Blessing of Khorne

by XXxxxadisxxxXX

A young man awakens in a warehouse in Kuoh Town without any idea as to how he got there. He accidentally gets involved with some non-local neer-do-wells and starts picking fights with people completely out of his weight class. Things quickly escalate from there.

19. Harbinger 1-2

Harbinger 1.2

I'd awoken to fire.

It was brutal. A red burning flame eating everything around me. Molten slag and asphalt flowed like rivers. A thick cloying smell of burnt flesh invaded my nostrils. I was kneeling. Heat tickled at my skin. There was something all over me. It was rancid, bubbling across my chest. Despite it all, there was no pain. Nothing hurt. Innumerable sensations rolled over me. A red fog bellowed in my brain.

Where? I thought. The question was easy. The answer was violent.

Memories bled into my mind. I could feel it. I could taste it. I could smell it. It was everywhere. It was fire. It was rage. It was hatred. It crawled beneath my skin. It brought with it lava. Craggy heat suffused my entire body. A cough left my lips. It was a dry deadened thing. The cough burned like everything else. I brought my hands up.

Hands. I had both of my limbs. It was sobering in a way. They looked odd, almost out of place on my body. There was something wrong. A general sense of discomfort settled over me. They were small. Tiny even. The color wasn't right either. It was a mass of discolored white and pink. Red. They should be red. The skin, why did I have skin? A disorienting feeling flooded me. I felt like I was in a body not my own. More fleeting memories crashed into me. Nausea crept into my gut.

Something unwelcome slithered into my ear. It was there. I could feel it. It was angry. Furious. It's rage was an unrelenting fire. It bubbled and brayed. It was screaming something. The words weren't clear. It was here and not. I knew this thing. I knew this monster. The daemon. Its words were faded, almost distant in their furious cries.

I'd made a deal.

I could remember the fighting. I'd gone up against the devils. I grit my teeth. The three of them had torn me to pieces. Their magic had brought me to my knees: lightning and that baleful red. I'd lost my arm. The daemon's presence circled closer. I'd lost. I'd lost. I'd lost! Scorching sulfur built in my chest. It burned as I shot to my feet. More silent words egged me on, the daemon pushing me forward. I roared, rage not my own echoing out among the flickering flames. I didn't notice the fires rise with me.

I don't know how long I stayed there. Minutes. Hours. It didn't matter. The fires continued to burn. The sickeningly sweet smoke tickled my nose. It was comforting in a way I couldn't quite describe. It felt welcoming, familiar. The flames licking my skin and broiling heat cooking the meat on my bones felt like home. The daemon was still there. I could feel it, smothering me with hate. Many questions came to my mind. None of them had an answer. A molten glob of metal slipped into my brain.

"Where are they?" I growled. It was intense. I felt my heart pick up. Its fury was an unending crescendo. My hands clenched into fists. The unfamiliar skin atop the meat bubbled. I'd kill them. I'd kill everything here. The half-born. The cowards. The mage-lings. The spirit. Weak. They were all weak. Pathetic cowards hiding from my raging fire. Words dribbled out of my mouth, "I-I...I'll-"

Something in my head popped.

It started with blood. Thick and wet, it gushed from my face. Every orifice on my head bled. There was a small river of red staining me. Again, I coughed. More red came out. It still didn't hurt. Nothing ever did. I couldn't feel pain. There was only rage, unending beautiful rage. My lips pulled into a snarl. The daemon under my skin thrashed, spitting obscenities at the air. I could feel its presence ebb and flow. Like the echoes atop a mountain, it faded away.

Suddenly, things were clear.

The fog in my mind cleared. My eyes drew back up. The church. It was destroyed, the building collapsed in on itself. I pushed myself forward. I couldn't stop. I couldn't think. Everything else could wait. I had to find her. I promised I'd get us out of here. I took a deep breath. I limped forward, one foot after another.

-|-[=]-|-

Grayfia Lucifage despised politics.

It was a tool used by the weak for the weak in an attempt to control the strong. It was entirely unnecessary, yet all the important figures of the underworld practiced it. Icy fury gripped the woman's heart as she looked forward. Her red eyes narrowed in disgust at what was in front of her.

Thrones.

There were four. Each of them more disgusting than the last. Grayfia hated them. She hated what they stood for. She hated what they'd done. The Strongest Queen hated everything about the damnable things.

They were cut from stone. Each of the four was a dull gray. They stood out like sore thumbs when compared to the rest of the amphitheater. On their own they were innocuous. No discernible markings. No runes, no carvings, nothing to make them stand out on their own. It wasn't like any of the other devils here would know their significance in the first place. She pled with her husband to cast the things away. To bury their history forever. He refused.

