Stephen was actually really impressed by the girl jumping down from the tree and landing cleanly and smoothly on two feet. He was pretty sure he'd never seen a girl do that before. But he also felt like he kinda had to do whatever she said, cos she was 2 years older than him, so he couldn't do what he wanted to do. Maybe Rai was right, he would be better on his own, having a 17 year old boss him around was a bit annoying but he could learn to live with it. But he couldn't help but notice she was a bit smaller than him and a little smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey um Steve, you smell that? Doesn't smell good..." Rai appeared on his shoulder tugging on his shirt. There was a puff of purple smoke around her as she frowned at the rain. He simply ignored her as he stared in disbelief as he was told he was late, and being called just Jelly? No one ever called him just Jelly, not even Rai, she called him Steve. But Jelly....this was a new one. And he was sure he wasn't late, he had tried to be on time with all he could, maybe she just hadn't noticed him. Or maybe Rai had slowed him down. He didn't like being late and technically she was his new boss, that meant he kinda had to be on time. He frowned at the ground, damn, that was a great first impression. "Oh, um sorry. I didn't mean to be late." He said nervously with a tiny stutter. He noticed she had just walked past him so he quickly shook his head and followed after her while Rai giggled in his ear.

But as he walked after her, he nticed the rain was going all splodgy and weird, and it did not look natural. "N-nice to meet you Cara.." He said as he stopped and observed the rain while Rai just stared at it from the safety of the red haired boys shoulder. "Smells like demon Steve..." She muttered causing him to groan. Then from one of the puddles of goo, a small ball of spikes and teeth rose with two sharp red eyes. "OH my god it's so cute!" Rai shouted as Steve just stared at it. "Um Cara....we've got a problem." He called after her with a near terrified voice.

A terrible screech that sounded from above had Blake's guard up and ready. The hawk had landed on his partner's arm as Blake scanned their surroundings. Granted it was drizzling, it was hard for him to spot any minute details that were out of the norm.

Just then, the smell caught up to him.

His nostrils twitched. There was that musky smell that his senses had learned to detest. It grew more putrid as the rain continued to drizzle. Demons? Where? Wha- Blake's train of thoughts had been severed as his attention was brought to a bubbling puddle just outside the gates. About three seconds later the puddle had taken on a semi-substantial form, creating a frothy mass of disgusting-looking jelly.

Now, Blake knew that demons like them were weaker. They didn't seem like much of a threat towards him or Jace, but sudden realization hit Blake like a bullet train. Raining... droplets- puddles forming almost everywhere-

Blake unclenched his butt muscles and allowed his claws to protract, the metal-like nails glinting underneath what little light the moon gave off. Blake watched as Jace shook off the little demons that had managed to form on his shield, and then summoned his two extra-terrestrial wolves. Jace had put on his game-front as soon as he too had witnessed the manifestation of the puddle demon.

MY HOMIEEES! Blake grinned at the sight of them. With one hand slicing through the droplets as they fell, he could hear the quiet yet familiar sizzling of tiny demons as they were split apart.

"Looks like we are in for some trouble-" Blake nodded furiously, looking like a feral cat as he swiped away at the air in rapid succession. In that moment, a troublesome droplet-turned-demon had crawled onto his upper lip whilst he was attacking the rain.

"Argh- damnit!" Blake groaned as he lifted a hand to get rid of the demon on his face, managing to give himself a ghastly scratch across his cheek. I'm more of a threat to myself than these guys are... he thought, pulling out a long band-aid and applying it on the wound. With all the rain, there would be millions of them in no time- so they'd need more people to fend them off before they get the chance to manifest. For now though, he'd chop through these bastards while they waited for the others.

"Ready to fight?"

"Heeeell yeah~" Blake positioned himself behind Jace. "These guys are small but deadly, so I'll have your back if anything happens-" he shouted through the rain as the rain puddles around them began to bubble, "...but I think we're gonna need some back-up soon." Blake finished as he inwardly revised his latin incantations.

"A true lady is able to control such uncouth actions."

Hunter sighed at Voracia's jab at Ego. Despite her arrogance and aloofness, the famine spirit was painfully good at picking up others feelings and attitudes. Seemed Ego's acidic opinion of her had not gone unnoticed. The sniper sighed before smiling at Id.

"No worries. You had every right to be angry, they were asking for it. I got pulled in by someone else anyway, it wasn't your fault."

As Eika took his arm, he shifted his rifle case to the opposite shoulder to avoid it clunking into her. The Barrett weighed a good 30 pounds, plus another 10 for the case. But Hunter had kept it with him for so long, he felt naked without it's weight. The rifle was heavy hitting enough to punch through even demon skin, and in Hunter's hands, was less a gun and more a surgical instrument. It almost made up for the fact that he could get knocked out by a whiffle bat. It seemed slightly odd actually, that the staff would pair someone who was usually stationed on the rooftops, providing Over-watch and a sort of hub for the patrols, with someone almost as useless in a fight as he was. He didn't mind much, the odds of something happening during patrol, let alone in the academy, were slim to nil, and she seemed pleasant enough. Still, strange considering the faculty showed a heavy favoritism *or paranoia* in keeping the blind girl safe due to her disability. As the pair made for the door, Eika's familiars slipping forward and Voracia keeping pace next to Hunter, he popped open the umbrella, lifting it over their heads as they walked into the rain.

He loved the rain. Like really loved it. Dreary, cold weather was his favorite, wasn't sure why. It was just...relaxing. Comfortable to him. He took a breath, then coughed at the scent.
"Oh god, what is that smell? It's like...burning and rotting all at once..."
The umbrella wobbled slightly, feeling strangely top heavy. His frown turned into a panicked gritting of the teeth as Voracia's eyes widened, her own parasol spinning as she flung it away and began to shout.
"HUN-"
The boy was already reacting, pushing Eika back towards the library with one hand, hurling the umbrella away with the other, and grabbing for the Makarov at his hip. The demons that had been growing on the umbrella pooled together into a dog sized ball of fangs and claws, tearing across the ground towards them as the pistol rose up. Voracia's hair strangled the life out of the demon that had been on her umbrella, eyes flaring gold as Hunter's pistol rang out loudly across the grounds.

