The monstrous dog that guards the gates of hell is known commonly as Cerberus- Though, as humans tend to, the details about him were, in all ways, exaggerated. He was akin to the human's fictional creature called a 'werewolf', taking the form of a massive man sometimes and a beastly wolf other times- only changing to the said form of a wolf monster when fighting.

When he wasn't fighting, Cerberus sat in chains, placed there by the Royal Family of Hell, whom he hated so much for forcing him to do their work for them. He had been placed there both because of his strong abilities and his crimes- his worst being stealing the eyeball of the most powerful Angel Hunter known to man, or otherwise. Normally, the royal family would be happy to see an angel hunter off, for angel hunters took away more opportunities for the collection of angel souls than they prevented incidents- but she grew angry against all demons, and attacked Hell and innocent demons on too many occasions to count- the King, of course, blamed him.

He's been there, bored, ever since.

"Let's fix that, shall we?" Medusa sneered. She sauntered up to the towering, black gates. She had to admit, they were extravagant- the metal having beautifully crafted symbols and the the phrase: 'de profundus'- 'The depths', stretching across the two doors. She was finally allowed to be in her demon form. Her skin was scaly, blackish purple, and she had a long, black, snake-like tail that swayed slowly. The end of her tail was a sharp arrow. Her arms were tattooed with pitch black snakes. Her fangs protruded out of her lips at all time, and her eyes were thin, calculated, almost diamond-shaped, always glaring.

As she got closer, she finally saw what she was looking for- Cerberus.

His head was encased in black metal- a heavy, false head in the shape of a fierce dog. Two more similar heads held his hands and forearms. The three dog heads had forms of collars carved onto them, sturdy chains protruding from each. His arms were slightly elevated, and he stood in plain sight right in the middle of the gate, directly in the way of anyone wanting to pass.

She stepped close to him, dangerously close, far too close, only a foot away.

He sniffed the air, parting his mouth. The low growl he emitted was almost as intimidating as his buff figure, which looked like it could tear her into pieces without a second thought. If the stories she heard about him were correct, he could. The sound rumbled through the nostrils of the head upon his own, them being the only openings in the entire trap.

"Hello, Cerberus. My name is Medusa."

It took him little time to respond. "I don't really care." He growled.

"You should, I am the one who's going to set you free."

He seemed to perk up at her words. "Set me free? Really? How do you plan on doing that?"

Medusa chuckled darkly, slipping her hand into a thick, brown glove. She then pushed her hand into her front pocket, drawing a blindingly-white dagger. "Well, those Royals up in their high towers let you have free hands once someone confronts you..." She lifted her leg into the air, slamming it into his stomach.

She felt like she kicked lead. He didn't even double over, simply grunting softly.

Just then, the shackles on his hands growled, the jaws of the dogs hinging open, coming off with a hiss. They fell to the ground, leaving small craters where they impacted.

He stood up straighter, growling. "If this is your idea of helping me, I might have to reject your offer."

"And stay here chained like a pathetic dog?" She mocked, pointing her blade at him. "How glamorous. You know, if you simply be a good dog and let me help you, you'll be free much sooner."

"How do you plan on getting my head shackle off? It's never come off, and I've been here for hundreds of years."

"Oh, I know. Just stay still, will you?" She lunged forward, leaping onto his shoulders. Her legs wrapped around his neck, and drove the bright dagger into the left eye socket of the dog. She pried and thrashed the knife within the confines of the metal.

Cerberus roared. He thrashed his head violently, his screams lower than thunder and more fear-inducing than the deadliest of storms. When she heard a sickening squelch, and felt her blade slip into the beast's eye socket like a bloody sheath, she smiled wide. Medusa ripped the blade from his eye and the metal head gave a violent hiss as it parted straight down the middle. The heavy metal left a sizable dent in the solid, stone ground, even more so than the hand restraints. It seemed to almost wear an expression of defeat, molten tears oozing halfway down it's face from it's left eye.

Anywhere the dagger had made contact with the metal, it had melted like ice. This tiny, fragile little dagger couldn't even seem to cut bread- and yet, this metal bent to its will.

The blade was made from angelic metal- metal that previously made up the weapons of fallen angels. The metal only becomes more powerful with each soul- with enough, it can produce and anti-demon wavelength.

