"What the hell is this?" I asked myself as I found a book on top of my chest, I just woke up and somehow some bizarre thing happened, I picked up the book and looked at it for a bit, red cover with gold details a bunch of pages, and all yellowed from the time it seemed, I threw the thing away because it was either a bad prank or some sort of trap, I have been in the paranormal business long enough to know not to mess with mysterious items that appear out of nowhere
I went on with my day but it seemed that the book got offended, the darn thing kept appearing to inconvenience me, I went to brush my teeth and there it was in the sink. I received some paperwork to fill and there it was in the middle of it. I burned the fucking thing but it came back when I went to grab a cigar to smoke. The damn thing even made me get hit in the face, I was dealing with a nasty chupacabra and went to grab my gun to blast its head off but instead, I pulled up the book and got distracted just enough for that goat sucker to land a right hook on my jaw.
"Hey Hellboy, have you filed the reports about that chupacabra you fought?" Abe the fish man asked me, I guess he didn't see how mad I was because then he wouldn't ask me that, then again, he is one of the most fearless people I know
"I'm telling you, Abe, I am having a pretty shitty day already" I reply to him as I grab a sandwich from a vending machine, I take away the plastic bag, look at it with my two eyes, lettuce, ham, tomato slices, and cheese in white bread but when I go to bite the thing I felt my teeth bite something that resembled leather and when I looked at my sandwich again, there it was right in the middle like a meat patty, and that was when I had enough.
"You're going to try and starve me until I read you now?" I say as I pull the thing out of my sandwich and look back at a surprised Abe since he probably saw this book manifest out of thin air
"Abe, call up the science nuts, We have a book to read," I said to him as I shook the book a bit, Abe replied with a nod as he went to arrange for a round of tests on this thing
After a few hours everything was set for me and the BPRD to discover what the deal was with this book, We were in an undisclosed lab away from headquarters and society, and the book was in the middle of a room while the scientists were protected with radiation and explosive resistant walls and bulletproof windows, they also strapped a bunch of devices and plugs on me and the book to get some read on it
"The scanners show that the book is ordinary in every level we can measure," Kate, a good friend and one of the best history and paranormal researchers I ever had the pleasure to meet said through a speaker "You sure that opening it is a good idea?" She asked me
"I burned it, torn it to shreds, chugged it down a river and the thing came back like it was nothing, seems that the only option is to play its game" I tried a variety of different things to get rid of this book as I waited to be taken to this lab, and the book just bounced back with not even a scratch
"Okay, we are ready, The tasers are functional in case you're possessed by whatever is in that thing," she said, The idea of being electrocuted by at least thousands of volts was a safety measure in case the book controls me or something, but I knew that might not be enough to hold a possessed me, so Abe, Liz, and Roger were all brought in to beat some sense back to me if things get out of hand, either by talking me out or hitting me until I pass out
"Just don't fry me too much, I got plans this weekend" There's this monster truck show on Saturday that I wanted to watch, apparently one of the trucks was based on me probably because of some guy I saved, I wanted to see how it was, thought about bringing Roger to it since he mostly goes out just in missions
"Title: records of the four cardinal weapons, nothing on the back, no information about the author on the first page or the last," I state, Kate found it best that I try to describe the book in an analytical and scientific way for the records
"The book starts like this: There was a world that although plagued by monsters, lived in peace for many centuries without any world-scale danger until the skies turned red and started cracking, with monsters and demons of imaginable horror coming through the cracks seeking to destroy the world" Seems like the usual end of the world stick, although usually it is the ground that cracks and the monsters come out from there instead of falling from the sky
"The threat known as the waves of calamity proved to be too much for the people of that world, but they had hope in the form of four ancient relics that were said to be forged by god to prevent the waves from wreaking havoc, those were the shield, the spear, the bow, and the sword. Those weapons could stop the waves with their power, but they needed to strengthen themselves first and for that to happen, they needed people to wield them, people from different worlds" So the heroes of the story are here, these magical weapons of the story can just summon people from different worlds and they need them to help their power grow? That sounds fishy
"The shield always was able to get its first pick, it chooses those who are willing to protect the weak and fight impossible odds for something they value" Why did it specify that it gets its first pick? What is that supposed to mean?
