I sighed, walking along the streets of Lowee. It seems that all the children were asleep, or at the very least in their rooms, playing with their new toys. I rub my eyes, yawning while stretching. I didn't have a specific destination in mind. I was just looking for the highest hill, with the clearest view point of the sky.

I found one eventually, brushing some snow off a bench that was conveniently placed there.

"..." I pour myself another drink, a new bottle this time. Apparently it was a 'gift' from the twins. It wasn't cheap either apparently, judging by the brand. I take a sip, before face palming. They poisoned it. I shake my head. I can't believe that the twins actually used that poison.

"Oh well, it's not like it's going to kill me." I chuckle to myself bitterly, a little bit of irony in there. I stare off into the sky for who knows how long, before I'm joined by someone.

"Ah, mind if I take a seat here?" he says. I shake my head, motioning for him to go ahead.

He had a light caramel skin color, with jet black hair that was spiky, much like my own except his bangs covered his forehead slightly. He was wearing combat boots, likely steel tipped. He was playing out the black, with a black long-sleeved shirt, and a cloak. The cloak was black as well, with a white flame on it. The main attraction however, were his eyes. Mine can at least be passed as genetics, though his. His were a normal brown, though it had a vertical slit down both of them, giving him a more feral look. They were eyes of a hunter… and they were also those of someone who was tired.

Someone like me… Only one way to find out.

I poured him a drink of the 'poisoned' alcohol. "Here, have a drink." I offered him. He stares at the drink for a few seconds, and it looks like he was arguing with himself. He shakes his head, before taking the drink, and downing it. Straightforward, I like it.

He blinks once or twice at the now empty cup. Moment of truth here…

He hands back the cup, and thanks me for the drink. One second… two second.… three seconds… and he is still up and alive. That confirms it.

"How long?" I ask him. He turns and looks at me.

"How long what?" He replies back to me, playing dumb.

"You know what I mean. How long?" I ask again, pointing at the center of my chest. He frowns, his grip tightening.

"How do you know?" He replied back. It looks like just reminding him of what's inside of him opens up closed wounds for him.

"It takes one to know one." I sighed, pouring myself another drink. He looked surprised, that there might be someone who is in the same boat.

"Takes one to…" He pieces together what I had just told him. His eyes held sorrow, "They got you too?"

"Got me? You could say that I suppose." I answer back to him. "Tell me, who are 'they'?" It's very clear that I had just stepped on a very thin ice here.

"M-Maybe later…" He dodges the question, and I can't say I really blame him. From the looks of him, he couldn't even be that experienced yet.

"I grow impatient. Who dwells inside of you?" A voice I was all too familiar with sounded behind me. A pile of bones, and armor appear behind me, and it reassembles itself before growing it's flesh back.

"Where did you come from?" He questioned, before clutching his heart. And blue aura appears from his back, and it takes the form of a dragon.

"Titanis." I hold back a laugh, as Auguste pronounces a name. I show my teeth to Auguste, pointing at them. It's only now that he realized that he had forgot his teeth.

The apparition screeches and strangely enough, the three of us could understand it. "Auguste…" It growled back. Meanwhile, this seemed all new to our little newcomer. I hold out my hand, a small shadow bolt zapping both Auguste, and 'Titanis'. They both fade back away into our respective bodies.

My current company is speechless at this moment. "Hey, what's your name." I ask him.

"...Nitrous. Can you please explain to me what just happened?" Nitrous asked.

"Name's Xiang, and I'll give you the quick version. Unless you want to sit here for three hours. You have a demon inside of you. You can, and cannot die." He opens his mouth to ask a question. "And no, the demon won't try to actively take over, since it needs you." I left out the details of how Auguste had just tried to kill me earlier this week.

He blinks once or twice at me, "Alright then, what's next? Bite to eat, more drinks, less poison?" He rebounds into a cheerful mood. Now it's my turn to be dumbfounded. It was either this guy was an idiot, or a master. I like it.


"So… this isn't the first time we met? That's trippy. I don't remember you." Nitrous says to me. We are back to the bar, much to the discontent of the bartender, who had finally calmed down enough to clean up the mess we had made.

"Not you specifically. The little guy inside of you." I poke him in the chest, a little red-faced. It wasn't going to be long until all that alcohol finally piles up, and the flood gates break.

"Little my ass! I bet Titanis would beat whoever the hell you have." Nitrous challenges.

I lean back, "How aboout… No. Last time we fought Titanis, we literally lost our asss." I slurred a little bit rubbing my behind. I push away the drink. If I had anymore… Lowee would turn into Anarchy City.

"Ha! Probably serves you right." Nitrous had downed nearly ten standard drinks in the last twenty minutes…

"Hey, you know what? Be glad Titanis didn't merge with you before." I said, instantly sobering my speech.

"W-Why?" Nitrous exaggerated.

"The last person Titanis was with… And this was the reason why he left as well by the way. I neutered him." I said in the darkest tone I could muster up, pulling out my knife.

"We/I did not!" Auguste and Titanis respectively screams in our minds at my stupidity.

"Ho-lee-shit." Nitrous covers his crotch, scootching away before we both start laughing. In truth, we were friends with the previous vessel of Titanis. The vessel wanted to be released, to follow his love. He made me promise that I would visit sometime, even though it was nearly certain that I would never see him again.


The night went on, and we left the bar. It seems that Nitrous was just wandering around, living in hotels. Unfortunately for him, with all the confessions that took place today and yesterday… Let's just say the hotel rooms were completely full. And that nobody who checked in there for actual sleep would actually get any.

And so, I invited him to the hideout to stay. And to meet the Goddesses, and for some reason, he was completely hell bent on meeting Blanc. He muttered something about the UTIG when I asked him about it.

