The burning of fire filled her nostrils as the smoke wafted in their direction, as they headed into the village. A young waitress ran out from one of the back alleys where they sold a variety of sweets and tea. She notified them that there were more of them back where she had run from. It was sad really, Mitsuki would miss the baker who gave her free samples, well she would miss him if he was dead, and hopefully he had escaped to safety. The current situation seemed to be indicating otherwise however. Mitsuki wondered where the Yure were currently though she didn't bother wondering about it for too long, she needed to be focused. They would have to put out the fire before it raged throughout the countryside. She briefly wondered how the Yure could manage to be so successful in such a short amount of time, she would inquire about it later she supposed.

"Let's go" said Mitsuki solemnly while continuing onwards. She mentally went over the order in which to use her talisman if she was to create a storm of some sort. It would probably be the best way to put out the fire, as she had not seen anyone running with buckets to put out the fire. It would probably be a vain attempt to put out the fire through natural means, the village would need a miracle or a spell.

The flames rose higher as the ground trembled. It was enough to even put Kutama on his knees. Looking forward, a great darkness rose up before him. A giant of a Yure rose up from the ground, brushing aside buildings, burning or not. It stood as tall as the town's palace, its claws pointing downwards and standing on four legs like a grotesquely huge black praying mantis. Around it swarmed smaller minions.

With one strike, it gouged out deep trenches between the town and the temple. There was only one crossing now, the main thoroughfare. Even as the girl begged Kutama to save the others, his face tried to mask the horror of the giant new apparition which seemed intent on boxing them in. Never in recorded history has there been such a Yure so big. They were now at another crossroad.

Zhang who had found his path blocked by the ravine ran alongside it coming to the main thoroughfare where Kutama and the rest stood. He could hear them talking despite the blaze.

"We have come to a juncture," Kutama spoke to the others, "Either we fight here, risking every thing or you go back to the temple and pray the sun rises soon."

It was a clear choice. They could face the monstrosity head on, despite their low chances of survival, or retreat to the temple to hold off the smaller, easily defeatable Yure and hope that sunrise was near. The giant could probably not enter the grounds of the temple yet and was relying on it's minions to breakthrough. If they did break through, the town was lost. However, even the giant Yure could wreak untold havoc upon the town, and who knows what else. It would have to be stopped or God knows what may happen. They had best decide quickly.

OOC: Yooohooo everyone where are you?

Zhang walked into the midst of the crowd in front of him with his head bowed as to not attract attention. He didn't know any of the people conglomerated personally so he said nothing, hoping someone would approach him instead of creating an unwanted scene. The decision was not for him, a poor soldier, to make but rather of people like the richly clad people in front to make: those who were taught how to think and were blessed by God.

((Hello?))

((Woops, almost forgot about this))

As the ground shook, Zanji's heart raced on, trembling on what may be in store. The ground shook some more, much more powerful this time, when suddenly a Yure that stood at the size of several houses rose from the ground. The man on the horseback announced something to everyone.

"We have come to a juncture. Either we fight here, risking everything or you go back to the temple and pray the sun rises soon."

Zanji could not believe what he saw. Never has he had too face an opponent of such size. He knew that he could take on the smaller ones with ease, but attempting to fight that was just too much of a risk.

"I suggest we head to the temple. It's too much of a gamble to face him."

Li Tsu nodded his head slightly. There was logic in what this man had said. However, the way he saw it, there was no point in staying to fight this giant if there was a way of evading it or having a better chance later. Still, it wasn't his place.

((I was wondering if you all went and died or something. This is actually going to be a major part of the plot so I'll be sending of a few PMs.))

The guardsman, who Kutama believe was called Ryouichi came to a quick and logical conclusion of pulling back. The man who just joined them seem level headed enough to agree. It was not a light decision if the exorcist decided to stay. Either way, she had to go with the majority of the group. Kutama drew his sword once more, but only to guard against the oncoming Yure. To his surprise, they made their way around the group, staying out of range and heading straight for the temple. Since their group was standing in the way, the Yure had no choice but to cross the ravines. In they went, piling themselves on top of each other so the ones who followed could cross.

"Make this decision now, we are running out of time."

Mitsuki's eyes widened as she saw the monstrous beast raise from the rubble, she stepped back warily anticipating an immediate attack from the beast. Never in all her years had she ever seen a Yure of such magnitude. What exactly was going on? Why were the demons so adamant this time around? The ground trembled, or perhaps it was Mitsuki herself who trembled as the Yure gouged a deep trench between the temple and the village, leaving solely one path back to the temple. The state of their situation seemed to continually deteriorate by the minute.

"We have come to a juncture," spoke Kutama, breaking Mitsuki out of the slight daze she had fallen into while in awe of the giant Yure, "Either we fight here, risking every thing or you go back to the temple and pray the sun rises soon." Ryouichi was quick to say that they should retreat back to the temple and the other man who had joined them agreed with a nod of his head. Surely they had reason, but in her heart she felt like she was abandoning the people who had yet to escape. Already it looked like the majority would rule, but she still felt that she should voice her opinion.

