Someone found him. A friend of his brother. She took him in, her friends helping out to carry him, and left him on the couch to rest as she tended to his wounds.
At first the boy tried to struggle, to get out and stay away from anyone that had any relations to his family. But he didn't have enough strength to do so. He gave it his all back when he escaped the house, having endured through the hits with all his might. He had nothing else to give. Nothing else to fight back with, so he simply passed out then and there.
When he woke up, startled by the sudden cold on his ribs, he almost jumped off the couch.
"Jesus fuck, what happened to you man?" Her voice carried the roughness of someone unused to dealing with people in difficult situations. Almost like she unwittingly tried to inject venom in all her words.
He opened his mouth, yet remembered who she was.
"C'mon, dude. I've seen bruises like that. Did you get jumped? Did they hurt you?" She furrowed her brows, yet her tone didn't change. It occurred to him that she simply always spoke like this.
Standoffish, threateningly even.
He made a half-hearted excuse. Didn't look her in the eyes.
"Fine, whatever." She huffed, rolling her eyes "I'll call your brother."
He almost jumped, urging her not to do it.
"Oh." She apparently understood "Ah, my bad. I didn't want to pry too much."
He told her she didn't get it. That she was wrong.
"No, no. Don't worry. I get it. It's private."
She let him rest, asking if he wanted anything.
He only accepted a blanket to pass the night.
The girl was… Warm. Beside her confrontative exterior, she struck him as a really nice girl. She had an empathetic nerve that let her be one step ahead of him. When he didn't want to talk, she didn't ask. When he felt insecure or scared, she quickly explained the sudden noise or movement. She lived in an apartment, a second floor in front of a street that had a lot of 18 wheelers go through. It was nightmarish to try to sleep, but she didn't leave him alone until he fell asleep.
How did that guy get such a nice friend? Had he tricked her into thinking he was a decent person? Was she in danger?
He stayed the next day, barely moving from his spot. While the girl got ready to start her day.
She didn't wear a school uniform.
"Eh? No. I dropped out of high school." She spoke like she didn't want to, but gently laid it down for him. Trying to get him to take the hint "I have to work. The apartment won't pay for itself."
He did take the hint. So he wished her a good day, blanket still over his shoulders.
He stayed like this for a few minutes, his body still hurting. But the need to repay her kindness overwhelmed him. He got to his feet and slowly walked around the small room. Seeing where everything was, and thinking where everything belonged.
He started cleaning. Clumsily due to the aches in his body. But he didn't let himself get disappointed, he wanted to help. He wanted to be grateful.
If he got the chance, after he sued his so-called father, he'd give this girl a bit of his money. She didn't know anything, yet she helped. She didn't demand any explanations or want anything in exchange.
The world could use more people like that.
The boy took out the memory from his pocket. The proof of the misuse of the money, the notes, and the bit of info the teacher provided him. If he got it to the authorities, everything that had been stolen from him would be given back.
At last things were going his way.
The doorbell rang. But he pretended like no one was home.
He wasn't stupid. He could see clearly that the girl wasn't someone that would have visitors turn up at these hours.
He didn't even want to go look outside.
Something in the corner of his mind told him not to.
It hurt. All of his body did.
Diodora's consciousness flickered as his body struggled to… Do anything, really. Whether his devil powers tried to heal him, or even reinforce his resistance to pain or make paths for him to keep using it or whatever. The truth was that Diodora had no idea what was happening around him, and his thoughts had halted for long enough that he couldn't even tell the passage of time.
Everything hurt. Every millimeter of his body, every cell, even parts of him that had never consciously evoked sensation before. His world was made out of agony, and his mind melted into an incoherent mess. Where not even his identity remained in one piece.
He hallucinated, but didn't have the presence of mind to even recognize what he saw. He had no clear thought, no image nor sound became anything but white noise. Only a single thought made it through the vortex of burning sensation all over his body.
IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS.
To be fair, very few people would be burned alive and survived to tell the tale. It's not like Diodora could've trained to keep himself sane while his skin melted off and his lungs absorbed living fire. All he could've done was protect himself. Yet the attack came too suddenly, too close.
Only a genius would've been able to parry something like that. Or someone of this world, at least.
Regardless, such musings would be pointless. He didn't belong there, nor did he have any special talent that would've helped. It'd be better if he had died instantly. Fulminated by Olivia's attack without pain.
But she wasn't strong enough. And Diodora wasn't weak enough. And so, he suffered.
That is, until a strand of calmness hooked him. Reeled him back to consciousness. Slowly at first, almost imperceptibly. But Diodora managed to to clearly define the kind of pain, the direction. And when everything became more bearable, he opened his eyes.
"GAH!" He screamed, and this time his ears detected his voice as his own.
Everything hurt, but in a way that made him more aware of his own body than less. Unconsciousness didn't get a hold anymore, so Diodora suffered through his skin as he looked at himself.
Burnt. Right out of a Star Wars movie. With a few patches of healthy skin here and there, and clothes that had fused to his shape.
But very much alive.
"The Lord is awake." Stain's monotone tone snapped him out of his horror. The creature looked like one of his previous pawns, minus her devoted expression.
