Gunner walked into the room as he put down a little girl, who was lying in his arms, in an enchanted shield that he had made merely five minutes ago. He was still sceptical for the moment to arrive that he had to use it despite knowing that it might come in handy if things went out of control. That was essentially the motive for him to even draw it. It wasn’t a physical shield that he could hold. It was purely a circle with runes that was drawn with tip of his fingers, and with his pure blood. And to draw just the runes itself took him the time longer than the dinner he had enjoyed moment ago. And with some spells that he chanted. Now it was all worth it.
Immediately after he turned his back from the little girl, he doubted if it would suffice to hold what was coming for him, and more importantly this unconscious and fragile girl that he had just met for several hours.
“What do we do now?” A blond woman who also stood inside the presumably safe circle asked. Gunner didn’t bother to pay attention to her query or to spare her a quick glance of hope. He had to concentrate on the peril lingered outside the door of this chamber.
The chamber was considered tiny for the four of them. There was another guy who didn’t speak a word since the very beginning of when peril surfaced from hell itself. And he probably was just flabbergasted during moment like this when he thought angel was fictitious but then one came down from the sky with flapping wings. But the irony was it wasn’t angel that intruded, it was the devil himself.
And he was the only one who wasn’t in the safe circle other than Gunner. Gunner didn’t think it was necessary to waste just a little more of his blood to fit the three of them. Now he knew he had made a terrible mistake.
“Just don’t step out of the circle,” Gunner finally warned, and after a brief pause, he added, “No matter what happens.” Because if they did, the spell would be broken, and there would be nothing standing between the devil and its prey.
“What about me?” the guy finally spoke. His voice shook frightened. The moment he finished his sentence the door was slammed shut. And the ceiling lights dimmed in an eerily slow manner. As if the devil needed them to know it wasn’t that electricity was cut off, or a short circuit had occurred, not that it mattered. And it had succeeded in inflicting dread inside all of them, but not Gunner.
The thing was ten years of devil hunting had taught Gunner more than just drawing runes and enchanted circles. And he didn’t reckon himself as an easy foe for the appalling devils. But he couldn’t hurt devils if they weren’t in the same realm. And here came the tricky part as this devil was far more powerful than he’d imagined. In fact, it was powerful enough to travel between realms. In order to put an end to it he had to pin it down in the same realm as him.
“Please God...please help us,” the guy begged and wept like a terrified child at the corner of the room. His body convulsed in what had already become pitch black of his surroundings. But the thing was to hunt devil, Gunner never needed his eyes. He only needed his ears to perceive the devil’s movement, and his fists stained with his very own blood to kill it.
All devils were impatient, and Gunner knew it. He was just waiting for it to charge first, waiting while drop of his own blood dripped on the floor like morning dew fell from the leaf. He was ready.
“Raven’s...blood,” a deep voice growled in the dark. “I’m not that stupid...Raven Warriors.” Gunner groaned as the deep voice continued, “You think you can save the girl...interesting...” Gunner didn’t move an inch, and he didn’t respond either. It was moot to bargain with devils as most of them wouldn’t even keep their promises. It would be smarter to save his breath instead. “I’ve killed too...too many of the ravens.” The air in the room was disconcertingly still as the devilish voice continued its speech. “You can go find Hel and tell her how you die in my hands yourself. Your life. End. Tonight.” And it actually made that evil laughter to end its speech like how the old and dull story book likes to depict.
Gunner’s faith didn’t vacillate. The tip of his lips curled in derision. The thing about devils was they were arrogant too. In fact, at least half of the devils he had killed uttered the same nonsense before Gunner drilled his fists deep into its heart.
“Watch out!” the blond woman screamed the moment Gunner smelled the stench of reek that came only from devils. Its claw came for Gunner’s shoulder out of nowhere, quicker than fleeting lightning.
Gunner had to admit that the blond woman was brave. Everyone in the room could discern out the silhouette of the devil now despite the darkness. It came too close. Even the little girl, Gunner had no idea when she had regained her consciousness, the first thing she saw was too horrendous for an innocent child to witness. As for the guy, he had already fainted the moment he laid eyes on the vicious creature that was hanging in mid-air.
The vile abomination was struggling, trying to break free from Gunner’s grip. Apparently, Gunner’s fist was faster. And he didn’t give himself a single second to slack. One of his hands was holding the grip on the devil’s neck, and another was writing runes in the empty air.
“It’s...not...possible,” the devil cried with its choked breaths.
Then Gunner began chanting with his low unflustered tone, “When darkness devours light, and demons breathe and blight. Ebony birds will set things right...” The devil began howling wildly as if to summon demons to break him free from Gunner’s grip, but it only made Gunner clutch even tighter. Gunner inhaled a deep breath as he spoke again. His voice became loud and crystal clear. “All foul souls will perish tonight! As we are hell...mightiest knights!”
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