Chapter 20. Harvest moon.


The I.M.P. crew drove the van towards the ranch. Poch was on his bike driving beside them with Loona riding with him. She wore a black crop top with a sleeveless red flannel shirt, and shorts with a red trim. Millie had on something similar except she wore a blue denim skirt. Moxxie had on a light gray dress shirt with a dark gray vest, a bow tie, black bets and black boots with a red trim. Blitzø had on a gray shirt with a red cow print vest, black pants, and the same boots as Moxxie. The Exterminators didn't wear anything different beside Jack and Shelly. Jack wore a black shirt and ripped jeans along with red cowboy boots. Shelly wored a checkered red shirt with a small jean jacket and short jeans.

They rolled up on the driveway where Millie's parents were, waving hi to them. Millie jumped out the van and ran up to her parents. "Mama! Daddy!" She embraced her father who twirled her around.

"Yeeeee-hawwww! How's my deadly little pumpkin spice doing?" Millie's father, Joe, asked, ruffling his daughter's hair.

"I'm good, Pa! Thanks for lettin' us stay here for the harvest jamboree."

"It's no trouble. We know you aren't making as much anymore since y'all went "freelance"." Millies mother, Lin, smiled.

"Freelance is fine ma, it's all fiiiine."

Moxxie was carrying out the luggage with the help of Solis. Millie grabbed him and brought him to her parents.

"Y'all remember my husband, Moxxie!"

They gave Moxxie a disapproving look.

"Greetings, Lin! Joe! How have you been, uh, with all the… flaming twisters and stuff around here?" He reached his hand out.

"We lost our old farm hand to one of them terrors last week," Joe scowled, "we're just lucky he had insurance for his medical bill. He aint working for us anymore though."

Moxxie laughed nervously. "Oh, crumbs. My bad! I am so sorry. I- I didn't mean to open that wound... sir."

"Hey, watch it bucko! I'm the only sir around here!" Blitzø chastised.

"Oh yeah! This is my boss Blitzø and his hellhound!"

"I'm not just his hellhound," Loona said.

"Yeah, she's my daughter!" Blitzø said, pulling her in.

"Only on paper," She rolled her eyes before taking out her phone as Blitzø walked up to Millie's parents, "yall dont deserve to know my name."

"I'll tell you her name for five bucks each," Poch smirked next to her.

"Pft, shut up!" She playfully nudged him.

"Oh, that one must be her boyfriend!" Lin said.

"He's/I'm not my/her boyfriend!" They said in unison.

"Wow, you weren't lying. They are in denial."

"Wanna join the bet ring!?" Jack asked.

Dundy punched him in the back of the head. "Shush, you gambler."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the sperm and egg factory that popped this little gem of an assassin! You two raised a sturdy bitch!" Blitzø commented.

"That we did! So... Blitzø, is it? Heh heh. That's a fine name," Joe said, shaking Blitzø's hand.

"Kinda reminds me of war," Lin said, "speaking of which, that group you have with ya, those are the exterminators right?"

"Yep!" Blitzø pulled them to the Exterminators. "This is Jack, Dundy, Shelly and her boyfriend Solis, whos not an exterminator, and my future son-in-law, Poch."

"Hiya!"Jack waved.

"Greetings," Dundy bowed.

"Howdy!" Shelly smiled.

"Hi!" Solis waved.

"Heya," Poch waved before looking at Blitzø, "whatd you call me?"

"Its an honor to meet the angel slayers in the flesh!" Joe said, shaking their hands.

"Pleasures ours! Thanks for having us!" Dundy said.

"Damn, you got some strong arms! Bet they really help with ripping off some heads!"

"They tend to help."

"Speaking of strong arms, yall should meet our newest helper. Hey! Striker!"

