Chapter 5: Massacre Melody
Dozens of people thronged through the Tori gate at the entrance to the temple, with the usually serene complex being packed to the gills with locals coming to celebrate and view the nearby fireworks display later on in the evening.
As people moved up the steps and through the gate, they passed by a lithe young girl with raven hair sitting on the steps leading up to the gate, clearly lost in thought, her bright emerald eyes staring into the near distance.
'So, today is the end…', Reze thought with realisation, she had been pushing back and delaying her mission for as long as possible, but today it ended, either Denji agrees to run away and leave Public Safety, or she fulfils her mission…
She knew which ending she would prefer.
The finality of it had come rushing back to her as soon as she and Denji looked out at the unnatural storm trapping them in the school. When Typhoon and his contractee had interrupted their swim, it had snapped her out of her trance, for much of that night she had felt like a normal schoolgirl, but there was nothing like killing that waste of space on the roof to remind her of what she was trained for.
However, even with the not inconsiderable power of Typhoon on her side, she desperately hoped that it wouldn't come to fighting Denji, she would much rather have them both use their power to try and escape their masters, rather than fruitlessly fight to the death just to return to being attack dogs for their governments.
'I wonder if Typhoon could be of any use as a distraction?', Reze shook the thought out of her head, she can't get ahead of herself, Denji needed to agree to run away first, and that wasn't a certain thing at all…
'I have one chance to convince, hopefully he took what I said at school to heart…', she grimaced at that thought, Denji didn't even realise just how messed up his situation was.
'At least I'm aware of how fucked my life is', she thought bitterly, her face twisting into a frown before quickly returning to a neutral expression.
'No, there's no point in getting all pissed at him, he doesn't know any better…', she sighed and leaned back on the steps, quietly singing one of the few songs she picked up in that damned room.
"Hush you mice! a cat is near us,"
"He can see us, he can hear us..."
"-What if he is on a diet?—"
"Even then you should be quiet!"
Reze had a melancholy smile on her face as she finished singing the short rhyme, it was from a game she and some of the other kids in the room played, before they-
Reze quickly snapped to attention as a shock of blond hair caught her eye from the crowd, standing up as Denji started jogging up to her with a bright smile on his face, and for a moment Reze forgot all about the room, the smile on her face reflecting the boy's own.
"Hey Reze!", Denji called out as he briskly weaved through the crowd towards Reze, panting as he stopped in front of her, catching his breath.
"I'm real sorry for being late, took me longer to get rid of my partner than I thought it'd be…"
Denji sheepishly looked up at the girl, only to find her hunched over trembling.
"Ahhahaha!", Reze guffawed as Denji stood there confused.
"What's so funny anyways?", Denji looked at her confused as she recovered, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Oh its nothing, just remembered the first day you came to the café", she grinned cheekily at him, "I still have no idea how you got there before me, I took a short cut that day and everything!"
"D-dunno, just walked there normally, anyways what's there to do at this festival anyways?", Denji quickly changed the subject, "cause I've never been to one of these before, didn't you say there'd be plenty of food?"
'No way I'd tell her I ran the whole way there!', Denji still didn't know what possessed him to run there immediately, he'd even ran through a construction site on his way there…
Reze smiled at Denji's embarrassment, as curious as she was about how he got there before her that time, it was just endearing to see how embarrassed he was about rushing off to see her.
Though she did wonder if he'd rush to see her if he knew why she was really here…
"Well, there's definitely plenty to do, though it is my first time at one of these in a long time…", Reze put her index finger on her chin and pondered his question as they walked up the steps through the tori gate.
"Ah there!", Reze quickly pointed at the first stall she seen as they entered the shrine complex. Denji had no time to look at where she was pointing before she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him through the crowd towards the stall.
"Hey, Reze hold up a sec-", Denji complained, the smile on his face and the dusting of red on his cheeks giving away his his pleasure at the situation.
'Never thought I'd have a cute girl drag'n me through a festival…', Denji thought, internally thanking Pochita as they arrived in front of the stall.
"Tadaaa!" Reze exclaimed, taking her hand out of Denji's to dramatically present the small stall to him, "Candy apples!".
Denji looked at the stall, where dozens of candy apples were on display.
"Hey young man, would ya like a candy apple for you and your girlfriend, only 200 yen!", the gruff looking stall attendant called out, having noticed him staring at the stall.