BLAMBLAM BLAM

Three shots to the lump that Hunter assumed was the head, and the creature crumpled. The sniper already knew Id and Ego were primed and on guard, and Voracia had torn her demon in half with a single chomp, blood running down the back of her skull. Altitude. Hunter needed altitude. On ground level, he was at best a good marksman, at worst a liability. He'd only succeed in getting in the way of Id and Ego. But up high, with a scope, he was anything but. More tiny demons seemed to be sprouting up around them as Hunter moved backwards, one hand holding onto Eika's tightly as he kept her behind him, shots ringing out as his bullets vaporized the diminutive beings around them.

"Back into the library, now. We need to get higher, see what we can find, get in touch with the others. They're coming from the sky or something, being outside would be stupid!"

Hopefully the rest of the academy heard his gunshots and were now on the alert.

The walk would be nice -- though she figured he might be paranoid from it. Taking hold of Ego's hand before the brunette could bust a gasket case and make this all the more awkward, they were out of the door -- rain failing to connect to the two sisters by a mere thought of not wishing to be wet -- and...ah? Gunshots rang out, bringing confusion to the Tamer until she felt both of her familiar's aura kick up. That smell...
...Demons?

"...Eika."
Ego was instantaneous in her movement, as was her sister; practiced and performed time and time again, Id stepped back to take hold of Eika's free hand and brush her hand above herself, her Master, and the human accompanying with a shimmering light as Ego stepped forward with her hands manipulating a dark, pulsating orb between her palms as the demons formed far and wide from the downpour.
"Be careful. Don't lag behind. You know she'll be upset if you're hurt."
"Keep her safe. Big guy's still around if you get cut off. Yo, human. Hunter, whatever your name is...You better not be leading my Master into anything harmful!"
And then?

The most hideous smile that a beautiful girl like her could ever create with her delicate features as she simply dropped the orb down before her, the pulse traversing through the grounds before them in order to allow black spikes to erupt our from the magic created and shishkabob the poor things that'd actually opted to land on the ground. Meanwhile, Id tugged on Eika's arm to guide her with Hunter as they both backed up into the library-

CRASH.

A window being smashed in, the tiny nuisances began to flood in as Id threw her arm out to slam the doors to the library shut and began to tug Eika -- Hunter subsequently following -- up a flight of stairs in order to provide the latter with what he needed -- familiar grounds.
"They're in the library already, as expected. Come! We can get to the roof up here. Eika, remember it like class before. The moment my hand leaves yours-"
"I call him out. Understood. Hunter, we should hurry. They may be small, but a lot of them can over-run Voracia and Ego quick enough that some of them will be able to slide past while they're kept busy... Id, can you send a signal?"
The demon slammed the door leading into the staircase shut, barring it with magic in order to force the demons to begin clawing through it if they wanted to reach up to the trio in the slightest, and then the rush began as the need to protect the blind girl came roaring over the otherwise gentle female.
"It'll be seen better if it's on the roof, but...Hunter, you need to be ready to clear it of anything up there. I can keep the rain off afterwards. ...They're all over the campus...So the city must be just as bad, if the rain is reaching throughout it..."

No time to think. It was just time to go, go, go! Worrying over the larger populace could come later! The first thought on Eika's mind -- and what Id picked up on -- was to inform any students lurking through the halls if the gunshots didn't do it, and hopefully meet up with them.

Ixion Farbright

As Ixion fired at a few more gathering masses, he noticed in the corner of his eyes Ase summoning a weapon. "Cool," he exclaimed, fighting the urge to pat her on the head given that she was shaking, partially because now was not the time, and partially because the hand closest to her was the one currently on guard. "We have to get off the roof," she started, rambling before being caught off guard and blasting off the small demon along a few others back into the face of the earth. In confusion, Ixion lowered his raised arm, wondering when he'd raised it in the first place, deciding instead to wash out his confusion with the statement, "Cool!"

"If you need a shield, call for me, but for now let's just get downstairs."

Ixion raised his left arm and saluted, exclaiming, "Aye aye!" before starting for the door. He skidded to a forced slow as he ran past Ase, however, turning so that his left arm reached around the girl's waist and picking her up. He assumed, given her small legs, that this form of transportation would be faster, but realized even mid fire that carrying a princess like a sack was no better than not carrying her at all. "Alley-oop," grunted the blue haired student as he hoisted Ase up so that his arm was around her thigh and she was almost sitting on it, probably more comfortably than earlier. As he did so, he continued to run for the door, kicking aside demons when it didn't seem necessary to fire shots, but firing shots nonetheless given that no demons were better than some demons.

Opening the door with a bit of struggle, Ixion briefly glanced upwards to tell Ase, "Watch your head," noticing in the background the clearing storm. Though he shut the door behind him, some demons still managed to follow him out, the blue haired boy pleading to Ase, "Ah, please take care of my back, princess!" Alright, so while he was convinced earlier that a storm was nothing short of strange, he had to admit that it was strange now. Leaping down flights of steps, Ixion wondered if it was a natural occurrence for storms to carry demons, or for storms to end so quickly, his thoughts disrupted by a near stumble at the last landing. "Whoops," he gasped as he caught himself, but allowed for the small stumble to let Ase back on her feet.

With his now free hand, Ixion opened the door leading out of the staircase, allowing his shorter partner entrance first as he commented, "I think people should be patrolling these hallways. And it's high enough we can see the other lookouts without being... caught in the rain." He fought a smile as a funny thought popped into his head, instead following behind Ase as he tended to do- but what were the chances the 'excitable students' actually were watching over the school?

---

Gabriel "Angel" Avlon

Angel had meanwhile distracted himself with flinging off other stray demons that had landed in his hair, the feel of disgust raising hairs on his neck with each falling ball of hiss that fell to the ground. It was no lie that he visibly jumped at a yelp, however, turning with a raised bow to attack whatever was hurting his... "partner", only to find that she'd handled it with her umbrella. Of course, the umbrella didn't exactly wipe it off the face off the earth, and just as Angel lifted his bow to stab the thing, his partner ran over another shocked demon with her wheelchair.

With eyes that almost seemed welled with tears, the handicapped girl looked up to Angel and whimpered, "H- help?"

