Hello everyone, here´s the next chapter of Demon´s Power. I hope didn't keep you all waiting too long. i will tell you that this will introduce an important character, from the Original Inner Power, which I hope I didn't spoil, but will have a large role here in this story.
With things going on in real life, and having rewriting this chapter for like a hundred times, I finally managed to pull it off.
Hiro Mashima is the one and only owner of Fairy Tail. I don't own a thing.
Key Words
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"YELLING!"
Magic
"Demon Talking"
"Demon Thinking"
Chapter 5: Night of the Scorpion
Foxglove, a swamp with water black as a night, trees with leaves so thick so sunlight could come through, and creatures that no one imagined they could exist, and hoped to never see them.
Currently, Markus and Nariko were walking through the swamp, with Nariko carried by Markus she sat on his shoulders, holding a lantern for them to see in the dark, while Markus was walking on the muddy waters.
"I can walk on my own. I am not afraid to be dirtied by mud." Nariko said. "Well, we wouldn't want to be slowed down, right? Besides, we need to find that egg as soon as possible." Markus said, remembering the quest they were given.
They were given the quest by an Aristocrat, and according to him, there was a demon lurking in the Foxglove Swamps nearby. Many demon hunters have tried and failed to take the Demon down, with some barely escaping alive.
Apparently, the survivor from the latest Demon Hunting Expedition, traumatized by the event, told them that the demon had laid an egg, and the aristocrat, being a "Collector of Exotic Eggs", wanted it.
Markus and Nariko were the ones to be given the job, due to the successful jobs they had done a week after the cursed dungeon incident, with them being currently suited for the work.
Soon enough, Nariko spotted something in the distance, being in the form of a pile of several dark green leaves of gigantic size, put together with leaves sticking out.
"Is that a giant pile of leaves?" Nariko asked. "If so, then it must be a perfect a set for a nest." Markus said, as he walked towards it while carrying Nariko.
They immediately began to climb up to it, seeing several skulls and bones surrounding it, on area big enough to be a guild hall.
And within its center, was a large egg, white in color with green streaks, and big enough to be a mistaken for a large rock.
"Well, it seems we found the egg faster than we thought." Nariko said, as she was going towards the egg, but Markus stopped her by putting his hand before her. "Hold on. This seems fishy." Markus said. "What do you mean? The egg is right there." Nariko said.
"Look around you. There are remains of animal's skeletons everywhere, having not a single bit of flesh on them." Markus said.
"In every nest, the scorpion gives the food its child needs, and I doubt these will be able to satisfy the child it needs when it hatches." Markus said, and Nariko remained silent.
"Meaning either this demon eats only the bones, or..." Markus said, as the skeletons of the dead animals in the nest began to explode into pieces.
"Or they are waiting for a new little sibling." Markus said, as they were surrounded by demons' hatchlings.
They were the size of a pony, having a lobster-like body being orange in color, with a bulb-like head with a single, yellow eye in the middle, tentacles for legs and a pair of pincer-like claws on the front.
"Well, seems they don't want us to take their little sister." Nariko said, as she took the katana out of her sheath. Markus took the handle of his great sword, which became unfolded by its white bandages.
"They are Singolas, Rank 5 demons, known to make their nests in areas like swamps, forests and jungles, both in the Underworld and Earthland." Markus said, holding out his large sword at the Singola hatchlings.
"That´s what the rank of immature Singolas are, an adult Singolas are ranked at least 4." Markus said. "Then we should take the chance to end quickly as possible." Nariko said.
"Yeah, but we shouldn't use our Devil Slayer Magic hastily, the egg might be destroyed by the result, and we can kiss our reward goodbye." Markus said.
"Thanks for the advice. I shall keep that in mind." Nariko said, one of the Singola Hatchlings came towards her, and she impaled it right in its eye.
Markus took the time to cut three demon Singolas coming towards him in half, and Nariko wasted no time in using her black bladed katana, as one Singola hatchling went towards her, which she impaled it right in its eye.
Nariko then proceeded to step right on one of the Singolas´ hatchlings eye, before she then jumped in the air as the single Singola Hatchling went towards her, whom she swiftly cut in half without using her Abyss Devil Slayer Magic.
As Nariko landed on the ground, one Singola Hatchling jumped on her and tried to restrain her with her tentacles, but she was faster as she swiftly cut its tentacles off before she cut in it half.
Markus punched one Singola hatchling right its eye, sending it straight crashing to a group of them.
Things seemed to be at ease with Markus and Nariko, as they had no trouble killing the small demons, but things were soon to be heated up.
From the water, something rose from it. Markus, Nariko and even the remaining demon hatchlings stopped the fight, as from the water, came a large, colossal demon, big enough to be same size of a house, the Mother Singola. It had a greenish, brown, lobster-like body, black tentacles big enough to be roots, bulb-like head with spokes on the top, a pair of ram-like horns, a large, yellow eye and a mouth filled with three rows of sharp teeth, complete with a long, worm-like tongue.
"I can pretty much guess that one is the mother of these fellas." Markus said. "And she doesn't look happy for what we did to her children." Nariko said, as she then proceeded to jump towards the Singola Mother. "Nariko, what the hell are you doing?!" Markus said. "I am going to proceed taking this down as quickly as possible!" Nariko said and turned towards Markus. "Don't worry, I will take it as quickly as possible..." Nariko said, but before he could finish her sentence, she was inside the mouth of the giant demon, being swallowed whole by it.
"NARIKO!" Markus screamed, as the remaining Singola hatchlings came towards him, piling upon him in a large pile, and for a minute, it was quiet, until a blue, bright light came, sending the Singola Hatchlings off to different directions, burnt by Markus flames.