Denji hesitated for a moment, before turning to see Reze playfully pouting at him.
"Uhhh… yeah sure!", Denji replied quickly, once again happy to be receiving a paycheque every week. Denji took the apples off the man's hands, passing one off to Reze.
"Ohhh, what a gentleman", Reze grinned as she took the treat from his hand, poking Denji in the side as she teased.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah", Denji griped before quickly matching the girl's smile with his own, he enjoyed talking with Reze, his time with her felt very different to spending time with Aki or Power, Aki could be a moody bastard and, well Power was Power…
But with Reze he felt that he just enjoyed the time they spent with each other, spending time with someone when it wasn't related to work was… refreshing.
'Doesn't hurt that she's a hottie too'.
"Hey, Denjiiii… lets go over there to eat".
"Sooo, is the gentleman going to be treating me all night", Reze threw Denji a lopsided grin as she tossed the used stick of her candy apple into the bin by the bench they were resting on.
Denji smirked back at her, giving her a knowing look, "thought you'd been doin' a lot of overtime shifts".
"Can't blame a girl for trying", Reze pouted in response, sticking out her tongue.
Reze stretched as she got up, "we have some time before the fireworks start", she reached down and grabbed Denji by the hand, pulling him up, and dragging him in close.
"Guess we should move on from the food and get to the fun, huh?", she whispered into his ear beguilingly, leading him off into the crowd.
"Hey Reze, what about that stall there!", Denji pointed towards a stall composed of a number of small pools. The two teens had wandered around the fair, playing whatever games that caught their eyes, the last being hoop throwing game in which Denji managed to win a meagre stick of cotton-candy, a prize he immediately passed off to Reze.
"Oooh that's the goldfish scooping game, lets give it a shot!", Reze cooed excitedly as they made their way over, "think I'll give this one a shot though".
"Huh, what brought this on?", Denji responded drolly, "thought you wanted to have me win everythin' for you"
"Maaaybe I wanna to win something for you this time", she grinned up at him, her cheeks rosey.
"Anyways, this game requires a delicate touch, so watch and learn Denji", she winked as she walked off to the stall, Denji following along, a wide grin on his face.
"Damn Reze, how'd you get so good at those games, thought you hadn't been ta one of these in ages?", Denji gushed as they walked away from the shrine complex.
At that, a frown flashed onto Reze's face for a brief moment, before reverting back to her usual smile.
"Like, you got the high score in that shootin' game and everything, you nearly emptied one of those pools of fish!"
"Hahaha, oh I'm a woman of many talents Denji, though fairground games do just happen to be a speciality of mine", Reze laughed at his enthusiasm before pouting, "I just wish the prizes were better, the prize for the fishing game was just keeping the fish, like who would even need that many fish!"
Denji shrugged, "could cook up somethin' I guess."
Reze stared at him blankly for a moment.
"Hahahahaha!", Reze fell into one of her customary laughing fits, "who even says that, hahahaha!"
"Hey!", Denji protested, "nothing wrong with it, me and Pochita did it all the time…"
Reze recovered, wiping tears from her eyes as the boy pouted, 'Well Reze, it's now or never, the fireworks are starting soon, time to bite the bullet…'
"Hey Denji, follow me, I know a place we can see the fireworks… in private…"
"Oh… uhhh… yeah sounds good…", she grabbed a flustered Denji's hand and started leading him away from the festival and towards the tree line.
Reze let go of Denji's hand as they reached a small clearing at the top of a hill, walking to the fence by the dead-drop.
"My boss at the café told me about this place", Reze said as she looked out at the landscape of the residential neighbourhood below, "He says that it has the best view of the fireworks, and we'll have it all to ourselves, cuz it's top secret", she looked at him as he walked up next to her and leaned against the fence.
"Oh yeah?", Denji had a relaxed smile on his face as he rested on the fence, 'this date has been pretty great, though… it feels… different from my date with Miss Makima somehow…'
"Hey, Denji?"
"Mm?", Denji acknowledged the question, half lost in thought.
"I've been thinking about it a lot and…", she hesitated for a moment, preparing herself for what she was about to say.
"I stand by what I said", she turned to look him in the eyes, "Your situation really is messed up". She had Denji's full attention now, as he raised his head up off of the fence.