"Well, there's no helping," said the short male, shrugging as though he had no choice his bow swiping with ease against the two demons before they hissed and started away. Standing beside his partner, Angel searched through his skirt pocket for a slip of paper, his armed hand reaching behind him to pocket his bow. "Alright, listen here," he started as he fished out a four-by-four slip of paper with a predrawn magic circle, rising a thumb to his teeth until he bled, "I'm not gonna lug you and your wheelchair ass around so until we find some better way for fucking transportation-" Angel pressed his thumb against the center of the magic circle, the black ink coating itself in red as the paper ripped itself in half, summoning a large beast like demon with four legs and a saddle-

-"This is gonna be your ride. Got it?" Even as he said so the demon was already nudging his head against the girl's wheelchair to flip her onto his back, Angel climbing from the other side as he pulled out his bow once more along with the rest of Maria. The sky was already starting to clear but with no sign of the lesser demons disappearing, Angel's pretty face squinted to a frown as he chanted: "Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee-" his fingers starting to play at the appearing strings, causing the gathering mass of hissyfits to steam and shriek- "Bless'd art thou among women and bless'd is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."

---

Meanwhile, in one of Platinum City's public malls, in front of an electronic store, panic ensued. A man, as witnesses state, seemed to have spontaneously combusted, blood spread over his detached limbs, covering glass walls and linoleum tiles. Later studies would show that the man had strange magic circles in the bones left after the explosion, but for now only faint hints of any demon involvement could be seen in bits of flesh not covered with blood. Five passerby's were damaged by flying bone and mental trauma, the rest of the mall in panic at the heinous sight.

Kanaris' presence was too strong to hide in a normal mortal, it seemed, but he refused to stop there. Clearly there were better hosts in town, and if someone could find them, it was the Flame of Revolt himself. His sudden disappearance, however, seemed to cause an equal sudden disinterest, the lesser demons that had planned on joining and feeding choosing instead another town to raid. That said, the demons that were already there didn't seem to be leaving any time soon, and the recent mall implosion wasn't the only thing causing panic.

Union members posted in town suddenly recieved a flurry of calls at the sight of large demons dangling off of buildings, or peeking through windows, or just in general perusing. The largest seeming threat, however, was up north, towards the Academy, where a diameter of the forest had been subtracted, replaced with a mass of demons that had gathered together, moving as though a pool towards the school. Had the roof lookouts only stayed a bit longer they would have glimpsed the growing mass. Surely the hallway lookouts could spare a glance out the windows, however, and the ones on the balcony over looking the forest should be able to glimpse the unnatural darkness in the forest.

But even if no one noticed it wouldn't matter, given that the mass was heading their direction and would be easily seen in only a few minutes.

"Please tell me that you smell that?"

Darius slowed his pace a bit and tested the air.

"No, I don't smell a thing. Did somebody burn some fish sticks somewhere or...?" He glanced at his partner, then shifted his gaze to whatever was now holding her attention. The window. Rain.

Acid rain, apparently.

Just then there was a splat as some half-formed creature distributed its guts on the window.

Well... that's just not right.

"I think--checking outside is probably a good idea," he said, a little dumbfounded. "...Right, let's check it out. We'll go that-a-way." Darius took the lead, heading for the nearest exit. He readied himself to draw his sword, just in case. It was silly, of course, to imagine something actually serious occuring here on campus. Still, it didn't hurt to be prepared. There was another pair patrolling just outside; they might know what's going on.

"...Hey, do you know those two out in the courtyard?" Darius pointed out the window as they passed by to the pair outside. They looked like they were having fun with whatever was going on out there.

...How does someone in a wheelchair even end up on guard duty? Well, how does one as academically spotless as himself end up on guard duty? Truly, the world was full of mysteries...

Ase sprinted as fast as she could towards the door, easily dodging the few demons that managed to get in her way, but Ixion was, of course, faster. She gave a wide frown as the idiot passed easily, but when he suddenly stopped she rose an eyebrow, opening her mouth to question his motive. Her confusion was quickly quashed, however, when the taller boy scooped her up under his arm like a sack of potatoes. A surprised noise escaped her mouth, face burning with embarrassment and anger, and before she could slam Patron down on the idiot's face she was hoisted up into a sitting position. Again, her face deepened to a bright red, and she was only able to make strained, confused noises as her partner took off down the stairs.

"Y-Y-You're a true blue idiot! I-I-I could've ran by myself!" Ase cried out, voice catching with each step he took. Her independence and pride was faltering, being replaced with a sense of helplessness and rage, and she struggled slightly in Ixion's hold, but once he started leaping down the steps Ase froze and leaned closer into his shoulder out of fear of taking a fatal tumble. The sounds of demons gargles from behind, nearly distracting Ase from her inner torment until the idiot cried out,

"Ah, please take care of my back, princess!"

To which Ase stopped moving and thinking all together, only her hands tightening around the shaft of Patron as she softly whispered "... Princess?" No one had ever called her that, how odd, how odd. What an odd boy, he must be blind or something, she was no princess. Obviously, obviously, obviously.

She eventually managed to calm herself by focusing how the disgusting sounds behind them, turning her attention to whining devils just a few steps away from cutting up Ixion's ankles. She rose Patron up, aimed, and then threw the staff at the mass of black beings with all her might.

"Watch it burn," she lowered her head, fingers intertwining as she began to chant the only chant he really knew, "watch it burn and let it go. The fire frees us, frees our soul. Burn and release." On the last word she separated her hands and threw them upwards, eyes locked on Patron, which suddenly burst into blue flames. Most of the demons were enveloped by the flames, vanishing into smoke, and Ase clenched her teeth as Patron burned away into nothingness. Setting fire to the weapon was a way of storing it, it could be summoned later by using a blood magic circle, but every time she sent it away her blood would boil and head would scream. A price to pay for using black magic as a method of fusing weapon with user.

Ase was eventually dropped back onto her feet and the surrounding stairwell melted into a darkened halls. The smell of the rotting, demon-spawning rain was now far off, and instead she could smell something... Fishy. Fishy and furry. Ixion started explaining something about other lookouts wandering the halls and she pretended to ignore him, instead beginning to wander quietly down the closest passage way, which also happened to be the one that smelled strongest of fish and animal, keeping one eye on all the windows that passed.

