Chapter 9. Mystery.

Jack pushed back against the hooded mammal's blade and punched at him. He jumped back and thrusted his sword forward. Jack used his armored demonic arm to slide it away, closing the distance, managing to punch him with a left.

The hooded figure spun with the momentum of the punch and managed to strike Jack in the middle, hitting him into the wall, tumbling into the next. Jack groaned as he got up, having armatized his fur before impact.

"Your reaction times getting better!" Damian commented.

"Thanks!" Jack said, readying himself.

The hooded animal jumped through the hole and tried to stab Jack with a falling thrust. Jack stepped back and punched a right only for his arm to be grabbed, him flipped, and tossed to the other side. He thrusted his left hand forward, his blue hairs shooting forth and wrapping around the mammal, before pulling the hairs, rolling back, and slamming him into the ground.

The mammal groaned in pain. He quickly got up and grabbed Jack's hairs before they pulled back, pulling the Jackal to him. He was about to stab Jack in the face but Damian aimed forward and released a powerful burst of flames. Jack's hairs were released just in time to dodge the stab. Jack lit up his fist and started attacking with burning punches. They were blocked or dodged by his target, though he chose to mostly dodge due to how strong Jack's punches were. Jack's left foot lit up and he quickly kicked upwards, nearly nicking them in the face.

"Kick!" Jack yelled before kicking his other foot into the mammal's gut, pushing him back.

"Nice!" Damian commented.

The hooded mammal threw his sword at Jack. "Whoa!" Jack bent back to dodge it and when he rose he was met with a foot to the chest.

"Kick!" A broken voice came from the mystery animal.

"Uurg!" Jack grit his teeth as he slid back. He saw his assailant requip his katana and charge at him. He quickly hardened his fur and blocked the onslaught of slashes. His blade moved fast but Jack waited for an opening. "Cmon...cmon…" Jack saw an opportunity and quickly tried to grab the blade only for it to be yanked back and him stabbed into the chest. Luckily he hardened his fur so he only stumbled back, going back to guarding.

Damian leaned close to Jack. "Follow my lead," he whispered before moving back. "Jack! Are hardenings running out!"

"Wha- oh! I know! I'm trying to find an opening!"

"Well hurry up, we got like five seconds!"

"Don't tell him that!"

"Hm," the hooded mammal smirked, not stopping his strikes. He kept going and Jack tried to grab his sword again, only for it to be yanked out of reach. Jack's fur unhardened and he fell to his knees panting. The hooded mammal raised his katana up high and stroked it down. Jack hardened his left arm and stopped it. "What!?"

"Got ya bitch!" Damian said before Jack punched him straight into the animal's chest.

Jack followed up with a left uppercut, sending him in the air, before grabbing his foot and slamming him into the ground. He lifted him up, about to slam him again when he kicked him in the back of the head and jumped back. Jack quickly grabbed his red hairs and threw them at the hooded figure. The mammal quickly fell to the ground, equipped his sword, stabbed it into the ground and launched a wave of rubble at Jack. Jack guarded but was pushed through a wall. He skidded to a halt on his feet and the hooded mammal was already above him, about to strike.

"Grrr," Jack growled before enlarging his jaw, "RAAAA!" He blew a huge amount of fire at him, his throat feeling hot. Once the fire stopped, he coughed.

"Whoa! Didn't know you could do that!" Damian said.

"Ne-he-either did i!" Jack said between coughs.

"Ung!" The hooded mammal was pushed to the walls by the flames, his robe now singed on its ends. He fell to his feet.

"Jack knows our chance!"

"Right!" Jack charged at the Mystery mammal, lighting up his right fist. "Ragh!" He did a heavy right punch.

The animal threw his left hand forward and summoned a large ethereal shield Crest with wing symbols on it infront of him. Jack's fist connected with the shield and the mutated demon tried to break through it but the mammal pushed back eventually repulsing the jackal back.

"Dammit!" Jack cursed.

"Holy shit! Jack...that's an angel!"

