Ah, here we go again... and once again, here we go
Jariel Jareem
The dust settled around JJ and those who were under his protection for now - the lady and her child as well as the young man whose butt he had just saved from the hungry jaw of a ravenous zombie. The efficiency of his magic against those types of evil… it put JJ’s mind at ease. He was glad to know that they wouldn’t be too much trouble… for now, that was. Who knew if his peace of mind would be ripped apart later on today?
“W-Woah, t-that… holy shit, you vaporized that poor dude!” the man said with his arms flailing right in front of the Demon Slayer’s face,
“C-Can you do that on all of them…?” Depending on the amount of mana that JJ possessed, he should be able to keep his dukes up for… not so long, actually. Having used a spell to pulverize that one zombie while having a seal hidden on the ground near the entrance at the same time put a toll on him. Unlike some wizards, he had yet to fully master his magic, so every time he cast a spell, it cost more effort from him than one would think just by looking at him. Give it time, and the man would begin sweating from overuse… so he had to be tight with his magic power.
“Khuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…” he breathed out to regulate his breathing, so that he could calm down and gain focus again,
“I’ll be careful with my magic, but your safety comes first.” Not exactly a reply to the young man’s questions, but JJ felt that there was nothing more to say.
Lili returned from her search around the numerous rooms along with another couple. That made… this young man with blonde hair, the first couple that they found, and the new couple that she brought along. Five people in total. He eyed her back and noticed that she reeked with a strange, chaotic magic… not just the smell, but the appearance as well. Before he could ask her about it, though, she turned back and searched for more survivors. His mouth was but half-open, but he quickly closed it again and cleared his throat. It made JJ realize that he had to ask the young man who was hiding in the ventilation system earlier about something.
“Are there any more survivors upstairs? If there are, we’ll need to get them out of this building too,” JJ asked the blonde gentleman. He was, sadly, met with a shaking head and a depressing reply:
“I’m afraid not, sir… Carm- n-nevermind, just… p-please, get us out of here. I’ve had just about enough of this town, anyway…” It was a sharp shift from his previous, livelier attitude, which made JJ feel as if he had touched a sore spot on him. He had been in the ventilation system for a while, symbolized by the amount of dust on his clothes and skin that the poor man hadn’t even spared time to wipe off. It was best to leave it at that.
Five people now, and Lili brought four more. They were now nine… too many people for JJ to be able to guard over at once in the case of any group of zombies showing up for a quick meal. He didn’t know what Lili was capable of with her magic, but if push came to shove, then he would be ready to aid her in any way.
“We’ll have to get these people to safety. I’ve been informed that there are no more survivors from him-“ “Y-Yeah, I’ve been crawling around the ventilation for what feels like an eternity, now… i-it’s all deserted up there, not a single soul left,” the blonde cut in accompanied by a dry chuckle that could be easily shrugged off as a chuckle of worry or a counter-act to show optimism in a situation like this. JJ’s ears were twitching in response to a strange tone, but it wasn’t from his chuckle… it was from the entrance.
The ground at the front of the entrance towards the open began cracking up, beat by beat… something was punching its way up through the floor, and given the radius of the cracks lifting the floor up, its fists must’ve been huge. JJ’s eyes moved towards the floor and was about to raise an arm up to signal the civilians not to get any closer, but lo and behold, he didn’t need to do that at all as none of them wanted to go anywhere near what was about to break its way up the floor. He, instead, moved his hand forward and did a ‘thumbs-up’, then pressed his thumb down.
“Please work…”The magic seal that was imprinted on the floor lit up, revealing its sharply contoured textures and illustrations of what looked like praying people with horns on their faces. The seal expanded so quickly that it looked like it exploded, releasing a wave of photons that caused the floor to burn… or rather, the huge zombie underneath it. Whatever it was, however, it appeared to die down by his spell, which pleased JJ as he took down a threat before it could even show itself.
“… I-It worked. Nice… *sigh*”Having had the seal active for so long had him needing to stretch his shoulder and regulate his breathing once more, while the blonde man along with them had his eyes widened in awe.
“M-Maybe I should become a wizard, too…” he mumbled as he dreamt of one day possessing the same strength as Lili and JJ. JJ shrugged the remark off and approached the floor on his way out of the building, braking in his steps to look back at the civilians and Lili if she wasn’t leading her way outside as well.
“My magic is very effective against zombies, after all…” he himself mumbled as he thought out loud,
“… *sniff* Shit, but wh-!!!”He had caught the scent of something grotesque coming up on them. From the wall that broken down in an instant to reveal its arrival, another humongous zombie with big, bulked arms came charging through - half of its body was hanging flesh, and its right arm was larger than its left by a margin. It didn’t lose any acceleration by smashing through the wall, and as JJ lifted is hands up to guard his chest and face, it managed to backhand him across the room, crashing through the counter where people used to talk with the employees of this house. Had it waited for his magic seal to be used before it charged in? He only noticed its approach when it was too late, even with his senses… damn it.