"Alright, let's finish this quick." Ren made his first move, rushing towards the demon. It continued to release even more sharp tentacles towards the mercenary. Ren held tight its sword and dodged any incoming attacks. Despite the attacks being fast, compared to that miss blondie just now, it's like day and night. The only thing troubled him the most is if any of it stucked into him, he'll paralyzed like that female wizard, it will be a game over.
Nero watched the young boy dodging the attack in an outstanding move, he surely can't lose to a kid younger than him. He picked the demon's right side and started attacking. He leaped forwards and attacked its upper chest with Red Queen.
"The hell?" He widened his eyes after watching his weapon was unable to cut through the skin of the demon, leaving him in shock.
"HAHA YOU CAN'T HURT ME WITH THAT PUNY SWORD!" The demon laughed.
"Oh yeah? How about this!?" Nero spun around and revved up his sword. It generated fires on it and attacked the demon's back. The fire surely burnt the surface of its skin. But still not leaving any wound on it. The demon dropped an evil smile, "MY TURN!"
The bracelets on its arm started blinking and turned into green color. Those bracelets transformed its both arms into solid black. It threw a powerful punch towards Nero. The devil hunter didn't hesitate , using Overture to parry the attack.
The demon's punch crashed his devil breaker, forcing Nero to be punched by it. The powerful punch pushed him hard backwards and smashed on a tree.
"WORM'S ALWAYS THE WORM." The demon watched the unconscious devil hunter that had been knocked out while looking at his new body. Not sure why those doctors did it to its body, but these bracelets surely bring the best enhancement. Not only hardened his body for endurance, but increased the strength too. The demon then looked for its next target.
Ren managed to create a space and dashed towards him. He reacted and quickly avoided another powerful punch. He pulled out the katana aimed for the head. But the tentacles appeared below him. He stepped on its body and did a backflip, cut down any tentacles near him.
"Man, those things are nasty. Should have known you got this fetish by looking at you."
"LET'S SEE IF YOU STILL HAVE THAT BIG MOUTH AFTER I KILL YOU!" The demon pushed forward and started attacking the young boy from every side.
Left punch. Right punch. Ren kept dodging the powerful punch. A single direct hit would make him a Jill Sandwich. He leaped back to get some distance between him and the demon. He observed the rushing demon towards him. Closing eyes and recalled what Chief told him.
Flashback
"Ouch!" Ren was knocked on the ground. His arms and legs were covered by injury and cutting wounds. Chief watched him while holding a wooden sword on his back.
"You are way too reckless." Chief stared at the fallen young boy. The boy tried to catch his breath, grabbed the sword beside him.
"Shut up!" Ren stood up and held tight his sword with both hands. He intended to continue the duel. Even his stamina almost ran out, injury stinged from every part of his body. Yet he refused to stand down.
"How…how can you still beat me?" He asked in doubt.
"After everything I threw into you, I had improved my speed and my skill! But I can't even land an attack on you. How!?" He shouted at Chief, looking for an answer to his question.
Chief put down his sword and sighed, "You still don't get it. Don't you?"
"What?"
"A fighter must be equipped with three elements - reaction, willingness to fight, and the most important - mind." He continued, "Without mind, you can't put up a fight properly, even if you have the strength and tactics. Right now, I am fighting you like reading the book."
The answer left the young boy speechless. He held tight his sword, staring at it. Chief spoke again, "Ren, listen carefully. A fighter must prepare what they are facing before pulling a fight. While into it, think and observe your opponents. Things can change 0 to 100 real quick. That's why we are different from humans and demons."
Ren took a deep breath, stretching his body and stared at Chief with confidence. "Alright, I'm ready."
"Now that's the spirit." Both of them prepared their sword and ready for round two.
Present
Now focus, Ren. He observed while dodging punches from the demon. Ren kept thinking, using his eyes to see it through, what is its weakness? While he was thinking, he accidentally slipped, forcing him to balance himself with his both legs. Then, a strong punch approached him with haste.
Ren took out his sword, blocking the punch and flew in the air. The demon took this chance, released tentacles again to attack the unguarded mercenary. Ren did a full speed spinning, cutting off any tentacles coming towards him. He managed to dodge some but still a few approached him.
"Screw it." He took out the dual handguns. It was out of ammo on that day. He could only wish these pieces were still working. He pulled the triggers and fired numbers of bullets towards the tentacles. Each bullet clashed face to face with tentacles, causing it to reflect away from Ren.
Crap! Although the bullet surely worked against those tentacles, but his last bullet missed the target, a strong tentacles flew towards him. He landed his left palm on the ground, doing a backflip and dodged the tentacle. It cut on his right cheek, leaving a deep scar on his right.
