Firia was a mere moment away from triumph when she heard the Call. The panicked telepathy startled the prey, which ran out of range.

Firia! The voice of the lavender eyed Trickster was unusually worried. Firia, return as soon as you can! Don't worry about lunch, there are more urgent matters! Firia!

There is no lying with telepathic messages. Emotions are laid bare at the feet of the reciever, whether the sender likes it or not. And the Dragon Priestess had no trouble sensing the pure fear and concern that the mind of the Mazoku sent.

She quickly took to the air, and almost immediately spotted the problem. From the east bank of the lake, a dark smoke cloud billowed omniously. The saffron flames lapped at the trees with an ever-hungry tongue, devouring the area around them. She felt the cold lump of her heart leap into her throat, where it stayed most uncomfortably.

"Koi..."

Xellos wiped the soot from his eyes, the slit-pupil gaze never moving. Damn it all, he was up against other Mazoku, not some of the lesser ones, either. And they had Koi. There was no way he could use his more powerful attacks against them without hurting the child, and they knew that as well as he did. The boy was unconscious, and slung across the shoulders of the leader.

"Prepare to die, Xellos!" One of them grinned triumphantly, brandishing some kind of magic blade. The Trickster brought up his staff to defend, but one of the others took the oppertunity to slash his stomach out with another breed of enchanted lancet. When Xellos doubled over in pain that he couldn't drain any pleasure from, the first attacker sliced through the muscle of his upper shoulder, down to the opposite hip.

"Kill me if you want," he growled, blood drying on his lips, "but leave the boy alone. He has nothing to do with this." His eyes glittered like twin gems, each filled with an awesome amount of power and intelligance. Please, Firia, hurry... I can't buy Koi much more time...

"We'll kill you, and the kid too." The leader replied smugly. "Any associate of the Inverse Brat deserves to die for their treason against our Dark Lord Shabranigdo!" Koi whimpered as the boss jabbed him in the ribs.

"Koi!" The Beastmaster's General cried out, eyes going wide from the combination of horror and pain as a third aggressor made a wide cut down his left cheekbone. The blood he tasted burned his tongue and seared his lips.

Then a golden guardian angel snatched the child from the head assailant's grasp, soaring to a safe distance above the battle. The boss followed her flight visually, then was brought back to attention by Xellos' dark laughter.

"Don't have a living sheild now, do you?" He chuckled, the scarlet ichor and black soot clinging to him and giving him a far more dangerous appearance. "I would suggest running, but then again, you wouldn't even show mercy to a little boy.

"NAMIDA NO HOSHII!" The Trickster Priest's spell was the last thing they ever heard.

Firia kneeled by Koi, shoulders heaving from her lack of breath. Aside from a few bruises, the child would be all right. She silently thanked each one of the Dragon Gods that Xellos had called for her, and that she had been able to reach them in time. That caused her to wonder; the namagomi, asking for help, and sounding like he needed it? More than that, Xellos had been begging, or as close as a Mazoku gets to begging.

And speak of the akuma... where was he?!