Kaim finally gets to show what a badass he is in this chapter.
Chapter 33: Never Judge A Book By Its Cover
Death was not something that could be cheated. Not even by the demons of the highest class, creatures so powerful, they were capable of levelling entire mountains with little to no effort.
Yet, against all odds, a yellow glow shone through the darkness that surrounded what should have been the corpse of Izumi Kogure, the Crusader of Ice. Soon afterwards, torn flesh slowly put itself back together.
And finally a loud and deep gasp for air broke the chilling silence of the corridor.
Defying all odds, Izumi had come back from the brink of death. Breathing heavily, she slowly managed to prop herself into a sitting sideways position. She then put her left three fingered hand on her chest as she kept gasping for air, feeling that her wounds had now closed up completely.
"D….. Damn it all… If i hadn't managed to heal my third eye, i…." was all she could feebly let out, still utterly shocked and aghast by what happened only a few minutes ago. It was only by a stroke of pure luck that she was still alive. Aside from bringing back the dead, Izumi could also use her third eye to enhance her regenerative abilities. That was how she managed to survive on that occasion, several months ago, when that treacherous woman cut open her throat, but that was only because she used the last of her strength to heal her third eye after that lowly human girl pierced it with an umbrella, of all things.
And that was exactly how she managed to once again defy death. One of Sirene's talons had even almost cut her heart in half. As the Demon Bird left her in a pool of her own purple blood, Izumi managed to use the last of her strength to put her third eye back together. And mere seconds before she could draw her last breath, she managed to activate her third eye which healed the four deep slashed on her body.
"That filthy demoness…. How could she do this to me… With such ease…." she muttered again while clutching her face with her right hand, her whole body trembling in seething fury and outrage. She had never been so utterly defeated before. She had never been so humiliated ever since she evolved. She refused to believe that the difference between their power was that vast. Their battle lasted so long only because Sirene prolonged it to enjoy it. And the results were devastating for the Crusader of Ice. Her confidence in her superiority had been shattered completely. She coudn't believe that among the demons there could be creatures even more powerful than them, some of the strongest of all Devil-Beasts. And now…..
"Well, well. What do we have here?" came another voice which pulled her out of her thoughts. One she knew all too well. She then lifted her head up and saw that before her stood none other than the Eagle of Fire itself, Higa. He stood in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest, the red eyes of the grey face engraved in the middle of it staring at her and with an amused smile on his lips of it.
"Let me guess. You bit off more than you could chew, right little swan?" he asked mockingly, angering the swan beast who layed on the ground, in the midst of the pool of her own blood. Needless to say, it was quite cathartic for him to see his arrogant and narcissistic colleague like this after that lecture she gave him, in her effort to undermine him.
She then narrowed her red eyes at him and spat back "Spare me your depthless attempts of pity, Higa. I know that you're enjoying seeing me like this…." her teeth clenched in irritation. She always hated when others looked down on her. For a long time before she evolved that was how many people treated her.
Scoffing in amusement, the Crusader of Fire replied mockingly "I can't deny that it is amusing seeing this pitiful state of yours, brought upon by your endless arrogance. Your vanity truly knows no bounds, Izumi." irritating her even more, before he added "But as amusing as it is to see you lying down powerlessly on the ground, with your vanity crumbled, you are needed elsewhere. It would seem that we have underestimated our enemies greatly. Kitano has fallen."
As the last three words were pronounced, disbelief replaced the irritation on Izumi's face and her red eyes widened. How could it be possible? Not just her, but another one of the Crusaders had fallen. How had this been allowed to happen? Their enemies were vastly outnumbered and yet Kitano had been slain?
However, before she could voice her disbelief, Higa swiftly picked her up and lifted her from the ground, causing the swan beast to gasp in surprise. And after realising that he was carrying her like a bride, Izumi immediately clenched her teeth and yelled in indignation "What the hell are you doing?! Put me down this instant!"
With a wide, amused smile, the grey face on Higa's chest, who was inches away from Izumi's own, replied tauntingly "But what fun would there be in that? After all, like you said, as superior beings, we can do however we please. Besides you can hardly walk in that pitiful state of yours." causing the Crusader of Ice to gasp in shock after recalling the lecture she had given him not too long ago about their superiority. She realised that it was his own, personal way of getting back at her for questioning his loyalty.
With a scowl forming on her face, she turned her head away and angrily muttered "You bastard….. I won't forget this outrageous affront…" swearing to get back at the Crusader of Fire for subjecting her to this humiliating ordeal, amusing him even more with her feeble attempt of defiance. She needed no one's help. She was a beast, a superior life form who had transcended her humanity. Who did this impertinent fool think he was to just pick her up like this? What nerve did he have to humiliate her like this?
