Devilman: The Rebirth

by Nanto99

Akira had lost everything: his friends, his home, the love of his life and at the end his own life. But what happens when fate decides to give him a second chance at life? Now, reborn in a similar yet completely different world, watch as Akira meets new friends, old enemies from the past and discovers his new place in this world. Watch the rebirth of Devilman.

37. Chapter 37

I do apologise for the delay in publishing this chapter, its's just that 1) i needed to take a break from writing and 2) my life had suddenly got very busy. Either way, the second arc is almost finished (maybe with chapter 38 or 39, i don't know).

Also, this was the first chapter in which we got to explore a glimpse of the prehistoric world and the wildlife that the demons coexisted with during the Age of the Dinosaurs! In this segment we are shown a Quetzalcoatlus, an enormous Pterosaur with an 11 meter wingspan, nearly having Lilith for lunch before being slain by Atun. In my potrayal of that creature i used the latest science and knowledge and i based its appearance on its potrayal in "Prehistoric Planet" (Possibly the greatest dinosaur documentary ever made, which i highly recommend to watch). I am planning to publish a later post in which i go in more depth in how i potrayed it and how i based it on the latest scientific understanding of the creature.

Anyway, i do hope you enjoy the chapter because i had a lot of fun writing it!

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Chapter 37: The End Of The Beginning

Kaim had arrived just in the nick of time.

The moment he sensed that tremendous power, he knew that things had taken a turn for the worst. What he wasn't prepared for however, was the horrific sight he was rewarded with the moment he burst through the upper wall of the enormous circular room after running deeper and deeper into the mansion that had become the cursed haven of Satoru and his henchmen.

"K-Kaim?" could only call out an astonished Akira, not believing that the first demon he became friends with, actually came back for him.

"Akira!" called Kaim back in disbelief upon seeing him lying on the floor, bloodied and beaten. He coudn't believe it. The one who took over Amon, who had slaughtered so many demons, reduced in such a ruined and pitiful state? Who could possibly hav-

His disbelief turned into horror as his gaze shifted from Akira to the one who up until a few moments ago, was the powerful and legendary Devil Lady. The pachyderm demon could only gasp in horror and scream "JUN!" his wide yellow eyes trembling as soon as he spotted and quickly recognised the equally bruised and beaten up, comatose body of Jun, no longer in its powerful demonic form but back to its delicate human form lying on its back with wide open but lifeless brown eyes, the statuesque muscles, head-wings, facial and body markings and her tail gone, the throat crushed and a pool of crimson blood on the ground around the grievious and near-mortal injury.

"KAIM!" came another voice, one he hadn't heard in a long time. Even more shocked, Kaim lifted his head and immediately spotted Nike, in the clutches of Satoru and his henchmen, the emerald-eyed angelic demoness looking at him in a mix of astonishment and panic. He could only call back "Nike! It really is you!" while noticing the young beast in the guise of a human boy and his four avian subordinates looking at him with interest and amusement, a smug smile on all their lips. He was also taken aback by the fact that the same vulture beast that he had defeated not too long, was still alive, even after he had scraped away a massive chunk of his torso with one of his horns.

"Who would have thought." came Atun's amused voice, startling the pachyderm demon and making him finally notice and immediately recognise the culprit behind the current states Akira and Jun were in as well as the predicament Nike now found herself in "You too have turned against your own kind, Kaim? Mmph, i guess i should not be surprised since you were always the softest one among us." he spoke with a taunting tone matched by the smug and amused smile on his lips.

(OST: " The Jaws of Ice" = Xenogears Soundtrack = watch?v=TlyLmBzGhOo )

With a look of pure disgust and outrage, the likes of which Akira had never before seen on his face, Kaim spoke "Atun." his voice equally full of revulsion "I should have known. Only you would have stooped as low as imprisoning one of your own friends for the sole purpose of settling your feud with Amon." while sparing a glance towards Nike and her captors, causing Akira to gasp in shock at the reveal that the pachyderm demon also knew Atun and the angelic woman that Satoru and his goons were now holding hostage.

The purple, maroon and yellow humanoid avian demon simply chuckled in amusement and replied "Hehehe…. every end justifies the means, my friend. Every single living creature on this world lives by that code, no matter the needs they must satisfy. Or are you really so naive as to think yourself better than the rest of us after all the blood you spilled in all the battles you have fought?" lecturing Kaim who, in spite of appearing unfazed, was actually deeply hit by those words. In fact he did his fair share of killing in the war against God and his Legions of Heaven not to mention all the dinosaurs he killed in self-defense or by accident 66 milion years ago, in the prehistoric Earth.

But that was a completely different world, one where everything had to be done just to survive, a world in which no one could choose their own fate. Thus, he defiantly replied "I would be lying if i claimed otherwise, but unlike you i have not kept my eyes away from the truth! We were a race of animals, of monsters who knew nothing but battle and slaughter!"

Akira could watch in awe as the pachyderm demon denounced his own kind and ridiculed it for what it once was "And where did that lead us?! To our complete and utter annihilation, all because we refused to change! All because we refused to accept the fact that another race of creatures had claimed our world while we slumbered forgotten for all those endless eons!" Atun remained silent at those words, his expression not changing in the slightest, but deep inside, he coudn't help but agree with Kaim's statement. His kind's reason for wiping out humanity was really that simple and petty. But even the demons coudn't predict that some humans could have been strong enough to take them over as they tried to possess them, nor that an army of Devilmen would have been raised in reprisal for all the atrocities they had committed and that both species would then annihialate each other in that titanic final battle. They were the architects of their own destruction.

On the other hand, Satoru and his henchmen listened with an amused smile at what they believed to be nonsense. The fact that such a large and powerful creature was speaking such words was preposterous to them. The young beast had been so amused by those words that he felt himself compelled to ask Kaim "You would speak of change, demon?" his child-like voice taking the pachyderm demon by surprise and causing him to take his eyes off Atun and instead look at him. Kaim refused to believe that right in the middle of those four humanoid beasts there was what appeared to be a young human boy, who was not only also a beast, but the same monster who caused so much pain and misery not only to the people that had been enslaved within the dungeons of this forsaken building, but to thousands of others, many months ago. But the look of sheer malice and glee on Satoru's face was enough to let him know that beneath the appearance of a young boy, lurked a monster of the uttermost evil.

"You are as naive as any other human. No matter how much one tries, it's impossible to escape from our nature, from what we truly are. Just ask all those like us who were hunted down by the same humans you so foolishly stand for now." Satoru mockingly spoke, referring to all the people he and his henchmen had imprisoned and starved in an attempt to make them join their cause.

Kaim felt nothing but outrage and revulsion to those words and thus, he angrily countered "How dare you! They never asked to be like this just as we demons never asked to be born the way we were! How can you consider yourself different from those humans after everything you put your own kind through?!" he furiously demanded as Akira watched in complete disbelief. He had never seen the gentle Kaim, such a levelheaded and kind individual, so angry before.

Satoru and all of his henchmen laughed derisively at Kaim's outrage and Izumi was the first to speak after her laughter died down "You really are a fool. But then again, you were never human to begin with, therefore you have no idea how it felt like to be so weak and inferior." her voice full of vanity but also resentment for what she once was.

"Destruction is part of human nature, yet mankind has always refused to recognise this truth. In every era they always try to justify the bloodshed they spread, always finding new lies to hide what they truly are. Their true nature hasn't advanced a step from the Stone Age and if you think they are better than your kind, you are just as blind as they all are." spitefully spoke Higa, making no effort to hide his contempt of mankind. The mere thought that he once used to be as weak as them made his skin crawl.

"And yet here you are, playing as their protector, their would-be hero. But no matter what you will do for them, eventually they will turn their back on you the moment you will either stop being useful to them or simply after making a single mistake. It's what they do best. Why even bother risking your neck for their sake when they are always so quick to do that?" asked Kotura, with a smug smile, seeing Kaim as only the latest of many fools who would delude themselves with ideals such as justice and honor.

"Do you know what was the first thing they decided to do to people like us, who used to be just like them? They created a secret organization to exterminate us, believing that we were nothing more than animals! This entire building here used to be one of their many bases and it is here that so many of us met their end, experimented upon like lab rats or being forced to fight each other to the death in this massive room you are now standing on, just to learn more about us! So it's only fair that we returned the favour and sentenced them to extinction as well. We were simply cleansing the world, that's all." explained Kitano, his voice filled with disgust for those humans, and glee for the prospect of their annihilation.

All the beaten Akira could do was grit his teeth in hatred and disgust at what those monsters said, completely powerless to do anything about it. Such hypocrites, having the audacity to speak so low and with such contempt for mankind when not only were they once human, but what they did, not only to all the humans they murdered, but to their own kind just to force all those beasts, who wanted nothing more besides living in peace, to join their ranks was just as bad if not worse than all the crimes committed by mankind back in Akira's original world, let alone those committed by the Human Alliance during its existence and especially during the goverment crisis a few months ago. Yet, as much as Akira hated to admit it, those bastards had some valid arguments, since he had seen with his own two eyes just how low humanity could sink. Humans were indeed always so quick to judge others based on appearances alone and destruction, or rather, war, was part of their nature.

