Fingers tapping furiously against her thighs.
Tension building up, teeth grinding against one another.
Impatience shrouding her instinct, Zombina's thoughts eventually turned to words.
"Uwaaaghh...hurry up, damn it! What the hell's taking you so slow?"
"Calm down a little, Bina-chan. Why do you want to go there so quickly?"
"Maybe she's into Doomguy-san?"
"That's not funny, Manako-chan."
"But...that wasn't a joke.."
"Even if you were right, I wouldn't be surprised. Bina-chan's got really weird tastes in men."
"HEY!! That was one time!! How was I supposed to know beforehand he had an armpit fetish?"
"And yet you still went through with it anyways. Just how desperate are you?"
"Say, Doppel, you wanna know how hard I can punch?"
"Wh-what?"
"Girls!! We're almost there. If you don't mind, I'd like a little more quiet."
"Shut your mouth and just keep driving, mister...whoever you are..."
"The name's Shimezawa, remember that."
"Wait a minute... aren't you the driver who drove us back during the...the incident?"
"Glad somebody remembers me.."
"Huh, I thought you were dead."
"What? I was with you girls the whole time!!"
"Really? Didn't feel like it.."
"I...nevermind. We're here."
As the vehicle came to a halt, the members of the MON squad found themselves in front of the Kurusu residence. The sheer size of the house, due to the staggering number of residents within, was big enough to induce a "wow" factor to the squad, even though this wasn't the first time they've visited the residence.
"Man, it looked so much bigger than before." Zombina felt the need to express her thoughts.
"I think it looked just the same." Manako replied.
"Kimihito-kun must be having a really hard time.." Doppel spoke in a dull tone, apparently aware of the terrors a harem protagonist usually has to deal with.
"So, should we come in now? Remember what we came here for?" Tionishia decided to chime in, while busy eating a bag of chips, which she pulled out from..somewhere. Zombina was the first to answer, with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Yeah yeah, check on Loverboy-kun and his gals, and also...checking on him."
The mood of the entire squad suddenly took an abrupt change. Memories from that day began resurfacing. It has been more than a week since the incident, and the butterfly effect caused by the tragedy continued to affect the current society in irreversible ways. Humans now both fear and despise liminals more than before, despite the fact that they weren't actually to blame based on what data was gathered.
In fact, the ensuing racial discrimination was the reason the MON squad was forced to travel to the urban area of Asaka inside a large modified cargo van, large enough to fit all of the squad members obviously. The reason was to avoid unnecessary attention from human civillians roaming around, as Smith herself surmised that their..appearance, might induce fear and anxiety among humans, especially considering Zombina's undead nature and Tio's large stature.
Zombina didn't really mind the fact. Rather, she thought it'd be funny for people to actually be scared of her because they were afraid she was going to bite their arms off. Tionishia unsurprisingly didn't take it well, as she would never want anyone to see her as a monster. Though she silently hoped that things would change for the better soon, and she wouldn't need to worry about how people look at her anymore.
In spite of recent events, the squad knew that their responsibility has not vanished, and right now they have a rather important objective to accomplish.
One regarding a certain man clad in green armor.
"Welp, let's go meet our 'old friend'. You guys wanna keep standing around, I don't care." Zombina swiftly walked towards the door of the house, leaving her teammates behind.
"Wait! You're acting awfully restless, even more than your usual self. You've been like this since he arrived. What's wrong with you?" Doppel suddenly interjected.
Zombina stopped in her tracks. "What's wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with me! What are you babbling about?"
"Stop pretending! All this time I've been seeing you all jumpy, like you're about to punch a wall for no reason. And that's how you've been ever since that incident."
"Oh please, you're dying to get to him just as much as I do. Stop trying to act all nonchalant, like I'm the only one with issues." Zombina's response, came as a shock to Doppel.
" W-what are you talking about? I'm not interested in him at all!! Stop talking nonsense!" Doppel rapidly tried to wave off Zombina's accusation, to no avail.
"Come on, you thought we didn't notice this whole time? Me and both Tio and Manako-chan had seen it! Almost like you knew something we didn't! And yet you just decided to leave us in the dark!"
"Wha-what do you mean? Why are you accusing me all of a sudden? I know about as much as anything just like the rest of you!"
