Where am I?

I asked myself. My eyes slowly opened to see the orange sky greet me with warmth. 

I feel heavy.

The smell of dust fills my nostrils as bits of dirt violently tap against my face. I rolled on my side in attempt to push myself up.

Three red spheres of concentrated energy flew over my head and made contact with the ground a few feet behind me. The explosion threw me a few meters forward which resulted in me, once again, kissing the dirt that embraced me a few moments ago.

"Shit..." I cursed under my breath as the sudden blast rocked me to my senses. I struggled to get myself on my feet once more as I slowly tried to regain my focus.

Ah...that's right. We were ambushed.

Our platoon, composed of about forty to fifty soldiers, was tasked to setup camp on top of a cliffside to provide a tactical advantage in preparation for the upcoming battle tomorrow. But...they beat us right to it. Little did we know, a huge explosion awaited us at the assigned location, wiping out almost half of our platoon.

Still groggy from the explosion, I painfully got back on my feet. I removed my broken breastplate for it was giving me some trouble breathing. 

Ugh, my sides hurt.

My hands subconsciously inspected my body for possible damage. As expected...I'm wounded. A feeling of burned skin and a wound as large as my palm, happily presented itself as I felt a searing pain in the lower, right part of my abdomen.

[SHRIEK]

I covered my ears as a sound of a beast's battlecry fills the air. Sounds of heavy thumping of the ground gradually increased as it was heard getting louder...closer. The ominous sound was accompanied by the cries and screams of my brethren...

I looked in front of me. About fifty meters from my position, six groups of demons mercilessly slaughtered my wounded allies. 

Each group was composed of six demons. There were three types of demons that ambushed us. The first type is called Kuro. This demon is equivalent to our foot soldiers. They had black skin and red eyes. they wore black armor and sort of had a black aura emanating from them. They made the impression that they were being burned alive. Their physical strength was massive and they had claws for hands.

The second type is called Aka. This is similar to the first type but instead, they have red skin. They can fire red spheres of energy blasts. Well, they are inferior in physical strength compared to the black ones but the longer they charge their energy, the more powerful the energy blasts that they generate.

The last type was the typical, big, bulky type. It was a mixture of a beast and a demon. Its called the Oni. Basically, this demon was the leader. Each assault is led by a single Oni. It stood at a massive seven meters tall and was similar to that of a lion. Of course, it had black fur, red eyes, and five sets of teeth. It has a powerful jaw capable of crushing the exterior of a tank. But the most redeeming characteristic of this demon, is its two meter long horn on its forehead. 

We were careless! If only we had been more prepared...

One of the black demons noticed me. It knelt and kicked of the ground with an amazing amount of pressure. 

Damn! Where's my sword?!

The demon caught up to me in the blink of an eye and swung his massive claws straight for my face without hesitation. 

I duck and narrowly dodge his swipe and at the same time, I tucked my elbows at my sides. Gathering all the energy I could muster, I punched the abdomen of the demon with all my might.

Argh! My wound!

A shockwave emitted from my punch and I blasted the demon a few meters away. But after a few seconds, it quickly got back up.

Not enough! If it weren't for this wound, I would have blasted a hole through him. Shit!

With no time to spare, the demon dashed back at me. Red eyes flaring, wanting to destroy me. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me from the ground. The demon let out a screech, and shapeshifted his claws into a spear. Saliva drooled from his fangful mouth and it readied his spear, willing to rip open a hole in me.

[WHAM]

As if in slow motion, I watched as a fist collided with the face of my enemy. Brutally deforming the "head" and almost destroying it clean off. This time, a blue, fiery shockwave emitted from the punch and sent the demon headless into who knows where. 

"Snap out of it Mia! We gotta escape!" 

A familiar voice called out to me. A pair of hands gently supported my body.

"Keith...you're alive..."

I look relieved as I saw his smiling face...at his trail though, laid a bunch of demons that he had taken out.

"I was just in time. Good to see you're still in one piece. Come on!"

With the death of one of their own, three more Kuro demons came rushing towards us, and one Aka rained down a shower of red energy spheres, planning to destroy us to pieces.

My comrade drew out his sword. A greatsword given to a chosen few. It's length was almost the same as his height. Not counting the handle, it was about 6 feet, and its flat side can cover his whole body.

"Look out!"

Keith pushed me aside as the Aka's energy blasts fired on where we stood. My comrade expertly deflected all of the spheres with his greatsword as his blade turned into a blur.

"So fast..." 