Even Atun knew this very well, since he lived among humans for quite a while and for once, he had to agree with those fanatics's declarations. It was also a reminder of how his kind wasn't that much different from them, since it made itself guilty of the same exact crimes all because they felt they had the right to judge those different from them. A fatal flaw that led to their entire extinction.

And indeed all Kaim saw was nothing more than a representation of what his kind used to be: genocidal monsters who deluded themselves to be Gods and believed to have the right to do as they pleased. But as he listened to their words and right as Kitano began to speak, Kaim suddenly felt a voice within his head.

"Kaim, can you hear me?"

It was the voice of Nike, the angelic demoness having used her telepathy to comunicate with him. Kaim was at first quite shocked to hear her voice but he kept his calm and replied within his mind "Yes, Nike." as he looked into her eyes, something that wasn't too difficulty to do without being noticed, due to how close she was to her captors.

"Aim at the concrete above the room i am currently held in. Your beam should produce an explosion sufficently powerful to confuse them and allow me to escape their grasp. It should also allow me to take that woman away to safety." comunicated Nike, having come up with a plan to resolve the situation. The pachyderm demon was also surprised to learn that she also wanted to save Jun, but decided not to ask her the reason for wanting to do that, since he coudn't risk being noticed by Satoru, his henchmen and by Atun.

The latter of which then suddenly chuckled and asked "Do you see now, Kaim? How little difference there is from our kind, that you have betrayed, to all those humans you are now defending?" with his smug smile still on his lips, causing Kaim to turn back towards him as he kept lecturing him "Good and evil are nothing but words, created by those who overcome others and make their judgement of them." he then paused, brought his left hand in front of him with the palm facing upwards before clenching it into a fist and declaring "Power, in the end, is what always wins, regardless of who wields it." he then lowered his hand and asked his fellow demon "So allow me to ask you this: what is it that you truly wish? Would you really desire to live as a servant of creatures weaker than you and no different from your kind, who will soon come to despise you for what you are, or use your superior might to rule over them?"

(Soundtrack Ends)

In his previous life, those words would have brought Kaim much doubt and uncertainty. While he never hated humans and never wanted to exterminate them, unlike the rest of his kind, he still didn't care about them all that much and he was only concerned with the safety of those he cared about. But spending a good two decades rotting in the fires of Hell and learning how his kind brought its end upon itself and seeing the good of humanity in what little time he spent in this new world opened his eyes. And if mankind would one day turn its back on him simply for what he was, he woudn't care. He would still fight for what he believed in, just like he always did: protecting those he cared about.

Thus, Akira watched in amasement as in response, purple energy began to gather around Kaim's horns as he kept his gaze firm into Atun's yellow eyes and took aim towards him, intending to attack him with a beam of energy. Then the pachyderm demon's eyes narrowed and he declared in cold defiance "I choose what once, a race of cowards did not." as the energy around the tip of his horns was finally fully charged. Satoru and his henchmen's smug smiles were replaced by a look of pure shock and horror as Kaim suddenly turned his horns towards them at the last second and fired his beams of purple energy towards them, instead of Atun. The beams travelled at such speed that there was nothing the five beasts could do as they struck the concrete above the room they were standing in, detonating in a large explosion that shattered the room and its glass window, the resulting shockwave and smoke temporarily stunning all five Crusaders and sending them crashing backwards into the walls of the room.

Still lying on the ground and recovering from Atun's earlier beating, Akira watched in astonishment as Nike broke free of Higa and Izumi's clutches, spread her angelic wings, leapt out of the ruined room and immediately flew towards Jun's comatose body, taking hold of it and taking it away from where Atun was. For a split-second her green eyes met the yellow ones of Atun and she quickly noticed that instead of scowling at her, the humanoid avian demon still had the same smug smile on his lips. She also wandered why he stood still and did nothing to prevent her from escaping but she quickly ignored it and flew towards Kaim, landing at his side with Jun's unconscious body held in her arms. She looked at the crushed throat with much worry and immediately put one of her soft hands around it. Her eyes widened the moment she felt a weak but still present pulse, so she immediately began to emit a faint white light from her hand and when she took it away, Jun's grievious injury, had partially healed, to the astonishment of Akira, who had watched the whole process and had immediately realised that Nike possessed some kind of healing powers.

"Incredible….. She was able to survive for so long with her throat crushed….." the former lover of Amon thought in awe, but she was certain that had one or two more minutes passed, Jun would have died, no matter how powerful her regenerative abilities were. She was lucky Kaim had arrived just in time.

"Nike." Kaim called out, still keeping his gaze fixed on Atun "Is she alright?" he asked her in worry, earning a nod "Do not worry, she will live. For now at least." the angelic demoness replied, to Akira's relief.

"Then go. Get as far away as you can from here and take Jun to safety." firmly commanded Kaim and after a nod, Nike spread her wings again and took off the ground, with Jun's unconscious human body firmly held in her caring arms. She then flew through the same hole in the wall where Kaim came from, knowing full well that she would have only slowed him down because unlike him and so many others, she wasn't a warrior. She never was.

Akira gasped and tried to reach out for Jun with a hand while calling out "Wait!" his concern for his lover coming back as she was carried away from him. He then heard Kaim speaking to him "Go after them, Akira. You are hardly in a condition to fight now. The best you can do now, is to survive and fight another day." the pachyderm demon still facing Atun.

The half-demon finally gathered enough strength to stand back up, the wound of what remained of the point in which his left wing connected onto his back slowly healing, but it was obviously that the simple act of standing was causing him pain due to how bloodied and beaten he was. Nonetheless, he still retracted his remaining wing inside his back and managed to weakly ask him "But….What about you?"

In response, Kaim smiled at his friend's concern and walked besides him while replying, without any sign of his resolve wavering "You need not worry about me. The time has arrived for me to give penance for all the sins i have committed in my life as a demon." he then turned towards Atun and the partially destroyed room where Satoru and all his henchmen were, still disoriented by the smoke of the explosion caused by his beam of purple energy, before declaring "But i will not fall alone. I will take as many of those monsters to hell with me as i can. That, will be my final atonement." as he stood proud and defiant in front of Amon's greatest rival, ready to face him in mortal combat.

With his smug smile still on his lips, Atun remarked "So be it then, Kaim." he paused, his smile replaced by a cold expression "You have made your choice and now you shall face its consequences!" he declared as he began to slowly march towards him.

Earlier, outside the mansion

(OST: "Cynder Boss Convexity" = The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Soundtrack = watch?v=8Tv58Uv-yEk )

The battle between Sirene and Lilith resumed in its fullest under the rain and the raging thunderbolts and this time, there was no holding back. The point of no return had been crossed, there was no longer a point in resolving it through words alone and now the two demonesses were out for each other's heads.

Having launched herself in the air with her green vine-like serpetine tail, Lilith's flower head opened up, changing from orange to pink and revealing the cluster of yellow anther-like structures on her forehead. As Sirene took off the roof and flew towards her, now fully intending to stop her once and for all, Lilith roared "FALL!" as she fired all of her anther-like structures from her forehead like bullets towards her opponent, taking the Demon Bird by surprise by how fast she was able to do so. All Sirene could do was shield herself with her arms, but most of those anther bullets struck her body and exploded, burning some parts of her flesh off and causing her to begin plummeting back on the roof, where the rest of the projectiles impacted and exploded. Believing to have won, Lilith grinned and extended her pink flower head petals as fast as she could, morphing them into spiked tentacles in the process, aiming to fatally skewer Sirene's body before it could even hit the roof of the mansion "She may be the strongest of all demonesses, but even she cannot defend against such an attack….." she thought.

She was proven dead wrong when, at the last second, Sirene's body became enveloped in her yellow aura and vanished from where it was, just a second before the petal tentacles could pierce it through, instead striking the roof. Lilith gasped in shock, quickly realising that she had been tricked and, correctly assuming that the Demon Bird would have teleported behind her to strike her down with impunity, had enough time to turn around and watch in horror as, a mere second after doing so, Sirene brutally slashed her across the chest and abdomen with her right talons.

The flower demoness shut her eyes, threw her head back and cried out in agony as crimson blood began gushing out of the grievious wounds on her breasts and abdomen as some of her insides spilled out. With her teeth grit in anger, Sirene proceeded to quickly snatch Lilith by the face with her left hand, not even giving her time to recover before swooping down and driving the demoness through the roof and other concrete floors of the building, eventually crashing into the entrance hall and slamming her on the floor so hard, it made a small crater all around them as the pieces of broken concrete from the upper floors they crashed through came down all around them, along with the rain.

After spitting much blood from her mouth due to the punishment she had received, Lilith saw Sirene standing on top of her with the Demon Bird's left hand still firmly gripped on her throat and her left foot pressed on Lilith's abdomen, the talons threatening to sink into her flesh. Looking at her with disgust, Sirene pulled her right hand back, preparing to finish Lilith off by impaling her through the face with her talons as she coldly declared "Do not blame me for your death. Blame yourself for refusing to change and avoid repeating the same mistakes our kind did. You solely, brought this down upon yourself, Lilith."

