he walked towards he commander and stood beside her as she was watching the dramatic scene.

"Uhm... Commander... why is there a dead body there?" Rei asked with his voice shivering in fear.

"That was the commander of the fourth squadron, the directors gave me an order to execute him and bring him back to the capital" Stella answered.

"I... I s... see... so... w... why... are... t...they... fi...fighting..." Rei asked as his voice stuttered.

"Ah, Mikaela was one of my former subordinates, she and Elaina used to be good friends when they were young, but sometime later she was sent to the north by the directors" Stella explained.

Rei watched in silence as Elaina suddenly showed her Star and started to mercilessly attack Mikaela who effortlessly dodged every swing Elaina did.

"Mikaela, stop toying with my subordinate, have you forgotten that it's your fault why she's like that" Stella said.

Elaina was starting to lose her senses as her attack suddenly got faster and each swing had more intent to kill. Elaina's Star suddenly got longer which threw Mikaela off-balance, Elaina raised her star and was about to slice Mikaela in half.

"Rei use this to stop the fight" Stella said before handing an Atria to Rei.

Rei immediately grabbed it and rushed towards Elaina as the bandage from his right hand slowly got removed.

"Are you alright?" Rei asked Mikaela with a smile.

Rei was able to block the attack with the Atria given to him.

"T...Thanks" Mikaela spoke.

Stella suddenly snapped her fingers which caused Elaina to suddenly faint, Rei caught her before her body could hit the ground while her suddenly disappeared.

"Will she be alright?" Mikaela asked.

"Yes" Stella answered.

Rei carried her towards the vehicle and laid her down on the back seat.

"Rei bring this to the others, and bring Mikaela along with you" Stella pushed Mikaela who was holding a large bag towards Rei.

The two left Stella and Elaina alone at the vehicle and walked towards the wall, the night was silent that the groans of the zombie's miles away from them can still be heard.

"Do want me to help you with that?" Rei asked.

"Nah, I can carry this, think of this as my payment for saving me" Mikaela answered.

It was the only conversation they had, the whole time that they walked towards the walls were filled with silence, and finally the two of them had finally reached the top if the walls. Suddenly the ground began to shake and the sun was slowly rising from the distance they saw a massive creature walking towards the wall, despite the sunlight the creature was pitch black that its eyes seemed like small dots.

"Glenn will the commander help you with that A-Class?' Mikaela asked.

"Ah, Ms. Mikaela you're here and Elaina is not, I guess you two fought again right?" Glenn said.

"Sigh... again... why do you two always fight" Erika said with a disappointed voice.

The three of them laughed while Aizer stood at the edge of the wall and scoped if there was any other demon that was close. Rei dropped the bag, Aizer immediately looked inside his eyes sparkled once the bag was open it was filled with delicious packed food that came from inside the dome.

"This is so good!!" Aizer screamed as his eyes watered from delight.

"Oh how I missed eating this!!" Erika said.

"I wish the north had this delicious food!!" Mikaela spoke.

All of them was enjoying the food given to them as it has been a long time since they had last eaten any type of food from the capital, but Rei was not eating, he simply sat with them smiling while watching them enjoy food.

"How would you react if all of them were to die in front of you?" A voice called out to Rei.

He looked around but they were the only ones there.

"They will die!" It spoke again.

Rei stood up his eyes wandering their location trying to find where the voice is coming from.

"THEY WILL DIE!"

"THEY WILL DIE!"

"THEY WILL DIE!"

"THEY WILL DIE!"

"THEY WILL DIE!"

The voice got louder and louder that Rei suddenly screamed.

"SHUT UP!!"

He came to a realization that the voice was not coming from anywhere around him but rather inside him, the voice that was speaking came from his head. The others were shocked when Rei suddenly screamed, they were now all staring at one another while the Erika continued to eat.

"You alright Rei?" Aizer asked.

"Yeah"

Rei simply nodded before walking towards the edge of the wall, he stared at the large demon who was walking towards them, despite its distance it still looked bigger taller than the walls. He sat there raised the sleeves of his uniform and looked at his right arm, it seemed normal at first but as he continued to stare he can see that his veins had a different thing flowing in it, it was black liquid that flowed throughout his arm.

He was suddenly startled when someone tapped his shoulder.

"You wanna eat?" Mikaela asked.

"I'm not really hungry, thanks" Rei replied with a small smile in his face.

Mikaela suddenly grabbed his right hand and stared at his arm.

"There seems to be nothing wrong with your arm, why stare at it?" Mikaela asked.

"It just kinda felt numb so I checked on it" Rei replied.

"Do you know that with only an Atria and Zosma the lowest types of Star you can eliminate an A-Class demon" Mikaela spoke.

"Isn't it important to use high Ranking Stars to easily defeat higher class demons?" Rei said.

"Yes, it is important to use them but you see even with weak Stars you can defeat it, but it will take a longer time and will need many people working together, that's the reason why there area squadrons they all work together to be able to defeat high class demons even with weak Stars" Mikaela explained.

Rei stared at her while she continued to explain more things about teamwork.

"Teamwork is very essential when fighting demons, because the more people that attack it the easier its core can be found, since most demon are single minded they won't attack you and continue their path. Yet until now I still don't get what the demons really want, since there are no reports of any demon breaking through the wall I still have no clue what the demon wants" Mikaela continued.

"My memories" Rei muttered

"Huh? Did you say anything Rei?" Mikaela asked.

"No, it's nothing" Rei answered.

"Oh, alright" Mikaela answered before going back to eat some more food.

Rei sat again alone, watching as the demon got much larger than before, he could now see much more of the demons appearance, it has two large horns on its head, it has four long legs, it seems to have thick skin, and a storm is brewing up above him.

"I guess this one is slightly different from the ones they fought huh? Nii-san, do you think I am of use to these people? They had already seen and done things I never would've, their childhood was filled with misery while I enjoyed everything, please take me away from this place Nii-san"

"Aren't you gonna eat Rei?" A womanly voice called out to him.

Rei turned around and saw the commander standing behind him.

"I'm not that hungry commander" Rei answered.

"Is that so... how far do you think the distance between us and the demons is?" Stella asked.

"If it ran it would reach us by evening, but if it kept moving like this tomorrow afternoon would be a correct estimate" Rei answered.

Stella continued to stand behind him as the two of them continued to observe the demon, the ground began to rumble despite the distance of the demon, and roars could also be heard. The more time that passed the more the demon got closer.

"Do you think you can hold the sword now?" Stella suddenly asked.

"Maybe, I can't really tell" Rei answered.

"I brought you sword want to try it?" Stella spoke.

Rei nodded and immediately stood up, he walked towards the others and took the case, everyone watched as Rei slowly opened the case. He slowly grabbed the sword, black lines began to appear from his arm but nothing seems to be wrong in his body.

"I seem to be able to hold it fine comma-"

Rei was immediately cut when the demon started screaming, the ground began to shake stronger that it was getting hard for them to standup, suddenly the demon began charging towards them, and the storm got stronger above it. 

[Chapter End]