Author's Notes: Remember when I said that there are also beings of pure evil, they're very simple really. They'll break the cute little puppy's innocence by making their lives a living hell through physical/mental abuse or simply kill someone that has suffered in the past only to kill them when they finally get a chance to redeem themselves. They laugh at other's misery at their lowest point, eat babies, make people evil, etc. At this point, I'm going to introduce in this chapter, a villain that qualifies as this. As for the mantis Hellion and Lupus having human disguises, it's a standard power for their species to blend into society to better corrupt and eat humans.
Also expect a major tearjerker in this chapter.
Chapter 25: Kill The Evil Part 2: Malus Daemon
Prologue: The night before
Sekairyu writes a letter to his son, while everyone before everyone enters the village.
To Tatsumi,
You have been through a lot, losing almost all of your friends by the time I saw you again. I can say that you are now more prepared for the world than I last saw you, which makes me proud. I'm sorry that I couldn't say to you in person because I am haven't been used to a life of peace since I lost that innocence that you're probably beginning to lose as well. At least, until the Emperor decided on an unexpected decision, which has benefited everyone. I can say that everyone that has died up to this point is probably happy that their sacrifices have ended Honest's tyranny. I've read so many of your letters that you sent to Najenda and I'm happy to hear that you have friends to make up for the ones you have lost.
Something, with my reputation will never have...I have to tell you this...I helped push Busshin's regime to corruption as it would help my true father's wish to resurrect the Emperor of Evil. I was a dumb kid trying to impress my parent, but with the wars waged to expand the Empire, though with good intentions help to give rise to hatred and other sinful emotions to feed the Hellions' evil god. When my mother protested to my dad, Notam used this as an opportunity to kill her because she threatened to tell Busshin. Giving up, I abandoned them and wished to die.
Then I met your mother, a confident, yet pure hearted woman who put me on the right path. It was hard to become well-adjusted again, but I managed to become a member of the village community. Eventually, I had you Tatsumi and I was revealed that I still had some humanity of the half Hellion blood that runs inside me and you.
Then a few years after your birth, Abyss, the Emperor's son, fearing a prophecy from the Lord of the Path of Peace, that a half Hellion child would overthrow him, which of course he assumed was him. The little imp sent his forces to hunt down almost every Half Hellion child in order to avoid the prophecy. H sent the Lord of Mammal-Type Hellions to kill you. I tried to reason him out of it, but you suddenly appeared and he prepared to kill you. Your mother took the blow, and I vowed to avenge her. I decided you weren't ready and left you in the village's care. After that, I had successfully killed off Notam, but I was overpowered by the right hand man of Daemon, the Lord of the Divine-Type Hellions.
After that failure, I decided to rely on the humans that I had befriended. However, they were manipulated by the Hellions into committing the corrupt acts that you have personally witnessed in order to provide the corrupt energy needed to revive the Emperor of Evil. I am saddened and shocked to learn that Busshin along with his wife were slain, but also that the brain of the Emperor of Evil was retrieved by Hellions under Honest's nose. I, who had been weakened by my earlier fight, was repeatedly overpowered by the might of the forces loyal to the puppet, Honest.
At the time, I decided that the Empire was a lost cause and found a young leader named Izanagi, who would hopefully lead the revolution started by the turncoats, Math and Einheima. We three founded the Revolutionary Army, which has brought both happiness and sadness with the faction you joined called Night Raid. With each death, I became less convinced of victory and planned to take out at least the major players of the Empire so that rest could finish off the remaining forces. Emperor Makoto's decision turned out to be a more positive solution to my pessimistic alternative
That said, the Hellions that backed him up are probably planning around his capture and will attack soon. As strong as I am, I can sure you that I am not strong enough to take on the stronger Hellions. And likely, I'm being targeted for my Teigu, that has the Emperor of Evil's blood in my veins, which was given to me by Busshin himself. So if I somehow die during the time you get this letter, make sure to do this.
Give those Hellions "Hell"...heh nice pun.
But, seriously; make sure that you become strong enough to protect everything that you have left and things you've recently acquired.
I am proud of you, my son, I truly am
Sincerely,
Sekairyu Leo
P.S.
I am Honest's half brother, but for obvious reasons, I've disowned him. However, for the sake of sanity, don't date Leone...she's technically your cousin.
Sekairyu then finished the letter and had a carrier Danger Beast deliver it to the Empire's capital.
The present
Everyone stares at the blonde haired man in armor.
"So not even death could handle his stubbornness," Nakaido said with some humor in his voice.
