Chapter three: Loss
Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD
Kazuto slammed the door shut behind him twice as fast than he opened it, the scream echoing in his head as his combat boots beat against the ground. He pulled Valkyrie from its black sheath, the Defier of Death springing forth from the scabbard with a loud metallic Shing!, the black blade reflecting the silver moonlight into the pitch black of the alley. Kazuto sniffed and the sweet iron scent of freshly spilt blood fill his nostrils with its sickly sweet smell. He froze in terror, his body unwilling to comply to his commands and move faster than he did in the warehouse's alley, as the horrific sight of gore bathed into his eyes, the color red splashed around the concrete with two dozen bodies, some dead and the others dying, strewn about in random crumpled masses. A young thirteen year old laid in her own blood and innards, the girl's blood coating her clothes like a foul smelling paint. She cried in pain as her intestines laid on the ground, her yellow eyes dull as she cried for mother and father.
"Momma. Momma!", she cried, her noticeable Spanish accent faltering. "Daddy. Daddy... Daddy, Mommy, please… I don't wanna die. Please. Please. Plea-" Her lips stopped quivering as her head lolled back to the concrete surface. Kazuto felt his stomach turn into lead as the cries of the dying penetrated his skull, his hands attempting to cover his ears. It did nothing.
"Momma!", a twenty year old exorcist screamed as he held his insides, his blonde hair stained with blood, gore, and dirt. "Momma! Aaaaah!"
"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.", a ten year old girl repeated like a mantra, a large vertical slash splitting an artery in her shoulder.
"Oh God, it hurts. Please God, don't let me suffer anymore. Please have mercy.", a woman with orange hair sobbed, her legs ripped from their sockets. She saw the silver dagger next to her and pulled it closer to her with her middle finger, grabbed the hilt, and placed it on her chest. And then slit her throat. Kazuto didn't fail to notice the peaceful smile on her face, her white teeth reddened by blood.
Kazuto wanted to be sick. He really did. It would at least give him an excuse to turn around and look away. But he kept looking. And looking, just watching death unfold. But something inside of him burst open like a dam and Kazuto felt the bottled up anger he kept hidden begin to sizzle with white-hot, unbridled fury. A type of fury that could set a man's soul on fire and give him the ability to kick logic to the curb and do the impossible. And Kazuto was going to do just that. He brought the Defier of Death in front of his eyes, his eyes indecisive to be red or the usual heterochromatic, his hair lightening to a metallic silver, black and white scales forming on his arm briefly with the familiar burning of his arms returning. Kazuto brought the gleaming blue blade to eyelevel, glided his finger across the silver outlined blade, the gleam of blue turning a dark shade of violet, the gleam more of a flame now as his blood glittered against Valkyrie. He turned around and faced the dead, guilt and sadness burning in his eyes.
Kurenai Tetsuya, a young man with brown hair with silver strands mixed within, his red eyes glancing at his watch in frustration before he began to unsheathe and resheathe his nodachi, Bloodwing, repeatedly. His pale skin shined in the moonlight, making his hawkish and angular features standout, the scar over his left cheek more visible, the faded scar tissue barely noticeable in the sunlight. He glided his tongue over his fangs, a nervous habit he developed since he was eleven. Still, being a twenty-eight year who still has his eleven year old habits was kind of embarrassing. He turned to his partner, Jarreth Wheeler, the soon to be Werewolf King of the Silverrain Clan. Jarreth flipped to the next page of his porno magazine, his brown eyes holding the usual mischievous glint it always held. He held the magazine by the cover and three pages fell out, making Jarreth whistle as he ogled the woman in the picture.
Everyone knew Jarreth was a mega-pervert. Three hundred and fifty years of immortality never changed that, even if he was supposed to be a King. His Dodgers baseball cap that covered his white wolf ears began to twitch with anticipation. He leaned back into the chair that he set up in the middle of the road to prevent possible escaped Fallen Angels. "Gah, damn it!", he groaned, the magazine fluttering to the ground and landing on a rather interesting photo. "Where the hell are they?! They should've killed Azureil by now!" Jarreth's war axe, a short, grey-bladed weapon with silver around the edge of the blade with timber wolves decorating the sides, thumped against his thigh as he began to pat it rythmically against his leg. He stood up abruptly, the wooden chair thudding against the asphalt. "Fuck this!", Jarreth cried as he pulled his axe from the loop in his belt and charged towards the others.
"Jarreth, we were told to wait here in case a Fallen Angel manages to get past the others." Kurenai watched Jarreth skid around the corner, sighed in frustration, and drew Bloodwing from the white scabbard his wife gave him with a barely audible whisper of metal against metal. He ran after Jarreth, his heeled shoes denting the asphalt road, his legs pumping in long strides. Since Kurenai was taller than Jarreth, he would've caught up to him as soon as he turned the corner. His prediction would've been true if he didn't bump straight into the Perverted Silver King. Kurenai mumbled something about stupid, lazy werewolves and their damn dog breath before he opened his red, reptilian slit eyes to glower at Jarreth. He stood up, his heeled feet slamming into the comcrete and stood next to Jarreth. He saw the blankness of Jarreth's eyes, the usual perversion and liveliness gone, his brown eyes gone yellow in rage. Kurenai peered over his shoulder.