The sound of large hooves clopping was heard from the distance and coming closer. A black horse with flames coming out its mouth and its fire engulfed ribcage being shown, jumped over the fence and stopped in front of everyone. Riding the horse was an imp as tall as Blitzø with a serpent like face and a gold tooth fang. His skin was pale red, his hair an ivory white, and his eyes were bright yellow with green ringed pupils, and his horns were jagged. He had four black stripes at the base of his tail, and eight spines running up it, with one being on his tail fork. He wore a light red scarf around his neck, a large gray sunhat, a black turtleneck with a dark gray vest and a light gray jacket that had dark gray cuffs. His pants were ivory white while he had on stereotypical cowboy boots along with fingerless black gloves. He had a piece of wheat in his mouth.

He tipped his hat to them. "Well, howdy! Oh, lookie here! You must be the famous Mildred!" He hopped off his horse. "Heard some good things about you from your folks, little lady." Striker winked.

"Ooooh shucks!" Millie blushed.

Striker turned to Blitzø. "and you must be the bold imp that started his own killing biz!"

"Well if you're good at something, you should probably capitalize on it!" Blitzø said with pride.

"Not many imps start their own business. I'm impressed, sir!"

"Oh...! Yeah? It is- I- I- I guess- I guess it is, isn't it?"

"Hey! My ear's not a snack!" Poch exclaimed, Striker's horse nibbling on his ear. He pulled his ear away only for it to look at Jack and bite his shoulder.

"What the-!? I'm not horse food!" Jack said, trying to push it away.

"Bombproof! Heel!" Striker ordered his horse back. "Sorry bout that. You must be the exterminators!"

"That be us!" Jack said, wiping off slobber.

"Great to meet y'all in the flesh! The prince set you up in a nice shack in the back. Your other friends are finishing it up for y'all."

"Other friends?"

"I think I know one of them," Dundy smirked.

"Y'know, after yall get settled, why not take part in the Pain Games?" Joe suggested.

"I heard games! What games!?" Blitzø asked with excitement.

"Every harvest festival, there's a competition to be the roughest, toughest bastard in Wrath!" Jin explained.

"Yeah! Wish I could play!" Millie pouted.

"Well maybe if you had more self control."

"I got self control!"

"Honey, last time you partook in it you almost lobbed someone's head off!"

"He lived!"

"While it seems like fun, we'll have to decline," Dundy answered.

"What, why?" Jack asked.

"Because I don't think it is fair with our powers and all."

"We'll just not use our shadow demons."

"I'd trust Poch on that but not you and Shelly."

"We do tend to get carried away at times, Jack," Shelly admitted.

"Ugh fine!"

"It's fine. I'll go in your stead!" Moxxie declared.

"Hah!" Joe slapped his knee and laughed. "You?"

"Yeah, I can compete, can I?"

"Sorry, boy, but I don't think sensitive, thespian types would last very long in the games."

"I was born here too! I got some fight in me!"

Striker chuckled. "Huh. Well then, little fella... Why don'tcha help me wrangle one o' them hogs for dinner?" He pointed to one of the many sleeping hogs in the pin.

"Simple!"

Striker handed him a rope and dagger. "Here ya go."

"What are-?"

"You're gonna need it. They got a bullet proof shell so you'll need to stab it underneath and pry yourself an opening."

"I-I knew that!"

"Hey, could you guys use one more? I wanna try something with my blade," Poch asked.

"Oh! In that case make it two more cause I wanna try something with Dust!" Jack added.

"Sure! Would love to see some of yall in action!" Lin said.

Poch and Moxxie moved into the pin. Jack wrote for and called for Dust, sending it in the pen and having it turn into Poch, Millies parents watching with intrigue.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Poch asked.

"Don't mind it, just do what you do!" Jack reassured.

Poch was skeptical but went with it. He drew his daggers and the Shadow him mimicked his actions, also mimicking the forming of his chaos blade although it only formed a copy, not an actual chaos blade.

"Glad you're small enough for it to do that!" Jack said.

"Shut up!" Poch said.

Moxxie was creeping up to the first sleeping Hog. He had the dagger ready and leapt to the hog, wrapping the rope around its neck, holding tight as it woke with a startle, already trying to throw him off. Moxxie held tight, raised the blade and stabbed, the tip bouncing off the shell. "Oh crumbs," He said with dread. The boar bucked and thrashed about, giving Moxxie a wild ride.