"The spear had difficulty with picking its wielder, which meant that it usually got people with major character flaws, It looks for those with great trust, people who believe in their friends more than anything" Okay this is just weird, I understand this whole picking its wielder thing already seems weird but now its telling me that this legendary weapons of incredible might can't pick the ones who could use them best.
"The bow looked for those with a strong sense of justice and that fought against unjustness, however, it had the same problem as the spear, its wielders having wrapped mentalities in what justice truly meant" Am I going to fight the heroes of this book? I understand the need for flawed characters but since this is a magic book, it has to be a reason is telling me this.
"The sword looked for strong people, not just physically but also in spirit, those whose hearts could look at the face of death and not tremble in fear, those who could wield power to take down colossus but also use it wisely for the sake of others, its first couple of wielders were perfect for the job, but as the years went by and the people who it looked for became rare finds, it had to rely on users that abused its power without care, with its hopes on finding a human worthy of wielding it almost completely gone it decided to choose... Blank, all the other pages are blank" Now that was odd, it was just going on this long introduction about the sword just to stop now.
"Shame, I was getting kind of invested in the story, wanted to know who the sword user would be," Kate said and I didn't know if she was joking or not, I looked down at the book just to see that something began to appear on it "It decided to choose the demon who turned on his kind and fought against fate itself for the good of all, it chooses the hero Hellboy" it was what had appeared in there as well as a drawing of me holding a sword a bit too small for my size, ah fuck
"I think you already know him, Kate, because it is me" I turned the book to them and showed an image of me that just appeared, however soon after, my body began to glow a bright yellow and the book fell from my hands, but not because I let go of it, but because I was seemly vanishing from there, as I saw my gun and most of my talismans fall from my pockets as I became more and more translucent and emanating more light
"I hate books" That was the last thing I said before momentarily losing conscience as I experienced what felt like I was being dragged underwater, but different from the times when I was fighting some nasty sea beast, this one felt almost pleasant in a way as my whole body was in a sense of ease that was honestly refreshing for once but it didn't seem to last not even a minute as I felt the cold air hit my face, the smell of candles and the usual stiffness of my shoulders
"O brave heroes please save our world and our people," That's what I heard, I opened my eyes to see a man in black robes and others wearing dark blue robes with their arms open, usual cultist stuff. I looked around my environment, dark chamber made entirely out of gray bricks, candles illuminating the room to very little success, a magical circle in the ground that I was surprised wasn't a pentagram, all things that usually meant bad things for me to punch.
In my left hand was a small sword with a vivid red gem in the center of the handle, that proved to me the obvious truth that I was inside the story of the book, I just hoped it was a short one. I saw to my sides three other people, the other heroes that the book described, and looking at them made me understand why the book was giving them flak, they are just kids not older than 20 it seemed, they probably haven't even gone through a tenth of the shit I did and still got drafted to this.
"Aaaaaahhhh! What the hell!?" The cultists and these kids all screamed out once they got a glance at me, one of the kids pointed at me with a bow with his hands shaking while the kid with a shield put his hands on his head and crouched down. Both were scarred and the one with a spear just froze in place, for legendary heroes these three were a bunch of cowards but I kind of expected that from the bow and spear hero, but the shield's first pick didn't seem like the type of guy to willing throw himself in danger for the sake of others and he honestly seemed like a scarred civilian that just got into his first supernatural occurrence, I might be going hard on them but they probably didn't expect to see a demon with summoned with them in this situation
"W-w-what is this?! A demon?!" One of the cultist guys said as he was surprised by my appearance, I used to get that sort of reaction all the time back at my first couple of public appearances
"Whoa, look at Albert Einstein over here," I said sarcastically to him but of course, he didn't get what I just called him, I reached into my trenchcoat and picked the only two things that came with me to this place for some reason, a pack of smokes and a lighter, I lit one up and felt the nicotine fill my lungs to calm me down since I'm not in the best humor at the moment
"So, can we skip the bla-bla-bla and go to the part where I kill monsters and go home?" I was just wanting to get this over as soon as possible, return home, eat a few snacks, and maybe go out for a walk and relax until a witch tries to drink my blood or something
"Y-yeah! But we can't do it for free! You guys kidnapped us after all, why should we help you guys without any incentive?" What the heck did that kid say just now?