"What!?"

"Hm." The angel smirked before letting its white wings out, flying up.

"Oh crud."

It swopped to Jack, trying to stab him. Jack jumped out the way only for him to turn and swoop again, making the mutated demon jump over the stab and him. By the third swoop, he ducked and tied his blue hairs around the Angel's ankle, about to yank him back. He was about to cut it off until Jack shot his eye beam at him, knocking the katana out his hands and giving him the chance to pull. He pulled back and started spinning him around. He looked at the window and launched him there, the angel crashing through it. Jack jumped outside.

"Alright, bitch! You wanna tell us who you are!?" Damian asked.

"Why are you attacking us? Didn't you help us against that demon monster?" Jack asked, "Not only that, you also destroyed that doll and told us where he lived so we could return him. So why are you attacking us now?"

"..." The angel smirked before getting up. "...you-" He started but was cut off by a red rift appearing near them.

"What the-!?"

"Shit! Jack I'm sorry! I was so focused on our fight that I didn't realise how low the dip got!" Damian said.

"Damian, what's going on!?" Jack asked, the rift getting bigger.

"Get ready to fight, a demon beast is coming!" The angel said in his broken voice.

"A demon beast!?"

"I'll explain later! Get ready!" Damian told him.

A black large two headed lizard with four eyes on each head, two forked tails, an extra pair of legs, and a sharp blade for feet on each foot, came jumping out the rift, followed by two demon frogs like the one Jack first fought when he turned, except one was bigger and red and the other was blue.

"I see food!" Said one head of the lizard, eyeing jack.

"Eat time!" Said the other head.

"I'll take the frogs, you handle the twin tail geckos!" The angel told him, flying to the frogs.

"O-ok!"

"Why does he get the easy one!?" Damian complained.

"Less complaining, more helping!"

One of the lizard heads looked at Jack and shot a chain like tongue with a spike end from its mouth out at him. Jack jumped out the way and was about to grab it till Damian pulled him back.

"Don't touch that!" Damian shouted, "Its saliva is like acid!"

Jack saw drops of it spit fall and melt the ground. "That was close! Hm?" The other head shot its tongue at him. "Eep!" Jack ducked under it and rolled away to avoid the drops of saliva. The lizard retracted their tongues, pulling itself to Jack, trying to close its front foot blades on him. Jack hardened his hands and grabbed them. Its second pair of feet blades stabbed at his middle. He didn't expect them and hardened as quickly as he could, only getting a small gash. He grunted, grabbed their wrist, lifted them up and slammed them behind him on their back. In his attempt to slam his demon arm one head, the head he went for shot out its tongue, grazing his cheek as he tried to avoid the spike, feeling his cheek in pain as the acid touched it.

The lizard got back on its feet and jumped up. It aimed its feet down and tried to spear Jack. Jack looked up and glared at it. It crashed into him, breaking the ground.

"Jack!" The hooded angel said, having severed the head off the last frog.

The dust settled and the lizard was shown, limp, with its feet blades broken and Jack's demon arm through it, the jackal rubbing his eyes and groaning. "Ugh I hate how much that hurts," Jack said, pushing its corpse off.

The angel walked up to Jack. "Nicely done."

Jack raised his fist, ready to fight.

"Relax. I'm not your enemy."

"Then why did you-" the lizard's soul rose out its body, distracting Jack.

"Heh, go ahead and eat it."

Jack looked at the covered angel skeptically, moving to the soul orb, taking it and eating it quickly.

"Wow. Surprised you didn't savor it," Damian said as they healed.

"If you're not our enemy then why'd you attack us?"

"I wanted to spar with you to see your strengths. Was surprised by the kicks as by what I've seen with your fight against that otter doll and that demon monster, you mostly just punch. Good to see you adapting and strengthening yourself, though I don't think that gyms gonna do much for a mutant demon like you."

"True, but it's a better place for him to learn how to fight properly. Where else we supposed to go?" Damian said.