"Like, making a 16-year-old fight devils to the death?"
"Not even letting you go to school?", Reze's tone was bitter, "The government shouldn't allow that".
Denji gasped as Reze suddenly grabbed his hands in hers, his flushed face reflecting that of the girl he was face to face with.
As Reze looked him in the eyes, she had no thoughts or worries on her mind the words tumbling from her mouth in a flood.
"Will you quit your job… and run away with me?"
"I'll make you happy, I'll always protect you", Reze paused for a moment as she looked up at Denji, who was frozen in place, his face flushed and eyes unblinking.
"Please", her last plea seemed to snap Denji out of his shock. "Run away… with you?", Denji asked haltingly, still somewhat shell-shocked, "Like, where?".
'I need to convince him now, if I fail here, I'll have to…', Reze knew what the consequences would be if Denji didn't run away with her after this, she'd have no choice but to go through with her mission…
"I can get a favour from someone I know, they have this place Public Safety will never find you", Reze knew of someone in Public Safety who might be able to help them disappear, it was a long shot, but she'd already decided to go all-in. "If we go there… we could even go to school together… maybe not right away, but someday".
"Why would you do all that…?", Denji's mouth was agape in surprise, 'why would she want to do all this, why would she want to just up and run away with me?'.
"Because I like you, Denji!", Reze blurted out.
'This is it… please agree… please', Reze's mind raced as Denji broke eye contact, and looked down at the ground, conflict written all over his face.
'Oh…', a cold feeling gripped Reze's gut as the silence hung in the air.
"Why are you hesitating?", Reze asked this calmly even as she panicked inside, "You don't like me?"
Denji head snapped up at that, "I do like you!", he shouted out, as if in desperation. But just as suddenly as the passionate response came to Denji all energy seemed to leave him again.
"But… I'm getting' recognition for my work lately…", Denji was looking at Reze with a look somewhere between sheepishness and exhaustion, the guilt and conflict clear to see.
"They let me go pretty far without supervision now… I'm slowly learning how to handle buddies with crappy personalities too, I even hit it off with this older coworker I couldn't stand", thoughts of Power and Aki had come to mind as Reze had asked him to run away, sure they were both annoying at times, but he'd never lived in a nice flat, or with other people before and he couldn't bring himself to just up and leave like that…
"I even found, like, a career goal", memories of a redhead leaning on his chest, and the feeling of Miss Makima's bite flashed through his mind, "I'm starting to enjoy it more and more".
But memories of bright green eyes, a teasing smile and peals of laughter also sprung to mind unbidden, the conflict playing out internally as he looked up at Reze with an pitiable expression.
"Can I not keep working… and still see you?"
Reze's shoulders slumped, she could just stand in silence, feeling her blood turn to ice in her veins. 'I failed', Reze thought as she blankly stared forward.
'There's only one thing I can do now…', she looked at the ground in shock, feeling her one chance to escape her servitude, no matter how small it was, slipping through her grasp. She looked away from Denji in an attempt to hide the bitter look on her face as another revelation hit her.
"Okay… I get it…", she struggled to keep the shock and hurt from her voice before turning and looking him dead in the eyes again.
"Denji… there's someone else you like, isn't there?"
"Huh?", Denji only had time to let out a short grunt of confusion before the whistling of the first fireworks being set off pierced the silence of the night.
Neither teen was paying any attention to the display however, as Reze had quickly closed the distance between them, locking her lips to his.
Denji was in shock as the sound of the fireworks faded into the background, with the only thing on his mind being the girl with whom he was currently locked in a passionate duel of tongues.
As Denji's mind raced, Reze had only one thought pass through her mind, 'I'm sorry, Denji… but I don't have a choice'.
Denji flinched as pain flooded his senses, all of a sudden all he could taste was iron, all that could be heard was the explosions of the fireworks and the cheers of the crowd below. Reze's hands dropped to her sides, and Denji fell to the ground in shock, looking up at the girl who, only a short while ago confessed her love to him.
'W-what th- what?', she was sticking out her tongue.
And it had his own resting on it.
Reze's face had a calm, eerie smile as she spat out the remnants of his tongue onto the grass and started approaching him again. Denji panicked, frantically reaching to pull his cord, curling his finger around the cord and moving to pull it.