They weren't from there, not originally. They'd been taken, conquered in a war long since past. Grayfia pursed her lips. Unbidden, memories drudged themselves from the depths of her mind. They had come from the Underworld's capital. The original capital. It was nothing at all like the new devils' pathetic attempt at a city. Lucifaad dwarfed its younger cousin.

The Underworld's original capital was different than Lilith.

The very air was antithetical to where she was now. It was heavy and dark. It was malicious, evil. It was from a time long past. It was from when devils were called something else. When they didn't all walk on two legs. When demons skulked in the dark like monsters in hell's never-ending depths. There was one Satan then. The four who sat on these thrones were not kings but collared animals barely better than the rest.

Lucifaad was a city of the damned. It was the crater in which He'd thrown the firstborn down. It was where Helel's heretical tower had landed him. It was where the bringer of light had finally lost the last embers of his spark. It was where a devil was truly born. It was where the Devil was born. A bit of mirth bubbled in Grayfia's gut. She still couldn't believe that they called themselves devils. They weren't devils. They weren't anything close. There was only one being who would ever lay claim to that title.

The Strongest Queen sighed. These thoughts would be better suited to another time, preferably never. Her childhood was something she didn't like to much think of. It brought with it nothing other than pain and fleeting thoughts of what might've been.

Grayfia stood a few feet behind one of the four thrones. The head of crimson red on its front comforted her eyes. A small smile came to the woman's lips. He was the one to take her from that horrid place. He had struck when they were at their lowest, exhausted from the Great War. Some had called it cowardice. Grayfia didn't care. She was his, and he was hers. The Strongest Devil for the Strongest Queen. The faded pink cloth hidden in her hair was proof of their promise. It was a match made in hell.

Sirzechs Lucifer lounged on his throne.

It was a sharp, uncomfortable thing. The rough-hewn stone poked into his back. The extravagant robes covering his body did nothing to help. Black silk and gold could do very little to stop that. They, much like the red and purple jewelry dotting his person, were a means to an end. It was a show. An obnoxious one, but one he played all the same. It was simply easier than the alternative. Flaunting his wealth was another small piece of insurance against what little play his enemies had.

This whole meeting was nothing more than a farce. A cunning deception made by her husband and the rest of the Satans to trick the Pillar Clans into thinking they truly had some say in what happened in the Underworld and beyond. The system they were governed by in name would be similar to a parliament. The so-called "council" was nothing other than a joke. Grayfia knew that. She put up with them despite it. The four tyrants that led the Underworld demanded it.

In the end, it didn't truly matter. It was all just another expression of Sirzechs' power. He had resources and ever-flowing wealth. Wealth was power. And power? Power was everything. It wasn't like those in the Underworld could truly stand up to him. He was the strongest devil by far. However, they could be annoying. Some days, Grayfia yearned for days long past. It was much easier to simply freeze or burn her problems rather than argue with them. She didn't doubt that her husband would agree. Perhaps the devil was just getting old.

"We need to do something. We can't just let them get away with this! They intruded on our territory, walked in like they owned the place!"

The voice was one the Strongest Queen had been forced to listen to over the past few weeks. It, like most of the other things said by the weaklings attending this farce, was a plea. She had heard many similar things come out of a variety of devils' mouths recently. This one was just more persistent than the others. Her husband wasn't just sitting around. Sloth wasn't one of the Satan's sins, not if she had anything to say about it anyway.

Grayfia let out a breath.

The look on her husband's face was pained. It didn't show of course, but she knew the signs. The slight furrowing of his brow, the way his lips twitched down, how he gripped the right arm of the throne, all of them showed his real thoughts. Sirzechs could never let the other devils around him know. No, there was only one that was privy to that side of him. Her. Grayfia smiled at the thought. It was just another thing that the two of them shared.

"I've already told you twice now Mammon. It is not that simple. What would you have me do? Throw caution to the wind and march on Japan?"

Grayfia grimaced at her husband's response. She knew Sirzechs. That was exactly what he'd like to do. It was exactly what she and two of the other Satan's were trying to prevent. The Yokai had intruded on their territory true, but it was not without reason. A monster had come practically beating on their back door. Was it truly worth a fight to enforce their claim on Kuoh? Grayfia didn't think so. Tamagahara had given them permission in the first place. Japan was theirs, not the Underworlds. It wasn't a fight any devil worth their salt would try to take. The Strongest Queen knew what lay at the end of that road. War, one not unlike that from her younger years.

It would be worse. She corrected.

