Ioden

"No!" Ren cried out, pushing herself to her feet and rushing across the center of the village towards the direction of the last building Sora had crashed into. Skidding to a halt, a large muscular demon twice her height strode out before her, slamming its hands downwards like a hammer towards her. Leaping back a few steps, its crushing fists dented the tiles infront of her sending loose debris showering outwards in all directions.

"Get out of my way!" Ren yelled in frustration, seeing no way to get around the hulking fiend. Gripping her katana in both hands she charged as it recovered from its attack, swinging her blade towards the top of its head as it rose upwards. With a snarl and speed much faster than its bulk would suggest, it brought its right forearm up to block the weapon, the blade only cutting partially into the thickness of it. Sweeping its wounded arm outwards, Ren was thrown to the left, colliding with the wall of a nearby building with a loud thud before sliding down to the ground, her body slumped against it. Roaring in triumph, the demon raised its arms up before taking a step forwards to finish her off, aiming a punch towards Ren's motionless body. Her mind screamed for her to move, to avoid the blow, but her body wouldn't react, she felt paralyzed. Closing her eyes, she didn't want to see what came next, but after a few moments she hesitantly opened her right eye then left, coming face to face with Ryota, his mouth twisted in a wicked grin.

"C'mon get up new girl, you ain't dead yet." He said with a chuckle, grabbing her by the front of her uniform and roughly pulling Ren to her feet easily with one hand. Ryota was a muscular giant of a man with a wild and agressive appearance that matched his personality. His one green eye peered down at her, his left eye covered by a black eyepatch with a huge scar running down the left side of his face underneath it. Wearing the usual demon hunter uniform, his was customized slightly with light-brown shoulder pads over his uniform and large plated boots instead of sandals. From behind him came a snarl, and he grunted, looking over his shoulder with a frown, his pronounced hairless eyebrow ridges furrowing together.

"Eh, you still there?" He stated looking to the demon whos fist was set squarely between Ryota's shoulder blades where the yason had blocked the attack with his own body. Pulling its arm back, it raised it up preparing to strike again but screamed in pain as a gush of its black blood spurted upwards.

"Go away, can't you see I'm busy?" Ryota stated with his back still turned, his katana slick with blood from where it had cut the demon's arm clean off, the movement too fast for Ren to even notice. More demons started to spill into the far end of the alleyway they were standing in and Ryota flashed Ren a wide grin.

"Hey, you can finish yours off, but those are mine." He stated pointing his katana towards them, his large light-brown glove gripping the hilt of his weapon tighter in anticipation, light shining off his bald head where his medium length horns protruded from.

"I have to get to Sora." Ren said casting a worried glance over to where Captain Miyako fought the razak alone and then towards the ruined building only a few meters away. Shrugging, Ryota grabbed the wounded demon by the neck and threw it forwards to where the other Tormented were approaching from, giving it a swift kick in the rear as a parting gift.

"Fine, suit yourself new girl, just don't go be gettin' yourself killed." He said laughing as he ran down the alleyway towards the group of demons, already swinging his blade in wild sweeps as he hacked into them with enthusiasm. With the cries of the demons and the laughter of Ryota behind her, Ren made haste to the large building at the end of the alleyway, moving through the doorway to see a horrid creature crouched over Sora, a large hole in the ceiling overhead from where Sora's body had crashed through. It had multiple boney arms like an insect which were placed on each side of the fallen yason's body as it opened its maw wide revealing several more mouths within, all filled with vicious fangs. Seeing it prepare to strike, Ren cried out in rage and charged towards it, raising her ancestral blade above her head with both hands. Swinging downwards towards its midsection, it leapt backwards with incredible speed before the blade connected and lashed out towards Ren with four of its multiple arms which ended in three pronged claws. Changing the direction of her blade midswing, Ren turned her torso to the right and slashed outwards, cleaving the limbs off in a spray of black blood which made the demon let out a high pitched screech in pain. Dropping her weapon as she fell to the ground she clasped her hands over her ears in an attempt to drown out the painful noise, her teeth grinding together. Stumbling around on bloody stumps while using its remaining limbs to gain some balance, the demon hissed and rose to its full height, towering over Ren before it lurched down towards her, intent on bringing its dangerous fang filled maw into her back as she knelt before it. Recovering slightly, she sprung to the right and landed a few feet away in a crouched position as the demon's maw crunched down onto the wooden floorboards with a crack sending wood splintering outwards. Narrowing her eyes, she spied Miyuki laying on the other side of the room, the demon blocking her path to it.

TBC