The Capital Battle Begins

Yuki bounced over to get his friend as Yumi still tried to figure out how Seiji changed himself. “Since when did you try to start making dramatic entrances?” he teased.

“What sort of training did you do?” Saki asked, noting as clearly as Yumi did in the change of his stature. She stared at him as she walked up in front in a commanding presence. It appeared that she wanted to know if he would be someone that she could count on in the battle to come. They had all failed in the end to win before. So she wanted to be sure things would be different most likely.

However, the longer that she stared at Seiji with no further words between them, Yumi detected tension developing in the air. There was something else going on unsaid in the words she asked him. She demanded a different sort of answer from him, one that only conveyed through subtext. ‘What’s gotten into Saki? Seiji’s plenty strong, stronger than any of us. He’ll be fine in the battle, what’s she worried about?’ They did have Yuki’s plan that would turn the tide of the battle for them.

“Exactly the shit I needed to fight.”

‘That’s oddly vague coming from him…’

Saki seemed to have a better understanding of what he meant by his words, though she didn’t reveal it to the rest of the group. Yumi only picked up on it through the subtle changes in her face as she stared at Seiji. The week sparring with her gave her at least some better insight into Saki as a person. Though she still remained difficult to crack.

But regardless of training or not, they needed to be moving. Yumi stepped into the silent battle that seemed to be waged between the two. Their conflict driven relationship hadn’t disappeared as Saki’s previous statement seemed to imply. She patted her hands on their shoulders to get everyone’s attention. “If everyone’s ready we’ve got an army of demons arriving at the Capital today looking for their hosts.”

“Yumi’s right,” Yuki added, jumping into the fires as well now. “Our energies are needed elsewhere.”

“They’re right,” agreed Seiji, backing away from Saki.

“Yes, we do have a battle to fight.”

Yumi got everyone to move towards the door. It didn’t have the same sort of feeling that she hoped it would. Everyone was committed to the battle. She could sense the determination, there was no doubt to that. Yet, the tension from Saki’s confrontation with Seiji spoiled the atmosphere. It no longer had the same feeling she wanted.

Reluctant as she was about things, Yumi tried to focus on the present and what stood in front of her. Surviving to the end of the day. Her goal remained out of reach, but she had to live to even move towards it. Today was important. “It’s time for war!”

Chapter 438 – The Capital Battle Begins

The Capital had a dead feeling to it, despite the numbers of soldiers and Hunters running around. Final preparations for the siege by the demons kept some life still in the otherwise empty streets. Most moved to the wall, the direction where the smoke from the demon army’s advance called out. From far away, the wall kept much of it out of sight, only an upper piece of the smoke, hiding the true scope.

As they made their way to the wall, they came in front of a road block, a familiar roadblock that they had hoped never to see again. Yumi had to keep telling herself that they were technically on the same side. Though she could see the look in Saki’s eyes. The risk of a fight breaking out seemed almost a foregone conclusion with the way she looked.

Yumi stepped forward as the leader and met with the Demon Hunters. “Good morning! Out to kill some demons?” She pretended like it was her first time meeting them.

“Yes, today does seem like a good day for such activities,” answered Shuichi Raikatuji, leader of the Reverse Eyes, those that hunted Yumi down, even going so far as to cross demon territory, twice. She still wondered how they managed such a feat.

Keeping her mask up, she held her posture unflinching. “I was on my way in that direction as well.”

“Is that right? You fight demons too?”

“The Guild is paying well for heads.”

“A bounty hunter, eh? They are trying to get as many hands out in the defense of the Capital.”

“We’re about the only ones willing to stay in the Capital voluntarily.”

“Yes, it’s quite quiet today. I find myself missing the noise of the morning business.”

“Indeed, it is weird, but I can’t blame them for wanting to leave.” She stepped another step forward towards him. “But I’m afraid I can’t speak with you further, there are demons with bounties out there.” Yumi resumed her walk past them with confidence, not revealing her nerves to the enemy.

It seemed like she would get out without any further harassment, but he spoke up, not meeting eyes with her. “You should be careful out there. There are some very dangerous criminals in the Capital that escaped from our dungeon.”

“That does sound bad. I’m glad you told us. I hope you’re able to catch them soon.”

“Indeed, I believe they’re close.”

“We’ll be sure to remain watchful while fighting the demons.” Yumi resumed her walk away from the Hunters. They fortunately didn’t seem to have any plans for them at the moment. The threat of the demons that they faced likely made them curb any of their plans to arrest her and her friends.

Once they were far beyond their sight, everyone became more chatty reacting to the awkward scene. “I’m impressed Yumi,” Yuki commented on how she managed the conversation and even slightly toying with the man. “Since when did you have such ways with your words?”