She chuckled darkly. It had worked like a charm. It easily melted the cursed metal. It was foolish to put the entire of the locking mechanism in one place, though she admit, a good place. It rested inside Cerberus' eye. She watched with utter fascination as Cerberus started to morph, screaming and holding his eye.

His face seemed to elongate, becoming a snout, filled with mangled, sharp teeth. His fingernails became black claws, and his body grew and burst with dark fur.

He threw his arms open with a loud, mighty roar that shook the red and black rock of the world around them. His injured eye smoked black, healing with a disgusting series of squishing noises, and in an impossibly short time, his eye was back how to it was before.

Medusa grinned. "Now, isn't that better?"

Blackstar woke up sprawled on a couch he didn't recognize. It took him a solid few minutes to realize that he wasn't kidnapped, or that he don't break into someone's house. Sitting up, he scratched his scalp.

"You know, you sleep like a rock."

Blackstar glanced over at Kid, coffee mug in hand. He took a sip.

"I don't even remember coming in here, dude." He stretched slowly, back popping. He grunted softly.

Kid yawned. His eyes seemed a bit more shadowed than usual, and a bit lidded. "That's cause you were starting to get loopy from being exhausted. You fell down. I had to drag you to the couch."

Blackstar chuckled. "My bad."

"Your bad indeed." Kid stepped over, sitting on the opposite side of Blackstar. "I have coffee, if you want it."

"Nah, I don't really drink that crap."

Kid simply hummed.

They sat in silence for a while. Last night's events started to bleed into Blackstar's mind. He looked down at his hand, then back to Kid, who seemed to be more focused on his coffee. Blackstar wasn't the type to keep his emotions in. What was the point, anyway? Kid seemed trustworthy enough...and if he didn't believe him, what did he have to lose? He'd just forget about it, right?

"Hey, Kid?"

"Hm?"

He hesitated, something he very rarely did. But then again, he wasn't quite himself around Kid anyway. "Can I tell you something? I mean...like, explain what happened last night."

"An explanation would be good, yes." He met Blackstar's eyes, and- thank god he was sitting down.

"It's kind of a long story."

"I don't have anything else to do."

"Alright, well, you asked for it." He inhaled to begin his story.

"Technically, you asked for it, but go on."

He glowered at Kid for a split second, then settling into his seat. "I was gonna go visit Soul, right, cause he just got out of the hospital...but then I had this weird feeling in my stomach, like someone I knew was nearby. Then...well, it sounds crazy, but, a some guy named Mifune threw a sword right at me. It got stuck in the wall. Then he started talking about the 'Star Clan.' Apparently, it's a clan my family's been in for a hella long time.

"And...he started talking about how he killed my dad, and that he'd 'taken the path of the demon', and that he himself was a 'demon hunter'. Like, actually hunting demons and shit! It was weird as hell, and I don't understand it, but...he wasn't all human. And then...he told me that...I was a demon hunter, too, and...I wasn't human."

Kid stared at him. His lips were tight, and his eyebrows were knitted in utter confusion. "So...implying that both demons exist, and non-humans to hunt them exist, and you were one and you never knew?"

"Well, yeah! But it sounds dumb when you say it like that."

"It sounds dumb either way. So a guy with a sword-"

"A lot of swords, actually." Blackstar interrupted.

He rolled his eyes. "A guy with swords attacked you, told you he murdered your crazy dad, and wasn't human, and on top of that said you weren't human, and you believed him?"

"Well, it makes sense! What else would explain my dad's craziness and the claws and shit?! Plus, it explains my tattoo!"

Kid seemed to be caught a little off guard. "Tattoo? The one on your shoulder?"

"Yeah," he pulled up his sleeve to reveal the star, "I've had it my whole life, but no one believes me when I tell them! But he said that it's called a...what was it...a glam..." he had to wrack his brain. "A glamour."

"That… is a really dumb term for a tattoo."

"Maybe it means something?" He suggested, shrugging. "But yeah, it is. Sounds like something a drag queen would say."

Kid hummed in mild agreement, placing his cup on the coffee table. "...you're sure this all happened?"

"Yeah. I remember it really clearly."