"You can learn from me." He said, walking to the corpse of the frogs.

"Huh?" Jack worked a brow.

"Well," he took their souls, "the way I see it, you can try summoning demon beasts to fight but as we've seen, they're not that much of a challenge. Normal mortal gyms and such aren't gonna cut it either. You can already beat the top runner at our school so what's running on a treadmill gonna do? So I propose while helping you with your demon business I also aid you in getting stronger. Deal?" He handed Jack the two souls.

Jack was looking at them, about to drool until he shook his head, taking them. "What's in this for you?"

"Believe it or not Jack, I live in the mortal realm, and I've noticed the recent demonic activities that involve said realm, like the two dolls we fought, the ones related to the house of stolen souls."

"How'd you find that last doll anyway?"

"I asked around for any mammal acting strange or not themselves at our school. Same way you no doubt did."

"Ah, So wait, besides the two demon monsters we killed, how many more do you think are there, and is there more than just the house of stolen souls they're involved in?"

"I'm unsure on their numbers but I'm positive they have more operations afoot. We just have to find them."

"You make it sound easy."

"Well, your right arm can sense them can't he?"

"Damian?" Jack took a look at the demon arm.

"That sounds like a good idea, if we were dealing with normal or just some abnormal demon beasts, but these are demon monsters, so I'm sure they're smart enough to hide their presence," Damian stated.

"Yes but you were able to sense the one coming to attack, weren't you?" The angel asked.

"Only cause he forgoed hiding himself. They may have some base that masks their demon energy."

"So you're saying, only when they're active can we sense them?" Jack asked.

"Seems so, and my senses don't go very far," Damian faced the angel, "what about you, Mr halo head?"

The angel shook his head. "I doubt I'm any better at sensing them, especially in the lower layer," The angel answered.

"How ARE you down here?"

"Oh, well you see I have a-" He stopped when he and the others noticed his voice becoming less broken, "I'll have to tell you later," he unfurled his wings, "see you next time!" He flew away.

"Hey wait!" Damian shouted. "Damn, he's gone!"

"...so he goes to my school," Jack said.

"Huh?"

"He used the word "our" when he said he asked around the school, meaning he goes to it."

"Right...Angel's can suppress their forms to look like a normal mortal, so there's a chance he's a student, and no doubt someone who knows you….why does that make me feel like we're forgetting something?"

"So it's someone who knows us, but do we know them...hmmm." Jack thought.

"Good question…" Damian began to think as well. As he did, Jack tried to subtly bring the soul in his left hand to his mouth. Damian noticed, and pushed it away. "At at at! Bad jackal demon!"

"C'mon! Just one more!"

"No! We're preserving these!"

"But we got plenty at home!"

"We got five small ones!"

"Yeah and that's plenty plus one extra big one!"

"No jack! Just eat a protein bar or drink a smoothie or som-..." Damian just remembered something.

"Uh oh.." Jack remembered too.

"Autumn!" They cried out in unison.

Jack was quick to find a bag to put the souls in as they returned to the mortal realm, quickly going back to meet with Autumn.

"Autumn!" Jack approached the deer at the bench, who was holding two cups, drinking out of one.

"Ah, there you are," He smiled and handed Jack a cup, "I got you strawberry, that ok?"

"Y-yeah that's fine thanks," Jack took the smoothie, "I'm so sorry I left you alone!"

"No no, it's fine, when nature calls, you gotta answer."

"...huh?"

"You were using the restroom weren't you?"

"Uhhh yeah! Something I ate was really not agreeing with me, heh!" Jack blushed. He heard a snicker from Damian and glanced a glare at him.

"I understand. Though I'm sad to say, as much as I would love to continue our boxing training, I actually have to be somewhere soon."

"It's ok, I have to get going too." He took a sip of his smoothie. "Mm this is good!"

"Right!"

They enjoyed their drinks before parting ways.

Jack laid on his bed.

"So, what's our plan for tomorrow? Wanna scope out the area for any demon activity?" Damian asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We don't have any leads and what if we get noticed by them while in the lower layer?" Jack surmised.

