Containment

When the three of them rushed out onto the street, mayhem awaited them. One of the nearby buildings had collapsed, was now burning and clouds of ash and smoke hung in the air, making it even more difficult to breathe. Ose, normally an example of composure was looking around frantically.

"What is going on?" shouted Michio.

"I'm not completely sure," Answered Ose "but a demon or something else is trying to break it's containment and get to heaven. I have to find it quickly." He was getting increasingly nervous, apparently this situation had caught even him on the wrong foot.

"Over there!" Aidas scream startled both Ose and Michio once again and both of them looked in the direction Aida was pointing. And indeed, in one of the ash clouds stood a demon that looked decidedly different from all the others they had seen. It seemed to be a lot bigger than any of the others and it emitted a faint glow. It also was heavily breathing and when it exhaled it looked like a thick cloud of black smoke was exiting the monsters nostrils. By now the street was pretty much empty, even all the other inhabitants of hell apparently knew when it was time to call it quits.

“So what do we do?” Asked Michio and he looked at Ose who seemed to have gathered himself again. Then he took something out of his jacket. It was a ring roughly three inches in diameter.

“Every demon gets one of these applied to it when he first enters hell. It limits their power. And each one is powered by a soul that inhabits it,” Ose started to explain. “Demons naturally want to havoc evil and even more so in heaven, so they try to fight the ring all the time. And since the souls that inhabit the rings are only as strong as they are serene, most of the rings are weak and they break on a regular basis. And then I have to apply a new one,” he continued.

“Can we help you?” asked Michio. He didn't really know how, but he at least wanted to show his support for the issue at hand.

“It would be too risky. We are already dead, but the demon can still hurt us and souls aren't indestructible either.” Ose look very serious when he said that.

“So that means if that ring is destroyed, a soul is lost forever?” Aidas question was very silent, but both Ose and Michio understood it perfectly.

“Yes, that's the case. It's a terrible thing, but there is no helping it. If a demon ever gets to heaven, it will destroy countless souls, so it's the price we have to pay.”

“So if we give our souls or our childs soul to you, it might also get destroyed?” Aida seemed very concerned by this.

“Yes, that might be the case. But it's not very likely since your souls and especially the soul of your child will be very resilient.” answered Ose. Aida still seemed concerned, but didn't add anything more. In the meantime the out of control demon had taken note of them and was slowly marching towards them, each step shaking the ground beneath it.

“So how do we stop that thing?” Michio had to shout over the steps of the demons that sounded like a hammer hitting an anvil.

“We have to put the ring on one of its horns.” answered Ose. Michio stared at the monster and it was at least 20 feet tall. There was no easy way to reach the horns.

“This one is particularly huge as well.” Ose seemed genuinely worried about the situation. Now the demon picked up a piece of debris from the collapsed house and looked at it for a couple seconds.

Ose reacted first and ran towards the demon, apparently wanting to take advantage of the demon distracting itself. Michio and Aida stayed behind and watched Ose run towards the demon with amazing speed. But he had to cover a couple hundred yards and finally the demon took note of him.

It seemed to have decided what it wanted to do with the piece of debris in his hand and hurled it at Ose with great power. It missed Ose by a hair but that meant it was suddenly headed directly for Michio and Aida and it took him a little moment too long to realize that he would be hit directly to react and so he the piece of rock that the monster let lose a fraction of a second earlier was about to hit him directly only for him to suddenly be pushed aside and it missing him even more closely than it had missed Ose. When Michio hit the ground he felt something heavy on him and he realized that it was Aida. She had pushed him aside just in time for the debris to miss Michio.

“Aida, are you alright?” Michio suddenly panicked after Aida didn't seem to move and he was afraid that she was hit by the debris instead of him. Something he would never forgive himself for.

“I'm alright Hino.” she answered to Michios relief. His spontaneous reaction was to hug her tightly and she let it happen. “Thank you. You saved my life.” Michio whispered. Aida didn't answer anything, but Michio could see that her face turned red.

Amidst the heartwarming rescue Ose was still closing in on the demon. The creature was trying to pick up another piece of the crumbled building to throw at its enemy, but Ose was too quick and whilst the monster was leaning down he jumped up, higher than any human could hope to, and managed to put the ring on one of the monsters horns. The effect was immediate. The creature let out a gurgling scream that shook the surrounding buildings, but then it collapsed into a much smaller version of itself and ended up in a fetal position on the floor. Ose himself also collapsed on the floor and was breathing heavily. His normally dignified demeanor was in tatters. Then he remembered Aida and Michio and saw them laying on the floor and he jumped up to check on them.

“Are you two alright?” he asked worriedly.

“Yeah, we are.” answered Michio. “It was close though. That thing almost got us.”

“Sorry about that, I should have told you to stay inside. It was careless of me.” Ose answered visibly uneasy. Michio and Aida both got up from the ground.

“Don't worry about it. I think we needed to see this.” This time it was Aida who answered and her voice sounded very monotone, almost robotic. Ose and Michio looked at each other worriedly.

“Can we go home now?” continued Aida. This time her voice sounded like it was on the brink of breaking and it was obvious that the whole thing upset her greatly.

“Yes, I think we should take you home. That was enough for one day. I told you everything you need to know anyway, so you can make your decision.” answered Ose. He seemed to be apologetic about the whole thing and so the unlikely trio walked back to the elevator, as the street around them slowly started to fill with the usual array of demons and specters again.