Markus stood there in silence, looking up at the giant Singola Mother, as now Markus had taken out the remaining Hatchlings, with the exception of the Egg, it was just Markus and the Singola now.
Markus looked at it with his eyes in anger, as rage started to flow within himself. The Singola Mother took the opportunity to attack Markus, and to avenge her children, sending its tentacles at the Swordsman in Red.
But as the tentacles came at him, Markus swung with his large sword, cutting them in half on one swoop, landing across the nest, as the Singola mother roared in pain, pulling back its severed tentacles, at it began glaring at Markus.
Markus raised his sword in the air, blue flames covering its massive blade, preparing to send a giant slash of flames at the Singola Mother before him, not caring for what it happened to the egg or the reward, as even if he didn't know her long, he did not want another one die by his side again.
Blue flames started to appear around Markus, on his arms, legs, chest and forehead, as the rage grew stronger and stronger by the second, with the intent of killing the target right before him.
It was not gonna happen again, not this time, not here, not ever again.
But then suddenly, The Singola started to act weird, as if was if was in pain from the inside. The blue flames on Markus died down from the reaction, calming him down from the rage at the surprise he saw it acting strange, but didn't lose his focus on it.
Green blood came out of its mouth, as is began to cough violently, and then suddenly, the back of its neck burst upon, as blood came out of it.
The dying demon fell on the water with a large splash, rising in a thick impact as the water landed on Markus, covering head to toe in it.
The soaked Markus stood there covered in swamp water, before he then went to the edge to see the corpse of the giant demon, as from the burst of the back of its neck, came a certain female swordsman.
"Nariko?!" Markus said, as Nariko, covered in demon blood, came out of the corpse.
"Sorry it took so long. I had to find a way to kill from the inside without going straight to the stomach. Luckily, the blood wasn't toxic or didn't melt me right away, so things were fine." Nariko said, and Markus sighed in relief in response.
"Seriously, you had me worried there for a second." Markus sighed and then turned to the Egg, which seemed to be untouched by the blood of the demon hatchlings, and even from the water somehow.
"Well, we better take what we came here for. The sooner the better." Markus said, as he walked to the egg and picked it up, before he proceeded to jump off the nest, where Nariko waited for him.
Markus sighed at the events that had happened today, as they both proceeded to leave the area.
"Seriously, you had me really worried there, Nariko." Markus said. "But I did take it down, right?" Nariko said. "Yeah, but what if you died right in there. It wouldn't be fun at all if you suddenly perished." Markus said. "For someone who knows me in a short time, you sure take serious dedication in protecting me." Nariko said. Markus took a deep and then sighed. "Yeah, but I want to make sure that no one dies alongside me." Markus said, as he walked faster. "Ever again..." Markus said, as the two demon hunters went to leave the swamp.
Later, Markus and Nariko delivered the Egg to the aristocrat, covered in muddy water and demon blood. As they were giving the reward Jewels, they decided to go to the nearest town, being the Fern Town, to the nearest motel, where they clean themselves up, and spend the night there.
At the same time, within an abandoned warehouse, seemingly empty, but was in truth filled with people, people you didn't want to mess with.
The Scorpion Gang, a notorious gang within Fern, known for their violent and ruthless behavior, recognized by their black, hooded coats with a red scorpion on the back, and white, scorpion-like masks with red eyes, taking part in either terrorizing the town, or making deal with Dark Guilds, such as smuggling weapons, potions and secret information.
Shelves with boxes containing the weapons and potions they were smuggling in the Magic Vehicles that were going to drive to different towns and villages.
The members, being a hundred in number, were doing things like packing illegal ware, guarding the place and planning heists.
In the center of the warehouse, where security was tighter than everywhere else, three men, the leaders of the Scorpion Gang, sat around a square table, with two couches and a .
One was Garraz, a young man with red eyes, green hair pulled back and an x-shaped scar on his chin. He was shirtless, exposing his muscular and well-formed body, and a large, red tattoo of a scorpion on his back. His wrists were wrapped in white bandages, wore a pair of black pants, a black belt with a gold skull buckle, and a pair of red shoes without socks.
Another man, sitting on the couch, was Capa, a large man with short, spiky, red hair, thick eyebrows, yellow eyes and a goatee on his chin. He wore a red hoodie, black pants, green shoes and a pair of black fingerless leather gloves, each glove having a white skull with red eyes on.
Lastly, the one who sat on the couch was Agu, a young man with long, blue hair kept in a low, braid-style ponytail, green eyes and a long, sharp nose. He wore black pants, white sneakers, and a blue short-sleeved hoodie with a white skull on the back, a red t-shirt, black fingerless leather gloves and a red bandana around his forehead.
As the trio of leaders were discussing plans, a sudden voice got the attention of everyone in the room, coming from where the three leaders of the Scorpion Gang sat.
"So, this is the Scorpion Gang I have so much about? Quite what I expected." a voice was suddenly heard, causing Garraz, Capa and Agu to turn to the direction the voice was coming from, but couldn't see the owner anywhere.
"Who said that?" Garraz said as he took out a pair of swords, while Capa took out a club, and Agu took out a curved long sword. "Where are you?!" Capa said, looking around for the owner of the voice the voice, as Scorpion Gang members were surrounding their leaders in a protective manner in a circle with their Magic Staves ready and charged, while other Scorpion Gang members went to the entrances, to prevent the intruder from escaping their base.
"Show yourself! We have you surrounded." Capa said. "My, how rude. I'm right here." The voice said again, as this time a figure started to appear, getting the attention of everyone within the room.
