AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is where we all, including me, enter uncharted territory: the unfinished third chapter of the 3-shot by The Swordslinger, now Akito the Boxer. I have been in contact with him/her, and it's all come down to this. How will this third chapter end now that I no longer have an actual chapter to base this on? After having shared some ideas with Akito the Boxer, I've finally come up with a third chapter to bring this 3-shot to an end.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the last chapter.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Wild Owlets Talent Agency
Go Kodou stood by the window behind his office desk as he looked down at the city district of Kamurocho, contemplating his higher position over the cesspool below. He too had been wading through the metaphorical shit down there back in the good ol' days, but through sheer grit and determination, he had managed to climb his way up to the figurative and literal top. Even more impressive was the fact that the country's social climate had neutered the gokudō way of life, and though he had to put up a business front of being a reputable talent agency, some of the values he had admired and yearned survived through him. It is also that reason why he had so many men under his command, for they too yearned the gokudō way of life they were deprived of in the recent decade.
As for the idols, while there was still much left to be desired in personalities, they were worthy investments for Go's business. He had learned of another talent agency in Osaka who was gokudō just like him and had idols who made their debut here in Tokyo, but that hadn't turned out well since one of their idols quit right on the spot before the climax. Go, on the other hand, was on the precipice of succeeding and surpassing that upstart, even more insulting since the two belonged to rival clans whose animosity ran for decades.
The major setback, however, was that he had to make deals with the occult. While Go wasn't a stranger to making numerous shady deals to continue climbing up that gokudō ladder, this time, he was dealing with mostly foreign powers higher than him. And since this is the occult, then this was truly a do or die scenario. A path more extreme than the extreme path itself, a very appropriate turnout for someone like Go.
Go suddenly felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his ringing phone and answered, "[Yes? … I see... Very well, then. I'll meet them now.]" With that, he put away his phone and walked out of his office to attend to business matters.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower, 58th Floor
Lincoln, Loona, and Verosika exited the elevator as it opened to their destination. It actually wasn't the topmost floor, but it was definitely where the Wild Owlets Talent Agency would be located. Lincoln looked around to see that the floor was mostly a café lounge, with a bar and numerous tables and chairs. On the side, he could see the wall being nothing but a large tempered-glass window with a beautiful view outside the tower. Unfortunately, Lincoln couldn't take the time to appreciate it, as the floor was also crawling with a great number of yakuza just like the two men he and the others encountered at the bottom floor. The men spotted him and his accomplices and called out to them, "Hey! What business do you have here?!"
"Yes, I am here to see the manager of the Wild Owlets Talent Agency," replied Lincoln, keeping up his posh British accent, thankful that his universal translation spell was still in effect. Just like the two men at the bottom floor, the yakuza men ahead of them were surprised to see a foreigner speak perfect Japanese but with a British accent. "I am Miss Mayday's agent and Miss Loona here is her makeup artist," continued Lincoln. "However, we have been beset by a sudden major… change in schedule, and we wish to discuss this with the manager of the Wild Owlets."
One of the yakuza was about to step forward to confront Lincoln and the others, but was stopped by another yakuza. The man then pulled out his phone to make a call, most likely to his boss. Lincoln took solace in this moment of reprieve, for he didn't know if he had the capability to cast his mind control spell on so many people in one go just as he did the two men below.
"Boss, we've got three people here, one of them is the popstar, Verosika Mayday," the man said in his phone. "She also has her agent and makeup artist with her, and they want to meet you." Another moment of silence before he finally answered, "Yes, sir." The man finally hung up his phone before addressing to Lincoln, "The boss will be down here to meet with you shortly."
Lincoln looked to both Verosika and Loona in confusion, as did Blitzø look to Moxxie and Millie inside the cart. That was way too easy. Lincoln had expected to meet some resistance, hence hiding his imp coworkers inside the cart as they made their way up in disguise. Instead, the manager, their target, was calling his bluff. Lincoln had anticipated this, but he made it a backup plan. Unfortunately, it appears that they may need to resort to that a lot sooner than expected.
The three stood in tense silence as the yakuza men also stood firm facing them, waiting for the manager to show himself. After what felt like an eternity, especially for the imps hiding inside the cart, they heard doors opening, which everyone in the room turned toward to. All the yakuza bowed as the person Lincoln could only assume was the manager entered the room. A safe assumption, as the man not only commanded respect with his presence alone, but his physique was nothing to scoff at. A balding man whose head seems to resemble a wart when compared to the enormous size and width of his body. Upon first glance, one would assume it was all fat, but when you take a look at his face, you'll see a man who doesn't take shit from anybody, most likely wouldn't even take shit from himself. Combined with the intimidating atmosphere he creates, one would figure out that his large body is pure muscle, which would've been put to use in horrifying ways on more than one occasion.
Approaching the three, the manager finally greeted, "Welcome! I am Kodou Go, the manager of the Wild Owlets."
GO KODOU
MANAGER OF THE WILD OWLETS
While he had put up a front of a disgruntled, unpleasant British man, Lincoln almost lost his composure and façade out of sheer intimidation. After all, how would a boy feel when he faces against a hulking adult who looks like he can crush cinderblocks with his bare hands, let alone have access to demon magic similar to a certain substitute teacher? Taking a deep breath, Lincoln replied, "A fine day to you as well. I am Warren Dean, the agent of Verosika Mayday." Another part of the plan was coming up with a fake name, and he had come up with one based on an old dream that stressed him out even more than reality often did. "I wish to speak to you about the changed arrangements regarding Miss Mayday's performance that was scheduled for the upcoming concert."
Go was almost staring through Lincoln for several moments, which unnerved Lincoln as he had no clear idea how the situation would play out despite his plan and numerous backup plans. In fact, it almost seemed like Go was trying to read his mind to figure out all his plans to spring a trap of his own. After several unsettling seconds, Go responded to Lincoln's request, "Yes. I can understand why you wouldn't be pleased with this turn of events."
With a raise of his right hand, the yakuza men surrounding them walked away toward the walls, leaving more room for Lincoln, Loona, Verosika, and Go in the center of the café. "Please, have a seat, and we can negotiate further terms of our arrangement."
PRIDE RING, Stella's Personal Studio
"Dad, please pick up!" shouted Octavia, frantically texting on her phone while it was ringing for her father. This was made harder as she had to hold the hem of her dress while she ran fast as far away as she could from her mother's studio where she had magically frozen her in place. "Fucking Hell! Come on, dad!"
So stressed and frantic was Octavia that she even resorted to shaking her phone, as if hoping it would magically make her father pick up the phone faster. She didn't know how long she had been running, but her flight instinct skyrocketed her adrenaline to a level she didn't know she was capable of, as she not only ran faster than she expected, but also had plenty of stamina to spare.
"Yes, my owlet?" answered her father.
Taking a huge gulp of air at the prospect of what would be her savior in this moment, she answered as quick as she could, "Dad! Please! You gotta come quick! Mom knows about—!"
Without warning, her phone flew out of her hand after a bright light shot across the side of her head. Taken by sheer surprise, Octavia stared at her empty hand in shock, turned her head to her phone now laying a few yards away, then turned her head a full 180 to find the source of the bright light shot. To her horror, she saw none other than her mother, her hand outstretched and looking more monstrous than she already was. It was needless to say that neither Octavia nor her mother were happy about this circumstance, but for different reasons.
In a last-ditch effort, Octavia did the first and only thing she could think of at this moment. "DAD! HELP—!" she yelled before she was silenced by a large hand gripping her beak, the fingers also large enough to wrap around her neck. Her mother had moved towards Octavia in an instant and had her in her iron grip before she could shout any further.
"You have forced my hand in this, dear daughter," whispered Stella dangerously. "You only have yourself to blame for what happens next." With that, Stella summoned a portal and dragged Octavia through it, disappearing from the spot while all that was left was Octavia's phone, still on call with her father.
"Via! Via, are you there?! OCTAVIA?!" shouted Stolas's voice through Octavia's phone, which then turned black and started shaking intensely. In an instant, a large black stream of dark magic and feathers burst out of the screen until it formed a large, horrific demonic avian, its eyes glowing a dangerous red as it scanned its surroundings, looking for something. "STELLA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower, 58th Floor
In a café table in the middle of the room sat Go Kodou on one side and Lincoln, Loona, and Verosika on the other, with their makeup cart to their left. Things have gone unpleasantly smooth so far, but the ball was in Verosika's court as they finally settled down to begin negotiations.
"I apologize for the lack of refreshments for our negotiations," said Go, though Lincoln felt he was being insincere about that. "I should've had it prepared since I did anticipate our meeting like this in light of recent events. But since we are both pressed for time before the big event, we'll have to make do with the basics." With a snap of his fingers, one of his men had brought two bottles of sake and four small drinking cups to the table, then poured the sake in all four cups before leaving.
Loona looked at her drink skeptically, but Lincoln could tell that she was actually smelling for any potential poison. Looking to her two compatriots and giving a slight nod, she drank her cup, which was refreshing to her. Verosika also took a drink; it may not have been Beelzejuice, but it was a semi-decent alternate drink on Earth. Lincoln, on the other hand, had never drank any alcoholic beverages before, and he just realized he was stuck in a position where he may have no other choice but to do so. With a nervous gulp, Lincoln picked up his cup before finally consuming its content. In an instant, Lincoln had the guttural reaction spit out his drink, for the beverage must've been made of pure fire and bitter pain since the liquid stung and burned the moment it touched his tongue.
"Why in the world do grown-ups drink this?!"Lincoln internally choked out. Fighting back a cough and tears, he stated, "Please excuse me. I'm not much of a drinker, and I didn't plan on having any for how busy we would be for the next few days."
While the group were tense and anxious about this situation, some of them couldn't help but be amused by Lincoln's first experience with alcoholic beverages. Blitzø covered his mouth as he desperately tried not to laugh at his intern's "initiation," Moxxie was glaring daggers at his boss, Millie was pulling her hair in despair at her baby boy's lost innocence, and both Loona and Verosika couldn't stop themselves from covering their mouths to stifle a giggle. Additionally, the rest of Go's men also enjoyed the spectacle of a man attempting to consume their first alcoholic beverage.
Even Go couldn't stop himself from smirking just a tad, though he mercifully responded, "It's all good. We all have our own desires and indulgences. And we do indeed have more important matters to settle. Now, what terms would you like to discuss?"
With that, the levity was gone in an instant, as everyone adorned serious expressions. Thankfully, the group was quick to adjust, for they were here on a mission despite a potential setback caused by Go's "hospitality."
Because this situation primarily involved Verosika and her grievances, she initiated the negotiations. "I want to talk about how this concert gig was reserved for me and my crew, but we suddenly lost the spot to you and your talents without so much as a fuss."
"Ah, yes," acknowledged Go, still smirking. "An unfortunate turn of events, but the producers felt it more fitting to accept my rising talents instead."
Lincoln furrowed his brows at that response as Verosika replied, "Coincidentally after one of my crewmembers was assaulted when he was finalizing our deal with the producers." As tempted as she was to mention that Go's men were after her and her crew at their hotel, she bit her tongue to not play that card so early.
Once again, Go had not lost his smirk. "Yes, that is rather unfortunate. The competition of the entertainment industry can be rather brutal. Any managers must be ready to respond in kind with their own two hands," answered Go ominously.
'Oooh… sounds like my kind of business deal,' thought a fascinated Blitzø.
"Now, I don't know how everything works in this country," sneered Verosika, trying her best not to lose her cool. "But I'm pretty sure there are lots of repercussions for assaulting a high-profile foreign entertainment group. I'm not pointing fingers here or anything, but the fact that my crewmember just so happened to be violently attacked and your talent agency hijacks my spot on the concert stage… people can connect the dots."
"Perhaps, but this country tends to favor their idols who are more… homely. They also love a good underdog story, and who better to fit that role than five bumpkins who started with nothing and rose in popularity in practically no time?"
And now Go was drawing the sympathy card. Had Lincoln heard this justification before he met I.M.P., he would've immediately taken the bait hook, line, and sinker, but his time in Hell had exposed him to some darker realities that served him well in his role as his company's strategist and tactician. Even if he were to ignore the fact that the talent agency manager is a high-profile crime boss, there was also the fact that he or his men clearly assaulted a member of a competing team underhandedly, which raised a lot of red flags for Lincoln. However, the two teams at the negotiating table were almost reaching an impasse, leaving little room for either to gain the upper hand in this exchange without revealing her true hellish nature.
"Surely, you could've simply paid off the producers to have them assign you the spot instead resorting to brutish thuggery," suggested Lincoln as persnickety as possible. "Or better yet, with all your resources, you could very well easily have reserved another spot for another day, give the fans of both groups double the fun to enjoy."
