Chapter 7

Watching as Jared was shot, with assault rifles, and how they didn't hold back on their ammo, they used more than was necessary. He held Talcott's mouth and he looked at him, seeing Talcott cry muffled tears. He looked at Talcott in the eyes. "Stay. Right. Here." He said, clear anger in his voice.

Talcott had a scared look on him, tears in his eyes, but he nodded, showing he understood. Velle then let him go and he walked out of the closet and went for his Greatsaw, but he then saw Jared, and what happened. It was just horrible to look at. Velle then looked at his body, and he closed his eyes, sliding his fingers down his eyelids, to make them close.

He then grabbed his Greatsaw and went to the balcony, to see Loqi and the troops walking off, to get to their dropship, but he wasn't letting him get away that easily. He jumped off of it and revved his weapon, as he then cut one of the troops in half, as he did for the second and third one. Loqi turned to look at Velle, and Velle looked at him, the horns growing back, and the darkness emitting from his eye. "You're a dead man." Velle said.

"You!" He said, in shock. "We never should have created you!" Loqi then ran, trying to get away, and Velle ran after him. They ran through an alley way, Velle already getting close to him, but a troop came from the corner and tackled him, and it began to glow red. Velle grabbed it by the head and ripped it off, and got back up, continuing his chase.

More kept showing up, not knowing where they were coming from. Velle's guess was that Loqi was prepared for him. He guessed the news about him was already known to The Empire. Loqi was already heading to the dropship, and Velle had to deal with the troops. He then just chose to forget them and go for Loqi. The dropship was already heading off, and out of his reach, but with his daemon powers, he jumped high up, leaving a crater in the middle of the road, and grabbed onto the roof, sinking his claws into it. He went up to the top and he watched Lestalum was getting distant.

He then saw the disc of cauthuss, seeing that there were so many drop ships and something gigantic standing there. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he had to focus on Loqi. Knowing his claws could puncture through this easily, he used it to dig his claws into it, and he forced a hole open, to get in. He made it bigger than necessary, but with the amount of anger in his mind, he didn't care if it tore the ship in half.

He dropped in, seeing Loqi by the front, where the pilot was. There were even more magitek troops as well, and Velle revved his Grearsaw again. The troops than attacked, but Velle cut through all of them. He then walked towards Loqi, as he grabbed a nearby gun and aimed it at him. Velle pushed it away, and he grabbed Loqi by the neck, looking at him with pure anger. "You killed an old man in cold blood. You're a murderer!" He yelled.

"I did it because he didn't obey his superiors! You're no better if you kill me!" Loqi retorted.

"It's revenge!" Velle countered. He then looked at the pilot, and then to Loqi and had an evil grin. He used his claw to puncture right through the head, killing the pilot, being another troop. He then broke all the buttons that were crucial to flying. He then walked to the hole. "Have fun!" He said, as he then jumped up, but stayed on the top. He left Loqi to die in a crash landing.

Loqi then went to the pilot seat, to look at it all, and he couldn't find anything still working. All sparking and loud beeping coming from them. "Dammit!"

In Velle's prospective, they were heading, straight for the ground, them being in the desert area of the place. They were heading closer and closer to the ground, as he heard an explosion on the side of the ship.

Velle then jumped off of it, and landed on the ground, as he watched the ship crash, leaving a long drag mark across the field, as flames began to engulf it. To him, it was a beautiful sight, to watch a killer die in a horrific way. And since it was becoming nighttime, the fire looked even better.

He then watched as Loqi crawled out of the side, where there was a hidden door, where the pilot should be. Velle then walked towards him, as he watched him crawl, with a piece of metal through his leg. He stomped on Loqi's chest, to stop him, hearing him scream in pain.

Velle leaned down to Loqi's ear. "How ass-backwards is this? Normally, it's somebody else begging, desperate for their life, right? Now you know how it feels." He said. Loqi didn't reply, all he did was grunt in pain.

He then watched as daemons began to appear from the ground, a few being round creatures with small arms, all an orange colour, while a massive one came out, a body made of armour, and a massive sword. He looked at them, and they all looked at him. He smiled, as he then removed his foot from Loqi.

He then looked at the Iron Giant, as he then nodded, as it then nodded back. The armoured giant then picked Loqi up, and looked at him, Loqi struggling to be let go. Velle then walked away, an evil grin on his face, as he then closed his eyes, to listen closely. A loud scream.

*CRUNCH*

His grin grew wider, having the satisfaction of knowing he removed a great evil in this world. He then looked at the moon rise from the hills, and then back to the road. "Right. Lestalum." He said, as he made his way back. The journey back was long, and it came across a few more daemons out there, but he didn't bother them, and they didn't bother him. He didn't even question why they didn't try to kill him. He knew about their hostility, but it seemed they didn't have it for him. He just assumed it had to do with the fact he's half-daemon. First time, he thought of it as a curse, something scary, something he didn't want, but now, he began to enjoy these powers. He could only imagine what kind of power he could get with this, if getting more was possible. Or maybe, there's some he hasn't discovered, yet.