Within the circle of the Scorpion Gang members, and before their three leaders, was a figure wearing a white, hooded cloak, and a black skull-shaped mask, with three red eyes on it, with its third eye on the middle of his forehead.
"Greetings, Scorpion Gang. It's a pleasure to meet you." The figure in the skull mask said. "Who are you, and how did you get in here?" Agu asked, as he Garraz and Capa took out their guns.
The figure in the skull mask snickered, before then speaking.
"Well, I had more expected "what are you doing in here?´ question, but I expect not even I can predict that. But that's not important right now. Because I have an offer you can't refuse." The figure said.
Garraz, Capa and Agu looked at each other, with Capa and Agu nodding, as Garraz raised his hand, making the minions point their staves with their staves charged Magic at the masked figure, who snickered in response.
"Go on, shot me. After all, you think that will fix your little problem?" The figure in the mask asked. "What are you talking about?" Garraz said, not putting down his weapon, the others didn't lower their guns either. "What little problem?" Agu asked, trying his best to sound if he didn't know anything.
"Oh please, don't tell me that you don't know. Or have you forgotten that thanks to the Fairy Tail guild taking down the Dark Guilds you have been making business with, the most recent one being Eisenwald, the guild you traded weapons and giving them the information about the railways leading to the Guild Masters meeting in Clover Town." The masked man said, leaving Garraz, Capa and Agu, as well the other Scorpion Gang members silent in shock at what they just heard, and how right he was.
"Trust me; I know more than what you don't know." The masked man said, amused by Scorpion Gang ´s reaction.
"It's your choice to believe me or not. As I you said, you can shoot me, but at the same time lose a chance that can make you go back to the top, or even higher than you were before." The Masked Man said.
Garraz, Capa and Agu glance at each other in silence. Garraz was the one to break the silence, as he turned to the masked man.
"Who are you and how can you help us?" Garraz asked, as the masked figure snickered and grinned under his mask. "My name is Nightmare. I am the one who aids those in need, when even the Magic Council have turned their backs on." Nightmare said.
"Dark Mages, Dark Guild, anyone who works on any Forbidden Magic, are kept in good hands with my business. And what I am about to give you, is something you could never imagine, not even in your wildest dreams." Nightmare explained.
"Show us then. What can you do for us?" Capa said, and Nightmare snickered, and then something strange appeared out of his cloak.
Taking the form of a long, thin, black tentacle, it had a large, bud-like head, which then suddenly sprouted open like a flower, and revealed a red, eye-like center.
Before anyone from The Scorpion Gang could ask, it then suddenly went towards Garraz and stabbed it right in the chest!
Garraz´s pupils shrunk to seeds, as everyone around him widened their eyes in shock and horror, and before anyone could even scream, more tentacles emerged from Nightmare´s cloak, which they all extended and started to stab one Scorpion Gang member to the next.
"Don't you worry, the pain will go away after a moment, but all of you will be on a level you never felt in your life before." Nightmare said in a sinister tone, the screams around him echoing.
At the same time, in a hotel...
In the room, Markus sat on the bed, while Nariko was currently in cleaning herself up in the hotel´s bathroom.
They proceeded to take their time resting, after their most recent mission in the Foxglove Swamps, slaying a Singola Nest and taking the egg to their client.
The hotel room they were currently in, had two separate beds, a bathroom with a shower and a bathtub, a wardrobe, a mirror, a table with some chairs, and a balcony, which they had been paid for, alongside the cleaning bill, due to appearing and dirtying the hotel floor with them being covered in swamp water and demon blood.
Markus was currently standing in front of the mirror, wearing only wore his pants and boots, showing off his muscular and well-built body, well-defined abs, completed with a six-pack, as a result of his years of intense training, violent fights and countless near-death moments.
Even with the scars across his body, it sure didn't make it any uglier, as in fact made it even more appealing.
Markus looked at the necklace he had around his neck. He grabbed it to look at it. Markus could feel the pain, even if it had gone away a long time ago, every time he could still remember, could still feel the pain from that day.
Memories of the screams echoes in his mind, images of blood splattering and covering him in blood, made him immediately letting go of his necklace.
He panted as if he had run for miles without any water or break, even if it only happened for a second.
Markus put on his green bath robe and laid down on his bed, his hands clasped on his face, as he took deep breaths, as he needed to calm down. Markus couldn't lose his cool and sanity, not here, not now.
At the same, Nariko stood before the mirror. Naked as the day she was born, her body now in full display before her reflection.
Her body held such beauty that any women would die to have. Consisting of a well-toned stomach, a wide waist with well-formed hips, long legs, a shaved maidenhood, a peach formed butt, large breasts with small nipples, and creamy skin.
Nariko sighed as she preceded walk into the shower. She immediately put on the water and waited for it to be in the right temperature, not too cold, not too hot. Once it was at the temperature she wanted, Nariko let the water hit her body, washing away all the dirt and grime.
As Nariko watched the dirt off her body, she closed her eyes as the water hit her bare skin, as she felt the water land on her back.
While her eyes were closed, the sounds of screams echoed in her head, an image of a Fairy Tail emblem appearing before her mind and corpses were around her were shown.
Nariko held her arms herself tightly, shivering as the memories flashed before her closed eyes, as the tears were washed away and mixed with the water from the shower.
"Why? Why do the memories keep haunting me? I thought I had moved on. Why can't they just disappear?" Nariko thought.
"Goodbye Nariko..."
"Goodbye Nariko..."
"Goodbye Nariko..."
Like a broken record, these words and images echoed within her mind from her past, coming from the one she never expected to hear from, on that very day.
