HITS: This is the beginning of the end…

"Hey Jay, can you help me with these?"

Jay lifted his head from the desk to see a woman he didn't know. She had short pointed ears, so she was a god. Her blonde hair ended just above her waist. Her emerald colored eyes shined in the sun. It almost hurt his eyes to look at her beauty, she had six boxes sitting nearby.

"Do I know you?"

She leaned on his desk, causing a few people on the other side of the room to glare. He glared back and they looked away.

"Not really, but I saw you a few times at the café where I work. My name's Kareha."

He shot straight up in his seat, "You work there?!"

"Yeah, you seem to like it there."

Jay got out of his seat and hefted four boxes into his arms, "You are now the best person in this country. Where do these go?"

"My, my. Right to the teacher's lounge."

"Did you say something else just now?"

"Not at all."

Jay shrugged and followed her to the teacher's lounge. However, not even halfway there, she showed up.

"Hey Kareha, who's that you got with you?"

Jay couldn't see who it was due to the boxes stacked in front of him.

"Hey Asa. It's Jay, the new transfer student. Where's Rin?"

"I think he went to the roof already with the others. I'm heading up now. You two should come up too."

Jay let them talk, he could see the lounge from here. He took the boxes inside, gave them to his homeroom teacher, Nadeshiko Benibara, and took Kareha's boxes from her without either of them noticing.

His phone vibrated, It was a text from Tas.

Get down here now.

It must have been important.

Jay walked into the lobby, where Tas was waiting, "What's wrong?"

Tas started leading him out of the building, flashing a badge to anyone in the way to get Jay past them and out of the school building, "You're classmate, Rin Tsuchimi, was taken this morning by a group of fanatics. I think you've had a run in with them already."

"That concerns me how?"

Tas laughed, "Ouch, and here I thought you cared somewhat."

"Nope."

"Luckily it's your job to help me when I ask. As far as we know, they've never done something like this. I want you to help me scare them so bad they don't even think about it."

Tas got in his car and Jay walked to the driver's side window, "And what if I say no?"

Tas smiled and lifted a silver nine-millimeter pistol, "Then what will I do with this?"

Jay ran to the passenger side and got in, "You have my attention."

They arrived at a well-kept warehouse. It was easy to find it, all they had to do was follow the shouting. They pulled up to the gate and parked. Tas walked to the trunk and retrieved a pump-action shotgun. Jay glared at him."

"What?"

"I want one."

Tas smiled and tossed Jay spare three clips. "These are still high school students, so try to restrain yourself. If they come at you, aim for the legs. We can testify self defense if they live. Oh, getting the kid out alive is optional."

They kicked the gate's rusted lock clean off and Tas walked into the crowd, firing his shotgun into the air, "Alright, let him go or die." Most of the crowd was scared at the noise, but some ringleader standing at the far end under a spotlight laughed, "You can't do that. Even if you could, you couldn't take out all of us!"

Someone bumped into him. Jay aimed for the leader's groin, "Maybe not, so I'll just kill you."

The ringleader squinted at Jay, "Wait a sec, you're the guy we chased the other day. So you really weren't Tsuchimi."

Jay fired, barely missing his leg on purpose, "Nope, now let the real one go."

"You can't be serious. He runs every time he sees us, we finally got him. All we have to do is hold him here until the girls forget him. When they need a shoulder to cry on, we will be there!"

Jay and Tas spoke at the same time, "Are you serious?!"

The crowd jumped at their sudden response. Tas slung the shotgun over his back and pulled out a black pistol, "Fuck it. Jay, shoot 'em."

Jay hesitated, but Tas fired three times, causing three men to fall to the ground screaming, each with a large hole in their leg. Jay took that as his cue and shot the ringleader twice in the legs. The crowd dispersed so fast it was like a herd of buffalo. Jay shot a few stray rounds to keep them running, but Tas was already out of ammo and beating people with the butt of his pistol.

Rin was tied to a metal chair with rusted chains, like he was being interrogated. Jay walked into the light. The light made everything outside it seem like an endless shadow.

"Jay, is that you? Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to see you."

"I have some idea. Hold still."

Jay pressed Rin's head forward, keeping him from moving, and shot the rusted chains clean off, "You owe me a bullet."

Tas finished dragging the seventeen victims of his rampage into a corner, "Can we go now? I think you can make it for the rest of lunch."

Tas, Jay, and Rin pulled up in from of the school with sandwiches bought from town. Rin ran inside, but Tas stopped Jay, "You may want this."

A black wallet landed in Jay's hands. It was a badge with his picture and everything.

"Why would I-"

"Hurry up, go with Rin so his girlfriend doesn't yell at him."

Jay looked at Rin as he ran in, "He actually chose one of them?"