"Good point. Maybe we should ask around for clues?"

"What exactly should we ask for?"

"Things that look supernatural?"

"And who would we ask? Every animal we saw? Itd look like we'd be in some crazy occult club….occult club….that's it!"

"What?"

"My school has an occult club! We can ask them if they've seen or heard anything demon related!"

"Hey, that could work! If we look like just some curious schmucks, we'll avoid any suspicion!"

"Exactly! Lemme see when they're next meeting up!" Jack got his phone to check the school website, going to the clubs. "...looks like they're meeting up tomorrow! We can drop by for a visit and ask a few things!"

"Sweet!"

"Oh yeah, I just remembered. What happened earlier with that rift?"

"Oh right. Know how I said the dip could get so high it could cross over?"

'Yeah."

"Well the opposite is somewhat the same. See it can get so low it's practically rubbing against the demon realm. It can never cross over only touch against each other, however if someone were to make some friction on it, then-"

"You get a rift?"

"Bingo. Any demon can create a rift, just concentrate demonic energy and strike the area the two spaces touch, but what's worse is that demon beast do it more naturally. They don't have to concentrate at all, reason being because they have special parts in their bodies that automatically creates rifts and if you remove it, it just regrows after a while. The ones that came after us must've sensed our energy and wanted to eat us."

"Why do demon beasts try to eat us?"

"Y'Know how you eat souls for proper nourishment?"

"Mhm," Jack nodded.

"Well for a demon beast it's kinda the same way except it's not for proper nourishment it's for extra nourishment, plus they gain a power boost depending on how strong the demon they devoured was."

"Like me when I eat demon monster souls."

"Not quite. They don't gain new powers, they get stronger to say the least. If they eat enough, it can lead to them evolving into monsters, though that's a long process."

"How many demon monsters are there?"

"Noone knows to be honest, they're kinda rare."

"Hm...what happens if a demon beast eats a demon beast?"

"They rarely do that and from what I've studied, they barely get a boost."

"I see. That's pretty crazy….what do you think the demon monsters here want?"

"No idea. The first one just wanted to eat fear and the second one just seemed like he wanted us eliminatinated for some reason, but there was an obvious relation."

"There's just so much we don't know," Jack sighed.

"Let's hope the occult club can give us some answers."

"Really hope so."

Next day

Jack slipped into the school through the lower layer, not wanting to deal with the front desk animal asking why he's there. Damian got them out of the layer as they walked to the entrance to the clubroom. Jack walked in and was greeted with three sharp purple glowing slips being thrown at him. He quickly rolled out the way.

"Who goes there!?" A gray male cat with a white undertone. He was an inch shorter than Jack, wore a light black vest with a white dress shirt and tie, wearing tan slacks. His eyes were sharp red and he had a small bit of tuft on his ears. His muzzle was all white. He was about to throw more slips at Jack.

"Whoa whoa wait! I'm here for the occult club!" Jack quickly said, throwing his hands forward.

"You're not a part of this club, and the front desk lady wouldn't let you in if you weren't, meaning you snuck in!"

"I- well true but it's for a good reason!"

"What reason? You got five seconds!"

"I-I wanted to see if you in the occult club had found anything of supernatural origins, mainly anything possibly from the demon realm! See I'm very interested In things of demonic origins!"

"Oh are you now?" The cat lowered the slips slightly but was still skeptical.

"Yeah, I met someone who told me about demons and ever since then I've been so curious! Like when he told me about the lower layer, the limbo-like space that separates hell and the mortal realm!"

"Hmmm."

Damian got in Jack's ear. "Tell him his incantation for his Razewing feather talismans is incomplete and that you can complete it."

"So...yknow the incantation on those talismans is incomplete?" Jack asked.

"Are they now?" The male cat raised a brow.

"Y-yeah, I can complete it for you."

"...alright, if you can actually do that then I guess I won't call the faculty," He dropped his guard and set down the slips in his hand on the table in front of him.

