Chapter 6 – Kolulu
Please Note: The Gash Cafe – a part of the Zatch Bell universe which I only recently discovered thanks to this story's reviewer – will NOT be considered canon.
Unblinking, Zeno's eyes tracked his next potential ally – yet another female, pink-haired, pure humanoid.
Zeno didn't recognize any family or clan traits. There were a few mixed-heritage orphans in this competition, like Clear, and this demon was probably one of them. Unlike Clear, whose history was known to Zeno due to its ties with the Lightning clan and the minor intrigue his case had garnered in the Demon world, the other orphans were unknowns. There was, however, a bit of intrigue about the orphanage itself.
Every month or so the caretakers had called the local authorities about vicious attacks– sometimes against children, other times against adults, most times against the walls of the orphanage, and a few times against nearby buildings. These attacks all had two things in common: they were carried out by large, slashing claws, and the orphanage seemed to be their epicenter.
The obvious guess had been that a child was throwing temper-tantrums. But there weren't any Beast Clan orphans who could have delivered the damage directly, nor any Beast Clan adults nearby (if the assumption that a child had done it was wrong), nor were there any Robot Clan members who could have staged the attacks in such a way as to frame the Beast Clan.
The culprit had never been found.
Three children from that odd orphanage had made it into this competition, and his current target was probably one of them. She was Tia's size, had curly, bubblegum pink hair, wore a hand-made outfit that didn't seem demon-crafted, and was very ordinary-looking. Based on appearance alone, Zeno had just found Tia a friend.
The probably-orphan's partner also didn't stand out in any way – Dufort said she was a High School student, given her uniform.
The demon and human pair were in an otherwise empty park.
They were isolated, alone, and vulnerable.
Perfect.
"Greetings," Zeno announced as he appeared directly in front of the two, spiking his demon powers and executing a regal bow.
"LORI!" the Demon girl shrieked. "HELP!"
Zeno suppressed a sigh.
Two in a row.
He hoped this wouldn't become a trend.
Perhaps he shouldn't place undue stress on the senses of potential recruits in the future. He typically hid his aura until the moment of arrival, at which point he radiated power full-blast to inspire fear and awe. The tactic was especially effective against those that knew about power-sensing. Those that could understand their own feelings of apprehension could understand Zeno's strength.
But he might have to stop doing that with the worst of the weaklings; he wanted rational fear, not irrational panic.
"But Kolulu-" the high school student protested.
On the other hand, he did want to measure the strengths and weaknesses of all potential recruits. Maybe he would continue radiating his power with each encounter, to encourage true battles in fight-or-flight scenarios.
"HELP!"
Zeno watched the Mamodo girl with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't even done anything yet, and he could tell this orphan didn't recognize him.
The human girl drew a pink/purple book from her bag – a strange dual color pattern he'd never seen before – and shouted, "Zeruk!"
"NO!" Kolulu screamed, "I didn't mean-"
The spell prevented her from saying anything else.
Her body changed, reshaping itself to become larger. Fiercer. Sharper.
Her hair darkened, going from pink to purple. Her curls grew in length until they were spiky dreads. Bear-like boot-paws grew around her feet, while long, bestial claws extended from her fingers. Her teeth also sharpened, becoming more like Zeno's.
A beast-humanoid hybrid? Zeno thought. That would explain why she was orphaned...
The instant the change finished, the bestial girl dashed forward, long metal claws extended in attack.
"A body-enhancement specialist?" Zeno yawned dramatically. "Boring."
Zeno dodged the claws with ease and grabbed her arms, keeping the sharp parts well away from his skin or mantle. He felt surprisingly strong muscles beneath the skin of her wrists.
"Boring?" the girl asked in a distorted voice. "BORING?! I'LL SHOW YOU BORING‼ HUMAN, USE THE SPELL AGAIN!"
"Z-Zeruk!" the highschooler said shakily.
The demon girl's muscles grew even stronger- or perhaps the spell gave a burst of strength that diminished over time, but was at the peak of its power when first cast- in any case, the girl gained enough strength to wrench her arms free from his grasp and slash forward.
But her speed was still rather lack-luster and he easily dodged.
"STAND STILL SO I CAN GET MY CLAWS IN YOUR HEAD!"
He dodged again.
"I'll MAKE IT SO YOU DON'T EXIST!"
He intercepted her final slash with his mantle.
"I'M WORSE THAN ANYTHING IN YOUR IMAGINATION!"
Zeno eyed the girl critically as she, after shouting this final sentence, realized her claws were stuck and began trying to free them from his robes.
"Personality change?" he asked out loud.
The girl ripped her claws from her mantle and hopped backwards.
