Yay next chapter! I know, I fail at updates. Faaaaaaaail at them.

At least this isn't on hiatus, like all of my other fics. xD

Oh well. Enjoy!

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Chapter 9

Confrontation

"Chrno…?" Her voice nearly echoed in her ears, everything else around her muted and blurred as her gaze completely focused on the demon in front of her. Her demon.

As quickly as his golden eyes met her own, he turned back towards the massive creature that stood over the park fountain, smoke rising from between its fangs.

"Forcing me to the physical plane…in front of my contractor, no less." Chrno's voice dripped with venom, making the blond girl behind him wince involuntarily with fear. She's heard him angry before… but not like this…

"Kekeke…your priorities are as crooked as your values, Sinner." The beast's voice flowed through the wind in a similar fashion that Rosette was used to hearing from Chrno. She wasn't sure if it was because it looked as if it was made of shadows, or if it really didn't have the compatibility to speak physically. "No matter how strong the legends say you are… you cannot stand up to Defaux's frontline. Sheer numbers are against you, Taktus."

'Taktus?' Rosette blinked, slowly finding the strength to breathe and firm her ground. What was going on…?

"So this is Defaux's meddling…" The violet-haired demon replied in a low voice, brimming with ignited fury but no where near a threatened state. He turned his head, watching with mild interest as lesser demons began to crowd around the safety of their larger cousin, fangs bared and claws brimming in the aftermath of the sun-colored flames that licked along the grass. "You should have stayed within the confines of Pandemonium, underling. Your effort is futile."

"Cunning words from a Sinner!" The demon's mouth opened with a hiss, flames sparking from behind its fangs. "Going nearly one hundred years without a contractor's life to bring you power – these grounds shall be your grave!" It lurched forward, the multitude of smaller Legion scattering about before jumping towards their prey, otherworldly screeches and cries following their movement.

Rosette winced and covered her head (all the while wonder just how that could possibly help her) and let out a scream both of frustration and horror, wishing there was something she could do to stand up for herself… but her body was limp and tired, held down by the chains of hesitant fear.

At her cry, her demon counterpart's golden eyes became lidded, as if under a trance – and began to glow with the sun. A rush of powerful wind whipped around him along with his contractor, effortlessly knocking aside the screeching legion from all directions. Cracking rock and the upheaval of ripping soil had barely begun to echo in her ears before the blond girl looked up with wary eyes, staring in awe. She still couldn't believe it was him… and he was worse than she could imagine. Without even lifting a muscle, he knocked back so many demons like they were mosquitoes, nothing more than an annoyance.

Shakily Rosette stood to her unstable feet, watching as the shadows rippled and the injured black creatures were back on their feet, ready to launch another attack. Damn it… she couldn't just stand here like bait! There must be something she could do…

A growl shook the ground – and as she saw the bright golden flames shooting towards them, strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her nearly eighty feet away to safety in one swift motion. Relief washed over her for but a moment, before she looked up, noticing it was Chrno who had her in a tight, protective embrace, her chest pressed firmly against his own.

Just as her hands moved up against him, weakly attempting to push herself away, his hold on her tightened. "Listen to me." His voice was stern and low, offering little comfort to her already shaken state. "I need you to stay put – make a break for the wood, the road, anywhere but here," his gaze fell upon her own, golden meeting cerulean. "And I won't be able to defend you."

She grit her teeth together, turning her head away from him in defiance, but it was obvious she was too frightened to do otherwise. "Y-You can't give me orders." She snapped with stubborn anger.

A smile graced upon his lips in amusement, before he leaned down to her level, lips close to her ear. "Don't push it, dear heart."

Her breath caught in her throat just as he disappeared, causing her to stumble just slightly at the lack of support Chrno had given her. In a rush she turned around, cringing as she saw black and crimson blood spill to the ground, the violet-haired demon rushing with a single movement and successfully cutting the heads off multiple smaller Legion. His motions were quick, deadly, and had little excess with each blow he dealt, striking with bright white light around his claws, then turning to slash another foe in half with his blade-tipped tail. In reality, only a handful of seconds had passed… but as Rosette watched with horror and awe, it seemed like ages before he lunged at the towering monster that breathed flames, the armor around his forearm morphing rapidly into a shining blade – and in a single motion, sliced up the chest cavity and into the neck, blood spilling in a stomach-churning noise.

Rosette's eyes widened. Was Chrno supposed to be this strong…? He fought so quickly… as if he was on a completely different level of power.

Her throat suddenly felt dry.

She remembered now… from that book…

"Though only in theory, demons are thought to be more powerful the closer they are to having a human form. Legends tell of a handful of demons that could nearly pass as humans in appearance. These few were said to terrorize entire lands for hundreds of years, and destroy entire civilizations."

Chrno…

Her Chrno… couldn't be one of those mentioned in legend, could he?

"Taktusss…" The opposing demon lay limp on the ground, only able to move its eyes towards its offender. "Why do you defy our motherrrr?"

Cold golden eyes glared down at the creature as it strained to breath, giving it no reply, nor any sort of acknowledgement. "Émesajtoló." He hissed, and thrust the blade into the side of its skull, a horrific cry of death following the sound of tearing skin and cracking bones echoing as blood poured onto the grass and broken cement.

Rosette released a breath she didn't know she was holding, slowing sliding back down to her knees as she clutched the front of her shirt, forcing her knuckles to nearly bruise the skin above her heart. Dead…they were all dead. There were so many of them… though some of the smaller creatures disintegrated immediately after killed, larger bodies still littered the battlefield. From all directions, she was finally calm enough to hear the flood of sirens and chaos – cries and screams of those wounded in the crossfire, panic and hysteria suddenly sweeping all of New York. In essence, everything happened so quickly…but the damage was already this brutal. And Chrno…

She gulped, watching as the blood-soaked demon turned her way.