"How willing are you to accommodate us? Depending on your answer, we might end up becoming your enemies instead." the ponytail guy said as he pointed his spear at the cultist that summoned us
"Seriously?" I let out as I looked at the two with my eyes wide, that was a lot of confidence that just came out of nowhere. Got to hand it to those two, takes balls to threaten and demand people you know nothing about, especially when these cult guys can be hiding knives or guns, then again it could also be that they are just stupid. Shield kid didn't say anything and he seemed just as confused about those two as me
"F-First, we'd like you four to have an audience with the king of our country, Melromarc. You can negotiate your reward after that, so please..." one of the cloaked individuals said and offered to take us to the king
We followed our cloaked guide through halls and staircases, getting out of a dungeon I assumed, and entering a more clean, illuminated, and decorated area, It seemed like we were in the castle already just in the underground. When we passed by a window, the shield kid stopped and looked outside and I followed, finally taking a look at how this world looked, typical European town if you ask me but without some of the more modern addiction like concrete roads or light poles to illuminate the night
We approached a big set of doors with two guards with spears in front of them. The guards briefly looked in shock at me most likely prepared to attack, but the robed man waved his arms to show them not to attack, I briefly caught a glimpse at our guide's face and it seemed that he wasn't too pleased at sparing my life
"Now entering the four legendary heroes!" one of the guards on the door screamed out and the four of us took that as the chance to make an entrance, We walked inside the room, the guards, some people on a high balcony, and even the king gasped and stared eyes wide looking very surprised at me, not that I didn't expect that reaction, the public back home is somewhat used to my appearance but I do still get the occasional person calling me "the devil!" or a variation of that, I'm not too thrilled about people seeing me as just a demon but what can a guy do?
"Ah... so... these are to be our heroes?..." The king glanced at us for a moment, his eyes always going back to stare at me, and his quite confused expression as well as the long pauses in his speech made it very clear that he was not expecting someone with such a handsome face like mine. "I am King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, the King of our glorious country of Melromarc... now heroes, name yourselves if you would," he asked, I slightly hit the arm of the blond guy next to me, he looked at me confused as to why he had to go first but did so reluctantly
"I'm Kitamura Motoyasu, 21 years old, college student," The blond guy with the ponytail said, he seemed smug about introducing himself
"Guess I'm next, huh? Kawasume Itsuki, 17, highschooler" the other blond kid said as he was inspecting his bow
"I'm Naofumi Itawani, 21, also in college," the guy in green said, The king made a weird face when he looked at the guy, a look I received sometimes before, that being disgusted hatred. But why towards that kid and not me? There was something weird about this king and that guy
It was finally time for me to introduce myself "I am Hellboy, an agent of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, BPRD for short" I said, It was the usual spill we say to officers and civilians, but since I am in another world and front of royalty... perhaps I should add something I rarely get the chance to say "And prince of all England" I declare, the face of everyone there was priceless, I'm sure that the king and the others from this world were surprised from me being royalty but the faces of the three other guys that were summoned with me were even more funny
"...Well heroes allow me to answer a question I am sure you four heroes have in your minds, the why we have summoned you four, as I am aware that you were informed that my country of Melromarc is in grave danger of a threat known as the waves." the king said as he composed himself before he began explaining what the waves were. They could happen anywhere at any time, lasting for multiple hours or until the boss is killed. During that time monsters would continue to pour out of the wave and even after it stopped, any monster already here would remain until slain, definitely something that should be taken seriously.