"You already have a forbidden technique?" the Thunder Prince inquired, eyebrows raised. "On a stage one spell? I take it back, that's not boring at all." He teleported forward, raised his hand, and paused only long enough to let her see his attack coming. "But it won't be enough."
"Zaker."
And she was blasted backwards by a strong shock of lightning and cried out in pain. She seemed sturdy, though; she should be able to recover from Zaker, even a highly powered one, so Zeno wasn't worried. He didn't want to burn her book just yet – not before she decided her own fate, which she wouldn't be able to do until after she'd heard about Clear. But she still had some fight left, so that could wait.
"S-strong..." said the demon from the ground, struggling to her feet. "N-need t-to be stronger... I'm real... I'LL PROVE IT!"
A bright glow came from the direction of her human.
"A new spell!" her human gasped.
"SAY IT!" shouted the purple-haired demon.
"I-I don't think... Kolulu..."
"WHAT'S WRONG?!" shrieked the demon. "SAY IT‼"
"Y-you're n-not my Kolulu," the human stuttered. "I d-don't-"
"SAY IT OR WE LOSE! IF WE LOSE, I DISAPPEAR! SAY IT!"
"But if I say a new spell, Kolulu might never come back!"
"SAY IT, SAY IT, SAY IT! SAY IT OR ELSE!"
"B-but-"
"SAY! IT!"
"Z-Zerusen!"
The demon girl's fingers lost their claws and her fists turned into gauntlets, knuckles studded with gems.
"YES!"
After only a moment to aim, her forearms detached from her elbows like missiles, shooting forward knuckles-first.
And Zeno suddenly understood what was going on, even as the missiles detonated harmlessly against his mantle. The exchange just now had made him realize, but he really should have seen it earlier, all things considered. He should have understood as soon as he saw her first transformation.
This girl has a forbidden technique as a stage-one spell.
Forbidden techniques are classified as those which change the personality of the user while in effect, usually by enhancing aggression, anger, and ferocity.
This girl came from an orphanage suffering from periodic attacks which left behind only claw marks.
This girl's first spell was a claw-attack spell.
Therefore, this girl was the culprit.
"Well, well, well," Zeno hummed appreciatively as the smoke cleared. "Aren't we the naughty one? Pretending to be cute and innocent while secretly using a forbidden spell to have fun and get away with it. Smart."
"Zeno," Dufort said from behind him, even as the girl shouted at her human to cast the spell again. "She wasn't pretending."
Zeno's eyes darted to his partner. "Wha-?"
But he was cut off by another detonation of two fists, one of them almost connecting with his cheek.
Zeno snarled, putting his cloak in between himself and his enemy.
"She genuinely didn't want her human to cast that spell," Dufort said before the smoke could clear. He spoke quietly enough that Zeno knew it wasn't meant for the others to hear, thus Dufort was not technically breaking the terms of their arrangement. "It looks like a case of split personality – also called Dissociative Identity Disorder, or sometimes just Schizophrenia. The phrases 'you're only in my head', 'you're just my imagination', 'you don't exist', and 'you're not real' are likely to set her off, in ascending order of escalation. But beyond that, this case seems... strange. It doesn't match my understanding of human psychology."
Zeno's eyes returned to the girl, who was panting with fists raised in front of her. This girl's situation was fooling even Dufort's perceptiveness. Dufort's human-based deceptiveness.
Snippets of thought flashed through his mind.
Humanoid appearance...
Beast heritage...
Forbidden spell...
Split personality...
And in a shock of insight, he knew what was going on.
"ANOTHER SPELL!" she shouted.
"Zeruk!"
As Zeno grappled with the girl, the logic presented itself with certainty. The initial leap of intuition had suggested the answer; from there, it was just a matter of working backwards, fitting in the pieces of the puzzle.
This demon was an orphan – i.e. she had parents of unknown ancestry.
Obviously there was Beast Clan in there somewhere, and maybe a little Robot Clan, but Humanoid was the dominant trait.
Although there aren't that many examples in history of human-beast hybrids without any outward signs of the Beast Clan, there are examples.
In such cases, a common way for the Beast Clan ancestry to manifest is...
"She pretends you don't exist, doesn't she?" Zeno asked after allowing the girl to block a kick that sent her backwards.
The purple-haired Mamodo froze mid-backwards-skid.
"She suppresses you. Keeps you hidden. Keeps you locked away. Probably insults you. Am I on the right track?"
The purple-haired Mamodo, Zeno could clearly see, started to tremble.
"She's been keeping you in a cage, and now you finally get a taste of real freedom. Correct?"
The breathing of the purple-haired Mamodo grew visibly labored and audibly hoarse.
Bingo.
