A/N: Sorry for the delay! I'm gonna try to get another chapter up by the end of this weekend.
Neuro stood alone on the city street.
The road was deserted, left deathly silent in the wake of the lockdown. The wide, sandy path stretched on and on to either side as far as the eye could see. Buildings stood along its flank, crammed in uncomfortably tight to each other. The entire city seemed to be holding its breath.
Neuro looked out from the far edge of the street. His gaze fixed upon one particular building—a certain location. Slowly, a smile spread across his beak. "Oh? Looks like I was right."
It felt right. Just like before, just like the first time he had stood here, outside of this building, there was something else in the air, drawing him in. Now that Neuro had gotten closer, now that he knew where to look, the scent was unmistakable. He could feel the puzzle germinating within the walls, like yeast about to rise and form the most scrumptious loaf of bread.
"Capable of launching a large-scale group effort, which requires numerous resources in terms of both minions and equipment," Neuro spoke, striding forward a few steps. "Immense strength and superior intelligence. Close to the Order Branch, so that one can observe its actions and weaknesses. The profile fits."
Neuro raised one hand and pointed with his middle finger. "The criminal is within you… Guulmark Enterprises."
His declaration jabbed forward and sunk into the front wall of the building. The head office loomed before him. Its walls were made of criss-crossing red brick. The doorway was arched, carved artistically out of some sort of bone. The front of the building angled upwards into a tall tower, ridges and terraces decorating the top of it like a crown.
"It's been a while. Haven't seen you since the Evil Centipede case, I believe," Neuro said. Then he shrugged. "But that reasoning alone is not what led me here."
Neuro held up his other hand. Something small and white flicked out from between his claws. "This card sealed it."
"After testing, I found some very interesting results," he continued as he held up the piece of paper. "The composition of this calling card was analyzed. And you know what? The results from testing show that this brand of stationery was used chiefly by one company: Guulmark Enterprises."
As he spoke, Neuro slowly ripped up the card and tossed the pieces to the side, letting them blow away in the wind. "Random trivia. Every detective's loyal sidekick."
A moment passed.
Then there came a growling, mechanical voice from the direction of the office building, making a sound like the grinding of gears. [INSUFFICIENT. THERE IS A CHANCE IT MAY BE COINCIDENCE. YOU HAVE NO PROOF. THE CARD MIGHT HAVE BEEN STOLEN. IT WAS NOT SENT FROM US.]
"Oh? So you mean to resist?" Neuro's eyes glittered with challenge. "You must think me a fool." He tapped the side of one of his horns, pointing out the energy that rippled around it. "My sense for mysteries is reacting to something large beyond your doors. That is all the proof I need. But I'll indulge you for a moment, you first-class worm-farm."
"There are some things that you cannot hide," Neuro said. "For instance, the path of the incoming fights. Given that the riots began at the edges of Guul and are now closing in, I calculate that this building is among the few standing at the epicenter. A well-known landmark would also be a good target to tell your dumb, violent followers to aim for. That is about the best one can do given the average demon intellect."
"But that is not all." Neuro spread out his arms, appearing for a moment like a conductor. "There is something else—something that is often overlooked. Guulmark Enterprises is known as a leading manufacturer of technology."
He smiled. "In other words, you make tools."
"I've noticed something in common with many of my opponents from the Natural Order," he declared. "An information-gathering center placed in the Order Branch. Force-field gloves and a magnetic plate. A laser-gun replacing one demon's tail-tip, and a bomb made of such advanced construction that it defied all normal hacking methods… All of it involved some sort of technology."
"What a useful resource for a rebellion to have," Neuro mused. "No wonder you were able to meet with such success," Then he waved the thought away. "But it's made your contribution rather obvious. Anyway, it should be easy to access your sales records."
"Now tell me-" Neuro said, grinning and pointing with one middle finger, "-just who did you supply with those tools?"
Silence. Dust lay flat and still on the roadside.
