Chapter 14: Close to Home
Inside the Castle Town of the Succubi, it was business as usual for the monsters who dwelled there.
At the front of the city was the Market district, and nearly every street here was lined, booth to booth, with varying monsters, from Witches attempting to market their myriad potions to the occasional Gyoubu Danuki working on a seller's behalf to spread the items outside the Demon Realm. Further down the street you'd find more monsters, these ones selling clothing and other miscellaneous articles so skimpy it'd be a stretch to even try to call them "clothes".
Further back was the Residential District, and aside from the numerous themed hotels to keep the bedroom life interesting, there were also more permanent homes for the married (and single) monsters who dwelled here.
Though, in the next few minutes, those details are going to be completely irrelevant.
Anybody out and about in the town would have heard and felt rumbling, but merely dismissed it as being another of the infamous fights between the Demon Lord and her husband. However, had they taken a moment to realize said rumbling sensation was originating from the opposite direction of the castle; more specifically, from far outside the castle town... well, they'd have been more properly prepared.
A Danuki visiting the Market District was in the middle of stocking up on varying items to take back with her, alongside negotiating just how much she should be commissioned for her sales, only to find herself suddenly flying unassisted through the air, and crashing down several meters away.
In the Residential area of the town, one of the hotel owners, a Dark Elf, was getting ready to retire to her own room when the entire front half of the building exploded into a dangerous hailstorm of rocks and splintered wood, the culprits having burrowed up into the lobby.
Back at the battlefield, things were rapidly going downhill. The Order soldiers who possessed holy power felt an immense pressure in the backs of their minds, almost as if someone or something were literally reaching inside their skulls and pressing down upon their brains. This, combined with an seemingly incessant noise only they could hear, disoriented the lot, leaving them open to be consumed by the alien creatures...
At least, they would have been, had Nelius not slammed full-tilt into one of the smaller ones trying to grab a meal, sending it sprawling across the ground a few meters away.
"You may want to take your soldiers and leave this place." He landed in front of the commander, giving him this piece of advice.
"And who are you to be giving me orders?" The commander was set to draw his sword on Nelius.
"In case you haven't been connecting the dots, those creatures thrive on the powers your units hold. Unless you're in the mood for creating a bigger problem, please take my advice." The otherworldly demon turned to face the unnamed creature, which had gotten back upon its legs and was scanning the field for a new victim. "Besides, your troops aren't exactly capable of fighting on their own." He pointed out the ones whom all seemed quite out of their minds, several of which were being carried away by the other soldiers.
"Wha- what in the?"
"Not entirely sure, but it likely relates to our friends over there." Seeing that the creature was now closing in on its new targets, Nelius sprang into action, dodging around one of the tendrils and slicing the second one off about midway to its base. "Get going! Unless you like the idea of being food!" He yelled back as he advanced on the creature. Before it had a chance to recover from this, the Incubus slammed his fist into its side, toppling it over once more. As it got back up yet again, this time it was blasted in the behind by someone. It turned around on the spot to confront its new attacker, only to receive another blast to its apparent face.
"Hey, who said you were allowed to have all the fun?" Standing behind the creature was Mita, and in her hands was what appeared to be a simple handgun.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Bringing you some back-up." With that statement, a pair of fireballs battered the monster, followed up by a blast of purple energy that knocked it over once more as Zio and B showed up. "Brutus had to stay behind. Someone's gotta keep an eye on our secret weapon, after all."
"Right.. still, thanks." Nelius trailed off as he shot towards the creature, this time aiming for its legs as he drew his axe from his back (and to the viewpoint of the Order Soldiers still there, summoning the weapon from out of nowhere) and brought it down, cutting one of the legs off. In retaliatory pain the creature got back up, only to take an explosive round from Mita's gun to the side of its tail-head and be sent to the ground once more, giving Nelius the free and clear to chop more of its legs off to hamper its mobility.