"That would've been an ideal solution… twelve years ago," clarified Go, his smirk dropping. "Sadly, a joint effort between rival idols ended rather disastrously, and right at the beginning of an era that marked the end of this country's most prominent way of life. Furthermore, my agency is under a rather strict schedule, one in which we cannot afford to waste any time. Even for one as influential as me, my hands can still be tied as it is now."
Glowering slightly, Verosika called out, "That seems to imply that you're not the head honcho. Perhaps someone is pulling your strings? Someone more… powerful than you?"
She was pulling out her ace for this sting at Go, hoping to provoke some kind of answer out of him that could all but confirm his demonic connections. If Go was insulted by what Verosika was insinuating, he did a good job not showing his displeasure.
"A simple yet crucial business partner, nothing more, nothing less," replied Go. Just as he finished his response, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "Hmm, speak of the devil."
Seeing Go answer his phone made Lincoln realize he hadn't checked his new hellphone for a while, especially since he had it on silent in case he needed stealth in his plans. He pulled out his phone to see that he had received over 10 unread messages and calls, all from the same person: Octavia. Now worried, Lincoln opened up his most recent text message to read it, and what he read made his heart drop like a stone.
ABORT MISSION
GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE
MOM'S HERE
SHE'S ONTO YOU
Lincoln could barely even think straight the moment he read those messages, let alone think about any of his backup plans that did not account for this. Of all the rotten luck, all that effort to continue learning magic and hang out with Octavia while avoiding detection by her mother, now flushed down the drain. Lincoln looked up to see Go talking in his phone, yet still not taking his eyes off of him, almost as if he figured out that Lincoln is the mastermind of his group.
"I see…" answered Go, his smirk returning. "Tell her that I will meet with her shortly." With that, Go hung up and pushed himself upward to stand. "I do apologize, but I have pressing business matters I must attend to."
"Wait, we're not done here!" called Verosika, though she noticed that the other yakuza in the room were slowly moving from their spot. It seems things were going to get dicey here. Thankfully, Lincoln had anticipated this, and Verosika played her part in one of his backup plans accounting for this by sending a text while keeping her phone hidden under the table.
"I'm afraid I cannot be delayed from my business partner," said Go. "But you all came a long way here. I should provide you some hospitality until we can continue this later… all six of you."
This time, everyone's heart dropped upon hearing that. How the hell did this guy know?!
"Those three in the cart must be very cramped in such a small space. You should let them out every now and then."
Now that their cover was blown, with a nod to his employees, Blitzø burst out of the cart with Moxxie and Millie, guns drawn.
"EAT LEAD, YOU TUB OF LARD!" shouted Blitzø, aiming his flintlock pistol at Go before pulling the trigger. The shot to his head made him lean back, but the team were perplexed when they saw him still standing instead of falling over. After a few seconds, Go leaned forward upright to reveal, to I.M.P.'s horror, that he had somehow managed to catch the bullet with his teeth. "… ohhh, what a mouth…" uttered Blitzø, too shocked to realize that he made the same mistake with Robo-Fizz.
Spitting out the bullet, Go turned around to return not to his office, but to another set of stairs leading higher than the current floor. "I do hope you enjoy your stay here. Better relish it while it lasts." With another hand wave, his men started closing in, ready for a fight as some pulled out their tantō, some put on their brass knuckles, and a select few pulled out a handgun. Upon closer inspection, the team and Verosika discovered, to their horror, that these weapons bore engravings that glowed a bright white, indicating that they could only be a specific type of weapon: blessed weapons. Weapons that were reformatted with the weapons left behind by the Exorcists with the sole purpose of permanently killing a demon.
"Well," started Lincoln, turning to the readers. "They're definitely a little better-equipped than those D.H.O.R.K.S. agents. And something tells me they're better fighters as well." He then turned to Verosika, who looked at her phone before nodding to Lincoln, then summoned a pink diamond-shaped portal and stepped through it as it disappeared. With Verosika safe and out of the way, the rest of I.M.P. could now focus their efforts on the gauntlet of goons that stood before them.
"Alright, fam, I have been stuck in that cart for a while and now I'm stiff as a morning wood!" complained Blitzø. "So I say we limber up and fuck shit up!" Blitzø aimed his pistol, Millie pulled out her knives, Moxxie pulled out dual pistols, Loona transformed back to her natural hellhound self, and Lincoln summoned magical energy in his hands as they all stood firm, ready for an all-out battle to get their money's worth. Through an unspoken signal, the team split up and lunged towards their enemies to let all hell break loose.
Blitzø made good use of his flintlock, which somehow also had semi-automatic firing, against the horde of goons charging at him. Of course, there were only so many bullets he could carry, so he also took advantage of one of their tantō, stealing it and dishing out his own slicing and dicing while blocking and dodging attacks. He had to admit, this fight was more challenging than when he and his team fought the D.H.O.R.K.S. agents, but the battle adrenaline he was feeling here was reaching an all-time high faster than it ever had before.
Millie was no exception, as she took sheer delight in all the bodies she was dropping by jumping around like a spider-monkey on all her opponents, or rather, victims. Whether she slitted a throat, sliced off an arm or leg, disemboweled them, punched through the chest to rip out a heart, Millie stayed true to her nature as a Wrath imp who was taught to fight the moment she was pushed out of her mother's womb.
Moxxie was the company's firearms expert for good reasons. While not up to par with his wife in terms of close quarters combat, Moxxie made up for this in spades with his careful handling and precision of any kind of firearm within the palm of his hand. As such, most of Moxxie's movements involved waiting for an enemy to strike before dodging or parrying them in order to place himself at the perfect position to finish them off with a knife stab or a bullet to the head. After all, like Blitzø, he was only carrying so many bullets that had to be used sparingly, especially against a monster like Go.
Next to Millie, Loona was the most brutal in how she dealt with her opponents. Unlike Millie, who used her smaller size to her advantage with her agility and dexterity, Loona was much taller but also much stronger, showcased by her mauling her victims, biting their arms and legs off, and taking a huge chunk of flesh off of vital areas that resulted in her victims splashing a large volume of blood everywhere like a sprinkler.
The outlier in this fight, of course, was Lincoln Loud himself. Unlike his coworkers, Lincoln has yet to taste cold blood. While he had drawn his first blood from Striker, Lincoln still wasn't comfortable in taking a life. Instead, Lincoln went for nonlethal blows as he did with the punks earlier. Once again, Lincoln had used all that he learned from Moxxie and Millie, as well as some of what he remembered from the Ace Savvy and David Steele comic books he and Clyde read and tried re-enacting. Heck, he saw some crazy ongoings on his way to New Deborah earlier that gave him ideas, such as a schoolgirl breaking a groper's arm before flipping him, a woman handing out pocket tissues to five people at light speed, and a homeless man finding and fumbling a 500-yen coin that landed in a charity box. He put all those inspirations to good use with his newfound strength and control, both physically and magically, made possible by his new adult body.
With the last yakuza fallen, the team ceased their fighting with heavy breaths as they gazed their surroundings, which was nothing more than a pile of dead and unconscious bodies, all bathing in blood.
"WOO!" cheered Millie. "That was fucking A!"
"We ain't done yet, fam!" reminded Blitzø. "That Go asshole is getting away!"
The team then ran towards the staircase, which led them to the next floor up but still not the top floor. Instead, they came across a long hallway with a sign on a wall pointing to another staircase down further past another horde of yakuza men who were awaiting them.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," groaned Loona.
"As fun as it would be to fight them, we don't have time, sir!" said Moxxie.
"Alright, intern, time to earn your pay and work your magic!" called Blitzø, much to Lincoln's annoyance.
Ignoring Blitzø's joke, Lincoln clapped his hands together, summoning as much magic as he could and letting it build up until he aimed his palms down the hallway at the opposition, then released a large concussive energy blast that knocked down all the yakuza off their feet. The team ran down the hall over the downed bodies, with the hellborns killing any who dared getting up to try to stop them. The team climbed up another set of stairs that led them to the next floor, in which they closed the door behind them while propping a nearby furniture up against the door handle to prevent anyone on the other side to open it. Turning around, the team saw that they were in yet another café just like the floor below, but also saw Go standing in the middle of the floor by himself, his back turned to them. This time, however, he was wielding a sheathed katana hoisted over his right shoulder, something he didn't have with him when they met earlier.
"Miss Mayday scouted herself some solid assassins," said Go without turning to them. "From what I've been hearing, your kind are of the lowest class in Hell, are you not?"
Everyone had their weapons ready and guns trained on him, but not one of them made any move, not even to answer his question. Why are they hesitating now of all times and against him of all people?
"Heh. And you managed to start your own business that's becoming more lucrative as time goes on. I admire your audacity and determination. Hell, I can actually relate. Where do you think I started out?"
Go was definitely the outlier of all the targets that I.M.P. had up to this point. Either their targets had no idea they were after them or they fought to the bitter end with every dirty tactic they could utilize to delay the inevitable, but Go seems to be the only one so far who is treating them with respect and is seemingly entreating them to an epic showdown.
"Yeah, yeah, you can save your speeches after you go to Hell," said Blitzø callously, though he couldn't help but be slightly flattered by the compliments.
"Hmhmhm," Go laughed quietly. "I think those idiots downstairs might've given you the wrong idea. I didn't get to these heights by indulging in luxuries." With his free left hand, he grabbed the hem of his shirt, and against all logic, in one swift movement, he yanked all his upper clothing off of him to show off his bare upper torso. If one had thought he was fat before, then this would be the moment they were sorely mistaken. What seemed like fat on the outside was clearly pure well-toned muscles underneath his clothing; even his stomach that seemed to bloat was lined with extremely toned abdominal muscles. It was as though his body itself was telling anyone else laying eyes on it that there were no weaknesses that could be exploited. But that wasn't what truly caught I.M.P.'s attention.
On his back was a large tattoo that covered not just his backside, but seems to expand over his shoulder and biceps. The tattoo portrayed some red-skinned creature with a large nose that almost looked like a beak. The creature also bore large white hair, brows, mustache, and beard, but most notably was that behind the creature were what looked like large bird wings. I.M.P. may not realize what it was they were witnessing, but to anyone well-versed enough in Japanese folklore would know that the creature was a tengu, a symbol of pride and ambition.
"I was gifted this weapon by one from Hell," said Go, giving his katana a little shake. "Yet the weapon itself originates from the Heavens, designed to end demons. Ironic, yet appropriate, wouldn't you say?" Go then gripped the sheathe before pulling it away, revealing the luster of his katana stemming from its heavenly properties. With that, Go finally slowly turned around to face his opponents with a determined smile. "Please, make it worth my while."
Now, I.M.P. had faced off against several targets who turned out to be a little more formidable than the typical targets. However, none of them were diesel on their own, let alone armed with blessing-tipped weapons.
"Guys?" Lincoln addressed his teammates. "I know how dangerous things get in our business, but I think we're really in for the fight of our lives."
TOKYO, JAPAN, Kamurocho, West Shichifuku Street
"Ohhh, I really hope Lincy's okay," fretted Apple, huddling next to Coco, who was hugging her.
"Me too, baby girl," said Coco. "But we gotta trust him. His dickweed boss may be calling the shots, but it's obvious Lincy's the real master planner."
"I still can't believe he came up with a plan like that by himself to help us out here," commented an impressed Milky.
Verosika and her crew were all lounging on the rooftop of a building close to the Children's Park, but positioned where Vortex was able to keep his eyes, ears, and nose on Theater Square and the area surrounding the building they're on. It was Lincoln's idea that they all hide there as one of many locations he suggested for his master plan. Verosika wholeheartedly shared Milky's sentiment towards Lincoln's capabilities to plan out scenarios as she remembered everything he reviewed with them and his coworkers, which led her to believe that Lincoln is the one who is truly keeping her ex's shit company afloat.
FLASHBACK
"Right. Here's the plan so far," said Lincoln, clapping his hands together as it glowed before thrusting his hands forward to summon a magical hologram that looked like the architectural model of the Millennium Tower. "Our main objective is to go into the Millennium Tower up to the top floor since that's where the Wild Owlets manager is." The hologram zoomed to the rear side of the building. "Normally we'd take the back entrance when it comes to infiltration, but we already came up with the excuse that Verosika wants to personally meet the manager to settle business matters. Plus, Vortex and Loona were able to smell a lot of guys in the back entrance, so the manager is clearly expecting a sneak attack. Instead, we'll have to take the direct route instead, and with a little touch of my magic, we could easily make our way through the front door."