"You are probably right" stated Mitsuki hesitantly "It is a great gamble to attempt to conquer such a creature...but the people here need our help. We should at least fend off the lesser Yure so that some of the villagers may escape to the temple." She pulled out some of her spell tags from her sleeves, she most definitely would not have enough spell tags to vanquish all those yure, she would have to use her talismans.

Li Tsu frowned. While he was supposed to protect these people with his life, he did not like the notion of throwing it away quite so quickly. He decided to speak, his gruff voice sounding even among the chaos, "I am incredibly sorry your honour, but if we stay, we will surely die. We will need to fall back to the temple if we are to live to fight them again for there is no honour in suicide. If we are to fight them and survive, we must do so while retreating."

The enormity of what he just said struck him like a blow. He quickly bowed muttering apologies and turned away fearing divine punishment.

"You are probably right" stated Sasaki hesitantly "It is a great gamble to attempt to conquer such a creature...but the people here need our help. We should at least fend off the lesser Yure so that some of the villagers may escape to the temple."

"I am incredibly sorry your honour, but if we stay, we will surely die. We will need to fall back to the temple if we are to live to fight them again for there is no honour in suicide. If we are to fight them and survive, we must do so while retreating," the new arrival pointed out.

Well if the exorcist wanted to save the populace, then he would do what he can to aid her. However, each exorcist was precious and with them cut off from any help, it would only be a matter of time before a tide of claws tore them to shreds. At least there was a majority that the wisest course of action was to retreat. That was good.

"Everyone fall back to the temple," he commanded as he stepped forward towards the giant, "Exorcist, if you wish to save others, you must first save yourself."

He stepped as close as he could to the giant and soon enough, a wall of Yure boxed him in, cutting him off from the rest of the group. Kutama looked back at the men and women with a sad smile.

"May we meet again," he added before finally turning back to commence his attack.

OOC: Let's just say Otomo followed the command and went to the temple. And was silent the whole time because Kutama's words had him think about all his technical pacifism. I just can't think of anything.

Zhang nodded, appreciative of the wisdom of the man before him. As he walked behind the others, he looked back and smiled sadly for the girl remaining behind. If this wasn't a question of rank, he'd try to fight alongside her, but rank prevails, always. He bowed his head and grudgingly continued walking.

Accursed honour! She had no choice but to obey his rules, though she couldn't just abandon him. Mitsuki was torn emotionally between honouring those above her and helping a man who couldn't possibly fight alone. The others were quick to comply to Kutama's command and were already heading towards the temple. She would follow them too, however before she left she had to do a few things to ensure that he at least had a greater fighting chance.

She took out her talismans for water, fire and air and stood on the bridge so that she could retreat back to the temple when the time came. Raising her hands the talismans floated up into the air and spun around above her in an orderly manner. "Air, Water, Air, Air, Fire!" The talismans glowed in the pattern that they were called and begun to spin faster becoming a blur above her. A dark cloud spiraled in a circle above them, ominously rumbling, and expanding each second over the burning village. After accumulating enough of a mass the cloud rumbled once again and then began to rain over the village.

Mitsuki looked up to the sky as the rain fell on her face, she prayed that it would help put out most of the fires. The last spell was actually rather draining as it required her to call upon a string of elements as opposed to simply clashing two talismans together and causing something to occur. She opened her hands and the talismans fell from the sky into the palms of her hands, the storm would continue as any natural storm would now. Lightning flashed and struck a few of the Yure. She smiled at the luck of such an occurrence.

"We shall meet again!" shouted Mitsuki over the storm in Kutama's direction. She turned and ran after the others as they headed back to the temple with her arms over her head so that her sleeves could partially cover her from the rain. It was clear that as they walked closer to the temple that the storm's radius thinned out because the night sky was not cloudy over the temple, and the rain fell lighter.

"We shall meet again!"

Those were the last words Kutama heard as rain poured from the Heavens. He laughed on the inside. Practice what you preach, was it? Too late now. This fight was born of his own selfishness and he doubted he would live to any of them again. The monster was too tall and even with Whimsical Hurricane flying, he could only get so far before the claws came at him and tore off flesh.

The Yure had completed their crossing across the ravines and their attention turned to the temple. The sides of the temple were clear and the water running down the slope made for treacherous footing. The stone staircase that led up were free of Yure for now and from the top, the guardsmen, priests and miko stood ready to face the oncoming horde. This was to be the biggest incursion they all had faced. A relentless mass slowly clawing their way up, and to make it even more miserable, it rained. The five were headed up the hill, bounding over two, or three steps at a time. Closing in after them, were more Yure. Sasaki was closing up the rear so she was in the greatest danger. They came from behind and from the sides. It would be best to conduct a fighting retreat as those at the top dare not break rank out of fear and powerlessness. A few arrows were loosed but they lost themselves within the advancing mass, doing little to ease the ascent. There were no boulders to roll down the hill; that at least would have bought some time. Time, that was what they were all trying to buy and there seemed little in stock. Until the morning came and this nightmare would be dispelled.