The Hotasagi's wide colored wings generated a thin, sharp air stream. It impacted against the biggest of the fractures and cracked the arms still clinging to the archer's slender body in half.

Within seconds, Shioko managed to roll to the ground and grab the bow and quiver. Ogai's hood rotated dangerously in her direction, and, predicting the incoming blow, the warlock quickly got ready for the counterattack. ​​

He let go of Yoichi's face and clutched the little dark sphere between both hands. The next moment he opened them: the small black and dense sphere had quadrupled in size, expanding.

"Aaargh!" he yelled for the effort. The warlock shot the dark energy sphere towards the archer, and the anomalous object travelled at high speed for a couple of meters, covering half the distance between the two challengers in just over a second.

An light arrow was fired from Shioko's bow, travelling in the opposite trajectory and impacting Ogai's dark sphere. Under Yoichi's incredulous eyes, the arrow disappeared inside the sphere, instantly swallowed by the dark energy that soaked it.

Shioko's resigned gaze was faintly illuminated by the reddish light of one of the torches on the walls, and the sphere continued to fly towards he, second after second.

Her big green eyes moistened, and the tears of those who had failed to save her life did not have time to slip down their cheeks. The incredible light power of one of the élite tamers of the Nightblades guild had been totally ineffective against that arcane and unknown power.

Before Yoichi could scream his friend's name, an unexpected event disrupted the fate of the red-haired tamer. Something jumped as fast as a flash of lightning in front of her, running on all fours,.

Moments before the black sphere hit Shioko's chest, it hit an unidentified target, generating a giant explosion.

*BOOM* - A violent shockwave followed the roar of the explosion, similar to a mighty thunder. The intense pressure generated by the impact forced all those present to cover their eyes, and the dark energy accumulated in the sphere dispersed into the surrounding air, emitting infernal and demonic cries.

Suddenly, a whole row of torches was extinguished by the wind unleashed by the explosion and part of the room fell into darkness. Splinters from some unidentified material hit Yoichi's face, scratching it.

The rock that trapped him broke into a thousand pieces, and his body rolled in the mud several meters backwards. The young tamer's ears began to buzz intensely, and his sight got clouded.

After about ten seconds, the blond-haired tamer struggled to open his eyes, coughing up the fine dust ingested after the shockwave. Resting both hands on the ground, he lifted his chin and chest from the mud, turning in the direction of his companions.

Indistinct figures took shape about ten meters from him. With extreme effort, gradually resuming using his senses and getting up on his knees, he managed to distinguish them in the dim light: Shioko had fallen backwards and was stunned. However, the red-haired tamer did not appear to have suffered serious damage other than a few scratches on her face and leather armor.

Within seconds, Kenji also appeared when the cloud of dust generated by the explosion dispersed into the air. The little dragon demon's red eyes glowed with their own light inside the darkness, pointing to its tamer.

My head is spinning... that explosion stunned me, I can't hear anything. What happened? I've never seen such a powerful attack! Ogai's black sphere was filled with dark energy, and Shioko's arrow had no effect. It was swallowed instantly! Yoichi frantically thought, resting the sole of his right boot in the mud.

She's safe... how can it be? I've clearly seen something stand between Shioko and...

Yoichi's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by an unexpected vision. Ogai was no longer in his previous position, and this had increased his field of view.

A few feet away from Shioko, who was continuing to crawl backwards, shaking with her face dirty with mud, a small, blackish body lay face down in the mud.

Yoichi's head continued to spin, but the young tamer stepped up and put both hands on the ground. Putting his weight on one foot, he also lifted the other sore leg and stood up.

*anf*anf*anf* - "No, no... no... no! No!" his mouth opened, escaping his control, and his thoughts resounded in the form of words grieving for what he would not want to see.

Stumbling several times, regardless of where the enemy was or what he was doing, Yoichi ran to that little black body, throwing himself to the ground in front of it. The body inflated and deflated faintly while the lungs of the injured demon tried to keep it alive.

In that dark-shrouded cave with little oxygen, low temperature and sticky mud everywhere, Yoichi broke out into a hysterical cry without interrupting his advance towards his objective.

He slipped both hands under that warm body and equipped with a sturdy, waterproof fur coat. When he turned it face-up, Rokuro's long mole claws grazed his arm, letting his heavy hand fall dead weight in the mud.

Yoichi's weeping became denser and more profound, further clouding his sense of sight. The uncontrolled tremor of the face followed that of the hands, which, one after the other, grazed the face of Enatsu's Moruba: a deep circular wound had dug into the side of its stomach, shattering part of its rib cage.

Large shards of the same rock that had imprisoned him and his companions were lodged in Rokuro's body. Its mole nose wobbled in the air, desperately trying to fill its tired lungs, and its long whiskers were soaked in Blackblood.

The brave Moruba, under direct orders from its tamer, had jumped towards the dark sphere, knowing that Shioko's light arrow would not be enough to stop it. The Nightblades archer's life had been saved by the fearless gesture of the most fearful of Tentochu warriors, who, without hesitation, had used his demon to shield a friend.