-Hollow-

Eve spun around before collapsing on the ground. I leaned down to her and took that purple device from her hand. I clicked it to my belt, making sure that Exo-4 couldn’t take it back. Now I was ready. So, I put my blade to my side as I kicked off towards the collection of spirits in the sky.

“Haah!”

I cried as I sped to her. Exo-3 was deep in her craft. A collection of spirits circled me as I approached but I blasted through them. As I broke through the mana field, the world became an argent blue as I pushed through. The kid demon’s aura felt like hard liquid as I slashed through, making my way to her. It was only a matter of time that she’d unleash her strike, so it was now or never.

Surprised, her eyes opened. Mana circled us in abnormal levels as my blade enlarged. In this now white world, my dark blade created dark heaven. Mana flowed wildly. I’ll finish this now before she releases her spell.

“It’s too late, Ruiner! My spell is complete!”

 

 

“Won’t you kill yourself too by doing this, Exo-3?!”

The child laughed as I held my blade to the side. In this dome-like world, I floated about, weightlessly. Exo-3 did the same as she gently moved, bobbing up and down.

“You hapless Ruiner! For my Master, Exo-1 will revive me! She’ll bring life back into my demonic soul! For I have all but given my life to her!”

Her eyes seemed lifeless now. Whoever this Exo-1 was she truly bought their ways. Could this person she speaks of…truly bring her back to life? Or was this a wild delusion of an obsessed child? Either way, I couldn’t let that go off. But she’s right, her spell is complete…

I strike now, colliding with a force like a wall in front of her as it drained mana from my blade. That was it…no matter how strong I strike my blade will soon vanish along with the mana around us. There had to be something I could do. A way to reverse what she was doing.

Mana drew in as the white world became a black hole. Trees faintly seen on the outside were turning dark colors, spirits were colliding with each other. Wails of agony spewed out from the souls around.

Even my mana was returning to the depths of this hole…Spirits crawled around me. I could hear angry voices filter into my head. Words of hate, pity, sadness. Likely the voices of the lost humans I killed moments ago. They tried to torment me, but I couldn’t let them. I had to focus.

So, I closed my eyes and thought back…

There had to be something I could do…

Then the device came to mind. It didn’t use mana to activate. Eve looked in the sky and screamed. That’s all it took…no mana. So, I needed to disrupt her spell without mana. And this was it. So, I lifted it to my mouth and aimed it her way. The demon’s face turned white as a ghost as I took a deep breath.

“Squawk!”

Like the bird I was, my voice peeked in a high-pitched quail.

“Huh?!”

The blast of the echo connected with her, breaking her concentration and her spell. Like a fabulous light show in a consort, streams of mana sparkled in the sky. The shockwave destroyed the device as I took hold of my blade now free of mana being absorbed.

“Hey kid, rest in peace!”

 

 

The burst of mana around us created a surge in my dark blade. This was it, the final strike. With all my might I brought my weapon back, with a fatal swing, the child tried one last attempt to guard.

“Uh?!”

One of her stave’s shattered in half as she blasted to the ground. The rumble erupted as her body decimating the trees around. The white world vanished as I floated in the air, hawking at my soon to be victim.

“No…I failed. I failed, Exo-1.”

The twin tail rushed in, bleeding from her back. She fell on top of her partner in seeming agony.

“C’mon! let’s get out of here, Exo-3!”

“Oh no, you don’t!”

This time I wasn’t going to let them escape! They started this fight and death will be the end of them. So, I speared down and brought up my blade. That’s when a field of mana engulfed the ground, pulling them into a void. My blade met with the dirt as a wave of pure mana blast trickled around the ground. There I lied with my blade in hand. Spirits trapped by the craft escaped along with the two Exorcist Zero members.

“Cowards!”

I cried as I hit the ground. When I looked around, human bodies sprawled about. Some seemed as if they were still alive as most of them were dead.

“Hollow!”

From behind me, she caught hold of me again, Eve. She had no blood on her body…I could only speculate that she died at some point while I was battling Exo-3. There we faced one another.

“You did good, sparrow-head. Now let’s get out of here before more show up!”

“Right…”

My anger now calm I search around and found the body of that child again…Now that I looked at her…she’s not Carla. She’s just a random child who shares her features…

“…”

The child died in vane...With that, I turned back to Eve still plastered with that creepy smile.

“Was that someone you knew?’

“…No.”

Before she could question me more, I held her from behind and lifted her up.

“Eh?!”

With that, I kicked off and lifted us off into the sky.

“Wow! Why are you flying, bird?!”

“It’ll take too long to travel out of the forest by foot. Plus, we’re behind schedule. If we plan to collect all the fragments before the next blood moon…”

“I see…”

 

The twilight sky was brighter than usual. Or it might have been my relief that…Carla wasn’t dead. That I still had a chance… We flew about in silence now until Eve couldn’t hold in that crude voice of hers.

“Heck of a job back there, Hollow.”

 

 

“Hm?”

I searched in her thunderous eyes. Despite the clear blush on her cheeks, she beamed that ridiculous smile of hers. 

“You showed those exorcists a thing or two.”

“…If it wasn’t for you Eve, I’d probably be dead...”

“Oh, so you admit I saved you this time?”

 

Annoyed, I dropped her. Eve swung about screaming for a ways down before I swooped to her and grabbed her in midair. 

“What the hell?! Are you crazy?!”

“Shut up then, Eve…”

“Arrgg…At least tell me where we’re going?”

I nodded as I searched the twilight sky.

“We are heading to the Coastland Capital of Serio. There we’ll find the Ruiner who holds dominion over a Wails Fragment.”

“Hm…we’ll have to discuss all the fragment locations soon then, Hollow?”

Eve was right. I couldn't keep this a secret from her anymore...

“There’s also a certain organization we’ll have to be wary of once we reach the capital there, Eve.”

“Hm, what organization?”

“The mighty Demon’s Council.”

But that wasn't the only problem I was contemplating about...

From the back of my mind…

 

An image of a Ruiner wielded in. With a large hammer in hand, they walked about the war zone clad in deep purple. With an ominous hood he stalked the battlefield with horrid sadness.

Those who died at his hands would cry as he broke them apart, wailing that ghastly wail…

He is known as…

 

 

Vala, The Wallowing Bane.

My successor who may pose the biggest threat to my goal yet.