"It might be best," her voice was tight, revealing her withheld embarrassment and rage from the whole incident before, "if we find other teams and start creating a group. There is power in numbers, after all." She froze for a moment, reaching up to cut her finger again and draw another magic circle, re-summoning Patron with ease. Once the weapon was safely in her grasp again she began her trek over the linoleum floor, keeping an eye out for any other students.

"It'll be seen better if it's on the roof, but...Hunter, you need to be ready to clear it of anything up there. I can keep the rain off afterwards. ...They're all over the campus...So the city must be just as bad, if the rain is reaching throughout it..."

Hunter nodded, reloading his pistol as they reached the rooftop door. He took a breath, Voracia taking her place next to him. Calmly, he placed one hand on the handle. Voracia gave a deranged grin, fanged teeth glinting in the light as Hunter shut his eyes...and threw the door open. The pistol sang out as Hunter emptied the entire 12 round clip, dropping 12 demons in rapid succession as Voracia tore forward, snarling as her hair grabbed survivors, squeezing, strangling, or simply hurling them into her mouth like a woodchipper. Blood soared through the air as Hunter reloaded, then dove forward, another 6 rounds dropping demons with horrifying precision. Voracia spun in place, blood trailing out of both her mouths as she repositioned herself in front of the sniper. Gunshots rang out as Hunter kept up the pressure, empty shells dropping around him as Voracia kept the demons from getting too close to her master. Then, silence. Nothing remained on the rooftop as Hunter holstered his gun, breathing out slowly. Minor demons, weaklings, and dreglings. Nothing powerful, nothing the pair couldn't handle. The element of surprise, Voracia's brutality, and Hunter's precision had given them a huge advantage. Anything else would have ended with someone dead...without missing a beat, Hunter opened the rifle case, assembling the massive 50 caliber gun.

"Girls, I'm trusting you to keep me safe now. Setting up Over-watch. Voracia, assist Id however she needs."

The famine demoness nodded, wiping one hand across her lips and flicking the blood aside as she took up position. The sniper felt his body draining, he wouldn't be able to keep Voracia out much longer. It didn't take long before Hunter was set up, the rifle propped and aimed down the side of the building. The scope swung back and forth as Hunter began his job, the job he was trained for, the job he was best at. He ignored the rooftop, he ignored his surroundings. Id said she could keep the place clear, he had to trust her.

Two students in the hallway across from the library. Demons pouring in from behind. Three shots rang out, and the windows erupted as the heavy bullets shattered through, eviscerating the demon's heads and dropping them into mushy piles of gore. A heavy clack as Hunter pulled the bolt back, ejecting case after case as the rifle sang. Two more students, riding a...demon horse? Demons at their heels. More shots, and they had some breathing room as Hunter swung the rifle around, emptying a full case into a larger mass that was being harassed by two wolves. Reload, find a target, kill it, reload, find a target, kill it. Hunter was absolutely focused, eyes wide and unblinking as his rifle sang out with each shot. There was not a single individual who wouldn't be able to hear the Barrett screaming. Hunter swung the scope over again, centering on the forest...and froze.

"....Oh God, north side NORTH SIDE!"

Ignoring the grounds, Hunter focused the entirety of his onslaught on the seething mass of nightmares that was pouring through the North forest.

Ah, so many shots...She covered her ears at bullet after bullet sank into a demon, Id coming in fast as Voracia and Hunter cleaned up in order to make her way to the center. Tilting her masked face up to the sky, a brilliant glow would dance across her arm before she'd raise it, forcing it upwards to the rain above in order to create both a glowing beacon as well as form into a barrier of sorts to keep the rain from dropping upon them. The result? Demons forming onto the barrier, only to claw and scrape and slowly fall off to the ground below. With that in tow on Id's end, Ego continued to send spike after spike down the steps-
"What the-"
A terrifying flood of demons smashed against the wall, Ego's sentence cut off as she slammed the door closed and pressed up against it, a curse at her lips as the door slammed up in defiance of her body again and again until Id finally saw black chunks beginning to seep in from under her sister's feet. ...Protecting their Master. That was what they were to do, what they had promised, and what they had come to enjoy. ...
"Voracia, if you can, keep an eye on making sure none of the demons come crawling up from the sides- ...Ego, move."
Eika looked...fairly upset, to be honest. So many things going on, she couldn't understand...And to an extent, it was scaring her. Her hand squeezed Eika's once, a deep breath taken...And Ego moved just in time as she let go of the blind girl's hand, reaching to double up on the sheer strength of the barrier as Eika's hands moved up to hold her head from the sheer amount of demons she could practically feel trying to crawl in.

The door flew open, the amalgamation of the demons that's rushed up the stairs ready to lunge...

"...Immortalis, I'm scared...!"

The brightest light of them all. Flames spread through the entirety of the stairway at her words as the "collar" around her neck glowed with unmistakable life, the bodies of demons incinerated as the shining knight that few, if any other students, knew of existing under Eika's control. Immortalis, her silent knight, slammed his luminescent sword into the cement of the roof as Ego rushed up to her feet and moved Eika as far away from the door as she could manage.
"Hey, big guy! Been a while since I saw you! Come on now, everything's fine. Immy dealt with it."
The Tamer's head slowly lifted up as Immortalis spread out his "wings" -- dozens of blades stretching out as demons even so much as approaching the door simply ceased to exist as he took his place as sentinel to keep the roof safe.
"A-Ah...The beacon is up right?..."
"Yep. Sis is on it right now. Oi, human guy...That mass over there? What exactly do you think we can do about it?"
Just as the question was asked, he called out to students, as it seemed. With her head turning to the direction his voice came from, she reached out blindly until she found his shirt to give a soft tug to it -- nothing to disarm his aim, hopefully -- and speak out appropriately in reference to what was going on.
"T-They need to come up here. If there's a big mass coming, Immortalis can handle it. If not that...I...Ah, I can stop it if there's too many. I'll just need them all situated together. ...Are you sure being up here is going to be a good idea?..."

Maxamillion "hulk" Lovecannon.

Maxamillion nodded flatly. His eyes trained hungrily on the ground.