"Moxxie!" Millie cried out in fear.

"You got him right where you want him, Mox!" Blitzø cheered.

"This is so fucking beautifal," Loona said while recording.

"Send me that later!" Blitzø said to Loona.

"AAAAH!" Moxxie yelped.

Striker jumped and pushed Moxxie off the hog, taking the knife and stabbing it in the neck with a smug grin, killing the beast. He hoisted the hog over his shoulder and walked over to Moxxie. "Dont worry little one. You never stood a chance. Especially around those two." He pointed to Poch and the Dust version of him.

Poch threw a rock at one of the hogs to get its attention. It huffed and charged at him, another charging at Shadow Poch since it did the same thing. He pulled his chaos blade back, letting it get closer. A small rush of chaotic energy coated his blade as the hog came closer and closer.

"Uh...Poch?" Loona said, a little worried.

The hog was ramming up to Poch, who still didn't move.

"Poch!"

right before its horns could gash into him, he swiftly slashed it. It screeched to a halt behind him and stood still. In a second of its stillness, it split into three segmented pieces. "Sweet!"

Jack noticed that the Shadow Poch only cutted the hog into two. "Wait, what? Dude, you use your chaos energy for that?"

"Yep, and it was a smaller dose so I don't have to worry about feedback so soon."

"Nice!" Jack dismissed Dust and felt a tingle in his right arm along with his exterminator symbol glowing. "The hell?"

Poch got the same thing along with Dundy and Shelly.

"This is a reaction. That you Jack?" Poch asked.

"Why would it be me?" Jack questioned, slightly offended.

"Well its not me," Shelly said.

"Not me," Dundy confirmed.

"Ah, sorry. Thats me," Echo said, standing next to Dundy. He calmed his demonic arts, stopping the reaction.

"Echo!?" Shelly, Jack, and Poch said in unison.

"Took you long enough to show your mug," Dundy smirked.

"Say the one in need of a cowboy mask," Echo smirked back.

"Ohoho!"

"This is one of them friends the prince told us he brought for you," Lin explained. "The other is probably in the Shack."

"I heard some commotion and the sounds of an owl so I came by to check," Echo said.

"That's great and all, but what are yo-" Jack was cut off by Bombproof biting his shoulder, "..." Jack pushed him off, "what are you doing here?"

"That's a more private explanation, one ill tell you in the new bunker Stolas set up for us."

"Does Albest know?" Poch asked.

"He was the one Stolas talked to first."

"Ah ok."

"So uh...we gonna get introduced or?" Blitzø asked.

"Oh right," Echo approached Blitzø, "I am Echo. I too am an exterminator. I'm not the only one who came though, Shred is in the bunker."

"Shreds here!? Hell yeah!" Jack cheered.

"Oh gr-" Poch's ear was bit by Bombproof, "...this fucking horse."

"Bombproof! Heel!" Striker got his steed to back up. "Sorry bout that. You didn't recently kill a human did ya?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well a royal with access to the human world made use of suiciders flesh to make a new expensive type of feed for horses. Apparently they love the taste of human flesh. He probably smells some remnants of it off ya."

"O-oh, Yeah that makes total sense," Poch said nervously, "I did recently go out on a hit yesterday!"

"That must be it. Cmon Bombproof!" He pulled his horse away.

Loona looked at Poch curiously. "We haven't been doing any assassinations this week."

"Yeah I know," Poch sighed.

"Then why'd you tell him that?"

"Well...it was a better explanation."

"Then what? You being bad at cleaning your ears?"

"Heh, no just….reasons."

"Like what?"

"...Well...its...I…" Poch tried to find the words.

"Hey Poch! We're going to the bunker while dinner's being made! Echo wants to show it to us first before the others!" Jack called out.

"Coming! I uh, gotta go. Talk later?"

"Yeah sure," Loona responded, watching him run off. She shrugged thinking it would be something hed tell later.

