Let's get down to business.
To defeat.
Demons.

Go

to proceed or succeed, to weaken or fail

It all started with that dumb training camp. That useless, irritating, dangerous training camp. Yukio wasn't sure what had made the teachers think it would be a great idea to have a group of barely experienced Pages live together in an old abandoned dorm for a week.

It reeked of Mephisto and as much as Yukio loved his older brother, he had a huge respect for Mephisto's schemes and games and did not want to get even more involved in them, period.

At the start of it, the training camp had been alright. His classmates all got along more or less now so that they could all sit together and study while everyone contributed a bit to the topic.

Yukio was honestly surprised how well they all could work together and perhaps that optimism had been their downfall.

The exact moment that realization had hit him, Sugoru and Kamiki had jumped up, pointing accusingly at each other while beginning a heated debate. Barely a minute later they had started shouting and called each other names.

What was this? Kindergarten?

Not that Yukio would know, he had never attended one, but he imagined a room full of screaming children who couldn't properly articulate and fought over things like the pronunciation of Latin neither of them got right because of their accents.

And kindergarten, Yukio learned, also featured wonderful experiences such as collective punishments. The bariyon sitting on his lap didn't do anything to lift Yukio's mood.

He looked Shiemi, who seemed to be the only one mostly unbothered by the situation. She was calmly talking to Nii, a greenman she had summoned almost three weeks ago and so far hadn't let go.

Yukio took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

He'd been irritated all day already for some unfathomable reason. His senses had been running wild since he got up, he felt haunted by an itch he couldn't get rid of for hours now.

"Could you please stop fighting above me!?" Rin shouted, pulling Yukio back into the present.

Kamiki and Sugoro had started to butt heads again. Their inability to stay clear of each other was truly a miracle.

"Stay out of it, Okumura!" Sugoro snapped when the lights suddenly turned out.

Cursing and girly screams sounded through the now darkened room. Chaos unfolded around Yukio who by now really would do almost everything to be in his room.

More strange tunes followed until the light of a phone display illuminated Shima's face.

"What's happening?" He asked while the rest of them also turned their phones on.

"A blackout obviously, dumbass."

"Charming as always, Kamiki." Shima looked around, then pointed at the hallway to their right. "The generator is down in the cellar, right? We can go and turn it on again if it's just this building!"

The terrible feeling from before now hit Yukio at full force, turning from bad into worse. His legs nearly gave out beneath him. He felt like vomiting, like his body was rotting away, decaying-

He needed to get out, out, out!

"Get down!" Rin snarled above the noise and pulled Shima away from the door. It had been a long time since Yukio had heard Rin's voice taking on such an aggressive and feral tone.

The next moment a naberius broke through the door, standing exactly there where Shima had been just a second ago.

"Nii, I need una-una!" Shiemi called, and huge roots suddenly blocked the naberius' access to them.

The moaning and screams erupting from the demon's throat would surely haunt Yukio's dreams for the next months. It was a disgusting sound, like nails scratching on a blackboard.

The air was getting harder to breathe, it was foul and dirty-

"Breathe."

Yukio's view cleared and he found himself staring into blue eyes. There was a weight on his back, keeping him in place.

"Inhale, exhale, just like always. Please keep it together, Yukio."

Warmth, worry, home. Rin.

"Nii-san, I'm fine. Let go."

He could feel the other's around him slowly waking from their shock. Fear and panic had the strongest presence in the room, followed by worry and something Yukio recognized as determination.

So this was what real life combat consisted of.

With Rin's help, Yukio stood up, using the wall on the right to stabilize himself. This shouldn't have hit him so hard. He had shields for that. Carefully crafted and powerful mental barriers that were supposed to keep everything out that didn't belong to him. They weren't gone, no, but weakened, crumbling still unless he got a grip on himself.

Breathe in.

And out.

Repeat.

By the time he had calmed enough that the nausea wasn't overwhelming him, the other's had gotten over the initial shock and were pulling themselves together again.

This situation had escalated too fast and too critically. None of them were ready to actually go against a demon of that level yet, at least not without a teacher. Or superhuman interference.

He shared a look with his brother and found the same resolve in those blue eyes he had discovered in his heart.

If it came down to it, they would fight. No matter the consequences.

Yukio just hoped they could defuse the situation before he'd have to expose his wings. He picked his phone up from the ground, ready to call his father, Shura, anyone competent really.

"There's a second naberius," Rin announced, protectively standing in front of Shiemi who was already on her knees.

Sustaining Nii with so much energy was an immense strain on her. Never mind that she hadn't even been going to cram school for long! She wouldn't be able to keep up this safe barrier for a long time, so they had to get out of here fast.

"What do we do now?" He asked and scowled at his phone. He had no connection so calling for help wouldn't be possible.

"I can act as bait and lure at least one of them away," Rin immediately suggested, avoiding looking at Yukio's face like a professional.

That was an utterly stupid plan. The two of them couldn't evoke their powers on their own – what was Rin thinking?

"No way!" Sugoro objected. "You alone against one naberius? You're not even armed!"

"Of course, I'm armed!" Rin replied and pulled out a red marker. Quickly he got to work and drew a circle on the wooden floor, splattering his blood on the ground in the same breath.