"That strategy is all well and good-" Zio added his opinion as he used a Star spell to distract the second of the monsters, keeping a wary eye on the more evolved one as it did battle against the Demon Lord's forces, "-but do you have a plan to actively kill these things?"
"The bigger one, no real idea, but I remember how to kill the smaller ones. Just make sure the humans and their friends aren't caught in the crossfire." As the one Nelius was battling tried to support itself on the remaining two limbs, Mita shot it in the lower face, bowling it over and giving the Incubus a clean shot at its underside. He gladly took it, hacking into its stomach with his axe and spilling its clear-colored blood onto the ground. The tail-mouth came up to bite at him, but Nelius jumped away and quickly focused a wing around his right arm into a spearpoint. As the alien creature thrashed around in an attempt to get itself back up, he jumped into the air and slammed his axe into its lower face, managing to crack a few of the chitenous plates, and before the beast could react accordingly, Nelius then stabbed into the damaged area with his transformed wing. As he felt it sink into the creature's flesh, he willed his wing to shift from a point to something hook-like, and then gave a hard yank.
"Uh, Mita, you feeling all right?" B noticed the Netherworldian Scientist staring off into the distance, towards where the Yoshitsuna was buried.
"I'm fine, just... got the feeling I forgot something."
"Well, think on it later. Spacing out right now isn't gonna help us take these things down."
"No use just sitting around here..." Brutus, having stayed behind to monitor the Yoshitsuna's condition, decided to get up and walk around for a bit, if only to keep himself from falling asleep out of sheer boredom. Packing a sidearm for the off-chance one of the Demon Lord's subordinates or a random monster did manage to infiltrate the warship, he got up from his seat and began pacing the hallways, his eyes often glancing to the grafitti on the walls. He was on his way back to the bridge, having gone up a seperate hallway when he noticed one of the doors slightly ajar. Preparing for the worst, he drew the gun from its holster, clicking the safety off before bursting into the room...
...which turned out to be completely empty, save for a small computer in the far corner apparently running a diagnostic on something.
"Tch, worried over nothing... I'm getting too jumpy." Turning to leave as he kept a watchful eye on the room's surroundings, he left, making sure to close the door behind himself.
However, had he thought to check just what the computer was diagnosing, much less the sheet covering something next to it...
Defragmentation of unit, Designation AKP-104 Epsilon, is now complete. Restoring memory files... 1% currently restored.
"A new approach?"
"More or less, that's what I overheard, and I find myself actually agreeing with their words."
"Yet what other method is there? You know as well as I do that the Demon Lord's forces can't be reasoned with-"
"Which is why I plan to return to them and discuss this with them at whatever length necessary."
"You would trust the words of those outsiders?"
"As you said, what else have we got to go on? To not even try to find a new angle is effectively the same as allowing the Demon Lord to win."
"...I know, just..."
"You're stressed out by all the recent events. All of us are. To be honest, I've my own doubts about their words, yet still I cannot just give up on it."
"Still, do be careful. We almost lost you once. I'd be greatly saddened to lose a personal friend."
"One down..." As Nelius ripped out the so-called "brain matter" of the unidentified monster, he turned his attention to the second of the "unevolved" monsters, which was busy giving the Demon Lord's army a run for its money.
At that current moment in time, while a Beelzebub was distracting the tail head, a pair of Witches were firing off different spells to try and halt the beast's erratic movements. Unfortunately, all the spells seemed to do was annoy it into charging them down, forcing the Witches to scatter and come up with a new plan. In that timeframe, though, a Dullahan moved in, aiming for one of the legs. Her blade sank about two inches into an unarmored joint, and the alien creature gave an screech of pain, unintentionally acting as a signal for a Vampire to target one of the rear legs.