"I'm surprised I could sniff out anyone when this city reeks of piss and shit," said Loona.
"You and me both, girl," agreed Vortex.
"As for Verosika's entourage, it'll be I.M.P. only," continued Lincoln, surprising and perplexing the others.
"Hold up, dude," interrupted Vortex. "Wouldn't she need me as her bodyguard for an official meeting?"
"No, you need to be their bodyguard," answered Lincoln, pointing to Verosika's posse, surprising them once more. "At this point, I'm almost certain a fight's gonna break out once we meet the manager, so Verosika," he looked to the popstar, "we need you to make this meeting look official until then. Now, Plan A is to have my team… finish the job… the moment we meet him."
No matter how many plans Lincoln came up with for I.M.P., the atmosphere always turns awkward when he has to bring up the part of the plan where his team would do the dirty work since he's still not comfortable talking about it, let alone doing it himself. Of course, Blitzø would try to break the ice by either patronizing him in his own way or moving the topic on by talking about potential bonuses.
"It's alright, intern. You're a virgin in sex and murder, but you'll get there one day," patronized Blitzø, receiving disapproving glares from his employees.
"Anyways," continued Lincoln, "If the manager has a bunch of goons with him, then Plan B is to try to get him to a spot where we won't be overwhelmed and my team can still have an easy shot at him. If we can't get do that, then Plan C is to have Verosika portal back to her crew at an undisclosed location, where you, Vortex," he looked to the hellhound bodyguard, "need to protect the crew. Plan C might also involve the manager siccing a bunch of goons on you guys while we're meeting him."
"Yeah, we haven't exactly been discrete, so he'll know where we are," said Kiki.
"I've also… seen enough in Hell to agree with Lincoln's assessment," Moxxie trailed off, thinking about the manager's actions thus far resembling a certain lifestyle in his past.
"Can you all portal to any place here in town, like maybe the top of a building?" asked Lincoln, in which he received nods from Verosika's crew. "Good, then you'll have to go to one of three locations," said Lincoln as the hologram turned into an overview map of the Kamurocho district. Three pink circles labeled with the numbers 1, 2, and 3 popped up in different locations that were a fair distance away from Theater Square and the Millennium Tower, but still close enough for surveillance. "Vortex, I heard from other people in this town that the yakuza wear a pin on their suits to indicate that. Can you use your nose to filter them out?" Lincoln asked, remembering how Loona did the same with a piece of paper listing the names of their targets.
"Sure can, little man," affirmed Vortex.
"Good. Then keep an eye out for them. And try not to group up so much in case someone sees you. I'd also recommend using face masks since that seems to be the norm here when you're sick."
"We can do that," said Coco. "This ain't the first time we had to go casual to dodge the paparazzi."
"So what happens when we get to our hiding spot?" asked Kat, lightly caressing the parts of his body that had a lot of makeup. "Sounds like shit's gonna get crazy with a bunch of mooks, and I'm not looking to get my ass handed to me again."
"You lay low until Verosika portals to you guys," said Lincoln. "Make sure to text her once you find a good spot, but text her the location number," he pointed to the numbers above the three locations. "Once she gets to you, you're gonna rendezvous to Theater Square where the concert will be held. My team and I'll try to raise a lot of noise so that more of the yakuza will come running to us, leaving that area mostly unguarded. Not just that, but the Wild Owlets would have to cancel their show since their manager will be in trouble or… dead. With them out of the way, you could take advantage by meeting up with the producer and convincing him that the show must go on with you all at the helm. In fact, you're all going to have to really work your charms not just on the producer, but also everyone else at the concert to keep them happy and stop the yakuza there from going after you."
"Hmhmhm… making us work our charms on everyone but you?" asked Verosika teasingly before pouting. "You're such a tease~"
"Back off, skank," growled Millie, stepping closer to Lincoln while glaring at the popstar.
"Any questions?" asked Lincoln, looking around the room.
"Yeah," called Ace. "Why not have us go back to our place instead of a random rooftop here if shit hits the fan?"
"We all know that the manager is dealing with demon magic, most likely a higher up. There's a chance they'll have someone ready for you down in Hell."
"How in Hell are you this good at planning when you're like, what, 11 or 12 years old?" questioned a perplexed Josh.
"I've been making plans long before I got stuck in Hell," replied Lincoln. "Things got pretty crazy back home. Plus, I always liked how cool David Steele was with his plans."
"You like David Steele, too?!" exclaimed Kat and Kiki.
"Wait, you guys too?!"
"Well, we probably like him for different… adult reasons," said Kat, scratching the back of his head.
"I like him because of how cool and smart he is. His stories even helped me and my friend a lot, especially when we exposed one of our old neighbors being spies trying to destroy our economy."
…
…
…
"Linc, your stories up here somehow sound even crazier than in Hell," uttered an awestruck Loona.
"It's only crazy because there's no death, sex, drugs, and alcohol," added Blitzø.
"Alright, then," said Lincoln, dismissing the magic hologram and Blitzø's comment. "Operation Sabotage the Owlets Manager and Take Back the Concert Spot for Verosika and Her Crew and Also Think of a Shorter Name for This Operation is a go!"
"Jesus fucking Christ, intern, when are you actually gonna start thinking of shorter names for your operations?" noted Blitzø exasperatedly.
"I think it's a very cute character flaw," defended Verosika, giggling. While Millie and Loona still scowled at her, even they couldn't argue against that notion.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Bet you're wishing you didn't diss Lincoln, huh?" Coco asked the incubi smugly. The succubi were experts at detecting lust, and to their delight, they noticed that even the incubi were affected by Lincoln's new transformation and his lust aura, and they were going to get a lot of mileage from this discovery.
"Hey, in our defense, if he looked like that in the first place, then we'd understand you tramps falling for him," justified Josh.
"Instead, you're all pouncing on him prematurely like cougars," accused Ace.
"I mean, I get that age gap isn't a factor when we have couples like Tex and Bee, but they're both consenting adults," Kat called out.
"Zip it, sluts!" Verosika called to her crew before turning to Vortex. "Tex, how's it looking down there?"
"They're starting to move," answered Vortex, watching Theater Square vigilantly. He could see some of the yakuza blending in with the crowd looking to each other in confusion before more than half of them started making their way to the Millennium Tower. "I can also see the Wild Owlets. They're also… wait… hold the phone…" Vortex thought he saw something out of the ordinary, so he squinted his working eye to get a better view of the rival idols to ensure that he wasn't seeing things. What he saw made his eye widen before reporting to his boss. "Um… V…? They just portaled out of there."
"… What?" asked a stunned Verosika.
"They made a magic portal and got out of there," reaffirmed Vortex, who is also trying to process what he witnessed. "I mean, we knew the Wild Owlets manager dealing with demon magic, but none of us thought about the Wild Owlets themselves having demon magic."
"Shit!" cursed Verosika, pulling out her phone the one person she never thought she'd text again, but desperate times call for desperate measures, especially since she didn't have Lincoln's number. "If they left to go to their manager, then Lincy's gonna have his hands even more full!"
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower, 60th Floor
"Let's gooooo!" shouted Go, charging at I.M.P. Blitzø, Moxxie, and Millie responded by unloading their guns at Go, who managed to either deflect the incoming bullets with his katana or tank them as though they were made of rubber. Seeing the futility of their efforts, the whole team charged at Go instead, pulling out whatever melee weapons they had on them or picked up from the goons. Millie jumped ahead to get a literal stab at Go with a blessed knife she picked up, only for him to strike at her with a longer weapon, forcing her to block the attack midair, which sent her flying to the side. Blitzø took the next crack at Go, blocking his next attack with his own knife, but then getting slugged in the stomach by the much bigger and wider opponent before getting tossed to the side. Moxxie tried to get a closer literal shot at him with his guns, hoping to strike a softer or more vital spot point-blank, but as he dodged a chop and tried to jump on Go's shoulder, Go quickly kicked him to the side. Loona opted to try and wrestle the blade out of Go's hand, resorting to biting his arm to gain some kind of leverage, but just as he was able to endure gunshots, Loona was barely puncturing him even with her razor-sharp teeth and powerful bite force. Go then took the chance to hold her in place with his free hand and strike her with a powerful headbutt, almost knocking her out, before tossing her to the side with her team.
Just like that, Lincoln, the least experienced in combat, was left to take on a monster of a man who took out his more experienced coworkers in quick succession. Of course, Go didn't allow Lincoln enough time to contemplate as he charged at him. Thinking quickly, Lincoln pulled out his knife that Millie gifted him for drawing blood with it for the first time, imbuing it with his own demonic energy that he could muster in a second before blocking Go's attack.
GO KODOU
MANAGER OF THE WILD OWLETS
Time seemed to have slowed down for Lincoln, but with his quick thinking, he summoned more magic in his other hand balled into a fist, then thrusted it forward into Go's torso. As Lincoln's fist made contact, a burst of magical energy exploded, which sent Go flying back, still standing, as his feet dragged across the floor. This was truly a do or die moment for Lincoln, which means it was time for Lincoln to stop holding back. Focusing his magic once more, Lincoln dropped his human form and transformed into his incubus form as he took a fighting stance with his knife in his right hand and some magical energy in his left. The rest of his team stood back up and converged next to him as they also took their fighting stances to prepare for a hard battle.
Realizing that Go was far more powerful than any opponents they fought before (which was saying a lot since Millie had singlehandedly fought a giant mutated fish kaiju), the team switched tactics and attacked in either pairs or more. Whether it was Moxxie and Millie proving their mettle as the deadly duo of the team by using their guns and knives, respectively, Lincoln using empowered strikes at weak points to upset Go's balance so that Blitzø and Loona could follow up with a shot or strike of their own, or Blitzø showcasing why he's the boss of a company of assassins by balancing the strengths and weaknesses of Moxxie and Millie in combat, the team had utilized a wide variety of offense and defense to make some clean strikes on him despite taking a few of their own.
Go and I.M.P. were at a standoff, both panting slightly as the battle started to take a toll on them. Despite the current situation, Go couldn't help but start smiling and chuckling.
"Hehehe… I should've expected no less from the demons of Hell. You all know how to treat a yakuza to a great time. Truly a pity… one of us will have to die here today…"
"Ha!" chortled Blitzø. "You're talking like you're the one walking away."
"That may remain to be seen, but surely you haven't forgotten that you're not the only one with access to demonic powers?"
Lincoln was alarmed by Go's statement and calm delivery, feeling like he had some kind of ace up his sleeve. He heard a chime that emanated from Blitzø's pocket, to which he pulled out his phone with an annoyed expression. His mood soured further when he saw that he received an unread text message from Verosika, which he was also surprised that she still had his number. However, his irritated mood turned to confusion in an instant when he read the message.
"The fuck? Wild Owlets on the way? They got magic?"
Before he could contemplate on the message any further, a bright magical portal appeared behind him, not too dissimilar to the portal Lincoln would summon for his team. Five figures stepped out of the portal before it close, dimming the area and giving I.M.P. a better view of the figures' identities: it was the Wild Owlets themselves.
"Unfortunately, I still have to meet with my business partner," Go said to the puzzled I.M.P. "But I'm not one to leave my guests hanging. I hope they can keep you entertained. Five-on-five. Fair odds, wouldn't you agree?" With that, Go headed to a set of stairs that led to the building's rooftop, leaving the five idols to face off against I.M.P. with varying degrees of excitement.
"So we have new toys to play with?" asked Sakura rhetorically with her hands on her hips.
"I wonder how long they'll last before we break them," said Akane, cracking her knuckles.
"Please take care of me," begged Aoi timidly.
"Ugh, let's just get this dumb shit over with," whined Midori with slumped shoulders.
"I hope we have lots of fun together," cheered Kiki, waving at I.M.P.
I.M.P. looked at each other, all equally confused about this new development. Unfortunately, this distraction gave the Wild Owlets an opportunity to exhibit their purpose in Go summoning them.
"This is for interrupting our gig!" shouted Akane, who summoned a ball of magical energy which she threw at I.M.P. The energy ball landed in the middle of the team with a small explosion, scattering the demon team, and signaling the rest of the Owlets to charge at them to battle them one-on-one.
Millie saw Kiki charging at her with a cartwheel kick, which Millie managed to dodge at the last moment and weaved around behind Kiki. Seeing a floor below past the railing to her side, she grabbed Kiki from behind and performed a back body drop, throwing Kiki overboard. Kiki managed to land on her feet before looking up to see Millie jump off from the railing towards her with a flying kick, which she responded with a spinning back kick.
