Reaper's Purgatory-Chapter 24: Maze of Nightmares...

Kailey stared at the blood thirsty demons trying to get to her through her thin blue veiled barrier that encased her.

"Hmmmmmmm..."

She sat in a pathway corner of the maze. All she could see were the gnarly and disgusting faces of the malformed demons, most of which carried extra limbs and eyes. Others even had extra mouths on other parts of their body.

"There's so many of these things... it's a good thing that these ones are weaker than those other demons from that invasion..."

She sighed. "I guess I'm stuck here for a while..." Kailey then leaned herself further on her barrier and dug into her turtleneck shirt. She pulled out a pendant that opened up revealing a picture of women. Gazing upon it brought her some comfort in an otherwise dim looking situation.

She closed it with an audible click, returning it back from whence it came.

Suddenly from beneath the loud noises of the demons scratching and clawing at her barrier, she heard a faint screaming. Curious, she stood up and shifted the barrier to push away some of the demons to peek outside.

To her astonishment she watched as Megumi zipped past her through a far away maze pathway, from an even bigger horde of demons. She rubbed her eyes thinking that she was imagining a red blade that was poking from Megumi's hand.

"Uhh..."

To her surprise Megumi once again zipped right past her from a different maze path. And then a third time.

"Umm...

"AHHH!!! Get out of my way!!!!" Megumi screeched.

Kailey turned to her left, and to her utter shock, she found her barrier being shattered by none other than Megumi!

"Huh? Kailey?" Megumi opened her eyes and the demons around smiled, knowing that they were now freed to attack.

"DUMBASS!!!!!!"

Now both Megumi and Kailey were running side by side away from the horde of demons that only became bigger by the second.

"I'M SO SORRY!!!" Megumi yelled.

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE GOING TO ATTRACT MORE OF THOSE THINGS!"

Even more demons flooded from in front of them forcing them to turn down a path.

"How the hell did you shatter my barrier!? No wait. Better yet. Why the hell do you have a huge knife sticking out of your arm!?"

"I don't know!!!" Megumi cried.

The chase continued with the demons keeping right behind their tails. No matter how fast they ran, the demons wouldn't be far behind with some trying to block their path.

"Hey wait! Can't you just make a barrier?" Megumi questioned, huffing from running for so long.

"Oh yeah. Make another barrier when the strongest one I made was just destroyed. Yeah that sounds like a great Idea. If I had the power to make another!!"

"So, you can't make another."

"NO!" Kailey shouted.

They made another turn seeing more Demons heading their way. But in doing so they were trapped in a new dead end.

"Shit!" Kailey blurted.

They both ceased their running knowing that they were now trapped. "They led us here like animals and we fell for it."

Kailey with gritted teeth turned herself around. She manifests arms three times her size from her barrier power. "If there's any time to use that large dummy knife of yours, now's the time to use it girly."

Although reluctant, Megumi posed herself. "I-it's Megumi..." she looked upon the large horde of demons bringing back that pit she felt before. "W-were screwed, aren't we?"

"Yup."

Without hesitation the first demons outstretched its hand to attack Kailey. She smacked it hard into the wall using her barrier arms. More came and she manifested severe more barrier arms punching and slapping the demons with brutal efficiency.

Megumi, seeing Kailey fearlessly facing these horrifying demons, couldn't help but to be in awe.

Seeing a demon attack from Kailey's side, she jumped into action, she cleanly sliced through the demon saving her.

Megumi continued to defend Kailey and herself as the demons kept coming at them in full force. They were scratched and clawed at with a few of them nearly stabbing through them.

Feeling overwhelmed Kailey created a small barrier around the two of them and pulsed it as far as she could before it vanished. She then moved to manifest several barrie fists and punched into a crowd of the demons.

Inspired by her courage she pushed past her own reluctance and went on the attack too.

With her bladed arm she swiped and slashed through the demons. She blocked another from her side and cut through them.

"Watch out!"

With immense vigor, Kailey swung her projected barrier arm at the demon attacking Megumi. She then brought her hand down smashing several more to the ground.