She had no idea this would be Chrno.

Shaky arms propped herself up, watching him with uncertainty as she inched herself away. After all these years, there was a reason why he never showed himself… and because of her incompetence, her inability to defend herself even though she was strong, that silent vow was broken. Of course he would be angry… he had to be. She just prayed she could live through whatever consequence, if any, there would be for breaking something that sacred.

His steps paused in front of her, their gazes caught in an uncomfortable silence.

"What are you going to do to me?" She asked bluntly, trying her hardest to look away from him, but her attempts failed.

He merely blinked in reply, before closing his eyes with a slightly defeated sigh. "What the Hell are you talking about?"

She couldn't believe him. He was sluffing her off! "I remember Yuan said that demons rarely talk to their victims." She stressed the last word, fingers gripping the grass beneath her hands nervously. "So I'm guessing appearing before them is unheard of. Stop toying with me and just tell me… what are you going to do?"

Her less than careful words seemed to get the slightest bit of a rise out of him, as he reached down, grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet with ease, despite her constant effort to escape from his grasp. "Do you want me to do something, dear heart?" He stepped forward, making the blond girl's breathing halt altogether as he gazed at her, their bodies too close for comfort.

Her jaw locked, her heart pounding so harshly in her chest she could hear it in her head.

"My, my… you're trembling." He gave her a remnant of a smile, completely unfazed with the fact that the sounds from the streets were slowing making their way into the park. "How cute." Slowly he tipped her chin up with his claws, making sure he had her full attention. "Now listen to me – I'm not about to give up on you this easily. Don't think I'll take your life over something as trivial as this."

She strained to find her voice as she cracked a smile, refusing to look completely helpless. "Of course by 'me', you mean my precious life force."

He didn't answer, but he looked down past the broken fountain as the sound of sirens became louder. "People are coming… we need to retreat lest we want to attract more attention." He released her wrist, and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her body flush against his own. "Close your eyes and hold your breath. This will feel cold."

Balling her hands up into fists, she rested them against his chest, still unable to stop shaking. He reeked of blood… and he was still far from doing anything but terrifying her. But she did as she was told, knowing that it was silly to stay this wary of him. He told her he wasn't going to kill her, and that should be enough…but goddammit he made it so hard for her to trust him.

Quickly Chrno stepped into the shadows, disappearing altogether just as a rush of people flooded the park scene, beginning the rise of a nation-wide scare at the sight of the bloody massacre he had left behind him.

---

He knew it wasn't right. In fact, it was wrong on more than a few levels – but hey, anyone could tell you that.

Joshua quickly slammed the dresser closed, face bright red.

And it just became even more wrong the moment he opened his sister's underwear drawer.

It wasn't ten minutes after Rosette left that Joshua soon found the urge to rebel – his patience was wearing thin and he wanted to find out what was going on with his big sister. She was his only family, and he though that sort of bond should be strong enough for her to be able to tell him everything, just like when they were little. But this time there was a reason she wasn't speaking up, he was sure of it; and after weeks of prodding and playing the waiting game, he was more than ready to take initiative himself.

But so far, he'd found nothing in her room that gave evidence about that 'ghost' that's been following her around since she was born. He was praying that he'd find something horribly cliché, like a diary or journal, but he should have known Rosette isn't the type to have any of those things. He even searched the history on her laptop, but all he found was that Magdalene Order site he had shown her a while back. There was just nothing out of place, nothing weird, nothing to point him in the right direction.

He should have known all this would leave him with was a guilty conscience for violating his sister's privacy. What did he expect? That all the answers he was looking for to be suddenly laid out in front of him the moment he stepped through that door?

"Why does she have to be so frustrating? Augh!" He groaned loudly and slammed his palm on top of her dressed, jumping as a pile of notebooks that hung dangerously close to the edge fell in front of his feet.

Irony reared its ugly head the moment he glanced down, spying the cover of an old, worn out leather-bound book.

Bending down, he grabbed the heavy book and ran his fingers over the burnt cover, the title written in black ink. "Deamonology…" He whispered, furrowing his eyebrows. She never had a book like this before… she never really got the occult fad, and she never believed in otherworldly spirits or mythical creatures.

Opening up the front cover, he found a small white index card laying there beside the spine, with a name and number written in someone else's handwriting. "Yuan Remington…" He read it aloud, trying to make sense of the name – but alas, it didn't ring any proverbial bells. And as he flipped through the pages one by one, he found out that the content of the book made just about as much sense to him. A war between a Holy Order and something called "Pandemonium", that was supposed to be located beneath the sea… Demons who terrorized entire countries, a man who sold his soul, and some cryptic 'prophecies', if you could call them that. Maybe… Rosette was afraid that whatever was following her all this time could be a demon? That didn't make sense. She would be dead by now if she was possessed by something that evil – that's how it always happened in the movies anyway.

"Eras of the Suffering….. Demonic Contracts?" Joshua's voice read softly as he turned another page, his interest reignited. This could be…

A series of crackling and screeching noises made the boy jump and drop the book – his heart skipping a beat the moment he felt something close to an earthquake pulse through the apartment, followed by the sound of a falling building; or at least, close to it.

"What the Hell?!" He yelled on impulse, immediately sprinting out of the room and towards the front door. He had a bad feeling about this…

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Meeeeeh, kind of a short chapter.

Okay it is short.

Anyway, hopefully the next update will be faster than this one. More Chrno goodness next chappie o3o

Zoey

PS – Forgive my completely lack of knowledge in the foreign language category that doesn't have to do with English or Japanese. Cookie for whoever guesses the origin of the big baddie demon using the only two words used in the native tongue.