"Commander Budo, much has happened. Honest has been overthrown as well as the Revolutionary Army," said Oda as he breathed heavily.
The golden armored general turned to the General laying on the ground.
"Good, but I see Najenda and several Revolutionary leaders are with you. What has happened during my time away," Budo asked Oda with a stern voice.
"Honest has been imprisoned for his crimes. We have also allied with the Revolutionary Army to become the Exorcist group to defeat the monsters like the one behind you," Ocean answered instead as he pointed to Bogomol.
"That glutton finally got what was coming to him. But, monster…you couldn't be talking about-" Budo said as he turned to see Bogomol was trembling at the newcomer's presence.
"A descendant of that warrior that used super strength to punch like thunderbolts. Lupus, take care of him," Bogomol turned behind him, but saw that Lupus had vanished.
He then saw his wolf assistant in the distance leaping as far as he can to get away from the newly arrived person. The army paid more attention to the long though dead General to even notice the retreat.
"You ungrateful little-", Bogomol said as he prepared another large blast to wipe out the enemy in front of him.
"Must have realized that Budo's got the fastest reaction time of everyone here, you're a sitting duck. So kill the bug already.
"I will not obey a paroled fugitive no matter what he-," Budo retorted professionally. Sekairyu then gave a sinister smile, which got even Oda, Swaar and Nakaido worried.
"Your daughter Win's dating my son," Sekairyu said coyly to annoy the Great General.
"HOW DARE HE!" Budo said with intense anger as he proceeded to rapidly punch the insect before he could even react in fear.
"Well, General Budo is alive. The Emperor will be pleased to hear of this," Orca said with a nervous smile as he saw the general grabbed the insect as he tried to crawl away.
"He's managed to become a True Teigu, it's going to be hard for him to ascend to the next level. But, this is unusual; he's able to work without an operator. Maybe because he's too proud to allow himself to be a puppet ," Sekairyu responded as he smiled. As he said this, Budo was hitting Bogomol faster than his scythes could react. His weapons then shattered, leaving the Hellion completely defenseless.
"Lord Samael...that name sounds nostalgic for some reason," Kurome said to herself as she checked on Natala and Doya. Hemi gave a look of disapproval, as he didn't want her to rely on Yatsufusa's abilities. As Kurome scowled, Budo launched the finishing blow on the Hellion, punching him with sudden blow to the gut. The blow was so devastating that he couldn't regenerate in time. The insect Hellion then disintegrated into dust.
Swaar would then use his Trump Card to turn the transformed Converts back into human beings, who dazed and unaware of their situation.
A hour later
The villagers hesitant at first due to the Empire's reputation of cruelty, but stopped when Nakaido and Hemi persuaded them that the Empire had changed for the better. This was followed by both the Empire forces and the village partying all night.
"Do you still miss your wife, I'm asking because it seems Tatsumi is very shaken about the whole thing," Najenda asked Sekairyu as she sat next to him by the campfire.
"Yes, but she would order me to move on and find new love. I'm sure Lubbock would've wanted the same if he knew his...would effect you," Sekairyu answered as he scratched his head.
"You're probably right," Najenda said with a sort smile. Sekairyu helped her get up and then prepared to dance in a waltz.
Orca was lamenting his powerlessness to Ocean, Hemi was completely drunk along with Swaar, Oda refused to participate along with Budo. Sekairyu then danced with Najenda near the fire.
Wave then noticed Kurome looking at something and walked towards her.
"What're you looking at," Wave asked wondering why she had wandered from the party.
"That," Kurome replied in her half circled eyed look pointing her finger to tracks of footprints. Except they weren't Lupus', but instead three toed reptilian feet heading from the village towards the location of where the Hell Kingdom was supposed to be located.
"What does that mean," Wave asked in worried puzzlement as Run tapped his shoulder and wondered what was wrong.
The morning afterwards
Kurome tracked the trail with Run and Wave following her. It continued on for several miles, far away from the party. Wave then asked a question to Run.
"Why haven't the others followed us," Wave questioned Run as they continued to follow Kurome.
"Because if they wanted to, they'd already appeared in front of us in an instant. Somehow they know where we are located at all times," Run explained to Wave as he came to the conclusion that Demon Extract Teigu had the power to sense others using their elements.
"For someone who's out of it for a while, you've gotten the hang of things," Wave said naive insensitivity, unaware of how Run had lamented being reduced to a puppet by Kurome for short time till Voluptasia revived him.
"Yes, being dead can make you more enlightened and careful," Run responded with an underlying anger brimming in his words as he smiled dissonantly.