Megumi instantly reoriented herself, going back on the attack against the demon horde. Little by little they fought against the overwhelming horde. The demons from front, the demons from behind even the demons from above invaded the walls like a swarm of insects.

In the midst of the battle, it became apparent that their numbers were growing ever larger. It was beginning to feel like they were fighting an unwinnable battle. That was until Kailey noticed something strange.

Suddenly a laughter came to Megumi's head from her dark doppelganger. "[Eheheheheh. So, when will you kill the real one?]"

"Huh?" Megumi instantly became confused.

Unexpectedly Several hundred demons vanished at once bringing Megumi into a deeper bewildered state.

"Girly!" Megumi glanced back, seeing that Kailey had decapitated a demon that looked a little bigger than the rest.

"These are the real demons! We have to look for the stronger ones!"

Megumi watched as the demons Kailey defeated turned to ash. Not only that but she noticed that the entire floor was spotless. This entire time they haven't been fighting an army of demons, but an army of demon fakes.

The attacks of demons suddenly ceased. Their strategy had been found out.

"So now they cower. How pathetic." Kailey said.

Feeling insulted, many more of the demons began their attack on the two again. Megumi fought back, defending herself as she searched for any strange looking demons that were around or hiding.

"They have to be close by. Keep your eyes open, girly!" Kailey slammed down several more of her barrier fists.

Kailey, committing the full extent of her power, began to swing her actual fists too. She punched straight, projecting several of her fists.

She uppercutted through another group sending them flying through the air.

Punching from the side she was able to slam several different demons into the wall, pushing through a chunk of their forces. As she did, she caught a glimpse of a demon that retreated further back.

"That's the one over there!!" Kailey pointed.

Megumi, seeing the demons in question, dashed past Kailey. And as if by command, she began to fight more fiercely through the demons with a target in mind.

She sliced through several of the demons using her bladed hand but quickly got caught by several demons from behind. They grabbed her leg and arm, holding her in place as other demons came to attack.

"C-crap!"

Luckily Kailey came in with a smaller barrier protecting her. Clutching her hands, Kailey turned that smaller barrier into a spike and killed the demons, freeing Megumi.

Not wanting the demons to let her escape, Megumi began her pursuit again, cutting and slashing and putting the fear of God into the demon.

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Megumi pushed and pushed and pushed through the crowd. And jumping over the large group that now surrounded her from all sides. With finality she thrusted her bladed hands into the demon's chest!

And in one swift motion she swerved the blade out from it and back into him, cutting him in half.

Like last time, several hundred demons disappeared like mist, as if they had always been illusions. Before she realized it it looked like over half of the army of demons that had chased them was gone, replaced with several large groups of demons. The remaining demons that were watching became more weary of the two women seeing that two of their comrades have been defeated.

As Megumi took one step forward the army of demons flinched.

"You win... For now..." one of the demons croaked. Like the others, the remaining demons disappeared like mist leaving nothing behind.

Megumi was taken aback from this sudden retreat.

Seeing that it was now safe, Kailey approached from behind, exhausted from the battle. "It looks like they were all just cowards." she noted. "Also..."

Kailey smacked Megumi in the back of her head. "Ow!"

"Weren't you listening!? I was telling you to come back! You almost got yourself killed!"

"I... I didn't hear you. I guess I was too focused on getting that demon. Sorry."

Kailey gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, it looks like you're okay, but you shouldn't try anything risky. Right now, it's life or death. So, if one of those demons gets a hold of us, we're screwed."

Using her hands, Kailey dug into the newly made pile of ash, pulling out a black core.

"Any demons we kill we should hold onto their cores for now. That way if we find a reaper we can give it to them for safe keeping... The last thing we need is the same demons hounding after us, after we kill them."

"R-right," Megumi became a little more awkward, glancing around as if unsure about something. "Uhh... Have you been in a situation like this before?"