"HAHAHA, WHAT'S WRONG YOU WORM? UNABLE TO SEE IT COMING?"
Ren wiped the bleeding on his face. He gotta admit, this demon is surely stronger than he encountered last time. But, her intelligence did not cover in the range of enhancements. After his observation, he had some idea to defeat this cocky demon. Right now, it required some motivation and luck.
"No." Ren looked at the demon with a smirk. "I was wondering, how to name your tombstone after I chopped you into half and packed it with your disgusting tentacles."
"YOU…"
"Got it. How about one ugly motherfu-"
"DON'T GET COCKY, YOU WORM!" The demon yelled, interrupting Ren's sentence and let out a bunch of tentacles, all focusing on Ren himself. He dodged and cut off tentacles that flew towards him. He was pushed back until multiple tentacles striked from every angle.
YOU ARE MINE
Instead of worrying, Ren smirked as this is part of his plan. He shouted at his right, "Now, Nero!" The demon shocked and looked at the devil hunter who was just knocked out. Nero who was supposed to pass out was standing up and equipped a green devil breaker - Gerbera. The devil breaker was sparking until it reached a certain point. Nero held tight his right arm and pointed at the demon, ready to unleash full power of it.
DAMN IT I HAVE TO… the demon tried to attack until it realised its situation, it can't move, or recover those tentacles. Now the demon understood, that taunt was nothing but a bait. A bait to force it to open the belly. It's body might be well-protected by the hardened enhancement, but that's only applicable for the outside. From inside, it was weak like an ordinary demon.
"YOU SONOFTHE…"
"Have a taste of sunshine!" Nero shouted and fired his right arm, a powerful laser beam was fired towards the demon's belly. The laser beam had destroyed every tentacles coming out from the belly. The demon screamed as it felt the pain from the powerful beam. It felt like intense temperature burning inside its body.
It covered its belly, preventing more blood coming out from it. But the demon had no time to rest, it looked up and watched Ren leaped in the sky.
"YOU!" The demon tried to punch the boy in the sky, but Ren was faster. He held tight his sword with both hands and performed a deadly slash.
"Heiyaaaaa!" He yelled and cut off the demon's right arm with broken bracelets attached to it. The demon screamed again and yelled, "NOT AGAIN!" This is the second time its hand was cut off by that little bastard. The demon tried to attack with his left hand until he heard an unknown beep sound on it. Nero took out the double barrier revolver and fired bullets at the demon.
"WHAT THE?" The demon once again noticed lately that its left hand had already Overture stuck on it.
BOOM
An explosion caused the demon to lose its left gauntlet. The hand was badly injured by the massive explosion. The demon letting out a painful roar after those damage caused by two humans. It walked backwards slowly, planning to retreat the battlefield. He would not let his pride be accepted to be defeated by mere humans. But her condition was no good for fighting. All she needed to retreat, consume human bloods until recovered to take the revenge.
"What's wrong? I thought you said we were worms. Now look who's running like the one." Nero taunted, slowly approaching the weakened demon. "Well, can't say I beat this demon's ass twice. Gotta tell this one to Chief." He fistbumped with Nero. The demon was nervous until it saw a fallen witch was not far away from it.
"HEHEHE." The demon dropped an evil smile and watched there's still had the last tentacle on it. Nero had a bad feeling until he saw the demon was looking at the witch with malicious intention. He widened his eyes and ran towards. But the demon acted faster, it unleashed the only tentacle towards her, trying to suck off her blood to recover the injury.
Damn it. He's too fast. Nero thought while still trying to protect the witch. Just about the tentacle about to stick on her, Ren reacted faster than Nero and dashed forward. He blocked the attack using his right hand.
"Ren!" Nero shouted. A tentacle penetrated Ren's arm. The shock from it paralyzed the young mercenary, starting to feel the blood was sucking out. His face could tell that this feeling was not pleasant.
"HAHAHA WHAT A FOOLISH HUMAN. LIKE I SAID THEY ARE EASY TO MANIPULATE. A TINY BEGGING AND SOFT CARE, THEY WILL IMMEDIATELY TO FALL INTO IT. RIGHT NOW, I'M GONNA ENJOY EVERY SINGLE DROP OF YOUR BLOOD!"
"Ha..." Ren let out a cold smile, looking at the demon with confidence, trying to restrain the pain. He spoke while enduring the pain, "Like I said,... demons are …. always…the pride creatures."
"?" The demon confused. It did not understand what this young boy said. He was clearly paralyzed by its tentacle. There's no way to escape from it. By the time his partner came to rescue him, the young boy will be nothing but a dry corpse. The demon thought this boy had lost sanity, speaking nonsense.