Those words enraged the flower demoness. What right did she have to lecture her like this when she acted no different than her towards Amon?! Refusing to change?! Repeating the same mistakes?! No, she will not fall so easily. Not when she has so much to fight for, in spite of all the underhanded acts she had to commit for the sake of the one who stole her heart.

With her body being suddenly enveloped in a crimson aura as her power came back, Lilith bared her teeth at a surprised Sirene as her body began to twist into its more monstrous form, with her arms splitting in two and her serpentine vine-like tail separating in many more and essentially becoming like the tentacles of an octopus. Then much of her cheeks split up, making room for a wider mouth and her teeth became sharper as she roared in defiance "I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU SO EASILY!" her voice becoming more deeper and monstrous before her aura of energy flared violently in all directions and pushed Sirene away, allowing Lilith to crawl backwards and stand up on her full height, now towering over Sirene by half a meter, the wounds in her abdomen still leaking crimson blood and her insides still hanging out of it, showing no signs of healing at the moment.

But the Demon Bird wasn't fazed at all. Clenching her clawed hands into fists, she spitefully stated "There. You have finally revealed yourself for the monster you truly are. All you really care about is yourself and your pitiful delusions. You truly have not changed in the slightest." her voice now full of disdain towards the one in front of her, who had the gall to justify her treatment of Nike as being all for the sake of allowing her beloved Atun to get what he wanted.

Lilith's upper pair of red and yellow eyes shot open and her lower crimson ones closed before she used her many vine-like tentacles to launch herself upwards with so much force that she was able to jump from the ground floor back onto the roof of the mansion, her now massive body effortlessly smashing through the concrete floors above, in spite of her injuries. Sirene narrowed her eyes and took off after her, using her telekinetic powers to blast away the falling rubble as she flew back through the newly made holes in the ceiling until she landed back on the roof and saw that Lilith was now hanging against the wall of the same tower where Nike had been imprisoned before, having burrowed her many green vine-like tentacles into it which allowed her to easily hold onto the flat vertical surface.

Once again, Lilith's pink flower tentacles quickly extended towards Sirene, aiming to skewer her, but all of them were either parried and deflected by the Demon Bird's talons or repulsed by her telekinetic bolts. Tired of this stalemate, Sirene began to channel her yellow energy into her arms before, after pushing yet another pair of those spiked tentacles away, she joined her hands together, extended them forward and fired a beam of yellow energy at her opponent, fully intending to erase her from existence.

But the flower demoness's purple aura manifested itself again and as it enveloped her body, she vanished from where she was, allowing the beam of energy to instead destroy the tower where Nike was once held prisoner in a massive explosion. Sirene grit her teeth in even more fury after seeing yet another deception and how this time it led to her destroying the very same place where Nike had been held. It almost felt like an act of spite on Lilith's part.

But she didn't even have time to voice her anger when Lilith reappeared behind her and, to Sirene's shock, wrapped all four of her grotesque arms around the Demon Bird's body and arms, with the upper ones around her chest and the lower ones around her abdomen, immobilising her. The flower demoness, twisted in her much larger and more monstrous form then burrowed the many vine-like tentacles she had within the roof and they kept elongating, to the point Sirene now found herself suspended in the air, held into Lilith's clutches as a lighting struck nearby, briefly illuminating their surroundings.

"Of all the crafty…." she cursed in her mind as she tried to escape from the four arms that restrained her, even trying to flap her wings but to no avail, as Lilith put her lips closer to her ear and fiercely proclaimed "Make no mistake, this is not something that will give me satisfaction. But i will not let anyone get between my lord and his goals. For him, i will do anything!" as she tightened her hold around Sirene, her claws digging into her fellow demoness breasts and abdomen and causing her to cry out in pain as blood began to leak out of the deep cuts she had suffered.

Sirene coudn't believe how easily she had been tricked and immobilised from behind and no matter how much she struggled, she coudn't break free of the hold. She had no idea that Lilith's phisical strength was actually this high, to the point it could even match hers. Her eyes widened the moment she felt the flower demoness's mouth open up, her skin feeling Lilith's breath as she prepared to sink her teeth into the Demon Bird's neck.

But she will not fall so easily for yet another such trick, not after everything Nike was put through for the sake of this petty feud. So she began to chuckle evily, eventually laughing, which took Lilith completely by surprise. The demoness pulled her jaws away and after further clawing Sirene's left breast with her claws out of spite and drawing more blood, she demanded "Why do you find this amusing?! Even you would not laugh at your own death."

What the flower demoness failed to realise, was that Sirene had begun to detatch her right forearm from her elbow, using her laugh to mask the sounds of it coming off and once it fully came off and fell down towards the roof, she turned her head towards Lilith slightly and, with a wicked grin, she declared "I am laughing…..At yours." and as she did, her antennae began to wave around in a mesmerizing fashion.

And that's where Lilith realised that she had fallen right into her trap.

She had only enough time to gasp in shock and spot Sirene's right forearm rotating at lighting fast speeds like a buzzsaw, coming back up towards her. She tried to avoid it, but it was too late and it sliced her in half diagonally from her left hip to her right shoulder, causing her to scream in agony. Immediately taking advantage of this, Sirene pushed Lilith's right arms off and finally, she quickly spun around and before her opponent could even react, she let out a mighty roar and decapitated the flower demoness with a single swipe of her left talons while, at the same time, another bolt of lightning struck nearby. A geyser of crimson blood immediately erupted from where Lilith's head once attached to her neck and her diagonally bisected body and severed head both fell back onto the roof of the mansion, raising a cloud of rubble as they did so.

Sirene also landed back on the roof but immediately fell on her hands and knees and began to breathe heavily, the battle having taken its toll on her. She looked at herself and at all the injuries she had sustained, from the pieces of flesh that were now missing due to Lilith's anther-like explosive projectiles, to the claw marks on her breasts and abdomen that the flower demoness had inflicted when she restrained her.

(Soundtrack ends)

Running one of her scaly and clawed hands on her left breast, she muttered under her breath "To think…..That a mere parasite could push me this far….." still thorougly shocked by the battle she had fought. She then shut her eyes for several seconds and grunted in slight pain as all of her wounds regenerated while at the same time, she reattached her right forearm to her right bicep using her telekinesis. Luckily, the rain did sooth most of the pain, but still: never in her whole existence would Sirene have ever imagined that the femme fatale herself, Lilith, one who hid behind her servants most of the time, was almost if not just as powerful as her.

She quickly put her thoughts of her latest battle aside as she remembered the reason why she came here in the first place: to free her friend. But as soon as she got back up and began to take her leave, the grotesque sounds of tendrils moving and organic material putting itself back together made her stop in her tracks. And then…..

"S….Sirene…." Lilith's hoarse voice came, not as deep or monstrous as it was just a few moments ago. Sirene turned around and what greeted her blue eyes, was the sight of Lilith's headless body standing back up and the two diagonally bisected halves joining back together thanks to hundreds of little grotesque tendrils connecting themselves back into each other. Gone were the many green-like vines of her lower body that made her vaguely look like an octopus: in their place now was her long green serpentine tail. At the same time the two pairs of arms had now joined back together as a single pair and the black root-like material had returned on them But most disturbingly of all, from where it was decapitated, several grotesque green tendrils had sprouted and they all extended behind the headless body and reattacched themselves to her head.

Sirene watched with wide eyes as not only the two halves of Lilith's body reattached themselves to each other, but the countless tendrils that sprouted from her severed neck, reattached her head back onto it and as this happened, the demoness's head flower closed back up and returned to its orange color while her upper pair of red and yellow eyes closed, her lower crimson ones reopened and her cheeks closed back up, returning her mouth to its original, human-like shape, with the teeth shortening themselves to their original shape.

However, Lilith quickly doubled over and clutched her abdomen after her insides pulled themselves back into it and her gaping wound closed back up. She breathed heavily in exhaustion due to the effort she had to put in order to put her body back together. Even in spite of that, Sirene was very impressed. Normally, decapitation would be enough to kill any demon, yet Lilith was not only still alive after having her head cut off, she was also able to reattach it along with her left arms back to her body.

"How…..How are you still alive?" the Demon Bird demanded. In response, Lilith chuckled and replied, in between her breaths "Have you….Already forgotten? I can manipulate the very anatomy of my body at will…..And as long as my brain…..Or heart….Are still in one piece…..I will still be able to regenerate…" before she suddenly spat blood from her mouth, clearly showing that no matter how powerful her ability to regenerate was, even it did not prevent her from running out of stamina and strength. She doubled over even more, to the point she had to use her other hand to support herself in order to not fall over.

Sirene kept her azure eyes fixed onto Lilith as the rain began to fall with much less intensity before eventually stopping entirely. Then the flower demoness spoke "What are you waiting for? Finish me….. I no longer have the strength left to fight you….." actually pleading the Demon Bird to finish her off. Which is what Sirene fully intended to do but then she looked at Lilith and at how vulnerable and powerless she had been reduced…

And she stopped. She realised that she coudn't do it. Seeing how powerless the flower demoness was, reminded Sirene of herself just a little over a week ago when Jun defeated her and against her wishes, even went as far as sparing her. Lilith was exactly like her: prideful, willing to go to any length and cross every line to achieve her goals, but misguided all the same. Yet, Jun had spared her and now here she was, changed by that simple gesture of leniency, along with the truth she learned from Kaim on that same night, eight days ago. Therefore, she narrowed her blue eyes into Lilith's crimson ones and firmly replied "I will not." shocking Atun's consort.