"Yeah...," Wave then realized his error and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
Kurome then turned to the two with a narrowed gaze as she pointed to a village where the footprints ended.
Wave and Run looked on at the village that was more primitive in structure than the previous one. They had an unnerving thought as they looked on.
"How could it suddenly disappear like that," Run questioned himself as he saw that the footprints stopped at the center of the village with no signs of it going in any other direction.
"And why aren't there people, it's not like back there where you could tell folks were gathered," Wave said with a heightened pitch, worried about the emptiness of the vacant space.
"It feels like a ghost town right," Kurome said in a nonchalant manner to Wave's statement.
"Anyway, we're the Jaegers, it's our duty to help others in the name of the Empire," Run shouted with resolve.
"Jaegers? Beute is more like it," said a raspy, hissing voice from above the trio. It was flying in the air explaining how the being managed to avoid moving on the ground once it reached the village .
"Guess that answers your question, Run," Wave said nervously.
"Looks cool," Kurome said with sparkles in her eyes.
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," said Run as he prepared Mastema for potential combat.
The voice belonged to a sleek black winged creature. It had a slender, bio-mechaical, skeletal exoskeleton body with features of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, machines, etc that combined to form a natural, unnervingly perfect body. The beast had horns that went straight to the back its skull, was reptilian with red slit eyes and a human skeletal nose with mouth that had sharp teeth. Its two wings on its back were part avian, part reptilian, part machine and part demonic. Its arms were long and slender along with his elongated, reptilian legs ending in three toed talons. And finally, it had a long, metallic, serpentine tail with a mace club at the end. It had an expression of laid back, yet violently bloodthirsty at the same time from its eyes and mouth.
It then gave a look of extreme killing intent that terrified even Kurome, the hardened and cruel assassin that casually added corpses for a living for her collection.
"I don't think its like the bug or wolf," Run said with a bead of sweat on his brow.
"I've heard about that White Wing thing from Tatsumi, but this definitely feels more scary," Wave said with a tone of panic in his voice.
"But, isn't Commander Esdeath scarier," Kurome asked casually.
"Yeah, you're right," Wave said nervously as he imagined the godlike Esdeath looming over him.
Annoyed that it was ignored, it then revealed that in its right claw it held a sleeping baby cradled in its arms. Wave was ready to activate Grand Chariot when Run stopped him, gesturing that if couldn't beat the mantis Hellion in his weaker, human form, then this creature would be beyond him.
"I bet this thing ate all those villagers and decided to eat it last, what a monster," Wave said with frustration.
"We couldn't even beat the mantis that late General Seigi defeated in its human form, let alone its true form. So we'll have to watch and bear the consequences later on," Run responded, trying to stay calm.
It seemed to want to eat it at first as it neared its face with jaws open to eat the infant, much to their horror. It then stopped and tossed it casually to Kurome.
"Huh," Kurome said in wonder.
"Maybe its not so bad after all," Wave said with an awkward grin as he loosen his battle stance.
The two boys were confused at why it had done this. Kurome held the baby awkwardly as she didn't have any idea how to take care of infants, but then gradually held it softly.
"She's soft," Kurome said with a gentle smile.
The creature gave a gentle look, which immediately warped into a distorted face of insanity as it used its tail to impale the infant in her arms.
Wave's expression turned to rage and Run had to hold him back out of concern. Kurome glared at the creature with intense fury.
The baby was then pulled back to the creature, which then ate it in a slobbering and wasteful manner. Bones would fall to the floor as they dropped from its mouth.
Any prior hesitation was lost on the three as they activated their Teigu at the same time in order to combat the creature.
Wave was cloaked in the armor Teigu, Run shot feathers at the beast and Kurome had summoned a large viking barbarian that she had killed when he had guard one of the Hellion supporters during their travels.
The creature casually dodged every feather like they were pebbles and treated dodging Wave's flurry of kicks like a training exercise. It then grabbed the arm of the viking and through it towards a house. It broke and revealed even worse remains of half eaten villagers , so horrible that Kurome couldn't look at without vomiting.
"They weren't worthy prey, I didn't need them for sustenance," said the creature in an mechanically inhuman voice.
Wave rushed towards the beast who then grabbed his kick with its left arm and began speaking to Wave in an unnerving manner.
"Grand Chariot, created to be Incursio's successor, but could never measure up. The users of the invisible Teigu will be forever be recorded in history, while the ...copycat will be a passing memory," the creature told Wave in a cruel and sadistic tone in its voice.
