A Demon's Tale

From his birth, the boy was born with a taste for blood in his mouth.

With a powerful mother and a father of the same, the boy had grown stronger and stronger as every year passed.

Though he was loved by both, the boy’s parents had a clear, shared thirst that they enjoyed quenching in their youth.

Thus, this boy would be praised upon his achievements in both training and his day to day life, where a battle could start with almost no instigation behind it.

A dark, rich thirst for blood that coursed through his veins, seeking the next battle to quench it.

Even if his father had perished in battle, his mother had honored the man’s pride for battle and kept training their son for what would arrive next.

Now a young man, he sought ways to use every part of himself to quench his thirst. The shark-oni’s mother made knives with his discarded teeth that he could use in battle. He used them in any way he could, wielding them in his hands, embedding them in his shoes, clutching them in his maw.

As he grew further into adulthood, the boy sought his own path to which he would ride along, seeking the next encounter that awaited him.

Giving himself the codename of Knife, like his mother’s handiwork, the man abandoned his former name for the sake of basking in his own glory.

Met with an angel not once, not twice, but three times, his true moment to shine had arrived.

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Clutching his knives as tightly as he could, the man of a similar title, Knife, prepared himself to charge forward to meet Hidari. However, there was an unexpected move taken up by the angel without any prior indication. Expanding his wings as far as he could behind himself, Hidari flapped them forward with a great gust of wind sharply rising behind them. As that wind rose, the temperature around the two lowered, causing the scenery to grow white with snow with hail falling from the sky.

Hidari: [Let’s not waste any time. The one whom I serve is counting on me.]

Knife: [Heh! You’ve changed a lot!]

Pushing forward with a bang, Knife kicked off the ground and made his way towards Hidari in an instant.

Knife: [I like that!]

The blades ripped through the cold air as they were swung forward. Unfortunately for Knife, Hidari had stomped his right foot down, causing a wall of ice to form and attack him head on. Using his knives to block it, the hybrid oni was sent flying back as he blocked the hit, but something far more peculiar had occurred in front of him.

Despite how useful the wall was, Hidari had suddenly smashed it with his newly crafted nunchaku. Then, with a swift kick, he sent several chunks of ice flying towards Knife which were sliced apart. The ice was used to the angel’s advantage, as his wings pushed him over to above Knife’s position, kicking him back towards the ground. Unable to block the attack, Knife took the full brunt of the force against his back and descended, only to collapse against a dome of ice that had been crafted. Hidari drew close behind, punching down at his position in hopes to land a devastating hit. Using the lower end of his arms to poorly block the strike, Knife clashed with Hidari for several moments before releasing himself with a slash at Hidari’s chest, causing an incredibly shallow wound that hardly bled but at least allowed him to escape.

Rushing in again, with that thirst he felt since he was young in his throat, Knife sliced through the air in rapid succession to attack, only to be parried with every strike by Hidari’s weapon that pushed his knives away. Block after block, Knife kept trying to push forward despite how each attack failed. Thrusting a hand forward towards Hidari’s heart, Knife chose a risky play to go for the kill this early. The risk was high, and thus, his consequences would surely come, as Hidari clutched the arm and froze it over. Being smacked away by the angel’s palm, Knife looked down at his sealed arm with wonder.

Hidari: [Sorry, but I can’t hold back anymore. You’ll have to make do with one arm.]

The shark-oni shot a grin towards Hidari, before rapidly slicing the frozen area of his arm. A second later, the ice around the arm crumbled to pieces, without a single bit of injury to Knife’s own body.

Knife: [I’m not fond of just one, so I decided to fix that myself! Now, let’s continue!]

Swinging a knife down towards the snow, Knife attempted to hide his oncoming attack inside as it rushed towards Hidari while also giving himself the means to blind him. Thrusting his hand upward, he noticed the flaw in his plan that he had yet to understand. Once again, the arm was frozen. Bewildered, Knife could not prepare himself for the kick that smashed into his face, gliding him back along the snow he sliced through.

Hidari: [I won’t repeat myself again. You should know after our first encounter how this will go.]

Knife: [Our first encounter? Wait a minute…]

During their first battle, a similar change in temperature had occurred. Hail started to fall, the arena around them was decorated with snow, and a chilling breeze flowed through the area. Among all was the ice that attached itself to Hidari’s body. While it gave him a powerful barrier to use from Knife’s attacks along with preventing his wounds from growing worse, this appearance was no longer there now. The most notable spots had been that of his wings and his feet.