And yet, a tiny little part of herself coudn't help but actually feel….. soothed by this bold approach. Was it simply because of how soft the feathers of Higa's chest were? Or because of how she was held? Or for something else entirely? She coudn't quite figure out why a small part of herself felt like this as she retreated in her silence as the Crusader of Fire took his leave, heading for the largest room of the mansion, located in the lower basement.
Meanwhile, with the prisoners
As the entire mansion was shooked by Sirene's blast of energy, all of the beasts held captive in the lower basement were now frantically looking left and right from within their cells, expecting the help they had hoped for so long to come. To their dismay instead, several of Lilith's minions filled the corridor with some of them even hanging on the walls and proceeded to snarl and hiss towards them in order to force them back into the darkness of their prisons.
As one with an ant head proceeded to do so towards Mico and Takeshi, the green haired, scarlet eyed young woman bared her teeth towards it and yelled in defiance "Back off, you overgrown ant!" while Takeshi stood behind her and simply glared daggers at it. He was now eagerly awaiting his moment to get back at those bastards for everything they did, once of course he would be freed.
At the same time, another one with the rotund head equipped with a wide mouthful of sharp teeth, approached the cell in which Hitomi was held, only to be frightened by a monstrous mountain lion-like growl which caused it to back off.
Beneath her anger towards these monsters, Mico was very concerned for her new friend, held in the cage right in front of her own. She hadn't spoken a single word after she was forced to kill that half-rat, half-gargoyle beast in self-defence after it lost control of itself. She was afraid that the traumatic ordeal she was forced to endure not too long ago had broken her or worse, made her drown in animalistic fury towards these monsters.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a sudden and chilling shriek of pain, followed by one of the demons falling on the ground with a loud and sickening thud in two pieces, causing her, along with her cellmate to gasp in shock. Then another demon was snatched by the head by what appeared to be a large, grasping eagle-like foot equipped with three sharp, recurved talons in the front and a fourth one from behind. The ant-headed demon could only scream in pain as the talons pierced his head before being effortlessly lifted up in the air and torn apart.
As the bloody remains of the second demon fell on the floor and with the rest of those grotesque creatures having finally realised that they were under attack, a relieved Takeshi, grinned happily, his wishes having come true, before stating "The cavalry is here." earning a relieved smile from Mico as well…
Only for his eyes to widen in utter shock and disbelief as the one responsible for slaying those two demons, after apparently blasting three more away with what appeared to be a bolt of telekinesis, landed in the corridor, surrounded by about a dozen remaining demons. Instead of his friend, Akira or even the Devil Lady, amidst all those grotesque demons stood the same beautiful, well toned harpy-like woman that tried to kill him after going after Miss Fudo herself.
"No fucking way….You've gotta be kidding me…. " was all he could let out, his mouth hanging wide open in incredulity, earning a surprised look by Mico who asked him "You know her?" but her question went unanswered as the brown-haired beast besides her watched as the Demon Bird effortlessly cut down two more demons with her talons at a speed that vastly outclassed that of those creatures.
Sirene then straightened her posture and observed the demons that surrounded her from all sides, her blue eyes taking notice of every single one. Those mindless drones were slowly inching towards her, growling at her with their wide mouths full of sharp teeth drooling at the prospect of a new meal.
However the Demon Bird grinned wickedly and as her antennae began to wave around, she pointed her arms forward and, to the shock of both Mico and Takeshi, her forearms separated from her elbows and were swiftly propelled forward towards the two demons that stood directly in front of her. One of them punched through a demon's chest face, killing it instantly, while the other demon managed to avoid it by jumping in the air.
But they weren't her main target.
The forearms stopped in midair and began to rotate at astonishing speed, essentially becoming rotating blades. Then, as if they were boomerangs, they came backwards and they sliced apart the bars of nearly every single cell of the dungeon, the lightning that they had been imbueded with by Kotura doing little to stop them, nearly missing the remaining demons in the process, who jumped above them.
And with that, the jailbreak tour began.
Wasting no time, and putting aside his shock, Takeshi began to transform into his true form, much to Mico's surprise. His skin turned light green, his muscles and his frame doubled in size, causing all of his clothes to be torn off, his eyes turned yellow, red markings formed from under his lower eyelids, black fur covered his entire lower body from the abdomen down as well as his forearms and hands, whose fingernails turned into claws, a black furred tail sprouted from his back and finally, his hair split apart and turned into a V-shaped crest of fur which left a widow's peak in the middle of his head.
"T-Takeshi….." called out hesitantly Mico in concern and awe, with her left hand on her chest, after witnessing the whole process, which lasted for no more than 3 seconds. She had no idea that he would look so attractive, even in his beast form.