(OST: "Never Meant To Belong (original 2004 version) " = Bleach Soundtrack = watch?v=zO_532nbu0c )

"You…..Why?" was all Lilith could say in pure bewilderment, but before she could speak any further, Sirene beat her to it "This battle is meaningless. No matter the outcome, it would still lead to nothing but further needless suffering. And you know it just as well as i do, Lilith. No matter how much you hide it under the love you harbour towards Atun, you still hate yourself for what you did for him."

Lilith's face softened and filled itself with guilt as Sirene continued to speak, her face stern "I was exactly like you once. Prideful, arrogant, willing to stoop as low as i possibly could to get what i wanted. I would not have cared less if innocent bystanders would have been hurt simply because they happened to be in my way." her voice filled with nothing but shame and self-loathing for what she once was. Lilith's beautiful crimson eyes began to shake in realisation as Sirene continued "And what did that lead me? To a path of selfish obsession and misguided vengeance and eventually, not only to my death, but also to that of Kaim, who, as it turned out, gave his life away for nothing since the human Akira Fudo was never the true main culprit of Amon's fate."

And as the Demon Bird finished her speech, Lilith lowered her head downwards, no longer able to hold her tears back. She shut her eyes and sobbed, having fully understood that her love for Atun had led her towards the same path. She had used Nike as a mere object, a means to an end in order to allow Atun to get what he wanted: settling his eons-long feud with Amon once and for all. But in doing so, she had betrayed her. She had spit on their friendship, a friendship that began millions of years ago in a completely different world from the one in which she now lived. Nike's forgiveness for being imprisoned did initially make her feel more at peace but in the end, it was nothing more than a temporary coping mechanism, created solely to mask her guilt and self-loathing.

Sirene's face softened and she looked at Lilith in compassion and empathy as she broke down in tears, crying no differently from a human woman, heartbroken by everything she did to Nike, all for what turned out to be nothing since Amon was forever gone. Deep inside, Sirene was glad that she had managed to open the flower demoness's eyes, that she made her understand the path she had chosen. But to her surprise, the one in front of her weakly let out, in between sobs "Do it…...Kill me….." Lilith pleaded, causing Sirene's blue eyes to widen.

"What?" she asked, only for Lilith to lift her head and look towards her with her crimson eyes full of tears "I….I do not deserve to live after everything i did to her…But for him…...I will do anything…." she spoke, first referring to Nike and then to Atun, her voice broken. Then Sirene saw the look in her eyes…

And realised that she fully meant what she said. For Atun, the demon she loved, she would have done everything, no matter how dishonorable and foul. Her love for him was too powerful.

To the Demon Bird's sadness, Lilith pleaded her once more "I beg of you, Sirene…...Finish me….Take my life…..I…. I will never stop…..It is too late for me….." she coudn't even finish speaking. She coudn't even find the strength to imagine what else she could be willing to do to make Atun love her. And at that moment Sirene realised, to her dismay, that Lilith was beyond saving. She hated herself for everything she did, all the heinous acts she committed for her lord's sake, including hurting her friend, Nike. But she will not stop. She never will. Unrequited as it was, the love she felt for Atun was too powerful and it will always eclipse her reason, no matter how many times others would try to talk sense into her.

Only death would have set her free from this cycle.

Reluctantly and with much sadness, the Demon Bird answered, with her azure eyes shaking "It did not have to end like this, Lilith…...It was your choice….." while extending both of her arms towards Lilith before joining her palms together. Lilith smiled as yellow energy began to gather in front of Sirene's palms, eventually creating a large yellow orb from which the beam that would have erased her from existence would have erupted.

"Thank….You….." was all Lilith spoke as she closed her eyes and prepared for her life to end once more. She would have died, but her heart was at peace. Even if she coudn't be with Atun, this was what she deserved. To rot once more in the fires of hell for all the crimes she committed for his sake, all for the mere desire to be loved. But as Sirene finally finished to charge the attack that would have ended her life….

"NO!"

That pleading cry, caused both demonesses to gasp in disbelief and their eyes to widen. At once the orb of yellow energy that Sirene had charged vanished as soon as it appeared and, along with Lilith, she turned towards the direction where that cry came from. And as soon as they did…..

"Nike…." they both called out, in disbelief and awe. The angelic demoness hovered in the air right in front of them, her beautiful pristine white wings free, having come out from the same hole Sirene created when she drove Lilith through the the roof and into the Entrance Hall of the accursed building, turned into the haven of Satoru and his henchmen. But then, Sirene saw who Nike was holding in her arms and gasped once more in disbelief.

"Jun…" Sirene spoke as soon as she saw the unconscious and naked body of Jun in her friend's arms, back into its delicate human form, its beauty now tarnished by the many bruises and injuries it suffered, including a grievious one on her throat, all of them adding to the scars she had on her arms. She coudn't believe her eyes: the same strong and beautiful warrior she had fought eight days ago, the woman who had played a crucial role in changing her, reduced to such a broken and vulnerable state. Who could have possibly….

"Please…..Stop this, both of you…..I would not be able to bare the sight of two of my friends killing each other over all of this…" Nike pleaded sorrowfully as a single tear left her right eye, pulling Sirene out of her thoughts. The Demon Bird looked over in compassion at her friend, the woman Amon had always loved over her. But despite her initial jealousy, Sirene never hated her for capturing the Demon Hero's heart. To her, she was always a friend, a kind and gentle soul among a race of bloodthirsty monsters, that shined as a ray of light among the darkness.

Lilith on the other hand, began to cry once more the moment she heard the sadness in the former lover of Amon "N-Nike…" she weakly called out in grief and the moment the angelic demoness turned towards her, bearing her emerald eyes into Lilith's crimson ones, the Consort of Atun coudn't take it anymore. She lowered her head downwards and fell on her hands as she broke down in tears once more, the guilt of everything she had done to her coming back in full force.

"F-Forgive me…...It was all my fault…...You suffered because of me…..." she let out in grief and self-hatred, in between her tears, not even managing to look her friend in the eyes for what she had done while Sirene watched, clearly saddened at the sight of the once proud and charismatic demoness now having been reduced to a sobbing and guilt-ridden wreck. Nike initially looked at Lilith in pity and sadness, fully understanding the motives behind her actions, misguided as they were. She simply wanted to be loved, to be accepted by the one she cared the most, and not just being seen as a simple, valuable ally. She had never hated her for what she did, because as much as it pained her to admit it, had Amon asked her to do what Atun had asked Lilith to do, she woudn't have acted any differently. Her love for Demonkind's Greatest Hero was that powerful.

And seeing Lilith express her guilt in such an emotional way, warmed Nike's heart and made her realise that her friend was still there. But she coudn't just stand aside and allow her to simply offer herself to the jaws of death as penance for her actions when she knew that she was capable of so much more. Thus, with her face hardening, the former lover of Amon spoke "Lilith, what is done, is done. But offering yourself to death in order to atone for what you did, will not change anything. It will only add to all the needless suffering this feud has caused to us all." taking Sirene completely by surprise by the resolve in her voice as well as her lack of any ill will towards Lilith.

Gasping in disbelief, Lilith lifted her head back up and looked at Nike, her face still watered by tears, along with bewilderment "How…...How can you say that after all that has happened? After everything my Lord and i put you through?" she asked, her voice filled with self-loathing "Death is what i deserve for this injustice i have wrought upon you! I enslaved you! I robbed you of your freedom! How can you even-" she kept crying out in despair and grief….

Only for Nike to interrupt her before she could continue "It does not matter anymore! What matters now, is that you must not make the same mistake so many of us have done! I witnessed with my own eyes what those monsters you and Atun have allied yourselves with, planned to do many months ago when i read their memories! Their goals and the way they acted towards mankind were no different from what we did!" the former lover of Amon sorrowfully spoke, causing Lilith to gasp in realisation, knowing far too well what happened in their original world. Sirene looked at Nike in compassion as she cried out in a mix of outrage and pain "Amon's fate was orchestrated from the very beginning! He was sacrificed to further a selfish and callous plan to eradicate an innocent race of sentient beings, and for what?! Just so we could retake our "rightful place" on this world?! Just because we demons were strong and the humans were weak?!" voicing her outrage for Satan's plan to eradicate humanity, a plan that she had always utterly despised, for unlike the rest of her kind, she loathed violence and fiercely condemmned Satan's plan to retake the world that in the eyes of the demons, was theirs by birthright.

