I-no stared down at the absurdly large pair of steel doors that led straight into god knows where.
Her crimson red attire was illuminated by the everlasting fire of torches surrounding the curved walls of the spherical shaped room she stood on.
The lighting of the fire also illuminated the chunks of demonic flesh scattered throughout the dirty floor.
The instigators, at first, were the small army of freaks that were housed in, all of them armed to the teeth with claws, swords, organic blades, and so on so forth. And the end result was caused by the utilization of Marlene's blunt force and the magical properties the instrument carried.
The unlucky bastards that would have required them to slay the small army of monsters would have left them either dead or panting for oxygen.
But not for the infamous Red Musician. Instead, she saw the battle as another tuesday.
She stretched out her left hand, moving her limb in a circular motion before thrusting it towards the doors. Within a heartbeat, the small obstacle opened and ended with a loud, metallic bang that made her ears suffer.
("Let's see what the other side has for me...")
...
"So you believe that a portal, the kind where these creatures came through, is possibly somewhere outside of Illyria's walls?" Millia clarified for Aiden as she wrote down that statement on a piece of paper.
"That is correct."
Aiden was currently seated on one of the chairs that where placed in front of Millia's desk. The director of the P.W.A.B called him in for a private discussion relating to his statement of a nearby Hellgate.
Millia tapped the end of her pen against her chin "That would make the most sense as to how they arrived here in the first place. Unfortunately, your claim leaves us with an issue."
"And that would be?" He asked casually.
The elegant blonde placed her utensil down on the surface of her desk, rising from her seat and walked towards her window that showed a nice view of the kingdom. Though the view wasn't her main focus.
"There isn't a visible trail for us to follow. Based on the reports of Lord Ky and Leo, the corpses of these demons had their entire bodies melted into puddles of a blood like substance. For us, this means that we can't perform a proper autopsy for any clues to help us." She finished with crossed arms.
The young devil hunter lightly grunted to Millia's reasoning. "You prove a point there, Mrs.Rage. But I wouldn't be calling myself a demon hunter if I didn't have a way of tracking them down."
Millia turned her body towards young man, sending him a cocked brow.
"And what exactly is that method, Aiden?"
He stood up from his seat and fixed his gaze directly at her. "It's simple, we follow their scent."
"Following their scent..." She muttered as she placed a crooked finger against her chin.
She brought back her focus to him, staring him with a serious gaze. "Explain."
"Most demons have their own unique scent, which naturally goes unnoticed by the average human. Not even animals can smell them. Only demon hunters like myself can catch these scents."
It was true. Because Aiden has been hunting demons for the past few years of his life, his nose has picked up the ability to identity a demon's scent.
She hummed for a second as she let his explanation sink in. "That can help us as a starting point, but how will you be able to identify those scents in the middle of a bustling city?"
"That won't be a problem since a demons scent is far more stronger than any other living being. And like I said before, the average human won't be able to catch wind of it." He answered as he gave her a look in his eyes that spelled assurance.
The elegant blonde let out a small breath of doubt, feeling a bit unsure of whether this is a good decision for her to take. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
"I suppose we could let you handle this part on your own. Just make sure you don't cause a loud ruckus." She advised him with a stern glare
Aiden sent her a bow of assurance. "You have my word, Mrs.Rage"
With that, the young man exited her office to complete his task.
Millia turned to her window again as her was mind preoccupied by the situation the kingdom was facing.
After Leo's sparring match, Aiden informed all of them that his nunchaku was a solid manifestation of a demon's soul.
And that demon was Cerberus.
Cerberus, the triple-headed demon dog that only existed in ancient myths, turned it's own soul into a nunchaku that could use the power of ice.
At first it sounded downright ludicrous that their ally's weapon was a manifestation of an actual living demon, but it was proven true when she had an ACTUAL telepathic conversation with the demon dog.
The blonde let out a small laugh of disbelief while she rubbed her forehead. Part of her still having a hard time believing that she had a LITERAL conversation with a weapon.