The Exterminators followed Echo to the back of the farm where a large two story dome like structure sat. It had steel doors in the front and was connected to two other smaller dome structures behind it on the side, both being much wider. The color of it was black and it had a tag on the top that said "Exterminators HQ".

"Shred made the tag," Echo said, opening the door for them.

They all walked into the lobby area. There were three rows and two columns of four people tables. There was a counter on the far end that had a door beside it to get in. It had a full kitchen inside. Beside it were two big doors, one with a W the other with an M. On the other side were the stairs that led to the Upper level. Both sides of the room had an entrance to the hallways.

"To the left is the bathhouse while the right leads to your rooms," Echo explained. "Above is the-"

"The radio room!" Came a loud voice. Jumping from the stairs was a five foot, two inch tall lean cat demon. His fur was light red with his muzzle being white along with the tip of his tail, his chest, and his fingers. He had on an open black vest and camo shorts with five silver finger claws hanging in slots below the pockets. His left pupil is black, the right being green. His fangs were sharp, and he had spiky red hair. "Waz good!?"

"Shred!" Jack came up to Shred and locked hands with him.

"Jack, you sunnuva Bitch! How's it going?!"

"Great! Glad to see you here dude!"

"Which begs the explanation of why you are here," Shelly asked.

"Ah yes. That," Echo remembered. "Before we give a tour, have a seat."

Everyone took a seat at a nearby table, looking at Echo.

"Now then. When Stolas reached out to Albest to tell about the movement of The Cleansing, he thought it best to send us here to help out, since the layout of this area is quite different. However theres more to it than that. The Monarchs of hell are working out a deal with the corps. Soon it'll be revealed that you are all indeed alive."

They all gasped and looked at each other with surprise before smiling.

"Whats the deal?" Solis asked.

"Well just having a handful of us here is less of a problem and you've been doing real well with the cleansing, so there stance on not allowing the corps full access to hell has changed," Echo explained, "However, it's only being limited to a special few, and only that few are allowed to stay."

"We that few?" Jack asked.

"Us and Albest after he tells the others of the corp about this."

"Doubt they'll be happy that this has been kept a secret."

"Can't deny results though. We exterminators were barely even allowed resources from hell but with this, it'll definitely let them do more," Shred said.

"Quite," Echo chuckled, "We'll be given communications to the corps and loved ones on earth so now there's no need for marks. Just know switching out with other Exterminators won't be a thing because the monarchs and overlords just want it kept to rumors about us, not conspiracies."

"Makes sense. Public would freak if they knew what we were," Jack said.

"Um...speaking of…" Poch started.

"Yes? Got a question?" Echo asked.

"N-no it can wait till you're done."

"Well the rest to tell is mostly just what this facility has to offer. So go ahead."

"Oh...um...Guys...im...thinking of...telling Loona what I am as an Exterminator."

They all gawked at him.

"You're thinking of what!?" Jack exclaimed.

"Whoa whoa whoa, dude! You sure about that? I know you love her and all but this is a big thing," Solis said.

"I know but...with how much we've known about each other it...just feels right," Poch said before registering the love part, "wait, I don't love her like that!"

"I can understand that Poch but youd also be revealing us at the same time," Echo said.

"I know, that's why I asked y'all first."

"I say go for it," Shred said calmly.

"What?" They all looked at him surprised.

"How much do yall trust Poch?"

"Very much," Dundy answered.

"And how much does he love this Loona?"

"Very much," Shelly said with a smile

"Ugh, we're just friends," Poch groaned.

"Then I say, what's the harm? Plus how's this different compared to Solis and Shelly?"

"Well to be fair he didn't know about the others yet and i didnt tell him what an Exterminator was till we were a little further along," Shelly said.

"Aint that the same for Poch?"

"I mean...kinda? But what if she tells the others?"

"She wont," Poch reassured, "ill threaten to bite her birthmark if she does."

"Her birthmark?"

"Dont ask."

"I mean….with how the I.M.P. crew is getting more involved especailly with them actually helping out, maybe we should tell them too." Jack said.