'Looks like they're holding fine. Now where'd the leader go?' He looked around, trying to locate the one that had consumed one of the holy-endowed Order soldiers, as it seemed to have broken off the fight. 'For that matter, where'd Mita, B and Zio run off to? Dammit, they better not have ditched me!' Ignoring a slight burning sensation in his left arm, he spread his wings and took to the sky, keeping his eye trained on the surrounding area, in the hopes he'd locate the other Netherworldians. This, however, incensed the alien monster, as the tail-head fired at him.
"Hey, you sure we should be leaving him behind like this?" B put her concerns foward as she reluctantly trailed behind Mita and Zio.
"He said to ensure that the humans and their allies are not within the crossfire." Zio put forth his reason as to why they left Nelius to deal with the other creature. "Besides, since these new monsters feed upon holy power, it would make the Order's soldiers too tempting a target, and allowing those things to grow stronger is an unwise move."
"Besides, you saw how easily he tore apart that one. He's not in any real danger for the moment." Mita added.
"It's mainly what'll happen afterwards that has me concerned."
"Well, we're gonna have to pick this up later. There go the humans." The Netherworld Scientist pointed out the humans boarding a ship. "Keep a close eye for the leader of those things to attempt to grab an early lunch."
"Right." Putting their backs to one another, the three demons, with Zio facing towards the fleeing humans, kept a distant watch for the monster's possible approach.
They didn't have to wait long, as it was not even ten seconds after all the Order soldiers had gathered aboard the ship that the "evolved" beast burrowed up from the ground, only narrowly missing the ship's hull.
"There it is." Not missing a beat, Zio launched a Star spell, the magic impacting the right side of the monster's body. This turned its attention towards them, and it charged, only to receive a fireball and an explosive shell to its face.
"Uhh, any idea on how we're gonna take it down?" B shouted as she managed to avoid getting snipped in half by one of its claws.
"Mita, try firing your gun down its mouth." The Onmyo demon vocalized an idea as he formed a barrier to keep himself from being impaled upon one of its stingers. The Netherworld Scientist complied, leaping over the incoming pincer and closing in on its mouth.
"Open wide!" With a pull of the trigger, she fired a round down its throat.
"All right, so if I modify this, transplant that, loop this around to... there we go." Atreya was busy tinkering with yet another device. "Now I just need someone to test this on..."
"Test what out on?" Sif poked her head in, curious as to what the Netherworld Witch was up to.
"Oh, hey Sif. Take a look at this." Waving the thief over, she presented her latest invention. "You ever been to Evil Academy?"
"Nope. Why do you ask?"
"Well, assuming all's gone well, this-" She pointed to the item in question, "- will allow us to strengthen ourselves even further, in ways the Item World can't."
"Really? How so?"
"Back when I, to loosely use the term, attended, there was this Prinny with an Afro that'd occasionally show up from time to time. How he did what he did completely intrigued me, so I got him to spill to a few secrets, before he left for his home Netherworld."
"And I imagine that thing is supposed to emulate what he was able to do?"
"Yep. Only thing I haven't been able to improve upon is how it only works on one person at a time."
"Huh. Well, what do you say we round up some people and test it out?"
"Exactly what I was thinking, but the real question is who gets first crack at it?"
With a forward flip, Nelius brought his axe forward, tearing away a chunk of the alien creature's chitenous armor near the tail-head. It had no time to react to the pain of losing several bits of its flesh, as three swords then pierced the exposed area, sinking in and tearing away at what appeared to be the beast's veins and arteries. The tail thrashed around, attempting to loosen the impaled weaponry, but only succeeded in spilling more of its own blood.
"Royal Ass-pain! Die already!" With an unusually aggressive tone to his voice, Nelius grabbed a discarded sword as he put his axe away, then darted forward to meet the lower mouth. it snapped at him, but he responded with an uppercut that sent it rearing back onto its hind legs, which weren't used to supporting this kind of weight. Before they could give out, he stabbed the blade into its stomach and yanked it downward, slicing it open and spilling its blood everywhere. Pulling the blade out, he immediately threw a fire spell into its split-open stomach, horrendously burning its innards.