Kurenai felt sadness and anger build as he just stared at the bodies of his friends.
The bodies of the dead laid in peaceful positions, their heads propped up by the satchels every exorcist ever had to wear to hold Holy supplies and weapons. Kurenai didn't fail to notice that their severed limbs had been sewn back in place, their wounds cleaned, and the dirt, blood, and gore cleaned from their hair and skin. The fallen ha their weapons placed in their hands so the blade was down towards their feet. Kurenai turned away, a hand over his mouth as his stomach turned to lead and tears threatened to fall as he recognized a young girl lying dead, her braided orange hair scrubbed of blood. "How many?", Kurenai asked, trying hard to keep his voice from cracking. Jarreth sniffed deeply before he said, "Twelve here, twelve in four other locations. The warehouse has nine dead outside the entrance after two went after Azureil and another went to use the bathroom." Jarreth's eyes took on a lecherous glint. Kurenai raise an eyebrow.
"How the hell do you know that, you crazy son of a bitch?", Kurenai sighed, a palm on his forehead.
Jarreth turned to Kurenai and glared up at him, their height difference making the stand-off a rather hilarious thing to watch from a distance. "Hey, don't bring my mother into this, Bat Boy!"
Kurenai looked down and his eyes took on a dangerous gleam. "The hell you call me Dick Breath?" Jarreth backed away as his ego took a wound.
"Oh, yeah? Well, your teeth are stained red from your last transfusion pack, Tomato Can!", Jarreth growled.
"Yeah?", Kurenai hissed. "Well at least I don't drink from the toilet, Ass Breath." Jarreth leaned against the alley brickwall as his ego took a direct hit from a shotgun.
"And? Is that all you got?", Jarreth taunted, making a 'bring it on' gesture with his hands. "Come on."
"You're not funny!", Kurenai shouted, affectively breaking Jarreth's ego temporarily as he hit the concrete. "Now, tell me, are Kazuto and the others alive?" Jarreth stood up, wiped what was left of his ego from his hands and onto his jeans, and stood up. "Yeah…", Jarreth said as he sniffed deeply again. "Cipher and the other two are alive with Cipher on Azureil's tail." Kurenai gave him a questioning look again.
"What now?", Jarreth groaned.
"You keep calling the kid Cipher.", Kurenai said as he crossed his arms. "Why?" Jarreth laughed like he found something beyond funny.
"Damn kid thinks he'll be feared by Fallen Angels. Pfft, he's no more than a joke.", Jarreth smiled before he spoke again. "Kid's no more than a zero. A Cipher. Hell, if he can kill a Fallen Angel without help from another exorcist, I'll be fuckin' amazed." Kurenai gave him a look of contempt.
"At least give the kid a chance.", Kurenai said with venom.
"Ha, yeah right!", Jarreth said with a sneer. "He has to earn that chance. But like the fear, admiration, and respect he wants, he has to earn it. Too bad it will never happen. I bet the kid's somewhere in a corner, crying for his mommy." Kurenai sighed. "You're an asshole Jarreth."
"Kazuto, you jackass.", Kazuto said to himself as he ran after Azureil, his black cloak billowing behind him. "This is how you got yourself into trouble at school. Just chase after trouble and trouble will find you." Kazuto ran after Azureil, the Fallen Angel running faster than him by a few miles, one of his wings ripped from their sockets. "Get back here, you murderer!", Kazuto shouted as rage blinded his actions, his hip-length black her turned a metallic silver, his red, reptilian slit eyes glaring at the retreating Fallen Angel. "Don't worry! I'm just going to slice your head off and shove it up your theoretical ass since you seem to talk a lot of shit!" Kazuto rounded the corner, his combat boots skidding against the smooth concrete, Azureil a few streets ahead of him before he turned a corner. "Dammit!", Kazuto snarled as he picked up the pace, going lightning fast as he planted his palm on the ground and slid around the corner.
Kazuto stood back up from the slide, his legs burning as he slid his foot against the concrete. Azureil escaped. Kazuto slumped down to the ground, the cool midnight air blowing the lose strands of his braided ponytail into his face. He put his half fingered gloved hands over his eyes, the normal color of his eyes and hair returning. He took a shuddering, shaky breath as he pictured all the dead standing beside him with their blood staining their skin, their eyes dead of emotion and void of life. Then he imaged their cold, dead eyes all staring at him, wanting him to catch their killer and serve the judgement Azureil deserved. "I'm sorry.", Kazuto whispered, his voice laced with emotion. "I can't do this alone." He felt a cold hand grab his shoulder and he removed his eyes from his hands. Kurenai stood over him, Jarreth at his side, a grim and sad expression on his pale face. "We're in this together. We'll find this asshole," Kurenai lifted Kazuto up and the three exorcists stood ahold we to shoulder, "And we're going to kill him."