"What a load of bull. You've been acting on edge like you're about to get jumped, and then what about how you've been asking all kinds of weird shit to Smith-san regarding our 'mutual friend', like you're obsessed with the guy? And how you're all ruffled up when she didn't answer some of them like you're about to burst a damn blood vessel?"
"...okay, maybe I have been a little bit wackadoo, but I'm just suspicious about our 'guest' like we all normally should! It's only normal for me to get curious, so why are you so irked about it!?"
"That's not how you usually are, Doppel. You never take interest in other people, even your own team, only thinking about how to prank them to satisfy yourself. But these past few days, you've been "engrossed" with anything even remotely related the big guy, like you have a crush on him or something. It's really goddamn annoying, you know that? If anything, you're the one who's been acting wacko, so don't you dare call me out like a fucking hypocrite!!"
"Everyone STOP!!!"
The verbal fight grinded to a halt, courtesy of Tio.
Doppel and Zombina both turned towards Tionishia, who had stopped eating her chips. Her eyes were wet, and her usual demeanor was gone.
Manako stood beside Tio, stunned by her sudden shout. She opted to say something, but decided it was best to stay silent. Things had already gone bad enough as is.
"Please...sob...just stop...why are we fighting? I just don't understand...sob...I don't get it at all...
..what happened..sob...that day...it changed us...it changed everyone...and, I don't like it, okay? Can't we just go back...sob...to before...?"
After hiding her emotions for so long, Tio finally broke. And it pained everyone to see that way. She was always the most cheerful and loving among them.
Zombina gritted her teeth in contempt, directed towards herself. The incident...it really changed everything. Even herself. Now she felt like a real jackass, which she really was.
It was just her way of venting her own frustration, for not being able to do much during the attack. All those bodies...she couldn't get the image out of her head. It haunted her, and it made her crazy.
It grinded her gears, because she imagined for a second, all those bodies? They could've been her teammates instead. As much of a jerk she was from time to time, she still cared about her team. It was the closest thing to a family she ever had. Well, the only one she could remember having anyway, after turning into a Zombie.
"Sorry, Tio-chan...it's just...so many things have happened, and I'm not really in the, right state of mind right now..."
"Yeah..I'm sorry too, Tio-chan...I've been neglecting you guys, because of all the things that happened, and I wasn't thinking clearly..."
Doppel also decided to apologize, as she also realize her wrongdoing. She was too indulged in the old legend of the Hellwalker, that she didn't take into account how her own team was feeling.
She may be a trickster who takes delight in pulling pranks on others, even on her own team, but that did not mean she had no morale, or even a humane side of her. And thus, seeing Tio in such a state, made her look back on her own mistakes.
"Hey." Zombina called out to Doppel.
"Yeah?" She answered.
"Sorry about what I said, I.. didn't really mean it." Zombina stated, in the most appropriate way she could muster. Doppel raised an eyebrow in return, staring at the former with a questioning look.
"Reeeally?"
"...okay, maybe I did meant some of the things I said, but I'm still apologizing, so just accept it, okay?"
"Hmph...alright, apology accepted. And, I'm sorry too."
Doppel smirked, and Zombina simply grinned in return.
"...sniff...see? That wasn't so hard, was it? We're all friends, after all." Tio spoke up, her tone more cheery than before, while proceeding to dry her tears using a tissue paper that came out from nowhere.
"I...I'm sorry too...sniff..." Manako suddenly teared up as well, surprising Tio.
"Why? You did nothing wrong."
"I just felt...really useless...that's all..."
"Aww...you're not useless, Manako-chan...you never are..." Tio softly responded, while hugging Manako tightly, nearly suffocating her with her tremendously large "assets". Zombina and Doppel merely chuckled at the scene.
"..sob..geez, that was...unexpectedly beautiful...sob...I-I'm gonna need minute...y-you guys go on..." The driver, who drove them there in the first place, softly confessed. The squad stared at him in bewilderment, unaware that he was still present the whole time.
"Right...I forgot that...driver guy was still here...what was his name again?"
"..sob..it's Shimezawa, dammit!"
"Hey, I think we should check on Kimihito-kun now. We've been standing here for a while." Zombina bluntly stated.
"Sure, we'll go on ahead." Tio replied, back to her calm self. She walked towards the front door, along with Manako, who was still busy trying to catch her breath.
Meanwhile, Zombina and Doppel stood there, still thinking about the recent fuss that just happened. Doppel was the first to speak.