"Thanks," Jack approached him.

"Ok, just hold the paper, bite the tip of my finger so blood comes out, and I'll do the rest," Damian told him.

"Ok," Jack whispered. As he got to the table he took hold of one paper, bit his right index finger hard enough for blood to come out, and let Damian do his thing.

Damian looked at the incomplete incantation written on the talisman, and mentally shook his head before using his blood to write on it; he did the same on the other ones. He gave a thumbs up when done.

"Now try them," Jack told the cat.

The cat took one of the completed talismans and looked at it with some skepticism. He focused and the talisman lit up and changed. It turned into a large solid purple, somewhat opaque, sharp feather. The feline was amazed. "Incredible!"

"Believe me now?"

"Yep!" He turned it back into a talisman and set it down, taking Jack's hand, shaking it. "My names Robert, I'm the leader of the club. The others aren't here today."

"I'm Jack! I'm part of the music club, but like I said, I'm really interested in this stuff!"

"Cause of that friend right? Who is he?"

"His name's Damian. He'd be here but he's out of town. He knows alot about demons and the supernatural."

"I can tell! You're interested in our findings, yes?"

"Yeah, can I see them!"

"Normally I wouldn't allow this unless you were a member but seeing as you have some knowledge and you're a believer I guess I can make you the exception," he went to a locked box in the back of the room that rested on a shelf. He took a key out his pocket and unlocked it, taking out the item inside. He turned and walked back to them, setting it on the table.

The item was a large thick black book with rune-like symbols on it and a magic circle with three arrows on the edge in the center.

Damian jumped at the sight of it. "A grimoire!?" He shouted in surprise.

"Hm?" Robert looked at him curiously.

Jack slapped Damian away and coughed. "Caha-goho a grim- hack- a grimoire!?" Jack coughed out trying to make it sound like he said it, glaring at Damian.

"You know grimoires?"

"Uh, only a little."

"Well, let me tell you about them. These books contain spells and magic that can apparently be used by string demons. The language inside is something I'm working on deciphering," he said, opening the book to show its pages, some spots were blank, "though some it is missing. From what we've been able to decipher, we've made talismans like what you saw earlier, a very short tracking device, and some sealing stones to trap curses."

"Curses?"

"Hehehe, you see we do more than just research here in the occult club. Seeing as you are one who knows of the supernatural may I take it you also have the plight of no one believing you?"

"Well...I honestly haven't tried telling anyone...I'm kinda afraid to."

"Understandable. You see," Robert began walking to one of the closets, "I founded the occult club to prove that the stories of my great great great grandfather were true, that the supernatural does exist. I read what I could from the grimoire, gathered my friends, and started this club. Our goal was to find something unnatural and show it to all...then we found it…"

"It?"

"Our first curse."

"Curse?"

"Yes a curse...something that plagues and hurts animals, and there're many in this town. Now we have a new mission," he opened the door and what was inside made Damian shake. Inside the closet was an assortment of small broken pieces of objects and buildings all with some sort of insignia on them and wrapped in a slim piece of paper.

Jack looked at his right arm, concerned for his demon appendage. "Damian?" Jack whispered.

"These curses are bad news. Have had to fight them and seal them away to keep animals safe. Sadly though we only have the means to take out the small curses, but luckily the bigger ones seem to be Dormant. But I feel," he turned to Jack, "with your knowledge added to ours, we can stand a chance. Don't worry, I still plan on telling you what we know, as long as you do the same.

"I-" Jack's phone buzzed, "hm?" He took it out and saw it was his alarm but the note on it said "Prtnd ur ansrng ur phn now!". "Uh...I gotta take this." Jack placed it to his ear.

"You have to make some deal with him and have him take you to where he found those curses!" Damian told him.

"Why what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that those aren't curses! They've never been curses!"

"Then what a-"

"They're ghouls, and if there's that many, then this towns in danger!"

END

Next chapter, Ghouls.