"This is why we summoned you all while the waves are still weak, now Heroes, could you activate your status magic?" the king asked and I, as well as the other three, were pretty confused by what he referred to, I know and seen a lot of magic in my life but I never heard of any status magic, by the way he said that it seems like something we should already know how to do, as I thought im asking the king to clarify what he meant, a small box in the corner of my vision caught my attention, when I focused on it, a holographic screen appeared in my face
[Name:Hellboy]
[Race: half-demon]
[Class: Sword Hero]
[Equipment]
[Legendary sword (locked)] [Right hand of doom(locked)] [Crown of fire] [other-wordly outfit] [other-wordly trench coat]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 220]
[Magical Power: 60]
[Soul Power: 45]
[Attack: 35 (right hand: 70)]
[Magic: 45]
[Defense: 60]
[Magical Defense: 45]
[Agility: 20]
I will take a guess and assume this was what he called status magic, say that this is one of the oddest types of magic I have seen as I am much more used to the more destructive or evil type of mumbo-jumbo out there, but this is nice enough for a first-time experience since it didn't blow up on my face, wonder what more can this status thing do
"Status magic? What's that?" The guy with a ponytail asked, that could have been me saying that, looking completely oblivious in front of a court
"In the corner of your eye there should be a little square, focus on it" I instructed them and their following expressions showed that they seemed to have gotten it as well
"Okay I get it now, but surely you guys can't expect us to save the world for free right?" The spear jock said and I want to give him a beating that he should have gotten when he was a kid
"Hum, it is a very demanding thing you guys are asking from us, We have very little reason to care without some sort of reward for our efforts" the bow kid added as well, Now I understand better why so many people sell their souls for profit, these two are demanding money to save the world, even though that if the world we are currently in is destroyed, they will also die
"Of course, you will be rewarded handsomely, and not just at the end, but after every wave, we will reward you heroes. Every step of the way." The king said in a pleasing tone, I know you're desperate to save your kingdom but you shouldn't incentivize that sort of behavior from those two
"Well There's four of us, so we just need to form a party together."Spear guy suggested I am not against working alongside others, but these three were not the type of people I preferred to work with as far as our limited interaction showed me
"Excuse me, but that won't do at all." the king said to catch our attention before explaining "Due to the unique qualities of the holy weapons, none of you can gain experience while near one another." Suddenly something appeared in my vision
[The four holy weapons dampen one another's power while within close quarters. Distance is advised whenever possible]
"You must form parties separately. Gather strength then fight the waves together" The king responded, Okay by me, I was not too thrilled about having to teach these guys how to fight, The two kids with the spear and bow were kind of pricks from how they act, shield kid seems too shy to work as a partner
After that, the king said for us to follow some servants for us to be taken for dinner, The stuff was good if not a bit weird with how it tasted but we got no drinks that weren't juice from some fruit, I could have use some otherworldly whisky for a taste. After that we were taken to a sleeping quarters where we would pass the night, I tried to go to a room for myself but the three others wanted to discuss something, I could already guess what
"So... you're roleplaying, right? Everything you said back there was just your character backstory or something" the spear guy said as he clapped his hands together and looked at me, the bow and shield turning to face me as well
"Excuse me?" What in blazes was he talking about? Roleplaying? Character backstory? Is he mentally well?
"That's just your game avatar correct? You aren't some sort of demon detective working for a secret organization, just a guy that is using your video game avatar for some reason" the spear guy said and I was still confused, I remember that Sidney introduced me to the concept when I caught him playing in a portable device a game called animal crossing, surprised me that the game wasn't about breeding animals, then there was that time I and the squad played a racing game Kate brought to help us have fun, it didn't work, I broke the controller after getting blue shelled three times, I wasn't even in first place in two of those times.