Watching as the scene played out before him again, Knife tried to replace what he saw with what he was now experiencing. He did not have wings of his own, thus there was nothing to freeze there. However, the other area was something he had naturally been given since birth. Since the two had started, he felt an oddly cold feeling in his toes. Looking down, he gazed upon the knives that were jutted out, now frozen over by the snow beneath him and slowly growing every five seconds.

Jumping into the air, he sliced at the ice along his arm and shoes, choosing a new strategy in which he would combat the angel.

Knife: [If being on the ground gives you the advantage, I’ll just take you on in the air! Your wings won’t help you now! I can easily cut through your defenses from above! How the hell are you going to block this!]

In a flurried rush, Knife kept himself afloat with every attack he dished out onto Hidari’s body. Wound after wound, he unleashed his bloodthirsty strikes onto the angel without a single ounce of mercy. Yet, despite how much he hungered for battle, despite how much he enjoyed inflicting these wounds onto his foes, there was something wrong. Hidari was standing there, eyes shut off from the world around him while keeping two clenched fists held in front of him. Around his figure was a thin ice white aura.

Danger. Something about Knife’s situation had told him he was in danger. Ignoring that sense, Knife continued his onslaught to brutalize his worthy opponent. There was another problem he had yet to consider, however, which was the wounds he delivered to Hidari. They were not fatal, they were not deep, in fact, calling them shallow was perhaps too much. The wounds were something far lower in grade, like a scratch in the flesh that could not be felt.

Thrusting his arms into a guard, Hidari had done the unthinkable and attacked the air around him. Rather, it seemed as though the air had warped into his arms, as if being held tightly in a hug, before snapping with an ear-popping sound as he shoved his arms to the side. The force behind this shove caused Knife’s guard to remain completely wide open, giving way for Hidari’s answer.

Slamming a foot behind himself, Hidari pierced through the air towards Knife’s chest with a corkscrew punch. The chilling air twirled around the bare fist, only to match with a similar chill before it made contact. Wrapping his arm in ice just a split second before, Hidari slammed it into his opponent’s chest, with a rippled beam of the wind flowing through the back and a heavy bang sounding behind it.

With a smile on his face, Hidari opened his eyes and provided the name of this technique.

Hidari: [Frost Tip Geyser.]

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After sparring with an invisible foe, Hidari Monjo sat along the grass of the Babylon District for a needed break. As he sat there by his lonesome, a young, feminine voice joined the space behind him.

???: [You all good here, Hidari?]

Turning to his right, the angel was met with a comrade of his. A succubus with short pinkish-red hair and eyes of the same color, Tari Erozena.

Hidari: [I'm alright. Thank you for asking, Tari. How has training been for you?]

Resting her hands on the back of her head, Tari kicked the dirt as she walked while recalling her training moments prior.

Tari: [Been alright so far. Me and Sena got some good practice in, I vouched for a break after a while, Sena went to get some ice cream and now I'm here. Nothing too special. How's yours going?]

Dusting off his gi, Hidari looked towards the grand ocean in the distance.

Hidari: [Mine has been going quite well, I must say. I think I've fully realized what I need to do now.]

Curious by his odd way of speaking, Tari tilted her head as she viewed the angel.

Tari: [Oh yeah? What's that?]

Hidari: [Tari, allow me to ask, have you ever thought about your reason for aligning with Lady Shiro?]

Tari: [That's a bit of a silly question, but it's because me and my sister don't have much left. Lady Shiro was willing to save the both of us. Twice. Besides, we could tell she cared a whole lot more about others than we first thought.]

Hidari: [I apologize. I suppose my question was rather odd to begin with. What I was trying to ask originally was why you'd like to help Lady Shiro, or rather the ways that you would, now that she allowed you under her wing.]

Tari: [Oooh. We're going a little bit more philosophical, huh? Alright, I guess I can answer that.]

Slumping herself down near Hidari, Tari rested her arms against her knees as she too watched the ocean in the distance.

Tari: [I guess I wanna pay her back for the trouble I caused.]

Hidari: [Trouble?]