Kid sighed, running a ringed hand through his night-black hair. "I had a lot of doubts about all this demon nonsense, but...I guess the supernatural always seems to explain the unexplainable. Maybe...it's not completely unfounded. I don't know. Maybe I'm just losing sanity."

"If you're going insane, then I'm batshit crazy!" He grinned.

Kid sighed heavily, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Yeah," his voice was much less strained, "I knew that already."

Blackstar punched his arm lightly. "Shut up, you brat!" He laughed.

Kid smiles faintly. "Am I wrong?"

"Yes! I'm way too powerful to go insane because of some dumb old man! If I am non-human, then it just makes me even more awesome! Think about it! 'Blackstar, the Demon Slayer!" He held up his hands as if presenting the title.

Kid's smile wavered. "Er...yeah. Great."

"What, don't think I can do it?!"

Kid rolled his eyes. "You can do whatever you want, I don't care. And if you want to fight these so-called demons, I'm not gonna stop you."

"It should be impossible to be this chill. You might be rivaling Soul on that one."

"Blackstar, he could get hit by a train and he still would be okay with it."

Blackstar laughed. "Damn, that's a little harsh, but you're right."

"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

"I'm gonna tell him you said that." He tried to threaten, still smiling playfully.

"He'd probably agree with me, knowing him."

"Damn you, rich boy! My plans are foiled again!"

Kid smiled again, and Blackstar had to bite his tongue. "Mwah ha ha." He monotoned.

"Pfft, that was the most unenthusiastic evil laugh I've ever heard."

"Well, it's not like a practice."

Blackstar shook his head, still smirking. "You're a fucking dork."

"I've been told."

Kid flinched and Blackstar blinked in surprise as his phone suddenly blasted 'All Star'. Kid glared at him.

"What? It's a good song!" He answered the phone after seeing it was Soul who was calling.

"It's really not." Kid watched him greet Soul, loudly.

"Soul! How you doing, man?!" A pause. "Other than that." Another pause. "Today? Yeah, I have nothing going on." Once again, a pause. "...Aight. I have food for you by the way. Yeah." But this time, there was a pause. "I'll be there. I'll tell Kid, I'm at his house." He scoffed after a moment, "okay, it is NOT like that! Just- shut up! See you there."

"What was that about?" Kid's head tilted ever so slightly.

"Soul wants to hang out everyone in town. We're gonna grab lunch, then just hang and shit. He wants to meet up at twelve."

"Mm, I see. Well, have fun." He stood, picking up the cup, and sipping the little coffee that was left.

"You're coming too, idiot."

"I figured. I'm kind of stuck in this friend group now, right?"

"Oh, you love us." He stuck out his tongue.

"Maybe." Kid stepped away, strolling into the kitchen. Blackstar checked his texts, preparing himself for the endless apologizing he'd have to do to Tsubaki.

Medusa led Cerberus, slowly, with a purpose, forward. Getting into hell was easy. Escaping this realm- especially with Cerberus in tow, would be a challenge. There was the gargantuan staircase, first of all. If she even got that far, she first had to get past the massive lake of molten rock, one that she could only get by if she miraculously sprouted wings and flew across, or get on a boat.

The singular boat of old has long since been replaced by more modern speed boats, even a single yacht and jet-skis. She had snuck into a speedboat on her trip over, but that wouldn't work this time, with her new "guest", hiding him on a speedboat would be impossible.

Creeping up to the docks, Cerberus close behind, she peered at a long boat, far from the others. A single demon worked on it's engine.

"Hey, so-"

"Shh." She hissed.

His voice lowered, only slightly. "Hey...so I've been thinking. Since I'm y'know, free now, I don't need my old name! It's one that the King gave to me anyway, and I don't want that shit to be who I am!"

"I don't particularly care." She growled lowly. He really was an idiot.

He didn't seem to notice her remark. "So I've decided, from now on, my name is Free!"

"Fantastic." She snapped sarcastically. "Now be quiet before someone hears us."

Free didn't respond, looking over her head. He was glad she had no horns.

She creeped up behind the demon, slowly, slowly...completely silent.

"Anguis, anguis..." she whispered. The tattoos on her arms glowed a faint purple. "anguis, anguis, corruptus, corruptus." Her voice raised to it's normal level.