"You sure about that?" Shred asked.

"Yeah, but not tonight, sometime later."

"Ok. So, when are you gonna tell her, Poch?"

"I was thinking...maybe tonight...or after the cleansing tomorrow," Poch said.

"Alright, but make sure you're ready. She's no doubt gonna see you a lot differently when you tell her."

"Yeah…"

"Ahem," Echo cleared his throat, "moving on, why don't we start that tour?"

"Sure," Jack confirmed.

"Alright. Follow me." Echo led them down the Hallway to the right. The room they were led to had one corridor with three doors on each side, each equally spaced by a few yards. "Your rooms. Each comes with a closet, a drawer, a bed, a nightstand by the bed, and a desk. We'll be here for a while so might as well make it cosy, but don't get too personal with it, we'll have to move again eventually. Also as you can tell, this place has its own power source so don't be afraid to charge anything."

"I count six rooms, but there's seven of us,"

"Solis and Shelly are room sharing. Speaking off, the walls are thick but not that thick."

Solis and Shelly blushed at his implication.

"Shred and I already picked our rooms, it has our names on it. You go ahead and pick yours, just stand by the door."

"They're all the same, right?" Dundy asked.

"Yes."

"Alright," He along with the others went to pich their rooms.

Dundy chose the nearest on the right, across from Solis and Shelly, Jack chose the one beside those two and Poch got the one on the far right.

"Alright open the doors and there will be a key on the inside along with a pen. Use the Pen to write your names on the front of the door."

"Don't be afraid to style it! I did!" Shred said pointing at his gratified Door.

They all opened the doors and grabbed the items in question. Using the pen they all wrote their names on the front, Jack doing it with some style, Writing it like scratch marks.

"Keep those keys, it'll be your way in if you lock up," Echo advised, "now then, let us head to the radio room."

The team followed Echo Back into the Lobby and up the stairs. The room above had a large screen on the front with a console underneath it. On the sides were two other, smaller, sets of consoles, with a set of screens. Beside them were wall mounted holsters for guns.

"In this room, the Imps can keep watch and radio us in if there's an issue!" Shred explained.

"Whats the gun holsters for?" Shelly asked.

"For if they wanna tag along with you on the truck."

"Truck?"

"There's no high up place for you to be a proper Turret so we got a Truck you can use Le-armes in the back off."

"Making me a moving Turret! Sweet!"

"Indeed," Echo chuckled, "We're going to show the others this when it's their turn. Now to the best spot. This way!"

He brought them down the stairs and to the other hallway. The doors on the end were made of oak instead. He opened it and a thin veil of steam came out. There was a small flight of marble stairs that led up to where the steam was coming from. There were two pairs of curtains and one sliding door in the middle. The left curtains were blue while the right were pink.

"Welcome to the Bathhouse!" Echo told them.

"No way! Our own bathhouse!" Poch said excitedly.

"Yep! Blue is for boys, Pink for girls, and the middle is private for those couple moments!" Shred said with a wink.

"How does that work?" Jack asked.

"The keys got a registration spell for this. Just bring it to the door to change it. We already got it pre registered for Shelly, Solis, and Poch."

"I'm not even gonna ask why me and attempt to change it later," Poch groaned.

"Now that is the tour of this base. I was your tour guide, Echo, please rate and leave a tip!" Echo stated with a smile.

"Wait, are we lacking a training ground?" Dundy asked.

"Oh Dundy, did you not see the vastness of the outside?"

"Outside? On the farm? Isn't that a bit reckless?"

"They gave us an open area for such things."

"Oh? You sure its big enough?"

"Might be...would you like to test it out?" Echo smirked.

"That a challenge?" Dundy smirked.

"Only if you got the Feathers for it.

"Oh, you are on!"


Millie ran into the living room where everyone was getting ready to leave early for the pain games. "Everyone! Dundy and Echo are about to duke it out!"

"This I gotta see!" Joe said.

