Chapter 22: Shroud of Survival

The group ascended the stairwell, eventually reaching the exit of the cavern. Alex sighed heavily. “Man, I’m exhausted. Are you two okay?”

As Alex looked back at Celeste and Natsumi, Natsumi walked toward him, grabbing his arm. “Ever since I became an Oni, I don’t get tired easily or exhausted. Something like this is nothing at all for me,” she said with a confident smirk.

Celeste stepped forward and nodded. “The same for me. I’ve trained in fighting demons for thousands of years. This stairwell is nothing to me either. You just lived a comfortable life as a human, so you don’t have the stamina built up yet, even with your Nephilim blood awakened. That’s something we’ll have to work on during this journey.”

They stepped out into the open, scanning the horizon. In the distance, Fujiyoshida City shimmered faintly beneath the dim light. “That tunnel was pretty long,” Alex muttered. “Didn’t expect we’d end up this far from the city.”

Celeste glanced around, her expression tightening. “The red mist is starting to move in. We need to hurry back to the shelter. We’ve been out here much longer than expected.”

Natsumi straightened, gripping Muramasa as her eyes darted across the landscape. “Yeah, let’s move. When the red mist rolls in, too many mean ones come out, just like in the other layers.”

The three increased their pace, running toward the city. Their footsteps echoed across the cracked pavement as the first wisps of crimson fog began to drift over the distant rooftops, urging them onward to the safety of the shelter below.

They finally made it back just in time. As the red fog rolled in and swallowed the entire city, they sealed the shelter door tight behind them. The heavy desk was pushed back into place, quieting the eerie howls outside. Exhausted, the group slumped to the floor, finally resting for the first time that day.

Celeste was the first to break the silence. Alex leaned against the wall, breathing deeply while Natsumi rummaged through Santa’s sack and pulled out a box of Pocky sticks. She snapped one between her teeth as Celeste spoke softly but firmly. “We need to leave tomorrow. The longer we wait, the more time Legion has to recover. If he regains his strength, it’ll be that much harder to slip past him and reach the portal.”

Natsumi tilted her head, chewing thoughtfully. “Then why don’t we just make a fog with magic to block his vision of us? We could sneak right by him. Alex made that awesome wind spell. Shouldn’t he be able to make fog too?”

Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “I could try, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to do it by tomorrow. Unless you want to try as well. Celeste did teach you the basics, so this might be a good chance for both of us to practice. Just don’t stay up too late.”

Natsumi’s eyes sparked with determination. “Yes, let’s try it!” she said eagerly, setting her snack aside. She closed her eyes, focusing on the image of clouds and fog. Alex did the same beside her, channeling what energy he could still muster, still drained from the battle with the Corpse Giant. Hours slipped by as the two practiced forming a fog spell, while Celeste simply sat back, resting quietly and watching over them with a faint smile. Every once in a while, she offered Natsumi a few pointers or answered her questions, helping her get a better grasp of her mana and control over her magical power.

After a while, Alex’s eyelids grew heavy. He tried to keep them open, but exhaustion won out, and he drifted into sleep against the wall. Natsumi, however, refused to stop. Even after Celeste eventually fell asleep beside him, Natsumi kept practicing. She focused harder with each attempt, determined to improve. The faint glow of her mana shimmered in the dark shelter as she continued training throughout the night.

Natsumi put another Pocky stick in her mouth as she chewed on it, her thoughts swirling. This is my idea, she thought. I have to be able to do this. I don’t want them to abandon me or leave me behind, so I need to become useful. She glanced at Alex’s sleeping face, her voice soft but filled with resolve. “I cannot allow you to leave me behind. You are my comfort and my safety, and when I’m with you, the loneliness in my heart disappears. So I will not let you down. I’ll push through all night if I have to.”

Finishing her Pocky stick, Natsumi closed her eyes and focused again, channeling every bit of her imagination into her creation of the spell. A faint glow appeared on her fingertips as she continued practicing, trying to form the spell once more.

When morning finally came, Alex’s eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times until his vision became clear, then looked around. Celeste was still beside him, her breathing calm and steady. Natsumi, however, had collapsed sometime during the night and was now lying across his lap, clutching his leg in a tight grip. “Morning already?” he murmured, rubbing his eyes.

He gave a small chuckle and gently shook them both. “Hey, girls, time to get up. I think it’s morning.” Slowly, Celeste stirred awake, blinking the sleep from her eyes, while Natsumi mumbled softly and shifted, still half-asleep, refusing to let go of him.