Otherwise, we were completely silent, walking down the icy streets of Lowee towards the hideout. That is until something happened.

"Get off of us ya fuckin' creeps." I heard a familiar growl in a nearby alleyway. It was Angel.

"Come on, you two were all freezing out here… we are just here to take you to a better place." Three thugs had the two cornered. I could make out a wallet, with an access card… UTIG… It seems that Nitrous didn't notice either.

"If you don't, I'm going to crack open that skull of yours." Angelica said. Nitrous starts to stand up, and I grab his arm, and shake my head.

"Suit yourselves." The thug pulls out a device, and taps it. And I can see the time sphere overlap we were in freeze. I feel hollow, and extremely uncomfortable. Angel and Angelica attempt to summon some sort of power, though it simply did not work. The two seemed to be in a panic, as they pulled out their blades, only to have them smacked away.

*Clang!*

I hear a familiar pipe, and it's that mouse chick with the pipe… I sneak up to them, motioning Nitrous to follow.

"Hah! This thing really did work. Maybe next time I get to bash in his skull with it." She mused to herself. The twins see me, and open their mouths to insult me, though they refrain from doing so after I give them a glare.

We take out her two lackeys, and I silently gutted his throat. Nobody would miss him. He was trash to be taken ou-

I stopped myself before that thought got too dark.

Luckily, Mrs. Mouse over there was too busy in her dream world to notice. It was almost like this was a game with really bad stealth mechanics in it. I snuck up right behind her.

"I'm going to get rich off of this! I don't even need to look for that plan ruining bastard myself, I can just hire someone!" She celebrated early. I put the cold hard metal of my M1911 right up to her neck.

I muttered in a bone chilling voice. "You called? I'm. Right. Here." I tapped the trigger of my gun, making it sound ominously close to firing. Best part was? She can hear every, single, tap.

"I destroyed your last pals for messing with one of my large male friends." I said. "And I was pissed. Now. Now you are messing with my domains, and my charges." I pointed to Angel and Angelica. Whether they wanted to or not, they don't realize how bad the streets are, being raised by Angels.

Her teeth were obviously chattering at this point, and Angel and Angelica retrieved their weapons, pulling out their Desert Eagles. They fired, hitting me in both shoulders. Everyone stood still for a few seconds, before Mrs. Mouse had an epiphany.

She twirled around, and swung her pipe straight at my skull in an overhead arc. It connected, and the entire pipe bent at a sharp angle. I staggered for a second, before looking her dead in the eye. I pull out my baton, and it crackled to life.

"..."

"..."

"Run."


I cough violently, trying to catch my breath. We just chased that thug across the width of Lowee nearly three times before losing her in a crowd.

"Holy… How fast… does she run?" Nitrous stands beside me, also out of breath.

"Uwah… our feet hurt…" Angel and Angelica whines. My eye twitches.

*Chop Chop!*

I chop them both on the head. "H-Hey ow! What's the big idea?!" Angel clutches her head.

"Why do you think?" I point to my shoulders, exaggerating my movements to make sure they got the message. The only reason I didn't bleed out on our little chase was because of sealing magic.

"Well, it wouldn't be a problem if you would just kick the bucket and die." Angelica says. "That way, I can go back to my Smash B**s."

"I'm not sure what the point of killing me is. If you can even do so." I mutter.

"We have the numbers advantage idiot." Angel was quickly losing her temper.

"Actually, I think you're the idiot here. There are two of you." I point to them, "And three of us." I point to us, then at the shadows.

Léon ducks further into the alleyway. His jaw was dropped, he hadn't even peeked out of the alleyway and Xiang knew. It was a secret ability that Léon will never figure out.

"It doesn't matter!" They both exclaim, shaking from pure hatred of me, or frustration. "Whatever, come on sis. Let's go." Angelica said, and they both start walking towards an empty alleyway.

"Wow… they really don't like you. What did you do?" Nitrous was stunned by the animosity the twins held for me. I really didn't even know what I could've done this time. The two couldn't have been alive for more than what their human age is.

"Absolutely nothing." I sighed. I walked up behind the twins, chopping them on the back of the head again. "You two absolutely will not sleep in an alleyway." I stated. It was obvious that this wasn't for discussion, though they decided to argue anyways.

The argument ended up with me dragging the two back to where Nitrous was standing by the collar.

"I got them… what's that?" I see that Nitrous was holding two items. One looked like a phone, and the other an access card. It was the same access card I had saw earlier in the alleyway. Nitrous' hands were trembling.

I stayed silent, and watch as the phone was immediately encased in ice, before shattering completely. He looked just as surprised as I was. This guy has extreme potential.

With trembling hands, he shoves the access card into his back pocket, before clapping himself on the cheeks twice. Only now, did he seem to notice our presence.

"Oh, you got them?" I nod, and we walked back to the hideout, without a single word of conversation exchanged. That is, aside from the death threats of Angel and Angelica.


A/N: Hey guys, I've been re-reading some of my previous chapters, and I feel as if there aren't many opportunities for some characters to develop and give you insight on their personalities.

So, I've decided that I'm going to swerve off from the last Arc here, in place of several smaller personalized arcs. The Arcs are as follows, and you guys can PM me or put it in a review of which ones you want to see first. Any of the Goddesses and Erica aren't available, as I've got something planned for them later any how :P Beside the names of each of them give a hint as to what the Arc is about.

Ryouichi/Sparky (Combat Training)

Léon (Tension with the 'Tenshi')

Nitrous (UTIG)

Angel/Angelica (Demon Hive Cave)

IF (An Important Date)

Reiji ('Fine Tuning')

Nirito Haan (Path to Stardom…? Or to Scandal City?)

On the flip side though, HDN:DL has hit 30+ followers 20+ favs, and broke 15k views :D Thanks a lot guys!