KIKI
OF THE WILD OWLETS
Their kicks met with equal power, in which the force sent both of them backwards. Both had managed to land on their feet and taken their own fight stances, ready to duke it out.
Back up top, Akane charged at Moxxie with her right hand imbued with magic flat like a knife-hand. Moxxie quickly reacted and took a shot at her with his gun, which she dodged with a duck and spin, landing right in front of Moxxie to thrust her knife hand at him. Moxxie was able to dodge her thrust, as well as her swipes before he was able to aim his gun at her face point-blank and shoot, which was able to dodge at the last microsecond. Akane spun around to take another slash at Moxxie, who swerved under and around to get behind her and take another shot at her. Akane ducked under the shot at the last moment once more and slashed at Moxxie's gun, knocking it out of his hand for a brief moment before he caught it with his other hand. Akane jumped into the air for a chop while Moxxie pulled up his gun to aim it at Akane once more.
AKANE
OF THE WILD OWLETS
Although Moxxie aimed at her heart, Akane brought down her knife hand quick enough to deflect the bullet, in which the bullet's momentum set her back a few feet as both combatants prepared to engage in battle once more.
After seeing Moxxie and Millie engage their foes, Loona looked at the remaining three Wild Owlets, in which two of them charged towards her two remaining coworkers, leaving Midori for herself. Both glared at each other once they locked eyes, like apex predators sizing each other up before they clash in a final showdown for their life. After a few moments, both charged at each other before colliding like cannonballs, though neither showed any kind of pain. While Loona scowled and snarled as per usual when angered, Midori surprisingly responded in kind in opposition to her usual temperamental behavior. Both had locked each other into this position by grabbing each other's shoulders, leaving them no other choice but to attack each other with a fierce headbutt. Their heads collided, but once more, neither staggered nor showed any kind of pain, ushering the both of them to headbutt again. Neither staggered the second time, so they pulled back once more but with more power.
MIDORI
OF THE WILD OWLETS
Both headbutted with even more power than before, which sent both of them back a few feet. Although both had finally shown pain from their efforts, they recovered to take animal-like fighting stances to clash like apex predators.
Just as with Loona and Midori, Blitzø and Sakura glared at each other before they charged at each other. While charging, at the same time, they pulled out their weapons they attempted to use on each other before clashing. Blitzø pulled out a handgun and shot at Sakura the same time she pulled out and threw razor-sharp feather-shaped and petal-shaped hairpins, which they both dodged by leaning to the side. Blitzø also pulled out a knife that he threw underhanded at Sakura the same time she threw a second set of sharp hairpins, which they both dodged once more by leaning to the other side. Blitzø recovered first and spun around to keep his momentum and punch Sakura, which she jumped over at the last moment and vaulted over Blitzø. Time seemed to slow down as they tracked each other's movement with Blitzø recovering from his failed punch and Akane still midair.
SAKURA
LEADER OF THE WILD OWLETS
Akane landed right behind Blitzø, who managed to turn around and prepared a fighting stance to prevent her from throwing a sucker punch. Akane pulled more hair pins and held them in between her fingers like claws while Blitzø pulled out a knife and his trusty flintlock.
Unlike the rest, Lincoln and Aoi were the only ones who observed the others, then looked at each other hesitantly. For almost a minute, neither knew what to say to each other as neither seemed to want to fight each other. All Lincoln could do was look at the blue-haired Wild Owlet in the eyes, but the longer he looked, the more he felt some kind of connection. As if he were trying to see every little detail within Aoi's cornea, Lincoln's focus was solely on her: her hesitant expression, her arms barely up between resting and fighting position, her back slightly hunched over, her head slightly drooping.
"You don't want to fight, do you?" asked Lincoln with concern. One of Lincoln's strongest suits besides his master planning skills is the capability to instantly be compassionate towards those who show weakness. It was this reason why so many demons he met in Hell he thinks fondly of endeared themselves toward him so quickly.
"… I'm sorry, but I have to," sighed Aoi in defeat.
"But why? Why do you have to? You're dealing with demons and a crime lord."
Aoi remained silent, unable to answer Lincoln's question beyond looking down a little more, making her bangs cover her eyes. As Lincoln felt more of that unknown connection, he suddenly had a horrible realization. "… No… you're stuck in a demonic contract?! How?! Why?!"
"… It's the only thing I have left," uttered Aoi, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "There's no going back for me!"
"Please, just talk to me!" begged Lincoln, though he feared what her backstory may be.
Aoi's only response was mustering up whatever strength she had to get into a fighting position before she charged at him, screaming her lungs out in pure desperation. With barely a second to register, Lincoln saw Aoi charging up a punch and caught it before it struck his face. Rather than throw a punch, he thrusted a concussive burst of magical energy in his free palm into Aoi's stomach to push her back. This didn't deter Aoi for long, as she recovered quickly and charged at Lincoln to strike him with a headbutt, staggering him a bit. Lincoln was caught by surprise at how much stronger Aoi seemed than she let on. Realizing that she was going to escalate this like her teammates, Lincoln had no other choice but to use his demonic powers to end this fight fast on his terms. Lincoln ran at Aoi, and at the same time, they both charged a headbutt with enough power to send them back a few feet.
AOI
OF THE WILD OWLETS
Aoi made her first move after their joust by charging at Lincoln with a flurry of strikes that, like Lincoln's techniques, were imbued with her own demonic energy. Seeing her utilize demon energy like that in combat reaffirmed Lincoln's suspicions that she was similar to him, which meant that the circumstances leading to her obtaining demonic energy must've also been similar to his. While Lincoln was dodging and blocking all of Aoi's strikes, seeing the desperation in her eyes as well as the tears brought about a mix of sadness and anger in Lincoln.
He felt sadness at seeing Aoi practically at a low point despite her being in a pop idol group and anger towards Go for whatever he must've done to put her in this position. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more the situation started to resemble how he was lured and trapped into a demonic ritual that almost got him killed and took him away from his family back in Royal Woods. And the more he thought about that, the angrier he grew to the point that when Aoi tried to throw a haymaker at him to take advantage of his apparent refusal to throw a bunch at her, he blocked it and countered with a haymaker of his own, which sent Aoi flying back a good distance off her feet.
Lincoln's anger continued to rage like a burning inferno until he saw Aoi look up at him with tears in her eyes, which snapped Lincoln out his fury. Instead, as he looked at Aoi straight in her eyes yet again, he began to see random flashes of events: one where she was surrounded by kids mocking and jeering at her, one where she was slaved away in a kitchen, one where she was heckled by punks on the streets in broad daylight, one where she looked at four other girls who lent their hands to her, one where she eyed an establishment called "Elise" and contemplated a major life decision before deciding against it, one where she was approached by a giant man after brutalizing more punks, one where she slaved away in a dance studio with the four other girls, one where she and the other girls laughed as they shared drinks at a pub, one where the giant man stood over her with the same menacing glare he gave the punks he saved her from, and one where she saw the giant man conversing with an ungodly white creature.
Lincoln was taken out of those flashes and saw Aoi, who was now crying hard, unable to hold back her emotions and tears. She never wanted any of this, and now Lincoln understood that better than he already had. Moreover, he understood just how trapped she was in this situation, something Lincoln now felt even more anger not only at the monster responsible, but also at himself for how helpless he was to truly help her.
"Aoi," Lincoln called to the idol. "Let me help. Please. I can stop him."
Aoi, kneeling and no longer with any will to fight, could only look up to him with the same saddened expression before turning her head down, completely at a loss at what to do next. Lincoln remained silent until he ran for the stairs that Go took and opened a portal, but called out to his team before proceeding any further.
"Guys! I'm going after Go!"
"Lincoln, WAIT!" called Millie, distracted from her fight. She ran towards the stairs to catch up to him, but saw from the corner of her eyes Kiki catching up, forcing Millie to continue the fight and block the stairs from the Wild Owlets.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Theater Square
The crowd was almost at an uproar as they were waiting for their favorite idol group to perform. Behind the stage, a producer was pulling his hair in great distress as he wasn't getting any answers from the numerous calls and texts he sent to the Wild Owlets manager. Bad enough that he had to toss aside a promising show with a renowned popstar and her team, but he let himself get… convinced by the manager of the Wild Owlets with promises of a better… business venture. And now that manager and his pop idol group was nowhere to be seen or heard after the five idols disappeared all of a sudden. This concert was shaping up to be the same disaster as the concert back in 2012.
"Excuse me?" called a female voice from behind him. The producer turned around to see Verosika Mayday and her posse approach him.
"M-Miss Mayday?" questioned the producer with mixed emotions. While he began to feel relieved at the prospect of a potential solution to his problem, he was also incredibly worried and guilty at meeting the idol group he had screwed over… business-wise, that is. "I-I didn't know you'd be here after…"
"We can discuss compensation after tonight," answered Verosika curtly. She may still hold hard feelings about losing her spot unceremoniously, but she knew there were more important matters to focus on right now. "Right now, you're up shit's creek without a paddle, and you need to get this concert going. Otherwise, your business will take a bad PR hit, and you'd lose a lot more afterwards. And with everything going on now, I'd venture a guess that you're in no position to refuse."
The producer looked down in guilt for a moment before bowing with his hands clasped together like a beggar, stuttering, "M-M-Miss Mayday! Please! Please help! I beg of you! I don't care how much I have to pay you back! I'll do anything!"
"Cool your jets there," said Verosika, handing him a note. "We'll take care of this shitshow now. In fact, we've got a few suggestions for extra songs we can perform tonight on top of what we planned in the first place."
The producer looked at the note the popstar handed to him, only for him to widen his eyes as he read the content, which happened to list some very familiar songs originating in 2012.
"But… But these songs…"
"We'll handle the licensing shit with you after tonight. Alright, boys and girls," Verosika addressed to her crew, "let's give this crowd something they'll never forget! Especially Lincoln!"
The succubi cheered and the incubi halfheartedly voiced their approval as they followed her up to the backstage to quickly prepare for their performance while Vortex stood to the side, ready to guard Verosika's team during the performance. The pop group weren't the only ones happy and excited, for the producer could cry tears of joy at his fortune just moments after he was about to cry tears of pain at his misfortune.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower, 60th Floor
Moxxie was dual-wielding twin handguns while combatting Akane, which he had utilized by mixing it with some close quarters combat. Every time he struck at her, he could follow up with a shot from either gun, but Akane realized the same and blocked Moxxie every time to keep the muzzle pointed away from any part of her body. He struck, weaved, spun, and blocked, but just couldn't get a good shot off of Akane, almost as if their exchanges were a part of some intense, high-stakes version of patty cake. Eventually, Moxxie realized that he wasn't getting anywhere trying to shoot her, and instead focused on wearing her down with regular strikes while feinting the use of his handguns. By hitting her in exposed spots either with his kicks or using his handguns as blunt instruments, Akane was losing her composure, thus losing the fight. She then resorted to kicks in order to put Moxxie on the defense and her on the offense with her magic knife hands. She managed to grab Moxxie by the throat with one hand while wrapping her other arm around Moxxie's right arm and leg before charging at a wall to slam him into. Unfortunately, Moxxie thought fast and with his free left leg, pushed off the wall when he got close to swing his knee around at Akane's head, knocking her down for the count.
Millie and Kiki exchanged a few blows with Kiki managing to kick Millie's weapons out of her hand, forcing her to fight hand-to-hand. Millie then tackled Kiki tackled Kiki to the ground and started slamming down on Kiki with some hammer fists, all of which Kiki was able to block before managing catch one of them and then hooking her legs around Millie's neck, trapping her in an armbar. Millie was able to catch Kiki's feet to prevent her from pulling her arm all the way. While Kiki did all she could to pull Millie's arm and dislocate it, Millie was stronger and was able to push Kiki off by pushing her feet. Both got up to catch their breath before they charged at each other and jumped into the air, spinning vertically to bring a kick down on each other, only Millie beat Kiki to the punch, or rather, kick, knocking her out and winning this bout.
Midori gave Loona the old one-two, both of which Loona blocked before giving Midori a hook that knocked her to the ground. Midori quickly got and grabbed Loona by the arms to headbutt her, which Loona once again blocked before countering with an uppercut that knocked Midori to the ground. Loona stopped to catch her breath, which Midori tried to take advantage of by kicking low at Loona's knee, which she managed to block by bringing up her calves. When Midori tried to kick again, Loona swept Midori's one leg she was standing on in that brief window, knocking her to the ground yet again. Annoyed by all of Midori's efforts, before Midori could even get up, Loona performed a swift and powerful roundhouse to Midori's head, knocking her out and achieving victory.