"In fact," Zeno continued flippantly, "she probably doesn't even acknowledge your existence anymore. And even if she does, I bet she thinks my father – Dauwan Bell the Demon King – conjured you out of nothing so her weak body would stand a chance in this fight. Or something stupid like that."
The purple-haired Mamodo was shivering so hard it almost looked like she would fall over.
"You're only 'in her head'. You're just her 'imagination'. You 'don't exist'. I bet she doesn't even need to repeat it to herself anymore. After all..."
His opponent now shivered so much that her legs – still covered in fur and claws – were beginning to buckle.
"...why would she need to talk to you..."
The girl swayed like she was about to fall over a cliff.
"...when 'you're not real'?"
The purple-haired Mamodo lost any and all semblance of sanity. She slashed forward without refreshing her spell. She stabbed with abandon, swung without restraint... but also without much power. She did give an ear-splitting scream, though – or perhaps a humanoid-version of a beast clan roar would say it better – and what she lacked in strength, she made up for in ferocity.
Zeno sparred with her for a while, appreciating the unorthodox style. He only brought it to an end when the girl seemed to be tiring out. At that point, Zeno caught her fists at the wrists just as he did when they first clashed. He stared directly into her eyes.
"But you are real, aren't you?" he asked, his royal eyes shining intensely. "And in a way, you're realer than she is."
That did it.
The purple-haired demon broke down entirely, collapsing to the ground and sobbing out in great gasps.
Inner animal, Zeno thought as he let go of her arms. Rare, but not THAT rare.
Usually, beast-humanoid hybrids are like Ashron: one personality, two forms.
Unusually, humanoid-beast hybrids are like this girl: two personalities (one humanoid and one bestial), but a single form that gets modified when using spells.
Although instances where the demon suppresses their second personality ARE extremely rare, Zeno thought to himself. In the TWO historical examples of demons rejecting their inner animals and trying to cage or ignore them, the monthly results weren't pretty. And this case actually seems WORSE than the two cases I know about.
"Y-y-you," gasped the girl through her tears. She looked up at him, and Zeno couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment at just how pitiful and pathetic her eyes looked. They had burned fiercely before, but they only blinked feebly now. "Y-you *gasp* th-think *gasp* I'm r-real?"
"Obviously. You're here, aren't you?"
And that only caused her to cry harder.
Her human, with no awareness at all of how her question would affect Kolulu, asked, "Are- are you going to give me back Kolulu now?"
Her Mamodo shot her a hate-filled glare.
Zeno couldn't help but do the same. "You're not helping. This is Kolulu."
The human shook her head in staunch denial. "No! Kolulu is gentle and kind and caring! She's not a monster!"
Inner-Kolulu flinched and began to hiccup.
"All Mamodo are monsters," Zeno shrugged. "Only difference here is she's two-in-one. You hit the demon jackpot. Lucky you."
"WHAT?" the human demanded. "What are you talking about?!"
Zeno sneered at the stupid human. "Think of the Kolulu you know as the kind Kolulu, the gentle Kolulu, the harmless Kolulu, the weak Kolulu." Zeno grinned. "And think of her-" he jabbed a finger at the spiky-haired demon on the ground "-as the Kolulu that's allowed to get angry, allowed to know passion, allowed to be strong, and allowed to have fun."
Inner Kolulu, still sobbing, managed a firm nod.
"But hurting people isn't fun!" the human shouted.
"You'd be surprised-"
"Zeno," Dufort said loudly, cutting him off. "I think I should take over."
Zeno growled, but didn't object. It had already been agreed upon: humans deal with humans, demons deal with demons. Not that he wanted to deal with this moronic human girl in the first place.
Dufort stepped forward, close enough to address the high-schooler more directly. He spoke in Japanese, despite the fact that humans with books didn't need to speak the same language to understand each other.
"Kolulu suffers from the demon version of split personality disorder," he said in a clear, crisp voice."It's more intense than the human version because there actually are two personalities inside her, not just two patterns of thought. When the spell ends, this Kolulu doesn't go away, she trades places with the Kolulu you know. Even if her book is burned and she's sent back to the Demon world, this Kolulu will still exist, and she'll eventually drive your Kolulu mad. If the two Kolulus don't learn how to coexist, sooner or later they're going to snap completely, and probably sooner. They'll end up leading a very short, very sad life."
Zeno nodded along, not showing his shock on his face. He was now beginning to understand, on a visceral level, no longer an intellectual one, just how insane Dufort's ability could be.
Dufort hadn't explained much about it – Zeno hadn't asked yet, because asking would be like admitting that he was beginning to give credence to the ridiculous notion that Dufort could answer any question perfectly. But Zeno did know that Dufort's powers mostly came from observation, deduction, and inference. They did not come from psychic powers, omniscience, or deus ex machina.