Lilith listened to those words with her crimon eyes shaking, knowing full well that they were so full of truth. But then, Nike's emerald eyes and face softened and she told her fellow demoness heartfeltly "But now Atun has also learned that Amon is forever gone, taken over by that human, which renders all the acts you and him have committed, meaningless. You still have him, Lilith. And with Amon forever gone, he will have no other goal left in his existence. This is your chance to finally open his eyes, to make him understand how wrong he has been all this time." then with her expression turning into one of pain and sorrow, she finally declared "Please, Lilith….If you still truly think of me as a friend…..Keep living…..For me. I would not bear to live the rest of my existence with the knowledge that another friend of mine has died for nothing….."

And with those final words, the guilt-ridden Lilith was given hope again. The hope that perhaps, all the pain and suffering she caused, all for the single purpose of making the demon who conquered her heart return the feelings she held towards him, feelings developed through eons of servitude out of gratitude for how Atun, back when the Dinosaurs ruled the Prehistoric Earth, in an act of rare altruism for a demon, rescued her from one of the many dangerous predators that roamed the Earth during that times. To this day, his motives for doing so, still remained unclear to her but she didn't care. The fact remained that if she was where she was now, she owed it to him and only to him.

Thus, with a look of pain, sorrow and understanding, Lilith lowered her head downwards and, not even managing to look Nike in the eyes anymore due to the guilt that was eating her, she closed her eyes and softly spoke "Go…..Get as far away as you can from here…..Take that woman away….." even going as far as urging her friend to take Jun away which caused a look of surprise to form on Sirene's face. Not having to be told twice, Nike began to fly away with Jun's body held in her arms, while Sirene, who had fully spread her white wings in preparation for taking off, walked past Lilith and, after sparing her one last cold look, took off and flew after Nike, leaving the consort of Atun alone to herself and her many regrets.

Then her mind retreated back to that fateful day, millions of years ago, in another world, during the age of the dinosaurs….

Flashback to one particular day, 66 million years ago, in another universe

She slithered away as fast as she could, through the foliage, ferns and fallen trees of a swamp forest, the most terrified she ever was in her entire existence. Lilith didn't even have time to get used to this new form she had acquired after another one of the many deadly predators of this dangerous environment tore her lower legs off and feasted on them only a day before. She only survived by willingly hurling herself from the cliff she had been chased onto, plummeting dozens of meters downwards and ending up with nearly all of the bones of her body broken. But, as barely alive as she was, as luck would have it, she had ended up in an area lush with vegetation: from vines and roots, to enormous orange and red flowers. In an act of self-preservation, the cells of Lilith's body merged themselves with the cells of the vegetation around her and from that day on, a long, serpentine vine-like tail replaced her lower legs, now fused together into it from the knee down, black roots would cover her forearms, breasts, neck and shoulder, creating a dress of some sorts, and an orange and red flower replaced her hair. That was the day, the infamous Demoness of Seduction was born.

But not even a day after that, she was slithering away in terror, fleeing for her life. Her pursuer? An enormous, tan and bluish-gray colored flying creature covered in a coat of hair-like filaments, eight meters long from its enormous, nearly two meter long slender and spear shaped beak to the tip of its stumpy tail, with enormous, five meter wide pointy, wings made up of a membrane of leather and muscle, connected onto highly adapted arm bones ending with a small, four fingered hand, with the fourth finger much longer than all the others that extended outwards, forming the outer half on each wing, from which the rest of its membrane of muscle and leather sprouted. With an extraordinary wing-span of eleven meters, nearly as large as a modern day fighter jet and sporting long and skinny lower legs ending with four small claws, which were connected to the wings's membrane and a smaller inner membrane connecting them to the stumpy tail and the comparatively small and narrow torso, the creature was part of a species greatly feared by demonkind not only for its strange and terrifying appearance but for its ruthless behaviour. And with a massive, four meter long neck connecting their equally massive, two meter long head equipped with that spear-shaped beak and sporting a distinctive comb like crest in the middle of the top of their head, slightly forward from their eyes, they were known as "Winged Serpents" among the demons, not only due to their long necks but because anything that was small enough to be swallowed hole by their massive heads was fair game.

That creature? What modern day humans call "Quetzalcoatlus, The Feathered Serpent", among the largest creatures that ever flew, belonging to the Azdarchids, one of the last and most specialised group of the flying prehistoric creatures known to Man as Pterosaurs, who lived and evolved alongside the Dinosaurs for the 160 Million years in which they ruled the Earth.

Letting out several monstrous, almost demonic screeches as it pursued Lilith from the air, its massive wings so powerful, they were sending small gusts of wind to the nearby vegetation, the creature saw with its blue colored eyes that the area its prey was escaping in would have been too dense for it to fly through. Thus the creature was forced to land on the ground and Lilith at first believed that she had escaped from it, only to then be proven rather horribly wrong as soon as her pursuer began to chase after her on the ground, now standing a good five meters tall thanks to its long, skinny legs and neck. Normally, previous members of its clade would have found themselves to be quite clumsy on the ground, but thanks to its unusually long, elongated and highly specialised forelimbs and hands, coupled with the ability to fold its wings upwards, Quetzalcoatlus was just as effective in chasing after prey on the ground as it was in the air, and this particular "Winged Serpent", a female, was chasing Lilith at a speed of more than 30 kilometers, its narrow and slender, gracile body, easily passing through the many trees and foliage of the swamp.

Panting with terror, Lilith slithered away as fast as she could until she spotted a fallen, decayed tree log, large enough for her to fit in and too long for her pursuer's long neck to fit through. She grinned in relief assured that she had just found her lifeline.

But she wasn't fast enough.

Right as she entered and almost began to fully crawl inside the log, the gigantic pterosaur's beak clamped around her tail at the very last second, making her gasp in horror. Panicking, she tried to hold onto the log's inner walls, to no avail as the Quetzalcoatlus viciously pulled her out of the log and attempted to stab her to death with its spear shaped beak. For a while, Lilith was able to avoid the winged beast's fast attacks by constantly rolling out of the way until eventually, it speared her through the abdomen with its beak, making her cry out in agonizing pain. As the gigantic Pterosaur pulled away, revealing a gaping hole in her torso, the demoness trembled in pain, now exhausted after the lenghty chase and severely weakened by the hole in her abdomen. She began to cry in fear and pain, her executioner towering over her by more than five meters, ready to deliver the killing blow before eventually dismembering her and eating her.

However, as she shut her eyes and turned her head away as the flying reptile brought down its beak towards her one final time, it was suddenly grabbed by one of its hindlimbs, pulled away from Lilith and thrown to the ground with frightening ease. The demoness gasped in pure astonishment as the killing blow never came and instead as she sat back up and healing the hole in her abdomen, she saw a tall and muscular, male humanoid feathered creature with many bird-like traits including a pair of large raven like wings on its back, covered in dark red and black feathers and purple skin, standing onto the gigantic Pterosaur's abdomen, pinning it on the ground with its feet. She quickly recognised it as a member of her own kind, due to its unusual body shape compared to that of all the other creatures that inhabited her world.

It was a demon, just like her.

Not even giving it a chance to recover, it went for the flying reptile's long neck, pinning it to the ground with one foot near where it attached to the comparatively small torso and gripping its upper part with his left clawed hand. The winged beast began to screech in pain as the demon began to brutally crush its neck and no matter how much it struggled and flapped its wings in an attempt to free itself, the grip was too powerful, so as a last resort, it attacked the demon with its beak, succesfully spearing it through its left shoulder, drawing much blood. However, it was all for nothing, as the demon, only slightly fazed by the attack, swiftly grabbed the Quetzalcoatlus's neck with his right hand from above its other hand and, with all of its strength, began to pull its neck apart.

Lilith could only watch in utter awe as in the span of five seconds and with a mighty roar, the demon ripped its neck off, almost from where it attached to its torso, simultaneously removing the spear-like beak from his shoulder, leaving a gaping hole into it. All the gigantic Pterosaur felt in those seconds was agonizing pain and then nothing, as its neck was literally pulled apart from its torso, like humans would do to modern-day chickens, a geyser of blood erupting from the stump, a good portion of it drenching the demon's statuesque, half feathered body.

Now standing victorious above the slain winged beast, the demon brought its massive head and neck closer to him, effortlessly holding it with just one hand in spite of it being almost the same size as his 2.75 meter tall body. To Lilith's surprise, the demon then spoke out loud as he looked at the massive head and neck he just tore off "Mmph. At least this one put up more of a fight than what many others of its kind have done before." in a cold, emotionless look as he stared at the blood on the beheaded Pterosaur's beak, his blood.

Lilith could only look at the demon with admiration in her crimson eyes. He had slain that massive flying creature with little to no effort, in spite of having his left shoulder speared through by its beak. She could see that it was already healing though, but what especially blew her away was the demon's words which gave away that he most-likely often hunted those "Winged Serpents" for food, which was almost unprecedented to her since many demons had fallen victims to their enormous beaks. Had she really stumbled upon an dominant male, a demon of extraordinary power?

"W-Who are you?" Lilith hesitantly asked with a degree of fright in her voice and rightfully so, since she had no idea how the powerful demon in front of her would have reacted. But she knew far too well that trying to escape was out of the question, since it would have triggered a much more hostile response and perhaps, even result in her death.

The demon turned towards her, causing Lilith to freeze as soon as its yellow eyes bore into her crimson ones. And it was at that moment that she realised that he was the one. He looked so powerful, so imposing…

So beautiful.