"... you high on something?" I asked him if he was talking nonsense and he did look like someone who would smoke pot to alleviate the stress of college. I might not know much about video games or whatever, but it does feel insulting to treat me as if I'm faking being myself, I might forgive him for all the stuff he said so far if he is going through a drug-induced trip
"Just answer the question please," the bow kid said, guess he wants to know if I am a demon or not, I could lie but I don't see much reason to for this guy
"No, I'm not a game avatar, I have looked like this ever since I was born, minus the facial hair," I said and the three seemed to try to read my expressions and tone of voice to see if I was lying or not, they seemed to realize that none of them could distinguish if someone is lying or not, so they just they accepted that I was talking the truth
"So you are a demon? Like an actual demon from hell?" The kid with a shield said, could tell he was scared of me, can't say he doesn't have a good reason to fear the idea of talking to a demon my size, good thing my horns are cut down
"I don't like talking about it, but if you're worried about me stealing your soul or something, you can relax. I was raised by humans since I was a baby and I despise demons just as much as anyone, I even fight them for humanity's sake. Trust me, if I could be just a regular human I would" I explained to him, The perks of my biology seem like a good deal, but after everything that came from being a citizen of hell and having this stone hand strapped to my arm, I would trade it all for just being a average joe
"...Okay, this definitely wasn't in Emerald Online"
"Yeah... wait don't you mean Dimensional Web?" the boy with the bow said and soon enough he and the ponytail guy were arguing about the other being wrong about which video game this was, I wasn't going to stick around these two anymore since now I saw that they had been seeing and thinking everything so far as just a game, I did learn that the shield was also teleported by a book so it must have been the same for all of us, made my way to exit through the door, the guy with the shield called me out but when I looked to see what he wanted he simply looked away scarred and didn't say anything, probably was too afraid of me and my ugly mug...
I get some alone time finally, lying down on the bed in my room. Wonder if the people back home are currently reading this and looking at me, can they hear my thoughts? Am I narrating this story from their perspective? Whatever, don't need to stress over that thought... right now anyway. I lift my left hand and look at the sword I'm reluctantly holding, I stare at it almost waiting for some sort of response but after a few seconds I just feel dumb for thinking I would get something from a sword even if it was a magical one
I laid in bed and kept thinking to myself how this story was going to go, I was either sucked into a fairy tale or the book was just a means to teleport me to another realm, both seemed pretty likely considering my experience. I went to sleep to try and take my mind out of things, but it was after a few hours I guess, that I felt a uneasy feeling that I wasn't alone in there, and my danger sense went off as I was sensing something moving towards my throat, I quickly roll to the sides falling out of bed in the process, I lifted myself sluggish to look at my mysterious aggressor
Even if I couldn't see in the dark much better than a human, the moonlight of the night entering my window allowed me to see that the person who tried to kill me was a fucking ninja, he was even using a Japanese katana. I wouldn't have guessed that a place that looked so European would have something from the land of the rising sun but it seems like every culture wants to kill me independent of place or time
"Alright buddy, care to tell me why did you want to kill me?" No response was given from the ninja, I don't know if I like my opponents being silent or talkative, either way pisses me off but the silent type usually doesn't let out useful information by accident
The ninja moved in for my throat again but I could avoid his swings, although I realized that with each strike he was coming closer and closer to cutting my skin so I decided to block the next one with my stone hand, to my surprise and the ninja's, the katana he was using shattered into many tiny pieces after hitting my hand and it didn't even leave a scratch on the area it hit, either that blade was very fragile or this piece of rock attached to my arm is indestructible.
The ninja jumped back a little bit, seeing that his weapon blade couldn't even be used to cut a piece of paper now, and decided to go in with his hands, using a sort of knuckle duster with a glowing white cross, Something tells me that if he hits me with one of those, it is gonna leave a burning mark on me. We started to trade blows and although the ninja was outspending me and putting me in a corner, when I finally hit him it seemed that I held the advantage for the rest of the fight, This guy is definitely faster than me but he seemed to not be able to handle my blows making him stunned for just enough for me to land another
"Night night asshole" I let out before I smash my right hand into his face, and by the sound it made when I hit him, seems like I broke his skull perhaps beyond repair.
I look at his body on the ground and go to check to see if he is still breathing, but before I can do it, I feel three things pierce my back and god it burns, I turn backward to see who did it just to see three other ninjas there, one with a long katana, one with throwing knives, and one with a pair of tonfã or I think that's what is called, Oh and did I mention that all of their weapons had some sort of cross or religious symbols on them? Guess I pissed off an order of ninja nuns by just existing.