Things were melding around on the floor and becoming masses of hatred, and hunger. "Definitely more..." He looked back to his partner, raising a brow only slightly at the odd match he saw. A beastly and cruel looking weapon with a boy who seemed a bit too upstanding. "Well I-" He was about to offer his sad excuse for a battle plan, when a terrible cry sang out multiple times. A rifle screaming bullets, demons yelping death. "...We should go." He demanded it more than offered, the odd and huge mass of vile stink was intruding from the forest, coming dangerously close to the building.

"Up." Was all he offered as he began walking. Jogging actually, jogging to to the nearest roof exit.
He didn't know jack about the sniper or his location, he just decided that he couldn't punch that thing, and he was pretty damn useless unless he could do that.

Tearing a door open with some uncontrolled frustration he began marching upwards. "Don't fall behind." He issued with clenched teeth. Uselessness was a terrible feeling, and he wanted to change that. A gurgle of black mess and he found lowly things racing downwards. "Change of plans!" He yelled back, throwing out his hands and catching the oncoming force, sliding down with a thud onto the floor. "Son of a bitch..." He snarled, flipping the oily mess of evil onto the bottom position and using his soul weapon the burn the things "face" with his glove. He didn't really know where to go from there, the balconies were filling and allowing many little enemies to enter their location. Shutting off any energy being put to burn the thing he looked to his...ally.

"Don't die, I guess."

He then turned to go on his merry way. A spree of earth shattering punches to try and clear a way for him and his new pal. The ooze from the forest clinging and edging up the building.

---

Sel'ar M. Eindz.

Sel watched with some level of confusion, fear and adoration, as the younger boy took care of her problems, then summoned some large beast. "W-wait." It was too late, she had been flung off her chair and onto the beasts back. Finding the edge of the saddle to cling to she grabbed to not fall and be even more useless.

"This is a bit high!" She kept herself held tight to the thing, her knuckles already going snow white from the strain.

When the thing actually started to move she could definitely feel some tears forming in her eyes. Awful sounds filling her ears as demons behind her were obliterated, and her partner began to pray. Feeling a bit squeamish from the words herself she didn't think to look back for a couple milliseconds.

"M-My chair!" She cried out in a panic. Without it she would totally worthless. "P-please!" She was nearly begging. She had lost her legs once, losing her wheels felt like an insult. "W-where are we going?"Her mind was reeling, not really knowing what to panic more about.

Where they heading to safe place/ Was that place high? Where they ever going back to her chair? Would she be able to even find it after this blew over? Would this blow over?

Tears were definitely in her eyes right now.

Jace nodded as his partner took up position behind him. This was a new experience for Jace. The most he had ever dealt with was a few imps in the training hall of his village. This was a whole new story. Dib and Onai had gone around the blob and were snapping at it whenever they could, but to no avail. Jace was considering sending Aiah in when all of a sudden, several loud bangs sounded around the school. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the blob shattered, sizzling and fading away. Jace looked up to the roof to see a boy with a large gun. He smiled and waved before turning to his partner.

“Looks like this is our chance!” He yelled as he started to back up towards the main building. It was then that he noticed the bullets were still firing at an alarming rate, but nothing was dying. All the small masses making their way towards the group of boys were still advancing quickly. Something was wrong. He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled three times loudly. The wolves turned and ran back to his position, standing at his side and protecting the boys.

“Aiah!” He yelled out as he looked up to Aiah. “Survey!” The bird responded with a flutter of her wings and flew up past the boy on the roof to look for any threats. After a few seconds, the bird returned and landed on Jace’s shoulder. A few short, panicked screeches were all that was said before the bird nestled itself into Jace’s vest. It took Jace a second to react from what he had heard. He looked over to his partner with a slightly scared expression on his face.

“We are in for a shit load of trouble” He said as he picked up his shield and looked at the door across the cleaning. “There is a huge hoard of demons coming from the north, we need to get inside, or we are dead” He said as he took a deep breath and calculated his approach. With a loud whistle, he pointed towards the door. The wolves made a mad break for the door, snapping at any and all of the demons in the way there. “Lets go!” He yelled as he gave his partner a nudge before making a dash for the door. This was their best chance for making it in one piece, or at least, Jace hoped it was.

The massive crowd of living demon-blobs that surrounded them were getting out of hand. The rain began to die down a bit, but that didn't stop the downpour from spawning those little bastards. Blake snarled at the creatures, bearing his non-existent fangs and continued to keep them at bay by delivering clean cuts as they jumped up at him. A feeling of unease had begun to set in his stomach as he noticed that the two wolves hadn't taken down the previous demon.

BANG

A gunshot rang out through the academy.

What? Blake saw the tiny groups of imps disperse from where the bullet had hit the ground.

BANG

More shots.

He whipped his head from where he'd heard the firing and thanked his lucky stars for having a sniper on their side. A deep sigh of relief left his lips, which was then accompanied by a sharp intake of breath as he realized the sniper's assault had stopped a few groups from forming, but that didn't stop the rain from pouring and spawning even more.

“Looks like this is our chance!” he heard his partner cry out amidst the chaos. The many ramblings the demons emitted started to sound like white noise to Blake. Within a minute, Jace had his spirit animals by his side while his hawk surveyed the area for the boys. However Blake didn't need a bird's eye-view to predict that if they didn't move somewhere now, they were done for. Jace's expression after the bird came back had confirmed it.

“We are in for a shit load of trouble” Jace quickly said, picking up his shield to get moving, “There is a huge hoard of demons coming from the north, we need to get inside, or we are dead” Oh my cheese nuts-

Blake could see it. He could see their impending doom flopping its way towards their direction over the trees.

---

A few moments later, the summoned animals had cleared the way to the door in order for them to escape. "Let's go!" Jace exclaimed. "GOGOGOGO" Blake chanted, proceeding to quickly skip behind Jace and gave him a starting push towards the door, all the while clenching his butt so as to not accidentally stab his partner.

-but where do they go from there? Up? Classrooms? Run through the halls and out the back door? Crap. Did they even have a back door?

"Y'know what SCREW IT, UP WE GO- ROOFROOFROOF" Blake yelled at himself, shaking his partner's shoulder to make sure he heard it clear through the noise. Blake hoped he wouldn't regret this later on as they gunned it for the staircase, almost tripping once but countered it with a sidestep. Glancing behind him, he could see the rain monsters piling in from the main door and yelped- "C'mon, c'mon hurry!" Blake turned a blind eye to anything else that wasn't the staircase as they kicked and dodged any of the imps that clung to their feet on the way.