Nothing happened, he just felt more pain as something flashed in front of his eyes, he looked down, panic rising as he saw his hand hanging from the cord on his chest, he looked up, Reze standing above him with the same impassive smile, a knife in hand, her once bright emerald eyes looking so dull and cold now.
Reze knelt down at his side, knife thrown to the side, and grabbed his remaining hand tenderly. Denji just looked down at the ground, eyes more sad than panicked, the blood loss rapidly draining his energy.
Reze used her free hand to prop his head up, looking into his eyes, she could swear she could see tears in them. She kissed him one more time, tender as a lover would, before pulling back, blood dripping from her lips.
"Does it hurt?", her voice dripped with unexpected tenderness, "I know, I'm sorry". This apology was lost on the boy as he bled out in front of her. Any tenderness in her eyes was replaced by that cold, impassive look again.
"I'm going to take your heart now, okay?"
He looked up at her again with what little remaining energy he had, unable to respond even if he wanted to.
And then the puddle next to him exploded.
"DASHHH!", the shark fiend sprung out of the ground beside the two, grabbing Denji, his momentum carrying both of them over the fence and down the steep incline.
"What!?", Reze exclaimed in shock, impassiveness being replaced by surprise, and then anger. She quickly rushed to the fence, desperately looking for Denji and the fiend.
'Goddamn shark, looks like this is gonna get messy…', Reze cursed her carelessness, she should've been more observant, she sighed internally, it was her own sentimentality that caused this, and now she was in it for the long-haul…
Beam ran carrying Denji with him as he ran, talking to himself in panic and panting for breath, "Run away, run away, run away!"
"Why didn't I realise from her scent!?"
"She's bad news, Lord Chainsaw!", Beam looked behind him just to see the figure of a girl standing on the fence above, one hand raised up to her neck.
"She's Boooomb!"
Reze balanced with ease, perched atop the fence.
*Plink*
Reze the blushing waitress was gone.
"Boom"
Reze's head exploded in a shower of gore, blood filling the air and fragments of bone and cartilage flying out everywhere like a frag grenade, embedding themselves all over the clearing.
Blood dripped down from the stump of her neck as something unrecognisable grew from it, fuse wires snaked out from what was left of her right arm, reconnecting the mangled limb before spreading out and consuming the whole arm.
As bits of brain and bone rained down, an alien creature stood perched atop the fence, an apron of TNT swaying in the wind as expressionless creature looked down upon the fleeing shark fiend carrying her target.
"Thief"
Bomb was here.
As Beam looked up at the newly transformed hybrid, he saw a flash, instinctively he jumped back, with Reze having blasted herself towards the shark fiend at high velocity, turning the ground he was standing on moments before to rubble.
Reze quickly launched herself from the crater, hitting the shark fiend with a series of explosive punches, following up by blasting the ground below them, pulverising the concrete and blowing the fiend and his injured Lord away.
Beam quickly recovered from the blast, crouching protectively in front of the incapacitated teen.
"RRRR!", Beam growled as Reze stood, watching them impassively.
"Are you another member of Division 4?", Reze asked in an even tone, "If you leave Denji and run away, I'll leave you alone".
"GRAAAAGHHH!"
Reze sighed as the fiend growled, his head transforming into a monstrous visage, she really had hoped that she could've ended this quickly.
"Fine"
"GRARR!", Beam launched himself towards the hybrid, maw agape to bite her in half. Reze simply raised a single hand to meet the shark's assault.
And with that beam was shrouded in fire and smoke, slumping on the ground by Reze's feet, sizzling on the concrete like a fish on a pan.
The screeching of rubber on the tarmac behind her almost made the Bomb hybrid sigh, at this rate there was no way she could end this in a timely manner, and she had no real desire to kill anyone who wasn't her target. Every second she wasted decreased her chances of success.
A bunch of shabbily dressed devil hunter rushed out of the car, carrying crude weapons with them.
"Dammit, I was looking forward to the festival", the bald devil hunter moped as he hefted his single edged blade on to his shoulder.
"Yikes, its killing something", the blond with the short wakizashi sword casually observed.
The dark-haired devil hunter raised a small radio up to his mouth, "Got a devil near the festival grounds, engaging at 18:34 hours.
Reze was becoming exasperated at this point, these were small-fry devil hunters at best. "Civilian devil hunters, are we?"