Paying no attention to her, he swiftly tore away what remained of the steel bars of the cell gate with a single backhanded swipe of his right arm and with a roar of fury he joined the unfolding battle, just like all the other beasts, no longer held captive behind their metal prisons.
Sirene didn't even need to further stain her talons in blood and simply used her telekinesis to pull them back towards her and reattach them back onto her elbows. She simply watched around her, in satisfaction as all those imprisoned beasts finally got back at their captors for all the hell they were put through. Needless to say, the results weren't pretty as evidenced by a female humanoid moth like beast and a male humanoid goat like beast working together to tear one of those demons apart, a bipedal, heavily built one that resembled an anthropomorphic lizard-like creature with long, sharp claws on its four fingered hands as well as sharp teeth and reptilian orange eyes, that decapitated an ant-headed demon with a single strike on its claws, a large four legged one, covered in brown fur, sporting a long neck, long fore and hind limbs each ending with four purple claws that resembled a distorted llama like creature but with a vaguely human-like face at the end of its neck violently stomping a flower headed demon to death with its feet, armed with four sharp lavender colored claws and so on and so forth.
The Demon Bird then turned to the left upon hearing the sounds of bones being broken and then promptly spotted Takeshi, having wrestled an ant-headed demon to the ground after snatching it by its neck. The light green skinned beast then with a furious growl swiftly broke the grotesque demon's neck and then ripped the head straigth off its body with his bare hands, blood gushing out of the decapitated demon's neck like a fountain and drenching part of his muscular body.
Sirene was at first surprised upon recognizing the same beast that had the nerve to attack her while she was carrying Jun in her claws in her attempt to lure out and kill Akira once again, an act that she now heavily regretted due to how she threw away her honor for her own misguided quest of vengeance. Then she smiled in amusement upon seeing that he was more than capable of taking care of himself in battle and how he brutally tore that grotesque demon's head from its neck. At heart Sirene was a warrior through and through and as such, she greatly respected those who were able to prove their worth in battle and who had no problem ending their opponent's lives brutally. In fact, spilling the blood of her enemies and bathing in it was always an act that brought Sirene much gratification.
Scoffing in amusement, she then spoke "You again, huh? I would have never expected to find you here." causing Takeshi to lift his head back up, pulling him out of his staring towards the foul demon he had just killed. As his yellow eyes met Sirene's beautiful blue ones, she spoke again "I have to commend you though, you are a far more resilient and capable warrior than i thought you were. Perhaps i was wrong to simply call you "Vermin"." complimenting the green-skinned beast for the ferocity he had just displayed in spite of putting emphasis on the final word she said just for the fun of it.
In response, Takeshi narrowed his eyes towards the Demon Bird, clenched his teeth and began "You…." with much venom in his now deeper voice, while throwing the head he had just torn off away. Obviously, he had not forgotten what she had almost done on that night, more than a week ago. Then he began to walk menacingly towards her, while declaring venomously "Give me one good reason why i shoudn't just rip you apart here and now, you damn-"
Only to be stopped by two soft and caring hands that grabbed him by his left bicep. Turning around his eyes widened slightly upon seeing Mico with a pleading and concerned look in her beautiful scarlet eyes. To his surprise, there wasn't any hint of fear in them, not a single bit of it. After what he had done and the blood that covered a good portion of his body, he had expected the young woman to be at least in part scared by what she had witnessed.
Instead, Mico was surprised to find out that her cellmate knew his harpy woman and that whatever happened in the past between them, Takeshi held a grudge towards her. She then gently pleaded to the light green skinned beast who now dwarfed her "Takeshi….. Please… She's the one who freed us….."
Taken aback by the beautiful green haired young woman's lack of fear and concern, he replied gravely "Stay back, Mico. You don't know what this woman is capable of. She almost killed me less than two weeks ago." while turning his eyes back towards Sirene and narrowing them in animosity towards her. Mico's face filled itself with shock upon hearing this. Then she let the tall, green skinned beast go and after turning towards Sirene as well and looking at her for a few seconds, she gasped in even more surprise upon recognizing her scent.
"You….. You're a demon….." she hesitantly spoke, while putting her left hand on her chin, beneath her lower lip in awe. She coudn't help but keep looking at the Demon Bird in amazement due to how beautiful she was. She had no idea that a demon could be this beautiful.
In response, Sirene turned her blue eyes towards the young, scarlet eyed woman and, with her face softening and assuming a mostly stoic expression, declared "That i am. And i assure you that, even though i have committed many acts in the past that i now do not take great pride of, i have not come here to harm you." trying her best to reassure the two devilmen in front of her. But while Mico seemed to calm down, Takeshi was not convinced at all.
