Damon watched as it seemed that Asuka had suddenly transformed before his eyes. No longer was she the confident warrior that the boy had known, but a strange, zombie like creature who seemed completely emotionless. Damon cringed. While he couldn’t be certain, he was more than sure the little white creature that had leeched onto her calf was responsible. For the moment, Damon saw himself in a particularly tough dilemma. Even with his aid, this cage would be a particularly difficult one for Ashiakin to win. While Damon didn’t know any of the other participants personally, he was aware of their reputations. If Asuka had been slowed down by some kind of fuzzy white creature, then it would make things easier on the ice demon. However, Damon was fearful for the girl’s soul. At the end of the Cell, all the fallen competitors would be healed, but unless he did something, it would be likely that Asuka would remain possessed.

The boy resolved to help, but this resolution came a bit too late. A rather diminutive demon seemed to be prepared to take care of the matter. If that was that, Damon could move on to other priorities. Asuka would likely be too busy recovering from the impact of her sudden brush with being an automaton.

“Time to move on,” Damon figured. However, he hesitated shortly making this decision. “What if the demon is unsuccessful?” he wondered. And even then, if the demon was successful, what kind of havoc would the little red creature unleash once the fuzzball was in his possession. There had been a mention of friends willing to pay, and Damon shuddered at the idea of the kind of friends a little red demon like that would have.

It was a moment that transcended everything that the dramaturge had spoken about in the introduction of the battle, save for honor. Honor dictated this matter and it called upon each and every person in the cage to drop their individual battles for a task much greater. They had a common enemy now in the cell, a fuzzy little creature that could take over any one of their bodies.

Damon climbed up the mesh cage until he was a good fifteen feet above the ground. He then turned around so he was facing the cage, and cleared his throat before he spoke to the entire cell.

“Excuse me people!” Damon demanded. “I know we’re here to fight each other, but there is a creature in this cage that can destroy us all. It takes over our bodies, and is white and covered with fur. We all have to destroy it if any of us are going to survive!”

Certain he’d made a convincing case to the rest of people in the cell, Damon smiled at them, expecting that his call to action would soon be received with a unanimous cheer of solidarity.