"...sooo, are we..."
"We're not telling Smith about this."
"Fine by me."
Tio decided to knock on the door, before greeting.
Knock knock knock
"Good morning! Is anyone ho-"
Rage.
Brutal.
Without mercy.
But he was worse.
Fields of corpses. Littered across the desolate plains.
In the first age, In the first battle...
Rain of blood.Pouring the landscape. Neverending.
When the shadows first lengthened, one stood..
Fear.
Agony. Suffering. Hatred. Rage.
Indescribable rage.
Tionishia stood frozen, like a statue. Her eyes could not look away. Her body could not move.
For in her presence, on the other side of the door, he stood.
She expected one of the girls, or even Kimihito himself to open the door. Perhaps a warm greeting, or a nice little chat before moving on to tea.
Instead, she met face to face, with a faceless glass visor.
Even though he was shorter than she was, her being an Ogre after all, she still felt like he was the one towering over her. His vastly intimidating presence overshadowing her own massive figure.
Manako was also petrified by his presence, to the point words couldn't come out of her mouth, even if she tried.
Zombina and Doppel caught up to them closely behind.
"Tio-chan~... why are you just standing there? Is there-"
They both ended up the same way as their two other teammates. Frozen in terror.
'Why am I hearing heavy industrial metal in my head all of a sudden?' Zombina thought to herself.
"Oh...hey, uh...Doomguy...how ya been doing??"
Zombina tried to say it in the friendliest manner she could. Even as a Zombie, for some reason her survival instincts began kicking in the moment her eyes laid upon the green armored man, her mind subconsciously figuring whether to fight or flight in the case of the unexpected.
The Doomslayer, was perplexed. He was just trying to be polite by opening the door for them, and the four demihuman females for some reason simply stood there, anxiety plastered on their faces.
Of course, initially he thought there were demons in the front yard. But then he remembered that demons would never have the proper etiquette to knock first. Damn, he was really starting to miss them.
Maybe VEGA was right. Next time he should just let Kimihito greet the guests.
The MON squad were unsure of what to do. Sure, this wasn't their first time meeting the Slayer, yet his unfiltered aura never ceased to give them a serious case of the spooks.
Their worries soon vanished, as soon after, they heard footsteps coming from the hallway, and a familiar face popped up from behind the Slayer.
"Ah, good morning! Say... where's Smith?"
"She's busy, had to do some stuff back at the office." Doppel replied. This sentence, in particular, dumbfounded Kimihito.
"Wait... you're saying, she's actually...working?"
"Yep." Tio casually replied.
"Like... you're sure she wasn't slacking off in some random bar or anything? Like, she's actually working?"
"Well, umm...the office needed all available Cultural Exchange Coordinators to sort some...paperwork, I think.That's what Smith said anyway. She didn't tell us everything, unfortunately, so...we just went by ourselves instead." Manako explained.
"So..um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you guys doing here? Why are you all wearing combat uniforms? Did...did I do something wrong again?"
"Nah, we're just here to check on you and your little harem, see how you're doing...oh, and also...to check on him." Zombina replied, her index finger pointed at the Doomslayer.
The atmosphere tensed once more. Apparently anything regarding the subject of the Slayer, was prone to induce a constant uneasiness and suspense among those involved.
"Wh-why? Is there something wrong with..him?" Kimihito asked, sweat forming on his forehead.
"Smith wants to know if you're having any problems with our, guest, during his stay here. Why, is there something you're hiding from us?" Doppel asked curiously, eyes narrowed.
"Uhh-no!! No...we're fine, thank you. Um..in fact, why don't you girls come in for a cup of tea?" Kimihito hesitantly replied.
"Ohh, that would be really nice! I've always wanted to try a glass of iced sweet tea!" Tio happily exclaimed.
"But you just drank two glasses of those this morning." Doppel bluntly remarked.
"Shushhh...Manako-chan, Loverboy's treating us to free drinks, why not just accept his kind generosity, hmm? It's not like we've got anything better to do anyway, ri~ight?" Zombina whispered rather loudly to Doppel. She wanted to say something in return, but thought that this, may be a good chance to get closer to him, and learn more about the living legend.
But from the way Zombina said it, it sounded like she also had the same idea.
_
"What. The. Hell?"
Zombina couldn't contain her perplexity.