I stared them down as they entered battle stances and I removed those knives in my back that seemed to have been covered in holy water, for a few seconds none of us moved and simply eyed each other before I pounced at them, the one with the tonfã went and blocked me while knife guy and katana guy tried to attack me from the sides, I dunk over while making sure to hold the arms of tonfã guy, I turned my body enough to a avoid the knife from causing any real damage, the knives only scraps my skin and put more holes in my trenchcoat, as for the guy with the katana, I use my tail to grab his arms and although he was putting a lot of strength to keep the sword moving in the intended path that in this case was into my spine, my tail was strong enough to change the trajectory of it so it would hit tonfã guy in the shoulder.
With the knife guy needing to grab more blades from a bag or something, I take the chance while the tonfã guy is distracted with a sword on his shoulder, I grab the katana guy with my right hand and force his head to hit the ground as hard as I can and he seems to be knock out for now, I decide to use the "legendary" sword in my left hand to tried and attack the tonfã guy but he just dodge doing backflips with one hand, how did he do that with a katana in his shoulder, I will never know
Momentarily losing my focus, I am just barely able to avoid getting a knife in my left eye but I get two other knives planted on my arm, seems the knife guy already reloaded. The burning pain I feel when these knives hit me is almost like poison while also being branded with hot iron, If it is because of some sort of holy magic, I don't understand why it's hurting me, I can enter churches, and hold rosaries just like any person, perhaps it is not what I think it is, maybe I shouldn't think they are fighting me the same way a priest fights a demon or ghost, perhaps this whole thing is more like bringing the right gun to a hunt.
More knives come my way but this time I dodge them, I remove the two knives in my arm, my aim with a gun might not be the best, but I have one heck of a throwing arm, Perhaps it is time for me to give this guy a taste of his own medicine, I aim, put my hand with the knife back, start to swing it and-
"Grrrhhhhhh!" I am zapped by something and the knives I was going to throw fly from my hand to the ceiling, purple electricity coursing throughout my body, It doesn't seem to be damaging me and instead seems to be messing with my pain receptors to distract and disorient me. But where the hell did this come from? The tonfã guy is probably responsible for this, I shouldn't have turned my back on him-
[Rule Violation]
[A legendary hero can only use his legendary weapon or a weapon of the same type to fight or harm others, wielding or using any type of object that isn't a sword with the intent to hurt someone or something will be punishable by a non-lethal shock]
"You got to be fucking shitting me?!" The sword shocked me because I wanted to throw a knife?! Does it want me to die or was it jealous of the fucking knives?!
"You want me to use only you then?! Fine!" I threw the fucking thing as hard as I could in the direction of the knife guy, who just dodges again but this time I am irritated with all this shit, I intercepted him and put him in a deathlock, he was trying to break free but it just made me put even more and more force into straggling this fucking-
Crack!
Oh, I broke his neck, he was fighting so good and I was so pissed off that I forgot he was just human. I let go of him and saw that he was truly dead as he stood num on the floor and his head was twisted in such a way that would make it hard to breathe. That only leaves tonfã guy, What was he doing during all of this?
"Forgive me great Father in heaven, for I am about to commit an unforgivable sin" I heard him say that as I turned around, he had removed the katana from his shoulder and was kneeling praying, somehow the place where the blade had cut was fully healed with not even a scar, did he used magic to cure it?
"To fight in your name and defeat this demon wielding one of your weapons, I have to do something wicked," he said getting back up while looking at me, We were staring at each other without breaking eye contact, and the "legendary" sword reappeared in my hand in a sudden flash of light, the thing can return to me just like the book it seems, not too fond of this thing since it shocks me.
