Again he was pushed back, this time more gently than the first. Was Lucian seriously trying to protect him? What for? There was no reason to. The exorcist huffed in agitation. He was trying to do what he was supposed to do and the demon was preventing him from doing so. He was about to say something, but Lucian gave him a strange look and that silenced Akira.
As he watched from behind the shorter demon, the spirit that Lucian had contained a moment ago was lifted off the ground and propelled at the larger wraith. Lucian used it to attack the wraith, slamming the spirits body into the wraith over and over again. It was then that Akira realized what Lucian was trying to do. He was distracting the damned thing so that it's attention was not on Akira.
Swiftly, the exorcist moved from behind the demon and ducked into the shadows. The wraith was growing ever more agrivated as it swiped at the lesser spirit that constantly blocked it's way towards Lucian. It's growling was growing in intensity and Akira was sure that if he didn't do something soon, it would unleash a torrent of power that none of them could sustain.
Akira positioned himself against the wall and lifted his hands. His binds shot outwards, criss-crossing over the expanse between him and the wraith. They curled around the creatures large shoulders and neck. A slight pull of his hands back towards his chest constricted the binds and the wraith cursed.
The exorcist electrified his body once more hoping that this time he would manage to do something to the damned thing. The electricity bounced around his form and then leapt across the binds, crackling sharply as it went. With Lucian keeping it's attention for the most part, he was sure to do something.
The moment his magic hit the wraith, it yelled out, the dark form shuddering from impact. Entirely enraged, it whirled around to face Akira, ignoring Lucian completely with his puppet of a spirit. It's large claw snapped outwards, slapping the smaller spirit away from him. The thing's lips curled into a snarl, the jagged black teeth opening in a silent roar of rage. It twisted it's arm around the binds that the exorcist held. Akira was still pumping his magic through the binds, electrifying the wraith, but it didn't seem to be doing much anymore.
"Let us see how well you fare to such a spell, shall we?" The wraith growled. Akira's eyes widened slightly and he immediately released the binds, but to no avail.
The darkness swirled around him, twisting up to catch him in it's sickening hold. The feel of the wraith's power curling against him made his stomach churn. For a third time, he let his power crackled all across his body in an attempt to get out of the things hold. It was fruitless as the wraith laughed at his attempt. The darkness that held Akira's struggling body tightly shuddered and the sound of cracking and snapping filled the air.
The wraith's dark magic washed over the exorcist, black tendrils of shadowy light arcing around him. Akira's head fell back, his screaming filled the alleyway. The wraith turned his attention to Lucian, black lips pulling up into a wicked smile, "Care for a taste, demon?"
What was wrong with him tonight? Lucian dismissed his gravitational magics, the spirit having been knocked out in the flurry of activity. It wasn't the fact that his tactic didn't last for very long or even the fact that this wraith was powerful. He couldn't see anything. He ground his teeth together. This was absolutely frustrating. Earlier he had been able to see just fine; he had seen Akira's approach, the meeting with the demons, everything. But now... now he was just as blind as everyone else and he did not know how to cope properly with it.
There was no way he could've foreseen this happening or being wiped of his sight. But now was not the time to dwell on how or why this was happening. He was going to have to force himself to figure out the answers later, when he was alone. After they survived.
He ignored the wraith's statement as he strode closer to it, blank eyes piercing back at the thing. The demon narrowed his eyes and raised his arm parallel to the ground. There was too much movement, he was going to have to negate it. He didn't trust his time magic enough to use it right now. Ordinarily, he would've slowed things down but right now... he would have to rely on someting he knew worked.
He was clearly going to have a headache tomorrow.
He murmured a few words under his breath, a few black strands of energy swirling around his hand. He directed it forwards with a faint gesture, the energy levitating towards the wraith. Once it reached a close enough proximity, the strands began to wrap around themselves, spinning faster and faster as Lucian forced the gravity in the area to knit closer together. As it did so, it began to form pressure between the exorcist and the wraith, slowly working to wrap around each of the binds to hold them in place.
The first pang of his future migraine hit him. Tch. That was really going to be such a pain later. He pushed it away from his mind, breathing steadily to maintain his magic and force the wraith into paralysis.