Suddenly a horrendous screech ripped through the air. There was a screaming of metal, punctuated by the sound of shredding, of bursting, of tearing. Neuro stood firm, ignoring the growing ache in his ears. A slight rumble coursed through the earth beneath his feet.
Then the entire building shot up towards the sky. The red brick turned a darker shade as more and more of the structure was revealed. Entirely new walls surfaced, pushing back the ground. The body of the domicile grew and grew, a huge mass erupting up from below, its borders extending far beyond those of the original building. The neighboring office buildings were knocked over in clouds of pulverized rubble. Only the original tower remained untouched, perching on top of the new building like a party hat.
Columns of metal and stone grew around the main section and formed support beams like ribs. Random spikes jutted out from the fortress, each needle covered in its own coat of hooks and barbs as if trying to strike out at the entire world. The building was a hulking, twisted mass. Splotches of assorted colors and bizarre features decorated its surface. A neon-colored checkerboard pattern, smokestacks that spewed never-ending mustard, a sculpture of melting clocks—just looking at it for two seconds was enough to move anyone's heart to thoughts of chaos.
When the building finally rumbled to a stop, the ground still shuddering with the effort of what it had just expelled, Guulmark Enterprises stood transformed.
"…Hmph," Neuro snorted. "So, the main building of Guulmark was merely the capstone for all that lay underneath." He imagined it in his mind's eye: the red-brick tower alone left to poke out aboveground, like the lure of a deep-sea fish.
The earthquake-like vibrations and the extended body of the Guulmark building had smashed everything else in the area to pieces. Both in front of Neuro and behind, all of the other structures had been bulldozed down into piles of rock. What had once been a street had been transformed into a nice, bare, open space.
Desperate screams echoed out from a collapsed building somewhere behind Neuro. Coughing and pained howls joined them. With the entire city's population shoved into all of Guul's buildings, the amount of deaths and injuries here must be considerable. This place had just become a whole different picture of the word "Hell".
Neuro alone had remained standing through the barrage. His pride had not permitted him to fall.
[CORRECT DEDUCTION,] bellowed the Guulmark building. [NOW. THIS ENDS. WELCOME TO THE TOWER OF TRIALS.]
[THE TIME FOR GAMES IS OVER, BRAINEATER,] the building declared in words like the twisting of a steel beam. [EITHER YOU DESTROY US. OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU.]
The main door of the building burst open. Countless demons flooded out. Neuro's eyes flicked over the arrivals—there were insectoid demons, demons with objects such as chairs and water pitchers for heads, demons with their mouths in their stomachs and holes all through their body, a trundling Cyclops with a beard, a demon with nothing but hair in place of his head, a demon that looked like statue wearing a sweater, its hands folded in prayer, a demoness that looked like a beautiful young woman in an evening gown, her neck brace forming a terrifying alien frame around the circle of her face, and then more, and then more, of every shape and size.
The demons all filed out and stood in formation, twelve rows deep. Still more were left waiting in the doorway. All were unnaturally calm, rigidly focused on Neuro.
Neuro muffled a laugh. Never before had he seen demons be so quiet before an anticipated slaughter. He raised one hand and flexed its talons. "Fortunately for you, I hate fighting. Give me one good reason I should give any of you the gift of my valuable time," he taunted.
And it was true. Just because battling was something he did a lot of, that did not make the experience any less unpleasant. But inwardly, Neuro laughed at the slight lie he had told. This mystery must be massive. He was willing to do anything to obtain it—even if that did mean having to smash and swat his way through the fleas.
Movement flickered somewhere far above. A hatch swung open in the tower's side, one thin layer below the roof. A blurry shape stood framed in the archway.
Neuro frowned, turning his head to look up at the spot. He squinted. Slowly, he felt his eyes adjust, tingling as their inner rings changed size.
