A World With/Out Home

Chapter 16: Nightmare (Part 4)

"Why? Why? Why? The pain. It hurts. I'm sorry. Just let it end. Let it all end!" The words only Kyle could hear caused his heart to lurch in pain. Without realising he had fallen to his knees but then as sudden as it started it stopped. He looked up and saw the reason why. The Eternal Hero, Lillia. She had launched herself at the demon tearing apart its expanding body and sending the black gunk to the earth below. The two were locked in a battle that shook the city's very foundations. If it was only that then maybe it would have been fine. With the Guard supporting her the Primarch would be defeated but something began to shift and on instinct Kyle turned around. Oozing from the stone pavement and rising from the cracks was the black muck of a demon.

"Rin!" he screamed and pointed just in time for the knight to react before the worst could happen. In a flash her sword was drawn and the demon which had been lunging towards them was cut apart.

"How?" she breathed heavily.

"Th-they're everywhere!" someone shouted causing them all to look back into the city. The demons were rising from the earth in places they had never before and with them an ominous fog began to gather.

"We need to leave!" Rin commanded. "Leave everything you can and follow us!" Together with the knights she began to usher the filming crew.

A sudden mighty clap broke out above them. In the midst of the fight between the Hero and Primarch, Lillia had acted. The Hero's armour shone with a blinding light and with it a barrier had erected itself. The shimmering light began to form cutting the city away from the incursion and trapping the demons inside.

"Quick!" Rin yelled as she realised the barrier would close on them as well. The crew ran with all their might abandoning their equipment but in their panic several tripped as the earth shook beneath them. Worse still another demon had appeared and from the corner of Kyle's eyes he saw it sprinting towards them up the hillside. It's blade like arms caught the side of an unaware knight splitting his armour apart.

Kyle reacted first turning back towards the centre and summoning all the might he could launched himself at the frightening creature. The dagger at his waist was more for decoration than anything but it was still made from real steel. With the slim blade in hand Kyle landed against its head gouging the metal as deep as he could. The demon shrieked in pain allowing just enough time for the injured knight to strike back felling the creature as it burst back into nothing.

"Thank you," the man grunted in pain. "But... you've doomed yourself." The barrier had finished forming. On the other side was Rin and majority of the crew.

"No!" her scream was muffled as she slammed her fist again the barrier. "Damn it."

Kyle ignored her for now and helped the man up, "We're not doomed. The Hero is still fighting and so are we. We just need to hold on and help as much as we can."

"Well said Kyle," the voice surprised him as Mr Devro approached awkwardly. "I'm not very fast and well... I couldn't just leave it behind." In his arms he held the main camera now pulled off from its tripod. Along with him were two members of the filming crew who had fallen over and three knights who had purposefully stayed behind.

Kyle looked at the director and sighed, "We're in this together now. Just don't die. Your fans would never forgive you."

"Including my wife," the older man laughed strenuously.

Another knight came to support the one Kyle had saved and together they made their way to edge of the barrier. As they thought there was no way through. Even trying to cut it apart was useless.

Rin frowned on the other side, "You have to find somewhere safe. You're best chance is the headquarters close by the incursion grounds. It'll be heavily defended." Her eyes looked past them and to the battlefield raging even more than before. "Hopefully it's still standing."

"I'll make sure they get there," a knight beside Kyle saluted. "Don't worry Ms Rin."

"Good luck," she nodded. "I'll try find a way to get you the reinforcements you need. Stick to the buildings. With the demons appearing from everywhere open ground will just get you surrounded. Now go. The longer you stay here the more demons will appear. Stay vigilant, I doubt the fog will hide you."

Kyle gulped and nodded. With each passing second it was becoming harder to see but staying where they were would mean the end. With that the group began to make its move. The path to the headquarters was quite long and they'd need to circumvent nearly half the incursion grounds to get there. From the position on top the hill the battle below could now barely be seen. Wisps of the fog would be blown apart only to be quickly replaced, all the while the flash of magic sprayed against the dense grey. The members of the Hero's Guard and the reinforcements from the other cities' were forcing themselves to the utmost. The fact they hadn't crumbled already showed the great deal of preparation and training they had all gone through.

The injured knight looked at them proudly, "A lot of us complained but they drilled us what to do in almost any situation regarding the demons. Looks like it really paid off."

"For now," another responded. "We can't keep this up." He looked to the sky where the Hero and Primarch could still be seen locked together in a frozen state. "The Hero is busy as well."

One of the filming crew cracked, "Isn't the Hero meant to be all powerful? Why can't he just blow away that demon and fix all this? Instead he just trapped us all inside!"

Without warning Kyle turned and slapped the man, "Don't you dare blame this on him. Do you really think the Hero isn't giving his all? The only reason for this barrier is to protect the rest of the city and look what it's done to him. How much energy do you think is needed to support it? If the Hero wanted he could end this all but then we'd go with it. We're the reason he's struggling to win."

The words hung in the air causing all of them to turn to Kyle. Really he had wanted to say more but for the ordinary person they wouldn't understand. The power of the Hero was meant to be infallible and that may have been true for the Eternal Hero but for Lillia it wasn't. Worry and pain were barely hidden beneath his expression. He knew just how much she was trying to save them all and only hoped she'd be able to.

The man turned his face apologetically, "I'm sorry. I said too much."

"It's fine. Let's just move on," Kyle huffed only to notice the blinking light of the camera pointed at him. "Mr Devro is that really necessary right now?"

"Of course it is," the director said resolutely. "I could never forgive myself to let this go unrecorded. Thankfully I even caught you're speech just now."

"If it comes to it, ditch the camera. Your life isn't worth it."

"Well that's arguable but I understand." He made no move to put the camera away and continued to train it on Kyle.

"Please lead the way," Kyle gestured to the knights to continue moving.

"Yes sir," they saluted respectfully causing him to remember that when it came down to it as an officer, although the lowest class, he still outranked them.