"Whoa, it spoke!", tank top blurted out in shock. "We're dealing with a pretty strong one here!", the blond with the short-sword exclaimed. He didn't even get a chance to ready his weapon before he heard a snap, and a small spark hit his chest, only having a chance to look down at his chest before he and his partners were consumed by a storm of fire.
Reze watched on as the hunter were incinerated, their car detonating and flying into the air.
'Right, now back to-', Reze turned to where she left the defeated shark fiend, only to see a trail of blood leading down the next incline, towards the city.
"That was one quick get away", Reze was almost impressed at this point as she took of in pursuit of them, the inhuman features of her devil-form melting away as she gave chase.
Aki's day was going pretty well so far, his monthly training sessions with his old friends from Division 2 was one of the highlights of his routine, especially since most of the special division were wiped out.
'It's nice to have some company which isn't Power or Denji', Aki thought, the kids may have grown on him, but they were a handful at the best of times, 'at least Denji has been keeping himself occupied and out of trouble', Aki internally thanked the mystery girl Denji brought up for keeping him out of his hair for a while.
"Aki, my man!", a lively man with a scar running either side of his mouth leaned against Aki's shoulder, "sorry for makin' you come by and school these guys", he said, referring to Aki's battered and bleeding sparring partner.
"I could never say no to you Nomo", Aki responded lightly to his old buddy.
"Oh, really now", Nomo grinned, "Come back to Division 2 then, it's not too late!"
Nomo had gone into full salesman mode as he continued, "Blood and gore stories are all we hear about the special division, if all goes well, I'll make vice-captain in 5 years".
"And when I do, I'm gonna go all out on luring you back, you can count on that!"
Aki froze for a moment before forcing himself to return Nomo's smile, "Thank you, sir".
Later on, as he was getting ready to leave the training building, a voice piped up from beside Aki.
"Hey, you haven't told them you'll be dead in 5 years?", Angel inquired as they walked down the hall.
Aki frowned; he'd been more than happy to pretend his new 'buddy' wasn't there with him. His good mood spoiled he responded.
"Who told you that?"
"Power", Angel replied matter-of-factly.
Aki sighed, so that's what Power had been blabbing to Angel when he was first assigned to him.
"That damn devil…", Aki sighed in exasperation, he really should have seen this coming…
"Keep it to yourself", Aki snapped at Angel, who didn't seem to pay him much attention, keeping his gaze fixed straight forward.
"You're so lucky… wish I would die soon", Angel responded monotonously, "As long as I'm alive I have to keep working, when I'm dead, I won't have to anymore. Aki looked down at the short devil, unsure how to respond, before his train of thought was interrupted by Nomo rushing towards him.
"AKI!", he looked panicked, "We need you downstairs, STAT!".
Aki arrived in the lobby to find the shark fiend, Beam, and Denji collapsed on the ground, bloody and beaten, with Denji seeming barely lucid, soaked in blood and a stump where his hand should've been.
"He was at the front door, groaning something about being in the Special Division", Nomo recounted sceptically, "Is this fiend really one of you?"
"Y-yes, he is!", Aki exclaimed, recovering from his surprise and kneeling down in front of the toasted shark fiend.
"What happened to Denji, did a devil get to him?", Aki questioned the fiend.
"Uurgh… Bomb coming!", Beam managed to get out with great effort, "Bomb… Gun Devil's… ally!"
Aki flinched at the mention of Gun, quickly moving to quiz Beam further. "How do you know that?", Aki looked down at the fiend, Denji's wellbeing forgotten for the moment. "Answer the question, I can kill you now if I so choose".
"Rrghh…", another groan. "I-if I tell, I'll be killed!", Beam cried out in desperation, "I promise Lady Makima!"
Aki's blinked in confusion at that, "Makima…?"
Suddenly Beam's head snapped towards the open front door, "Ah! She here! She here!", Beam shouted in terror, "Bomb is here!"
Nomo and Aki turned their attention towards the door, only to see a silhouette slowly walking up the driveway towards the building.
"'Scuse me! The pretty lady over there!" Nomo was the first to react calling out to the figure; a slender girl who had now stopped in the middle of the driveway, "Sorry but you can't come any closer!".