"Wow. Look at him go." One of the monster women commented.
"Dunno who he is, but I know I want him!" Another replied back.
Pulling the sword upward and ripping it out of its flesh, Nelius gripped both sides of the beast's split-open stomach, and pulled outward. The skin began to tear, and the weakened monster's protests were promptly cut off as the Netherworld Incubus literally ripped it in half, spraying its clear blood nearly everywhere. He dropped the two halves of the beast's carcass onto the ground, before abruptly taking off.
"Hey, hold it!" A Beelzebub was about to take off after him, before having her foot almost pulled off by a Dullahan.
"We have a more pressing matter to attend to." She gestured to the Castle Town, where the other half of the Demon Lord's Army was busy dealing with the two that had burrowed up into town, one of them having already been incapacitated. "We now know how to best dispatch these creatures. We'll have to pursue him another time."
"Damn. Just when we get an interesting one!"
"We can sense his... unique energy. He won't evade us a second time."
The round Mita fired down the monster's mouth detonated about three-quarters down its throat, threatening to tear it apart from the inside. Smoke, and possibly vaporized blood, billowed out from its mouth as it tried to reclaim its bearings.
"Hm?" Zio noticed something shifting around its midsection as it recovered from the internally delivered explosive. "Maybe-"
"Zio, less napping more attacking!" Mita called to the Onmyo demon as she fired another round to distract the beast. The shot to its right side sent it skidding away, at which point Zio made his decision.
"Mita, do you have any cutting implements? I believe its stomach has less protection."
"Cutting, huh? Lemme try something." As the monster flailed about, trying to get back up, B began to channel a spell, but instead of focusing it on the enemy, she focused it inward, toward her hands. At once, blades made of Wind Mana encircled her forearms, and she shot towards the unidentified creature and began to hack away at its unarmored belly. One of its tails contorted around to stab at her, but a timely barrier from Zio prevented it from dealing any damage. With one final slash, she hacked its stomach completely open, and a person-sized lump of flesh plopped onto the ground as the creature began to bleed out.
"B, back away from that thing." Zio had his staff at the ready as the lump hit the ground. The Magic Knight took that moment to hightail it away, and with good timing, as the unidentified monster somehow managed to right itself, and darted towards B... only to collapse halfway towards her.
"Someone... want to tell me what the hell that was?"
"Barely had enough steam to get back up, much less move." Mita cautiously approached the downed beast, tenatively poking it with the business end of her gun. "Well, it seems dead... Zio, give me a hand."
"With what, exactly?"
"We're taking this bad boy with us."
"You mean, back to the Yoshitsuna?"
"Obviously. You said this thing is similar to the samples inside my research room. I want to figure out just how they relate."
"Of course, I should have realized." The Onmyo demon grumbled as he went to assist Mita in hoisting the monster's carcass.
"Oh, hey B, guess what you get to carry?"
"Oh hell no! I am NOT touching that thing!"
"...oh very well, B, you come here and help Mita with this. I will take the flesh lump back with us."
Stopping at the cave, Nelius reapplied the eyepatch, feeling the exhaustion of holding his alternate form catch up to him as the energy dissolved.
'What the hell was that- !' Wondering where his unusual bout of aggression arose from, he looked towards his left arm, only to see that from about mid-forearm down to his bicep was awash in a deep crimson, and it felt far too warm for comfort. "Better have Mita look at this, assuming she gets back anytime soon." Heading further in, it didn't take him very long to end up back at the displaced Yoshitsuna. "Still, how are we gonna get this thing out of here?"
"Exactly what I've been wondering." Brutus stepped out from beneath one of the wings. "You're back."
"Yeah. I imagine Mita hasn't made it back yet?"
"Unfortunately, no. It's partially the reason why I'm out here. With nothing of note going on inside, I figured it best to patrol the outside whilst waiting for Mita to return."