"Those fellow hunters wouldn't have died so disgracefully and that mother with her child as well. They died because you're second rate," the creature added with a whisper so invasive and devilish that one would be disgusted from listening.
Wave exploded with rage, and Grand Chariot's large entity emerged behind him as blue energy surrounded Wave. The blue turned a darker shade as the air got colder from its presence. Kurome looked in concern while Run was worried about Wave's condition.
The energy cleared to reveal Wave's upgrade. Compared to Tatsumi's heroic looking form during the time of the execution, Wave's was more bulky and villainous in appearance. The long horned helmet had a knights visor that hid his eyes with a crazed smile etched on the helm, the armor had elongated shoulder armor that reached his elbows and collar armor that covered the back of his head, along with a cape of dark blue energy emerging from his back. Its leg armor was more heavily platted with thigh armor that elongated to the knees. His blue spear was enhanced for a longs javelin of blue energy. Grand Chariot's new appearance was built for more overwhelming physical strength and defense instead of the limited power and great speed of the previous form.
"Yes, yes, yes. This is what I've been waiting for," said the creature gleefully. It's body then suddenly morphed to resemble Hemi's armor with Adramelech's gauntlets.
Run wonderd how it was possible for something to copy Sekairyu's power as his expression clearly showed.
The creature landed on the ground as did Wave and the two slowly marched towards each other.
The marching turned into sprinting as the two clashed in a brawl of fist to fist combat.
"Marvelous, so this is the power of Teigu, I can't wait to become my ultimate form to test how far you users can go," the creature yelled as it screamed from its helmeted face.
"Ultimate form, what're you-" Wave yelled in confusion. Suddenly, a green wind divided the two fighters as the armies of the Generals including a recovered Najenda had trailed them to this location.
"See, I was right," Run said in relief of aid.
"Nice upgrade, but it's better to team up on this one," Nakaido said with a smile that contrasted the serious tone of his voice.
"Tch, the interlopers crawled into my fight. Oh well, I'll tell you what I am since this will be the last time you see me in this form," the creature said in annoyance.
Everyone looked and prepared their battle stances.
"Long ago, my first father, the Hell King, decided that infiltration within the Celestials would be the best way to kill their enemies from within. So he took his wife's unborn sperm and decided her complaints were unneeded so he had her eliminated. After that, I was injected with the DNA of all of the Hellions in all existence. This includes those of the past, present and future. And I was then infused into the host body of the main embryo of the Heaven God's wife, who birthed the fused essence of the child and myself," said the creature as he proudly explained himself in a lucid tone of voice.
"However, he sensed my evil and had me banished. And I waited for millennia to reemerge until 500 years ago, when the host vented out his rage, I finally resurfaced. After seeing the power of Teigus, I decided to gather power in order to combat them. Eventually I met the Emperor Chisa who promised if I recombined with my host and his mind, I would be able to fight the leader of the Teigus, Excalibur in battle," the creature then added to complete his story.
"So you're the Evil that appeared that time long ago, did you have anything to do with the corruption of the Empire," Nakaido asked the beast.
"I am only interested in the pursuit of evil and fighting. If I don't get a good fight from Excalibur, then I will hunt down every man, woman and child one by one till the entire species is wiped out," said the creature.
"I swear I've heard this speech in one of Lubbock's books before," Najenda complained to herself.
"I noticed that you were at the village a few leagues back, Why" Sekairyu asked the creature.
In an instant, the creature teleported in front of his face. It had its claws ready to strike.
"I saw that you had inherited my blood. I want it back now because I can't have anyone having the same power as me!," The creature said as it prepared to impale him.
Hemi and Swaar leapt to strike its back, but the beast was prepared. It morphed its wings into Mastema and fired black, carbon feathers at the two to fling them into another house. Budo prepared to attack, but was stopped by Sekairyu.
"Leave it to me, this Hellion has admitted to having every Hellion ability to survive, whose power is the reason they follow it back when it was complete. I'm the only one who can match it, as I have the same power,"
"But, it'll be too much on your own, let us help you," Wave protested in response.
"Telling everyone of this threat is important, if this thing is allowed to recombine with Daemon, the world will be conquered with an worse evil than the Hell Kingdom age! Go," the brown haired general said as he took off his eye patch.
Hemi grabbed Wave and shook his head as he agreed with his ally's statement. Wave would thrash in anger, but unable to overcome his grip.
Najenda tried to rush to Sekairyu, but Oda knocked her out to avoid another possible causality. He then signaled the army to leave including a saddened Orca, frustrated Swaar and Ocean who looked in pity at what would happen next.