Jay walked onto the roof only to hear a loud crack like that of a whip. Rin was on the ground with a hand imprinted right between his shoulder blades. Jay cleared his throat, "Right then, why is he dying on the floor?"

Asa, the green haired one, looked furious, "I was looking everywhere for him. It was like he up and vanished."

Jay crossed his arms, "Actually, he was kidnapped by the fanatics. They thought that if they hid him long enough, you'd all forget him and chose someone else like them."

Rin lifted his head up from the floor, "It's true, Asa. Please believe me."

Nerine spoke up, "Um… Jay?"

"What?"

"You have blood on you."

Jay looked down. On his right hip, a dark red spot stained his white uniform. Some blood must have splashed on him when Tas went on his rampage. Jay rolled the area and rung it out as best he could. There was a lot more than a simple splash. He grabbed further back to squeeze the rest out, but a gasp caught his attention. He looked at Nerine, "What?"

Her eyes were fixed on a certain point. He couldn't see much in the reflection of her dark red eyes, but it looked like a red gash with a streak of silver in her eyes. He looked at his hip and found a knife buried to the hilt in his side, the tip poking out the other side. It didn't hit anything important, but it went clean through a good two inches of flesh and he didn't even notice.

"What the?!"

Jay gripped the hilt and pulled, but it wouldn't come out.

"Damn it. Rin, come pull this out."

"Wha- why me?"

"Because I got this saving you!"

Asa had a look of grief, "So it was true?"

Rin gripped the handle and Jay looped his arms under the railings. Rin pulled as hard as he could, even putting a foot on the railing for leverage. It finally came out with a spurt of blood. Bits of white flew out as well and Jay felt something, like he slept on his side in a weird way. The girls each looked at a white grain with fear.

Nerine had a larger bit land next to her, "I- Is th- Is that bone?"

Jay walked over with no difficulty and knelt down, "Yeah, I think that's part of my hip. Oh, thanks for the help Rin."

Nerine looked to Kaede, "Go get Kareha!"

Jay straightened up, "What? Why?"

"She can do healing magic."

"I don't even fe- Oh hang on, my phone's ringing. Yeah?"

It was Tas, "Hey Jay, listen to this. One of the pricks I shot said he stuck a knife in you."

"Yep, I found it. The strange thing was that I didn't feel it."

"You too? Oh, that's a relief."

"Why? Tas, what happened to you?"

"Oh, I got run over yesterday. Ended up with over thirteen broken bones, but I didn't feel a thing. Only one problem, don't let anyone use healing magic on you, or you'll feel the full force of it."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. You got run over yesterday?"

"Can't talk, need to interrogate our catch again. See you at home."

Jay turned slowly to Rin, "Hey Rin, remember that guy that was with me?"

"The officer with the shotgun?"

"Yeah, apparently he's a freak of nature."

The door flung open and Kaede came back with Kareha. Jay put the phone back into his pocket. Kareha ran up to him, "Are you okay? Kaede said you were hurt."

She made a reach for his shirt, but Jay caught her wrist, "Uh, no, nope, not hurt. No need for healing magic."

Kareha looked confused. Jay had to help her, "Look, it was just a cut, it bled a bit, it stopped, and I'm fine."

Nerine stood up with fury on her face; "It is NOT just a cut. Look around you. There are bits of your hipbone lying around!"

Jay was the most confused of them, "Did I miss something or is she generally concerned?"

Rin looked at him like he were a little child, "Is being concerned for others really that strange?"

Jay instantly responded, "Yes, very much so."

"Why? Was it because of where you were raised?"

"What? No! I was treated different for no reason other than I didn't care what people thought of me."

"Did you have a bad childhood or something?"

"Not rea-"

"How were your parents?"

"Sto-"

"Did people bully you?"

Jay snapped, "That is enough of that!"

Jay left before things got worse. He took out his phone and made a note to himself.

Never save people.

At home, Jay collapsed on the bed as questions of his own raced through his mind. Little Devil was sitting on his bed. Why didn't he feel the knife or even when it came out? Why was he so quick to shoot his fellow students? Why did Rin's whole group question him? It was a matter for another time. He turned on his MP3 player and went to sleep at 4:42 P.M. listening to music.

Tas could feel the gears ripping at his flesh, tearing it from his very bones. He left it tear the skin from his face, leaving most of his skull bare except for his left eye. His torso was missing a large chunk just below the right lung, showing his cracked ribs. As the gears stopped and the conveyor belt came to a halt, he slowly pushed himself up.

"This is great… more… MORE! GIVE ME A REASON!

The seven men started to shoot him with everything they had. Pistols, Uzis, Shotguns, Assault rifles, and even a flamethrower tore through him. The lack of ventilation and extreme use of rapid-fire weapons created a thick haze. No one saw as the corpse rose to its mangled feet, bones jutting out of every limb.