"My blood is tainted by that of beasts, no matter how small of an amount, it runs in my veins making me impure from going to your holy home. But it will be this blood that will drag this demon back to hell" he pulled out a small vial containing purple dust and then broke the vial by hitting it with his head, and as a purple cloud was in his face, I heard what I assume was him sniffing and inhalling as much as he could of the stuff. The guy did it so fast that I couldn't intervene
Silence came to the room as I waited to see what that was going to do to him, and it seemed that I got my answer in the form of the guy making various grunts along with the sound of bones breaking and flesh deforming. I saw the guy's muscles grow, he had once a slim physique perfect for a ninja now becoming more like one of those bodybuilders, his clothes were torn in his arms, legs, and waist revealing that not only had some of his veins became purple but also that he was growing hair in a ludicrous amount, although still covered in that mask and cloth, his head changed shape a bit allowing me to see his mouth which had filled with sharp teeth like that of a predator and was currently growling at me. And also something that I noticed was that not only was he at least a head bigger than me but also that he had grown in the breast department, looks like I had misgendered this one and perhaps the others, they're good ninjas if I couldn't even gotten their gender right.
"ArE yOu HaPpY dEmOn? BeCaUsE oF yOu, I hAd To AlLoW tHe BlOoD oF aNiMaLs To OvErTaKe My BoDy, NoW mY aNcEsToR's MiStAkE cAn Be SeEn By AlL wHo GaZe Me" she said with her voice sounding very distorted and deep, she seemed very boasting and more overall expressive in her movements, it looks like she has dropped the whole silent ninja act and moved to a sort of WWE wrestler
"Your great-grandmother fucked a wolf?" I asked sort of sarcastically, It seems pretty obvious with how she is referring to the whole 'animal blood in my veins' that her family did something along the lines of bestiality or spilling the blood of an angry forest spirit
"A fOx AcTuAlLy, ShE wAs TeMpTeD bY iT aNd NoW tHaT dIsGuStInG gEnE hAs BeEn In OuR FaMiLy EvEr SiNcE." To my surprise she answered my quip, I don't know what the whole deal with that animal blood is, do the men in her family turn into foxes on their seventh birthday or something? "NoW lOoK aT mE, nOt HuMaN bUt NoT fUlLy A bEaSt As WeLl. I aM a AbOmInAtIoN aGaInSt GoD, bUt I cAn At LeAsT sEnD yOu To HeLl NoW" She pointed at me with her hands while still holding the one of the now small by comparison tonfã
"Sorry, but I am not too keen on going there, I pissed off a lot of demons" I have a dozen tons of demons, monsters, and spirits that I killed that are probably waiting for me to die so I can get sent to hell for them to have a rematch, and that's not counting all the nazis I helped to kill during the war, so going back to my birthplace is something I am trying to avoid
She gives me a creepy chuckle before seemingly disappearing and reappearing right in front of me, Oh no, I'm not even able to block her hit on my chest, that's going to be sore in the morning. I try to throw a few swings of my right hand and the sword but she is dodging it pretty nonchalantly, even allowing me to hit her abs just to see no results, She grabbed me by the throat and slammed me to the ground, that's gonna hurt in the morning. I tried to get up but she picked me by my tail and started to spin me around before letting me go and hit a wall, that is also going to be sore in the morning.
"I wIlL bE hOnEsT, I wAs NoT eXpEcTiNg To AcTuAlLy Be DoMaNaTiNg ThIs FiGhT sO hArD" I could tell that she was talking serious, there wasn't even smugness in her voice, I usually don't get my ass handed to me useless it is a very strong monster, but it seems luck isn't on my side
"Maybe if you *huff* could give me some breathing room, I *huff* could pose more of a challenge," I said as I laid my back against the wall and tried to catch a bit of air, I saw to my side the long katana from one of the previous ninjas, maybe...
"It Is BeSt To FiNiSh YoU oFf SoOn, I sTiLl NeEd To KiLl ThE oThEr HeRoEs" she said which confused me a bit, I thought they were after me, but why go after the kids?