Bltizø was almost caught by Sakura's high kick that she transitioned to a hook kick, but had managed to block it. She then spun around for a sweep kick, which Blitzø dodged by pulling his front leg up. Sakura kept her momentum by performing a cartwheel kick immediately after. Blitzø was almost overwhelmed by the power she brought down on him with her kick, but with grit and determination, he managed to push her back, though she managed to land on her feet. Sakura then went for a double jump kick, which Blitzø managed to block, and used her momentum once more to go for a hook kick, which Blitzø not only blocked, but pushed her in the back to throw her off balance. With a brief moment of opportunity, Blitzø charged at her as she turned to face him, but she was too late to stop him from catching her, lifting her up, and charging straight towards the wall to slam her. Afterwards, Blitzø spun her around, jumped up in the air while still grabbing her, and slammed her to the ground while using his own body as extra weight to smash her.
Blitzø got up from off his opponent, though he was heavily panting and slouching from exhaustion.
"HOOOO! Holy fucking shit!" wheezed Blitzø. "What… *pant*… in Hell… *pant*… do they feed these idols?!"
Moxxie, Millie, and Loona converged, all three also exchausted and hunching over, trying to catch their breath. Moxxie spoke up, "A… *pant*… a question… *pant*… for another time…" Moxxie gulped, then continued coherently, "We need to catch up to Lincoln!"
"What are we waiting for?!" exclaimed Millie, almost instantly recovering. "Let's go!" She dashed towards the stairs to the rooftop helipad, and the others followed suit.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower Helipad
Go stood at the center of the helipad, still shirtless as when he fought I.M.P., awaiting the results of the fight below with his katana in hand. Behind him, he heard chiming similar to when he summoned a magical window to communicate with his employer from the other side.
"GO!" he heard a voice call from behind. It belonged to the white winged demon.
"I'm not surprised you managed to make it this far," commented Go. "Your team may be formidable assassins, but even I could tell that you were the one who possessed the most power among them. I've always prided myself in fighting those stronger than me to climb my way up in this business, but now you've given me the opportunity to test my new powers against an opponent just as strong. For that, you have my utmost gratitude." Go focused his own strength as he summoned his own demonic powers. The tengu tattoo on his back seemingly came to life, as it grew all over his body, turning his skin black and his face read while large black feathers grew from his arms and upper torso. He turned around to face Lincoln, showing him for the monster he truly is, as Lincoln scowled harder.
"You've got a lot to answer for!" shouted Lincoln. "I won't let you get away with all that you've done!"
"I'm afraid you're in no position to bargain."
Both Lincoln and Go turned to the source of the voice, a white avian creature wearing a white dress with glaring red eyes, one of the last people Lincoln ever wanted to meet in his life: Stella Goetia, the wife of Stolas and mother of Octavia. Lincoln had always worried how he'd ever encounter her, but now here she was, and he would've been scared out of his wits were it not for the fury he felt towards Go. However, she wasn't the only one there, for she was accompanied by a black avian creature who was tied up in a glowing white rope, whom Lincoln could only surmise was made of heavenly material. It was when Lincoln took a closer look at the avian that he realized, to his horror, her identity.
"OCTAVIA!"
"So you do know her," commented Stella, turning to Octavia. "Which makes you this so-called Lincoln. Well, daughter, an incubus may be a step-up from your pathetic father's preference of imps, but it seems you took after his low standards. And now you will have to witness how failure is tolerated in the Ars Goetia."
Octavia could only muffle her screams of despair as she tried to call out to Lincoln, who didn't realize it was possible to be angrier than he already is now. Lincoln had heard a lot of horror stories about Stella from both Stolas and Octavia whenever he visited them for magic lessons, or even to hang out with the latter, and they all always made sure that it was whenever Stella was out of the mansion. While he often worried about his personal safety if Stella were to be made aware of his existence, he feared more for Stolas and Octavia's well-being since those horror stories often resulted in both of them being miserable. And now that Lincoln saw Stella holding her own daughter hostage just to teach some kind of sadistic lesson, he had both Go and Stella to direct his unyielding rage towards.
"Lincoln!" Stella called out to the incubus. "I suggest you stay where you are unless you want your mistress to suffer! Go!" Stella called out to the yakuza. "Make the whelp's end slow and painful!"
Go merely stood there, his expression unchanged, until he replied, "No."
Stella blinked a few times before hissing "What do you mean, 'no?'"
Go took a breath before, to everyone's surprise, tossing aside his katana. "I have the chance of the lifetime. Especially as a yakuza. I will not bow to cowardly tactics, especially from one who is too afraid to dirty her own hands."
Stella was frozen in shock, as though someone had actually dared to punch her straight in the face, before sputtering in outrage, "Wha—? Bu—! What?! How dare you defy me?!"
"SILENCE!" Go yelled at her before turning to Lincoln. "I have endured too much up to this point to squander this moment. I have always sought for more than just power. And now, I can finally achieve it because of you."
Lincoln didn't drop his glare, but he was slightly perplexed at this turn of events. He remembered some Ace Savvy stories where the villains team up, only for them to fail because they couldn't truly work together, and the same seemed to be happening here. "I don't get you! What are you even trying to accomplish here?!" he questioned Go.
Go smirked before answering with a question of his own, "Do you know what it takes to become a yakuza in this day and age?" Lincoln didn't say anything, but he raised a brow, which was enough of an answer for Go. "The yakuza has had a long history of shaping this country with law enforcement since the Great War. For decades, the yakuza thrived in many aspects of life: business, entertainment, politics, and even becoming its own law enforcement. So renowned was the world of the yakuza that it became a way of life that so many had coveted. But in the recent decade, society has shifted viewpoints. The world had changed so greatly that people only focus on the unsavory facets of the world. This change resulted in the Great Dissolution, and the way of the yakuza was no more."
"So you focus on being a talent agency to hide the fact that you and your men are yakuza?" assessed Lincoln.
"Very observant. When I had been at the bottom rung of the ladder, I was one of many in charge of doing the dirty work, even having to do prison time for my family. But I also had a knack of spotting talent. I had contributed my skills to other businesses that dealt with the yakuza, which helped me climb the ladder. Even after the dissolution, I had gained enough experience to run my own talent agency, where I would recruit those with potential in the entertainment industry."
"You mean you trap helpless people into a deal they can't back out of?" snarled Lincoln.
"The world is a harsh mistress," answered Go callously. "It's do or die, kill or be killed. They joined up with me because they only had one chance to break free from the shackles of poverty. They did not care about the costs. And the world will not care for them if they fail, so it was my duty as a talent manager to ensure they don't fail."
"You can make all the pretty excuses you want, but even I know you're exploiting them! You put them through so much pain and torture, and now, you trapped them into a demonic deal where they have to keep succeeding or else they'll die and go to Hell!" shouted Lincoln, his voice turning more demonic as his argument became more heated.
Go grimaced a smidge before answering, "It's as I said. The world is merciless. If I were to turn five young girls who were barely scraping by on the streets into one of the country's most renowned idols, drastic measures had to be taken."
"You made them literally sign their lives away to a demonic deal!" shouted Lincoln, his eyes glowing and fists clenching. "Then you got them addicted to the power they got from Hell, just so they don't think about what's going to happen if they fail! And if they do think about it, you work them down to the bone that they almost die from the stress and torture! Then you'd move onto the next innocent person again and again, just so you can keep your power! And I'm gonna stop you RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"
As Lincoln finished his arguments against Go's logic and philosophy, his teammate finally approached the rooftops, just in time for them to see Lincoln lose his temper and possibly unleash more of his powers. Just as they experienced with their encounter with D.H.O.R.K.S, I.M.P. was feeling uncomfortable at seeing Lincoln devolve into a similar state, but this time with even more power as a result of his growth spell accident. The team moved to assist Lincoln, but they ran into an invisible barrier, which they also noticed Lincoln holding up his hand behind him.
Go noticed this and smiled. "So you wish to finish this personally?" Go then started to chuckle in what sounded like excitement. "It seems that you are the one most accommodating, and you're the guest here! You speak of fighting injustice, yet you intend to finish this with a yakuza's resolve! Yes… that is how it must be accomplished."
Lincoln glowered at Go before grabbing the hem of his suit and, just as Go did before their fight below, pulled it at lightning speed. The next thing everyone saw of Lincoln was that he was topless, just like Go, but still maintained a very determined glare at his opponent. I.M.P. was speechless as they saw their young intern's bare top, all of them wide-eyed and blushing (with blood dripping from Loona's nostril). Although Octavia was the damsel in distress, tied up in a rope made of a material known to permanently end a demon's existence, even she couldn't stop herself from staring at Lincoln's lean physique. For Stella, today was the day where she lost her composure twice in quick succession, for even she was awestruck by whatever aura Lincoln was permeating, complete with a slight blush. Even the Wild Owlets, who managed to catch up in time to observe the situation on the rooftop despite their injuries, witnessed this and had similar reactions, in addition to some panting even heavier than they were in their exhausted state.
Go, on the other hand, was the only one who wasn't flustered, although he might as well have in the non-sexual sense. "And now you sweeten the deal," said Go, his voice turning as demonic as Lincoln's as he summoned all the dark energy he could for this showdown. "You have no idea how much it means to me to see a yakuza's conviction in this day and age!"
Both Lincoln and Go stared at each other from a distance, as though they were trying to stare each other down. After a few moments, both charged at each other with a loud battle cry until they clashed with a punch at each other's face.
GO KODOU
MANAGER OF THE WILD OWLETS
Even though it looked like they would strike each other at the same time, Lincoln miraculously landed his punch first and emerged from the clash unscathed. Go staggered from the punch and fell to his knees, but was able to recover, getting back up to face his opponent once more. The two clashed once more, this time flying at each other with their demonic abilities as an incubus and a tengu-like demon, grabbing each other's hands with their fingers interlocked as they mustered all their strength to push against each other, hoping to gain some leverage for a follow-up. Go then headbutted Lincoln, staggering him and allowing Go to knee the incubus in the stomach before delivering an uppercut that sent him flying to the air.
Lincoln managed to recover midair by stopping himself with his wings, just in time to catch Go throwing his feathers at him like throwing stars. Lincoln used his magic to shoot some of the feathers out of the sky from his finger tips and the rest with a magic sword. He then zoomed towards Go to deliver a hook to the face. While the punch landed, Go was barely affected and delivered his own punch to Lincoln's face. This time, Lincoln was barely affected, just like Go, and returned a punch of his own. In no time, the two were trading punches to each other's faces at lightning speed before Go delivered a particularly powerful one. However, Lincoln tanked the punch and summoned more magic to his fist to deliver an even more powerful straight punch that sent Go flying back.
Go changed tactics this time and started shooting magical energy balls, forcing Lincoln to dodge while making sure he didn't let any stray shots hit the spectators of this fight. Go caught onto this and shot an energy ball not at a spectator, but at an area that forced Lincoln to dodge in a specific direction that Go anticipated, enabling him to shoot an energy ball that caught Lincoln by the shoulder when he tried to dodge it at the last second. His shoulder burned, distracting him from focusing on flying and dodging, which Go took advantage of by zooming towards him to tackle him. Go caught Lincoln and kept charging at the nearby outdoor elevator, hoping to slam him into it for additional damage. Lincoln regained his senses at the last moment, pivoted his body so that his wings could flap and change his momentum, throwing Go off balance before Lincoln spun around and threw Go at the elevator instead.
Lincoln tried to take advantage by throwing a magically-powered punch to Go's face while he was dazed, but Go recovered faster than anticipated, as he shot Lincoln with an energy blast at the last moment. Lincoln was pushed back and couldn't recover fast enough for Go running at him and kicking him into the air like an American football. While in midair, Go flew up and then down on Lincoln to catch him by the face and slam him to the ground, but Lincoln recovered from his midair daze, dodged Go's hand, and flipped around so that it was he who caught Go's head and slammed him to the ground face first.
Though exhausted, Lincoln mustered whatever strength he had to grab Go by the shoulders, pull him back up, and deliver a haymaker to his face. Even though the attack sent him back, Go still stood on his feet, unwilling to concede this fight. Go threw a punch that Lincoln managed to block, and Lincoln delivered one of his own that Go also blocked. However, the two stopped to catch their breaths while still facing each other, fatigued from the toll the battle is taking on them. After a few more deep tired breaths, both Lincoln and Go raised their right hands, balled into a fist as tight as possible, concentrating all the demonic magical energy they could into their current weapon of pure destruction, before letting out one last battle cry and delivering one last punch at each other's faces…
TOKYO, JAPAN, Theater Square
While the attending crowd of the concert was initially in an uproar over the delay of the show they paid rather expensive tickets for, and some outraged confusion over the show starring a different pop singing group, once the show had started with a song from a sensual voice that was so good it was literally a sin, the crowd was pacified as they listened, entranced by the siren's call. Even better when the extra attendees who were fans of this particular pop singing group showed up now that the initial performance they paid for but never got refunded after the replacement would proceed as initially planned.