The figure stood motionless as Nomo continued, "This is the devil-extermination Division 2 training facility!", he shouted authoritatively, "It's off limits to civilians!"
Suddenly a cloyingly sweet voice echoed from the lithe figure, "Hellooo?!"
Denji stirred on the ground at the sound of her voice, "R-reze…!?", he groaned weakly.
Nomo looked at the boy in confusion, "Reze…?"
The figure in front of them, Reze, called out again, an unsettling smile visible on her face as she did.
"Please help me!", she called out in the same sweet voice. "There's a devil after me!".
Nomo's face took on a neutral expression, he knew what he was dealing with now, "Oh really… pretty big smile for someone being attacked", Nomo remarked, not caring whether the girl heard him or not.
"Nomo"
Nomo looked towards Aki, who had called out to grab his attention, "I know, grab your bud and fall back". He turned his attention back to the girl, who hadn't moved an inch since she called out, "Contact HQ and the vice captain", he ordered Aki, "Call all on-site division agents".
"Also…", Nomo called out again as Aki turned to go, "Have you seen that hottie somewhere before?"
"Skirt chasing now? Aki would have laughed at Nomo's antics in any other situation, "Really?"
There was no mirth on Nomo's face however, "No man… I'm serious", he looked back out at the girl, and as he stared out, he remembered a story old man Kishibe had mentioned one time, about a room in Moscow…
"Couldn't be… could it?", He shook his head, "Nah, there's no way…", it was just an urban myth, and the old man had always had a screw loose anyways…
"Darn… looks like it didn't work", Reze spoke to herself, tilting her body left to right as she did, "Guess it wouldn't!", she spoke in a cheery yet unenthusiastic way, as if she was just going through the motions.
"Oh well…", the smile fell from her face as she raised her hand up to her neck, looping her index finger through her pin, "Guess its plan B – Kill them all".
As she stood at the ready two more hunters rushed out of the building, joining Nomo in his stand-off.
"Kato, Tanabe", Nomo addressed the two underlings who had joined him, "If you manage to kill her, dinner and drinks are on me", Nomo said, his voice upbeat.
"Don't think for a second that she's human- give her the full devil treatment!", as Nomo gave his men their orders, Aki hoisted Denji on to his back, "Sorry sir, I'll leave this to you", Aki looked at his old buddy regretfully.
Nomo didn't look back, "You owe me one", he shot back playfully, though without any mirth.
Reze simply stared at them impassively, finger still curled round her pin, she was used to being a tool of her government, but she tried to follow some rules of her, to have some semblance of autonomy, by avoiding killing whenever possible.
She had a feeling this wouldn't be one of those times, as the two newcomers bit their hands and pointed at her – not good.
She felt wetness dripping down from her nose and mouth, "Blood…?"
"We grew mold in her heart and intestines", Tanabe explained to Nomo succinctly as they watched the blood dripping from the girl.
"She's bleeding from her nose and mouth – damn, that's effective!", Nomo was impressed, this may not be as bad as he feared!
"Even if she regenerates by drinking blood, it won't get rid of the mold, we just need to buy some time", Tanabe explained further, keeping a wary eye on the wounded girl, who still hadn't moved.
*plink*
All of the men looked at the girl, who was now looking back at them, eyes cold and unflinching, dropping the pin she pulled from her neck on the ground. The men all looked at her, on alert.
She smacked the other side of her neck and continued staring at them emotionlessly.
Then her head was consumed in a fiery blast, being sent flying across the drive.
"What the?!", Tanabe yelled in shock, as Kato yelled in surprise beside him. They all watched as her head landed with a meaty thud.
"Suicide…!?", Tanabe asked Nomo, clearly shocked by what he witnessed. "Not sure", Nomo replied, "can you put mold in her brain?", he eyed the head warily as he questioned Tanabe.
"It only works on living things."
Nomo flinched; it wasn't Tanabe that said that, it came from the…
Nomo watched in shock as the girls body casually walked up to the head, lifting it up, its eyes still watching them.
Then it sprung to life, throwing the head directly at them with a perfect pitchers form.
"No way-", Nomo turned as the head crashed through the glass doors behind them, landing at the feet of the backups that had gathered there. "Boom", the decapitated head intoned croakily.
