The boomerang sliced the daemon in two before it could reach Kyler. Kanon and Kai rushed in, aiding Kyler as they combated the daemon. Jhin joined in to, thrusting his blade at a shrieking daemon's guts as he ripped it open.
"We have to reach Martha!" Kyler cried. "She's fighting the core there!"
"Neither cores have been destroyed either." Donna said, appearing from behind Kyler and cutting down a daemon. "We saw it from afar. The two cores just split apart."
"And ones here somewhere." Valerie said.
"But..."
"Get your head in the game Kyler." Diego said, cutting down another daemon. "This is our fight, as that is hers. We've come too far to just die."
Kyler grunted as he shot down two daemon. Diego was right. His head wasn't in the game. The problem was, Martha was the same. Despite her fiery demeanor, she was hurting deep inside. All the lies that she'd forced herself to believe laid bare in one daemon could ruin anyone...
Kyler left eye glowed briefly as an entire row of daemon got slashed with deep cuts. But his target was far from reach.
"DONNA!" Valerie cried.
Donna jumped swiftly, caught in the blast of an exploding daemon. However, she was still hurt by it. She slowly touched her face as blood trickled down from a small cut on her cheek.
Donna's family had two licht techniques, but for generations, each child born to it did not have the technique. Donna included. However, the blades she used; Colada and Tizona; each contained the licht technique of her family. Colada, the Dark painting and Tizona, the Flaming Blight.
"YOU DARE TOUCH MY FACE!!" Donna roared, drawing out her second blade and pointing it at a incoming daemon. Red patches appeared all over it and burst into flames, melting it into nothing. She swung the blade down, setting an entire batch of daemons ablaze, shocking the other inquisitors.
"The core!" Kai exclaimed, pointing at one daemon standing in the midst of other daemon. It had hind legs and long claws for fingers with a feminine structure and mouth. The eyes left much to be desired, as they were replaced by countless veins.
Rushing in, Kai and Kyler began to clear the path. Kanon gave them cover fire with Diego. Kyler punched to daemon to the ground, going to the ground on his knees and bracing his back. Kai dashed, slashing a daemon down and piercing another. Using all his might, Kyler booted Kai up in the air, his invisible blades slashing the other approaching daemon. Kai threw his blade at the daemon with the core, but all the other daemon sacrificed themselves, becoming a literal shield. The daemon smiled evilly. But its victory was short lived as blood began to spurt from it mouth.
Jhin plunged his blade deeper into the daemon's chest, twisting and turning it until he heard the crashing of a core. The daemon howled its last as all the pseudo daemons fell to the ground.
"YES!!" Kanon squealed, hugging Jhin and Kai. Jhin let out a sigh of relief, happy that they were done with the mission. Valerie was busy attending to Donna, the latter who was in a foul mood, grumbling about her next audition and how she needed to look perfect and proper.
"Kyler, wait." Kai called. But Kyler was already gone, running through the rubble.
"Leave him." Diego said as he sat down. "Just leave him."
"But..."
Diego didn't hear the rest of it. He only stared into the forest, the last of his energy hoping, no praying for Martha's victory.
[I have felt your rage, woman. It is beautiful] The daemon said
"Oh yeah?" Martha said, "I bet you want some more."
Martha knew she had messed up. She had charged in without a plan, without any backup. Now she was alone, facing a sin. She had underestimated it, thinking that its reliance on multiple cores made it weaker with just one when in actuality one core was equal to that of a thousand daemon. That explained its ability to mass produce daemon.
[Your flame burns bright] the daemon said, [Beautiful, like the stars in the sky. Just like him]
"What?" Martha said, her veins popping out. The daemon snickered.
[I see. He was your father! Haha] The daemon laughed. [Fun fact. He was a coward. A man without the guts to fight me. I'll give him credit though, he did try to stop me when I started attacking those civilians. Ah well. Lets just say...}
"ENOUGH." Martha said coldly, her sword already drawn, pointing it at the daemon, "I will kill you."
[That's what I said] The daemon snickered [Beautiful]