She'd been too young to truly take part in the Great War. It had been coming to a close when Grayfia was a child. Her fight had been during the Devil Civil War. Supposedly the two conflicts didn't compare. In her mind, the woman scoffed. War was war. Simple bloodletting and strife almost always for no reason in the end. Aggressive actions toward Japan would only end in disaster. Tamagahara was not to be trifled with. Amaterasu was not to be trifled with.

Grayfia didn't think that they were involved in the incident in the first place. Tamagahara was strictly isolationist when it came to the other factions. It was all just excuses put up by those too stupid and bloodthirsty to see the truth. Why would they ever attack a devil heiress, let alone commit an atrocity like what had been done to the young Leviathan? Distaste built on the queen's tongue as thoughts of that young woman came to her mind. A nasally yell drew the woman out of her thoughts.

"Your sister is weak, just like you!"

The insult was pointed, sharp. Demonic power stirred in the air. Sirzechs faced the other devil. A single finger tapped on his throne. The rough stone strayed beneath the Satan's fingers. Grayfia almost tasted the anger. The love both her husband and the Leviathan held for their families was legendary. Silence stretched across the room. It seemed to go on for years. There was a simple placid smile plastered on his face. Slowly, her husband's lips spread thin. A sliver of too-perfect teeth showed between them. Grayfia watched as the man's face contorted, struggling to hide his thoughts. The smile grew even wider. It pained the woman to see that look grace her husband's face.

Grayfia frowned.

It was not a good thing. It spoke of malice, evil. It wasn't one she liked to see. It had no right to be on her husband's face. It was cruel, despotic, filthy. The Strongest Queen hated it. It stretched his face entirely too far. She despised it. The woman hadn't seen it grace Sirzechs' lips for many years. Grayfia Lucifuge was going to fix it. She swore. Whatever it takes. The Crimson Satan leered at the younger devil.

"What did you say?"

The words came out short, clipped as if from a gnarled sapling long ago withered from rage. Power suffused the room. It was a bloody affair, the less prepared dropping to their knees or the floor. It seeped into the wood and stone around them, chips of the material breaking away into absolute nothing. The demonic power was practically alive. Black-red snakes slithered out from beneath Sirzechs' throne. They ripped into the floor around him. Marble tile cracked under the pressure. Oh, how she hated it. Her husband shouldn't have to deal with all this. He shouldn't have to deal with Rias unconscious in her bed. He shouldn't have to deal with the Leviathan hiding in her room. He shouldn't have to deal with Ajuka ignoring it all for his pathetic curiosities. He shouldn't have to deal with Fabium's unending sloth. He shouldn't have to deal with pathetic weaklings who have nothing better to do than throw around words they didn't understand the weight of.

The weakest of the devils struggled on the floor. Their immediate shock and panic turned to a dreadful fear as they failed to take in any air. The closest to her turned his head toward Grayfia, pitiful eyes hoping for a reprieve. Indifferent eyes stared back. She didn't have the time nor the inclination to teach children how to breathe. Ignoring him, the woman rushed forward. She laid a hand on her husband's back.

It was a simple gesture, one wrought with worry.

For a moment, her husband's power was subdued. Slow, shallow breaths echoed out inside the chamber. Sirzechs' head swiveled. Grayfia could still see it. The rage, the fury. His wrath. Sirzechs hid it well. His calm blue eyes didn't show an ounce of his true thoughts. Grayfia's frown deepened. Quietly, the Satan brought himself back to the younger devil.

"Our ance-"

The younger devil interrupted him. Screaming back, "Our ancestors ruled the world!"

Stupid. Why were young devils so stupid? She couldn't understand it. It was as if the devil was chasing his own death. Grayfia knew of the young Mammon. She didn't know him personally, but she'd heard of the heir before. His was a tragic but all too common story in the Underworld. He was the last true descendant of Mammon. The rest of his clan were all long dead or lost to the depths of hell. Grayfia sneered as the young man continued.

"You're weak! Pathetic! You're letting those damn animals trounce all over us!" the words came out with some type of personal hatred. Grayfia could hear it in the kid's voice. She didn't care as to why. Each word got louder and louder as he raged. The next words out of the young Mammon's mouth would break the woman's icy facade.

"We all know what you have! What every one of our kind should seek, and for what? You come here parading around in that form like it's some kind of prize. Meanwhile, you hide away that which you stole from our race!"

He paused almost mockingly. Grayfia's mouth hung open. Where? How? Manic thoughts ran through her head. The young heir didn't seem to notice or care about the dangerous storm brewing in the room. The Strongest Queen could see the headlines now. Sirzechs Lucifer ruthlessly slaughters the last living member of a Pillar Clan. It would be more of a headache than dealing with the current Kuoh Incident.