The demon's deep, emotionless voice pulled her out of her trance "Atun. That is the name i chose for myself a long time ago." then after narrowing his eyes towards Lilith, he remarked "And judging by your weak state, i assume that you were moments away from being devoured." while gazing briefly at its now headless corpse before demanding "What is your name, woman?"

Startled by the question, Lilith wasted no time introducing herself as she stood back up, using her serpentine tail as support "L….Lilith. I have beared that name ever since my birth. My mother gave it to me when she gave birth to me. I lived under her care for a short time until she….." she hesitantly spoke, recalling her origin before stopping mid-speech and turning her head away as her mind retreated back to the day she lost her mother when she was still very young, murdered in cold blood many years prior by another member of her kind in order to sustain itself.

The demon, Atun, listened carefully, displaying no visible emotion. He realised that the demoness in front of him was a survivor, one that had been through a lot and who had escaped from the jaws of death several times. That alone, was enough for him to view her with respect for having survived for so long, in spite of being much weaker she was compared to him. After several seconds of silence, he turned towards the corpse of the winged beast he had slain and bluntly ordered "Come, woman. You should eat." taking Lilith completely by surprise.

"What?" she could only ask in utter astonishment, not believing what this demon was doing. She had expected him to also claim her life due to her vulnerable state. It would have been an opportunity no predator would have passed on. She tensed up as Atun turned back towards her and coldly told her "Are you deaf, woman? I told you to join me in my feeding. Or could it be that flesh is not your main source of sustenance?"

Lilith shook her head to his question and hesitantly replied "N-No….It's just….." as she lowered her head downwards in "I was afraid that you would have taken advantage of me, given my vulnerable state. I believed you would have taken my life and fed on my body as well….."

To her surprise, Atun replied "I dislike taking the lives of creatures that do not even attempt to fight back. There is no challenge, no sense of fulfillment that way. Besides….." he paused and with a smug smile crossing his lips, breaking his stoic expression, he looked at the corpse of the slain Pterosaur and remarked "You would be surprised by how much meat these gracile creatures have."

Lilith was caught completely off-guard. This was a first: not one demon before him had gone as far as not only refusing to eat her for food but also offering her to join him in his feeding. It was at that moment that she realised just how unique this demon was amidst thousands of merciless killers, who would not have thought twice about killing potential rivals, including their offspring or even stoop as low as raping their female counterparts before killing them for food. For some reason, she felt satisfied, happy even. Maybe she had found the one that in the long term, could end up becoming her mate?

Nonetheless, Lilith returned the smile with her purple lips, bowed with courtesy and replied "I see. Then, with your consent, i shall join you." to the satisfaction of Atun.

End of the Flashback (And end of the soundtrack)

Lilith fondly recalled how that day, after Atun saved her from that gigantic flying reptile, he allowed her to feed with him on its corpse. And after that day, there was not a single day in which they weren't together. Atun quickly came to enjoy Lilith's company and under his protection, the demoness discovered her powers, powers that she had gained ever since she came to inhabit her current form. But the demon never saw her as a potential mate, only as a friend. Like many of the ones that would later become the most powerful warriors of their kind, fighting was what Atun lived for. Nothing excited his blood more than that. He had become so blinded by that pleasure that he never once noticed Lilith's feelings for him, feelings that soon turned from admiration to love.

And he became even more blind ever since he met Amon from the first time. Then he became one of his comrades in arms when Zennon and later, Satan, unified the Demon Race. And then, he became overcome by anger and outrage when he learned that he turned against his own kind. Ever since they met and faced each other in combat for the first time, it was all about Amon. And Atun while being a friend of his, had always been jealous of his power, never understanding why he was always stronger than him in spite of often showing mercy and lenience towards his enemies, qualities that many demons looked down upon.

But now…..Amon was gone. And that meant…

She was suddenly pulled out of her recollection when she sensed five presences nearby. She turned around and gasped in surprise upon seeing Satoru and his four henchmen flying away from the building, the young leader of the Crusaders actually having sprouted a large pair of green butterfly wings with black stripes on his back which granted him the ability to fly. But why were they escaping? Could it be that…..No.

Could it be that Atun had lost?!

She had to come to him and fast.

Earlier, within the mansion

Satoru's vision momentarily blacked out as the explosion created by Kaim's attack destroyed the room he and his henchmen were, its shockwave sending all of them crashing on the floor or walls. The young beast grunted in slight pain as he found himself lying on his back, recovering from this completely unexpected turn of events. As he managed to sit, he put a hand on his forehead and realised, to his shock, that there was blood leaking from it. As he removed his little hand and looked at the blood that now stained it, his shock gave into outrage the moment he also noticed that not only had Nike escaped from their clutches, the comatose body of his arch-enemy had been taken away as well.

"To think i would be so easily tricked….." he angrily thought as he saw Kaim preparing to face Atun in combat in the large circular room below, through all the smoke and sparkles of energy that came from all the wrecked machinery "Filthy traitor…..Just like all the rest….."

"Master Satoru!" called out a very concerned Izumi, who came behind him, knelt down and upon seeing the blood on the young beast's forehead as she carefully grabbed him by his petite shoulders, she spoke in even more worry "You're injured….."

Satoru turned towards the humanoid swan Beast and assured her "You don't need to worry, Miss Izumi. It will take a lot more than something this trifling to-" but before he could finish, suddenly, several red warning lights lit up and began to glow, two in the ruined room he found himself in and several more in the massive circular room in which Kaim was about to face Atun. And then…..

"WARNING: THE SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.

ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE THE FACILITY IMMEDIATELY.

DETONATION WILL OCCUR IN SEVEN MINUTES."

The two beasts's eyes widened as soon as the lights lit up and the female voice of the alarm, rang throught the entire facility. As Satoru and his henchmen made this complex their temporary base of operations several weeks ago, thanks to Izumi's knowledge of it due to her having served as a mole within the Human Alliance to gather information for their movements, they also discovered that in its lowest basement, the facility was rigged with hundreds of explosives which were all set to explode as a means of destroying the facility either to erase all the evidence that would link the horrific experiments conducted in it to the Human Alliance, once it would outlive its usefulness or in the worst case scenario, if it would be compromised in case a viral outbreak or the test subjects would run out of control and threaten to escape in the outside world. It took Izumi many months of work and much persuasion to learn all of this information from none other than Asuka herself after getting on her good side, including the fact that there were several other facilities, spread all around the globe in the various branches of the Human Alliance, which had the purpose of conducting research in a much more thorough….. and much less ethical way than what the Samuelson Institute, could since by its nature, it was still a public research institute, that used to specialise in chemical weapons research before shifting to Devil-Beast research and thus, it was still funded by the US goverment, therefore the risk of leaking possible information regarding the Beast Evolution at a time in it was still under study, was too high. Hence, the need for these much smaller, secret facilities, where research could be conducted in a much more detailed manner and without the need to abide to any ethical restriction.

But if the self-destruct system had been activated, then it meant…..

"Kitano! Shut it down!" Higa ordered his younger comrade after recovering and getting back up from the wall he had been buried in due to the shockwave of the explosion made by Kaim's attack, before his master could order any of his minions to shut the system down.

"I can't! The control mechanism has been destroyed!" the owl beast replied, pointing to a red button, which normally would have been accessed by inserting a key that would allow another outer grey panel to slid aside and reveal the red button which, under normale circumstances, could have been pushed and rotated at the same time to activate the self-destruct system and the reverse process would instead have disabled it. But much like, the rest of the machinery present within the room, it was now ruined and ablaze, with many sparks of electricity crackling all around. And it was exactly for that reason that the self-destruct system had been activated, since it was designed to activate on its own in case the control panel would have been destroyed.

(OST: Yu Yu Hakusho unreleased desperate soundtrack = watch?v=cbkI54PZIjw )

At the same time within the much larger circular room, Akira, still barely able to walk and still disbelieved by what Kaim had spoken, looked at him in great worry as he walked past him before exclaiming "Kaim, no! You can't just-" only to stop mid-speech as soon as the red lights began glowing and the warning of the imminent detonation rang, causing Kaim and Atun to stop in their tracks for a few seconds.

Then, suddenly, Kaim let out a thunderous roar and launched himself towards Atun, aiming to run him through the chest with one of his massive horns, the pachyderm demon's stomps shaking the very ground they were standing on. To Akira's confusion and surprise, Atun remained still, not even trying to move out of the way while his purple aura of energy surrounded his body at once as it began to glow and flare out more…..

That was until, at the very last second, right before Kaim's horns could reach him, the humanoid avian demon in less than a second, ducked and backhanded the pachyderm demon in the face with a powerful strike of the back of his left hand. The one who took over Amon could only watch in horror as Kaim was sent reeling by the blow, spinning in a few circles and almost losing his balance. Atun gave him no chance to recover and after dissappearing from where he was and reappearing behind Kaim, he grabbed his fellow demon by his left hindlimb with both hands and, despite being nearly three times his size and weight, effortlessly lifted him off the ground, brought him over his head and slammed him on his back like a rag-doll before slamming him back on his abdomen in the opposite direction. Atun then liften him off the ground again, spun the pachyderm demon around in a few circles before tossing him towards the room's walls.