Black, snake-like and deadly arrows slowly slid from Medusa's back, hanging in the air and pointing their tips at the unsuspecting victim.

The demon only let out a tiny, pathetic squeak as they were pierced.

Blood splattered, staining the metal of the boat. The sickening crunch of the demons body becoming impaled only lasted but a moment. In a second's haste, the demon turned completely black, the magic bursting out, only leaving behind a faintly red soul.

A small cross popped from the ground, and if the situation wasn't so grim, it would have been almost comical.

Medusa uncaringly stepped onto the boat. Demon souls hardly contributed to her power. Say for experiments, they were all in all useless to her. She had much bigger plans in mind.

She turned to Free. "Get in."

Maka felt incredibly uneasy. And she didn't know why.

She was having a good day. All of her friends were there.

Soul was shaking his head and chuckling at Blackstar, who was boastful as usual. Liz and Tsubaki held hands while Patty clung to Tsubaki's free arm, laughing joyfully. Tsubaki wore a happy smile. Kid watched all of them as the group walked, actually smiling, seeming content and calm. They all looked so comfortable, so happy, like nothing was wrong in the world.

So why did she stop walking?

And why couldn't she breathe?

They didn't notice her odd behavior until it was too late, and the world was blurry and foggy and there was suddenly pain in her head and Maka felt like she was floating.

Muffled voices cried her name. Her vision mixed and churned. It went from an assault of color to white, to pitch black.

Hours in her head passed, it felt like hours. How long did she lie there? How long was she going to lie there?

Her vision started to clear, but it wasn't normal. All around her, there was a glow of evil red. Blood red. She gasped, trying to get air into her lungs as if that would somehow make it go away. Her fear was elevating with every moment.

She couldn't take it.

But...out from the red, there was a blue, calming glow. Six glows of heavenly, sky blue, with just a touch of gold on the far left of the group of blue. From her own chest, the same comforting blue glow poured out. The red around her faded into the background, just slightly, but from behind her friend's souls, a blood red glow only grew, overpowering the sickly red of the rest of the world. Slowly, the glows took shape, into six blue souls. One had a slight orange tinge at the top, two were faintly pink , one was a deep navy, and another had a faint purple, all the glows emitted from their tips. The final soul seemed to have a brilliant gold glow enveloping it. Her own soul had a faintly orange glow on it's wiggling tail upon its topside. Inside her soul, a heavenly white glow shone. Strangely, the pink souls had a very faint version of this. In fact, all the souls had a glow within them, say for the slightly golden soul. The Orange soul had a deep, transparent red. The navy soul had a cyan middle. The purple soul had a grayish center. But that didn't make sense.

These souls belonged to her friends, right? They felt familiar, like she knew the souls personally, so they had to be. She had studied human souls before, and they were supposed to be blue inside, like the surface, but...

"Maka!"

Maka snapped her eyes open wider than they already were, and in less than a second, her vision was back to normal, say for being a bit out of focus.

Soul was staring at her in concern, holding her shoulders. She found that she was sitting up against a wall, all of her friends leaning over to watch her.

"H...huh?" Was all she could get out.

"Are you with us, Maka?" Kid asked, his usually calm and low voice a bit worried-sounding.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm with you." She slowly stood, being helped by Soul.

"You passed out for like, no reason!" Blackstar exclaimed. "You were staring at us really weirdly."

"You looked like you saw a ghost." Tsubaki mumbled.

"Or like, six ghosts! But the ghosts were us!" Patty added.

"Yeah...I kinda just blacked out, y'know? I'm fine." She tried to smile, not really succeeding. Truly, she did feel better now, the choking feeling of dread leaving as quickly as it had came.

"People don't just pass out for no reason, Maka." Soul frowned, brow furrowed.

"Maybe it's the heat," Kid suggested. "It's bothering me a bit, too. I felt somewhat...lightheaded earlier. It might just be something going around, though."

Maka nodded faintly. "Maybe."

Kid nodded dismissively. "I'm a bit more concerned about you, though." The others nodded in agreement.

Tsubaki stepped up to her. "Here, have some water," Tsubaki reached to the side of her purse, offering Maka a half-empty water bottle. "You can just waterfall it."