Images of woman and children crying, and men and elderly were laid on the ground, either dead or unconscious, even some missing limbs, were seen on the ground in her mind.
Nariko knelt, shaking and holding her arms as her knees was up to her chin, before a knocking was heard from the door.
"Nariko? Are you okay in there?" Markus said from the other side of the door.
Shaking herself back to reality, Nariko quickly managed to calm down. Having had breakdowns like these, with time she managed to return quit quickly, but still as painful. Nariko took a deep breath while standing straight up, turning to the door, while she was still behind the shower curtains as the water was still running on her.
"Yeah, just cleaning myself up. You need the bathroom or something?" Nariko asked.
On the other side of the door, Markus had his arms crossed while still sitting on the bed.
"No thanks, I am good. Just wanted to make sure everything was fine." Markus said, taking a deep breath.
Markus looked up the necklace again, this time no memories coming to haunt him. He sighed as sometimes, he felt his mind in shambles, as when he thought when he knows what to do, yet he didn't.
"I want to kill that man. But if I kill him, will it really solve anything?" Markus thought. "Every time I heard even his name, I feel nothing rage and fury, murder into pieces, slaughter him for all the he did back then." Markus thought.
"Do I really know what I wanna do?" Markus thought, then shaking his head, trying his best to take the chance to relax for the time being, before feeling the mark on his neck, rubbing it gently.
"As long I have this, things can never be absolutely peaceful for us, huh?" Markus thought, and then closed his eyes.
"We should take the opportunity to rest here, while we still have the chance." Markus said in quiet tone, not knowing of what was gonna happen tonight.
At the same time, at a market in the middle of the town square, were a couple, a woman with long brown hair, wearing a light brown vest with a white apron and red shoes, walked with her fiancé, a muscular man with blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a white tank top, brown pants, black boots and a black jacket.
As they were walking in the market, a sudden figure jumped onto them, much to their surprise and annoyance.
"Hey, watch were you going, asshole!" The man said, but then recognized the man before him.
It was Scorpion Gang member, having brown hair, green eyes and wearing a pair of light grey pants and black boots, and what confirmed him to a Scorpion Gang member, a black, hooded coat with a red Scorpion on the back.
His clothing was tattered and covered in blood, as his face was in scars.
"You are from the Scorpion Gang." The blonde woman said, as people began surrounding him.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Whatever happened, it serves you right."
"Hush! Don't be so loud, unless you want trouble. If you piss off one member of the Scorpion Gang, you will be in big trouble."
"But he looks like he is at death´s door, and whoever did this, will have hell to pay."
As the towns' people began to talk and mutter, all wondering of what had happened, with some telling they should take care of him, others told to leave him to die.
The Scorpion Gang member groaned as he got up, turning to the crowd of citizens, he then spat and coughed up blood, before then uttering weakly.
"Run... run for your lives..." The Scorpion Gang member said, much to the confusion to the crowd of citizens.
"Huh, what are you talking about...?" The blonde man said, before the Scorpion Gang Members began to twitch, as if something was moving inside of him, as tossed and turned on the ground, and then, in the next second, stood still.
"What was that?"
"Is he on drugs?"
"Is he...?" The blonde man said, his fiancée standing beside him: before the Scorpion Gang member jumped onto him, biting his neck, as blood came on his fiancé's face.
The woman who was with him, alongside the other citizens, watched in silence as her husband´s neck was bitten and chewed on by the gang member, blood landing on the woman´s face, before she then let out a loud scream, heard across the square, her hands before her face at the scene.
The gang member, with his cheeks covered in blood, while his mouth were filled with the flesh of his victims, his eyes were blood shot, with the veins gathered around his shrunken pupils.
He began to twitch again, and this time, something more happened.
Anthropic legs began to grow out his hips, three on each side, as so did his legs turn, grow a long, stinger like tails as his arms began to form into pincher-like claws.
His flesh fell off more and more as he transformed and, soon enough; all remains of his humanity were gone.
Now stood a large humanoid red scorpion, with its pincers, stinger and standing on eight legs, standing above the corpse of the blonde man and looked with its red eyes at the horrified crowd of people.
As the blonde woman screamed at both the death of her fiancé, and the monster were before them, more humanoid scorpion came and jumped onto the rest of the towns' people, gnawing them to pieces. Town people were all backing away before running away, as the demonic Scorpion-like creature were eating the man, as his fiancé watched in horror.
And before even a minute had passed since the scorpion man were gnawing on him, more humanoid demonic scorpions were all flying into the scenes, attacking and eating the citizens, among them being the brown-haired woman whose fiancé got eaten, was too horrified and shocked to move.
The citizens were trying to run away from the incoming, scorpion-like demons, which proved avail for most of them.
On the roof top of the taller buildings, stood three figures, watching the scenes happening above them.
"Well, well, well. It seems our new looks are sure one to behold." Garraz said, as he had green, pale skin, his eyes were red now completely red without pupils, and his scorpion tattoo on his back was now glowing white, and he was bare-chested and bare feet, with his only attire were his black pants.
"I say, I never expected that this upgrade to be this devastating." Capa said, who now had red skin, and lost all his hair, making him bald as his eyes were now white. Like Garraz, he was only wearing his black pants.
"To think that Nightmare gave us a power boost, will sure increase our power and reputation." Agu said, wearing only his black pants like Garraz and Capa, as his skin was now dark blue and had yellow eyes.
Garraz then preceded jump off the roof alongside Capa and Agu following him. "But for now, let's find the target Nightmare asked us to find." Capa said, on their way to their target.
