Chapter 44: Battle Among Demons
The quiet forest --
Fire licking at Green fungus --
What is left, after?
~ Miyara Miwa
Ashe felled one, then I a second, and then a third. I saw Res Li throwing beastmen out of the center of the circle. Kyosuke was also accounting for beastmen, one by one. Then I heard a yell from one of the beastmen, and the circle we were fighting suddenly started backing away from us. Kyosuke, Ashe, and I all stepped forward, carrying the attack to them. Another stick whizzed by my head and struck one of the beastmen.
Then I saw a terrible sight: nasty green demons appeared, grinning horribly and running towards us. My heart failed me for a moment, and I fell to the ground, my sight dim as I fought for air. I regained control and stood up again, looking around. This was disaster: Kyosuke, Ravena, Baku, Res Li, Hosei, and Sun were on the ground, unconscious or worse. Only Ashe and the White Faerie pressed the attack on the beastmen.
Before I could move, I saw Caramela blaze up in a red fury, holding the Crystal of Fire above her head. Blazing rocks fell from the sky, and where each one fell, a red fire demon, spitting flames, crawled up and began attacking the awful green demons.
The beastmen melted away, and a mighty battle between the demons began. Unable to do anything constructive, I looked at everyone who had fallen to the ground. None were dead, merely unconscious, and I bound wounds as necessary. Ashe and I were each attacked by a green demon and we defended ourselves against them successfully. Eventually, all the demons were gone, and only a few flames flickered here and there.
As soon as the battle was over, Caramela let out a wail of despair, threw the Crystal away from her as far as she could, and fell to her knees beside the unconscious Ravena, weeping horribly. The crystal came to a stop twenty or thirty yards away. Ashe retrieved it and brought it back to Caramela, holding it out very respectfully to her, but she took no notice. He prostrated himself on the ground, holding out the rock to her in both hands. Still, she ignored him. I cannot say what her or his actions mean.