But before he could voice his hostily and distrust towards the Demon Bird, he saw one of the last remaining demons, with a rotund, eyeless head, armed with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth, crashing on the ground right in front of the cell that stood in front of the one in which Takeshi and Mico where held, causing Sirene to turn towards it. With several bruises in its grey skinned body, it rose back on its feet, but before it could even begin to growl towards the Demon Bird and the two devilmen…..
A chilling and twisted growl that resembled that of a mountain lion froze it in its tracks and so did Mico and Takeshi while Sirene simply stood her ground, her emotionless face not changing in the slightest.
As the lesser demon slowly turned towards the barely lit cell, not one, but two pairs of yellow glows pierced through the darkness before a demonic and distorted feminine voice spoke "You monsters… I will never forgive you….. FOR WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH!" before letting out a blood-chilling roar that resembled that of a mountain lion only even more distorted and monstrous than how a normal one would sound like.
Then in less than two seconds, as soon as that roar came, a large, two and a half meter tall female humanoid cat-like creature leapt out of the shadows and pounced on the grey demon, slashing its chest wide open with its cat claws and pinning it on the ground before it sank its sharp teeth on the demon's neck. After two seconds and many sickening cruching noises, the monstrous cat, tore the demon's throat off with its jaws and spat it away before finally digging into the demon's gutted chest, clamping its jaws on its heart and ripping it off its chest. All the while Sirene, Takeshi and Mico watched, the former in surprise at this newcomer's appearance and the latter in shock and horror.
After recognising this new creature as a beast by its scent, the Demon Bird took her time to analyse its appearance. It was covered in fur of various shades of red, with a light red for the sides of its head, most of its arms, upper legs and feet, an even lighter shade of red for its abdomen and voloptous chest as well as most of her face, and a darker, almost maroon shade, for its large paws, sides of its chest and pelvis. The beast's body, as befitting that of a cat, was overall rather athletically built with long, digitigrade legs ending in five sharp claws, long arms, with well toned biceps that ended with large furred paws armed with five sharp claws. But the two most striking characteristics of the female beast's appearance where its head, which greatly resembled that of a cat, with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth of various sizes, a pair of pupiless, yellow eyes, a second pair of yellow eyes with a slit black pupil above them, that seemed to be slightly out of their socket, two pairs of long black whiskers, large cat-like ears and a long maroon lion-like mane of fur that sprouted from the middle of her forehead and extended all the way onto the beast's back. Finally the beast had not one, not two, but three long maroon, furred, cat tails that sprouted from its rear.
Sirene had to admit that it was a very unique and majestic creature and that was saying a lot, considering all the monstrous and grotesque demons she had met and fought over the eons of her existence.
After the cat-like beast swallowed the heart of the demon it had just slain, it swiftly turned its attention towards Sirene with a snarl, due to her being the one closest to her, all four of its yellow eyes bearing towards her, startling the Demon Bird slightly. It began to circle her on the left, walking on all fours, its three tails swishing left and right while growling even more.
Mico could only watch in shock and terror from no less than five meters away, at the true appearance of the one who had kept her company in those two days, of the one who had prevented her from falling into despair thanks to her cheerfulness in spite of the situation. She coudn't believe that Hitomi looked like this, in spite of her humanoid build. So powerful and athletic….. So wild… So beastly…..
And when she saw the look in her eyes, she shuddered. There simply was no reason, not even a bit of rationality in all four of Hitomi's yellow eyes. They were filled with the most primal and unrestrained of instincts an animal would have. Whatever sentient creature may have spoken to her earlier, it was now gone, its reason replaced by the fury and the hatred towards the monsters who had forced her to kill another one like her.
Even Takeshi, in spite of mainting the most serious expression on his face that he could muster, was quite astonished by the true appearance of the female beast whom he had exchanged words with. He was also greatly dismayed to see that the ordeal she was put through had caused her to lose control of herself. But he coudn't really blame her, considering how horrific it was. Thus, reluctantly, he had now positioned himself in front of Mico, using his right hand to keep her back and protect her.
However, no matter how much hopeless it seemed, a part of Mico believed that Hitomi was still there.
Then, as the cat beast, still driven by pure fury and sensing that Sirene smelled exactly like that last demon she murdered growled even more monstrously before launching herself towards the Demon Bird with another monstrous mountain lion-like roar. Sirene simply assumed a stance, but before she could attack the cat beast before it could attack her…
"HITOMIIIIIIII!"
Screamed Mico, after she swiftly pushed Takeshi aside slightly and bolted besides Sirene, putting herself in between her and the cat beast, while outstretching her arms. What happened next, took even the Demon Bird by surprise.