"How about you tell them? Tell the rest of the Nobles here how all devils used to have what you have now. Tell them of the time when the rest of the supernatural world respected and feared us. Tell them of the greatest theft of this generation! Tell them of what you and the damnable Beelzebub stole from the greatest race there ever was!"

In the back of the room sat a man. His gaudy robes of silver and white blended in perfectly with the rest of the nobility in the room. He, like most of the others in the amphitheater, sat in a wide circle of velvet-covered chairs. Only a single devil there had a right to sit in the room's center, in one of hell's brimstone thrones. The old devil watched. He brought up a hand to cover his mouth.

Looking forward to the coming chaos, Rizevim Livan Lucifer chuckled to himself.

-|-]=[-|-

The next day after my and Asia's movie night was much like any other.

I'd awoken a few hours before dawn. Asia had refused to use the small bedroom our apartment had. I didn't put up too much of a fight on that front. I knew it was a losing battle. If she truly wished to sleep in the living room, I wouldn't stop her. The couch was comfortable enough, although it still irked me to put her on it. I say apartment, but the place was more akin to a townhouse than any apartment I'd be familiar with.

From the outside, the building looked like some kind of Japanese relic. A few of its walls and doors were quite literally made from paper. Old wood framed the place. Blue tiles adorned its top. The roof was almost entirely flat, with only a small rise directly in its middle. I didn't doubt the little house was older than me and Asia combined.

That was probably why I got the place for so cheap.

I'd never met our landlord. Never talked to them either. Honestly, I'd believe they didn't even exist. I found the house online. The website was just as odd as everything else in this world. I started with a few internet searches for places to rent. A few websites popped up. It took forever for me to navigate them, praise Dxds "Goggle" translate, but after a few hours, I'd found a place. It was listed for twenty-thousand Yen a month or about a hundred and fifty bucks in dollars. The place was an absolute steal.

It took a few minutes to make an email address, but after a quick back and forth, I'd signed a lease online. It wasn't something I'd be comfortable doing back home, but then? I was desperate. The hotel was expensive, being a good ten thousand Yen a night. In the long run, it was a lot cheaper to find a place to just rent. That had been during my first two weeks in Kyoto.

I quietly hummed a song I'd heard last night during our movie binge as I walked. A bright and glorious sun was starting to peak overhead. I could hear insects start their incessant buzzing as I trudged along. A pleasant warmth started to trickle over me as the sun's rays touched my skin. A small smile appeared on my lips.

For once, I was happy to be here.

It wasn't home, but I wasn't constantly under pressure. I wasn't worried about what monsters might be lurking around every corner. I'd fallen into a schedule. Things in Kyoto were nice, quiet even. There was always something a bit odd around the things in town, but I was getting used to it more and more every day.

"Is that..." a voice muttered. I'd only been about halfway to Tetsuya's little shop before I heard someone call out to me. It was loud. The yell filled with a mixture of surprise and anger. "Oi, Gaijin!"

The voice came from my left. Quickly, I looked over. A man stood there. He was just down the sidewalk from me. His clothes were a bit odd. He had on a button-up shirt. Its sleeves were pulled behind his elbows. His pants and shoes were of a much lesser quality. A mixture of dress and street clothes, odd but not the weirdest I'd ever seen. He was blonde, almost looked bleached. I didn't think much of it, but to any local, it would've been a dead giveaway. His face was vaguely familiar. I'd almost thought of him as one of the many in a sea of customers that had come through Tetusya's in the last few months. If I had given it a bit more thought, I probably could've avoided what came next entirely.

I approached. The man seemed to look me up and down as I did. There were two others with him. They weren't nearly as well dressed. I could see similar shirts, but nothing near the effort the blonde one put in. They stood behind him by a good distance leaning up against the walls of what looked like an arcade. The place was closed, no lights coming from within. Not that it would've mattered anyway, it was fairly early for most people to be out in the first place. I stared down the blonde as I approached, a thought on the tip of my tongue. Then, it hit me.

"Blondie?" I asked.

The man's mouth opened wide. He strode forward, pulling something from his pocket. There was barely a moment before I felt something hit the side of my face. It didn't hurt. It felt almost like when Asia had hit me the day before. A slight pressure and then nothing. My eyes stayed open the entire time. He'd slapped me. I grit my teeth.

"What the hell was that for?"

I didn't want to deal with this shit. My day hadn't even started. I could go without some wannabe gangsters trying to rough me up. I knew one thing for sure. This wasn't going to go how they'd want it to. I remembered Blondie. Me and him had a bit of history.