Tari: [When we were fighting in that first battle, I did a whole lot that Lady Shiro wouldn't have approved of. It goes beyond the simple stuff of trying to kill her, to the more fucked up spots like reminding others of their past. Even if some of them had some fond memories, like Miss Tequi or Lady Shiro, there were a ton that Sena and I killed that we gave that experience to. Hell, I asked Sena to use it on Miss Tequi. I can only imagine she saw herself dying horribly. Neither of us really saw how it happened, but seeing her reaction along with the funeral Lady Shiro and the others held after told us all that we needed.]

Looking at a pink kunai hiding in her cloak, Tari placed her hand on it and moved the weapon close to her face.

Tari: [We made our abilities to survive, but I think a part of them also came from our own trauma. After our family was gone, we wanted to relive the old memories we had with them, as well as finding out what lay ahead for us. Obviously, we made these abilities in a rush, so we didn't construct them the way that we wanted to. We can't even use them to relive that past or find our futures. From the beginning, even if they were built for survival, these abilities were made with malice behind them.]

Placing the kunai down along the outer side of her cloak, Tari turned to Hidari and smiled.

Tari: [So now I wanna do better for Lady Shiro. If our abilities are already set in stone, then we'll just think of more ways to use them. Mine might be good for scouting, in case someone has info that we need to remember or know. Then again, I can't determine what they'll see. Lady Shiro seemed to remember somebody when I used the advanced version, Past Story, on her, so maybe that'll be good for showing others the people that they've lost! If I'm being honest, I don't really know what either Sena or I will do from here. I'm not sure how her future visions or my abilities will work, but we'll do the best we can now to support Lady Shiro. It's the least we can do for her. Besides, if we ever need a trump card, Sena always has her advanced ability. It's funny when I really think about it though. I'm sure Sena may have already put some thought into that stuff, but I've been doing so ever since we met Lady Shiro. I'm the younger sister. That seems like her job, y’know?]

Lying down on her back, Tari gazed at the sky before returning her focus to Hidari.

Tari: [I'd honestly say you're pretty lucky, Hidari. You haven’t made an ability yet, right?]

Hidari: [I haven't, but I don’t believe I will.]

Moving herself back up to a seated position, Tari curled an eyebrow at the response.

Tari: [Huh?]

Hidari: [Lady Shiro, along with Mrs. Fuloreen, have entrusted me with the knowledge to pass on the Babylon Way style. Part of who I am, the piece of my soul that makes me Hidari Monjo, is my love for martial arts. Mrs. Fuloreen was the one responsible for that, after all. That's why I've created my own Babylon Way, as the two of them instructed me to. A Babylon Way that incorporates both my element and my knowledge of the arts into one perfect combination. The Hidari Monjo Babylon Way style! That's exactly why I don't need an ability. It would only hinder the peace in my style.]

Tari: [Hmmm.]

Nervous over Tari's thumb caressing the bottom of her chin, Hidari attempted to give an apology over his long explanation.

Hidari: [I'm sorry. I'm sure that might have been a little much to hear–]

Waving her hands frantically, Tari stopped the apology halfway to give her own.

Tari: [No, no! Sorry! I'm the one who should apologize! I was just thinking about what you said and I like it. There's an odd sense of… purity, I guess. You've chosen something a lot more pure and sacrificed the idea of an ability to compensate. With that, you've basically done exactly what Lady Shiro and Mrs. Fuloreen requested of you.]

Looking behind herself, Tari stood up and dusted off her clothes, removing the grass that clung on.

Tari: [Well, I've gotta get back to training with Sena. I'm sure she's gonna want to finish her ice cream, but she'll probably want to talk while she does. Keep up the good work though, Hidari. I like the idea you've got going.]

Hidari: [Thank you very much for the chat. I wish you the best with your training.]

Tari: [Thanks. See you at dinner.]

Waving off to each other, the conversation between two within Shiro's Dragonic Force had ended.

Hidari looked back towards the sea, smiling towards his endless blue friend.

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Abnormal. Hidari Monjo was abnormal. To Knife, what was considered the norm in his own mind was different from that of the norm to others. A fight to him was a celebratory feast rather than an unfortunate circumstance. Yet even to a man as abnormal as Knife, this angel was far more abnormal. Even in his mind, Knife knew the unspoken laws that nature, and by proxy, battles followed. If someone was wounded, repeatedly in sequence, they would defend themselves in some way. Blocking, parrying, running, all were valid actions against an oncoming attack. However, this man did none of those things. He did not block, he did not parry the attacks, he did not run, he merely accepted the wounds and sent a fist in exchange. Enough wounds would lead to one's death, yet he took every wound Knife could deliver. Not only that, but each of the wounds formed were shallow, no matter how deep Knife attempted to cut. He was an angel in race, yet his body did not seem remotely similar. It was more comparable to that of a dragon. He had fought Hidari only a week prior, yet there was now a large gap in his capabilities between their last encounter and now.