She and the MON squad had visited Kimihito Kurusu's household before, thanks to Smith, and she was quite familiar with all the liminals staying under his roof. Especially with their antics.
After their failed operation involving a hostage situation carried out by a group of Orcs, who have now been deported and scarred for life courtesy of a certain man in green, they decided to hang out at Smith's friend's household, or so she said. Said "friend" also happened to be none other than Kimihito himself.
After another debacle, which involved a runaway Arachne, was shortly dealt with, Smith decided that Kimihito could handle another liminal girl under his custody. As if he didn't have enough girls in his accidental harem already, which was why Zombina began calling him "Loverboy".
And it was the day after that everything changed, when the MON squad had to deal with...that incident. She'd rather not think about it now.
But today was different. It was too quiet.
All of the girls, were currently sitting in their respective seats on the dinner table, having drinks in a surprisingly polite manner, napkins and all.
That's the problem. They're too...civilized? Whatever the right word is, they were definitely not their usual selves. Things were usually more...hectic than this.
Even Papi, who was usually playful and childish, simply sipped her warm chocolate and sat in silence like an obedient child. The same could be said for Miia, Centorea and Meroune. Centorea was the only one who didn't seem out of character since it was natural and befitting of her own knightly status to have a proper etiquette.
Suu was quietly inside a jug, with only her eyes visible, and her "antennae", or "slime feelers", protruding out the open lid, which was also unusual for her. Rachnera, however, was tied to a chair with a rope for some reason, and also seemed to be...asleep?
'Wait, is she unconscious? Who could've-oh.'
Zombina's thought was immediately answered the moment she laid eyes on a certain man in green armor, who was currently laying back against a wall, arms crossed. Whatever happened before they came here, she was hesitant to find out.
"Hi, everyone! How are things...going?" Tionishia tried her best to give a warm greeting to the residents of the house, but she was having second thoughts as to whether her action would be appropriate at this time.
Surprisingly, Miia spoke first. "Ah, we're fine, Tio-chan. We're just having a tea-time right now, like normal people. Isn't that right, everyone?"
"Yep." "Of course." "Y-yeah."
The MON squad looked at each other in concern, before they eventually decided to break the ice.
"Hey Loverboy, what the hell happened before we came here?" Zombina asked.
Kimihito moved his mouth, yet no words came out. His eyes were consistently darting towards the Doomslayer, who hasn't moved an inch since earlier.
Then, unexpected to anyone, the Slayer gave a single nod towards Kimihito, earning questioning looks from the squad. Kimihito gave a deep sigh, and began explaining to them.
Apparently, this morning everything was happening exactly the way it should. Kimihito waking up, almost suffocating to death by Miia's deadly hug, and Suu nearly molesting everyone(except for Kimihito), all of which were stopped by our green friend. His enormous strength was enough to overpower Miia, and his ferociously deathly aura was enough to even send Suu shriveling back into her slime form out of sheer fear.
Afterwards, came a noisy breakfast session between all of the residents of the household.
Well, almost all of them. One particular individual merely sat alone, separated from everyone, and enjoyed his steak.
Afterwards, Rachnera, out of sheer boredom due to having nothing better to do, decided it would be a good idea to practise her "craftsmanship" by tying all of the girls, with the exception of Suu, in embarassing and obscene positions, like usual.
Her mistake was, out of deep curiosity and her own inner sense of mischief, she decided to include their green friend as well, in her act.
Turns out, Arachne webbings were about as effective as wet cardboard, when it comes to restraining the Unchained Predator.
This proved to be the final straw for the Doomslayer.
Terrified by an enraged Slayer, Rachnera desperately tried to trap him further using more of her webbings, a rather idiotic move which only served to add more fuel to the flaming inferno that was the Slayer's fury.
The situation ended with Rachnera lying on the ground, with a small bruise formed on her forehead, and dozens of furnitures broken beyond repair. Apparently, the scene was so traumatizing that the rest of the girls instinctively decided not to piss the Slayer off, which brought them to where they are now. Centorea had the courage to try and impeach him because of his violent action, but a simple deadly stare immediately shut her up.
Kimihito had tried to reason with the Slayer to be more patient with the girls and be more forgiving with them, but another murderous look caused him to fearfully zip his mouth.
The Doomslayer had only been here for at most, a couple of days, and his presence had already seemingly affected the entire household.
"So...that's why."