Bites and scratches later, they had managed to shut the door leading to the stairs. More of those things were pouring from above the stairwell and Blake sighed as he stood behind Jace once again, depending on his shield to keep him safe while he did his work. Focusing on the creatures before them, Blake recited his emergency phrase:

"Ecce dabit voci suae- vocem virtutis, tribuite virtutem deo!" a torrent of energy had blasted its way up from the bottom of the stairs, strong enough to dissipate the rain demons, clearing a big enough path to the roof for them to quickly proceed. Blake lead the way, Jace and his buddies followed. He glanced at his partner, "Mind your head by the way, that shield of yours is pretty damn big." he advised as Jace hoisted the shield up onto his head, due to the narrowness of the ascending passage. The stairs were dark and slippery, proving quite a challenge for the two as they made their way up- slowly but surely.

She kept her eyes down as her head kept going over just how bloody awkward she had made their partnership. Jelly? Really Cara? Are you some half-wit military officer that was born in the thirties? She really couldn't help but be awkward after that as she kept her voice low and continued walking along their designated route. Although he probably didn't know, she was a half-breed and she could actually hear and see Rai. She didn't know if any other mortals could see her but she could quite definitely hear her say something about demons.

With a sigh, she decided that it was probably best if she came clean and told him about her heritage - just in case he wasn't a fan of demons and also to inform his little familiar that it was probably her she was smelling. "Yeah, I'm a de-" Suddenly, her nose picked up on it too as she began sniffing at the air around her. There was definitely something demonic beyond her and her partner's little familiar. This one seemed a lot less powerful than her and the familiar but it was definitely a demon. She could slowly smell it getting closer and closer before it was joined by other things - presumably demons of the same kind.

She intended to grab her radio and see what the other teams were seeing before small puddles of goo began forming along the ground. She was clearly confused - they had never been taught about puddles of goo being demons before but she was almost certain that what she was smelling were those little things. Suddenly, one of the goo puddles began morphing and changing into what Cara could only describe as a monster. Pushing her way in front of Steve, her hands instantly went to her gun and lifted it up before pointing it at the creature. "Can you ask your little buddy what type of demon that thing is?"

Steve was terrified as he stared in disbelief at the puddles growing into demons, slimy demons at that. Not like Rai, as she had pointed out many, many times, she cleans every day and is perfect in every way. But these things were nothing like the demons Rai had shown Steve and all he could hear was her groaning and holding on tighter to his shoulder. This meant that there was something personal, Rai didn't get upset very easily but when she did there was something big and irritating that practically got into her mind and pissed her off majorly. And he hoped to god, she would not flip during his first encounter with his new partner, who he couldn't help but notice was quite good looking, he thought this while glancing at her turning around.

When they were asked what the creepy things were, he could tell something was up. How could she see Rai? Nobody could see Rai unless they were a tamer or a demon..... Oh good god. He was partnered with a demon. He was partnered with two demon girls. What were the bloody odds. Not high! Why? Bcause he just has the worst bloody luck. To him, Rai was bad enough with her endless chatter and describing all these demons she used to be friends with but then they turned into bitches or douches and she stopped hanging with. It got annoying, but at least he could get her to go away. But he couldn't just get a demon who was 2 years older han him and his partner to just go away when they ngot annoying. But there was no guaranteee she would get annoying, maybe she'd be nice. At least she caught herself when she was being a bit of a female-dog.

"Steve! Be careful with those things!"[/b} Rai screeched when the gun went up and his foot was already in the air ready to strike like an amazing ass ninja. Rai giggled at his pose before brushing back her hair and taking a deep breath. [b]"They're what I like to call Feral Imps. Not suave or sophisticated like oh so wonderful me. Nah, these nasty little things don't know how to use doors. She stopped talking to throw a purple fireball at one of them setting it alight. "And I don't think they can throw fire iether, Actually I used to have a pet one, but he broke out of his cage and ran away..." She sighed before grinning at Steve's partner. "You can see me girl? Hi! I'm Rai! Nice to meet you! Yeah...those things are Feral Imps I think...or they'rewaht I call Creepies, they can spawn out of rain as well...."

After his familliar had finallyn stopped talking, Steve dipped into his bag and pulled out a packet of skittles which he handed to Rai. She grinned and ate the packet whole with a satisfied grin. Her body was engulfed in purple flames and she shot off his shoulder into the fray of demons. Stephen turned to Cara. "C'mon! We better get to the school where we can hide...I don;t want to be stuck out in a demon storm...."

"Alternative: Stay on the ground where I have no line of sight and we can get surrounded faster."

The rifle gave out another three shots, and Hunter spared a glance at the grounds to see how the others were faring before flicking his eyes back to Eika.

"So no, it's not a good idea to be up here. But it's better than being down there. Also Ego, unless you want me to start calling you Eggs, just use my damn name and at the moment, it's not what I'm trying to do to the blob but rather what I'm trying to get everyone else to do with it!"

The rifle swiveled again, gunning down a group giving chase to other students. The sniper gritted his teeth before pulling back from the ledge, checking his ammo. A quick draw of his makarov blew the head off a demon that broke past Voracia and Ego.

"We're no good if we don't regroup and push back. I'm doing jack all up here, but I can cover the others if they were to push back. Separated we're useless, just a bunch of gibbering kids, none of us are strong enough to hold them off, not even your big guy out there. They don't need to kill him, they just need to bog him down and kill you, and trust me, I can see it happening soon."

Voracia slid through a spurt of blood, embers starting to fly off her body as she roared, devouring demons left and right, body slick with gore. Hunter grimaced, sweat rolling down his face as the exhaustion from keeping her out for so long began to set in. The famine demon had kept the sides clear, doing a good job. But the demons were starting to push her back into a tighter circle. She was spread too thin to be effective, never having to do such widespread defense before. Normally it was interference for Hunter, something she excelled at. But this...this was just draining both Tamer and Demon.