Against all odds, the pained scream of Mico, stopped the raging Hitomi in her tracks, less than a meter before her. The mere sound of her voice was what made her stop. All four of her yellow eyes saw the one in front of her, the young beautiful woman with short, scholarly green hair and scarlet eyes, now dwarfed by the two and a half meter tall cat beast. And now she was looking at her with a pained and pleading look in her eyes.
Then, Mico began to cry.
"Please, Hitomi… I know you're still there….." she began, her voice calming and gentle "It's over… You are free now….They won't hurt you anymore….." she reassured, as soothingly as she possibly could, trying to bring her latest friend back. Mico knew that Hitomi was still there. All she had to do was try to calm her down, to bring her back to reason.
Miracoulously, it worked.
(OST: "Loneliness" = Devil Lady soundtrack (the track that plays from 1:56 to 3:15 ) = watch?v=urPG62zXTUM )
The sound of Mico's beautiful voice, caused the cat beast to gasp, her rage beginning to fade away. Then, all four of her eyes widened. It was her. She remembered her. The one in front of her was the young woman who had kept her company during the latter two days of her imprisonment. If not for her, Hitomi would have completely lost her mind after another day without any food or water.
Then, all of a sudden, the beast was gone.
Tears began to fall from all four of Hitomi's eyes as she knelt down slightly and began to slowly extend her left paw towards the young woman in front of her.
"M….. Mico…." she called out, her voice returning back to her original, human tone, as her furred paw caressed the green haired young woman's right cheek. At first, Mico was a bit unnerved by the cat beast slowly reaching out for her cheek with her large paw, which was as big as her whole head, but the moment she uttered her name, in a voice so full of pain and sadness, a voice so human, joy filled the young devilman's heart.
"Oh, Hitomi…" she called out, crying even more than before. Then she extended both of her arms and embraced the tall, cat beast, burrowing herself into her furred chest and abdomen. Hitomi at first quivered As Mico hugged her, before all four of her eyes closed and she wrapped her furred hands around the young woman's comparatively petite, but still well built body. She returned the hug and both of them fell on their knees as they embraced each other, their ordeal finally over.
Takeshi coudn't believe it. For the first time, he had witnessed a beast having first lost control of itself only to then regain its humanity thanks to the help of a person close to it. He had heard many horrific tales of people completely losing themselves upon their transformation. He coudn't even imagine how horrible it must have been for those poor, unfortunate souls.
And yet, here, before his own wide, disbelieved eyes, a miracle had happened. A beast regaining its humanity, just like what happened to him, Takae, Misaki, Kyoko and many fortunate ones who were strong enough mentally.
Sirene just stood there, not comprehending what had just happened. That cat beast most certainly wanted to kill her: she could tell that much simply by the look of pure bloodlust and rage in its four eyes. And yet, that other young woman, who knew her, managed to calm it down, to bring it back to reason.
Was the human heart really that powerful? Were compassion and kindness truly this powerful, enough to calm down a creature that, no less than a couple dozen seconds before, was about to draw blood? Was this what it truly meant to be human? The will of the heart?
Those were the questions that formed in Sirene's mind as she witnessed this truly remarkable event.
"I… I killed him….. I killed him….." whimpered Hitomi, crying even more than before, still held by Mico, voicing her sorrow for what she had been forced to do, for the life of the once human Komada, the half rat, half gargoyle beast that she was forced to kill in self-defense after it gave into its hunger. Takeshi, could only watch in even more sadness, not even imagining how traumatic that horror must have been for her. Even in her beast form, he could tell just from the sound of her voice that Hitomi was still a very young woman, perhaps one who had just reached adulthood very recently. And yet she had been forced to go through such an horror. He didn't even want to imagine how she must have felt when she lost her humanity and became the way she is now.
Even more heartbroken by the sound of her distraught voice, Mico tightened the hug and tenderly reassured "Hitomi…. It's okay….. It wasn't your fault….." her soft and gentle voice, taking away some of the cat beast's grief. The latter then felt a hand touching her left shoulder and then another voice came.
"I'm sorry. It pains me that i coudn't do anything to stop him." spoke Takeshi, just as heartbroken as Mico and Hitomi, having walked towards the two embracing women and placing himself on their left. Both of them raised their heads and looked up towards him, noticing a look of pure dejection and sadness on the light green skinned beast's face at his own helplessness and at how he could do nothing but watch as the monstrous owl-beast that controlled wind tossed that starved beast into Hitomi's cell to prove his point.
"Takeshi….. This is….. Your…." hesitantly began Hitomi, in awe at the green skinned beast's true appearance, earning a sad nod from him. As Mico got up, Takeshi declared "But i can promise this to you: they will pay for what they have to you and all those people." while at the same time, the other beasts that broke out of their cells, having finished slaughtering all the remaining grotesque grey demons all began to gather around them.