"Yeah, halfway through dealing with one of those things, she ditched. No idea why- wait."
"What?"
"Now that I think about it, let's just use the radar. They should show up on it."
"The thought had crossed my mind, but not right this moment. The auxillary reactor's taking some time to cool off, so power had to be cut from some areas, the bridge's radar and weaponry functions being two of them."
"Either way, we're gonna be waiting."
"Waiting for what?" One very familiar voice sounded from behind the two. Mita and B were leading, carrying the body of the holy-devouring entity. Zio was slightly behind them, a person-sized lump of flesh carried over his right shoulder.
"There you three are. Where'd you run off to?"
"You did say to ensure the humans were not caught in the crossfire." Zio explained as he readjusted his hold on the strange flesh lump. "So we took that time to ensure that the humans were not targeted as they made their escape."
"Seems the leader of that pack still wanted to chow down." Mita made a gesture to the carcass with her head. "So we had to cancel his lunch plans."
"So the humans got away safely?"
"Yep."
"Though, how'd you take that one down?"
"It should've invested in stomach plating. Anyway, shall we take it aboard?"
"Damn it! This time I was certain he'd not be there to mess this up!"
"You know that being?"
"All part of a grand plan I've been working on. You see this soul trapped here?"
"! That power... are there more like that where you originate from?"
"Plenty, but our little friend down there has a little something I need from him. He's been keeping a hold of it, yet doesn't even know."
"Continue on. I imagine you're onto something."
"I am. This soul, and the one he holds are polar opposites, meant to counter each other... but suppose they fuse together? Imagine the power that'd be released."
"Yet you've not once confronted him directly."
"Simply because I myself haven't the power to take him head-on, and there's also the matter of his little entourage. Still, this one was close."
"Hrm... I may have a new idea. Rather than wait for them..."
"Hold on, did you not hear a thing about-"
"I mean the empowered humans. Rather than have them come out to a remote location, we send them a little present..."
"...I like it. It'll have to go on hold, as no new ones have yet been produced. The moment some are, you'll be the first to know."
"Good."
"While I'm on the subject, why choose me?"
"To put it simply, you are alive, and hold a similar goal. Had I a physical body, I'd be spearheading this... I actually feel a bit guilty having to impose this upon you."
"It's nothing to worry about. Like you said, we have a similar goal in mind." 'That, and I know you won't betray me... like they did.'
"Just set it over here." Mita and B set the monster's body down on a table. "Zio, that'll go over there."
"Very well." The Onmyo demon set the flesh lump on a seperate table. Brutus took this time to tell the Netherworld Scientist something.
"Oh yeah, Mita, when I made my rounds earlier, I noticed the door to this room was slightly open."
"Ohh, that's what I was forgetting. Thanks for the reminder, Brutus." Turning away from the monster-carcass, she strolled over the computer, which was thankfully still running. "Lemme see here... wow, 59 percent already."
"Do I dare ask?" Nelius looked toward the computer.
"Went digging around the systems earlier today. Found some heavily encrypted stuff, but this little baby here will be able to crack 'em wide open."
"Think it might pertain to whatever the shit this thing is?" Brutus gestured to the corpse.
"Hopefully."
"...I'll be right back." Nelius took this moment to duck out, making a beeline for one of the installed washrooms. Stepping inside the nearest one, he rolled his sleeve back and removed the gauntlet on his hand to more closely inspect his left arm. 'Doesn't look any worse than earlier... still, better play it safe. What the hell's causing this, anyway?' The sink was thankfully operational, and he took this time to run the section of arm under some cold water for a few seconds. With the burning subsiding for the moment, he rolled his sleeve back down and headed back to where Mita had been last.
"Hmm, 66 percent now..."
"Hey, Mita. Got a few questions for you." This got her to look up from the screen.
"What about?"
"Well, this would be where I'd start." He rolled his sleeve back up, showing the affected part of his arm.
Chapter 14: Complete