Blondie was the reason I got my job in the first place, one of the reasons anyway. He'd been in Tetsuya's little shop when I was there to use the internet. I didn't have a computer of my own at the time. I was doing a little bit of house and job hunting. Blondie decided to get a little bit rowdy with the old man after I'd settled in. He had a couple of teenagers with him, wannabe thugs the lot of them. I didn't remember what the hell it was over. I wasn't as good at speaking Japanese back then. The man had been cursing and hitting me as I threw him ass over end out the building's front door. The teenager's with him were much less of a problem. The little group of thugs had filed out after on their own. Not a single one of them said a word to me. Tetsuya had thanked me profusely. I didn't quite get all he said, but we talked for a good bit. I mentioned trying to find a job. Tetsuya told me he needed somebody to run the counter for him. He didn't even need me to have any documents to work for him. It was all under the table. It took about three days for me to learn the barebones basics.

The two other men stalked forward, doing their best to bumble towards me. I couldn't tell if they were trying to hide, but if they were, it did not work. They had no idea what they were doing. The three were young, not much older than myself. This whole situation was stupid. If it were me from four months ago, I might've been scared. Now? It was just annoying. Mundane. The little knife being held in the blonde's hand wasn't threatening at all.

"I told you not to call me that Gaijin!" Blondie called. I wanted to ignore him. I wanted to keep walking to work and tell the stupid motherfucker to go suck start a shotgun. That thought perked my brow. I had so much more of a temper problem than I remembered. My fingers twitched as he grabbed my shirt. My eyes slowly looked down at the hand grabbing me. I didn't say a word.

I didn't want any of this. I didn't want to get in a fight. I was just minding my own business, heading to work. Tetsuya's little internet cafe was just a short walk down the street. I could barely make out the shop's sign in the distance. A little cat sitting atop a keyboard. It was a rather cute sign for a place owned by someone so sketchy. I sighed. A different problem for a different time. An idea came to me. Hopefully, Blondie was as stupid as he looked.

"I know you?" I let the words out quietly. With a bit of luck, the bastard would just get on down the road. It felt hard not to laugh at the flustered look on Blondie's face.

This whole thing felt like a joke. It was comical, in a nineties gangster movie sort of way. The three had approached me with no warning. One second I was walking past them. The next, I had some idiot roughly gripping my shoulder. They all looked like some wannabe gangsters. Dress shirts, and slicked-back hair.

"Y-You don't remember me?" The question had a bit of disbelief. Blondie's eyes glared a hole through my head. Then, he explained, "You threw me out of Tetsuya's place. I told you I'd be back baka yarou!"

I got most of what he said, but like a lot of the other people who talked to me here, it was damn fast. A few of the phrases slipped by me. I could get the jist of it though. I tried to ignore the annoyance slowly building in my gut. Just fuck off already. I thought.

"You're a little late aren't you?" I drawled. I could remember him a lot better now. It had been when I first arrived on the outskirts of Kyoto. I was homeless, close to broke, and a hell of a lot angrier than I was now. Luckily, Asia hadn't been with me. She was posted up in the little hotel I rented with the last bit of my cash. Why in the hell did he wait so long to come fuck with me?

"Late?" he started. I could see his eyebrows scrunch up. Blondie quickly continued, "I don't care Gaijin. I'm here now, so you're gonna pay."

Quite vocally, I sighed. I didn't have time to deal with his stupidity. Trying to defuse the situation, I said, "Look, let's just let bygones be bygones. Water under the bridge and all that right?"

Blondie tried to pull me closer. I didn't move. Quickly, he put the knife to my chest. I silently looked down as the weapon's point poked my chest. His two friends moved to either side of me. I hadn't paid much attention to the two. They both were Asian. I couldn't tell their exact age, probably about the same as Blondie though. One was noticeably fat. The other looked like skin and bones. I hummed.

"No!" Blondie shouted. It was too early in the morning for this bullshit. I brought a finger up to my ear digging in it. Blondie raised the knife to my face. "You listen to me kuso yarou!"

I'm done with this. I thought.

Roughly, I grabbed Blondie's hand. I squeezed lightly and he screamed. Surprisingly, the knife didn't fall from his hand. It didn't take much effort to throw him to the ground. He landed with an audible thump. I flinched at the noise. I didn't mean to throw him that hard. He'd landed on his back. Blondie looked up from the ground, his mouth open gasping.

Blondie's two compatriots decided that was about the right time to grab me. It didn't go well. The bigger of the two wrapped his arms around me from behind. I could feel him try and squeeze me. It didn't hurt. Hell, it wasn't even uncomfortable. All he gave me was a bit of annoying pressure. I felt my eyebrow twitch. These guys were annoying.