("And here I thought shadow manipulation and a talking dragon-bird hybrid would the most ridiculous things I would encounter.")
But she was quick to replace her disbelief with dread. She remembered Cerberus affirmation that the majority of his kind wanted to do nothing but use humanity as their playthings.
Which just made the situation even more worrying, and perhaps frightening to deal with.
While it did put her on edge about what the kingdom, or perhaps what the world would later on face, it made her wonder if Aiden is somehow connected to the appearance of these demons.
That didn't mean she was going to hold him accountable for the appearance of these demons. But he may have unintentionally been responsible for it.
It was a bit saddening now that she thought about it. The young man seems like he wants to genuinely help the kingdom and its people. But she wasn't going to come to that conclusion just yet. She and Zato want to know him a bit more before putting all of their trust into him.
...
The young demon hunter stepped out of a mechanized horse carriage, turning to dismiss the driver with a thankful wave.
Aiden decided to take a taxi to the area where he killed the Hell Judecca, knowing it's scent would still be lingering around.
While he didn't exactly know in which street he killed it, he would take notes on any notable landmarks on the encounter with the Judecca, a method his foster father taught him a few years back.
Aiden sat on the nearest bench so he could begin replaying the encounter.
As he kept on replaying the encounter, he managed to pull out a few landmark names. One of them being the name of a bar shown on a large display window and the name of a candy store engraved in a small wooden sign.
With the information in mind, he stood up from the bench and resumed his task.
("Do you have a few notable locations that will help you on this search, Aiden?") Sparda asked
("I do") He answered with a confident tone
Sparda chuckled softly, a feeling of pride consuming his soul as he knew Aiden was effectively using the methods he has teached him.
("Alright then, just give me the word whenever you need help")
("Will do")
Aiden slowed down his steps as he decided to inspect the current street he was on. He began slowly turning his head from left to right, his reddish-brown eyes trying to pinpoint the landmarks he has seen from that night.
Most of the civilians that walked past him didn't bring their attention to him as they were more focused on their day-to-day objectives.
Although, there were a few that looked at him with curious expressions as it was somewhat unusual to them in seeing a young man dress so elegantly.
Though they decided shrugged off the unusual sight as they knew it would be rude of them to stare.
In just a few seconds, Aiden's eyes laid on the wide window that displayed the bar's name, including the wooden sign of the candy store
Seeing that he's at the right place, he took a long sniff at the street's current atmosphere. A foul smell quickly flowed into his nostrils, causing the young man's lips to form a small smile
He set his next step into motion by following the scent, hoping that wherever it led to wasn't in the middle of the kingdom
...
20 minutes later:
The young devi hunter was now standing in front of the wooden 'Caution' sign that was built for the Eastern sector of Illyria's forest.
He slightly tilted his body to the right to properly see the vast field of trees that stood behind the sign.
"Aiden!" The echo of a child's voice called out to him.
His entire body shuddered for a brief second as he heard that voice, not even turning towards it's direction as he knew there wasn't an actual child calling to him. That voice was nothing but a grim reminder of what he has lost and the circumstances that led him down this path.
("Sweetie, whatever tricks or taunts your mind is materializing, we'll be here to make sure it doesn't crumble what you're fighting for.") Eva reminded him in a mother's soft voice.
("I know")
Straightening his posture and steeling himself to the horrors he was going to face, he began walking towards the edge of the field of trees.
He summoned his magicomm, the device knowing exactly who he wanted to call
["Have you found the trail, Aiden?"] The voice of Millia asked him
"Yes, and it has led me to the Eastern sector of Illyria's forest, the one that is designed for the public."
["Excellent work, I'll report this to the three kings and we'll send a squad to your location."]
"I'll see you then, Mrs.Rage"
With a flick of a finger he made his magicomm disappear
He then stretched out his left hand with his guitar case materializing shortly after.
("Are you sure you want to go alone, Aiden?") Eva asked to her son in a soft tone that the young man knew was filled with concern.
The young devil hunter always has responded to her concerns with a confident smile. And it would be no different here. ("I do, Eva.")