(Soundtrack ends)
"Damn right they will. They had no right to do this to us after all the crap we've been through." proclaimed the same reptilian beast with the sharp claws, earning their attention. Mico then turned towards it and asked "You were all caught by them and imprisoned?" with a bit of hesitation, after seeing just how angry these imprisoned beasts, no, these imprisoned people were.
The one who replied this time, was the moth-like humanoid female beast that had a pair of moth wings on her back, fur with banded black stripes covering her legs, compounded black eyes instead of normal ones and moth ears on her otherwise mostly human face "Yes. After we were given our freedom back, we began to live our former lives again. Everything was turning out for the better in this new world our saviour gave us." earning a surprised look from both Mico and the Demon Bird who silently listened away. She quickly figured out that the moth beast was referring to Jun. The reverence in her voice cleared her doubts about the Devil Lady and made Sirene realise just what Jun had been able to create.
"But then all of us, were suddenly captured and locked here for no other reason than wanting to live in peace. All we ever wanted was to live our former human lives again." she continued, her voice filled with a mix of sadness and anger, which served to enrage Takeshi even more. How could those monsters have done this to all those people? Kidnapping him to lure Akira to them was one thing, but this? This was even worse than everything those Human Alliance bastards put him, the girls and countless other people through.
On the other hand, Mico and Hitomi were taken by surprise by those words. As the cat-beast rose to her full height of two and a half meters, surprising even Takeshi by how tall she was, (in fact even a good 15 centimeters taller than him), she asked "Saviour? What do you mean?" earning a puzzled look from all the other beasts around them, Takeshi included.
A well-built male beast that resembled an anthropomorphic reindeer asked in bewilderment "Are you for real? You really don't know what happened?" Hitomi simply closed all four of her yellow eyes and shaked her head left and right, causing the various beasts's disbelief to grow even more.
"You mean you didn't end up in one of the camps?" asked the female moth beast again, which only served to confuse the tall cat beast, while a look of seriousness made its way on the light green skinned beast upon realising just from the tone of that moth woman that she was only one of many imprisoned beasts in the Human Alliance's concentration camps.
But then, before Hitomi could reply to those questions, Sirene's voice abrubtly came "You all seem to have forgotten that you are still not entirely free yet." causing all the beasts to look towards her. She then assertively declared "As we speak, my allies are dealing with your captors and two of them have been already defeated. If you want to live, i would suggest you follow me." while turning around, expecting the beasts to follow her.
Only for the reptilian one with the sharp claws to ask in hostility "And why should we trust you? You smell exactly like those other ugly fellas we just cut down. Just what are you anyway? You don't even smell like us!" while the other beasts kept a watchful and distrustful eye on her.
"Not to mention, she does kinda look a lot like that monstrous God Child….." whispered the humanoid reindeer, among its kindred earning many other murmurings from them. Yet, in spite of that, most of those beasts coudn't help but stare at the Demon Bird due to how beautiful she was.
In response, Sirene chuckled in amusement, annoying some of the other beasts. The reptilian one, asked in irritation "What's so funny?!"
(OST: "Bankai…. Tensa Zangetsu" = Bleach Soundtrack = watch?v=2KdKcfUZp9E )
As she glanced back towards them, Sirene replied with a taunting smile on her soft lips "It never ceases to amase me just how simple-minded you humans can be, even after becoming like that. Then again, that is what makes your kind so amusing to me. If i wanted to, i could have used those arms of mine that i separated from by body with my telekinesis to cut all of you down in a matter of seconds, along with the metal bars of your cages." causing all the beasts's eyes to widen in shock, Mico, Takeshi and Hitomi included. Obviously only the former two were aware of what Sirene truly was and the fact that she came from a completely different world from this one.
"Obviously, the fact that all of you are now standing alive and well, freed from those cages should be self-explanatory. Or could it be, that by "evolving" like that, you became even more narrow-minded than before?" she taunted again, her smile turning into a toothy grin, earning many annoyed glares from several of the beasts, Takeshi included by putting emphasis on the world "evolving" just for the fun of it.
"Why you…." he seethed again, even more irritated by Sirene's arrogant and vain attitude while beginning to walk towards her. How could she have the nerve to talk like that after what she was about to do that night, a week ago?
"No, she's right." interjected Hitomi, while stopping Takeshi in his tracks by putting her right paw on his right shoulder. The cat beast then took a few steps forward and placed herself in front of Takeshi and the other beasts. Then she turned towards them and spoke "Whoever this woman is, she came here to rescue us. For that alone i think we should follow her." causing the other beasts to exchange looks and words of approval. However some of them were still not convinced, including Takeshi.