Kaim struck the concrete hard and fell back on the ground, his entire body shaken by the blow he took to his head as well as by how easily he had been thrown around like a ragdoll despite being nearly three times Atun's size. As he slowly forced himself back on his feet, with blood beginning to come out of his mouth, he saw his fellow demon warrior slowly walking menacingly towards him, who quickly took the time to coldly berate him "After all this time, you still remain as naive as you have always been, Kaim. Sympathy is merely a form of weakness. And with it comes naivety, complacency, foolishness. For all the power he possessed, Amon could not even take over the mind of one puny human. He grew soft and sympathetic and those emotions clouded his fighting spirit and led to his downfall. You, who have chosen to waste your potential protecting a race of weak creatures who will not even appreciate your efforts, are no different."

Defiant, Kaim, narrowed his eyes towards Atun, filled with nothing but contempt, and countered "It was that lack of compassion that doomed us all! If we had tried even once to peacefully come in contact with mankind, there would have been a chance, no matter how small, that we would have come to coexist with them!" while firing a barrage of purple beams of energy from the tip of his horns.

Atun merely scowled and teleported away, vanishing from Kaim's sight before reappearing in front of him, causing the pachyderm demon's eyes to widen "Coexisting peacefully with a weaker species…." he spitefully repeated as he swiftly brought his hands over his head, joined them together and after proclaiming "Nothing more than a foolish dream!" he brought them down onto Kaim's head, making him drop flat on the ground once more.

"In order for some to live, others inevitably die. That, is how nature has always worked. From the moment of birth, life is one endless struggle and only the st-" Atun continued to lecture him, but Kaim had enough of his boasting and thus his tail suddenly glowed purple with electricity and shot towards his fellow demon, aiming to pierce through the heart. Thanks to his reflexes, Atun managed to avoid a potentially fatal blow but the tail still pierced through his left shoulder, drawing blood. In spite of his weakened state, Kaim grinned in satisfaction as his tail began to crackle with purple electricity before he discharged it into Atun's body.

The Demon Hero screamed in pain as millions of volts of electricity traversed his body and it felt like being burned from the inside out. But, after enduring the pain for several seconds, Atun managed to find the strength to shift the claws on his right elbow above his right hand and, with one quick motion, he severed a noticeable portion of Kaim's tail off, causing the pachyderm demon to grunt in pain as blood splurted out of his cut tail. Fed up with him, Atun grabbed him with his left hand seizing Kaim's shoulder and his right hand seizing his left hindlimb, spun him around and effortlessly tossed him away, throwing him towards where Akira was, near the entrance of the circular room that he and Jun has smashed to pieces when they first entered it.

"Kaim!" exclaimed Akira in concern as Atun teleported at the center of the room and looked at his fellow demon in contempt before extending his left arm forward, palm outstretched and clawed fingers spreaded "Enough of this. If your wish is to die like the weak then i shall grant it to you, Kaim." the Demon Hero declared as purple energy began to be channeled onto his arm and eventually, a sphere of energy manifested itself in front of his outstretched palm.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Akira roared as he leapt above Kaim's body, taking Atun by surprise and forcing him to stop charging his attack as he charged him and attacked him with a barrage of punches which had little effect much like before. Atun then him sent him skidding backwards with a punch to the chest, eventually ending up at Kaim's left and causing him to fall on one knee due to his weakened state.

(Soundtrack Ends)

As this was happening, Satoru from the ruined room he and his henchmen were, noticed how even Kaim was no match for Atun and this gave him his confidence back. Even though his arch-enemy had been carried away from harm's way at the last second much to his frustration, those two traitors were soon to be dispatched by his latest ally. And it would only be a matter of time before he would manage to raise an army large enough to resume the conquest of the country of Japan that he started many months ago, that is of course, if he could recruit enough demons or beasts to his cause.

By this point, the injury on his forehead had healed and after hearing the alarm voice announcing "FIVE MINUTES TO DETONATION." he decided to withdraw for the time being. He will never be able to find that woman in the dense woods of the Province in a short amount of time now that Nike had taken her away and Akira and Kaim's deaths were all but assured due to how vastly outclassed they were. Thus he turned towards all his subordinates and told them "We're leaving this place." as a pair of massive green butterfly wings with black stripes, about three times the size of his small body sprouted from his back

"Boss? Are you sure?" Kotura asked, having gotten back up after being sent on the floor by the shockwave of the explosion created by Kaim's attack, while the other three bird-like humanoid beasts looked at their master in scepticism.

"As unfortunate as it was that we weren't able to dispose of that treacherous woman once and for all, Atun will make sure that those two other traitors won't leave this place alive." Satoru replied while sparing one last look at his current accomplice, on the circular room below before turning back to his men and telling them "For now, we must retreat to Hashima Island and take what's left of our troops there before planning our next course of action." surprising all of four of them. After being brought back to life, the first thing the Crusaders needed was a well-hidden base of operations to use in order to carry out their goals in secrecy. Initially they decided to head over to Hashima Island, an abandoned, 16-acre island, lying 15 kilometers west from Nagasaki, in the sea surrounding the prefecture. Abandoned since 1974, after the reserves from its undersea coal mines, built and established in 1887, had been completely depleted, the island housed several building and apartment blocks that allowed for more than 5000 people to live there, mostly the workers of the mines and their families. As it turned out, the island's tunnels and large apartment blocks allowed plenty of space and the fact that it had been abandoned for more than 25 years and yet it was so close to the mainland made it perfect for a base from which operations could be conducted from. Their decision to head over to the abandoned Human Alliance facility, disguised as a mansion was made only after they discovered, to their surprise, that the organisation was no more and that Lan Asuka had been slain by Jun.

"Master." Higa spoke up "Are you sure of your decision? I could search the entire woods all by myself. That woman coudn't possibly have been taken that far away." he then raised one of his three fingered clawed hands and proclaimed "I can put an end to that traitor's life once and for all! Not even that Sirene was a match for m-"

"No, Mister Higa. That's not a risk i am willing to take right now." Satoru interrupted his subordinate before looking at his three other henchmen and explaining "Miss Izumi, Mister Kotura and Mister Kitano all nearly lost their lives today. Recklessness cost us our first campaign. I woudn't have come that far all those months ago were it not for all your kind help." causing all of their faces to soften in understanding, now realising how much they meant to the young beast "All four of you are too important for the cause. Hence why it's better for us to retreat and plan our next course of action. Either way….." he paused before glancing at the beaten Akira and Kaim lying on the ground in the circular room beneath and declaring with his trademark confident, smug smile "Those two traitors will meet their end here. Atun will make sure of that." earning a nod and a satisfied smile from all four his henchmen.

"Now, if you would be so kind, Mister Kotura…." he told the vulture beast, who nodded and after heading straight to the wall on the back of the ruined room, he brought it down with a single punch, creating a hole through which he flew out. His three fellow Crusaders followed after him and Satoru took the time to spare one final glance at the one-sided slaughter that was about to unfold below, mere minutes away from the blazing inferno that would have resulted from the detonation of the building.

As the five beasts decided their next course of action and took their leave, Kaim managed to get back on his feet, albeit barely and looked at Akira in astonishment, not believing that he had chosen to stay back and help him out. The pachyderm demon knew the moment Atun powered up that he was no match for him, therefore he had decided to sacrifice himself in a bid to allow his friend to escape.

"Akira….." he called out in awe while his friend who looked at Atun with his sharp teeth bared and grit, frustrated at his inability to hurt the avian demon. He simply was too fast for him. If only he would have some speed to match Atun's…..

"Wait… Speed…." suddenly an idea popped up in his mind and he remembered not too long ago how Kaim's beam of energy, which had destroyed the room Satoru and his henchmen were holding that angelic woman captive, had travelled too fast for them to even move out of the way. Perhaps…..If that could be used as a means of propulsion…..

He had to try. No matter how much it would hurt him or burn his flesh, hell, even if he would die from it in the process, it would have given him the speed required to counter or even surpass Atun's own. It was a last resort, a desperate gambit for survival, but he had no other choice.

And one blow was all it would have taken.

Having decided, Akira, still keeping his gaze fixed on Atun, called out "Kaim…..I need a favor…." surprising the pachyderm demon slightly. At the same Lilith had crawled through the same hole from which Satoru and his men had escaped and her crimson eyes widened upon seeing not only just how badly beaten the one in the visage of Amon and the renowned Kaim were, but also, that her Lord was barely hurt.

(OST: "Struggle of Sadness" = Yu Yu Hakusho Soundtrack = watch?v=U6ZaveGVdXU )

"Atun!" she cried out, taking the Demon Hero by surprise and causing him to turn towards her, spotting the flower demoness standing on the edge of the wrecked and still partially ablaze room ten meters above. With his surprise quickly turning into a frown, he spoke "Lilith….I take it that you let Nike get away, did you not?" he asked her, his voice filled with neither contentment or displeasure, taking the demoness completely by surprise.