"My turn."

Tas began to laugh as his right arm shifted. The bones retracted, the wounds closed, the blood dried, and over a hundred black tentacles covered his arm and started to take the shape of a crescent moon. The tentacles at the edge of the shape ripped in half and folded back on themselves, revealing a jagged edge that lined the shape. As the rest of the tentacles hardened in place, a pulsing red glow flowed through them from the tip of his deformed shoulder to the jagged end of the crescent blade. With blood lust in his eye, he flung himself at the enemy.

They didn't last all of a minute. As Tas absorbed their organic tissue into his being, regenerating all he had lost, he turned towards the terrorist leader.

"Game over."

The old man smiled at the monster, "No, now it's a new game." He held up a remote detonator and hit the button just as Tas drove his blade through the man's skull. He was too late. A distant explosion sounded.

Jay was flung from his sleep by the sound of a very close explosion. Whatever caution he had that day seemed to vanish when Tas showed up at his school earlier. He threw on a jacket and grabbed Little Devil. On the way out the door, he unconsciously grabbed the badge he was given by Tas.

He didn't have to go far, as the explosion came from down the road. He ripped through a group of people screaming near the end of the road. One house was nothing but debris and two others were on fire. He talked to the firemen, who arrived not long before him, "Anyone inside?"

"One in each house. Everyone, focus on the western house!"

The hoses unleashed water at an impressive rate, but the other house remained unaided. Jay charged in, unable to bear the idea someone was more important than another person. He jumped the gate and ran into the doorway.

Right, dumbass. First, check the second floor. Check the first floor on the way out.

Jay sprinted for the stairs on the opposite end of the hall from the door, accidentally knocking over a phone next to the stairs. He broke into one of the doors. There was nothing but a half destroyed model ship on fire. He broke into another one and found the one person left inside. It was a girl from Rin's group.

What was her name again? Ah, Primula. She was asleep, even through he fire alarm, but she was breathing. He slid his arms under her and picked her up. A loud breaking sound and splintering of wood caught his attention. He turned around just as a support fell from the room and slammed into his face, knocking him flat on his back.

Ow. Wait, why didn't I feel that?

Jay had no time to think; he picked up Primula again and headed back down the hall. The stairs had collapsed, but he could still squeeze through the gap in the wall if he just didn't have the railing in the way. Wait, duh.

He kicked the railing off and slid through. His feet were dangling when the boards he was sliding on snapped. He was flung forward into a burning wall and slid down.

Owww, I actually felt that one a little.

With his vision swaying slightly, he stumbled out of the house and leaned on the front gate. With a quick groan, the gate gave away and he fell into the road. The firefighters and a paramedic helped him up. The paramedic took Primula from him. The firefighters at the house just next door caught his attention, "The fire is dying down, but the inside is falling apart."

"Someone get in there!"

"Half the second floor is in our way!"

Jay could see a window into a room that had yet to fall, but a dull pain was starting to rise up, well, everywhere. He looked around, "Anyone got a coin?"

"What the hell do you need a coin for?"

"Coin, now." A paramedic tossed him a coin.

He sighed and made a promise with himself, "Heads, I go in. Tails, I watch and laugh."

He flipped it, watched it spin, and caught it. He looked at it, "Damn it." He tossed the coin back and charged for the window.

"Anyone alive in here? It's okay if there isn't."

"Yes! I'm trapped under a beam."

Jay walked into the hall and followed the shouting. A demon with long grayish hair and dark clothes was trapped under a flaming beam with a large number of cuts on what little skin he showed. Some ornaments Jay couldn't identify were jamming the beam, keeping it from being lifted. The heat had caused the metal ornament to become more flexible.

With a stroke of either stupidity or genius, Jay drew his gun and fired seven times. The metal groaned and bent inward with each shot until it snapped in half and fell to the floor. With Jay grabbed the beam with his bare hands, causing that dull pain to become far more noticeable. The demon helped and finally got the beam off him.

Jay was breathing heavily, "Anyone else in here?"

"No, no one."

"Then run like hell."

They emerged just as a familiar face got out of a car. The demon collapsed as paramedics swarmed him. A news crew, which must have arrived while he was inside, made a move towards him, but a familiar tall figure with a black duster intercepted and drove them away, "Tas, you have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"Jay, you just saved my ass. I tried to call, but you weren't answering. I never thought you would take the initiative."

"Why can't I feel anything?"

"Come again?"

"Why can't I feel pain?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? The injection we took finally did what it was meant to. It boosted your immune system and pain tolerance to unbelievable amounts. It only works if you have a high heart rate, so calmly stabbing yourself will hurt."

"Remind me to never let you inject me with anything again."

"Noted. By the way, do you know why I'm here?"

He helped Jay to his feet. Jay, although wobbly, managed to stay upright.

