you follow shinoa down hallways, her leading all of you to the spot that her plan would take place. you trust the girl with your life, but you would not deny your confusion as to why you didn't take the stairs up to the fourth floor. after all, that's where guren and shinya are.

you begin to understand finally when you can hear sound of walls breaking and swords clashing overhead.

shinoa stops turning to the group. "y/n!" she yells pointing above her head at the ceiling. you nod raising your axe above your head and calling for your demon.

"shizuka!" you shout, activating your demons explosion ability, jumping out of the way of a piece of falling debris.

yuu is the first to jump up through the hole you created in the ceiling, and the first to the attack the vampires.

kimizuki goes second, followed by yoichi, then shinoa, and then yourself. you clear your mind of any unnecessary thoughts, focusing your attention on the goal and how to get to it.

"shizuka, go!" you shout, slamming the blade of your axe into the flooring, sending a line of purple explosions down towards crowley. he easily slices through them, his eyebrows drawn together as he glares at your squad over his shoulder.

yuu raises his sword, ready to finish the fight quickly, but crowley holds guren out in front of him, causing yuu to stop.

he's got guren by the throat, holding up high enough that the toes of guren's shoes barely touch the floor.

you scowl, tightening your grip on your cursed gear.

"is that all you've got?" crowley asks, moving the lieutenant colonel out of his face so he could see your squad properly.

"fan out." yuu commands his sword, holding it straight out in front of him, the end pointed towards his enemy. "asura-kannon!"

his demons ability is activated and a bunch of swords appear behind him in a haze of bright red fire. the swords point at crowley, facing the same direction as the one yuu's holding.

they shoot forward, intent on hitting their mark, but they're merely batted away. crowleys companions step in front, brandishing their weapons menacingly.

"daamit!" yuu shouts, running up to meet the purple haired girls blade with his own. the metals clash with a loud sound, the blades scraping against one another.

the blond brandishes her whip, the leather of it wrapping itself around yuu's ankle, pulling him into the air with a shout from your comrade.

as chess advances, preparing to strike and kill yuichiro, shinoa rushes into the middle stopping the attack with the blade of her scythe, though she is thrown aside along with yuu.

you growl, rushing out after her to defend both of your friends. you grip the handle of your axe tighter, standing before your comrades protectively. you can't let anyone hurt them.

crowley pulls the purple haired vampire back, muttering something in her ear that causes her eyes to widen. she nods, albeit hesitantly. she looks like the other vampire has just asked something of her she does not want to do, but cannot refuse.

she steps back to the blonde, relaying the message. her eyes narrow, but she nods, looking far more determined than her friend.

"i don't care what it takes." crowley says, his voice hard, commanding.

the blonde's grip tightens on her whip and she takes a slow step forward. "as you wish, lord crowley."

"regroup!" shinoa shouts as the two female vampires advance. "otherwise they'll pick us off one by one!"

kimizuki grabs yuu off the ground, beginning to run. you attempt to do the same. following your comrades as they escape, but you're stopped all too quickly.

the leather of a whip wraps around your ankle, pulling you onto the ground. you let out a loud grunt as your chest hits the floor. you're thankfully able to shield your face in time, but it still hurts nonetheless.

yoichi turns to shoot a couple of his arrows, having not realized that you're not following. it's only after the shots are released that he gasps, drawing the attention of the rest of your teammates.

"y/n!" yuu shouts, breaking out of kimizuki's hold. "let go! we're not leaving them here!"

you shake your head as the tight grip of the whip around your ankle is tugged, pulling you back towards the vampires. horn kicks you onto your back, not with too much force, but enough that it still aches.

chess' foot lands on your wrist, causing you to cry out in pain, dropping your axe. she kicks it away, pulling you up by the back of your uniform.

"careful chess." crowley warns, giving the vampire in question a serious look. "don't damage her."

chess frowns, looking at you with an expression akin to disgust and envy. "yes lord crowley." she mutters, pulling you back wards as you hiss in pain at the growing bruise on your wrist.

your friends attempt to pull yuichiro away, his loyal nature leaving him unable to ditch his comrades without a fight.

"go!" you yell, your eyes pleading. you're okay with being left behind if means they're able to go on with the mission. "get out of here!"

yuu pays no heed to your pleads, pulling away from kimizuki's hold.

"what the hell are you doing?!" guren shouts, glancing back at the squad, or more specifically yuichiro. "follow your orders. retreat immediate-"

crowley lifts guren up higher. "okay, i think that's enough out of you." he tosses the lieutenant colonel aside, the dark haired man hitting the wall with a loud thump, and falling to the floor.

you yell out, pulling against chess' grip on your uniform and arms, which she holds behind your back. "fuck!" you curse loudly, straining to get free and save your commander. "let him go!"

your shouts are ignored as crowley turns to face your squad, a look of recognition crossing his face. "hey wait, you're that weird kid from shinjuku.the one who freaked out and almost killed a bunch of our troops."

"please my lord, may i have permission to kill him?" the blonde asks, regarding crowley carefully.

the vampire in question shakes his head, tutting quietly. "hm, 'fraid not."

chess turns to face him, her grip on you never loosening as she pouts at her 'lord'. "huh? but look at him, he's asking for it." she points out, disappointment written across her features.

"i know, but i'm betting that lord ferid will want the kid alive." he sighs, stepping up pull you from chess' hold, he taps a finger against your chin, not threatened by your harsh glaring.

"see? we won't kill him yet." he remarks, sliding his hand forward to cup your chin fully, tilting your head up to look at him.

