Way of the Knights

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The atmosphere within Tartarus is already unpleasant but sure doesn't hold a candle with how repulsive the air is within the Devil's Cradle. 

The ever-present killing intent was one, but the smell of rotting corpses fused with the vile energy was bound to leave a nasty impression to those who experiences it. Added to the dark and gloomy atmosphere as well as the creatures lurking around, this place surely is something that one wouldn't want to visit on a regular basis. 

That being said, it defeats the purpose of disciples being…well, disciples of the Ancient Elysium Sect, therefore they had to do it. 

Roughly half an hour passed since Unit-17 moved out. The atmosphere surrounding the Unit was a bit awkward. Its mostly because none of them truly knew each other that well or it's influence by the general theme of their surroundings - that, or it might be both as well. 

No one was talking. They all just silently marched forwards with no real goal in mind. They had yet to encounter a single Devil during their patrol. Nevertheless, the 'sensors' of the Unit were on alert thanks to Raven's arrangements. 

As per said arrangements, Raven was tasked to keep an eye on their rear. It wasn't a difficult thing to do specially since Raven could stretch his spying range according to his desires. He might be facing forward and following the team but he could see what behind them even without looking back. 

"Wait!" 

Unit-17 stopped dead on their tracks as they heard someone exclaimed. The one who did so was Juniper.

As everyone's attention went to him, Juniper crouched down, traced the dry ground and brought it close to his nose. Mere inches away and they heard him retching, causing some people to wince, thinking to themselves that what he smelled wasn't probably something pleasant. 

After recovering a little bit of his dignity and composure, Juniper stood up and said: "Damn, that smelled awful. Anyway, something's nearby. It went towards east, probably not too far. What do we do?"

Automatically, all heads turned over to Raven, causing him to be shocked: "Hey, why are you all looking at me?"

"Give it up, man." Jason grinned, "You brought this to yourself." 

"Shut it." Raven glared at him, he then turned towards the rest and said: "Do a voting system instead, discuss it amongst yourselves first, I'll go wherever you guys go."

The rest looked at each other and felt the hesitation. Jason then received a voice transmission, causing him to perk up and stepped forward to take the lead. 

"Alright, voting system it is." Jason stated, "Before we start voting, I'd like to point out a few things."

"Remember what Juniper said earlier. His spying technique might be a little inaccurate since it relies on sense of smell. We haven't encountered any Devils so far, and although he found traces, we can't be sure if it truly is a devil or not. We don't know how strong or how swift this one is. We might end up in a wild goose chase or find ourselves in a dangerous position."

"That being said, it is a lead." Jason added, "Even though it is our first hunt and Senior Brother won't take it against us if we decided to play it safe, in the end we will still encounter them anyway. Either we face them now or some other time later, doesn't make a huge difference I think."

Jason paused and said: "Alright, those who wants to hunt it down. Raise your hand."

All of them, except Jason and Raven raised their hand, not that their votes actually matter since both of them would probably end up following whatever the majority decided to do. 

"Alright, we hunt it down." Jason nodded, he then looked at Juniper and said: "I'll trouble you to point directions." 

Juniper looked a little bothered but agreed nonetheless. Jason noticed his hesitation and understood why it is so. There was a friction between him and Juniper during the time they competed against each other. They haven't had the time to sit down and discuss so their relationship is civil at best. 

Needless to say, they're in no position to oppose each other right now nor settle down their differences. That can wait for some other time. Right, they had a Devil to hunt. 

With that, Unit-17 decided to go on a detour. But they haven't even had the chance to go far before they heard Raven yelled:

"Enemy spotted. I see three, one charging towards me, others encircling us to do a pincer attack." 

The unit froze on the spot and gripped their weapons tighter. 

"I'll deal with the one coming at me, you guys deal with the other two who's going for a pincer attack. Be careful, we don't know what they're capable of.

After saying that, Raven took a couple of steps forward to confront the Devil that's charging towards them. The rest of his teammates wanted to offer their help but couldn't since they could feel the confidence behind Raven's voice. 

They focused their attention to the other two coming. Thanks to the sensors and Raven's advanced warning, they were able to track their targets closely. The two incoming devils decided to split up. One was headed towards Michelle, the other going towards Nelson. 

None managed to get a good view of the Devils with how fast they were moving - that and because they were wearing some sort of a headgear that hid their facial features. 

As the rest braced for impacted, they felt a brief flash engulfing them. And to their surprise, the world changed. 

From the apocalyptic and gloomy atmosphere, it transformed into a field of snow and ice. The temperature dropped significantly, causing their breaths to turn in to white mists as they exhaled. The devil disappeared and the attention of the Junior Disciples hitched. 

"Break!" 

*Crack!* *Boom!*

They heard someone yelled and before they knew it, the world of snow and ice shattered like a broken glass. It was at this moment that those who got distracted, finally understood what happened. Their cursed themselves for falling into a petty trick, and paid attention back to reality. 

Some looked over only to see Nelson resisting a little creature with disproportionate limbs. Some immediately spurred into action. 

"Look out!" Pyra yelled in alarm as she saw something incredibly dangerous. 

Although many things occurred, in reality it merely took a second or two for all of it to occur, leaving most of them with little to no room to react. This is precisely the case for Michelle, who was still on the process of re-adjusting her senses due to the illusion just now. 

Due to that, she didn't notice that the Devil was already mere inches away from carving her face. By the time Pyra's warnings reach her ears, she's probably already dead. 

"Gah!!" 

*Boom!*

Thankfully, before the Devil was able to ruin her. Floyd who was standing next to her, blurred into action and delivered a solid blow of his fist to the skull of the assailant, causing it to fly a couple of meters away. 

By this time, Michelle's instincts already took over her physique. Using her insane speed, she flew towards the devil, brandishing her weapons and turning into a deadly hurricane that reduced the Devil into mincemeat. 

Michelle only stopped when she didn't see any traces of the Devil anymore. It was at this time that clarity came crashing down on her, making her realize how she nearly died just now. Her face visibly paled and her hands were shivering.

Meanwhile, Nelson with the help of Jason and Ryan, were able to slay the other devil. The gruesome creature let out a piercing shriek of pain before finally dying, 

Unit-17 was in shambles. A lot of things happened in just very brief period of time. Even though all of them were battle-hardened warriors, they were still surprised. Hell, some of them were completely rooted from where they stood. They even nearly lost a member just now. And what's even funnier is that, they graciously received warning from Raven before it all happened, and yet the results are still like this. 

The girls hesitantly approached Michelle, wanting to console her, to which she didn't mind. Floyd remembered the events just now, and his expression made it a little difficult to guess what he truly feels. Those who experienced the fright of Devils first and felt surrealism taking over. For such a small creature, the danger it possess' were unnaturally high. 

"Uh, Nelson right?" Michelle approached the guy after regrouping with the rest. The guy simply nodded so Michelle continued: "Thank you. If it wasn't for you shattering the illusion, I might've already…"

"Don't sweat it, and don't let that though linger on your head." Nelson smiled, "It was my duty to do so anyway."

"I understand, thank you once again." Michelle bowed.

"You're welcome."

"Hey, Raven hasn't returned yet!" Jason reminded everyone. action

"Don't with him, he's probably already dead." Mira snorted, causing people to shift their attention towards her. 

"Well, sorry to disappoint you." They heard a distant sound and saw Raven approaching them with a relaxed expression on his face while dragging something. And to their surprise, it was the Devil that he faced. 

Everyone was gaping at him, but he didn't pay them any mind. Instead, he said: "You guys want to dissect this?"