"Doomguy-san is a really scary person, isn't he?"
"Honestly, I'm not even surprised at this point."
Kimihito had nothing to say, the least he could do was smile in embarassment. He hated to admit it, but he was starting to feel like he's not the boss in his own house anymore. He felt like just another homestay himself, and the Slayer was his host, with none to stand in his way and say otherwise.
Truthfully, he wasn't sure how long he could survive this. Especially considering Smith didn't exactly tell him how long the Doomslayer will be staying here. For all he knew, he might be a permanent member of this household.
_
The Doomslayer was furious. As usual.
He thought the UAC was intolerable. Now he was actually starting to prefer them over this.
At least the UAC, as reckless as they were, simply acted on desperation due to the people of Earth running out of resources to meet their demands. It wasn't really their fault they just happened to discover Argent Energy in some barren red planet. Frankly, he wasn't even sure himself how the Argent managed to leak all the way to their dimension. Perhaps he had been to Earth before, but eons of fighting and hibernation had done a serious toll on his memory.
These demihumans, acted too much on their own impulses and desires, rather than acting like normal people. The half-horse girl..what was her name..Centorea, seemed to be the only one who acted mature from what he had seen so far. He thought the half-spider girl was the same, too, until she tied up all the girls, except the slime girl, in weirdly obscene fashion. And then she tried to do the same to him, of all people.
If that was her method of pulling pranks on people, she had made a major mistake. The Doomslayer does not like to be pranked.
He couldn't even imagine how the human, Kimihito, managed to endure so much hardship controlling all of the demihumans staying under his roof. It's like that guy had, as the humans put it, literal balls of steel, or something.
Perhaps it was slightly hypocritical for him to be angry with the demihumans for being too impulsive, considering his own reputation. After all, this is the man who waged a one man war against all of Hell itself for ages, because of a deal gone horribly wrong. Except his cause was personally more justified, and beneficial to the survival of all other races in other dimensions threatened by Hell's existence. That, and nobody was complaining about it. Except the UAC.
"Your stress levels are rising rapidly again, Slayer. Would you like me to initiate Protocol D-76?" VEGA's voice interrupted his line of thought, which just so happened to be what he sorely needed right now.
An entire system protocol developed by VEGA, dedicated simply to calming the Slayer's boiling blood pressure. That's how badly he was going through his current situation right now.
The Slayer mentally nodded in his head to VEGA's question. Somehow, the AI in his helmet realized it.
"Now playing, "Rust, Dust and Guts" by Mick Gordon."
Don't ask why the Slayer listened to metal, of all musical genres, as a therapeutic method. It just works.
_
"So, this is it, Doc?"
"You know...I could get arrested for this. We both could get arrested for this. I'm not supposed to reveal this clip to you-"
"I know, I know, this is classified information, I'm not paid enough to watch this, yada yada yada...just put it on. I want to know, just what we're dealing with here."
"Sigh...if you really wish. I'm just warning you... don't watch this while eating. It's...not for the faint of heart."
"Understood, doc. Play it."
Smith sat silently, her eyes glued to the screen. The clip that she was currently seeing, was said to be the recorded video footage of the Doomslayer's exploits, all recorded from his helmet's visor by VEGA, which also apparently functioned as a camera.
Despite what her superiors say, Kuroko Smith intended to find out who the Slayer really was, where he really came from, and what really happened that eventually led him here.
Thankfully, her friend, Doctor Hiroto Nasui, who happened to be of high enough cerfitication to have access to the confidential files she needed, provided her with a copy of the saved footage.
Sipping the cup of coffee in her hand, she tiredly sighed. It has been a while since she had Kimihito's special brew.
And a long sleepless night awaits her.
--
--
Author's Note
So...it's been a while. Sorry, I was busy. But here it is. The next chapter.
There's not much I want to write this time, except if you enjoyed reading this, then I appreciate it. If you don't...well there's nothing I can do about it now anyway.
Thanks to all the good reviews so far, I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and for those who wanted more Doomslayer action, sorry but that'll have to wait until later chapters. I wanted to write more demon massacre just as much as you guys want to read it, but this chapter had to come out first.
As you've probably already noticed, the MON squad will make more appearances in this story, since their characters will be more relevant from now on. If some of the interactions felt a bit OOC, I'm just gonna put out my usual excuse: I tried my best, okay?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll see you in the next chapter.