"I….I have….." she could only reply in a confusion which only exarcebated when Atun actually smiled in satisfaction and replied "Good." before turning back towards Akira and Kaim and declaring "Then i shall now atone for what i unjustly did to her." his mind at peace for the fate he was about to choose, right as the alarm voice ominously announced "TWO MINUTES TO DETONATION."

To say that Kaim was shocked by Akira's request was an understatement. With his yellow eyes wide open with astonishment and great concern, he exclaimed "Do not be foolish, Akira! You can barely stand in that vulnerable state of yours! My energy could kill you in the process!" knowing full well that, in his weakened state, there was a chance, no matter how small, that even if he were to hit him with a beam, even one of low power and intensity, the effects on his friend's body could be fatal.

Only for the pachyderm demon's shock to grow even more when Akira, still on one knee and still keeping his eyes on the humanoid avian demon several dozen meters in front of him, to begin shaking and replying "Kaim…..You haven't seen what i have…..You don't know what those monsters did to Jun!" his trembling voice quickly filling with pain and sorrow as the image of the bloodied Devil Lady, tortured mercilessly to an inch of her life and impaled by all those ice shards on that wall on the penthouse of that massive skyscraper came back with full force in his mind, along with the sight of her lying almost lifelessly on the ground only a few meters away, back in her human form and with her throat crushed. Those words were all it took to make Kaim understand that no matter the agonising physical pain Jun went through on this day alone, it paled in comparison to whatever she must have gone through all those months back, when those same Crusaders were already waging war on all of mankind with the aim to exterminate it. And after Akira pleaded "Please…..If i can just take him out…..Even at the cost of my life….At least Jun will have one less thing to worry about…..Just one….." his voice cracking slightly, his eyes nearly beginning to fill with tears as the mere thought of what Jun had to go through felt like a dagger to his heart.

Seeing and hearing the determination, as well as the sorrow in his eyes and voice and despite the overwhelming odds, Kaim smiled and replied "Very well, then. I shall help you." his voice filled with respect and admiration towards his friend. At that moment he realised just how similar Akira was to Amon, for he too shared his selflessness and willingness to sacrifice himself for the sake of his loves ones. Perhaps that was exactly why he was able to take the demon over.

As Akira managed to force his beaten and bloodied body back on his feet, he asked solemnly "Are you ready?" to which the first demon he befriended simply hummed back in approval.

At the same time as soon as Atun proclaimed his intention to atone for his sins, which was not all that different from what Lilith originally intended to do due to the guilt of what she had put Nike through, the demoness gasped in horror upon realising that not only was her friend right on how the revelation that Amon was truly gone forever, had rendered all the acts Atun had committed to settle his feud meaningless, thus making his efforts all for nothing, but now the demon she had come to love had been so deeply affected by that revelation, by the realisation that he had wasted most of his existence pursuing something that in the end, had proven itself to be unreachable, that he now seeked death as penance for his actions. She immediately cried out in concern and panic "Atun, no! You do not have to do this!"

In response, Atun smiled and replied "You are now free to live your life as you see fit, Lilith. You no longer have to follow a fool such as i from now on. You have always been a wonderful companion and for that….." pausing upon seeing her face fill with realisation and passion before declaring heartfeltly "I thank you." making the demoness' crimson eyes shake emotionally. Hearing those heartfelt words…. Brought her so much joy….

But she was quickly pulled out of that trance of joy by the sound of Akira letting out a powerful and resoluted roar as he charged Atun one final time in spite of his injuries.

"NOOOOO!" Lilith screamed in anguish and futely reached for Atun with her left hand, as the face of the demon she had fallen in love with, hardened as he too also charged towards Akira, this time aiming to finish his opponent off with one swift blow. But as the two warriors were mere meters apart from reaching each other…..

"AKIRA, HERE IT COMES!" screamed Kaim as he fired a beam of energy from his left horn aimed at his friend's back. Travelling at insane speeds, it soon struck Akira's back and while it did cause him to grunt in pain for an instant due to the intensity of the energy burning much of the flesh on his back, it gave him the speed he needed.

And Atun could only watch in muted shock as Akira was suddenly struck in the back by the beam, which propelled him forward at a speed not even he could counter in such a short amount of time. The demon's eyes went wide as Akira, with one final roar, punched through his abdomen with his left fist due great sudden boost of speed he had been given, which essentially made his fist like a supersonic bullet.

(Soundtrack Ends)

With blood soon spurting out of the gaping wound in his abdomen, Atun's shocked expression, to the surprise of Akira and Kaim, gave away to a satisfied smile as he complimented "Well done…...A most ingenious…..Plan…." gasping out as he suddenly keeled over and fell on his back, bouncing once on the floor with Akira bouncing off of his body and falling besides him on his stomach.

Having used the last of his strength, Akira felt himself growing weaker and weaker and before he knew it, he lost conciousness and reverted back to his human form, the demonic features all dissappearing from his body. Not wasting a second, Kaim called out "Akira!" as he ran towards him, in spite of his injuries and after seeing that he had passed out and that he was still breathing normally in spite of the burns his beam of purple energy had inflicted on his back along with all the many injuries Atun had wrought on his body, he quickly and carefully snuck the tip of one of his horns under his now human body, which allowed him to pick his friend up and place him on his back.

He spared one last cold look towards Atun who lied on the ground on his back, still alive but keeping his gaze away from his fellow demon. Kaim pitied him for not having found the strength and resolve to change for the better but when the rival of Amon spoke in a low voice "Take him away from here….And make sure he does not follow the same path i have….." the pachderm demon's eyes widened in astonishment. Was that…..Regret in his voice? Regret for all the needless pain he had caused in his selfish quest to prove that he was stronger than Amon?

The alarm voice suddenly declaring ominously "ONE MINUTE TO DETONATION" gave him no time to ponder on that, therefore, he turned around and ran away as fast he could through the same door that Akira and Jun had smashed to pieces, eventually dissappearing into it. And as he got away as fast as he could from the impending explosion, he thought to himself "So Lilith was here too….That poor woman….All those eons of servitude and not once were her feelings returned….." having indeed taken notice of her just as he fired the beam of energy that propelled Akira forward to victory. He pitied her as well, for much like him, she too was driven solely by love, by the love towards the one being that mattered the most to her. And like him, her feelings had never been returned back.

He quickly put his thoughts aside as he kept making his way out of the accursed building, leaving the fallen Atun and his companion behind. The former, still lying on the ground on his back was content though: this is how things should be after all. Ever since that fateful day, he had dedicated his entire existence to one and only one goal: surpassing Amon, the greatest warrior Demonkind had ever known. But all those eons of struggle and effort were all for nothing. A mere human had accomplished what hundreds of demons failed: vanquishing the mighty Amon himself, at one point even said to be Satan's equal. In the end though, it was all for nothing.

Thus, the Demon Hero had accepted his fate. He was going to perish in the blazing inferno that would have resulted from the detonation of this accursed facility. It was what he deserved after all: for unjustly using Nike to further his goals, for depriving her of her freedom, but, above all else, to chase after something that, in the end, was nothing more than a delusion, fantasy born of selfishness and arrogance.

However, fate or rather, someone else, had different plans.

The sound of Lilith teleporting at his side snapped Atun's eyes open. The demoness quickly put her hands on his broad chest and abdomen while reassuring "Worry not, Atun, you shall not die today." looking at the demon warrior with a gentle smile across her fucsia lips, while at the same time, the alarm voice announced "THIRTY SECONDS TO DETONATION".

"Leave me here, Lilith! An ignoble death is what i deserve for all i h-" harshly commanded Atun with an irritated scowl at how his consort had disobeyed his final wish….

Only for Lilith's expression to turn into a stone cold scowl and interrupt the demon mid-speech "No, i shall not. You still have something left to live for." her voice matching her cold and displeased expression. And with that, Atun's irritation gave away to shock as Lilith's entire body became engulfed in a purple glow, which soon covered his body as well.

And before he knew it, he was teleported away from the place he had chosen to be his tomb.

Shortly thereafter, the former facility of the Human Alliance disguised as a mansion and converted into the haven of the Crusaders became engulfed in a huge flash of light for a split second before vanishing in an enormous explosion as the countdown to the detonation reached its end, the loud sound of it being heard for a few miles away. Debris were thrown hundreds of meters in the air in all directions and in a matter of seconds all that was left of the edifice were nothing but burning debris in a hundred meter radius and a massive plume of fire and smoke rising up hundreds of meters in the air at the epicentre.

Having managed to escape in time, Kaim, with the unconscious Akira on his back, stopped to gaze at the burning remains of the building in which dozens of people had been imprisoned and tortured merely for refusing to take part in an unholy and vile crusade.

"So much blood has been spilled today…. And yet, it is only the beginning…. Dark times await us…." he grimly mused to himself in his mind as he looked at the burning remains of the mansion that shone like a beacon through the dark of the night, a hundred meters away, fully conscious that this was only going to be the start of one of the darkest chapters in the history of this world, perhaps even the darkest of them all. He only hoped that for the time being, not many demons had chosen to ally themselves with that monster Satoru and his equally monstrous henchmen. Because if he were to be proven wrong….

History will repeat itself.