Jay brushed ash off his black jacket, "I'm guessing a massive explosion against the night sky drew everyone and their mother here?"

"It's good you don't know. If you did, I'd arrest and kill you within ten minutes. Some terrorist group that hates anything that isn't human planted explosives here in an attempt to kill the kings of Gods and Demons."

"How did you figure that out?"

"I interrogated one of the students we shot earlier today. He was part of the Pro-Human group and planted them here when they kidnapped Tsuchimi, probably to hide their activity."

The demon Jay had saved walked up to Tas, "Tasekai Rose? Is that really you? My word, you've grown so much. What's it been? Twenty years?"

Tas hugged the demon, " Forbesii, you old son of a bitch. It's actually been eighteen years, but it's still far too long."

The demon turned to Jay, "And who might my savior be?"

Jay didn't want the King of Demons to know his name, he was below such an honor. The feeling Jay had was similar to what he thought would happen if he ever met the president, which he never did.

Tas smiled and threw an arm around Jay's neck, "This is Jay Follen, he just moved here from the U.S."

Forbesii extended his hand, "Very nice to meet you, Mr. Follen. Please, tell me if you need anything at all."

Jay hesitated, but Tas forced his arm forward, "It's wonderful to meet you too, but I wish it were under better circumstances."

The Demon King looked at his burning house, "As do I, but the important thing is that no one was killed. That reminds me, let me see your hands."

Jay held them up. He looked at them intently, "It seems you are fireproof to a degree."

Just as he said, there weren't any severe burns on him anywhere. Jay looked to Tas, but he just shrugged with a smile. Tas planted a hand on the Demon King's shoulder, "Seems like you could use a place to live for a while. Jay has a few spare rooms, you could always go there."

Jay glared at Tas, but the Demon King looked to Jay, "Would that be okay? I can pay rent or even cook meals. Anything you want."

Jay shook his head, "I won't have the King of Demons paying rent. If you have absolutely nowhere else to go, I can spare a room or two."

"You really are a good man. Tasekai, could you find my daughter and tell her what happened?"

"Sure. Hey kid, come here!"

Jay and Forbesii looked behind Tas, where Rin's group was. That damn news crew was blocking their way, "Damn it. Jay, clear the way."

Jay sighed and fired his gun into the air twice, "Let them through!" The crew parted, letting them pass. Rin and Kaede ran to the house in the middle, "Primula? Are you in there?!"

A medic walked up to them, "Excuse me, are you looking for the girl over there?"

Primula was awake and being tended to, but there wasn't much that needed attention. The medic pointed towards Jay, "He barged in and got her out. Good thing too, the fire department was busy saving some high and mighty political figure."

Jay looked at Nerine, "You mean she's your kid?"

Forbesii looked at him, "Yes, is that a problem?"

Jay shook his head, "Not at all, I just don't see the resemblance."

"Yes, she takes after her mother."

Jay started to feel the fatigue of charging into two burning building, "Do what you need to. I'm going home."

Jay opened the door, "Sia? Why are you here? Who's the wrestler?"

Sia and some huge guy were standing outside. Sia looked more depressed than ever, "Our house was destroyed too. Tasekai said you had room. I really hate to bother you, but may we stay here?"

Jay was about to speak when he saw others behind her, "And who are they? Get up here where I can see you,"

Kaede and Primula walked into the light from the doorway. Jay sighed, "Let me guess, yours too?"

She nodded.

"Well, If Tas said I had room, then I do. I can kill him later, but right now please come in."

He was about to close the door when Forbesii and Nerine showed up, "Ah, right on time."

Jay led them upstairs "You're all a bit shaken so I'll make this quick. The bathroom is right here, this is my room, and the rest are guestrooms, one family to a room. Take a shower if you want, but I'll see the rest of you in the morning. Oh, and Tas called. He said you don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't feel like it."

The two fathers walked up to him, "We really can't thank you enough."

Jay shrugged, "The way I see it, there's no reason to. Sleep well."

Jay walked to his room and closed the door. He threw his jacket over the chair at the desk, reloaded Little Devil, and jumped into bed. His phone went off. It was Tas.

Good night. Thank you for your help.

"Yes, sleep well boy. I am truly amazed you've kept your calm until now, but I think it's time I had some company in this lonely world." He dialed in the number and it was instantly answered, "Yeah?

"It's time. Go to Penn station and let it loose."

"You're sure this will take down Gentek?"

"Trust me, Mercer, It will do more than just take them down."

He hung up and called his contact, "Tas?"

"Yes. What is their condition?"

"They're responding well to experimentation."

"I see."

He hung up and threw the phone into the biological mass surrounding his bed. Tas got to his feet and walked to the window, where his monstrous reflection glared back at him as it pulsed a faint red. He sighed, "I'm sorry, Jay."