Kurome and Run reluctantly followed the troop as Wave continued to fight until he fell unconscious, deactivating the armor Teigu.
Once they left, Sekairyu prepared his battle stance.
"Ok, let's start off with Styx," the brown haired General said as he then began to stretch his arms. The creature followed his example, as its limbs stretched as well. The two adversaries then threw a flurry of punches at each other. The beast was gaining a quick advantage.
Sekairyu gritted his teeth, and returned his arms to normal. He then used Die Leaguer, summoned from this shoulders to fire blasts of flame and wind. The creature did the same as it had the spheres project rotting acid and ice. They collided and created an explosion of wind.
This was followed by all of the Teigu powers that had been revealed since Tatsumi first entered the capital. The first exchange was Extase, whose light that blinded both enemies as they used their other senses to seek out each other and utilized Cross Tail, creating wired constructs of weaponry to strike at the enemy, as well as Spectator (to read the movements of their respective enemy, and finally, Belvaac, summoning a double axe to projectile at the enemy. Both took slashes that quickly regenerated.
The second exchange was Sekairyu's Scream, using sound hypnosis to paralyze the demon and the creature used Heavy Pressure to emit powerful sound-waves at Sekairyu's body to fling him into a building. Sekairyu responded by using Rubicante to attempt to burn the creature, while the demon used Perfector to construct a perfect shield from the remains of buildings as its dexterity allowed it to build the tool. The General responded by using Adramelech to strike the ground to inject electricity to follow the creature from the ground, which was avoided when the creature used Mastema to create wings on its back to fire feathers on its back. To avoid being hit by the projectiles, Sekairyu generated a shell necklace Teigu that generated a powerful energy barrier to stop the feathers a few feet away from his body.
"So that's the Teigu, Absolute Defense: Guardna, the barrier Teigu that protects that capital of those humans," said the creature as it summoned Pumpkin fused with his right arm to fire a pink energy blast at the barrier. Sekairyu changed tactics and summoned Grand Chariot's base armor to leap into the air. The creature generated Lionelle and Absordex's features to maul the General, as well as suck out his blood.
Sekairyu followed this by using Black Marlin, specifically its Trump Card to create blood tendrils to strike the creature. It unlatched its bite and generate all the weapon Teigus that had revealed up to the point that Tatsumi first entered the Empire: Shamshir, Murasame, Yatsufusa and Adayusu. All of which, were immediately frozen by the Demon's Exract: Gaap power of ice summoned from a marking of Demon's Extract on Sekairyu's left cheek.
"You have this power, yet you associate yourself with this inferior race," the creature asked Sekairyu as he paused from fighting.
"You wouldn't understand, you've never been in love," Sekairyu as he prepared to strike.
"I know "Love" well enough to know this," retorted the creature as he summoned a make up kit Teigu that Sekairyu had read about and knew its powers all too well.
The demon then used Gaea's Formation to turn into Sekairyu's late mother, a dark brown haired woman with light pink eyes.
"Sakura...," Sekairyu said with his eyes widened.
The General had a face of shock and nostalgia, which then followed by Hekatonkheires summoned from the creature's back, biting the lower torso of the General.
When the General tried to use Lionelle to regenerate, the creature used Furfur to zap the eye with the Teigu marking in the General's socket. It negated his abilities and made him an easy target for the combined powers of the remaining Six General's large blast abilities.
Sekairyu was reduced to a chest area with one right arm and his head intact, the creature landed and sneered as the General's body landed on the ground.
"I am Malus Daemon, the embodiment of evil. Did you except anything else from fighting me?," asked the creature in a mocking tone.
Sekairyu had died with an stern look on his face, not wanting to show fear even in death in order to spite it.
"I'll give them a motivational trophy back at the capital to improve on themselves," said the creature as he snapped its clawed hands.
Sekairyu spat out all of the previously destroyed Teigu and used what little of Shambhala's ability he had left to teleport them back to the capital.
The creature smirked as it summoned skeletons to then devour his body aside from his head.
"Not the head, I need to extract that, which was stolen from me from his damn skull," the creature spoke with a malicious cruelty.
A week later
Tatsumi had finally received a letter from his father. As he read on he felt shock from learning Leone was his cousin, anger that Honest and Syura were his relatives and suddenly started crying with the revelation of being loved by his father.
Emperor Makoto saw a head that materialized in the center of the throne room, the head of General Sekairyu.
Next Chapter: A sudden change of plans!