Verosika had opened with her most recent big hit "Vacay to Bonetown," an easy mood-setter to pacify the crowd. Even though the crowd wasn't nearly as hopped up on drugs like the attendees at the spring break concert nor were they engaging in any intercourse, it didn't take that much effort for Verosika and her crew to create a pleasant mood for the audience mostly consisting of very sexually-repressed byproducts of a cultural norm that dictated intimacy strictly between a true couple. This wasn't particularly new for the singing group, as they have had to literally work their magic on similar crowd, and they took solace in some of them making out rather lewdly.
She then continued with a new song she developed since spring break and was ready to debut, which included "Signals." Now, anyone with half a brain about Verosika's personal life would know that even though some of her songs were meant to entice and encourage the listeners to give into their lust, most of her other songs focused on the fallout of a particularly bad breakup. However, every time Verosika performed, her audience quickly fell under her spell and didn't pay too much mind to the lyrics, instead focusing on the pleasant feeling of the song, the mood it created, and enacting upon the sensation brought about by the atmosphere.
Continuing on the songs centering around the breakup, Verosika performed another one of her originals, "Love of Yesterday." Since Verosika wrote her songs that connected to her personal life, both the good and bad aspects, that meant she always sang from the bottom of her heart. A succubus is as powerful as her emotions, a sentiment shared by Asmodeus himself, who always ensured that the mood is always created from the heart before indulging in the debauchery rather than artificially forcing the mood. However, since Verosika would have to sing these songs multiple times for her numerous performances, she'd constantly be reminded of a time where she found someone who completed her, only for that someone to cruelly rip out her heart and stomp it into the ground. Even worse is the fact that she encountered that monster once more, ending with added salt to the wound, and then again practically begging for help from that same monster.
The only silver lining to these turns of events is that she had met someone who could possibly fill that void in her heart once more, her chance to get over and recover from her first embarrassing mistake. She sang her next original, "Over You," hoping that it was truer than she wanted to believe. She desperately wanted this next man to work out for her, for he had displayed genuine compassion, kindness, generosity, and chivalry, far better than her previous fling. She desperately wanted to make a real connection with him and take it even further than she had with her last fling. She desperately wanted that happy ending she'd seen several other humans and demons achieve in her whole life, both before and after she made her big debut as a popstar. But therein lies the keyword: desperate.
She hoped to show that her feelings for him is indeed real, which led her to perform a cover of "Can't Fight the Moonlight." Just as the song compares to the moonlight, she wanted to show that there was, or rather, could be genuine love between her and her new love interest, and that love is irresistible and inevitable. Her new man was so adorable when he showed his inexperience in romance, let alone the raunchier follow-ups, but that still didn't deter him from doing right by her, though he claimed to have done this to repay her for doing right by him once in the heat of the moment… which, of course, involved a lot of death and destruction. That aside, while he clearly didn't deny her, he was still keeping his distance, but thankfully without hurting her in the process.
However, this consideration wasn't enough to stop herself from enacting on her instincts as a succubus towards a person who clearly wasn't ready. In fact, her reunion with him in recent days, along with some interesting circumstances that changed their dynamic in the strangest ways, led her to believe she could now up her game to capture his heart and show him the greatest rewards of lust. Unfortunately, he somehow maintained his self-control. Therefore, he was even more deterred by her advances, forcing her to realize how desperate she truly was, which was also leading her down the wrong path filled with the wrong choices that may well destroy her second chance at happiness. Once again, she sang her next song, the final song for this performance, in all sincerity, a cover of "I Will Always Love You." She couldn't deny her nature as a sex demon, but she too is a living being with personal wants and needs, and so was the man she had her eyes on. He was clearly carrying a lot of baggage, and she was not helping matters by trying to indulge in her personal feelings and forcing them on him. Instead, she decided… no… she needed to back off, giving him room to pursue his goals, which she should try to support. Dedicating this song to him, Verosika sang fervently with few streaks of tears leaking from her eyes, as she was reminded of the pain from her last fling, only to find hope in her next, ending the song softly, but no less passionate.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower Helipad
… two fists sped towards each other, in which only one properly connected to a face while the other failed. The failure was launched back by the punch's powerful velocity until he finally landed to the ground with a resounding thud. So ended the fight between Lincoln Loud and Go Kudou, with one standing tall and looking down on the other, lying flat to the ground and no longer with any strength to get back up.
I.M.P. stood in their spot, shocked at the spectacle they witnessed with a mix of emotions expressed internally. While Millie and Blitzø felt positively elated about what they had just watched from their youngest ward and seeing him standing over the yakuza boss victoriously, Moxxie and Loona could sense something tremendously negative than anyone could anticipate, especially since Lincoln's glare didn't falter in the slightest. For Loona especially, as a canine, her sense of smell is so great that she can actually smell the emotions from other people, and from Lincoln, she was smelling a lot of anger, hatred, sadness, and longing, and she was not liking how he was focusing all of that in a concentrated glower at his downed opponent.
Unfortunately, her fears came true when Lincoln kneeled on Go's stomach and grabbed him by his collar bone with left hand, then finally pulling his right fist back before bringing it down on Go's face with extremity. Gritting his teeth, Lincoln repeated his action, attempting to make his next punches stronger than the previous ones. His ears were practically ringing, for he couldn't hear anything around him except for his own screams every time he brought his fists down, aiming his knuckles at Go's bloody face. He had already lost track of how many times he punched Go's face, for he couldn't think of anything but the hopelessness he saw in Aoi's face, which resembled so much of his own when he had learned the nuances of his own circumstances that kept him from everything and everyone he loved. He had also been feeling deep inside for a long time how he wanted to lash out further on the monster responsible for forcing him into those circumstances, and though he couldn't do so due to that monster's fate, he was now faced against another similar monster with that chance.
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone turned to the source of the shriek, while Lincoln felt a streak of hot air fly past his cheek, nicking it in the process. He too looked up to the source, still staring daggers, to see that it was Stella, with her hand outstretched and glowing with magical energy.
"You think this is over just because you defeated this pathetic human?!" Stella arrogantly questioned. "He's not the only one with the power to show you true Hell, you urchin!"
Lincoln scowled silently, then slightly looked to the side to see the still-captive Octavia in distress. He then looked back to Stella and responded with a dangerously calm tone, "Don't worry. You can wait your turn. I'll just be a sec."
Millie and Blitzø didn't think it was possible for them to one-eighty their feelings toward Lincoln in an instant, from feeling pride and awe to pure horror. They first felt it when they watched Lincoln repeating his violent actions on Go with no intention to stop, but now it was apparent that he wasn't going to stop with Go. Even worse was that despite the threat by a powerful demon from the Goetia family, Lincoln treated it as empty and sought to continue his actions until he was finished. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Lincoln looked down on Go and raised his right fist once more while I.M.P. immediately dashed towards him to stop him from crossing that point of no return. Unfortunately, despite being seasoned assassins, I.M.P. were terribly exhausted from their fights, and Lincoln was powerful and fast, meaning that they weren't going to make it in time to stop him. As Lincoln brought his fist down with a bellow of an ungodly beast worse than a demon could dream up in their worst nightmares, Lincoln felt his fist stopped unexpectedly.
Lincoln felt a large hand with long fingers wrap around his forearm, hindering his punch. Thinking it was Stella interrupting once more, Lincoln quickly turned to the source, ready to deliver an even more painful strike. Once he laid eyes on the interloper, his eyes widened to see that it was not Stella, but rather Stolas.
Stolas looked down at Lincoln with melancholy. Instead of forcing Lincoln into submission, Stolas gently pulled him away before kneeling down and placing another hand on his shoulder before reassuring him, "It's okay, my dear pupil. It's over. You have won. You need not taint your victory by sacrificing yourself."
As Lincoln looked into his teacher's four eyes filled with warmth, Lincoln felt his fatigue catching up to him as he started hunching over, almost collapsing from his body weight. Nevertheless, Lincoln used his remaining strength to keep standing on his feet as he was approached by I.M.P. with Moxxie and Millie supporting him upright. He saw Loona, to his surprise, tending to Octavia by untying the blessed rope keeping her trapped. Stolas must've rescued Octavia while everyone was focusing on Lincoln attacking Go. Blitzø, on the other hand, directed his attention towards his once-in-a-month fling.
"W-Wha-… How'd you find us? How'd you know what the hell was going on?" asked Blitzø, but this time without even a semblance of hostility.
"I have my ways," answered Stolas. "I am sorry to say that my own little detective work to track down all of you and my daughter took me longer than I'd hoped." After literally leaving Lincoln in his coworkers' hands, he stood up and turned to his wife with a hateful glare. "As for you… for many years, I had always thought I had seen the worst of you. Yet time after time, you always manage to somehow surpass my expectations. And now? I'd like to believe that you couldn't possibly be any worse now that you dared to threaten our daughter!"
"What your proletarian mind cannot comprehend is that this is necessary for my role in the Goetia family!" retorted Stella, returning Stolas's hateful glare. "A novel concept that you consistently fail to understand and now have passed on that failure to our daughter!"
"Necessary?!" shouted an outraged Stolas. "In what world can you justify tormenting your own flesh and blood just to teach some insubstantial lesson?!" Stolas no idea how much support he had the moment he shouted his question, as Moxxie and Blitzø both shared his outrage and also glared at Stella.
Stella wanted to screech her retort right then and there, but when she took a second to analyze what was in front of her, the gears started turning in her head. Seeing Stolas standing side-by-side with Octavia and the incubus, she finally made the connection, and she was none too happy about it.
"A world that allows you turn our daughter against me by grooming her in fraternizing with low-class trash and granting them undeserved power to interfere with my duties to the Goetia family!" countered Stella. "I wonder how the rest of the upper echelon will answer to such defiance!"
Before Stolas could concoct an answer to the veiled threat, Lincoln spoke up, "You know what?! I wonder how too!" Everyone turned to stare at him in shock, unable to believe that Lincoln easily opted to back talk Stella with such impugnment. "I wonder how the rest of the high-class will react to the fact that you stepped on Asmodeus's toes without his say-so! I wonder how what they'll say about how your plans against Asmodeus got foiled by three imps, a hellhound, and an incubus!" Wounded and exhausted he may be, but that didn't stop him from smiling cheekily as he poked enough holes in her threats that anyone could follow up and turn the whole situation around on her. "Especially an incubus who apparently works for your husband and daughter."
"Yeahhh…" trailed off Blitzø, who also started smiling as he was catching onto Lincoln's ploy. "We cleaned up your mess, you go back to the other rich fucks empty-handed, and the big Ozz himself makes us out to be the awesome badasses who did him a huge favor! Maybe even a little bonus for bumping off a crazy fucktard and his stooges using blessed weapons!"
"Very interesting points," Stolas acknowledged, then turned to Stella with a dirty look and his arms crossed. "I do wonder how well Asmodeus will take this recent turn of events… and whether or not Andrealphus will be capable of saving you."
Stella was flabbergasted at how quickly she lost control of the situation because of an upstart like Lincoln acting out of turn and forgetting his place of only being seen and never heard. She was quickly losing her temper and ready to lash out as she always did towards Stolas whenever she has to acknowledge his existence as an imp-sucking piece of rubbish. However, she merely huffed and turned, concerningly calm about her predicament.
"Fine," Stella dismissed. "I have no desire to waste any of my precious time with a traitorous embarrassment and his pathetic servants. One day, you'll pay for your mistakes when they inevitably catch up to you. You'll all die alone and only the worms will mourn you." Stella opened a portal of her own, but before she entered, she looked to Octavia. "And you, daughter…" Octavia quickly gasped and stopped breathing as she awaited what her mother had to say to her after all that had occurred. "… you'll realize then how much stock you've placed in the wrong investment after you lose everything. You'll understand then what you should've learned from me." With that, Stella finally left, but not before Lincoln, in his last act of defiance against her, summoned a pink-colored magic spell and shot it at her, though it was silent and left no noticeable impact.
"Lincoln, what did you do to her?" asked Stolas.
"I… gave her a little taste of an incubus's influence," said Lincoln, smiling mischievously.