"We're fooling ourselves if we think we can outlast these guys, we need to group up and give a concentrated effort. Eika, get downstairs and gather everyone. It looks like most are moving towards my gunshots, but there's no room to maneuver up here. Don't worry about me, Voracia will keep them off me and I'll cover you all from up here. Push back against those guys, even if it just slows them down, that'll be enough for the students not on patrol to finally gather up and help us kill these bastards."

The rifle slipped back over the edge, picking off stray demons here and there as Hunter returned his focus to the battlefield.

"And don't do some kinda hero thing and leave Ego or Id with me, you'll be front lining this, you need them, and they'll get in my way. Everyone's running around like scared sheep, get them organized or we all die!"

More shots from the muzzle, which was letting off gouts of steam and heat between bullets. Voracia pulled back from the edge of the building, standing over Hunter's prone form and giving Id and Ego a look. She barely even flinched as her hair literally pulled a demon into five parts.

"Go. We'll be fine so long as you work fast. We'll retreat if it gets too difficult up here, but if you want any kind of support for your offensive, you need to move NOW while I hold the advantage up here!"

"Ah...Please don't die then. You really seem nice..."
He had a point. One that the blind girl couldn't argue as she bit into her lip and picked up her can to hold tightly to her chase. Ego taking over for the moment to disperse the demons in the stairway would allow Immortalis to turn and gently pick Eika up in order to hold her on his left shoulder, his blade picked up with the right as Id looked over to Voracia and offered a smile.
"Try not to eat too much. Might get a stomachache, and you're far too lovely for that. We'll be taking our leave now, so try your best.~"
With her hands pulled away from the glimmering shield above them, the mass of demons would begin clawing into it, mall cracks here and there forming as she ran after Immotalis, Ego trailing behind with a last call out to Hunter as she took off after them.
"When we survive this night, I'll try to actually remember your name!"
Well, that was a pleasant promise. Down the stairs they went, Eika hanging on tight to her guardian as a blaze of white flames and ebony spikes tore through the spiraling staircase to force a pathway for the four of them and keep their Master safe. The slight wear was beginning to kick in, but that held no means of stopping for her as they descended upon the main floor in a hellish flourish, blood and magic splattering across steel and cloth as they forced their way out of the front door and began to take off running. Ah, she needed to catch the attention of anyone in the area...But how to do that when she couldn't even see anyone around? Id, Ego, and Immortalis were her eyes, but they were also her only means of survival on top of what was going on. ...There needed to be something that could grab the attention of nearby students...Something-

Noise? ...It was worth a shot, at least...

"Ego, scream!"

The command was absolute as she motioned for Immortalis to cover for a moment. The result was the hostile sister to stop mid-impalement of a demon in favor of letting her head tilt upwards to the sky, bringing both hands to her throat, and allowing her magic to fill into her throat as she let out a blood-curdling scream to force the noise into several pulses of painful decibels, causing the massing demons to go flying. It'd be loud enough to echo through the whole school with that oomph put into it...Now she could only hope as she went on to secondary thoughts. If they had gone onto the roof...Maybe others had? But she had no clue on how to try and get them all grouped up when they could literally be all over the place...Ah, this was seeming more and more hopeless by the second...

...She had to try at least, patting on her guardian's shoulder whilst he caught a lunging demon in the middle of the air and quite literally squished the life out of it to avoid letting it reach Eika. The silent communication would have Immortalis spread his bladed wings, body lifting up just enough to let the natural luminescence of his body seep out through this nightmare occurring for the sake of grabbing attention from the higher areas as she called out -- obviously, it was a bit too late to try and be less noisy, so what the hell!
"HEY! IS ANYONE STILL AROUND? PLEASE COME DOWN NOW IF YOU CAN! ROOFS AREN'T SAFE!"
Which was true. Rain his the roofs more just as much as the ground, but it offered less escape...As if the blind girl would be listened to, but with so may buildings and such a swarm coming around, the most she could do was try to stay safe while her three familiars cut down all in their way to get her through to buildings -- to try and get her message across and get others down to join in on this rampage that she'd started.

The run to the door was one of the most rushed and frenzied moments of Jace’s life. The push from behind him almost caused him to lose his balance, but luckily for him, he managed to stay on his feet. He slammed open the door and waited for all the team mates to have entered before slamming it shut behind them. It seemed that his partner had decided upon going to the roof, not that Jace minded in the slightest. Anywhere had to be better than where they were right now. He glanced up the stair well and saw sizable hoard of demons on the stairwell.

“Fuck this…” Jace mumbled as he readies his shield. He was prepared to charge his way up the stairs until he heard something strange from behind him. Chanting of some sort echoed in the hallway before a blast of energy cleared the way. “Gotta love an exorcist” He said with a smile as his partner took the lead. Following the warning of his partner, Jace made sure to keep his shield from getting stuck on anything. He had gotten caught in way too many doors over the years, and didn’t want it to happen at a moment like this. As they made their way up the staircase, Jace took the time to relax just a bit. His wolves were being sure to keep a watch out from behind as to not get ambushed, and Aiah was still in his vest, nursing her light wounds. Truth be told, Jace was surprised they made it inside with that few injuries. He made a mental note to thank the sniper from earlier for the backup. He was about to say something when he noticed the wolves begin to stir. He glanced around before a sound hit him with enough force to almost knock the wind out of his chest.

“The hell was that?” He asked as he tried to determine the source of the noise. These demons were far too small to have produced something like that. It must have been some kind of attack, hopefully against their enemies. Standing around ant thinking about it wouldn’t make a difference though, so he continued his way up the stairs following close to his partner. He glanced up to notice some light at the top of the stairwell. In a moment of excitement, he squeezed past his partner and quickly made his way to the door.

“Looks like we found our way out!” He said as he reached the top of the stairs. He knew that once they went on the roof, there would be little chance for escape from it. One entrance and one exit, but anything was better than being on the ground with the thousands… no, millions of demons that must be down there now. He pushed open the door and looked out onto the roof of the building. To his surprise, there were very few demons, just a few blobs here and there, but nothing too extreme.

“Dib, Onai.” He said as he pointed to the blobs. The wolves charged out and cleaned up as many as they could. “Looks like the roof was a good call” He said as he smiled back down to his partner, glad to see a resting place in sight. But something didn’t seem right. Something seemed a little too easy about all this. It was after making his way a few steps more onto the roof that he noticed it. To his left was a massive group of imps that had gathered together. He just managed to raise his shield in time to block most of the attacks, but the shock was rather strong. The eyes on his shield started to glow a deep blue as it drained some of his energy to sustain the impact, before Jace pushed the demons back with a quick fling of his shield.