It was Allpower. The goblin's blue skin stood out as a smear against the dull brick. His two horns looked like toothpicks curving back from his skull. Neuro could barely make it out, but the demon seemed to be holding some sort of slab in his hands. If Neuro hadn't been concentrating so hard, he would have grinned. He'd seen something like that before, during the Valkyrie mystery. It must be a control panel.
When Neuro looked back down, he saw the Tower of Trials horde brace. Arms of all shapes and sizes raised, holding weapons at the ready. One pair of wings unfolded and caught fire. The eyes of over one thousand demons stared back at him, a sea of monotonous pinpricks.
Neuro shifted his feet, finding his center of balance. "I see. All I need is to climb to the top, then. If I do that…" He licked his beak, drool already running down the sides. "I win."
The battle began without any warning.
The demons were on him in a second. Neuro barely managed to duck, allowing the first group of demons to slam into each other. Then he burst forward, using speed to break free and topple others over before they could strike him. It was appalling how silent and quick the maggots were. The Natural Order must have issued some sort of reward to improve their concentration.
A face appeared. Neuro punched. Arms reached out to grab him. He twisted away. He managed to take two full steps toward the door before being pushed back a half-pace.
A swarm of miniature bat-demons flew out from a break in the crowd and covered Neuro's entire body. Their claws and teeth dug into his eyes and neck. By the time Neuro got rid of the last one, he had taken two punches in the face from somebody else. He drop-kicked an imp into oblivion. Then a frog-demon jumped forward. In a blur, Neuro reached to the side and grabbed two other demons, using them as shields against its poison-breath. Their bodies dropped, corroded.
Neuro fought as best he could, but the game soon began to get tiresome. As soon as he knocked one demon down, two others appeared to take its place. Neuro gritted his teeth. He was struggling against hundreds of demons here, with probably thousands more in reserve.
His eyes found the Tower door through a break in the crowd. He needed to do something.
Neuro made a gamble. Concentrating all of his strength in his legs, Neuro leapt up. He jump took him into the line of sight of an ogre demon. The stupid beast blinked and pulled back for a punch. Then, in midair, Neuro bent backwards and tucked in his legs, using the momentum to fall down and away just as the fist of a giant macaque-demon passed by above him. The two giants punched each other in the face with a solid whack. Their eyes rolled back. The two demons fell forward, sinking into each other's shoulders. The other demons nearby hissed and jabbed them with spears.
Quickly, Neuro sheltered beneath the giants' tented bodies. In a flash of aura, he summoned something. The item now resting in his hands looked like a stout medicine bottle. It was made of a dark material, with an eye engraved in the center. Its stopper looked like the round end of a pipette. Fast as a wink, Neuro had unscrewed the top and squirted the liquid from inside into both of his eyes.
777 Tools of the Demon World – Evil Drop, thought Neuro. He laughed inwardly at what he knew the Tool could do. It was the mantra of the sneaky—If you can't rise to meet the challenge, then cut it down to size!
He darted out as the giants collapsed, immediately running up to the peak of their shoulders. His eyes glowed and pulsed with energy. Already the pressure in them felt ready to burst. Neuro blinked hard. There was a flash of yellow and then the Tool fired-
A large weight slammed into Neuro from the right. He gasped, air rushing out of his lungs. The laser from his left eye was driven off-course into the ground. To the side, three rows of demons surged upward, blocking the other beam with their bodies.
Neuro hit the ground hard. His opponent let go with a grunt, the impact having broken their fingers. Neuro rolled away, stopping only to push himself up to his knees. A frustrated growl leapt from his throat. He had failed because of the fodder.
Suddenly a shadow loomed behind him. Neuro ducked, sweeping his leg up into a kick at the same time. He felt a flash of satisfaction at the crunching of bone beneath his heel.
The fight engulfed him once more. All of the demons began to blur together. Neuro slashed with one hand and jabbed with the other. He kicked at a tendril snaking around his foot. Just in the nick of time, he transformed one arm into a shield, blocking a projectile acid-attack.
