CRINKLING DARKNESS

Nandru sat down, tenderly cupping his face, “No, Human, you are outside.”

Haha, he fell for it

I thought Star Awesome members were better than this

Haha hah, let's rip him open. 

The pounding in his chest surged while he frantically tried to escape. The darkness narrowed around them; Nandru laughed; his eyes shimmered, morphing into a red glow.

I WANT TO SEE HIS INSIDES

I WILL EAT HIM

Eaht?, I will tahke him with meh

Lusty demon, let me eat him after that....

Faces morphed within the darkness, followed by crinkling sounds from the movement of those creatures. The disgust made Ren nauseous, making it challenging to swallow his saliva. The crumpling increased whilst they huddled together, mutating into people. The darkness around them finally subsided. 
Normal human-like people but with glowing red eyes.
Nandru burst into laughter; Ren turned to him. He had a different face now.

"Ren-" Ren heard Macabre's voice.
He looked towards him; Jacksaw and Macabre stood not too far away from him. Nami wasn't in sight. Ren raised his hand towards them.

"We aren't coming out to help you." Jacsaw glared at Ren, not moving an inch while rubbing his left arm.
"Y-yeah..." Macabre yawned, taking a step forward. "You brought it on yourself for listening to a demon."

Ren's hand twitched, slowly lowering it. "Please."
Is this karma for not wanting to help Philomena and Yuzuru?
He glanced at Nandru. Or this is a lesson for falling for the demon's words.

Ren felt a glow erupt from beneath him and Nandru. He lowered his gaze and noticed a sigil. Light struck out of it, shredding Nandru's arms. The demon shrieked in agony. 

"Run back in!" Jacksaw yelled.
Jacksaw held his left hand up; a sigil glowed in front of it.
Ren looked at him, quickly getting up. He wasn't much further from the shield.

But another demon grabbed him, pulling him back. "Heha, youh are cahming to mah chambehrs......." The demon loosened his grip while a tremor ran over his body. He lowered his head as the glow in his eyes disappeared. "RUN." 

He spoke in a familiar feminine voice. 
Nami?

Ren entered into the shield; ripples illuminated around him. Once inside, he bent down, gasping for air.
"Th-thank...y-you."

Jacksaw sighed, "Yeah, yeah." 
Nami came out from the tent; her hair was like a pink gel glowing bright.
Her full body seemed to be glowing.
Ren blushed; his body felt warm. He took a step forward.
Jacksaw covered his eyes. "That's her attraction; don't look."
As soon as she was out of sight, Ren's body temperature felt normal.

Jacksaw uncovered his eyes.
Nami's hair was normal now.
"Turn my way." Jacksaw spoke softly.
Ren turned to him; Jacksaw grabbed his face. He bent closer.

"W-whaaa." Ren panicked, trying to move away.
"Hold still." Jacksaw touched their foreheads together. He bent away, still holding Ren. With his left hand Jacksaw began drawing something on his forehead while chanting some unheard words.
"I am warding off the love effect of the attraction."

After they were done, Nami walked to Ren. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thank you all. I was scared." A sense of relief took over him; he smiled. "Thanks a lot."

"Well, we had no idea what to do—" Jacksaw chuckled, looking at the demons knocking on the shield. The demons had taken the forms of other Star Awesome members. 
"So I went to ask Sen for help." Nami almost murmured as she spoke Sen's name. 

"S-sen?" Ren took a step back. "Sen?" he repeated, since he was unable to believe their words.
"Y-yeah, when you were pulled out, I rushed over to Sen." Nami tugged on her shirt. 
"A-and he helped me?" Ren clenched his chest.

"Newbie, shush. If he killed you once, that doesn't mean he won't help you ever..." Jacksaw chuckled smugly. "Besides, the one thing he is way too good at is plotting..."

Tent cloth rustled, and Sen walked out. As soon as he saw Nami, his expression softened. He walked to her with a gentle smile. Ren stared at him. 
This expression he has never borne before. 

As if sensing the intense stares, Sen glanced at Ren. "Ren, try not to be fooled this easily." He spoke sarcastically. Sen gently patted Nami's head and turned to face the others. Without a word, he went to the shield. 
"Demons, what do you want?" 
The demos wailed, crying out that they were scared and needed help. Sen's glare intensified. "Stupid idiots, a trick used before never works twice."

The demons looked at each other and burst into laughter. In a monotone they exclaimed.
"We are here to take down you guys on orders of the demon Prince Podestray."

Sen sighed, "Really?"
One of the demons bent closer to the shield and whispered something to Sen. 
Sen ran his hand through his hair and took a step out of the shield.
He turned around and exchanged a look with Nami, who quickly ran inside the girl's camp. Sen twirled his fingers.

What is that guy up to?

One of the demons yelled, "That Nomed girl, she ran in; she might possess—" 

Sen shoved his scythe through the demon's chest and abruptly slid it up, splitting the demon. 
Another demon tried to grab Sen, but he was thrown away by a demon with non-glowing red eyes.

The demon and Sen began slaughtering other demons.

Ren thought he could see a wide smirk on Sen's face until Sen burst into maniacal laughter. He ripped them apart without mercy. 
Even though they look like HUMANS.

"Don't look at him like that." Jacksaw chuckled, "The demons regenerate, so he has to be as merciless as he is being."
"But what about the laughter?" Ren bit his nail nervously.
"Oh, that's a habit, I guess..." Jacksaw sighed and looked back at Sen. "Good thing Sen isn't much good with powers; he would have been a menace..." 
"I-I heard this before. Is Sen not a high-grade power user?"
"Yeah—he has good skills, and he is kinda clever, but not genius enough to memorize magic...like I did."

Macabre, who had fallen asleep, finally woke up. He yawned, looking around. He jumped up and smilingly walked over to Ren and Jacksaw.
"Finally, I am up, so what's up with that lunatic massacring a bunch of lowly demons?"
He spoke in an utterly different voice. 
"Ah, so you woke up, shadow." Jacksaw glanced at Macabre and sighed.

"Yeah, I did!" Macabre chuckled; he grabbed Ren's arm, shaking it. "Hey, new guy, I am Shadow."
Ren tugged his arm back. "What's up with this guy?" 
"This is Shadow, the creature who took over Macabre, and before you ask Macabre wanted to be stronger..." Jacksaw walked away.
"Haha, that Macabre, such a nice kid, right?" The shadow laughed, looking down at himself. "I am glad... Oh well, I should fight the demonsssssss..." He tilted his head. "Nah."

He walked out of the dome; his body went completely black while losing its density.

He was now like a black paper.
His flat legs elongated, sliding down and sticking against the ground.
The rest of his flattish body followed the same motion.

On the ground he was like a shadow of an enormous person.

The shadow took long steps, walking away from the shield.

Ren blinked twice. That was awkward.

He realised the demons had stopped regenerating, and Sen stood amidst some black gooey material.