"No. Not really. But I've been told what might happen in a worst case scenario. And it looks like we've actually reached one." Not wanting to stand, Kailey sat herself at the wall.

"Alright.... Sssoo then we should go around and look for help."

"You can do that if you want, girly. But I'm staying put here."

Megumi became befuddled by her statement. "W-wait! Why? S-shouldn't we go around and look for our friends?"

"And what? Put ourselves in more danger? No thank you. It was already hard enough trying to find the real demons in that army you brought me, but going back out there? You're out of your mind."

Kailey scoffed. "You have to have a death wish if you want to go out into the unknown just to find help. Besides, if we stay put, we could at least increase our odds of being found."

"But what if nobody comes, we can't just sit around and do nothing."

Kailey groaned, annoyed. Slowly their conversation became that of an argument as Megumi urged Kailey to accompany her through the maze as Kailey vehemently refused. Unknown to either of them and demons with many eyes and mouths were watching them.

"Yeah... Now I remember... I've seen that girl before..." Devon said. A few of his mouths cracked a smile. "That's right. I took that demon's core from her a couple weeks back... So Dragerd wants that woman, huh?"

Devon revealed himself to the two women wearing an unbuttoned shirt and jeans. His skin was pale green skin and sported black hair. He waved vigorously, wearing his sleazy smile that cloaked his true intentions.

"Hey, aren't you girls from the caravan?" Devon shouted.

"A demon!" Megumi yelped.

Seeing Devon, Both Megumi and Kailey ceased their bickering and immediately went on the defensive, ready for an attack.

"Wait wait wait! Hold on!" Devon held out an opal with Harold's crest. "I-I'm from the caravan too! See?" Megumi saw the opal from a distance, recognizing it. She remembered K telling her about the need to carry the opal that was engraved with a crest, in order to identify her as part of their caravan along with everyone else.

Of course, she lost it as soon as she was given it, via a strange demon bird. And nobody knows about this incident aside from herself.

She began to sweat nervously hoping nobody would ask about it.

"I guess he is a friendly demon."

"S-sorry about that." Megumi brought her bladed hands down

Devon brought his hands together, thanking her. "I thought I'd never find anyone wandering in this maze." Devon said as he continued to the two. "Thank goodness we found each other though. Have you two found anyone else yet?"

Kailey stepped back and sat herself back down, leaving Megumi to answer.

"N- No. we just ran into each other recently. And to be honest we were fighting about what to do."

"Correction. She was trying to make me come along with her because she felt unsafe staying put." Kailey said.

Megumi forced a smile, with her aggravation becoming more evident. "I guess I can't convince you then."

"I can tag along with you if you'd like?" Devon said. "I have to look for a few of my friends too. We seemed to have gotten separated like everyone else."

Despite the unnatural look Devon sported, Megumi easily took him under her wing. She was simply glad to have someone help her with her journey into the maze.

Kailey, seeing the smile deepen on Devon's face, sighed. She got back up from sitting and reluctantly spoke up. "Fine I guess I'll come too."

Devon's smile became smaller, but he forced it even larger. "The more the merrier."

Unexpectedly Megumi brought them both together in a hug, sporting amore chia smile. "Looks like we got a team!"

"Hey, watch where you're aiming that thing!" Kailey shouted.

Both Kailey and Devon reflexively jerked their bodies to avoid Megumi's blades.

"O=oops. sorry." she immediately released them and looked at her bladed hand. "Umm... Does anyone know how to get rid of this?" Megumi asked.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Devon and Kailey thought unison.

********

Elsewhere Liang and the other reapers were racing forth through the dunes of purgatory.

"We should've known something was up from the get-go." Arnold said.

Liang groaned.

"It's not like we'd have ever expected K to suddenly disappear like that." Dove retorted.

"Yeah. Somethin like this is unprecedented." Another with a cowboy's hat chimed.

Liang finally spoke up. "Look. What matters now is that we find the caravan and the escorts as soon as possible. And make whoever's behind this pay!"

With a serious gaze Liang continued to lead the way onward to Dragerd ultimate creation.