And the lobby exploded into a ball of fire, spraying Nomo, Tanabe and Kato with glass shrapnel. As soon as they recovered from their shock, and their ears stopped ringing, they were assaulted by screams from inside the lobby, "Devil attack, devil attack!", one of the men screamed out before being cut off.
Nomo turned towards the scream, 'Damn, she must be able to reform from her head!'.
"She's on our right, don't let her get to Aki!", Nomo yelled, moving to go to the lobby.
"Nomo!", a yell from Kato, "Dead ahead!"
"What!?", Nomo swung around, only to see the girls headless body sprinting right at him, 'oh you gotta be kiddin' me!'
"KON!", Nomo called on Fox as fast as possible, with the summoned paw swiping at the corpse sprinting towards him, only for it to vault right over it effortlessly.
And it was coming right for him! The body fell on him, grabbing him in a tight embrace.
"KO-"
BOOOOOOM!
Nomo's desperate cry was cut short as the entire front of the building detonated in a massive ball of fire.
Reze was stood in the remains of the lobby nonchalantly, bodies littering the ground around her, holding the torso of her latest victim in her arms.
"Let me shoot it!", one of the crowd of remaining hunters shouted desperately, "Masaki Ando, requesting permission to discharge firearm!"
"Granted!"
Reze threw aside the torso, firing a spark at them from a finger gun, detonating the entire corridor, killing the entire group.
"Do you have to get permission every time you fire a gun in Japan?", Reze pondered, it could be such a strange country at times…
"KON!", she heard the shout behind her and whipped round, deftly dodging the claws heading straight for her, vaulting over it as she did, before landing straight in front of the man who tried to kill her.
'Ah… its that one from outside, what was his name again? Nomo or something?', Reze appraised the man in front of her, 'just how did he survive that any way?'
"Not so easy to kill, are you?", Reze said, her voice cold.
"Well, you're pretty easy on the eyes yourself", Nomo was on his last legs, he'd managed to summon Kon just in time to get that damned corpse of him, sure he last an arm in the process, but he sure as hell came out of it better than Tanabe and Kato…
Nomo grimanced as the girl reached out to him to finish the job. Then his eyes drifted to look behind the monster in front of him.
"Kon"
And the jaws of the fox devil snapped down right in front of Nomo. Nomo looked up to see his saviour, his life having flashed before his eyes.
"Vice-Captain!"
The Vice-Captain gave him an easy smile, "Sorry to cut in on you there", he put his hand on the fox devil, "That was maybe a little too close for comfort".
Nomo opened his mouth to thank the man for saving his life, but the words died in his throat as he heard a growl come from the Fox devil.
"Urgh!", it grunted in disgust, "This taste…!". Both men had turned to the devil at this point, "I hate this taste… I'm leaving…"
"What…?!", the Vice-Captain wheeled around with Nomo, both watching as the Fox devil dissipated into a deep mist.
There was a figure standing in the mist, both men turned to look at each other as Reze sauntered up to them, not a scratch visible on her.
The Vice-Captain sighed dejectedly, "I was supposed to go to this singles meet up tonight."
Nomo grinned nervously, "Come on Boss, take me with you!"
"I'll drive"
Aki slammed the door of his car, having just gotten Denji and Beam piled into the car. He put the key's into the ignition and started the car, barking orders to Angel as he pulled out onto the road.
"You, feed them both your blood".
Angel morosely pulled up his sleeve in response, "ugh… if I have to…"
Suddenly, Aki stopped the car.
Angel looked up in confusion, "Aren't you gonna drive?"
Aki glared out at the road in front of him, teeth clenched, "Dammit…"
"You just had to show me a bad future, didn't you…?"
"Huh?", Angel looked as something landed in front of the car, Aki flicked on the headlights, to reveal Bomb standing right in front of the car, Aki stared at the creature hatefully, knowing what it was about to show him.
Reze raised up the two mens heads aloft in front of her, they had died bravely, she hadn't wanted to kill them, but they got in the way.
She saw the driver of the car, the man with the topknot, glaring at her, pure hatred in his eyes.
She was unable to hear his reaction, but she could read his lips well enough.
"Monster"
And honestly, Reze couldn't disagree with him, 'I was a fool to think there was an escape from this life…'.
As she stood there with the heads in her hands, she could only hope they handed over Denji.
She didn't want to kill more people tonight…
End of Chapter notes
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