Obey Me! The Pandemonium

Chapter 23: Catastrophe

"How much longer do we need to keep this going?!"

It's been more than 10 minutes already but there's no sign of Yuki nor Uriel's presence. Some of the witches and sorcerers were already collapsed due to exhaustion and lack of energy. Restraining a powerful demon requires a lot of continuous magic power from them. One wrong move, Agares can slip out easily.

Solomon could hear the others' whimper and struggle but he had to ignore them to keep his focus on the spell. If he lowers his guard now, it's game over.

"Ugh..."

It just keeps getting worse. His legs are shaking. The pain on his body is tickling. Solomon is starting to lose his balance and might reach his limit anytime soon.

CRACK!

"Solomon..."

Unfortunately, Luke can't do anything to help. He just hopelessly watches Solomon from the back. That insane amount of magic power around the main magic circle is too dangerous for him to get closer. His blessing is not nearly enough for everyone. At this intense moment, Luke can't think of anything but Simeon. If only he was there, things would have been better.

The chains rattle. Agares tries to force open the chains around his body and loosen them. He freed a hand and used it to pull the chain that wrapped around his neck fiercely. With a single force, the chain break in half.

"He's getting out!"

"We won't be able to keep going at this rate. Someone might actually get killed!"Shouted a witch.

"Bring the injured ones and retreat. We'll take over from here."She's a powerful witch named 'Maddi'. She commands her group to fall back since things are not looking very pretty now. If they stay any longer, they might get killed. Considering how many allies have fallen, it's almost impossible to keep holding the demon down.

She looks over the group to find Solomon in the middle. She opens her mouth as soon as she sees him."Solomon, what's your suggestion?"

He replies while still in pain,"...Don't give up yet... Hold your formation."

"?! Are you kidding me?!"

No matter how many of them are complaining and giving up, Solomon is still refusing to fall back. This is because he believes in Yuki. His trust in Yuki is so strong that he is confident they will be back anytime soon. They will be back... that's what Solomon keeps telling himself to endure the pain.

Luke is just standing there and doesn't stop praying for their return quietly.

'Yuki, Uriel...Please come back quickly...'

A gentle wind went through his cheeks.

CRACK!

"Hm?"

Suddenly, the clouds swirl into one point, the wind is getting stronger. It's getting more windy as time passes. The environment just turning from bad to worse.

They are welcomed with a sound of something cracking between the windy area but it's not the chain nor Solomon's body. Something is up above the human world sky. When Luke lifts his head up, he finds a huge rift emerges. The rift is opening and forming a shape like a black hole in the orange sky.

He is genuinely confused by the mysterious rift's appearance. He gazes at the group of the humans but none of them got a free hand at the moment. Thus, no one except Luke is aware of the rift's sudden appearance.

He focuses his eyes on the rift for a minute then, a surprise strikes him. He is so surprised that he thought his eyes were deceiving him. Luke's wish for their return is granted but...not in the way he imagined...