"don't touch her!" yuu shouts rage taking over his features as he readies his sword, speaking to your team things that you can't hear from back where you stand.

yuu rushes forward again, and you shout out at him, once again telling him to stop. "no! you're only going to get yourself caught!"

crowley chuckles nodding down at you before turning back to the action. shinoa stares at you, an expression of misery on her face that hurt you to look at. you look away, gritting you're teeth til they hurt.

everything else is a blur as you stare to the side, unable to watch your comrades be captured due to yuu's incredible loyalty. you could not blame him, you too used to believe you could save everyone. thinking so will only ever cause more harm than good, which is something you learned quickly.

you can feel the relief flowing through you when you see that they've escaped, noticing one of goshi's illusionary enchantments bursting through the floor.

the entire hallway becomes a maze of caves and lava, stopping chess and horn in their tracks.

"what's this? it's hot." chess comments, touching the lava falls before her eyes with the tip of her sword.

"it must be magic." the other remarks, coming to stand beside chess properly.

you feel both relief and worry flooding through you, guren's squad is strong, but how can they manage to defeat these nobles? especially when one of them is as strong as crowley.

the lava bubbles and breaks through rocks, filling the caverns more and more. it truly is an impressive sight, and you find yourself staring around, looking for the members of guren's team.

"an illusionary spell. one strong enough that it's managed to affect a nobles brain." crowley pauses to take in the caverns, glancing around at the sight. "humans shouldn't be able to control spells as powerful as this one. so then, i wonder who's teaching you all these new magic tricks."

crowley turns abruptly, tossing you down beside guren as he blocks an oncoming attack. three black shurikens drop into a nearby rock, tumbling into the lava below.

"ahh, and there's more of you, i see." he sighs, holding his sword up and narrowing his eyes, searching for the source of the attack.

you keep a straight face, though you and your naturally teasing nature want to laugh as shigure pops up from the lava behind, running towards the noble.

you hold back your gasp as crowley swings his sword back harshly, striking out at the oncoming girl. he would've killed her if not for god hi, who blocks the heavy strike with his pipe, and the two of them fall back into the orange liquid.

mito is up next, throwing punches and kicks at the vampire, which are all easily dodged and blocked. she gets nowhere, and crowley easily grabs her ankle, tossing the pink haired girl into the other black haired girl, who's running past, also prepared to strike.

"what do you think you're doing?" guren cries, panic written across his beaten up, but otherwise handsome features. "get out of here now!"

shigure shakes her head, standing up from the lava, a desperate look in her eye. "not without you!"

"we won't leave you behind!" the black haired girl comments, though you're unsure of her name.

guren attempts to prop himself up on his elbow, trying to look around at his comrades. "i'm as good as dead. retreat!"

goshi looks at you, offering you a sympathetic, lopsided smile. "but what about her? are we to leave l/n here too?"

you return the kind smile with an encouraging one of your own, answering for the lieutenant colonel. you nod.

guren looks at you, and he knows that you've known the answer long before this moment. he nods sharply. "you have to."

crowley stands, towering over guren. he has a menacing gleam in his eye as he kicks guren in the chest, causing the man to cry out. "i thought i told you to shut up?"

"guren!" mito yells, rushing forward.

"stay back!" guren yells, his commanding tone stopping the girl in her tracks. "he'll slaughter every one of you. lead them goshi."

crowley kicks guren again. you grab his ankle with your good hand, doing anything to try and stop him.

"but sir, i can't!" goshi shouts, watching his commander be beaten.

"complete the miss-" guren's cur off with another sickening grunt, coughing up blood as he's kicked once more.

"he's killing him!" shigure cries, trying to rush forwards to her commander. goshi grabs her arm, a pained look in his face as he stops her. he slams his pipe face down onto a rock, causing a loud ringing noise to sound at the harsh contact.

more and more lava spews from above, beginning to fill the caverns further.

crowley hums, shaking your grip off of his ankle as he turns to face the lava thats pouring overhead. he swipes his sword across it, sending a stroke across the entirety of the illusion, breaking the spell away completely.

when you open your eyes there's a massive hole along most of the wall, leaving the hallway exposed to the scenery outside.

"woah, super impressive lord crowley." chess exclaims, bringing her hands up to her face.

horn crosses her arms, rolling her eyes at chess' antics. "now is not the time to start fawning over him chess." she criticizes, glancing back towards crowley.

he uses his foot to nudge guren onto his back so he can face him. "your friends have left you behind." he remarks, placing his gloved hands on his hips.

guren smirks, letting out a cough. "guess they don't like me very much." he replies, his snarky tone the same as always, you consider that a good sign.

crowley tilts his head, a fang poking out of his mouth and resting in his bottom lip. "it seemed like quite the opposite if you ask me." he sighs, turning to glance outside. "either way you're mine now."

you let out a chuckle, shifting onto your knees and turning to look at guren's wounds. "well nobody asked you, so i don't know why you bother commenting."

guren waves your hand away as you stare down at his wounds with concern. "i'm fine." he assures you, offering you a smile. you return the gesture with a glare but ultimately leave it be. you know there's nothing you can do for him anyway.

"oh is that the case?" crowley asks, turning back to with a raised an eyebrow. you give him a hard glare. he pulls you up by the arm, placing a hand on your waist to steady you from his rough his tug. he grins. "well, you're going to come with me."

"no." guren hisses, but he doesn't have enou strength left to stop the vampire from taking you, and settles for slamming a fist into the ground as you're pulled closer to crowley's side, and he turns to face his comrades.

"get him bound nice and tight while we wait for ferid." crowley commands, to which his comrades immediately comply. chess stares weirdly at you as crowley turns around, taking you with him to wherever he was going.