Chapter 23

"Someone help my family is trapped I don't want to leave them here."

"We have to keep going!"

"There's nowhere to hide they're catching up with us!"

The crowd of people watched as the alien creatures grabbed some of them and bit into their flesh with their sharp mandibles. A woman started screaming her bloodcurdling cries filled the air but it was no use they were still helpless.

With all her might she pushed through the packed group of people and ran for her life hoping a rescue vehicle would show up, but to her dismay, the agile figure heading towards her direction let out a loud screech causing her to fall back and run the other way. Her erratic behavior led to a couple getting ambushed by two large silverfish but there was nothing else she could do but hide the guilt.

A few blocks down the road were dozens of people trying to free their loved ones under the rubble. If they didn't hurry all of them would meet their demise in the most painful way imaginable.

The alien creatures had already spotted them and made their way towards the area seething their claws. 

"They're coming we have to go!" Someone shouted.

"Please don't leave me here."

"It's no use we can't lift this up."

"I came all the way here to get you out of this mess and now you're telling me to leave?!" 

A large figure lunged onto a man sinking its teeth into his neck sending waves of immense pain through his system. The other figures shoved a group of people to the ground slashing them mercilessly leaving stains on the once charcoal ground.

Witnessing the gruesome scenes was a young woman holding her bag tightly she struggled to keep herself together from the death of her lover happening right in front of her. No matter how she tried to fight off the shivers in her fingers and shoulders they only got worse.

Covering her face in horror she swinged her bag towards the giant bug over and over again to free her injured partner but it was too late, the creature dropped his lifeless body on the ground and looked at her with cold monotone eyes.

She let out an agonizing scream gripping her hair as the insectoid crawled closer to her and raised its armored arm up getting ready to land a devastating blow. Just as the woman was about to make a run for it a claw plunged through her shoulder blade leaving a large wound as she shut down.

The streets were catastrophic with people scrambling for their lives at every end going as far as to leave their loved ones behind just to save themselves. Douma couldn't believe something deemed as tiny could lead to such terrifying events. Had he made a mistake bringing Shinobu here? The purple-haired girl just wanted a nice vacation and he probably ruined it.

I'm sorry Shinobu you didn't have to go through this. Douma's gaze landed upon a familiar figure that was sprinting away from the scene it was a good thing those creatures weren't chasing them anymore at least she and the civilians could get away but he had to hurry up with her where she was heading to won't guarantee her safety.

Running through the crowd, Douma skidded to a halt as the creatures tailgated him and extended their claws and mandibles communicating with each other through screeches and growls. Getting ready, Douma unleashed his lotus engraved fans and took a step back as two silverfish lunged at him narrowly missing, landing on the ground in two pieces. 

Douma fanned himself with a smile spreading across his face; these creatures still weren't very bright had they not learn from their previous battle? It was amusing to say the least but Douma wasn't going to let that distract him as the alien bugs were still trying to land a hit on the young founder who dodged their clumsy attacks and returned a gust of cold wind towards them.

"Pick on someone in your own league next time," Douma mocked fanning himself boredly. "Hurting people isn't very nice look at the number of lives you've taken." While the battle was ongoing people were still getting attacked there was way more of them.

"Someone's here to save us!"

"Did he just kill one of those things?!"

Curiosity wasn't going to save them, creeping up close was another group of silverfish eyeing them. Taking note of this the civilians took off only to fall into the claws of the ruthless creatures. Douma wanted to heal them but the creatures were fast at finishing off their prey it would be miserable to live with the trauma if they couldn't recover from it, these people have seen a lot already. Even if he went over to them packs of the monsters would follow after him and use that as an opportunity to find more people.

Just then one of the creatures stopped in its tracks letting out a gurgling sound from its throat. Everyone watched as the creature looked up at the group of people standing in front of it and opened its jaws.

Douma had a bad feeling about this he signaled to them to leave the area immediately.

To their horror, the creature sprayed a strange substance which landed on a few unfortunate people. 

Douma widened his eyes this was the first time in a while he genuinely felt terrified as cries of pain emitted through the area, the targets fell to the floor rolling around trying to get rid of the acidic substance burning through their skin. Smoke rose to the air leaving behind a few badly scalded corpses with their decomposing bones showing. 

"THEY CAN SHOOT ACID!"

Another stampede began everyone in that congested area started running towards the junction which marked the end of the heavily destructed site. Those under the rubble were left behind while a few fell to the ground with sprained knees and ankles unable to get away in time, there was no brotherhood in this situation once an individual falls they're never getting up.

The sound of footsteps grew louder as Shinobu glanced behind her and widened her eyes at the group of horrified people running from the dissolving bodies that were collapsing to the ground. 

 Douma tried his best to get everyone away safely, carrying a few people from the rubble and ground towards the exit but some of them rebelled and yelled at him to put them down. Reluctant to do so, Douma continued sprinting but it was too much to handle when they started hitting him with their elbows and fists, he didn't feel any pain but it was bugging him.

Since they wanted to be free so badly Douma let them go and ran over to more fallen civilians, getting the same treatment; gratitude or fury there was no in-between and Douma couldn't comprehend why there were mixed reactions from him just trying to help.

Passing a few people who were succumbing to their burning wounds, Douma averted his gaze to the remaining people seeing they were clearly exhausted from all the running, the minute they saw him it sparked motivation as they bolted through. 

"We're almost there!"

"I think I dropped something-"

"Don't look back just keep going!"

Once he led every single person to safety, Douma turned around and raised his fans.

"What are you doing?" Someone from the crowd asked. "There's too many of them!"

"Can you stop taking breaks and just focus on getting out of here?!" The person concerned about Douma's safety was led away leaving Douma to face the merciless creatures alone.

His annoyance was building up but perhaps he had been too light with his attacks, the blonde looked at the insectoids with chilling eyes and concentrated his pulsing energy onto his fans, glancing back a few times to ensure the area was clear.

A silverfish threw itself towards him in an attempt to stop him from unleashing his next move, with a few more reinforcements closely behind it.

"Scattering Lotuses!" Two ice shards sliced right through the insectoids that instant leaving specks of frost on the ground, covering their minced remains.

The now chilly air flowed through Douma freezing everything around it. The blonde leaped up and held his fans back taking a deep breath; it seems there was an audience, onlookers watched the phenomenon that was about to occur. Something they've never seen before it was like watching a movie.

"Freezing Clouds!"

The same gush of cold wind from the previous battle blasted through, this time much larger engulfing the infrastructure around it. A few buildings toppled while the stores and vehicles below were completely decimated. There was nothing left except fragments and more debris piling up.

Now the alien creatures stood no chance, the cold air rushed towards them sending them off their feet. Frost started forming on them, suffocating their lungs until they were finally out of breath. Douma watched as they exploded and shattered into ice shards.

The temporary avalanche cleared presenting a view of the vicinity which was now in ruins.

A couple of explosions were heard, the cold air travelled to every corner leaving flames behind turning the air quite humid.

Douma sighed and kept his fans in his pockets. The whole thing was nerve-racking but still manageable although many people had lost their lives which was devastating for the survivors. An attack of vicious insects was something nobody expected.

The sound of aircraft from the sky was the last thing he heard as the young founder backed away, he couldn't risk having his identity revealed to the world, they wouldn't understand and he'd be tracked down. They might think he was responsible for this mess. From the looks on those people's faces some of them probably thought he was one of the monsters which wasn't going to help if his rescue ever became a case, not that it was a bad thing but as long as lives were saved that's all that matters.