"Yeah, we are sure to bring the Red Swordsman and his acquaintance here. After all, being a Demon Hunter, he is sure to be here after a scene like this." Garraz said.
With Markus and Nariko, who have been finishing her shower and been dressed in her kimono, sandals and haori, heard the commotion outside.
Markus, putting on his red cloak and grabbing his large sword, walked out of the balcony as he watched the citizens running away in terror, screaming as scorpion-like demons were chasing and attacking them.
"Dammit, and here I thought it would be a peaceful night." Markus said, stepping on the railing on the balcony.
"What's happening, Markus?" Nariko asked, as she walked out of the balcony, holding her katana.
"Either this Fern has some weird scorpion-festival, or this town is under a demon attack. I pick the latter one." Markus said, before jumping down the ground, with Nariko watching from the above.
A scorpion demon was chasing a family of a husband, his wife and their daughter, as the scorpion was about to lung at them, Markus came from the air, impaling the Scorpion Demon with his sword, impaling it from behind.
The demonic scorpion were coughing up as the family stopped dead on their tracks, with Markus then pulled his sword off, the corpse of the scorpion demon fell to the ground.
"Fern must have a really bad scorpion problem here." Markus said, turning to the family, as the father, a man with brown hair, a mustache, brown eyes, wearing a white shirt, black pants and a brown vest, came forward and held his hands together in gratitude.
"Thank you so much, young man!" The man said. "Don't thank me yet. The danger is far from over." Markus said, as more demon scorpions were surrounding them. "I heard that this town had a gang known as The Scorpion Gang, but never figured they were literal scorpions." Markus said.
"They aren't. From what I have seen, despite their violent and cruel nature, they never looked anything like that monstrous." The woman said, holding her daughter tight.
"You will help us, right mister?" The young girl said, who had long brown hair, green eyes and wore a white dress with a brown apron and white shoes.
"Don't worry..." Markus said, and turned to the incoming Scorpion demons, all surrounding Markus and the small family. "Because taking down these things is my job." Markus said as the three scorpion demons were coming towards him, as he had his sword prepared.
But before they could attack Markus, a woman in a kimono came and impaled the Scorpion on the back, killing it on the same spot.
Nariko slowly got up as she held her black-bladed katana in her hand, and then turned to Markus and the small family.
"Don't forget about me. I am doing my part in this as well." Nariko said as she turned back to the scorpion demons, while Markus smiled. "Of course, since we both are Demon Hunters, I am not one who takes all the glory." Markus said, and then turned to the small family.
"Make sure to take this chance to run and find shelter to safety." Markus said and then turned to the surrounding humanoid Scorpions. "My colleague and I will handle this really quickly, but will be messy soon. So, you might want to run." Markus said, preparing to fight alongside Nariko.
The small family nodded, before they proceeded to run away from the area, with Markus and Nariko making sure they weren't attacked by the scorpion demons.
Once the family was out of the scene, Markus and Nariko had their full focus on the enemy before them.
"So, any idea of what kind of demons these are? Or are they a new kind of demon?" Nariko asked.
"Probably the latter. I know for a fact this kind of demon doesn't spawn in Earthland just like this, and I don't recognize this kind of demon from the books I read." Markus said.
"Meaning, these demons feel like Giro." Markus thought, as a group of three scorpion demons came at him. He remained unfazed as he swung his giant sword at them, cutting them all in half, as their blood and intestines of their body halves, were flying out and landed on the ground.
"In other words, Nightmare must be here, in this very town." Markus thought, turning to see Nariko as another scorpion demon was charging at her, trying to attack her with its claws. She swiftly dodged it, as she then proceeded to swing her sword, cutting the head of the scorpion demons.
"But for now, we need to focus on taking care of these Demons for now, as quickly as possible. Who knows how far they have spread through the town." Markus thought, as another demon scorpion came at him, as he had his fist coated in blue fire, and punched it right in the scorpion demon's face, sending it crashing towards another group of scorpion demons.
"If we can have the other demons gathered here for reinforcement, we can sure prevent them from harming the town and its citizens any further." Markus thought, as took a deep breath, and unleashed a roar of blue flames at the group of scorpion demons, burning them all to cinders.
Back with Markus and Nariko, they held against the incoming scorpion demons, easily cutting them down.
As the scorpion demon charged towards Markus, attempting to strike him with stinger, but Markus managed to swing his blade at it, cutting it through the stinger, cutting through its tail, and soon enough the scorpion demon itself in half.
As another horde of scorpion demons came at him, Markus took a deep breath and unleashed a stream of blue fire at the group of demonic scorpions.
"Fire Devil´s Rage!" Markus said, as the group of scorpion demon were engulfed in the blue flames, disintegrating them to nothing.
Another scorpion demon tried to strike him from behind, but Markus was faster as he swung his sword upwards and cut the demon in half as well.
With Nariko, she kicked scorpion demon in the face, as she jumped in the air and then impaled it on the head with her katana.
Blood came out from its head, as Nariko took out her sword out of the corpse, as the black-haired swordswoman turned to see another pair of scorpion demons charging towards her with their stingers and claws.
Nariko, with her katana in her hand, managed to dodge the stingers swiftly, with them missing every strike of her. The proceeded to attack with their claws too, but she dodged them as well as she jumped into the air, and then.
"Abyss Devil´s Blade: Black Light!" Nariko said, sending a slash of purple darkness at the trio of demonic scorpions, cutting them all in half!
Green blood came flowing into the air from the bisected scorpion demons, and Nariko landed on the ground, she turned to the scorpion demons surrounding her and Markus, holding their swords before them, preparing themselves what to come.
