Chapter 353: Chapter 352- Nearly lost
Damien had been watching the battle from a distance.
His role was clear: protect the family if the danger broke past the first line of defense.
His aunts stood beside him, tense and ready, weapons in hand should the fight spill closer.
Clutching his daggers, Damien couldn’t hide the small flicker of pride in his chest as he saw his sister holding her ground with ease against the creatures.
Calling them demons felt right—beings stripped of sanity, driven only by the hunger to hunt.
"They don’t care about the damage they’re taking," Tessa muttered, lips parted in disbelief.
Reid and William stood firm despite not having their usual armaments, fighting with raw skill and willpower.
Arbit, however, was struggling. He swung and staggered, but the monsters pressed in without pause. They never checked their wounds, never flinched at broken bones or deep cuts. It was as if pain itself had been cut out of their bodies, leaving only the thirst for blood and flesh.
"Ahhh!" Arbit’s scream tore through the courtyard as one of the demons sank its teeth into his forearm. Blood poured down his arm as he stumbled back, face twisted in agony.
"Darling!" his wife cried, rushing forward, but Tessa caught her by the arm, pulling her back before she could reach him.
Damien tensed, ready to leap into the fray. His grip on the daggers tightened—he couldn’t just stand by.
But before he could move, his sister was already there. Ruby’s figure blurred as she appeared before the wounded man, striking with calm precision. Not a hint of panic clouded her movements as she countered the demon.
A flicker of hope lit the battlefield when Ruby pulled out a familiar artifact and fired straight into the demon’s face.
Damien’s eyes widened. He recognized that weapon. He had seen firsthand during the ambush what that armament could do.
And just as he expected, the moment Ruby pulled the trigger—
*PTAAH!*
—the demon’s head burst apart, collapsing lifelessly to the ground.
"We... won?" Tessa whispered, her voice shaky, almost afraid to believe it.
But Damien couldn’t answer. A chill crawled down his spine as he felt something shift.
The demon’s body began to wither, shrinking unnaturally. Across the field, the other two—those William and Reid had been fighting—were doing the same. Their mangled forms twisted and twitched, as though something was building inside.
’This is bad.’ Every nerve in Damien’s body screamed. He tightened his grip on his daggers, alarms blaring in his head.
Then his gaze found Ruby.
Her hand trembled. The revolver quivered in her grip.
Panic stabbed into his chest. For the first time, he saw his sister—the one he always thought unshakable—falter. And in that moment, he felt their hope slipping away.
’No... I won’t let it end like this.’
Before thought could catch up, Damien’s body moved.
*STAB!*
Both daggers slammed into the ground just as the first corpse erupted.
**BOOOOOOM!**
The blast shook the courtyard, and Damien’s mud walls rose in desperation, thick earthen barriers splitting the ground as he poured everything into his summoning.
The air filled with a sickening hiss. The demons’ blood, turned to acid, sprayed across the walls like molten rain. Steam and smoke rose instantly as the mud burned away, eaten alive by the corrosive liquid.
SSHHHHHH!
The stench was unbearable. The walls melted like wax, and what slipped through splattered against Damien’s arm and chest.
"Aaaaghhh!" His scream tore through the chaos as the acid seared his flesh, skin blistering and burning. His knees buckled, his body begged to collapse—but his hands stayed pressed to the ground.
"Not yet... not yet!" he choked, blood running from his lips. Another wall rose, thicker this time, but it too sizzled and cracked, breaking down under the relentless acid.
He could feel his strength leaving him, his vision narrowing. His body trembled violently, skin peeling and flesh charred where the blood had touched him. The pain was suffocating, every nerve on fire, but still—
Still, he summoned.
"Move... damn you, MOVE!" His voice was raw, desperate, as another wall burst upward, shielding his family from the torrent. Acid ate through it in seconds, splattering across his back.
His body convulsed, the stench of burning flesh filling the air. His consciousness slipped in and out, black spots creeping at the edge of his vision.
But every time the walls began to fall, Damien’s hands clawed at the ground again. Again and again. Summoning, forcing, enduring.
Because behind him—his father, his mother, his sister—they were there. They needed him.
If his body was the price, then so be it.
"Damien!!"
The mud wall behind him finally burst apart, but another barrier rose in its place—Ruby’s this time.
Damien’s eyes fluttered. Through the haze of pain, the last thing he saw was his sister’s face. Her eyes wide, full of fear. Then darkness pulled him under. He didn’t know if he would ever see her again.
"Damien! Talk to me!" Ruby cried, cradling his burned body in her arms. Her voice cracked, desperate, but there was no response.
Outside, the Acolytes had begun hammering at the barrier. The sound of their attacks shook the ground, but Ruby didn’t care.
Her brother’s body was a ruin. His skin charred, melting in places, his stomach hollowed as if the life was being eaten out of him. His face was twisted from the burns, barely recognizable.
"Damien!" Reid and the others rushed over, their eyes filled with horror.
William knelt quickly, pressing fingers against his nephew’s neck. His face darkened. "His breathing... it’s too shallow."
Ruby’s chest tightened. Her hands trembled as she held Damien close, her tears falling onto his scorched skin.
"Hey, Damien... look at me," she begged, her voice breaking. "I’ll save you, I promise. I will..." Her words dissolved into sobs as her mind went numb.
The barrier around them shook violently. More than ten demons pressed against it, their grotesque forms clawing, pounding, relentless. Behind them, the Acolytes stood, waiting, smiling at her despair.
Ruby’s heart sank further. The potions she had prepared were all back in her room. The revolver at her side had only three bullets left—and none of them could heal her brother.
The situation has turned ugly.
She pulled him tighter against her chest, her tears soaking into his hair.
"Please... don’t leave me, Damien."
Just then,
*Tap*
A hand rested on her shoulder.
A warm, assuring hand that made her flinch.
Ruby slowly looked up and found a pair of warm and familiar eyes looking down at her.
It was Adrian.
A wave of relief suddenly washed over her as she heard him saying,
"Sorry for being late."
°°°°°°°°
A/N:- Ghaaaa! This damsel in distress scenes!!!! Why can’t I stop?! Well, this is very much needed for several things. Drop a comment.