Maka took it, pouring it into her mouth. She finished the rest of the bottle quickly, and stood up straighter.

She smiled faintly at her friends. "Thanks, Tsu. I feel a lot better. We can keep going."

"Are you sure?" Soul immediately asked.

"Yeah. I won't let this ruin our day of fun, right?"

Everyone grinned widely, say for Kid and Tsubaki, who never had very energetic smiles anyway.

"This is a day for celebration, right? I'll be fine, let's just focus on making the most of today!"

She got nods from Kid, Tsubaki, and Liz, and enthusiastic cheers from Blackstar and Patty. Soul grinned at her and punched her arm.

"If you pass out again, I'll never forgive you, cause you said you're fine, got that?"

Maka grinned back and nodded. She had all but forgotten the strangeness within her friend's souls.

Patty grabbed one of her hands, smiling happily. Maka laughed as she was pulled along. The whole group began to walk again.

Kid rolled his eyes. "Don't rip the poor girl's arm off, Patty."

Patty responded by trapping his hand in her free one. That earned her a brief glare, which soon melted into an amused smile.

Maka chuckled, shutting her eyes. She felt like she expected something to happen when she did, like something was waiting. Her smile fell. She felt like there was, as ridiculous as it sounded to herself, some sort of string pulled taught in her soul, waiting to snap. She focused on the feeling, feeling it tighten and tighten.

Then it snapped, and she opened her eyes.

Once again, the world was a mix of soul's glows. It was now mostly blue. Though, intimidatingly, the ground below them seemed to glow red. The dark, intimidating kind of red. She glanced to her right at Patty's and Kid's souls. Party's was one of the pink souls, which shouldn't have come as a surprise. Kid's was the faintly gold soul. Their forms almost seemed like shadows, only vessels to their souls. Kid's shadow snapped it's head over to her, and the perception was shattered, and the souls disappeared.

Kid stared at her in confusion, eyebrows knit tightly together. He faintly glared, and she didn't know why.

"Maka, are you alright? You seemed to...space out." Kid finally spoke.

Maka nodded quickly, trying to ignore the group's worried glances. "Yeah, I'm fine!"

Did Kid somehow feel that she was looking at his soul?

No, he couldn't have. He's human, and as far as she knew, only non humans could do that. If he was an angel in disguise, he'd have a white glow inside of his soul like her, and if he was a demon, his soul would be red. Maybe she was just paranoid. It wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes, she just felt like somehow people knew. But they were human. And Kid is human.

She shook her head, casting away those thoughts. "Let's just focus on having fun, Kay?"

Kid didn't seem too convinced, but turned forward and let it go anyway.

It seemed they could barely cover any ground before their normal walk was once again interrupted.

Blackstar suddenly stopped in his tracks, whipping his head to the opposite side of the street. Maka looked, and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary there, just a man with pale, long hair. Was that what he noticed?

The man looked over, and Blackstar locked him into a intense stare.

"Uh...Blackstar? You okay there?" Soul asked, gently tapping Blackstar's shoulder.

Blackstar didn't move, narrowing his eyes, the green of his irises practically burning. He gave off a scorching aura, like white-hot metal.

Kid followed Blackstar's eyes to the man across the street. "Isn't that the guy who...?" He didn't finish his sentence.

"Yeah." Blackstar answered bluntly.

The man slowly reached a hand behind him, and everyone's eyes widened when he pulled out a shiny sword.

Blackstar tumbled to the ground.

A high pitched screech of laughter burst into the air, and Blackstar yelled.

"What the hell?! Get it off of me! SHIT!" He cursed as the tiny thing squirming on top of him.

"What is that?!" Liz cried, jumping backwards.

"A child." Kid cringed.

The tiny form on top of Blackstar had short, pink hair in a bob, with two white horns that faded to gray pointed nearly straight up. She grinned mischievously, a mouth full of shark like teeth. She stuck out her tongue, which was much longer than what it should be. She had white, swirl-like markings on her cheeks.

Blackstar kicked her off, and she tumbled to the concrete. The little demon cried out softly, black dress dirtied from the ground. She pouted.