"I think that's enough." A voice said, as Markus and Nariko looked up in the direction it came from.
The scorpion demons, recognizing the voice, began to step away from the two demon hunters, making space for Garraz, Capa and Agu, the three leaders of the Scorpion Gang entering the scene.
Markus and Nariko, not letting their guard down, watched as the three leaders of the Scorpion Gang, transformed like the rest, but with different appearances as they even felt a different aura from them.
"This feels different than Take Over Magic. Just what are these forms?" Nariko thought, and Markus went to speak.
"I bet you two must be the leaders of The Scorpion Gang, or you must be lost to a Cosplay Convention." Markus said.
"Wow, you see us in this state, and that's your reaction? I had hoped to be something more like `what the hell is that form?´ reaction." Capa said.
"Trust me, I have seen many strange forms in my days, and I bet you won't be the weirdest." Markus said. "That does sound strange, I agree." Nariko said.
"Big words coming from someone who made the biggest mistake in their life." Garraz said. "Ironic, those who say that line are the ones ending their lives." Markus said, as Agu and Garraz rushed towards him and Nariko at great speed.
"Then let's put that on the test, shall we?" Agu said, as Markus quickly took out of his large sword, using it to block Garraz´s incoming attack.
Garraz had his left hand clenched in a fist, preparing to punch Markus, but he was faster despite the massive size of his sword, which he swung upwards and cut Garraz´s left arm off!
The passed away from each other, which Markus turned around, and much to his surprise, rather than pain, Garraz had an amused grin on face. Even if Markus was surprised, he didn't lower his guard.
Garraz began to snicker, and from the stomp where his left hand was, something began to shake.
From the stomp, a claw emerged, in the form of a scorpion's pincher, colored green with spikes on the bottom, which extended down to his forearm and elbow, tearing off the flesh in the process.
From his forearm to his arm, Garraz had now his entire left arm turning into a large scorpion claw, big enough to be almost the size of his own torso.
"Pretty neat, huh? Wait till you see this!" Garraz said; as he slammed his scorpion claw on the ground, causing a small tremor that cracked the ground open beneath Markus, forcing him to jump away.
But Garraz wasn't going to give Markus that chance as he jumped towards him and clashed him with his claw, which were blocked by his large sword.
Garraz held his right hand out, which then proceeded to turn into a scorpion claw as well.
"What do you think of my new power? With this, I bet even the infamous Red Swordsman be defeated by my power!" Garraz gloated. "Let's see about that first." Markus said, as with his force of his sword, managed to send Garraz back, who quickly landed on his feet before Markus charged at him with his sword raised in the air.
With Nariko, she was watching the fight between Markus and Garraz, observing their every move.
"He isn't using Magic, as it feels like his body itself was transformed by itself, not by Magic. Something must have happened, or someone must have done something." Nariko thought, and Agu came walking towards her, making her take a defensive stance.
"What? You thought you were done now that you took down our lower gang members? Think again, you are now fighting me." Agu said cracking his knuckles. "Then, now that they are gone, we don't have to worry about splitting the loot when we do our business." Agu said.
"Whatever that´ll be robbing, murder, hell, we could basically kill anyone that pisses us off and never suffer the consequences." Agu said, stretching his arms out.
"Until we met him today, we were forced to stay on a low profile, and carefully think out plans for our heists. But now we have this power that no longer matters." Agu said.
"It not only changed your appearance, but your personality and pride as well." Nariko said, pointing her katana at him.
"Pride? Look at me, the power I have been bestowed upon..." Agu said, as from his lower back, came a long blue scorpion tail, with its white spiky stinger on its top, as is slithered above Agu´s neck.
"What greater pride do you think there is when I have this incredible power?" Agu said.
"If that´s your pride, then this won't take long. Sorry if you wanted to keep this longer." Nariko said. "Don't underestimate me, bitch!" Agu said as he charged towards her.
He sent his stinger her, as Nariko used her katana to block it, before Apu pulled it back and continued trying to stab her, which in turn was blocked by her katana.
Stab after stab was blocked by Nariko´s katana, as each stab became faster than the last one, and yet Nariko didn't lose her focus on her current enemy.
"How´s that? Soon enough you will be tired of blocking my attacks!" Agu said, as then she sent his stinger at her face, which she proceeded to jump back before the stinger could strike her.
"Oh, what's the matter? Afraid of being killed by my stinger? You should be grateful to be the first one to die by my new power, in the prologue of my great journey." Agu said, jumping towards her with his stinger pointed at her.
Nariko took as stand as she held her katana behind her, remaining unfazed as her eyes were set on the incoming Agu.
"Then I apologize..." Nariko said, as her sword were charged in purple energy, and with one flash step, she was behind Agu, with both of them standing still, as Nariko pulled her katana back in her sheath.
"...that your story will only contain one short chapter." Nariko said, and closed her sword, as blood came out from Agu´s chest and mouth, as a x-shaped slash was seen on his chest, before his eyes rolled back and he fell face flat on the ground.
Nariko turned to see Markus fighting Garraz, as she felt she wanted to help him, but at the same time, felt like she shouldn't interfere, as it seemed that Nariko knew Markus had it under control.
Markus blocked another blow of Garraz´s scorpion claws, before he jumped away.
"You seem awfully calm of your comrade´s defeat, or even death. You might criminals, but are you really that kind of people?" Markus asked.
"It's his own fault for losing because of his weakness. But let's see if you have any luck in taking me down." Garraz said.