Everyone ran out back to the huge gated open field. Dundy and Echo stood in the middle, smiling at each other like rivals. Echo had his tommy gun in his hands and his knightly sword on his back. Dundy had on a new pair of black arm braces and had his gauntlets equipped. The exterminators were already sitting at the benches near the gate and the family along with the I.M.P. crew came by to join them.

Loona sat next to Poch. "Hey, how was the base?"

"Pretty cool. It's got a bathhouse with a private room," Poch answered.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, maybe we can reserve it and I can wash your back for ya."

"That'd be nice."

They blushed when they realised what they said. Unfortunately for them they caught the smug stares of everyone around them.

"Not...one...word," They growled.

They all looked away but kept their grins.

"Seems we have an Audience," Dundy said.

"Try not to get stage fright," Echo taunted.

They glared at each other while keeping their competitive smiles. they stood there for three seconds before finally making a move.

Dundy charged at Echo. Echo aimed his gun and let out a volley of shots. Dundy was able to outmaneuver them and get close to Echo. He set a straight punch to Echos face, and Echo jumped and flipped over it, rammed his gun into Dundy, who blocked with his arm brace, and shot a bullet with three times the strength of a normal one, launching him away from Dundy.

Dundy shook his arm. "Upgrades?"

Echo's gun was red at the barrel and steaming. "Impact shot."

"Impressive!" Dundy slammed his hands into the ground and tore off two large pieces of the ground and flung them at Echo.

Echo reached back and drew his sword, blue flames engulfing the blade. With two swipes, he cut through the boulders and managed to block the incoming punch from Dundy. He aimed his gun at Dundy's middle, forcing the owl to block the coming shots with his brace, allowing him to jump back. He swung his sword in an X, launching a flaming X towards Dundy.

The owl exterminator was about to jump until Echo shot three bullets through the flames, coating them with it, going straight for Dundy. He knocked them away with a few punches and punched through the flame X, dispersing it and narrowly dodging the stab that came right for his face once the fire went away. He retaliated with a two jabs to his face, both Echo managed to block but get pushed back on. Dundy went for an uppercut but was stopped by Echo shooting at him, forcing him to dodge roll. He squeezed his left hand twice and the left brace glowed. He slammed his fist down, launching a shockwave to Echo.

Echo clashed it with his sword, pushing and fighting against it. He narrowly won if Dundy hadn't slammed his fist into his gut, launching him back a few feet. He coughed. "Cheap shot!" He smirked.

"First shot," Dundy said with smugness. It quickly went away when he was shot in his leg by a blue bullet. It was rubber so it didn't do any major damage, but it still hurt alot. "Gah!" He rubbed his leg, almost falling to a kneel.

"Second shot."

"Sneaky as ever with your tracer shots, I see."

They both looked at each other with tension rising as they both silently agreed to turn things up a notch. Echo wrote Xï*ķź while Dundy wrote XÝĐß.

"Asura!" Dundy called out as his six Shadow Demon arms appeared from his back.

"Familia!" Echo called out. His shadow took the shape of a large three sided totem. Each face of it had a different image. One had the image of a large snake coiling around, one was of a small wolf woman with long hair and light knightly armor with a big round shield, making a defensive pose, and the last one was of a taller wolf woman with a ponytail and a spear, wearing tribal armor. "Autumn!" The image of the spear wolf spun forward. It came out of the image, coming to life and as it did the totem began to shrink into a small slab. He pointed forward and the spear wolf dashed forward, jabbing at Dundy.

Dundy used his top hands to block and tried to strike back with his middle arms. The lower ones were used to block the onslaught of bullets coming from Echo. Moving all the pairs of arms was difficult for him and Echo knew, that's why some of his shots were able to knick or hit him. "Rarg!" Dundy managed to grab Autumn by the arms and fling her away, lunging right to Echo, managing to hit the hound with a triple punch.

"GOF!" Echo grunted, tumbling away. He regained his balance. "Autumn! Return!" Autumn went back to the slab and was absorbed by it, turning it back into a totem. "Dawn!" It cycled around to the wolf with the shield. Like Autumn from before, it slowly came to life. Dundy charged at him while it did and Echo shot an impact shot to slow him down, forcing the owl to use Asura to block, stinging his arms a bit through feedback.