The tendrils of dark magic wrapped around Akira's body slowly left him. His body was shaking, his breathing hardly regular, shallow and quick. Blood trickled down from his nose and corner of his mouth. The moment the tendrils left him, he dropped to the ground on his knees. His vision wavered in and out as he knelt there, unaware of what was going on before him.
The wraith gave a low growl of anger as it felt it's body trapped in the power that the demon wielded. It lifted it's head to glower at Lucian from it's temporary prison, "He said you had a weakness," it cackled, a bit of discomfort in it's voice, "He'll die eventually. All of the exorcists will. They've been marked you see. You can't possibly think you'll win this. I can crush that human's body in my claw just by curling my hand around him. Just imagine how he would scream if I did that to him, how do you think he would die? Would he die begging for you? For his life? Or would he-" The wraith stopped mid sentence, going quiet suddenly.
"I'll see you again, little demon. Next time, I'll kill that little pet of yours," it growled at him after several moments of silence. The wraith shuddered and then slowly disappated into nothing more than black shadow sinking into the ground.
The instant the entity disappeared, the strings of magic holding it disappated as well. And as soon as that happened, the migraine pounded in his head in full. Tch. That was quite annoying. But not as annoying as what he had been told. Things were out of place here. In all the previous time streams, he had not known about Lucian. There had been no knowledge of Akira, of the exorcists, or of anyone that would eventually group together at all. Yet somehow in this time stream... somehow it was...
His eyebrows furrowed. He did not like this. He needed time to himself.
Taking off the cloak around his shoulders, his voice came out in little more than a growl as he threw it at Akira. "Go back to the room--I'll join you later," There wouldn't be any further interruptions tonight, if his gut feeling was anything to go by. He turned on his heel, walking away from Akira towards the edge of town where he could find a place to think on his own.
Above the alleyway, on top of a roof of one of the taller buildings in the town, a dark cloaked figure stood, watching the fight below. His hood covered his face entirely, aside from the lower jaw and lips. The moonlight was slowly sinking and the sunlight was beginning to take it's place as the fight drew to it's close. He was slightly disappointed that the exorcist hadn't been killed, but that just made things all the more interesting.
The demon, on the other hand, was much more fun to toy with. Let the man think that he had the upper hand, that he knew all there was to know. A smile twisted his lips as he watched the demon storm away from the human, leaving him alone in the alleyway. The things he could do right then... Take the exorcist, force the demon to follow and be brought to a tragic end like always. Or kill the exorcist right there. No, that wouldn't do. He wanted to see the demon's hidden emotions.
He'd been hoping to see Lucian completely lose his composure, but it seemed it would take much more than that. His hidden gaze watched the exorcist for some time, plans forming in his mind. A soft laugh shook his shoulders. Now... there was an idea.
"Lets see how you dance to this one, Lucian," the figure muttered to himself and then dropped off the building, disappearing into the city like a ghost.
Akira slowly pulled out of his daze, having not felt Lucian throw his cloak at him. The cloth settled over his shoulder and back of his head. His chest rose and fell slowly, regaining his breath after the near death experience. Every muscle ached, the copper taste of blood lingered in his mouth as he knelt there. Lifting his head, the cloak slipped back off his head to settle on his shoulders. The wall before him wavered, blurring in his eye sight.
It took a moment for him to remember that Lucian had ordered him back to the inn. He wasn't sure where the man went, but he figured that the demon wished to be alone. Slowly Akira moved his body, wincing as he went. Once he was on his feet, he stumbled slightly in the alleyway and had to use the wall to brace himself. It was a slow walk back to the inn with him leaning against everything that he could to make it.
Going up the stairs of the establishment proved to be troublesome, but he somehow managed. Akira wasn't even sure on how he'd gotten back to the inn, blanking out for most of the walk back. There was too much pain and exhaustion to keep standing. He made it to his room somehow, though he wasn't sure if he'd had help or not. Akira fell upon the bed without removing his clothes or the cloak over his shoulders that had somehow stayed there.
Perhaps it was dellerium, or maybe something else but he'd rolled over to his back, dragging the cloak over to cover his chest. It was warm. Warm and comforting and even had a certain, faint scent to it that immediately had him associating it with Lucian. The exorcist frowned slightly as he shifted his body into a more comforting position. With Lucian's cloak covering him, he fell asleep.