He then eventually made it back to Lestalum, seeing there were no magitek troops around. It made him happy. But then, the reminder of Jared's death came back, the smile disappearing immediately. He looked down, and then back at his hands. He clenched his fist. "I think I shouldn't let these powers get to my head. I could cause more hurt to the people I know more than my enemies." He said to himself. He also saw that nobody was outside. Not for the fact that it was night, but they were all hiding. It was night time, so he guessed they all chose to stay inside. With that in his head, he returned to the hotel, to find the others in the room, where Jared was. They all looked at him, as he walked in. He saw Iris and Talcott cry, for Jared. He looked down, with a saddened look. "I did as I was told... and I hid with Talcott in the closet."

As much as Velle wanted to believe that it wasn't his, he felt like there was a part of it. Sure, it was mostly because of Loqi's ruthlessness, but he could have easily barged in during that situation. He would accept the fact he would be partly to blame for his death.

The rest of the night mostly fell silent, as Jared body was taken by hunters who came in and cleaned up the scene. It certainly wasn't easy to accept, but he was gone. After all that happened, they decided to lay low for a while. The imperials would definitely be after them now, after Loqi's death. Although they were already, now they'd definitely mean business after this. Throughout the week, with the others returning and hearing the sad news, Velle took his first dose of the substance he needed, Upon use, Velle always had this twitch to his head, and this shaky sigh in satisfaction. The others were suspicious of that, but they figured it was some small side effects. The next few days had the same effect. But, Velle was used to it, as the others grew used to it too, but still were cautious of what it could mean.

Eventually, the week passed by, laying low now over. Velle went over at the cup noddle shop, having a simple meal during lunch. With his meal, he went to one of the benches that had a wonderful view. He was watching the distance, with his Greatsaw by his side. He then heard walking coming towards him, and he turned his head to the direction. "Now that's a weapon I haven't seen before. Care for a picture?" Said who was approaching him, a rather jolly, sweaty man in a shirt that said, 'Meteor.'

Velle was a bit disgusted with this guy's appearance, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. "Umm, well, I guess I have time for one." Velle said, going to stand up, but was kept down.

"Stay there, it's perfect. Just look that way and keep eating your food." He said, as he then took his camera he had around his neck and aimed it to him. Velle tried his best to keep his eyes from the camera, by focusing on the meteor, and his noodles in hand, with his greatsaw next to him. And Meteor was in front of them, as it was, as mentioned by Ignis before, the Disc of Cauthus. He then heard the click come from the camera and he turned to look at the man. "How is it?"

"Great. Oh, forgot to say, you don't mind being on a magazine, do you?" He asked.

Velle shook his head. "Not at all. I'm fine with that." It was a bit exciting to him, to know he was going to be on a magazine. He just hoped in a popular one at least. "If you don't mind me asking, what caught your attention?"

"Well, it's not everyday I come across a guy with white hair, and a massive chainsaw." He explained. "Vyv, by the way." He added, saying his name.

"Velle, Velle Vontta." Velle introduced.

"Thanks. Be sure to come back, I'll give you the issue when it comes out." Vyv said, as he then walked off.

Velle laughed a bit, watching him walk away. It was his first time, as far as he knew, of popular recognition. He then continued to eat his noodles. He looked to his right, to see Gladiolus, with his own cup of noodles, and he sat next to Velle, Velle moving his Greatsaw out of the way.

"So, while we were gone, you kept a good eye on my sister?" He asked, looking at him.

"Well, it came to mind when I imagined you tearing me limb from limb if I didn't." Velle replied sarcastically.

"As long as you made sure she was alright. But, she did mention something about hunting Deadeye, the behemoth."

Velle froze as he said that, thinking he would be furious.

"Care to explain?"

Velle figured there was no point in lying. He looked at him and nodded. "I won't lie to you, Gladio. We did go on a hunt, but the last thing we wanted to hunt was Deadeye. But, things got out of hand." He explained. "Normally, it was those fur covered things with the tusks." He added to the explanation.

"And... that somehow lead to you guys killing Deadeye?" Galdiolus asked in disbelief.

"Well, it wasn't planned, exactly. Predators tend to hunt prey, you know." Velle responded, with a bit of an impatient tone.

Gladiolus looked away and ate some of the cup noodles. "Well, I guess I could give you some credit for keeping her safe. But, I find it hard to believe you fought Deadeye on your own."

Velle looked down at his hands, and saw one of the claws were forming around his wrists, and he covered them with his sleeves. "Well, pure luck, I guess." Velle said, keeping it a secret. "Plus, we kind of were put on a tough spot when there were people being attacked by Deadeye."

Gladiolus turned his head to him, hearing that he did it for saving people. Admirable. "Then again, a flaming chainsaw against the skin of a behemoth is something I'd bet could cut through easily." Gladiolus pointed out. "Plus, with that foggy memory of yours, you probably have some fighting experience you don't remember."

Velle nodded. "Yeah, that could be it."

Gladiolus then patted his shoulder and he looked at him, seeing Gladiolus smile. "In the end, thanks for protecting her. Keep this up and you just might get my blessing." Gladiolus teased, and burst out laughing.

Velle couldn't help but laugh with him, and he began to blush too at the thought of being romantic with Iris, but he bet it wouldn't work. At least that's what he thought.

"You know, at first I thought you were just gonna be a burden to us, but now, I can see you can handle your own." Gladiolus said, looking at him.

"Well, I get by." Velle said, eating some of his cup noodles.

"Wanna the beauty behind cup noodles?" Gladiolus asked, completely changing the subject.

Velle raised an eyebrow, looking at him. "There's beauty behind cup noodles?"