"But, Hitomi, we can't trust…." he began again, only for Mico to also take a few steps forward, turn towards him and interject "What other choice do we have, Tak? If she was able to make her way here, it means that she knows a way out of this place. And besides…" she paused, while turning towards the Demon Bird "I have learned from experience that actions speak louder than words." she declared, while actually giving Sirene a smile.
This caused the beautiful demoness's blue eyes to widen ever so slightly in surprise. Was that young woman expressing gratitude towards her? She could tell from her scent alone that she wasn't a demon, but a Devilman. And yet she had shown her gratitude and even went as far as standing up for her when the rest of those beasts still showed hostility towards her? That was a first. It literally was the first time, someone had actually expressed gratitude towards her aside from Kaim. Someone who had just met her, to boot.
That simple act, was enough to finally convince all the beasts that following this beautiful and powerful harpy-like woman was their only chance of survival. Thus one by one they all nodded and the female moth beast spoke, for all of them "Very well, then. We entrust our lives to you, Miss…" halting mid-speech, waiting for the Demon Bird to give away her name.
"Sirene. Just Sirene." she declared, while giving a kind smile, causing many of the beasts and even Mico and Hitomi to gasp slightly. Even her name was a beautiful one. And in particular, her smile was directed towards Mico, the first person, aside from Kaim, to stand up for her despite having just met her for less than half an hour. She was just beginning to realise that maybe…. Just maybe…. Kindness truly was something that could make a difference.
Then her gaze turned forward and she declared resolutely "Follow me. I will lead you out of this place. My allies should have cleared out the way by now." while spreading her white feathered wings. And with that she took off and all of the beasts began to quickly follow after her, even a reluctant Takeshi, who still held quite the grudge towards the Demon Bird for what she was about to do to Jun that night. But right now, there was no time for that. What mattered now was the safety of all these people, including him, Mico and Hitomi. He will have to settle his score with her another time.
And with that, the jailbreak tour began in its earnest.
(Soundtrack Ends)
Meanwhile, in the mansion's courtyard
(OST: "Catch 22" = Bleach Soundtrack = watch?v=48QHhyBq8kw )
For the upteenth time, lightning and thunder clashed under the dark, cloudy sky, night only a few hours away.
The Crusader of Lightning proved to be a much tougher opponent than what Kaim had expected. Thanks to his large feathered wings, Kotura proved to be much faster in the air than what his bulky body would suggest. The pachyderm demon repeatedly tried to shoot him down with his purple energy beams and spheres but the vulture beast had managed to avoid them all without much difficulty all the while counterattacking with his blue lightning bolts. At first, Kaim thought that he should have been able to resist such attacks but after seeing the utter devastation those lightning bolts left, he was convinced that if even one of those would hit, he would be far from unscathed, in spite of his armored skin. Thus he was quickly forced on the defensive by Kotura's faster but less powerful lightning bolts.
"Fool! You'll never be able to shoot me down from where you are, no matter how much you try!" taunted the vulture beast after unleashing even more lightning bolts. Due to having sidestepped a previous barrage, Kaim was left wide open for the next barrage and thus was forced to intercept it with a barrage of lightning bolts infused with his energy but even then, a few bolts got through and struck Kaim, discharging their electricity and causing him to grunt in pain.
Satisfied with the results of his latest attack and seeing Kaim immobilised by the electricity that had been discharged on his body by the bolts that struck him, Kotura laughed in triumph and declared "HAHAHA! Someone like you, who will always be bound to the ground, never to taste the freedom of the skies, shall never be my equal! NOW DIE!" and with that he extended both of his arms forward, joined his palms and fired a much more powerful lightning bolt, dead set towards the pachyderm demon.
The bolt appeared to struck Kaim head on and detonated in a massive explosion. A satisfied smile formed on Kotura's lips, believing that his opponent was no more.
However the sound of something abrubtly taking off the ground amidst the cloud of smoke and debris that the vulture beast's latest attack had caused, made Kotura gasp in surprise. Then he could only watch as something was suddenly propelled towards him in the air, still covered by smoke.
His red eyes widened in utter disbelief as Kaim emerged from the smoke, heading towards the grey vulture beast at a shockingly fast speed with his forelimbs and hindlimbs tucked backwards as if he was a surface-to-air missile being fired from its installation on the ground towards an enemy aircraft, intending to run him through with his massive horns.
Taken completely by surprise, Kotura was only able to avoid being run through by one of Kaim's massive 2 meter long horns with a backwards flap of his wings at the last fraction of a second. Instead, the sharp tip of the pachyderm demon's right horn scraped Kotura diagonally across the chest, inflicting a large wound, blood soon gushing out.
After having put much distance between himself and his opponent, Kotura placed his left hand on his chest, clutching it in pain, blood still falling from it.