Dundy ignored the sting and rushed to Echo, swinging three right hooks at him. His fists were blocked however by the shield of Dawn. It pushed him back and Echo went in for close combat, swinging his burning sword downward on him. Dundy dodged and punched at him with Asura, only for Dawn to come in and block it.

Coordinating his attacks with his Shadow Demon, Echo managed to keep Dundy on the ropes. When the owl tried to jump back he sent a flurry of fiery stabs at his being, slowing his escape enough to close the distance. Dundy began attacking more independently with his arms, managing to punch around the shield and punch Echo back, evening up their struggle. Each punch that Dawn blocked made the outer ring of its shield expand.

Dundy blocked a few attacks from Echo with his arm braces, storing up power. He noticed the ring fully expanded, pulled three left arms back and swung. Echo smirked as Dawn blocked. The ring on the shield closed as soon as contact was made and a shockwave emanated from it, pushing Dundy's fist back. However, that's what he wanted. He loosened his body and allowed it to be carried by the momentum, spinning around and tensing back up for another triple punch that sent Dawn flying back. He squeezed both hands and his braced glowed. He slammed both his fist into Echo, who just managed to guard at the last second, an impact wave sending him a few yards back.

"Dawn! Return!" Echo commanded, flying back. As he landed on his feet, Dawn went back into the totem. "Max!" The snake picture came forward and out came a long fifteen foot snake. Echo sheathed his sword and spun his gun forward, firing three tracer rounds to Dundy. While the bullets were slower, they were much more persistent and Dundy knew that. He grabbed them with Asura and flung them at Echo, knowing they'd diverge but atleast give him a moment to attack. At Least they would have if the rounds were targeting him. That spin Echo did with his gun was so he could set himself as a target for the rounds. When Dundy threw the bullets, they didn't diverge, and gained speed. Echo maneuvered the snake to swallow the bullets and go after Dundy.

Dundy charged forward like a bull. He swung one of Asura's arms forward only for Max to coil around that arm. It came up to the Shadow Demons elbow and opened its mouth, firing the bullets it had eaten. Dundy managed to block with his brace, though it hurt. Max was about to continue coiling up til it got to Dundy's body but he dismissed Asura to disorient it, continuing to Echo.

Echo's shadow demon dismissed itself and he brought out his sword, lighting the flames ablaze. Dundy went for a powered up uppercut and he retaliated with a powerful downward swing. The clash sent a shockwave around them that even the audience felt.

They locked each other there before jumping back. They looked at eachother before laughing and disarming themselves.

"You crafty Hurensohn! Tracing yourself like that!" Dundy laughed.

"Not as crafty as you, you umnyy ublyudok! Using Dawns shield repulse like that!" Echo heartily laughed.

"That was incredible!" Joe said.

"Yeah, they'd demolish the pain games if they joined with powers like that!" Lin commented.

"Speaking of, shouldn't we get going?" Blitzø asked. "Don't wanna miss the games and make Loony late for her date with Poch."

"Not a date!" Loona barked.

"Lets just go, Loona," Poch said, getting up.

"Fine by me!" Loona followed Poch to his bike.

"Have fun you two!" Blitzø yelled out, making the hellhounds roll their eyes.


"Here ya go," The demon at the foodstand handed Poch and Loona two corndogs.

"Thanks," Poch said to him. He walked with Loona down the road where there were harvest games and food stands. "This kinda reminds me of that amusement park we went to, except more western."

"Yeah," Loona took a bit of her food, "Except no rides either."

"Or fortune teller."

"Or haunted house. Oh! Sorry!"

"It's fine." Poch looked up to see a countdown for the next cleansing as a big tall sign in the crossroads. "Wonder how tomorrow will go. Never done it here."

"Well you got two extra Exterminators so, thatll help."

"Yeah true."

"So...how many Exterminators are there?"