"But let's see if you have any luck! I can sense that you haven't been using your Magic, and I feel insulted! I am way more powerful than you think! So don't be shy and show me what you are made of, Red Swordsman!" Garraz said, charging towards Markus, as he continued to send strike after strike at him with his claws, only for it to be blocked by his large sword, with Markus not losing his focus on him.
"You better show me your Magic soon, because I, Garraz is the mightiest enemy you will ever face!" Garraz boasted, and then Markus then deflected his claws, as he had his sword raised in the air, and his eyes shadowed.
"You, the strongest?" Markus said, as sword were coated in blue flames, and then brought it down, before bringing it down, much to Garraz´s shock, and a wave of fire came behind him.
"Is that supposed to be a joke? Because it's not even funny when someone low as you could be compared to a fighter." Markus said, as Garra´s eyes were widened and shaking, before he was slashed vertically in two, his two body pieces felling down the ground, burning in the flames as the pieces fell down.
Markus stood still, his back turned as Capa stood before him.
"You, however, may be a different match." Markus said, as Nariko entered the scene. "Be careful, Nariko. He is one a different level than these two. I can feel it." Markus said, holding his large sword in a defensive position, which Nariko did the same with her katana.
Capa cracked his knuckles and tilted his neck.
"You got good instincts, boy, I give you that. Unlike Garraz and Agu, I will make sure to give you a challenge..." Capa said, as smoke began to emit from his body, as he began to transform.
Markus and Nariko watched as his skin, arms, legs and face changed, as he grew larger as his body parts and structure changed, completely covered in the white smoke.
Soon enough, it died down to show Capa in his form.
He was now three times biggest as his new scene, with his body being covered in a red shell-like armor, with his lower body akin to a scorpion replacing it, with eight, spider-like legs, a long spear-like stinger, his muscular body was displayed in the scales, had his right arm formed-like a scorpion claws covered in spikes, while his left arm was more humanoid with spiky claws. His face and head was now covered by a red, gladiator-like helmet, but his pupil less, glowing eyes and mouth with sharp teeth, were showing greatly.
"Now then, let's see what you can do against in this form." Capa said, with Markus and Nariko charging towards him.
Markus had his sword raised in the air, while Nariko had her katana pulled, with the two demon hunters then proceeded to attack with their blades, with Markus swinging his downwards, while Nariko swung her upwards.
Capa managed to block their strike with his large scorpion claw, which prevented them hitting him.
Cape grinned, which Markus and Nariko proceeded to jump backwards, seeing that their attack barely left any damage.
Markus then proceeded to take a deep breath, with his lungs being inflated, before he then unleashed a torrent of blue flames at Capa.
"Fire Devil´s Rage!" Markus unleashes the blue torrent flames that went towards the demon, engulfing Capa completely, as a large bonfire of blue fire was created.
Soon enough, Capa emerged from the blue bonfire, covered in burn marks but barely any serious damage with his large claw covering his face, as he then charged towards Markus, and pointed his giant claw at him.
"He is on a completely different level than these two that Nariko and I fought earlier. Both the guy with the claws and the guy with the stinger were only having partially transformed." Markus thought, as Capa sent several spikes from his large scorpion claw at Markus, who swung his sword before him, sending blue fire at it the flames disintegrated the spikes.
"But this guy is completely transformed, both in appearance, and abilities." Markus thought, as then Nariko proceeded to attack Capa.
Nariko, in the air, proceeded to slash his face, but were blocked by his left, more humanoid hand, managed to grab her by the legs, before swinging her and throwing her away.
"Think it's that easy to hit me?" Capa taunted, which Markus was then in front of him, his fist coated in blue fire. "No, but I hope this will." Markus said, and then punched him right in the gut!
Flames were streaming as the impact managed to crack Capa´s shell-like armor, as it began to spread, but before he could break it any further, Capa proceeded to smack Markus away, which Markus managed to block the attack with his sword.
He was sent in the air and landed on his feet, watching as Capa now had a large, spider-web styled, crack on his gut, holding his left hand above it carefully.
Then, he proceeded to point his large claw again, this time at Nariko and then several spikes at her.
"NARIKO!" Markus shouted, as the spikes came towards Nariko, she stood stoic as she then used her sword to block and countered the spikes coming at her.
As she did, Capa proceeded to point his stinger tail at her, which in the turn sent a concentrated beam of purple liquid at her.
On instinct, Nariko managed to dodge it just in time, as it instead hit a house that was behind her. Once hit the purple liquefied the house, a hole was melted through where it had landed.
Nariko watched with the thought of what could have happened if it struck her, as a grinning Capa proceeded to fire more blasts from stinger at Nariko.
Nariko proceeded to jump away to dodge them, as she didn't want to risk losing her katana, as Markus then proceeded to raise his sword in the air, preparing to send another slash of fire.
But Capa wasn't going to let him as he redirection his large claw at him, while his stinger continued to fire at Nariko.
"Oh no, you won't!" Capa said, as Nariko proceeded glide down the ground, sliding beneath his legs, before she then proceeded to cut his legs, one by one, and when she had glided past his legs, she was right before his tail.
"His new size may have increased his power and durability, but this structure, he won't be able to turn around and be able to reach me." Nariko thought, raising his katana in the air, then proceeding to charge the blade in purple energy, before raising it in the air and then!
"Abyss Devil´s Blade: Black Downfall!" Nariko said, as she with one swift, vertical motion; she brought it down, leaving a line of purple energy, cutting Capa´s tail right off!
Cape screamed over the loss of his tail, as green blood came out of the stomp where his tail was. As he was distracted, as Markus was in front of him, the blade of his sword covered in blue flames.
Markus proceeded to swing it down, but the blade was blocked by his large, right claw, as Capa then proceeded to use his left hand to grab Markus by the throat!