"You're a meanie face!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" Blackstar yelled.

Everyone stared in confusion.

All of a sudden, a sword flew past Blackstar, just barely grazing his hair, and drove into the wall behind him.

The man was suddenly scarily close to them. "I suggest...you don't hurt her."

Tsubaki, Liz, and soul, all stared fearfully. Patty hid behind her sister. Kid stared at the man, teeth clenched and pupils contracted.

"Th-That..." Maka sputtered. "Is she a...?"

"A demon!" The aforementioned girl cried proudly. "The white demon Angela!"

"Fitting name." Blackstar growled sarcastically.

"A-An actual...demon?!" Liz cried, practically on the verge of passing out.

"COOL!" Patty cried happily, who was immediately grabbed by her sister.

"Patty! That's not cool!" Liz shook her sister hysterically, as if that would change her mind. Patty only laughed.

Blackstar dragged himself to his feet, boldly grabbing the handle of Mifune's discarded sword and yanking it from the wall. He pointed it at the two of them. "You know what I suggest?" He growled. "I suggest you fuck off!"

Maka and Tsubaki took a step back.

Maka's mind was going wild. 'A real demon just showed herself in front of humans?! And in front of my friends?! Blackstar had a sword, oh god, why did he have a sword, who the hell protects demons like that?! Should I transform...?"

The man glared. "Bold of you. But I suppose that is star clan." He drew one of his own swords.

"What the hell?! Blackstar, don't fucking start a fight with a guy with a million swords!" Soul yelled at Blackstar.

"The hell I can't!" He jerked his sword back, rest to attack.

Before he could even start to, he cried out in sudden pain, and was on the ground, holding his side. The sword clattered to the ground.

Kid stood still, the hand he expertly struck Blackstar with still extended. He slowly stood up straight. "Stop. Being. Stupid." He growled between clenched teeth.

Every stared in shock, and not even Mifune expected such a quick and hard strike from Kid, the skinniest and tiniest out of the seven friends.

Blackstar groaned. "The hell, Kid."

"Look-" he began sharply, "I don't know what's going on, why there's a tiny demon here, why there's a man with swords here, and why Blackstar thinks in his tiny skull it's okay to fight him, but I am already done. I swear to Satan himself, because he seems to be tormenting us, if you break out into a fight right here, I will be the ones to kill you." Those last few words were spoken lowly, and sent a chill through everyone, except Mifune, but if it did, he didn't show it.

Maka finally found the strength to speak. "Kid's right. This is confusing, but...we shouldn't fight." She quietly thanked god for letting Kid be here to stop the situation.

Soul looked over at her. She could tell why. She shook her head. No, she couldn't use her powers, not unless their lives were directly in danger.

Blackstar suddenly screamed, jumping back up and snatching the sword. He lunged at Mifune, who had to block with his own sword.

The whole group erupted in chaos.

Angela screeched in fear and surprise, an inhuman sound, high pitched and terrifying.

Kid yelled Blackstar's name, grabbing at his shoulders and arms to pull him back, yelling that he was an idiot and to stop over and over.

Tsubaki cried Blackstar's name in a panic, also grasping at him desperately to stop the fight.

Soul screamed at Blackstar and Mifune both, letting out a slew of curses.

Liz and Patty clung to each other and watched helplessly, eyes wide. Liz tried to yell, though her voice cracked.

Maka stood paralyzed for a few moments, horror flowing through her veins. A part of her couldn't comprehend.

Once she saw the intense wrestling of her friends, Blackstar, and Mifune for a second too long, she finally got her body to move.

She heard a sickening sound of blade slicing through flesh and muscle and organs, and a voiceless gasp of pain. A flash of red splattered to the pavement.

Everyone froze, and for the longest time, everything was completely and utterly silent.

Blackstar's blade clattered to the ground, the only sound in the deafening quiet.

Mifune's blade, however, was still gripped tightly in his hand, frozen at the end of his swing. Beads of blood slipped down the metal, onto the ground below, the ground which had become to heat, and slowly, menacingly, rumble.

Medusa couldn't hold in her laughter. Everything was going so perfect. Demons were awakening all around the world from Cerberus'- or rather, Free's wavelength alone. All she had to do was retrieve her dear child, and everything could truly get into motion.

