Chapter 175 - Damsel in Distress II

The footsteps doubled, and she doubled her speed. She was running past the hospital now but with no clear plan of action. If her guess was right then, the demons would catch up with her due to how she had evaluated their powers and all. 

But instead of them catching up with her, what she heard was laughter. Multiple bursts of laughter and screeches and with that, the swishing of ropes in the air and the cluttering of limbs on the ground after her. 

Aderonke turned, her eyes widening. 

"Imps?"

She was dumfounded at first. What had happened to those imposing figures she had glimpsed at? How did they get changed into forms of imps? 

Speechless she stood, looking at the brawling and excited horde of demons as they appolroached her while her head spun in circles. 

She was certain she had seen those demons. Or hd she been dreaming? Certainly, she could not have been.

She was a light sleeper so the idea of her getting to sleep walk was virtually non existent. There was just no logic to how she could have had a micro sleep and then dreamt about those demons rather than seeing them in actuality. 

Or was all of this a dream and she was merely on the be, still sleeping?

Besides that, the mark also ensured that she could have hyper sensitivity to things of the spirit realm. So even if her body did not rrwact to them naturally, the fact that her eyes had been heightened to inhuman levels would be what would step up to the task.

It was just that and thus the concept of her not seeing what she had saw was not feasible. She could swear, she had seen them but how did the imps come over now?

Or, could they have transformed into the imps? She shook her head.

Imps were like the basest of demons, according to the story teller, the higher demons would not sully themselves by using the form of imps for any reason. Thus, she dispersed the idea away.

But then, another idea came up. Just what if the main demons had decided to take the step back and let the imps come forth to do the damage.

At this thought, she missed a heart beat. If that was the case, it would mean that the demons were willing to evaluate her strength in action by sending an imp horde after them.

Most likely, when she had been spent and was weak enough to deserve thorough rest and revitalisation, they would then step up then and do whatever they had in mind to do.

In that case, that would be very bad, for everything she could imagine. She would have confirmed her mother's fear and even worse, it could just be her last night alive.

She gritted her teeth and frowned at that thought. She had only been woken by some feeling and she needed to get some air. She did not bargain any of this.

She just had to live.

Live for the now, find out the later stuff, later.

"It does not matter. But I am not dying here." Aderonke muttered and then leaned forward, her eyes darting left and right.

"Demons dissipate into air when they die because they are made of ethereal energies. And so when destroyed, their bodies return to energy." She said.

There were over 50 Imps in the hordes, both traditional and the ones which had evolved over time. And each one of them had this sort of mischievous smile attached to their ugly looks.

Their claws scr.a.p.ed the tarred grounds and their tails swished in the air. Amidst their midst, she could pick out a few of them that were going at each other for reasons she did not know. Imps were not really united, that she did know and so she had not bothered to stress herself with the details of it. 

She reasoned, she could not really take out all of them here. Not when she did not know the state of the other demons that she had glimpsed then. The effective way to go about that would be for her to move till she could be in range of her house and then engage the demon imps there.

Once she was able to fight away to her house, all of this would be over. The enchantment the Story Teller put on her house would immediately kick into effect, literally erasing her scent and presence from the senses of the demons. And then, she would be back again in bed, sleeping away all of this like it was nothing.

"Law of War!" Aderonke started, her biceps bulging slightly at the side while she dug her hands into the back of her bumshorts pocket. She sighed and then slipepd her hands out, her fingers from both hands now clutching on to two silver bracelets with strange inscriptions on them.

"Now, now. Let's do this one more time." She said to herself, wearing the bracelets on both hands by pressing it to her wrists. The bracelets blended in the hand immediately, without needing her to slide it down her hand. And when it did, it soldified, wrapping the entirety of her wrists firmly, a hazy aura of silver about the form of it.

And then.

"Furious fire!" Aderonke roared.

A sharp sound of retracting metal clicked into the air as the fiery aura from before bursted out all over Aderonke.

The air warped, blazing with intense heat for a split second. Aderonke's body flickered and then blasted forward into and through the demon imp horde, her hands held to the side, wide, each palm wielding a dagger.

Her body outline blurred through the border, her hands stretched to the side with her upper torso leaned. She zoomed through, the abrupt clash of the daggers sprouting from side of the bracelets tearing and slashing through the imps, a bright flash of light with each demon hit.

Empowered by the technique of furious fire, she dashed through their midst, her attack cutting out a straight route through them.

....

The dusty road with the potholes looked more refined now. It was becoming neater and well managed due to the fact they were reaching the main express road that was used in the town. 

And with that sight, Shino looked to Sunday and smirked. 

"A little more. We would get to where I saw this Sage." 

Sunday nodded, in response.

But that was then.

No, they had been running for quite a while. The concept of soon was eroded already as the both of them kept running and running. Despite being spirit beings, Sunday as an Irunmole did have his limit in extended racing. And about now, he was reaching his limit already. But even at that, he could not just call it quits. 

Not when the Were Hawk beside him was still pushing out. His c.h.e.s.t heaved out in exhaustion. He had not really had enough of a time to rest since the time of the battle at First Heaven and the fights he had been into. 

Not that it matters but eventually, stress would build up on even Irunmoles, especially when they had been fighting consecutively.

And now, instead of relaxing, he was our here trying to race to a certain sage who was supposed to be the person who would help him out.

He was skeptical about it, still. The fact that a human, even with the ability to cultivate Agbara, would have the means to help him made him worry just a bite. And even more, the fact that they have been on the road and running amplified that worry.

He was running out of time. He did not really have all the time to waste on racing to a human who he was not even sure could help him.

He sighed, looking to his side and observing Shino as he raced. The WereHawk was looking tired already, the rate at which his wings splayed and blasted him forward with air currents had a considerable time lapse in between.

Yet, he was still racing, his face looking determined. 

Seeing that, Sunday gulped and shut his mouth. He would not be seen as someone who w.h.i.n.ed to Shino.

The road had become more refined, compared to when they started out. The potholes were feweer, if not non existent at this point as they reached the junction where the road met with the dual carriage express lane.

As they reached they turned a corner to the right, Shino lagging behind while Sunday took hints about his movement and so was able to keep in the direction despite he was few steps ahead of them.

Sunday sighed and then closed his eyes. The energy he was getting from Bane.

It was thinning out.

He looked to Shino and smiled, slowing down as Bane's ears pricked up within his soul space.

'You would not suppose that there are areas of demonic concentration about?' Bane asked.

Sunday repeated the question and Shino frowned. 

"It feels like this a fight going on, somewhere." Sunday repeated another line of Bane's words and Shino's lips parted.