They reappeared at the end of the hall, behind Lucifer, and Kigana felt herself immediately hold her breath.
She had no idea what Haru had said. So sound had escaped him, just emotions. It was not a word that had been spoken by the Acolyte but power. Power that stirred emotions, caused one to wish there was a dark hole they could crawl into and hide, power that blew over a person leaving a feeling of dread and filthiness.
Whatever she'd heard when he'd spoken had made her want to run, hide, freeze, or just quiver in fear for the rest of eternity.
It was so powerful that even now she watched from behind as Lucifer, its target, struggled to escape its hold.
She was shocked when Erisa, next to her, lifted her uninjured hand and shredded the door of the hall with a series of blows delivered in quick succession.
The pink haired girl then looked out through the slowly regrowing doorway, grabbed Haru and her again then teleported.
This time they reappeared in the biggest balcony Kigana had ever seen. The only reason why she knew it was a balcony was the overhanging part, the cantilever that projected outward from the supporting wall without any visible supports or pillars underneath.
Well, this was not an ordinary cantilever, this one was easily the size of a dozen football fields.
Cantilevers often small structures in architecture used to create dramatic, projecting spaces like balconies, overhangs, or roof extensions and were typically designed to distribute the weight and stress evenly in order to ensure stability and safety.
This one was impossibly vast and Kigana was almost certain that it had no pillars of support underneath too.
Just being on it, so impossibly high, and looking at the unobstructed view it allowed, gave her anxiety—a sense of floating, like she was suspended on thin air.
She clutched Erisa's shoulder tightly and looked at her as the pink haired girl looked around.
"We should get going," Haru said worriedly.
Erisa shook her head. "We need to find Ran," she said.
Kigana studied her and began to wonder why she was looking around so frantically.
Ste herself looked around and all she could see was a vast expanse. Only to the left was there something visible, she could barely make out a doorway of tendrils growing close.
She shuddered, they definitely did not want to go back there.
"Well, we are not going to find him just standing here or find a way to treat you," the Acolyte said, gesturing at her hand.
Kigana continued to watch Erisa look around and it took a moment before it finally clicked.
"You can only teleport using line of sight?" She asked.
Erisa frowned but nodded. "That's why I hardly ever use it."
Haru sighed. "You should have just said so. We have already wasted so much time as it is. Fly, take Kigana with you."
Both girls looked at him in shock. "What about you?"
"I can do this," he said and suddenly became a floating apparition. He was like a ghost. His astral form she quickly realized. "Now, let's go, hurry."
She ended up having to climb on Erisa's back. The balcony had no railings so they quickly exited the tower through it, moving through the air.
Far enough away from the tower Kigana saw that the balcony indeed had no support or pillars.
"Now, what?" She asked.
"Now, we find Ran," Haru said.
"Give me a moment," Erisa said, closing her eyes. "I need to enhance my mind so I trace his, once I find it I'll know where he is."
Haru nodded and they fell silent as she concentrated. Kigana couldn't believe what had just happened. She, a mortal girl, had just met Lucifer.
She never thought a day like this could ever come. She was frightened, overwhelmed, panicked, and near mad from fear.
She'd woken up in a room as dark as a void and then he'd appeared before her, bright as day and hadn't even spoken to her, just grabbed her by the air and kind of vanished, sunk into the fabric of reality? She couldn't describe it, his mode of transportation. But it was not teleportation. It was like they had become light.
It had completely knocked her out and when she woke up next it was to his light bearing sword on her neck and him using her to threaten Erisa.
Her eyes fell down on the pink-haired girl's severed left hand and she couldn't help feeling guilty. Erisa had lost her hand while saving her.
It seemed like she was going to be a liability to this team. Now she understood why Ran had insisted that she couldn't follow them and she'd forced her way into the kinhood. Was it even still a kinhood with her in it? A mortal could not be part of a kinhood.
This was more of a kinhood and one mortal girl. She felt useless, and now they were sacrificing themselves to protect her.
She wished she was the one who would be doing that and then they wouldn't have to look over their shoulders twice, once for her.
She never thought Ran's father could be so evil. Then again that wasn't really her cousin's father, she was sure that he'd agree with her.
Kaito Ran was his father. Lucifer had contributed in bringing him into this world but that was the end of it.
She felt so sad for Ran, he had only few people he could rely on and no one powerful enough to save him from his mother and Lucifer.
"I've found him," Erisa said, suddenly. "He is in the tower."
"Dragonhearth?" Haru asked.
"Do you see any other tower around here?" The pink-haired girl asked, amused.
Haru smiled. "It was just a question, no need for teasing. Do you know where he is?"
"Aye, but there's something strange with that tower. When I reached out to Ran his thoughts were too fast, like time was faster in there. Could time be faster in there?"
"That bastard," Haru cursed, making them look at him. He clarified, "Lucifer. He knew that we were going to leave the tower and then we'd be out of the time field. Someone as powerful as him could have stopped us a thousand times in the time it'd take us to blink. He let us go for a reason. We have to get back to Ran now."
"Alright, let's go."
Erisa, Kigana on her back, led the way. She went left to another side of the tower, another balcony.
They were nearing the balcony and close to landing when a winged figure swooped down from the sky.
But Erisa acted so fast. A wave of fire poured out of her right hand and attacked the figure, making them flinch away and retreat.
Kigana, who had been screaming since the figure appeared, asked. "What was that?"
"A creature that captured us the first time," Erisa answered. "We must hurry. It's fast and though I'm prepared, we have no idea how many of them are out there…"
Before she could finish that statement, two more fell down from the sky and upon them. Erisa swerved so swiftly out of their path that Kigana for a second almost found herself dislodged from the pink-haired girl's back.
In that moment, she died a thousand times.
Two more winged figures, they looked like the opposite of angels. Knightley dressed, black wings, sharp and leathery.
They attacked them from all angles. Haru had light glowing out of his hand and anytime he pointed it at any of the flying beings it was like he'd fired a gun. Sometimes they would be pierced by something, sometimes they would be set on fire.
Everything happened so fast from Kigana's perspective. They drove the flying beings away many times but they kept coming back and they brought more with them each time.
They were about to land on the balcony when Erisa threw her hand out and spread a wave of fire ahead to light up the walls of the tower.
Once they landed Kigana understood once why she did it. The inside of the tower was naturally bright, with no source of light, but the fire increased the distance of visibility.
Immediately, Erisa grabbed both her and Haru then teleported, and she kept teleporting, and teleporting.
Kigana began to feel dizzy and soon enough nauseous. She felt like it was never going to end. Whenever it felt like they had stopped and that would be it for the day, no more teleportation for at least a year again—Erisa would jump them across another vast distance.
The sound of wing flaps followed them, signifying the fact that they were still being pursued.
When they finally came to a halt she heard the familiar sound of fists tearing through a doorway of tendrils.
"He's here," she heard Erisa say, but felt too dizzy to even open her eyes.
She felt Haru pull her along as they passed through the doorway. Reality was already slipping away from her.
She heard Haru call out to Ran loudly. She felt Lucifer's presence in the room even with her eyes closed and her mind shutting down, he had an exchange with Ran that reached her submerging mind as a muffled sound.
And then she heard something that completely knocked her out with a force that broke her spirit with terror.
"ZENMETSU."