Ignoring the obscenities flying from the bigger one's mouth, I grabbed hold of the foot flying to my chest. Tiny's leg stopped with a strangled cry. For a moment, I let him stand there. One limb in my right hand, the other hopping to try and get free. I smiled a bit. The dumbfounded expression on him was a bit entertaining. Lightly, I tossed him. He landed on his ass a couple of feet away.

I felt something stir in my gut as he hit the ground, the smile on my face growing a little wider.

Instinct burned in me as I grabbed one of the arms holding my chest. He pulled against me. I spun around, turning the two of us away from his friends on the ground. Violently, I pulled the arm forward. The limbs owner came with it. A loud pop, hit my ears. He didn't go quite as far as the other two, but the fat one hit the ground with a pleasing thump. Gut-wrenching screams came soon after. Quietly, I mouthed, "Shit."

I hadn't meant to throw him that hard. I could feel some heat starting to brew in my left palm. The bandage covering it annoyed me. Thoughts not my own slowly started to stir. Why was I hiding it? Why was I being such a co-

Something poked into my right shoulder. With it, I heard a violent yell. Quickly, the feeling left followed by a trickling warmth. It hit me again. It didn't hurt. Hell, it felt like it didn't even pierce my skin, not very deep anyway. Finally, my annoyance turned into anger. I could feel my entire body tense.

I turned on a dime.

My clenched fist flew out before I realized it. My fist met Blondie's outstretched hand. He'd tried to catch the blow. Whether intentional or not, it was a mistake. I'd thrown my entire body behind the blow. I was almost twice the size of him. I still don't get how he thought this was a good idea in the first place. The limb crumpled. A dull crack left his arm. I ignored it. It took two steps for me to reach him. Blondie let out a yelp as I tackled him to the ground. A familiar thumping beat in my chest, my face curled into a grin.

It would be so easy.

It'd be so damn easy! I wouldn't even have to use my axe. I could just punch his lights out. The damn coward who stabbed me in the back deserved it. My lips twitched, a heavy breath coming out of my nose. An excitable electricity shot up my spine. God, I missed this.

"Come on!" I roared. I slammed my left hand into Blondie's face. He whimpered from the blow. My smile fell. Then, I urged, "Fight back already!"

Why wasn't he getting back up? I stared down at him. Blood was dribbling down the man's chin. Something leaked from his eyes. I let out a heavy breath. Tears. He was crying. I made a grown man cry. Something about it settled wrong in my gut. The blood splashing the outside of my bandaged hand reminded me of worse times than this. I pulled away.

I said I was done with this shit! I'd promised myself. I thought. The words sounded half-hearted. Even in my head, I didn't believe myself. I could barely even remember why I'd made the promise in the first place. Control. It was an attempt at control, a semblance of it. I'd wanted something, anything that made me feel in control since I was thrown into this chaotic world. I let out another deep breath.

I could feel the simmering heat in me cool, if for a moment.

I wasn't going to hurt him. I refused. It was stupid. He was just some wannabe gangster. I could feel it. It was waiting, almost longingly. It rubbed against my senses, like a stray dog to its master. The mark burned. I could feel my anger rise. This man, he'd stabbed me. I tried to let it all go, and he fucking stabbed me! More liquid fury poured into me. I'd been through this song and dance many times before.

Suddenly, I slapped myself.

I couldn't do this. Not here, not now. Especially over some stupid prick who'd let all the bleach in his hair rot out his brain. It wasn't worth it. I told myself not to use it again. I don't know why that daemon had released me in the first place. Using the mark would only invite trouble. I hadn't heard it talk to me since I'd been in Kyoto. Nothing else did either. I wanted to keep it that way.

I breathed out, pushing the unwelcome energy from myself. It left without a fight, the mark limply ceasing its ministrations. I could feel the familiar tingling cede. No more thoughts of pain and strife sneaked their way into my mind. Slowly, I reached a hand up to my shoulder. With a grunt, I pulled the pocket knife from my back.

It was a tiny thing, the blade only a few inches long. The tip of the weapon was stained with red. A bit of warmth dripped down the back of my shirt. The wound wasn't too bad. I'd been through much worse. Ignoring the familiar sensation, I turned around. Blondie stood there, a frantic nervousness in his eyes. I stared him down.

"Leave," I growled. The word came out low and slow. It fought its way through my teeth, bringing with it what was left of my rage from before. The man didn't respond staring at me. I could see the color of his skin go light. I threw the knife on the ground. Blondie flinched. I exploded, "Get the fuck out of here!"