Free was doing what do demon dared to do- he attacked the wall above them, the underside of the surface, clawing and firing countless explosive magic spells, biting, and punching. The ground was actually giving way, something no demon had ever laid witness too. Free, nor Medusa for that matter, had a care for using the traditional exit, swarmed by demons painfully loyal to the royal family.

No, there was no time for that foolishness. Sometimes stealth must be sacrificed for the sake of efficiency, and this was much more efficient. Not only that, it would send a message that she had been trying to send for her whole life.

"I can destroy you, I want to destroy you, and I will destroy you."

Blackstar's balled fists fell into flat, shaking palms.

He messed up.

He realized that upon seeing the blood spurt and drip from Kid's stomach, sliced open. He felt the impact of what he'd done as Kid's wide eyes stared at his own wound, a streak of blood falling from his lips to his chin.

Maka watched in horror as her friend collapsed his knees, then the ground, into a puddle of his own blood. She didn't even feel the shaking and spasming of the ground.

She messed up.

She was supposed to protect people. Maintain order. Protect her friends. And she messed up.

Finally, something broke the silence that tore at Maka's soul. It was Liz.

Screaming.

She screamed bloody murder, ripping herself from her shocked sister and running to Kid's side. Patty stood still as a statue, wide eyes staring at their closest friend's body.

Tsubaki broke out in shrieks too, starting to cry.

Everyone else was frozen. Save for the wielder of the blade that had caused the horror.

Mifune slowly slid his body into a neutral position, sheathing his blade behind him. He clenched and unclenched his fists.

"I'm sorry. I don't like killing the young. Especially innocent young. It was not my intent to..." he decided not to finish that sentence, face obscured by his hair.

He wouldn't have finished it anyway, for Blackstar screamed and punched him in the face as hard as he could. Mifune's head snapped the opposite way, blood bursting from his mouth. He pounced forward, wildly throwing his fists and kicking anywhere he could.

Soul cried out in alarm, along with Maka, and Soul ran forward, grabbing Blackstar and pulling him back.

"ENOUGH!" He screamed at the enraged boy. "ISN'T THIS ENOUGH?!" Soul paused, arms shaking slightly. "Isn't this enough...?"

Blackstar hung his head, panting furiously.

Liz had Kid laid on his back, having taken off her jacket. She pressed the fabric to Kid's wound, and while it did stop some blood flow, part of her knew that the wound was too deep.

Maka felt her hands ball into fists. "You-" she growled, eyes burning. She felt her back ache, her wings practically trying to burst out from inside her. "You-!"

She was interrupted by the ground a block away from them exploding, a large figure clawing up from the chaos.

A wolf-like monster roared, shaking every single one of them, even shaking the buildings nearest to him.

Everyone had to cover their eyes as a burst of dust a debris flew past them. It held for a few horrible seconds, and when it finally died off, they lowered their arms and hands.

Maka looked up. Mifune and Angela were gone. They had left them.

Maka screamed. It wasn't a scream of despair, or fear. It was of rage. Rage toward herself, Mifune, the world for letting this all happen.

Deep down, she knew she was as good as helpless. Without her weapon, she had little else to fight with. She couldn't hold her own against whatever that was.

The monster free himself from the hole he had created, enormous claws digging into the pavement.

"IT'S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I'VE BEEN UP HERE!" He boomed, spreading out his arms like he was trying to embrace the sun.

It was most definitely a demon. Which means is was her responsibility to fight it. But what could she do?

The monster tilted his head and grinned at their group. He sniffed the dust-filled air.

"I smell blood already! What a strong scent!" He mocked, taking a few steps closer. He picked up a nearby car. He hoisted it above his head. "My favorite of scents!"

Maka grabbed Soul immediately, running to Tsubaki and tackling her out of the way of the incoming object. Liz grabbed Kid and jumped, Blackstar evaded almost too easily, tackling Patty out of harm's way while he was at it.

They all groaned in pain. They all had bruises and scrapes, the most severe of them being Liz, who had shielded Kid's body from most of the impact of falling to the ground. The car landed close enough to her to shower her with glass, and she lay unconscious with several cuts.

Maka shakily tried to stand.

She failed.