After the long thought, the demon had realized Ren was not carrying his blade. It though might be losing it after protecting the fallen witch. Until he heard a spinning sound at the left.
The demon widened its eyes and watched a spinning object fly towards it. The blade struck into its left eyes, forcing it to release Ren. It let out a painful roar, tried to remove the blade struck into its left eye. But the blade moved itself and returned to the owner - Ren.
"Thinking they are winning just because they had the advantage." Ren thumbed down, and laughed at the demon's self satisfaction.
The demon contained more hatred to the boy. The pain was overwhelming by the rage inside him. Not once, but twice this boy shamed it. It will not allow this cocky kid to live. It pushed forward to attack Ren, trying to squeeze him with his injured left hand.
A purple light landed in front of it. A girl covered with purple armor, holding a massive sword. She swung her sword, performing a purple energy cut to push the rushing demon back. The demon was pushed back hard and crushed into several trees.
"Yatogami…?" Ren took a clear look at his classmate that protected him and Natsumi with some kind of fantasy outfit.
"Are you okay?" Tohka turned around and asked. "Kind of." Ren answered while holding tight the wound penetrated by the demon. The wound brought pain to his whole body, but not the pain he can't endure. He and Tohka heard the demon's scream again, watching the demon stand again and smashed the ground repeatedly.
"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!" The demon yelled and tried to rush forward again, it felt the bottom started freezing, preventing it from moving. Another girl with the green hoodie outfit was riding a giant white rabbit with an eyepatch. The rabbit opened its mouth and released a chilling mist, causing the area to start dropping the temperature.
"Yoshino?" Ren looked at the blue hair girl and prevented the demon from moving even further. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO…" The demon struggled, the ice stuck on its feet, continuing to move forward. Then, another voice came from its left and right side. A long chain appeared from nowhere and tied up the whole body.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" The demon tried to escape from the chain. But the chain was way too tight. It saw another girl appear in the sky. A girl with orange hair, wearing bluish-purple outfit and chains attaching on her hand. She was the one who tie it up. The chain kept the demon tight, unable to move an inch. Then, another girl with the same face as that chain girl appeared in front of it. She was carrying a massive lance, winds concentrated on the lance and released it towards the demon.
AURGHH! The demon was knocked far away by the strong wind, leaving the fading scream. Ren watched girls cooperated together to defeat that demon. To be honest, he personally can defeat that demon himself. Only if there's no sleeping witch around.
"Yato!" Shido ran towards him, looking at the young boy that his hand was still bleeding. Ren tried to get up but due to the blood loss, a feeling of faint came in and forced him to fall on the ground.
"I have to…" Ren spoke poorly, still trying to get up. Shido and his group joined together to check on Ren and Natsumi.
"Kotori!" Shido shouted at his earpieces, calling for his sister. "I will teleport you guys back. They both need medical treatment right now."
"Where's Nero?" Shido asked while looking for the devil hunter. But he was long gone after turning around. "Don't worry about him. He got this. Right now, these troublemakers needed urgent treatment."
Before Ren went unconscious, a green light flashed around Natsumi. After the light, it revealed a different look of a girl. Ren widened his eyes after having a clear look on the new girl.
"!" Ren passed out before he got the chance to speak. They all surrounded the blue light and slowly vanished.
Away from the park
DAMN… IT… The demon walked through the dark alley, attempting to escape after being defeated by those girls. It's inner contained not only rage, but also humiliation. From the longest time, it has never felt so humiliated and fiasco. All his life was baiting humans, hunting them, consuming their blood to gain demonic powers. In his first time, he could be defeated by such mere humans, especially weak looking girls.
The demon swore, once he was fully recovered, he would look for revenge and let them suffer fates worse than death, worse than its previous victims.
"Where are you going?" A person blocked his path, a man with white hair and engine sword at his back. The demon widened his eyes after it saw the face of that man.
Nero was yawning like he was waiting for this demon to come to this place. The demon looked at the devil hunter who was standing there menacingly, it felt a terror spread inside its mind.
"LOOK, HOW ABOUT YOU GIVE ME A CHANCE? I SWEAR I WILL LEAVE THIS CITY. PROMPTLY ." The demon once again tried to beg for mercy. Interestingly, Nero sighed and replied, "Alright, I will allow it." The demon laughed as it thought he would let her escape until she watched Nero rush forward.
"Shoryuken!" Nero raised an uppercut with its right hand. A blue devil punch knocked the demon's jaw and flew towards the sky. Nero jumped and held the demon's head with his devil bringer."
"Slam dunk!" He slammed her head hardly on the ground, causing ground shaking in the area. Multiple buildings were destroyed. He won't worry much since all citizens retreated to the bunkers. And no one is watching him, he can finally show his true power.