“Spoke way too soon!” He yelled out to his partner as he kept himself safe behind the shield, formulating a plan of attack while holding the demons off. “I think we are in a lot of trouble!”

Blake grit his teeth as the unexpected barrage of sound waves nearly ruptured his ear drums. He stumbled backwards as he tried to compose himself, the noise still ringing in his ears.

"WHAT in the hell was that?" he contemplated whether that was the academy's way to alert the students or something, because holy crap, he nearly lost his hearing there. Blake's annoyance was put aside as soon as the two boys spotted light spilling out through an opening at the top of the stairwell. He chuckled as Jace scurried past him to the front in a sheer moment of joy.
Once they had reached the door, Blake released his cheeks and let his claws grow back, standing next to Jace- ready to skewer anything that decided to launch themselves at the pair.

Excitedly, Jace opened the door to the roof and allowed his wolves to get rid of whatever blobs had already formed, noticing that it wasn't as bad up there than it was downstairs. It was considerably clear of any malevolent entities, much to their surprise and delight. "Looks like the roof was a good call" Blake whistled in response, following Jace to look over the edge of the seemingly peaceful roof.

Splat. "WHA-" SPLAT. Blake was cut off as two more humongous dollops of black goo was slapped heavily against his head, causing him to tip over, which was fortunately in his favor as he juked the rest of the slimey missiles directed at the boys. "Motherfu-" As if on queue, they heard a distant cry, "HEY! IS ANYONE STILL AROUND? PLEASE COME DOWN NOW IF YOU CAN! ROOFS AREN'T SAFE!" Oh- for crying out loud! Blake quickly scanned the area and got back up on his feet as soon as he spotted the giant rain-abomination on his left, and ran behind Jace in an attempt to dodge the demon's incoming attacks.

"Spoke way too soon!" The tamer yelled as his shield minimized the impact of the slimy missiles, his wolves rounding off at the sides snapping away at the tiny demons who tried to cling on to the summoner.

"We've gotta get back down- agh!" Blake struggled in an attempt to be louder than the rain, leaning his back against Jace's so the impact wouldn't push him over. He had a million and one thoughts running through his head, looking at the demon and back at the exit. Get back down... demon... ground... demon... demon- Okay, incapacitate the demon then make a break for it! ...but how? Oh god- The grinding gears in Blake's head would've been audible by then if it wasn't for the rain. As if a switch was flipped, Blake had suddenly remembered that he had had the power to knock the demon out. He inwardly flipped through the spells and phrases he'd learned thoroughly and groaned at the thought of having to pick just one. It was sort of like how girls whined about not having anything to wear when their closet was stock-full of clothes-

The blonde boy's thoughts were abruptly cut off as his partner was shoved into him due to the impact of the imp golem's continuous attacks. He took this as a wake-up call and quickly got his shit together.

With his partner and the summoned spirits holding back the smaller demons and keeping them all relatively safe, Blake figured that that would be a good time to step up his game and clear a way for them to get down without being followed. He calmed his accelerating heart-rate and straightened his posture, fully envisioning the orchestration he had in mind and slowly tried to channel his racial magic. Trying to make his imaginations come to life, he focused on the way his words would have damaged the opposing entity and used that as a way of maximizing the damage output, pouring his soul into the verses he began-

"Regna terrae," about mid-throw, the abomination wavered. "cantate Deo, psallite Domino..." the ending phrase had put the demon into a stun lock, weakened it and allowed the rest of the spell to work two times more effectively as it struck the demon in full blows.
"Ergo draco maledicte, et omnis legio diabolica-" their enemy shook violently as a part of it began to break away and evaporate. Blake took a deep breath and yelled the last few words.

"ADJURAMUS TE!"

A shock wave erupted from within the being as Blake cheered like a Japanese school girl. That was enough to disperse the group that had clumped together to form that giant entity and put them in a daze for a short while, giving the team more than enough time to make a break for the door and get to the ground floor. The now-smaller demons hissed from the damage and laid there to be washed by the rain. More than satisfied, Blake turned to Jace with a grin. "You did great- I'm squishy as heck so if it wasn't for your protection I'd be demon mush by now!" he laughed lightly, "Aight, call your spirit buds over there," he pointed at the wolves, "-We're cheesing it!" They took off in a speeding pursuit for the door, with the blonde boy looking as constipated as ever trying to keep his claws retracted to minimize the chances of any accidental injuries- determined for them both to reach the ground floor in one piece.

"Hardly, but I figure if they've been alive for this long, then it'd be a good idea to keep ourselves that way too, maybe join up with them to increase our chances. We should head down there."

Darius was silently analyzing the situation as he listened to her. Demons appearing more or less out of thin air outside, allies fending them off in the courtyard. As long as they stayed outside this should be a simple matter of defending the entrance from invaders...

BANG BANG BANG

Three shots rang out, shattering the windows along with Darius' concentration. Darius only jumped maybe three feet in the air, of course, having nerves of stainless steel as he does. He turned on the spot; demons had snuck up behind them without his or Niorin's even noticing. Outside, he could just make out the sniper that had saved them from a rather nasty encounter.

But they were already in the school. Demons were now popping up all over the place, flooding in from every opening they could find. That was bad.

His mind kicked into gear. Abandoning the door, Darius led the way back further into the hallway. "No good. Demons are inside the school. Priority one is: protect the other students during evacuation. We need mobility over strength in numbers." Most classrooms would be well-protected, with a teacher to hold anything nasty at bay. The hallways would be a different story; any student not under the supervision of a teacher was now in danger. "Enemies may come from any side. Please keep an eye on our rear; I've got the front." He whipped his sword out in front of him and bared his teeth; rows of white needles, sharp and serrated. Did that look cool? Was that menacing enough? He hoped it was. He was really going for "cool and menacing" right now.

Darius knew a group of students had just gone in this direction. They'd meet up with as many of those students as possible and escort them to an evacuation route. The two out in the courtyard would have to wait; but if they were on patrol, they could surely hold their own without Darius and Niorin's backup.