Clutching his chest after dropping his blades, Knife tried to recover from the terrible hit he had taken. Unlike Hidari's injuries, the punch Knife had received was devastating in power, leaving his lungs in panicking turmoil and nearby bones feeling cracked, or possibly broken. Due to the new environment Hidari had introduced, this was not the end of Knife's pain, as his left arm clutching the snow, along with the right side of his face had started to freeze over.

Reevaluating his status, Knife came to an aggravating conclusion. The knives placed into the soles of his shoes were now shattered into cold bite size pieces, leaving him with his last remaining option, the emergency backup knives that were implanted as well. The knives he had dropped to the floor had suffered a similar fate, along with many others in his clothes. All except for three, which much like the blades in his shoes, left him with no other choice. Despite how quickly the fight had started, despite the upper hand Knife had held in their previous two encounters and even the amount of hits he had landed, Knife was now on his last legs while Hidari was still perfectly fine.

Moving himself off the ground, Knife took one of the three knives he had left and carelessly cut the ice. While he was able to free his arm and face, a mild scar was left on both areas as he did so. Though he enjoyed his thirst for battle, the situation was far more dire than he could have hoped to receive that enticing ecstasy from.

Hidari's sparkling orange eyes looked back to his foe, a cold yet blazing resolve building up behind them as he tilted his head down.

Hidari: [I apologize, Knife, but as I mentioned, I don't have time to waste.]

Knife: [... Sharuma.]

Hidari: [Hm?]

Sharuma: [Sharuma Fetyumen. You asked for my name during our first encounter, right? That's my name.]

Puzzled by his sudden need to state his name, Hidari questioned the warrior.

Hidari: [Why tell me this now?]

Sharuma: [I can already tell that our fight is gonna have a real blast of a finale, so why not get all the personal details out of the way before we do?]

Grinning back to the angel, Sharuma made his claim. Smiling back, Hidari nodded and entered his stance again.

Hidari: [Magnificent.]

A far distance separated the two. The only feeling they had both shared was the touch of the chilling wind hitting their bodies. Yet soon, they would share their attacks with one another at full strength.

Slamming themselves off the ground, the two charged each other rapidly with determined looks in their eyes. Hidari held his left palm forward while keeping his right fist behind him. His wings valiantly fluttered in the wind as he approached Sharuma. Sharuma held his body close in alignment, allowing for every side of him to attack should he reach Hidari. Though he could have used matōki to fly towards him, the shark-oni had instead chosen a reckless strategy of jumping off the ground repeatedly to close the distance.

With every kick to the ground, the blades by Sharuma's feet whittled away further and further, until eventually shattering apart like the knives before them. Despite this change, Sharuma clutched on the blades in his hands and mouth as hard as he could, continuing his charge.

Sharuma: [I'm still fine!]

Their speed only made the air around them far more chilling against their bodies. However, it was not only the feeling of the air around them that took effect, but so too did their instruments of battle. In Sharuma's hands, the blades effortlessly glided into the wind like dust, decorating it like glitter. Releasing the handles, Sharuma’s fangs dug into the hilt of his final knife as he rapidly approached Hidari.

Sharuma: [I’m still fine!]

With barely any distance left between them, the two warriors were now prepared to strike. Thrusting his fist forward with an icy chill behind it, Hidari’s punch ripped through the air. Swinging his head back, Sharuma swiftly shifted it back forward to slice through the cold. At the same time, both made the same war cry to each other.

Hidari and Sharuma: [HIRAAAAAAAAH!]

A cloud of snow erupted in the midst of their clash, causing an unknown conclusion between them.

As the snow settled, several sculptures of angelic entities made of ice were formed in a row, as if creating a hall. At the end of the hall was a sculpture of a goddess, likely one who had worn a similar color to the snow below her. Finally, a sculpture of a fist was made, perfectly matching the angel in front of it with his fist thrusted forward. Inside the large fist of ice was the foe who had lost all of his knives, forever encased within this sculpture.

Hidari: [White World.]

Standing himself back up, the martial artist spoke to his frozen rival behind him.

Hidari: [Thank you, Sharuma Fetyumen. It is thanks to you that I have improved for the goddess I serve.]