PRIDE RING, Stella's Personal Studio
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" shouted Stella, who just a second ago had closed the portal behind her, but was now rushing to her private bath chamber. The moment she stepped into her domicile, she felt herself heating up on the inside, particularly in her cheeks, and an insatiable itch in her groin area that just wouldn't vanish. She had resorted to every tool she had at her disposal to get rid of that itch, but no matter what she did, she was no closer to achieving that release as she was to taking all of Stolas's resources and assets. Even worse is that as she attempted to rid herself of this burning itch, an imagery of that damned incubus kept rearing his ugly face in the front of her mind.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Millennium Tower Helipad
"Octavia? Are you okay?" Lincoln asked. Octavia stared deeply into Lincoln's eyes, but not with infatuation as she had previously. Instead, she felt her emotions catch up to her after enduring one extremely stressful situation after another until she finally found her reprieve in the form of a boy… no, the man whom she could drop her guard around. Tears leaked down her eyes, ruining her makeup, while she hiccupped with every breath she took before she lunged forward to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his neck. Lincoln hugged her back as she choked out incoherent whimpers, shortly joined by Stolas kneeling and wrapping his arms around both of them.
A few moments later…
Octavia had finally let go of Lincoln after letting her emotions loose. Stolas still decided to carry her bridal style, to which she had no objections toward since she felt so mentally exhausted after everything that happened today that she almost passed out in her father's arms. As for I.M.P., they still had other business to attend to, which was lying a few meters away from them. Lincoln looked to where Go was still lying on the ground on his back, this time surrounded by the Wild Owlets. The idols didn't take any action towards him, but their faces betrayed a mix of feelings expressing concern and disdain.
"Stolas," Lincoln addressed his teacher. "Go took a demonic deal that gave him a lot of power, which he also used to corrupt the idols. What's gonna happen to him?"
"I'll tell you what, intern!" piped up Blitzø, pulling out his flintlock. "We finish our job by popping a hole in his face that ain't his mouth hole, we go back to our office, and start rolling in the dough we got paid for a job well done!"
"Blitzø, please," said Stolas sternly, holding the imp back with one hand. He walked up to Go, looking down on him. Stolas gazed at the yakuza lying supine intently while everyone watched Stolas in anticipation. "You offered more than your soul for this power, is that correct?"
Go was still staring up at the sky as if in a trance, but he answered Stolas nonetheless. "Yes. I traded more than just my own soul… I gave up my very existence…"
"What do you mean?" asked Lincoln.
"It means, dear boy," said Stolas hesitantly, "there is no Heaven or Hell for him. He will be trapped in the in-between… just like that teacher."
Lincoln felt his heart drop to his stomach as he heard yet another comparison to Stillman, even though it was in regards to a fate worse than death. He should be feeling content that karma was performing its job adequately, yet he felt empty for unknown reasons. He looked at Go as he heard the answer, his expression unchanged. In fact, Go seemed to be more at peace with his fate than Lincoln was.
"You seem to be taking this rather well," noted Stolas, voicing Lincoln's opinion.
Go chuckled once more before answering, "When you're in my line of work, you need to make peace with your end at the beginning, or else you'll never truly make it to the top." Go turned his head to Lincoln, then continued, "I told you before. It's do or die in the yakuza world. You only get one shot at making it big. You do whatever it takes to make a name for yourself. Because in the end, a man has his pride, and as long as man has that, he can die with a smile on his face…
"I've committed many unspeakable atrocities, towards others and even to myself. I've practically spent more than half of my life in prison. I've perpetuated that cycle of violence unto others. I've faced the prospect of death so many times that I've lost any fear of it… Hehehe… I've even lost sight of what I truly wanted in the end."
"What do you mean?" asked a confused Lincoln. "Weren't you trying to be the top yakuza?"
"… That becomes every yakuza's excuse," Go answered simply. "Those who resort to any dirty tactics to even get a taste of that top spot. However, the yakuza has their legends. Legends who have made it to the top and defined the best standards. Legends who created such a huge wall that many others cannot hope to climb, but to merely bask in its presence. Legends… who kept their honor and integrity… without ever being corrupted by power. Their mere existence made it so people like me will never even get a sniff of the top.
"You know about how the yakuza were no more because of how the world changed… Everything I did to get to the top… all I ended up doing was adding innocent creatures as kindling to a bonfire that was meant to die a long time ago." Go then smiled as he said, "Fighting another man with convictions like yours… made me feel like I had purpose once more… even though I will spend the rest of eternity in an even worse hell… I can go with a smile after today."
Lincoln was so unsure how to respond to any of that. Moments ago, he had expressed utter hatred and rage towards this man for resembling the same kind of scum who preyed upon the weak like himself for self-serving reasons. But after hearing all this? This man would've been a perfect fit for Hell, yet he willingly gave up that chance for an even worse fate just to cling to some false hope that he could create meaning in a meaningless life. In all the time he's been in Hell, Lincoln had witnessed and experienced so much, and it's apparent that he'll experience much more. But he'd met people who would literally go to Hell and back to fight for some purpose. While his boss may not be as competent as Go, he definitely displayed some similar resolve to fight his way to the top, just to make a name for himself. Still though, no matter how jaded Lincoln had become since his first day in Hell, he'd never truly lost who he was. Only when he thought of that did he finally figure out a proper rebuttal to Go.
"You're wrong about one thing," declared Lincoln. Everyone around him, I.M.P., Stolas, Octavia, and the Wild Owlets… none of them had interrupted nor broke their attention to this moment, as if they were watching an engaging television or movie drama. "You said the yakuza world is a way of life, but this whole time, you've been treating it like it's a way of death. You said it yourself: you fought so hard to get to the top, but deep down, you always knew it was impossible, so you've only gotten by wondering when it'll all end. Me? I've been learning to fight, so I could live for the next day. And it's people like them," he said, slightly turning his head to his coworkers, Stolas, and Octavia, "who give me reasons to live. So I can keep looking for that greater purpose."
Go dropped his head back to the ground, looking up to the sky once more, and responded, "You wear that conviction well. If you truly believe that, then don't ever lose sight of it. Perhaps you'll climb even higher than you'd ever realize." Go's body started to glow, but then started disintegrating into particles of light starting from his feet. As half of his body disappeared, he spoke up one last time, "If you can spare a monster's wish… please… take care of the girls." With that, Go finally disappeared, all traces of his existence undetectable. Everyone, Lincoln especially, all stood in silence, trying to process what they had witnessed until Lincoln finally realized the last thing Go said.
Snapping out of his stupor, Lincoln turned to the Wild Owlets, who were all standing there at a complete loss. With their boss gone, the girls had no idea what to do or where to go next. Once again, Lincoln turned to his magic teacher for guidance.
"Stolas? Go's the one who made the demonic deal, but those idols also indulged in demonic power. What's gonna happen to them?"
Stolas walked up to the Wild Owlets, who all took a step back in fear and anticipation. Just as he did with Go, Stolas gazed the idols intently for several moments before finally answering, "Oh… oh dear… oh no…"
"What? What is it?" asked Lincoln, anticipating bad news.
"I'm afraid… that by indulging in demonic powers, perhaps even strengthening their contracts to Go with a deal of his own, their fates are sealed. There is only Hell for them. And that is, unfortunately, their only salvation from suffering the same fate as Go."
Seeing the idols with varying distressed reactions was déjà vu for I.M.P., especially Lincoln. It was a while ago that Lincoln was in the same position, kneeling as he lost all feelings in his legs and then his whole body as it practically shut down to cope with the reveal of his fate. Now, he was witnessing all the emotions he could remember experiencing back then in the five idols: Sakura practically shut down in silence, Akane was pounding her fist on the ground as she cried tears of anger, Midori tucked her knees to her chest and buried her face into her knees, Kiki cried the loudest as she hugged Sakura, and Aoi cried quietly as she sat in her spot helplessly.
Lincoln couldn't speak for I.M.P., but the idols had no idea just how much he sympathized with their plight. However, as he looked at his coworkers and remembered what he said to Go about them, he looked back to the idols, realizing what they needed right now and in their future.
TOKYO, JAPAN, Kamurocho, Hotel New Deborah
"You want me to WHAT?!" shouted Verosika.
Lincoln was with Verosika and her crew back at their temporary dwelling in New Deborah, fresh off their performance. Joined by Lincoln was I.M.P., Stolas, and Octavia; although Lincoln insisted he could handle carrying out his next plan by himself, his coworkers, especially Loona, didn't trust Verosika to not do any funny business with Lincoln, Octavia also wanted to personally make sure that Lincoln remained untouched, and Stolas wanted to stay close to Octavia and Lincoln in light of recent events.
Despite any misgivings, Lincoln approached Verosika after her performance, exchanging the basic pleasantries against his coworkers' wishes. However, when she and her crew saw the Wild Owlets accompanying them, they were understandably met with hostilities, given what happened to her arrangements earlier that forced her to take desperate measures to do her job. However, Lincoln stepped in to explain all that had occurred during the performance, from his team's fight against Go and the Owlets, the deal between Go and his benefactor, the identity of his benefactor, and the end result of the demonic deal. The day had been filled with one surprise after another for everybody involved, and Lincoln's request to Verosika was no exception.
"I need you girls to look after the Wild Owlets," repeated Lincoln without missing a beat.
"Lincoln," said Verosika, "I like you and all, but you're honestly asking me and my crew to babysit them after all their manager did?"
"Yeah!" agreed Kat. "I still have those bruises! I'm lucky nobody cared about why I had so much makeup on me!"
"Guys, I know their manager did you wrong, but they had nothing to do with it," defended Lincoln. "They never had any choice in the matter since Go practically forced them to work for him. And now, they lost everything and are gonna be condemned to Hell. They didn't deserve that."
"Psh, intern, didn't I tell ya that entertainers like them are blood-sucking harpies?" reminded Blitzø. "Satan knows what the hell they've done since they signed up with that beefy bastard!"
"Yeaahhh… we did plenty of things that wasn't what you'd call… virtuous," Kiki, the Owlet, trailed off. "I've lost count of how many guys ended up being a babbling mess after I had my way with them."
"… I kinda like her," Apple whispered to Coco, to her indignation.
"… Anyways," continued Lincoln, "even if you consider that, they didn't deserve it like this!"
"Linc," spoke up Coco. "I know it sucks for them and all, but they're big girls. They can take care of themselves."
"The fact that they were forced into a deal with Go says otherwise," retorted Lincoln, furrowing his brows. "Verosika, please, I can't think of anyone else but you who can take care of them with their line of work, especially when they have to start living in Hell."
Verosika hesitated as Lincoln begged her. She'd always dreamed of having him wrapped around her little fingers, but she hoped for a better circumstance where the feelings were mutual and consensual. Still, while she didn't want to refuse his request, she had to ask him an important question.
"Lincy, why are you so dead set on helping them? What's your stake in all this?"
Lincoln paused for a moment, having prepared for this moment beforehand, then replied, "Because I know all too well what it's like to lose my life up here, just to get stuck down in Hell for reasons beyond my control." With that response, I.M.P., Stolas, and Octavia immediately bore uneasy expressions, as they were the only ones in the room who understood Lincoln's predicament. "What it's like trying to get it all back and almost getting myself killed over it. What it's like to… lose hope…" In no time, everyone else, even the incubi and the Wild Owlets, looked uncomfortable at what Lincoln was revealing about himself. "Believe it or not, I got lucky… I met demons who picked me up when I was down… and they'd been taking care of me ever since then. I wouldn't be where I am now without them." He looked to I.M.P., Stolas, and Octavia with a smile, and they returned that smile wholeheartedly. He then turned back to Verosika, "And I know you can do the same for the Owlets. Please…"
Finally, Verosika understood why Lincoln was sticking with I.M.P. despite there being better options for his well-being. He was indeed trapped as she initially suspected, but it was a lot bigger than she ever could've realized, and his loyalty to his company for their deeds checked out, given his compassion and generosity. Just as she understood when singing her final song, Lincoln was clearly shouldering some heavy burdens, and her advances beforehand were definitely not helping his situation now that she got some details about it. This was her chance to do right by him properly, to show him that she truly did have feelings for him beyond the typical lust of a succubus… of course, she is still a succubus, so she couldn't help but indulge one last time.
"Okay, I'll do it for you… on one condition," Verosika said, smiling sultrily.
Millie prepared to pull out her knife.
"And what would that be?" Lincoln asked cautiously.
"… A kiss."
…
…
…
"EXCUSE YOU, BITCH?!" shouted an outraged Millie, her volume causing one of the windows to crack a little.
Undeterred, Verosika clarified, still smiling, "Just one kiss on the mouth. No tongue, even. Just lip to lip."