"WHAT… THE HELL ARE YOU?" The demon spoke after being slammed on the ground. Before she could ask again, her tail was grabbed by the devil hunter.
"Let's take a spin, shall we?" Nero started spinning the demon around like a disc in the jukebox. The demon kept smashing on the building over and over again. The spinning ended with Nero throwing her towards an under construction area. The half-building started falling down and crushed the demon under the building. Nero wiped his nose and pulled out Blue Rose, walking towards the fallen demon.
"YOU... ARE NOT HUMAN…"
"Didn't say I was in the first place."
Before the demon faced her judgement, she sensed an aura flew out from the devil hunter. This aura is very familiar. And also terrified. Not only her, but also her kind will understand this feeling right now. I SEE NOW... I WAS FIGHTING AGAINST THE KEEN OF SPARDA ALL ALONG..."
Bang
The gunshot echoed through the messy construction area. Nero walked out and tried to catch his breath. By far this might be the best workout for him since the Qliphoth incident. This demon reminded him of someone like Goliath but with a disgusting face and tentacles.
"I should go back to Shido." Before he could leave, a horn attracted him and could be heard from far away. Nero concentrated, listening where this horn was coming from. This horn was familiar, sounds like…
VROOM
A van took a turn from the corner and sped towards Nero. Nero widened his eyes as he recognised the van. The van drifted away to avoid Nero who stood in the center and stopped behind Nero.
It could tell that the van had some history judged by the color of it. The most iconic part is there's a neon sign board placed on the van - Devil May Cry. The door opened and showed a familiar face greeting Nero.
"Hey honey, miss me?"
"Nico?" Nero was surprised about Nico's sudden entrance. "I thought you have jobs to do before coming here."
"And now I'm done. Yew, that was tiring." Nico yawned and cleaned her glasses. Felt like she was sticking up all night recently.
"Wow, looks like the main dish was cooked before I even got here. May I have a look?" Nico walked towards the demon's corpse. She observed the corpse, trying to investigate to help out her research and invention. She was also disgusted by those tentacles.
"Gonna be honest, this might be the ugliest demon I ever see." Nico talked until she saw an interesting part of the body. She too out the gloves, tried to get closer to have a good look.
"You see something interesting?" Nero asked. Nico narrowed her eyes, having a long stare at that part. She then returned to Nero, but her face could tell that she was rather pissed than excited.
"What's with that face?" Nero was curious. This might be the first time he saw Nico turned serious. She did get angry but not once while doing her research or investigating demon's stuff.
"This is bad." Nico spoke and let out a sigh. She took out a cigarette, lighting it up and looked at the dead demon while smoking.
"Bad? How?"
"..." Nico silently looked in front and smoked, leaving the scene an awkward silence.
"Oh yeah, about the invasion. Did you find what they were stealing for?" Nero was curious about those intruders. They are targeting Agnus old lab, clearly some of the research was stolen. But Nico gave him an answer which he did not expect.
"None."
"Excuse me?" Nero questioned.
"Yet, the craftsmanship is the same." Nico mumbled, having a deep thought.
"Would you mind translating that part into human language?" Nero was confused about Nico's self mumbling. It was rarely to see Nico acting weird. Well, she's always acted weird since they met.
"I was working all night with others to find out what exactly those guys were stealing. Turns out, there's not a single piece of paper that went missing."
"You mean they just came and left with empty hands? I see it as good news. So, why's the mood?"
"This is the part which complicated me." She smoked and pointed towards the demon corpse.
"That demon, what about it?"
"Clearly someone used the same research as my father did to complete that demon."
"Complete that demon? Your father's research?" Nero confused.
"My father had spent his lifetime investigating demons, from their heads to toes. Then, there's one research that caught my interest." She continued after smoking. "Apparently, he has a wild dream of enhancing the demon by customising them."
"You mean like cyber enhancement like those cyberpunk fiction?" Nero joke.
"Demonic enhancement, to be precise. But that research's only all talks but no actions. And we are witnessing a living... dead sample right in front of our eyes. If someone possessed such technology to do that…"
"Holyshit…" If those things existed, Nero couldn't imagine what would happen to the whole world. But, who could have such technologies beside Agnus? Is it DEM? Is this the reason why he was hired?
"Yeah, that's why this is bad." Nico threw the cigarette, clapped her both hands and walked on the van. "All right, enough philosophical talk. Get in, we got tons of work to do. Oh, could you pick those armor for me? Please?"
"Urgh…" Nero sighed after being ordered to pick up the leftover armor equipped on the demon's body. After carrying them in the van, blood stinked on his whole body, wishing he could just go back and take a good shower. As for the rest, he has a lot of questions to ask.