I unintentionally spouted what was on my mind, mesmerized by the display of power performed by my ally.

So this is how he is when he gets serious.

"Tsk, that Aka is bothersome!" 

Keith pulled out a dagger. He charged it with his energy and threw it at the Aka with great strength. The dagger flew from his hands and immediately broke the sound barrier and headed straight for the red demon. With no time to react, the Aka was pierced squarely in the chest and its lifeless body fell to the ground.

[SCREECH]

The sound of his sword cried, scraping the earth as the owner dashed headstrong to the 3 Kuros coming our way. 

One of the black demons concentrated its strength and jumped in the air. With a menacing roar, it generated a huge, black, vertical, crescent wave from its claws. With great centrifugal force, the super soldier sliced through the wave horizontally, cancelling it out. With no hesitation in his movements, Keith carried the momentum on and unleashed a second slash upwards towards the kuro in the air, slicing it cleanly in half.

Breathing heavily, Keith was almost reaching his limit. Although, the two black demons that were once coming to us, hesitated.

What are they planning?

"Hey tomboy! I thought I told you to get out of here now!" 

Keith scolded me thoughtfully. Allowing me to return back into my senses.

"Y-yes!"

I got back on my feet but my movements were sluggish due to the amount of blood that I lost. 

I'm really weak...what kind of soldier am I?

Scolding myself won't help my current situation. Since our path was blocked by the demons, the only place left to go is towards the cliffside. As I got closer, the sound of the water hitting the sides of the cliff was more distinguishable. 

[SHRIEK]

There it was once again, the horrific battlecry produced by the Oni. As it arrogantly walked towards Keith slowly.

"Hmph, here comes the leader." Keith said, wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

The Oni crouched on all fours, building up its potential energy...ready to pounce. Biding his time to release its stored energy all at once.

"Hurry."

With a resounding boom, the Oni kicked the ground with tremendous force. I never thought that something of that size could move so unbelievably fast. 

"Shit!" 

Keith cursed as he planted his legs to the ground, ready to receive the fearsome attack. 

...

"Huh?"

The demon went past him.

"MIA!!!"

I'm his target!

With desperate eyes, Keith came for me.

I'm almost there...the edge...If I can just reach it. Maybe I can lure it towards the edge.

The Oni was quickly heading straight towards me, eager to impale my body with its massive horn.

I'm afraid I won't make it.

Damn...damn...I'm done for.

"NO YOU DON'T!"

Keith managed to catch up. Side by side with the Oni, the soldier let out a desperate slash. The demon deflected the attack effortlessly. An attack that has no decent amount of energy didn't faze the beast at all. 

But still, Keith managed to slow it down...even by just a second. He reached me first.

The beast opened its jaws, planning to devour the super soldier whole.

Keith grit his teeth and held his ground as he aimed his sword straight at the charging Oni.

"I won't let you!"

The sound of the sword being driven into the palate of the demon resounded next.

"Heh...you thought you would be able to overpow-"

...

No.

[KAKAKAKAKAKA]

Sounds of demonic laughter echoed throughout the area. The two Kuros that hesitated earlier were waiting for the perfect chance to strike. They impaled Keith at his sides with their spear-like arms. With the weight of the dead Oni resting on top of his sword, he wasn't able to do anything to protect himself.

"That bastard...sacrificed itself just for this..." 

Blood violently gets coughed out from his mouth and wounds as the two demons further forced their way into his being.

"I-if this is how it's going to be...I'll take you down with me..."

With every last drop of his strength, He pulled out the sword from the palate of the Oni.

"Mia, live on!!!"

Keith plunged his sword to the ground and let out a massive amount of energy. The energy was so strong it ripped his organs apart, but it allowed him to utilize this energy to destroy all enemies in the vicinity.

"Keith!!! No!!!"

Almost all demons in the area were decimated and...I was unharmed. Even though the energy the super soldier unleashed was fearsome...all I felt, was a warm, tender, embrace.

...You bastard...you selfish bastard...

But it was all too late. Even though all of the Kuros were destroyed, a few Akas remained. With no amount of hesitation, they shot an endless stream of red energy spheres at me.

I took cover behind Keith's sword. I held the handle attempting to pour some of my energy into the weapon.

I-I can't handle this...It's just....too...much...

With a tremendous amount of force, one Aka had been charging his attack the whole time and he shot it straight at me. 

Thankfully, the sword was sturdy and it withstood the amount of energy...

However it was blown away... along with me.

It's hopeless.

The last few words that ran through my mind as I plunged to the waters below.