Diodora looked down, seeing the tree line that surrounded him. And the Stain-bodies that surrounded him like a coven of soulless women and men, boring their eyes at him.
Diodora couldn't make sense of it all, but he tried his best to steady his breathing.
"How… How am I alive?!"
"This one used the devil powers devoured to heal the Lord enough to survive." The main Stain replied without a hint of emotion "This one was forbidden from eating the Lord, to make him a part of this one. So this was the best option available."
Diodora started fueling his body with demonic power. Giving it energy to stave off the hurt as he flexed his articulations.
If Diodora wanted to destroy that monster, he'd have to wait. As the Oblex surrounded him like vultures do a carcass. His fear didn't relent, so he turned his power inwards. To his own mind.
The original Diodora has done really well with brainwashing magic, so there was no reason for this soul to not be able to change something within. He shaped his demonic power, urging it to affect his own brain. To block that part of him that was one step away from completely melting down.
Focus…
His heartbeat slowed down, his breathing became rhythmical.
Stain waited for further instructions, staring at the crispy devil with all of its bodies as he changed fundamentally.
He looked at himself and found the horror had receded. A low, far away whisper that told him how terrible his situation was. But Diodora felt only a dull discomfort all over his body. His brain screamed for him to rest, to go seek help. But it was akin to hearing someone knocking violently on a house across the street.
Anger though, flooded unimpeded.
It's an incomplete spell. Came his thought. Clear, focused.
"Stain." Diodora's voice came hoarse, almost a croak.
"This one heeds."
"Find Olivia." He stated. No inflection in his voice, no change due to having his throat burnt.
The slime oozed in every direction. Free to shapeshift back into its primal form. A gelatinous mass of blood-like fluid, with something like an enlarged berry for its core.
Some of its bodies fused together and shifted into bigger creatures. Some separated instead, and became cats, birds, and small dogs. All seeking, all spreading out.
Diodora checked his stability. He put a leg in front of the other, slowly flexing his knees to see how much they could do so.
Not a lot, but enough. He motioned for the slime, and got a mass of psychic goo to help him walk quicker. Letting himself be led in the direction Stain decided.
He didn't have a lot in his body to give. He was obstructing a dam with his bare hands. And although he had succeeded now, he walked with borrowed time. Demonic power could only go so far without the ability to heal himself, and even with his mind forcefully cleared Diodora couldn't tell how long he'd last.
That's why, minding the real threat of the Oblex simply defying orders with one loophole or another, Diodora allowed himself to be in such close proximity to the monster. That he thought about it in those terms perhaps spoke more about the creature's actual intelligence, and not about Diodora's barely held together mental stability. At least, he'd hope so. Since he had had his doubts even before this… Incident.
Stain pressed onwards. Not moving too fast with the body that helped Diodora, but it certainly did it so with purpose. Not taking turns that weren't due to the trees, or correcting its gait slightly due to the uneven dirt and moss below. Not even when Diodora took the hint and shot a spark of demonic power upwards, like a magical flare that'd clue everyone else of his position in case the worst came to be.
He wanted to attack the slime so badly it hurt, or perhaps that feeling came from the spell that had already started to break down in the face of the impossibly high complexity of it. Diodora couldn't be sure, he didn't even know whether his power was doing some irreversible damage over his psyche, so all he could do was keep himself from acting on his impulses.
Especially, since the path they took aroused a strange familiarity in his mind. One he couldn't immediately place, but that became more evident as they came closer to a clearing. Its presence heralded by a flight of badly kept stairs that led hundreds of people upward in their best time.
The abandoned church appeared in his eyesight. But Diodora had had the feeling that he'd get to see it in person some minutes before they arrived. He had walked around this place soon after first arriving at Kuoh, somewhat fascinated with seeing such an iconic place with his own eyes. It struck him as odd, but since Stain had led him from a different angle, there was no wonder why it hadn't occurred to him where they were going. Especially since Olivia was a former maiden of the church.
His vision cleared a bit more, no demonic power spared as he physically prepared for what came. His only consolation, if it could even be called that, came from the visage of the dozens upon dozens of Stain-bodies that had slowly creeped their way around the church. Silent, even for his devil ears. Ominous, in a way only those dead-looking eyes of Stain's bodies could be.
Back when Miyuzuin attacked them, the confines of the room impeded Stain to truly flex the sheer numbers it could display. It would have been in the way, and even the creature itself knew that'd have been a terrible mistake to make against an unknown enemy. But here, amidst the forest and with someone that they more or less could account for, no such weakness existed.
Diodora couldn't help a small smirk creep up his charred mouth. Something about having the upperhand pleased him greatly, even if this advantage amounted to all the chances he got of actual victory. For even time was pinned against him.
No matter. He'd finish the job. He'd deal with this horrible, unwanted responsibility that came with the body he now inhabited. The same body that already had a foot on the grave.
Diodora lifted his hand, a clear sign that Stain nodded to. Even the body that helped keep the devil on his feet stopped, and the looming sensation intensified. Diodora could feel the predatory way the slime waited, biding its time. Ready for the signal.