"Kuro," he called, completely ignoring any and all possible invocation he should have done, as smoke rose from the ground in the same way mist crawled out on the fields in the morning.

The summoned cat sídhe stretched and curiously looked around, studying his new surroundings. It was then that his brother's behavior made sense to Yukio. Rin and his little army of demons Yukio definitely didn't know about could surely keep the naberius in charge. And if everything failed, there was always Behemoth and everything that came with that particular demon.

The only problem with that plan was that it left Yukio defenseless. He really should have taken his gun with him. That was a mistake he wouldn't repeat.

"There," Rin continued. "Now I'm armed. Trust me."

Rin glanced at Yukio.

"Let's go, Kuro!"

Before anybody could stop him, Rin disappeared together with Kuro, leaving them behind and taking one of their enemies with him.

Next time Yukio would run away and see how Rin liked being left alone in a situation like this.

"We're all going to die," Shima whined and dropped his head in defeat. "First Rin gets eaten by naberius number one and then the rest of us by naberius number two."

His comment earned him Suguro glaring at him and effectively shutting him up with it.

Even if Shima's comment wasn't helpful, he wasn't exactly off with his assessment given his knowledge.

Their means of defense were limited and had they even covered ghouls in class before? Yukio's knowledge of them was sketchy, he hadn't really researched them previously. It was his own fault though, he didn't like kin of Rot. They were the complete opposite of all demons he had spent his time around growing up. It really was no wonder he'd been feeling unwell all day if the naberius had been around.

How had they gotten through the wards though? Aniue prided himself on his indestructible barriers. This reeked of foul play.

"I'd rather not get killed by a naberius. And damn Okumura for taking off alone. The worst thing he could have done really… Couldn't you have stopped him?"

It took Yukio a moment to realize Suguro was talking to him. "I'm not my brother's keeper."

Even if the seals binding them together probably disagreed.

The other teenager balled his fists, emitting frustration in waves. "I know, I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

Yukio nodded and turned towards Shiemi. "My brother aside… How do we deal with the demon in front of us? Shiemi won't hold out much longer. We need a plan."

"Don't worry about me. I can do it!" Shiemi assured him but her pale face spoke of something completely different.

"You've already done more than enough," Suguro said. "We could try to exorcise it through a recitation. I know a ghoul's fatal verse is in the gospel of John. I know it by heart – more or less. If I keep going, I should reach the right verse sooner or later."

"You want to do all twenty chapters by yourself!?" Shima exclaimed.

"Twenty-one chapters, actually," Miwa corrected. "And I know the first ten. I can help you out!"

The next moment they were already splitting up the chapters and getting ready to start reciting. Yukio once again wished he had his guns so he could actually do something to help

"Wait a moment!" Kamiki interrupted them hotly. "Aren't you forgetting something? The moment you start, the ghoul will try even harder to get to us!"

It wasn't that they had forgotten about it, but they were all becoming desperate, Yukio thought. Nevertheless, Kamiki was right. They'd have to act fast if they didn't want to get attacked.

"So what!?" Suguro shouted, fueling the aggression in the air. "Moriyama can't hold out much longer and we have to do something!"

"This is suicide!"

"Well, we won't know until we try, right?"

All heads turned towards Shima who was now smiling way too cheerful. Fake, his whole expression screamed. Nevertheless, he scratched the back of his head and shrugged innocently as if nothing was wrong.

"And if anything happens I still have this."

He pulled a golden k'rik seemingly out of nowhere and pointed it at the wooden blockade in front of them. Did he have a seal like Shura that allowed him to keep his weapon? That was way too high level for a page, even if he came from a family of exorcists. Rin had begged Shura to teach him how to make such a seal ever since he saw her use her sword and she had denied him every time.

"Where did you get that?" Miwa asked.

Yukio frowned. Shouldn't he know about that as his childhood friend?

Shima shrugged. "Family heirloom. Now, are you going to start chanting or not?"

Miwa and Suguro sat down and began reciting while Kamiki took out two blank sheets of paper and picked up Rin's red marker.

"You're all crazy," she hissed but began to draw up circles either way.

Alternative title: Yukio is done with the world

This chapter was... hard in a way the others weren't.I don't have much practice writing combat and I don't like writing it either since it's always so much more impressive when visualized.
I did have fun writing an annoyed Yukio though.
He and Rin grew up surrounded mostly bc kin of Amaimon, Mephisto (and Egyn). Two of the three are more associated with living or pure things while the aspect of "Time" is kinda omnipresent. But yeah, given that, Yukio (and Rin) can't stand kin of Rot which is all about death (which, yeah, is part of the circle of life and all that but you all don't wanna stand next to a decaying corpse either do you?). Yukio's reaction is far more violent though, his empathy has to keep up.

Unfortunately, this is also the last chapter I have finished and finals are coming up so idk how fast I can get the next chapters done.

I'm happy you all liked the resolution though! And even though Yukio's finally released from being the messenger of the family, the poor thing now has to deal with this.

As always, thank you all for your amazing comments and Especially huge thanks to those who take their time to leave a comment on every chapter! I mean this is like a dream come true for me to be able to say "this person reads every chapter!". This was definitely something I've always wanted. So yeah, special thanks, you are awesome!

Thanks for reading, I hope you like this chapter!