After a few moments, both girls sat up. Natsumi adjusted her glasses and suddenly smiled brightly. “I did it! Last night, I actually created the fog spell!”

Celeste smiled faintly, stretching her arms. “That’s good. When we get out of the shelter, I want you to show me. We need to make sure you can actually maintain it as we sneak through, because once your magical energy runs out, the fog will disappear along with it.”

They unblocked the shelter door and stepped out into the dim light of the garage above. Celeste folded her arms and nodded. “Alright, let’s see it.”

Natsumi took a deep breath, held out her finger, and focused. A small puff of cloud formed at the tip, soft and fluffy, almost like cotton candy. “Fog!” she called, and the small cloud suddenly expanded outward into a thick mist that blanketed the entire garage.

Celeste smiled approvingly, then walked around the garage, seeing its range limit. “You did well. But this won’t help much once we step outside it. We’ll need to spread it further. Can you do that?”

Natsumi thought for a moment, lowering her hand. “I can make the cast radius bigger, but it will consume too much of my mana if I have to maintain it for a long time.”

Alex stepped forward with a grin. “If I create another wind spell, like an updraft variation, I could probably push the fog around instead of letting it stay condensed in one place.”

“Good idea,” Celeste said, nodding. “You work on that while we eat breakfast.”

They returned to the shelter, pulled out some food, and sat together to eat while Alex focused on shaping his new spell in his mind. The process wasn’t too difficult since he already understood the principles behind his updraft magic.

After breakfast, they gathered their belongings and prepared to move out. But before they could step outside, the ground began to tremble violently. A deep, distant roar echoed throughout Fujiyoshida City, followed by numerous other loud roars that shook the entire city.

Then, amid the chaos, a familiar voice cut through the noise, a chilling, distorted tone that made their blood run cold. “We know you’re here,” the voice yelled out. “We saw you with one of our many eyes. Come out and become one with us.” It was Legion.

Celeste spoke with irritation. “He found us. This isn’t good.”

The tremors grew stronger. Cracks splintered through the floor of the garage, spreading from the same fissure Natsumi and Celeste had fallen through the day before. The entire structure began to groan and crumble, pieces breaking away into the black river below.

“We need to get out of here now!” Alex shouted. The three bolted for the stairwell, ascending as the ground behind them and the stairwell started to collapse into the dark abyss. Dust and debris rained down as the building gave way.

They burst through the exit and into the open, gasping for breath. But before they could regain composure, a low, rumbling voice echoed once again. “There you are. We see you now.”

From the corner of their vision, a grotesque, blue-skinned imp floated into view from the nearby building, its single, bulbous eye glinting with malice. The little abomination flew toward the giant, towering Legion in the distance and then merged with it, just another one of Legion’s many forms.

Natsumi stood behind Alex, peeking around his side at the monstrous figure. “So, how are we going to deal with that?” she asked nervously.

Alex exhaled sharply. “We’ve got to do what Celeste said, hit it with Bunyan’s Axe. But first, we need to hide ourselves. Maybe we can sneak around him. Can you cast your fog spell?”

Natsumi gave a small, confident smile. “Yes. Let me try.” She raised her hand, focusing on the image in her mind. “Fog!” she called. Instantly, the area became shrouded in a dense mist, the white haze rolling across the cracked streets.

Alex lifted his hand and spoke the new incantation he had prepared. “Breeze.” A soft current of wind flowed through the fog, spreading it outward until it blanketed the nearby city blocks, concealing them from Legion’s many eyes.

“I’ll hold it as long as I can,” Natsumi said, her voice strained but steady.

“Good,” Celeste replied quickly. “Let’s move now.”

The group dashed through the fog, their footsteps muffled as Legion’s booming voice echoed behind them. “You can’t hide from us,” it thundered, stomping its massive foot into the ground. The impact shook the city, blowing the fog outward and clearing a vast patch of visibility.

But before Legion could find them, Natsumi’s fog quickly rolled back in, reinforced by Alex’s Breeze spell, cloaking their path once more as they disappeared into the mist.

Then Legion’s massive body began to crumble. “You cannot get away from us,” it yelled, its many voices overlapping in a cacophony. “We are many, and we will find you.” Its form broke apart, shrinking as hundreds of thousands of small demons and abominations spilled from its body. The creatures spread out through the city, their shrieks echoing as they scurried into every street and alley.

“There’s just three of you,” Legion’s fading voice boomed. “And many of us. You cannot escape.”

The trio ran as the sound of countless abominations filled the air, coming from every direction, closing in from the darkness, the rooftops, and the mist-shrouded ruins surrounding them.