"A lot."

"How come they're not here?"

"Uh….reasons."

"...ok."

"Heh, when did you become less prying?"

"Since I knew you'd tell me when you're ready...you always do...so I just gotta be patient."

Poch smiled. "Thanks." He saw on a teleprompter Moxxie getting body slammed by a shark. "Ouch! Poor Mox."

"Too bad he doesn't have a Shadow Demon. Coulda saved him."

"Yeah...if only I could give him Klarna….woulda gladly done it"

"...don't say that...he's your brothers Shadow Demon right?"

"Loona…Its only with me to torment me...to make sure I suffer and remember who his masters killer is."

"I...I dont believe that...why would it protect you then?"

"...To make sure I live with guilt, I guess."

"Do you really believe that?"

"...Yeah...I do."

"..." Loona wanted to say something but she didnt know enough about Celis to bring him up, mainly because Poch doesn't talk about him much.

"...Wanna try out the ring toss?"

"...Sure."


"My dear commoners of the Ring of Wrath! I, Stolas of the Ars Goetia, hereby curse this year's harvest with the glow of the true Harvest Moon!" Stolas announced, making a portal in the sky that showed a blood red moon. aweeing the crowd.

Loona and Poch were watching the moon together.

"Th moons beautiful," Poch said

"Yeah," Loona agreed.

"...Thanks for coming with me."

"You kidding? I should be saying that to you. You invited me afterall."

"Well duh...I like being around you," Poch smiled.

"Thanks...I like being around you too," Loona said.

"..." Poch looked down and his smile faltered, "...hey…"

"Hm?" Loona looked at him curiously.

"If….hypothetically...if you found out that I was...different to demons, what...what apuls you think?"

"You already are, Mister exterminator."

"No I don't mean my powers I mean...what if...what if i wasn't a hellhound."

"Whaddya mean? Are you a fox instead?"

"Not that….lets say...I wasn't a hellhound and...what you see now wasnt...how would you see me if…" Poch struggled to find the words.

Loona looked at him concerned. "You ok?"

They both heard a loud whistle coming from Blitzø.

"That was Blitzø, wasn't it?" Poch asked.

"He can wait," Loona turned to him, "What's up? What are you trying to tell me?"

"I….I'm not….you see I'm actually…. I've never…."

"Poch?"

"...we...we should check up on Blitzø just in case...i'm worried about him now." Poch walked off to where the whistle came from.

Loona felt a bit disappointed but realised he's really struggling with what to tell her so she just sighed somewhat annoyed. "Ok."

"..." Poch looked back at her, "Let's...talk in my room tonight. Ok?"

"...ok….let's get to Blitzø."


Moxxie was pointing his own custom AR at Striker while Blitzø was standing next to him with a pistol pointed at him.

Striker was looking at the blessed tip sniper rifle he had mounted on the window, thinking of ways to get to it but not getting any good ideas due to the predicament he was in.

"Who's the bitch no-" Moxxie's taunt was cut off by Loona kicking the door open and slamming it in Moxxies face.

"Kay, we're here," Loona said, still a bit annoyed.

"The fuck is going on?" Poch asked.

Striker saw his chance especially with Blitzø distracted. He kicked away Blitzø's pistol, grabbed his arm, and flung him to the door, throwing him on his back. Poch and Loona were too confused and surprised to react. Striker had an opening for one shot. He ran to his sniper and quickly aimed before Moxxie and Blitzø could regain themselves.

Blitzø groaned and looked to Striker, fear donning his face as he saw the imp take aim. "Stolas!" He yelled out.

"See ya!" Striker said as he pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang. Dread slowly crept onto Blitzø's face as the bullet traveled the air, time feeling though it had slowed down as it got closer and closer to where Striker aimed. A black blade came out, tring to cut the bullet but only managing to scrape its skin, failing to stop its impact.

The bullet hit its mark. The heavenly shell embedded itself deep into the chest of Poch.

"POCH!" Blitzø yelled out.


End

Next chapter. Secrets revealed.