"I got you now, boy!" Capa said grinned, much to the horror of Nariko, as she proceeded to step before, which Capa noticed. He grinned as he grabbed Markus´ throat harder.
"Don't even think about it, girl! I have him in my grip, and unless you wanna see him headless, you better stay there!" Capa said, and then turned to Markus.
"Little Boy, you should have known better than to mess with me. Now that you and your bitch have killed almost the entire Scorpion Gang, even Garraz and Agu, I will have to start over all again. But don't worry, now that I have taken down you, the Infamous Red Swordsman, I will sure gain some popularity." Capa said, holding Markus closer to his face.
"The Scorpion Gang won't only be reborn, but also stronger than ever." Capa said, and then turned to Nariko, who held her handle, but still not moving a bit.
"Damnit! This is a really bad situation! With Markus hostage, I have little to no option here! I want to save him, but in the slightest moment, his head could snap off." Nariko thought.
"Markus, you must have a trick on your sleeve. I may not have known you for long, but you arent one to be taken down like that." Nariko thought, memories of her past appearing before her eyes.
With Capa holding Markus hostage, he prepared to the end the demon hunter in red.
"Now then, since this your end, what are your last words, Red Swordsman?" Capa said, as he then looked around. "Sad there aren't any audience here to witness the fall of the Red Swordsman. Oh well, I can always take your severed head to them as proof." Capa said, and Markus grinned, much to his confusion.
Before Capa could react, Markus proceeded to shove his arm, right into Capa´s mouth, slamming it forcefully as it managed to break some teeth on the way! Markus hand glow blue, as then a burst of blue flames was erupted, setting his flames ablaze.
The action caused Capa to roar in pain, As Markus proceeded to use his large sword to cut Capa´s left arm off from its left elbow, setting himself from his grasp as green blood came out of his grasp.
Capa, in a fit of rage, proceeded to swing his remaining right claw to Markus.
"Still moving even after you head on fire?" Markus said, as he swung his sword, cutting his right arm off as well.
"You are a stubborn bastard." Markus said, while Capa glared at him.
"How...? You weren't this strong a second ago..." Capa said, as he managed to speak even if his head were in flames. "I know, sometimes even I am surprised by my own strength. Then, I should be more surprised to see you able to stand even with your head ablaze." Markus said, as he then raised his sword in the air.
"Had we been in a crowd, you had the upper hand. Right now, I won't hold back." Markus said, swinging his large sword back and swung it it at him.
"Let's see if this is good start for your trip to hell! Fire Devil´s Blade: Hell Crescent!" Markus said, as a crescent of blue flames was sent at Capa.
"This… cannot… be…!" Capa said in shock, as the attack was too fast for him to dodge.
As the attack struck him, was cut vertically in half and his body halves fell to the ground, as his insides and green blood were flowing out, before landing on the ground.
Markus, not wasting any time, took a deep breath and then unleashed a torrent of blue flames at Capa's body halves, burning his remains to nothing.
Nariko ran towards Markus, which he turned towards immediately. "Markus! Are you okay?" Nariko said. "I had worse, and if that had been the worst, you really think I would be on the battlefield as we speak?" Markus said.
"And sorry I made you worried but see this we are now even as you made me worry back then." Markus thought. He and Nariko turned to the corpse of Capa, as well the other Scorpion Gang members, as they all began disintegrating.
"Dammit, this always happens whenever I kill these kinds of things." Markus said, making Nariko turn towards him in confusion. "You have been fighting this kind before?" Nariko asked.
"Because they one I seek is the one who turned them into these disciplines of his. They were originally humans they had their darkest and most wicked desired embodied, all thanks to a single person. Nightmare." Markus said.
"Nightmare? You mean that Nightmare...?" Nariko said, as Markus began walking. "Bet you thought he was a myth. But then, what else could be possible as if they were done by him." Markus said, as walked from the scene with Nariko following him.
"If we ever meet Nightmare, you should be careful not to underestimate him, because being able to create these kinds of monsters, he must be indeed someone very powerful." Markus said.
On the top of a building, where Nightmare stood with his cloak flowing in the wind, he watched the scenery were the battlefield where Markus and Nariko fought the Scorpion Gang and its leaders.
"As expected from a Zyrdack. You always bring such surprises. Don't you worry. The next time, I will have a way better gift, which will be so good; it will be your last." Nightmare said in a sinister tone.
And with this chapter done, please review, favorite and follow.
I know this took such a long time, and this ended up longer than I thought, but with important things going on in real life, it made things complicated.
In case you wonder for Natsu and the Fairy Tail Guild, don't worry, they will appear soon enough, and will be of course different than in canon.
In this chapter, we saw the debut of Nightmare from the original Demon´s Power, who will have a large role in the story, with some minor changes.
For the Scorpion Gang´s leader, their name origins come from this.
"Garraz" comes from "Garras", the Spanish word for "Claws."
"Agu" comes from "Aguijòn", meaning "Stinger" in Spanish.
"Capa" comes from "Capaparazon", Spanish for Shell.
I wanted to keep Fiore´s theme in naming their towns and locations after glowers, such Foxglove Swamps, "Foxglove" meaning in flower and plant symbolism "Insecurity," relating to its dangerous nature.
For the Town, "Fern" "Shelter, enchantment, sincerity, confidence, and Magic", a reference to Markus and Nariko taking shelter, and the Scorpion Gangs new forms and overconfident nature.
I will make sure to update this story and my other stories when I can, as this story will soon enter a new arc, but not yet. I am not gonna abandon this story, as I have plans for this.
Until then, see you all later!