Placing a hand near the bridge of his nose, the man gently hovered over a wound that released small spurts of blood.

Hidari: [Because of that, along with this scar, I shall remember your name well.]

Starting and finishing the fight at an incredible pace, the angelic martial artist proved his worth without fail.

The battle in the newly formed land of snow was over. The victor: Hidari Monjo.

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Listed as the Strong Second among Kōkatsu the Almighty’s family, Kiyomi had the natural talent that she had honed in on for several years of immense strength. No matter the foe, she could likely best them should it come down to a situation of a hand to hand brawl. There was something to be said about the arts, but when it was a game of raw strength, Kiyomi would likely win nine times out of ten.

The situation she was now forced into was likely the one in that ten, as both she and her opponent were flung towards nearby rock formations, crushing them with their bodies as they flew into them. Picking herself back up, Kiyomi started to feel every drop of sweat moving down her face as she looked on at her foe. Unlike Kiyomi, who had taken damage and felt it with every passing second, this demon beast monstrosity that wore gladiator armor around its body had not flinched in the slightest. Though it received her attacks, there was not a single piece of indication that it was hurt. Thus, Kiyomi clicked her tongue, annoyed by the presence of an unbeatable, slugfest foe.

Kiyomi: [Even if I lose, I’m not letting you get anywhere near Mother!]

Embracing the name many of Kōkatsu’s children had started to refer to the beautiful kitsune goddess as, Kiyomi hardened her muscles and prepared for another brutal beatdown, both to her own body and her peculiar foe’s.

Before she could do so, however, the ground below her shook heavily. Coupling this shaking was the sound of something landing behind her. Kiyomi had yet to turn around, but a voice echoed out, tagging on to her previous statement.

???: [Come on now, Rockin’ Kiyomi! This ain’t the time to be worried about losing! In this kind of scenario, you need to make sure you get the flashiest victory of them all, just so you can show it off to your lady! Cute that you’ve started calling her mother, though! It’s got a real rockingly sweet vibe to it!]

Recognizing the voice, along with the extreme usage of the word “rocking,” Kiyomi had already gathered who this was. The mental image of a flashy, purple-haired incubus flashed by her mind, creating a smile as she turned to greet her friend. She had found that the echo in his voice was odd, almost like that of a speaker, but she ignored it for the time being. What was more important was that the incubus who had helped her against this demon beast the week prior had returned to assist again.

Kiyomi: [Migi! I’m glad you’re he–Eh…? EH?! EHHHH?!]

Turning around, Kiyomi found a strange oddity to the voice she had heard. The first issue was that Migi was not there. Instead, two massive metal feet were nearby. Looking up to see what the metal feet were connected to, Kiyomi witnessed the second issue. An immensely tall mech had now stood in front of her. Colored purple and black, the features made immediately apparent were the double chainsaws on both arms replacing any usage of hands, and a sunglasses shaped torso that shifted upward similar to that of wings on a plane. As Kiyomi continued to trace her eyes upward, she noticed the mech sported two faces, a low one appearing to wear the sunglasses-shaped torso and another well defined face in the expected position that was far more chiseled than Migi’s own. The mech’s shiny static teeth gleaned with a smile. Above the mech’s grin was a cybernetic red visor and a horn jutting out from the forehead. Although hard to make out from her low vantage point, Kiyomi could see two other horns peeking out from behind the mech’s head as well. Along the left arm of the robot was the birthmark of Shiro Fuloreen painted onto it. On the opposite arm, metal letters that spelled out SRMM could be seen. With her mouth hanging agape, Kiyomi couldn’t utter a single word upon gazing at this new beast. A beast that was far more wild than the one she was fighting.

Inside the mech, a man with a large mechanical right arm was floating in the air, with techno rings surrounding him and multiple translucent monitors for him to touch.

Migi: [Sorry for the wait, but I needed to get this bad boy ready! Introducing my greatest weapon of all! The Super Rockin’ Mecha Migi!]

With his voice echoing out to his kitsune friend on the other side, Migi activated a button to release a screech from the mech and awaited Kiyomi’s reaction. Her reaction, of course, being–

Kiyomi: [THIS IS MORE LIKE A KAIJU THAN IT IS A MECHA!]

–A fearful reaction, caused by the terror of Mecha Migi.

Returning to battle in a flashy manner, Migi was ready to begin his rock session.

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