The delinquent complied, turning to run after the rest of his little gang. A scrambled yelp left his mouth followed soon after by the word, "M-Monster!"

I grunted, ignoring him as he fled. Figures that he just had to play this like some kind of T.V. Show. It was always with the dramatics with people here. I could only go so long without being reminded that I lived in an anime world right? Blondie's two goons followed soon after. I ignored them, starting again towards Tetsuya's. I could get cleaned up there. What a fantastic way to start my day.

If I had seen my own face or what lied beneath the broken skin of the wound on my back, I might have agreed with him.

-|-]=[-|-

Toshiro was running for his life.

The young man liked to think of himself at the top of the food chain. Nobody fucked with him, nobody that wanted to walk the streets anyway. He had all he needed: respect, money, women if he wanted them. He didn't ask for any of it either. Much like everything else he has in his life; the man demanded it. He took it if the people he so politely asked didn't have enough brain cells to do what he told them.

He didn't know how everything went so wrong.

It was supposed to just be some Yankee thug. His crew was there with him. It was three on one for crying out loud! It was supposed to be different. A couple of teenagers were a whole hell of a lot different than experienced street fighters. They two weren't exactly the cream of the crop, but they were all that Toshiro could afford. Sure one was a little big, and the other a rat of a man, but they should've been more than enough for some Gaijin. The man had thrown them around like children. It wasn't even a fight. He wasn't even a man. Words tumbled from Toshiro's mouth as he fell into an alleyway.

"His eyes-" the gangster paused. Memories of the man came back to him. Toshiro had suddenly found himself on the floor. Blinding pain shot up his arm. Ragged breaths of fire slipped from his chest. Somebody was yelling at him. Toshiro looked up in just in time to see a fist barreling down at his face. "They were burning!"

The man's eyes were blue. Toshiro swore they were blue. He'd been close enough to see them, twice! When the gangster found himself on the ground, all he could see was that fiery orange. Even now, it blazed in his mind. Something was wrong with those eyes. They were angry, hungry in a way the man couldn't understand. The burning pits of coal made his skin crawl.

That wasn't the worst part.

Toshiro's skin was burned. It was fucking burned where that bastard's blood had touched him! He'd run up on the Gaijin when he'd thrown Hitsu to the floor. His knife stabbed into his back. Toshiro had put all he could into the attack. The knife was small, but it should've done more. The gangster could've sworn he'd stabbed into something underneath his skin. The tip barely went it, and the knife just dragged down. The skin split, but it didn't go an inch deeper!

The burns on his hands still stung. It hadn't stopped since the man took off running, and oh how he ran. He put one foot in front of the other for as long as his body could take it. With every passing second everything only seemed to hurt more and more. It stung. Gods above it felt like something was eating his skin!

Toshiro tried to settle his ragged breaths. The craggy burn in his lungs only seemed to get worse as he sat there in the alley. The man found himself collapsing against a nearby dumpster. He screamed, "Dammit. Dammit!"

His good arm swung into the metal. It hurt. He did it again. Toshiro gasped. His hand came up to his head, pulling at his now bloodied hair. Something rose up in his chest. He wanted to keep hitting something. The blinding pain was a dull reminder of his loss. He hit the dumpster again.

"That stupid bastard!" Toshiro kept hitting the dumpster. It didn't help. Nothing seemed to help. The pain was still there. That fiery feeling in his chest still skulked about. He hated it. He hated that he lost. He hated that he was treated like a child. He hated his two underlings who ran like the wind. Most of all, he hated that stupid foreigner who screwed him out of his protection money! He-He...

More thoughts game into the gangster's mind. His breathing got heavier, each one more labored. Something felt wrong. Toshiro couldn't put his finger on it. He couldn't calm down. He refused to let that feeling go. It was rage. It was intoxicating in how it burned his whole body. Yellow sulfur smothered him.

The man's next yell didn't have words. It was loud, overbearing, and with very little thought. Ignoring his wounds, the gangster stood. A tantrum came over the man. He stomped around the alley, smashing anything he could get his hands on. Old bottles and cans flew in the air. A metal bin found itself broken in. A brick smashed through a window. Wood pallets stacked against a wall were dismantled board by board. He'd never felt this mad in his entire life. He was ruined, absolutely ruined! Quite quickly, it was all Toshiro could think about. The anger turned to rage. The rage to action. The action to violence. His violence only served to bring more anger. They all fed into each other, a vicious cycle of corruption in his mind.

Every time the man tried to stop, another thought would pop back up in his mind. He found himself practically shaking by the end of it. His eyes deliriously darted around the alley, looking for movement. Whispered muttering came from the man, his thoughts spilling into the world.