Wherever Neuro turned, another enemy appeared. He breath came in ragged pants, scraping the inside of his throat. The distance to the Tower of Trials's door seemed much, much longer now, the path to it obscured and lost in a sea of faces, each one in need of a good punching.
A flash of annoyance struck him. The strong were strong. They ruled over the weak. That was the central tenant of Hell. And Neuro had finally, finally ascended to one of their ranks. He shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense. Fighting in groups was a weak-demon tactic, used only by those who weren't strong enough by themselves to delay the inevitable. He panted. There was no way for the weak to rise above their station…right?
Neuro wiped some blood off his cheek. He was sure that he could beat any of these low-class demons alone. But if they all came at him at once…
The avianoid sprang up and stepped forcefully onto two short demons' heads, using them as a springboard. For a moment, he tried to jump across the top of the mob, moving ever-closer to the Tower. But he wasn't fast enough. Within seconds he was pulled back down, arrows flying into the space where his head used to be. Neuro gritted his teeth and writhed to avoid getting pinned to the earth. He really wished he could fly, dammit.
Neuro tried to keep a space clear around him, a tiny bubble in which he could move. He whirled. He blocked. But the edges of his territory kept getting smaller and smaller. And his movements gradually became slower.
Eventually, facing so many enemies, one of them was bound to get in a hit.
Neuro flinched as one demon grazed his foot with a weapon. The strange tool was a garish yellow, and looked like a cross between a gun and a baton. His aura flickered at its touch.
The unnerving sensation was enough to jolt Neuro out of his fighting rhythm. Another demon hit him with their baton. Then two more, from the side. With each jab, his demonic power decreased and faded a little more. Neuro could see now that most demons in the crowd were holding similar weapons. They must have been supplied by Guulmark. Sensing weakness, the demons closed in fast, too many to bat away. Neuro struggled, but he took a hit. Then another. And another.
Soon, it was too late.
Neuro staggered. Something was wrong. He felt light-headed. His body felt disconnected from the world around him.
What? Neuro clawed. Nothing but muscle moved his hand. The gesture felt…empty. He felt…barren. My demonic energy… my power… it's been sealed?
A tightness closed in around his throat. No miasma. No particles of demonic matter flowing in or out. He couldn't breathe.
The Tools!
He reached. Nothing responded. Neuro called, trying to focus a mass energy that wasn't there. Nothing. It was duller than a refusal. It felt like nothing had heard him at all.
I can't access them! Neuro sank to his knees. His hands groped uselessly. Not a tremor of aura flicked through his fingers. It felt like his entire spirit had been wrapped in tight cellophane. Neuro's mouth hung open, his lungs working without any breath coming in.
The Tools were gone.
In a moment, the horde closed in. Neuro struck back, fighting desperately in self-defense. But his kicks and blows were now all but ineffectual. Furthermore, with his miasma completely sealed, each movement caused his lungs to burn. Neuro was suffocating. He was running on empty. But he held out, lashing and snapping and scratching. Demons were hardy creatures.
Still, the tide of battle slowly turned. It washed over him, sending kicks to land in his stomach and slashes to tear across his spine. At last Neuro collapsed.
Humiliation. Neuro's mind burned with the thought. His mind seemed to be slowly fading, replaced by a thick, blank fog, but the sting of humiliation hurt just the same. It was not something he felt often. And that made it burn all the more raw. Had he been too overconfident? Again?
Blast it all, he thought dully. Would he never been able to repay Asanteoh for…?
The demons closed in, crowding Neuro's vision until everything turned to black.
Afterword:
"A spy ring, huh?" said Neuro. "That must be some sophisticated technology for us not to have noticed it." A bewildered expression passed over his face. "Where did you get all that from?" (chp. 18)
The criminal had also wanted to get rid of this plate for some reason. Why do so if they hadn't even used it? Furthermore, the object was obviously foreign to this environment. It must have come from an outside supplier. (chp. 21)