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Is it going to rain? Yuuki looked up at the ominously dark clouds above. However, said clouds slowly parted, allowing what appeared to be the light of the heavens to shine down onto Inaba, except it wasn’t nearly as happy of a message in reality… As the light descended so did a skeleton figure garbed in bright white clothing; the only thing be visibly whiter was the being’s practically glowing wings that magnificently stretched themselves across the sky as far as they could.

The Trumpeter had arrived.

Before the girl could even think about hiding, the terrifying foe had already blown on its intricate trumpet, sending a devastating attack her way that she was only barely able to block with her shield in time. Sadly, not even an indestructible shield could save her from the blow: Yuuki was sent flying backwards from the sheer force and was only stopped when her back collided against a concrete wall.

It’s impossible… The white haired lass fell to her knees and started coughing and gasping for air. Am I going to die here? She thought to herself as a stream of tears began to flow down her cheeks. I don’t want to die! Despite the overwhelming odds, Yuuki weakly searched and reached for her shield that fell beside her after the crash.

But the Trumpeter wasn’t going to wait. Believing what it thought to be its last attack, the angelic being blew on its trumpet once more. Yuuki in the meantime shut her eyes tightly as she braced herself, however, she felt nothing… Not death nothing either, just… Nothing happened. The girl slowly opened her eyes and rested her now wide gaze on her life savers: Genji and Minori. With their combined effort and help from their demons, they were able to whether the blow.

“Are you okay?” Came the familiar voice of Nix as she helped the lass. In that moment, Yuuki was overwhelmed with joy. I’m glad… She said to herself internally as she nodded her head weakly in response. However, a few of the members of the Investigation team weren’t the only ones that joined the fray: while the Trumpeter was distracted, another white haired girl (although she had short hair) came up from behind and planted a katana in the demon’s boney spine while in midair, causing it to let out banshee like wail before trying to wildly shake the aslant off. Youmu!?

Sadly the lass was thrown off, but not a moment later did a complete stranger with spikey blue hair and a long elegant flowing scarf use the falling girl as a stepping stone to reach the skeleton and axe kick it square on the skull. "Oi!!" Youmu yelled at the rude b*****d. The surprised didn’t stop there though: to follow up came a whip that wrapped itself around one of the fiend’s wings before the wielder of said weapon -known as Kyouko Nekata- whipped the creature down to the ground, cratering it before a certain Demi-Fiend jumped, reeled up a punch, and landed it straight in the Trumpeter’s back; making a satisfying bone crushing sound while creating an even deeper crater.

“Take Yuuki to safety, Nix. We’ll take it from here!” Genji barked as he and Minori rushed towards the now grounded horn blower. However, despite impressive barrage of blows it took, the Trumpeter wasn’t done yet. The angelic being spread its wings out wide in a dramatic fashion, blowing anyone nearby away like a feather in the wind before it launched itself skywards and started to attack relentlessly on the group with AOE attacks of varied elements. Anyone who tried getting close again would be quickly slapped down into the ground or blown away by the trumpet – attempting to attack all at once didn’t work either as it only rose higher in the sky and then promptly punished the tactic with another AOE.

It was absolutely clear that the demon would play by its own rules, and although it would be slow and boring, it seemed the group had no choice but to play the fiend’s game and attack from a distance. That was until the Trumpeter found a very familiar shield in its chest cavity… The hollow eyes of the skeleton followed the trajectory of the object and laid its eyes on Yuuki. It was so busy trying to fend off the others that it completely forgot about her…

“NOW!” Genji rorared as everyone except Yuuki took advantage of the Trumpeter’s confusion and finished it off: Kyouko using her whip to brutally tear off a wing, Genji and Kisa sticking to good old fashioned ‘make a hole in your gut’ martial arts, Minori and Nix following up with strong mid distance attacks, Youmu burying her blade in its boney neck in a (successful) attempt to sever it, and lastly Kai poking the fiend’s nonexistent eyes.

And so the Trumpeter finally fell.

Once back in Inaba, Hitomi roamed down the streets in search for new enemies, but with no luck. Left in the seemingly empty town by her lonesome, the girl continued to walk as she let her mind wonder; doing her best not to think about her house or her grandma. Wonder where Kisa and Kuzaku are, not that I'm worried about them... She really didn't have to worry though: she was confident that both of them could take care of themselves in battle. Still, seeing them at least once wouldn't hurt, right?

"H-hey... Is that the...?" One demon started, "M-mm... No mistaking those eyes, that's the Emerald Oni." Another finished. They thought they were clever, hiding themselves between buildings as they waited for an easy human prey to pass by, but instead it was their saving grace: they couldn't possibly defeat her if the rumors were true. "Oi, where did she go?" A third demon spoke, noticing that the green haired girl had disappeared from view.

"Watcha talking about?" Hitomi cooed from behind the demons.

"RUN!" The fiends yelled in unison before scurrying off.

Hitomi had just finished slaying the horde of foolish demons when she saw a man in the distance walking towards her direction - besides his presence, however, she also took notice of the very familiar tattoos he had. "Oi, where did you get those?" The marital artist yelled out to the stranger, but received no response. I don't like this... The girl's instincts were going haywire: she needed to escape. But before she could even turn, the lad was suddenly in front of her and preparing a punch.

s**t... Hitomi was sent hurdling into the sky before luckily landing in a river that barely cushioned her fall. "Ow... That was close..." She said out loud as she rubbed her arms; at the very last second she had blocked that monster's blow with her arms. She was lucky that they didn't break.