"Why? *Huff* I know that I'm a demon and all, but those kids haven't done anything wrong besides being a bit bratty" I respond as I hold my hand to my aching waist, Does she think I put them under mind control curse? Or that I made them sell their souls to me so I can use them as anchors to keep myself in this world? I don't know how to do magic without the aid of certain talismans or scrolls but I guess everyone thinks demons can just do whatever dark magic they want
"ThAt MaY bE tRuE bUt We CaN't SuMmOn NeW hErOeS uNtIl ThE oLd OnEs ArE dEaD, pItY oN tHeM, tHeY WiLl DiE bEcAuSe Of YoU" I see now, whoever she works for doesn't want to have one of the heroes that are going to save the world and is wielding a holy weapon that probably is a religious symbol to many people be a demon no matter if I am a good guy or not, and since they don't want to lose on the firepower that is a legendary hero, they want a new batch of only humans this time.
She is approaching me slowly, I still have some fight in me and I can probably incapacitate her enough to maybe warn the others, since they haven't come to check on me for all the sound that has been happening because of the fight, They are either the heaviest sleepers I ever met or these ninjas put a sound nullifying barrier to prevent even a squeak off escaping, I can try to break a wall into their room but they probably wouldn't be much help. Looks like I am out of options besides fighting her to the death
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH" she screamed out of nowhere, I was very confused until I noticed that there was a sort of distortion of air and light in the vague shape of a person on her back, she was being attacked by some sort of invisible ghost now?
I take this chance to get up, using my tail to grab the katana close by and hold it in my left hand while holding the cardinal sword in my stone hand, surprisingly The legendary sword changed into an exact copy of the katana, but I don't have time to think about this. I ran in her direction and used both swords to swing and cut an X on her chest that thankfully actually made her bleed, I continued to swing the blades at her making as many cuts as I could, I impaled both swords on her waist in a diagonal angle to make it hit her lungs, I leave the original katana in her body and put the legendary sword in my back as I prepared to make something stupid.
She was with her back turned to the balcony and very close to it after I cut her a bunch and I needed to finish her off, so then a stupid idea came to my head and I decided to take it since I wasn't thinking straight because I was a bit mad you know? I ran and tackled her, screaming and pushing until we both broke the wooden fence of the balcony, While we were falling I placed myself on top of her so she would take most of the damage of the impact and so I could hit her in the face with my strong arm, we fell for I guess about twenty-three seconds and we thankfully landed in a place that didn't seem to have anyone there, hope the king doesn't get made for the room and the crater I just made in his garden.
"...Ugh..." I groaned as I rolled out from the top of the ninja assassin after taking a few deep breathes, I got up and tried to walk away
"...HoW bAd Is HeLl?..." the ninja lady asked me, I shouldn't even respond to her after she tried to kill me, but she was just following orders and it seemed that she hated herself for having fox blood in her... in an odd way I can sort of relate
"...depends on what you did in life" I give her a simple response, I haven't been to hell but if the old records description is anything to go by, it has a method of torture for every sin you can imagine
"I see..." she said in a normal tone as I saw her close her eyes, she seemed at peace
1.073 exp gained
[You have reached level 31]
I am a bit taken aback by this, I still don't understand this whole status and levels thing but how did I get so much from fighting that woman and her ninja squad, Exp means experience right? So shouldn't I be level 219 or something from all the fighting I've been doing? It's probably the sword again, I think this experience I gained was for it to grow stronger. I get out of the small crater the ninja girl made, I feel like I'm about to pass out at any moment but I can't stop now, I have to warn those kids or the king about this before more of these ninjas come
Seemly on cue, in my slightly blurry vision appeared another four ninjas but this time they were wearing deep dark purple outfits with very few gold details instead of the black and gold ones I just had fought. Just when I am at my most vulnerable, more enemies show up to finish the job.
"Ah fuck you guys..." That's the last thing I said as I tried to get ready to fight before collapsing on the ground, at the mercy of this new mysterious group of people...
[Author's Notes]
This is not any particular version of Hellboy, the best I could describe as would be a movie (the duology and reboot) and comics amalgam.
The substance the church shadow took is a made-up drug, but in the universe, it would be a sort of prototype or variation of the therianthrope transformation drug used by King Jaralis. This formula in particular is supposed to allow a human to transform into a "therianthrope form" but it only works if they have demi-human DNA in their body, The shadow that used it here only was 15% demi-human fox which is why she only became a hairy hulk instead of gaining more fox-like traits