Diodora doubled his usage of demonic power to move. His steps started making sound, as he didn't have it in him to be stealthy. He advanced, and found the main doorway completely closed.
It took more power to push the pain of putting his raw skin against the door to push it open. But he paid the price heedless of consequence. He didn't need to keep it up for long. He wouldn't be surprised again. This ended there and then.
Olivia's low sobs echoed faintly in the main hall. Strange-sounding, as the collapsed sections of roof and walls shouldn't have made it work this way. Yet even Diodora could tell something ethereal had tainted her voice. With her hunched figure in the center of the altar revealing the extent of which this strangeness had taken hold of her.
Her dress had half-merged with her body, the skirt portion having turned into a collection of tendrils that intertwined in a spiral that grew out in every direction. She had become taller, and part of her skin had acquired the same tonality of her modified dress.
A stray devil, or at least partway into becoming one. Diodora couldn't help the amazement that invaded him. The addition of such creatures had been fleeting at best, and although he knew they existed he also hadn't witnessed any by himself. The extent of their mutations, or the way these worked.
As a spectator, he had been under the impression that those were arbitrary. Only existing to push the narrative forward until the concept was discarded. And yet, in front of his very eyes and the impossibility of that much time having passed, it existed. Olivia, who he had known for at least a couple of months was rapidly transforming, shedding her human-like appearance in a matter of hours at best.
Would she be recognizable if left alone for a day or two? A most curious thought, but one not worthy to be seen to its conclusion.
Diodora stopped a good ten meters away from her. Aware that her Queen piece could see her close the distance in a mere second.
It didn't matter. This place was technically her base, and thus Stain's Pawn piece could equal her in speed, strength, and demonic power.
"You're here for a rematch?" Olivia's voice too, had changed. Deeper in a way that didn't belong in a human voice. High pitched, but bigger than her body should've been able to make.
Diodora smirked. It made things easier, in a way. The less human she looked, the easier it'd be to make peace with all of this. The more justified he felt at feeling nauseous at the recollection of her.
"I am disappointed." He replied clearly. His voice was unblemished.
It actually made Olivia flinch. And she twisted herself around. The tendrils of her dress uncoiled as if they belonged to the body of snakes that had rested over themselves.
Her eyes went wide, and stark horror painted her features to the point that she almost looked as pale as Miyuzuin's hair. It made Diodora chuckle, but he didn't plan to keep this up for very long.
"You thought you had killed me? I wish." Diodora admitted, taking a step forward to test the waters. The movement, after a moment of stillness, sent an electrical sensation through his body. His spell was already falling apart "You really messed me up, you see. It'd have been kinder to be one-shot than to live on like this."
"I… I…" She apparently hadn't planned her attack. Nothing in her reaction indicated anything than a pure emotional outburst. A strike of irrationality that had her act out.
If things had been different, if he had managed to parry or block her attack… Diodora could see himself restraining her and asking. It'd be the perfect opportunity to mask his lack of information, to mask the fact that he didn't know anything about her, or about the body he inhabited, beyond what he had collected from the time in this world.
He neither had the time, nor the inclination to do so now.
"See, this is the thing that pisses me off the most." Diodora's mouth stretched, making it painful to talk. He pushed his demonic power even more, but its helpfulness diminished with each passing second. His very mind started shaking, his heart rate increasing "If you wanted to kill me, you should've gone for it. It was perfect: No way of countering, nothing I could do. Both power and surprise were on your side… Yet you didn't. I am here. And now we have to settle this the hard way."
"L-Lord… I…"
He raised his hand, and the charred state of it made his spells break even faster. He almost felt his eyes dilate at the sight of it. His instincts pushed against his self-imposed brainwashing. Yet it fulfilled his goal, it got the Queen to shut up.
"When you do things, do them with the intention of doing them perfectly. If you want to kill someone, do so efficiently and quickly. And make sure they die for good!"
Diodora sent a pulse of demonic power forward. It caught Olivia off guard, the horror having disarmed her almost completely. She flinched as if air had gone out of her lungs. The human parts of her body, as well as the mutated ones shook violently until they froze completely.
The Oblex lunged from all directions the next instant. Each of its bodies faster than Diodora's eyes could follow, halfway through going back into their gooey original shape. They enveloped Olivia like a vortex of acidic death, to the point Diodora could no longer see the Queen's shape in spite of the transparent color of Stain's body.
Diodora shot another flare-like spell upwards, eyes glued on Stain's body as it re-absorbed its other bodies to form a singular mass.
"Stain." Diodora wheezed. He still had enough strength to hold himself, but he didn't feel courageous enough to wait for the others to find him "Can you knock me unconscious? Or rather, is it safe?"
"This one is able." The monster replied in many voices as it molded itself, still midway through changing its appearance into a human one.
"Do it. I don't want to see, I don't want to think or feel. Let me remember this as a mere nightmare." Diodora giggled nervously. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, he forgot about his desire to kill Stain too; yet seeing it transform like this renewed his desire to do so.
He didn't trust not to fall to his instincts without aid.
"This one heeds and obeys." The slime lunged at him once it adopted the face of a Khaos Brigade devil.
The lights went out.