Lincoln had only kissed twice in his life, both to the same girl. Both of those instances were awkward for the both of them, and now he was going to do this the third time with a woman who was far more forward in intimacy than Ronnie Anne. He should still count his blessings due to the fact that Verosika was limiting herself to a simply lip kiss and not escalating it to the same proportions as what he'd even seen Moxxie and Millie make out when they thought he wasn't looking. Then again, the fact that they had an audience, of which more than half of them were expressing utter jealousy, did not help matters for him. He even saw the Wild Owlets blushing yet eagerly awaiting him to follow through, even Aoi.
The moment he saw Aoi, though, he remembered why he was asking for a favor. As such, Lincoln steeled his resolve, looked Verosika in the eye, and said, "Alright, you got yourself a deal."
The other succubi, Kiki of the Wild Owlets, and Aoi were rhythmically cheering for them while recording the moment, the incubi were snickering at how awkward Lincoln was being despite his incubus nature, and Millie, Loona, and Octavia were trying to step in to put a halt on this atrocity, only to be held back by Moxxie, Blitzø, and Stolas, respectively. Verosika already had her lips puckered, providing a simple target for Lincoln for when he finally makes his move. And make his move, Lincoln finally did, leaning in to press his lips against Verosika's soft ones, which was met with several cheers and a few collective growls. As promised, Verosika didn't use her tongue to keep the kiss simple, but it did go on for a few seconds before she finally pulled back and smiled at him.
"Thanks, Lincy. I'll take good care of the Owlets."
Lincoln, not noticing Verosika's lipstick on his lips, smiled back at her, responding, "I should be the one thanking you." He then heard a throat clear to his side, which he turned his head to and saw the other succubi looking at him anticipatingly. He could already guess what they were thinking, as he looked back to Verosika incredulously. She only shrugged sheepishly in response.
Turning back to the succubi, he said to them, "Alright, girls, one at a time, no tongue." And so, the other succubi lined up as Lincoln gave each of them on kiss on the lips, starting with Apple, then Coco, then Milky (though he swore she tried to sneak in a tip), and finally Kiki, and then Apple—
"Heeyyyy, didn't I already get you, Apple?" called out Lincoln, prompting Apple to giggle. Before she could leave, she was shoved aside by Loona, with Octavia following behind.
"Alright, y'all had your fun! Linc, pucker up!" commanded Loona, grabbing Lincoln by his shoulders.
"Wait, what?!" Lincoln balked, eyes wide as dinner plates. Before he knew it, Loona pressed her muzzle up to Lincoln's mouth fairly roughly, but the little kiss was over as fast as it began. However, before Lincoln had the chance to process what just happened, Octavia now stood in front of him and held his shoulders.
"Blame your lust aura," she said simply before pressing her beak against Lincoln's lips. Surprisingly, he didn't feel any pain despite how sharp her beak appeared, though he was still reeling from Loona's forwardness. Like Loona, Octavia's little kiss ended just as fast without giving Lincoln ample time to cope with what he'd just experienced.
"Actually," Loona spoke up, responding to Octavia's statement, "this all happened because Lincoln stole trash from your pops and screwed up a spell." Loona then addressed to Lincoln, "Sorry, Linc, you only have yourself to blame."
Lincoln didn't respond, as he was still standing frozen in shock. Not only him, but the rest of I.M.P. and Stolas stood still as wide-eyed as Lincoln. Eventually, Lincoln's brain rebooted, and uttered a single simple question.
"WHAT THE FU—?"
PRIDE RING, I.M.P. Headquarters
Two Months Later…
"You know, it's crazy how much happened just because I took a spellbook Stolas didn't want in order to help out Millie," Lincoln recapped to the readers. "After that whole fiasco, Verosika made good on her word that she'll take care of the Wild Owlets. I've actually been checking in on them occasionally, and they're doing pretty well so far. On top of getting by in Hell, they actually got to be extras for her crew on a few gigs. The Owlet Kiki even told me that they've been having more fun there than with Go, although she was blushing every time she told me that.
"In any case, other than that, I've also gotten to experience more of Hell with my coworkers, thanks to this new incubus form doubling as a demon disguise. When you ignore all the wanton murder, drugs, and alcohol, it's actually a pretty cool place with some great locales. Then again, it was off-putting every time we go out, but then other demons try to… ask me out."
Some of those unlucky demons were still bedridden in the hospital to this day, courtesy of Millie's protectiveness. Speaking of protective parents, Blitzø seemed to have doubled his threats of docking Lincoln's pay any time the intern found himself going near Loona, or even when she willingly chooses to go near him.
"As for Stella, surprisingly, I actually haven't seen her since Japan. I guess she's been keeping a low profile since she'd have to deal with Asmodeus if she tried ratting us out. We've also been keeping her involvement on the downlow, so you could say that we're at a stalemate here. I try not to think about it when I go over to Stolas to learn magic with him and Octavia, and they're doing pretty well too, all things considered."
Both Stolas and Octavia always played it cool whenever Lincoln visited them for magic lessons, but he always felt a very subtle underlying atmosphere of unease in both of them. After all, they are the ones who have to live with Stella, and what she did back in Japan was unforgiveable to the three of them.
As for the magic lessons, even though Lincoln had a lot more magical power and spells at his arsenal than he did as a kid, he still felt he needed to train and hone his skills to become more efficient, a sentiment shared by his coworkers and Stolas. "My powers also helped my company a lot since they made our jobs easier," Lincoln explained to the audience. "Between work and sightseeing most of Hell, these two months went by so fast when I thought I was in for the long haul. Still, I'm actually kinda gonna miss this form. Now I'm gonna be a kid again and have to relearn a lot of the spells from Stolas and the skills from Moxxie and Millie, not to mention other things I can't do as a human kid like going out and about in Hell without a disguise. But all good things have to end, I guess."
Right on cue, a light enveloped Lincoln as he felt a tingling sensation all throughout his body. The rest of I.M.P. noticed this and assembled to witness the process. After about a minute or so, the light dimmed and there stood the 12-year-old Lincoln that I.M.P. knew. They all felt relieved that Lincoln returned to normal, though a part of them still longed for the adult Lincoln who changed most of the status quo for the better. Still, that didn't stop Millie from hugging Lincoln, and she couldn't be happier to embrace a smaller child like he was still her baby.
"Heh, welcome back, intern," joked Blitzø, who seemed to be in a far better mood now. "So, ready to get back into the swing of things? Working on our inventory, coming up with plans for us to the heavy hitting, and not get my Looney riled up with your lust aura?"
Lincoln rolled his eyes, but still humored his boss. "Sure am, Blitzø. And I'm ready to do that with my pay deduction."
"Now that's what I like to hear!" cheered Blitzø before turning to Moxxie with a smarmy expression. "See that Mox?! Maybe you oughta try following your kid's example, or else he's gonna take the Employee of the Month spot from ya."
While still in Millie's embrace, her hair brushed against Lincoln's nose, tickling it just enough for him to start feeling a rising sensation in his nose, like a volcano about to burst.
"A-aaa… aaa… aaa…" uttered Lincoln, his face scrunching up. "AAACHOOOO!"
With a sneeze, a sudden shockwave burst from Lincoln, sending Millie flying back into Moxxie while Blitzø and Loona shielded their faces. Once everyone recovered, they all looked at Lincoln, only to be shocked at what they're seeing now. There was Lincoln, or rather, the incubus Lincoln they'd known for two months, only as a child now. Everyone was overtaken by pure silence as they processed this interesting turn of events, until that silence was broken by Moxxie and Millie.
"BLITZØ!" the married couple called.
"Already on it!" replied Blitzø, who was on his phone. "STOLAS!"
A few moments later…
"Oh dear… this is a rather interesting development…" said Stolas, who had arrived with Octavia upon interpreting what Blitzø was trying to yell at him through a phone call.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY BABY BOY NOW?!" questioned Millie.
After flipping through the same tome he had researched to learn more about Lincoln's first transformation, Stolas closed it to answer the questions lingering in everyone's mind right now.
"Now the tome states that the transformation was temporary and that you would revert to your original state. However, what this tome never considered was the curse that currently afflicts you, dear boy."
"W-what does my curse have to do with it?" asked Lincoln, though he was afraid to hear the answer.
"Lincoln, do you remember your magic lesson with me at the library? Where you confided in me and Octavia about the effects of your curse upon your encounter with the cherubs?"
"Oh yeah, that's when I got my hellphone the first time," said a nostalgic Lincoln. Loona took the time to glare at Octavia upon hearing that.
"Do you recall what I told you about your curse?"
"Uh… you told me that the curse is what's making Hell influence my soul so that it adapts to everything about it, right?"
"Correct. Now that I recall that as well, I can theorize that the curse actually adapted to your miscasting of the growth spell."
"Wait, so I'm stuck like this again?!" fretted Lincoln.
"… Lincoln, close your eyes, calm your mind, and visualize your human form while focusing your magic," instructed Stolas. Lincoln did so after taking a few breaths to calm down from panicking. After a few seconds of an impromptu meditation, Lincoln glowed for a brief moment before he transformed back into his human form. "Good, very good, dear boy. As I said, the curse appears to have adapted to the incorrect growth spell. In fact, I dare say this may be a boon instead, for you now possess the power to access your human and incubus form at will."
"Oh dear Satan," exhaled Moxxie, holding a hand to his heart. "How many surprises are we in for because of this stupid spell mishap?!"
"However, I want to test another theory of mine. Lincoln, perform the same spell, but this time, visualize your adult body." Lincoln did as instructed, resulting in him glowing once more before he transformed into the adult body he had for the past two months.
"What?!" shouted Lincoln as he looked at himself.
"It is as I thought," muttered Stolas. "Dear boy, your power appears to have grown substantially as a result of your curse adapting to the growth spell, which means you can access your incubus form both as a child and an adult at will."
"Lincy can turn into an incubus any time he wants?!" shouted Verosika excitedly, suddenly bursting into the lobby through the front door with stars in her eyes.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, BITCH?!" shouted an indignant Blitzø.
Loona immediately vaulted over her desk towards Lincoln before grabbing him and holding him close in defense of him. "You fuck right off! He ain't yours!"
Octavia followed suit on the opposite side of Loona, also holding Lincoln close. "That's right! Besides, you're too old for him! He needs someone closer to his age!"
Loona stopped for a moment to contemplate that last declaration before slowly turning to Octavia with a glare. "The hell do you mean by that?"
"I'm saying that he needs someone more suitable… you old hag," Octavia insulted, narrowing her eyes at Loona.
"NO ONE'S TOUCHING MY BABY BOY!" shouted Millie as she got in between and tried to pry off Loona and Octavia. Lincoln found himself literally in the center of an argument, not unlike how he'd get in between Lana and Lola whenever they fought. Only this time, he was the rope in a three-way tug-o-war that doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. He could only look around the office as it all devolved into chaos the moment he discovered his newfound power and capabilities.
At first, he was in utter disbelief at how everything deteriorated in a split second, but then he felt like he reached full circle with his emotions because now, he felt nothing but apathy born from exhaustion, as if he surrendered to all the misfortunes that the universe has cursed him with thus far and will curse him further in the future. Finally reaching the acceptance stage of this process, he looked to the audience as he saw the iris out transition closing in on him and uttered his classic family catchphrase:
"Dang it."
-THE END-
Hope you all enjoyed this third chapter because by God, that went on a lot longer than I thought it would. A little confession: for the longest time, I had salvaged this fic, but never truly gotten around to working on it like I did now. It's been a mix of being busy focusing on my life, indulging in personal fun times, being afraid of getting back into writing stories, and coming up with an original final chapter to end the first two chapters. Now that I've finally plucked up the courage to do this, I gotta say, it feels so weird after having been out of writing stories for a while and doing it once more for the first time. I can only hope this is a positive sign for me when it comes to my other hobbies I've yet to indulge in that I've been meaning to for a long time.
As for this fic, other than maybe doing occasional touch-ups to the existing chapters and author's notes, the 3-shot is now complete. But since I'm a big fan of the Yakuza games that I've been playing a lot of recently, who's to say this might be the end? There are plenty of fun ideas I may try to write for this particular fic, perhaps as an omake, because believe me, the Yakuza games have given me no shortage of ideas and shenanigans that I.M.P. can get into. But the main story itself is complete with the 3-shot, so for any Yakuza fans, you could say that there might be some substories left.
I hope you all enjoyed this 3-shot. Once again, please give your support to Akito the Boxer for starting this fic in the first place. And give your support to TvFan2244 for the original fanfic. But also, please give them your utmost respect. Follow Akito the Boxer's guidelines when interacting with him/her, whether it's questions about the fanfics or requesting commissions. And do not badger either of them over and over about the status of their stories because they're still people with their own lives.