Even though Dufort called his ability 'answer-talker', he couldn't answer literally any question. He couldn't tell you where your mother lost her earing without knowing your mother and her habits, or without witnessing her in the act of losing her earring. Practically speaking, Dufort couldn't know the exact location of Zeno's enemies without getting some kind of hint, like he'd gotten from the "internet". It was why Zeno hadn't won this competition instantly. If his partner had known the 'answer' to the question "where are my enemies", Zeno could have teleported around and burned the books of the strongest competitors right away, before they had the chance to gain any strength. But Dufort didn't know where their competitors were. Information wasn't magically teleported into his head, it was gathered through his senses and logically sorted into plausible conclusions.
In other words, Dufort had apparently gotten what he'd just said about split personality in demons from context and inference.
Just context and inference.
Nothing more.
It had taken years for the best demon psychologists and biologists to do what Dufort had just done in seconds. And he'd simplified it so even a simpleton could understand, which is perhaps just as hard as figuring out the 'answer' in the first place. Smart people find complex answers to complex problems. Really smart people simplify those answers so anyone can understand them. Only the smartest people in the world can do both.
Zeno was beginning to look at his partner in a new light-
And then Dufort felt the need to say, "This Kolulu only hurts others because she is hurting. Understand?"
And there went Zeno's growing respect. He rolled his eyes at the clichéd crap which had just come from his partner's mouth... but his purple eyes paused mid-roll when they saw Kolulu's partner actually nodding and wearing a facial expression of dawning understanding.
Zeno's eyes went from whirling to wide, almost giving him whiplash.
That had worked?
Wait, of course it had worked. This was a teenaged girl they were addressing. Dufort had probably just asked himself the question 'How do I convince her as quickly as possible?' and said what his 'answer-talker' told him to say.
Zeno suppressed the urge to sigh again.
"A-are you really Kolulu?" the human asked, now looking at her Mamodo with mixed fear and fragility.
"YES!" the demon shouted, still only managing to do so in between sobs. "Stupid *gasp* human."
"I-if you're really Kolulu," the human said, "then you should know who I am. My name isn't 'human'."
There was a long pause.
Then, inner Kolulu spoke quietly. "You have *breath* stupid parents and *breath* a stupid whiteboard and *breath* stupid classmates and *breath* a stupid boyfriend. You should *gasp* dump him."
There was another pause, as the human's mouth dropped open.
"But I love *breath* my new clothes, *sob* Lori."
And Lori's mouth stayed dropped, even as Kolulu began to shrink, her purple hair receding, becoming brighter in color.
"N-NO!" inner-Kolulu suddenly shouted. "I DON'T *gasp* I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK IN! CAST A SPELL! CAST-"
But by then, the full transformation was finished. The pink-haired demon girl swayed on her feet, then fell on her butt, blinking her eyes rapidly.
"Ugh..." she groaned. "What happened?"
"I happened," Zeno said menacingly from right above her, exuding as much demon energy as he could. "And you are going to hear what I have to say."
"LORI!" outer-Kolulu shrieked.
So, same dealio as with Clear's backstory: Kolulu's evil personality has never been explained in canon to my satisfaction.
Zeno at one point said that his father is the one who forced demons to fight against their will, but Zeno was almost certainly lying in order to discourage Zatch. Despite everything the demon king did to baby Zeno, Dauwan Bell doesn't strike me as that kind of Mamodo. A Gash Cafe scene even states outright that Dauwan didn't want the competition to happen, but even as the Demon King he was helpless to stop the "books" from coming into existence and choosing 100 demons and 100 humans.
The canon explanation behind Kolulu is almost certainly that the "book" (i.e. the author of the Zatch Bell Manga personified in-universe) forced her to develop an aggressive personality... and if that's the case, I don't see anything wrong with this author (i.e. me) coming up with a different explanation.
And about the Gash Cafe, Kolulu is shown to have parents there. That's why it's not considered canon even if it's written & drawn by Zatch Bell's author. In the manga Kolulu is introduced to us as a crying girl in the streets, and I thought to myself, "Looks like an orphan to me." Or more formally: "A normally-raised demon king contestant wouldn't act like that. Thus, orphan." I now realize that her having parents is actually much more plausible. It's pretty traumatizing to suddenly not having anyone to look after you, and if she was just a normal demon kid not expecting to enter the competition, it would be scary being forced away from your parents. And in fact, an orphan in her place probably wouldn't be crying in the middle of the street upon their arrival in the human world, given that they would already be used to being alone. But oh well. Hindsight is 20-20. What's done is done. This chapter was already made when I learned about Gash Cafe, and I like how it turned out too much to change it.