“I’ve been with you for the last three months facing down one enemy after another, some of it was bound to rub off.”

Seiji gave her a hearty pat on the back for her bravery. “Think they know that it’s us or rather Nerine that evacuated all of the people from the damn city?”

“They probably have their suspicions, but they aren’t certain,” answered Saki, “But they’re clearly bothered about it happening while on their watch. You could tell from his words.”

“Man, I would have loved to see that bastard’s face when he learned about it.”

“I’m more just glad that they didn’t try to arrest us again.” It was the main and only thing really going through Yumi’s mind during the whole conversation. Since he hadn’t made any sort of mention of it the whole time until the end, her nerves remained on edge. Each word out of his mouth had the chance of being another threat. The false amiability only heighted it and yet she could only respond in kind to it. “We have been out for a week and they made no move on us. We made every effort to stay hidden from their eyes, but they never acted.”

“Likely because they couldn’t act.” Saki likely always seemed to have a clear picture of the man, better than Yumi ever did and more than she wished. “He’s a bastard, but he does only act when ordered. The higher ups probably kept him in check. The threat of the demons is just as real to them. They probably hope for us to be killed fighting demons and use us to thin out the ranks before they take all of the glory in the end.”

“Self-centered bastards!”

“I don’t plan on giving them that satisfaction.” She continued to the wall with her friends until the soldiers began to crowd out the street. They all jumped up to the roof of a nearby building getting a view of the organization.

Yumi saw the soldiers hurrying about nervous about their chances against the demon army. At a glance, it could easily be mistaken for randomness, people far out of their depths frightened and scared. Yet, Yumi could see there was order to it all. They had goals and took final measures. All things moved from plans that Yuki put into place. ‘I’m not smart enough to have come up with something like this. Yuki might be making me the leader, but that doesn’t mean as the leader I do everything. I still have everyone here to provide their skills.’ A lesson that she recently learned, something that he had been trying to explain to her since they arrived. ‘I’m just a little slow on the pickup. But Yuki has a lot of faith in me figuring it out without explaining it to me…’

She focused back on the wall and the sounds she could start faintly hearing. The distant echoes of the demon army created an ominous and dark symphony of chaos and death. Even without seeing them, she felt the overwhelming pressure it created. Though it did help that she scouted out their camp and saw them, it fueled her imagination well enough to add to that tension.

“Hey, when the hell’s Nerine going to show up? She should have finished already right?”

“Something new came up while you were off training. She’ll join us when the battle is already in progress.”

“What shit did you send her off to do, Yuki?”

“She’s far safer than we’ll be here.”

“As long as she’s safe.”

“She is. We’re more likely to die than her.”

Saki stepped up next to Yuki and knocked him in the back of the head. “No pessimism before the battle.”

“Just being realistic. My plan will only make our chances not zero, not give us a certain victory. The demon lords are still going to be the threat.”

“I’ll just show off the proof of my training then,” Yumi answered with confidence. Most of it contained bravado rather than real confidence. She felt the power of a demon lord and battled someone that was as close as could be to one while still being unfathomably far away from that goal. More than the rest, she understood what that threat meant. Even with all of the training with Saki, she was scared to her core. But she couldn’t show it to the group. She had to be strong.

Seiji bounced up hearing such words. “I haven’t seen what shit you two have been working on! How much stronger did you get?” He jumped over to get more out of Yumi on her personal lessons with Saki. A genuine child-like interest overtook him. It almost appeared like he wanted to fight her just to find out.

She couldn’t give him the fight that he seemed to be itching for, they had a battle coming. “It was only a week. So I’m not going to make all that much progress. I never did win a match against her.”

Yuki leaned forward looking over at Saki remembering a different picture. “I’m pretty sure I remember healing a nearly dead Saki.”

“Oh that wasn’t from sparring!” she replied denying any claim to have beaten Saki.

Seiji looked over at Saki as well, having not been present for any of the time that they returned. He had a shocked look on his face, he seemed to be trying to picture a fatally wounded Saki. “What the hell sort of lessons got you nearly killed?!”

“We really don’t have the time for this.” Saki jumped forward to land on the wall ending any sort of discussion that they might want about her training methods.

“Saki’s running away,” teased Seiji with a grin, “You know I’m not letting go of this shit, right?” He jumped after her, not letting her escape.

“After this battle then if you’re so persistent.”

“That’s a little disappointing as hell, I was hoping for a little more fight out of you.”

“Then you should look over the wall.” Just coming into their sights was the black mass that covered the horizon. It looked like most were already in their demon form skipping their human disguise. The demons were serious about this battle from the start. This would be the final battle that determined all.