"H-How? How did you….." he began in disbelief before noticing that Kaim was in fact hovering in the air in front of him, a dozen meters away. Purple energy in the form of flames was coming out from both his hands and feet. That was in fact, his means of flight. By focusing his energy on his hands and feet, Kaim could generate jets of purple flames that would allow him to fly in the same manner a jet aircraft would. And by orienting both his hands and feet downwards, Kaim could hover still in the air like a Harrier Jump Jet would by orienting its four rotating nozzles downwards.
"There is a well known saying within human society: "Never judge a book by its cover." calmly answered Kaim, causing Kotura's red eyes to widen even more "In other words, you should never be so arrogant as to judge someone solely on their outer appearances. Doing so will lead you to underestimate your opponent, a mistake that can cost a warrior its life." he coldly lectured the arrogant and overconfident Crusader of Lightning as a thunder struck several miles away, briefly illuminating the twoflying creatures that sized each other up.
Enraged, Kotura bared its teeth at the pachyderm demon in response and spat back "You bastard…. " before roaring "YOU HAVE SOME NERVE, SAYING THAT AFTER THE IGNOBLE END YOUR KIND BROUGHT UPON ITSELF! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE USING A HUMAN SAYING TO LECTURE ME, A BEING WHO HAS TRANSCENDED ITS HUMANITY?! " and then he fired a few bolts of lightning from the sharp spikes that protruded from his wings's metacarpus bone.
All Kaim had to do was stretch out his right forelimb and hindlimb and the flames allowed him to dodge the incoming bolts, shocking the vulture beast with the ease of which he was able to do so. He then narrowed his eyes towards the Crusader of Lightning and coldly declared again "I have seen those like you before. You look down with arrogance and contempt on everyone around you, believing yourself to be above all other life-forms. But that very own superiority of yours that you pride yourself so much is also your greatest weakness. For arrogance is in fact, what destroys the footholds of one's victory. And just as it cost your comrade's life, it will cost yours."
This lecture was what finally made Kotura lose his composure entirely. With an enraged roar, he lifted his right arm upwards with his palm pointing upwards. A bolt of thunder then engulfed him before it condensed itself into the same blue and yellow sphere of energy with the properties of Lightning he had used before against Akira and Jun, his most powerful attack, the Storm of Torment. Kaim remained unmoved by the display of power, his gaze not wavering for even a moment.
"WRONG! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WILL DIE BY MY HAND!" he roared before using his wings to raise his altitude by a few dozen meters. Then he brought his right arm back, roared again "STORM OF TORMENT!" and then extended his arm towards the hovering pachyderm demon and the blue and yellow beam of energy erupted from his palm, homing straight towards Kaim.
The demon simply channeled his energy into his horns and his strongest attack, a purple beam of energy with the properties of lighting was fired after the energy accumulated in the space between his horns.
The two beams of energy collided and after a brief struggle both cancelled each other out, creating a blinding white light. Taking advantage of this both combatants rushed towards each other with a final roar, intending to end it with this final attack.
Kaim and Kotura crossed each other's path in the air, the former trying to impale the vulture beast with his horns and the latter trying to bash the pachyderm demon's head with his fist.
(Soundtrack ends)
Kaim landed back in the courtyard with a chunk of his left shoulder missing, blood dripping down from the missing flesh. He panthed heavily, only barely managing to keep himself standing on his limbs, who were shaking heavily, somehow not falling straight away on the ground.
Behind him, Kotura crashed on the ground, a good portion of the right side of his abdomen gone, scraped away by Kaim's right horn. As the pachyderm demon glanced back towards his defeated opponent, he quickly noticed that although the vulture beast was severely injured, it was not dead, but had simply been knocked unconscious. Or so it seemed.
Surprised by the Crusader of Lightning's resilience, Kaim calmly remarked "Well done, beast… You are most certainly a formidable warrior…." as he began to walk besides Kotura's unmoving body lying down on its front, in a pool of purple blood, with his yellow eyes still fixated on it "A pity that you were so easily blinded by your arrogance. The outcome of this battle could have been different if only you had not underestimated me. The way i see it, until proven otherwise, all abilities should be treated equally, no matter how weak or poweful they appear to be compared to each other. In other words, as soon as you began to assume that i was not your equal….." he paused after walking past the beast's seemingly unconscious body, halting in his tracks for a few seconds, his gaze returning forward.
"You had already lost to me." he declared coldly. And with that he stormed off through the main entrance of Satoru's lair, leaving the unconscious beast behind. He had no time to administer the finishing blow. He had much more importart matters to attend to, friends he needed to help.
However, as soon as Kaim dissappeared into the mansion, the left hand of the one who appeared to have been knocked unconscious by him, suddenly moved. And then two words were uttered.
"D….. Damn… You…"