"W-Why am I? He...it. It hurts. I hate it. I hate it! I hate it! Ruined, everything ruined." He paused grabbing a broken piece of metal on the ground. A bar, solid steel. The man picked it up. It fit perfectly in his uninjured hand. For a few moments, the man stared at it. It was an old rusted thing. Toshiro didn't know why he picked it up. He had to have something in his hands. He needed to hold something!

The thoughts came to him quick. Swinging his improvised weapon, Toshiro screamed. His injured hand came up. It touched the side of his face. The meat below his broken fingers was tender. More pain ate into the man's mind. He hated it. He was ruined. His face was ruined! Screaming as loud as he could, Toshiro slammed the bar into the dumpster. The green box groaned as sparks flew. The man did it again and again.

With each strike, things became more clear. It was a sudden realization, an epiphany. The feeling coursing his veins wouldn't go away. No matter how much he beat the thing it wouldn't stop. It was like a never-ending adrenaline high. It was slow at first, but now? It was a river of molten brass. Every time he pulled away, that damnable anger would urge him forward. There was something in the air. It was excited and full of energy. It reminded him of that monster, that fire-eyed Yokai. Toshiro hated it with every fiber of his being. He swung around the metal bar like a bat. It swished through air hitting nothing. Spittle dribbled down the man's chin as he attacked. Toshiro swung and swung and swung. Nothing ever showed. The fire in him never faded. More petulant screams called out in the morning sun. Every passing moment made the feeling coursing through him worse.

"I-I'll fucking kill you!"

Those words finally seemed to draw attention from someone else. Another voice crept its way into Toshiro's ears. It was a familiar one. It was followed soon by the sight of a familiar face. Hitsu. The fat fuck that wasn't too fat to run. Toshiro, he hated him too. He hated them all.

"Boss?"

Toshiro growled. The blonde-haired man had gotten his ass kicked. Hitsu had run. Toshiro's fingers felt like they were broken. Hitsu had run. Blood was still dripping from the smaller of the gangster's head. Hitsu had fucking run! That feeling was back in Toshiro's chest. It was molten metal in his veins. He hated it. He hated fucking everything. He wanted it all to just disappear. Toshiro stared down the man across from him. The damn coward had the audacity to look him in the eyes.

It started with a step, a single hate-filled step.

A few hours later a woman would walk past that alley. Inside she'd see a scene filled with nothing but violence and blood. The piece of metal lodged into the brutalized corpse's eye would haunt her for the rest of her years. Toshiro would long be gone, slinking back into the depths of Kyoto proper.

AN: Howdy folks!

There's chapter nineteen for ya. It kinda feels weird saying that. There was a little bit more of a hangup on this chapter than I thought. It didn't end up being that big of one in the end, but I did have to redo a good portion of the scene in Jack's POV because of a minor plot hole. It also took a fucking lot out of me to figure out exactly how I wanted to portray Grayfia in this. She's a really fun character with a whole hell of a lot of backstory in Dxd...way more than I ever remembered. I'm trying to take things one at a time here. We're getting some views from relatively important characters in universe along with Jack's story starting to deepen again. Things are happening around him, lots of things at that. It's fun as shit to write about it as he doesn't realize any of it. Constantly ignoring your problems can come back to bite ya. I'll just put it this way when he finally gets bit, it's going to be a real bitch. It's also hilarious seeing people's thoughts and ideas as to what's going on. I've got the direct answers in my notes, but nobody ready except me has all the context. Everything is through one character's or another's viewpoint. To an extent, it's flawed information.

Overall, this chapter was fun. I also had to do some legit Bible study to make my own ideas on the Dxd world as some things were purposefully vague. That took me a minute to figure out. It was mostly a rabbit hole on my end to put to words how angels fell and became fallen angels while some became or later became demons. Interesting shit. After a few days of reading, it turned into about a single paragraph in this chapter...I'm gonna leave it at that. I have more to talk about, but I won't because of spoilers. I've been half-way thinking about making a Discord to talk about shit like that. I've tried to join a few writer's Discords in the past to help with scenes I had trouble writing; they didn't do much of anything. Anyway...

Here's a quick fic rec for ya. Cyberpunk: Fatherhood by RobinRounds is a pretty fun fic. It's pretty damn long though too. I liked a good portion of it, but I did end up skimming over a lot of superfluous crap reading. I'd tell you to give it a shot if you like Sci-Fi, Drama, and you have some time to burn. I gave this a single round of editing. I'll be going through it again tomorrow to fix any more errors if I find them. If you notice anything, or you have any questions or concerns, I'd greatly appreciate you pointing them out. Until next time...

~ciao