Kyoya endured the burning, and instead diverted the Demon's attention away from his free hand by wrestling its grip even harder.

"Twists and turns are all part of the game, y'know."

"Shut your mouth—!"

Before his enemy could finish, Kyoya tore his occupied arm away and threw a fireball at his feet. The charge pulsed briefly before detonating on impact with the ground, and the explosion propelled Kyoya upward, offering enough force to push him above his target with its neck back in his grip.

He threw the beast downward, straight into the waiting earth, ripping away grass and dirt before following with ensuing fury. He dove with a vengeance, morphing his claws back to fists and kicking the Demon in a line-drive several meters forward. "We're rampin' up, now!"

Lyric stared on, wide eyes having to task between tending to the equally mesmerized child and viewing the battle before them.

"You can't be serious!" Their oppressor attempted to recover mid-air, but Kyoya was in his face again.

The Demon held up a block.

By that single action, momentum had been awarded to Kyoya en masse.

A flurry of punches erupted, detonations of azure searing away the darkness of their enemy's form. The built-up fury was quickly becoming ravenous, its intensity exploding in unison with the power behind each successive super-powered slug. He tore away at the block, but somehow, their enemy managed to resist just enough to break his chain again.

"INSOLENT FOOL! BEGONE!" It roared, the sound alone blowing him back to Lyric's side as even more smoke billowed from the chimney organ on its back.

His lungs were burning, vision blurred, both from the smog's stinging his throat and the sheer piercing volume of the previous attack. Needles were digging into his temples again, jagged and crooked.

Lyric's walking to his side seemed to alleviate all of that.

"Just in time. Lucky you."

He looked at her, and in return, she gestured behind them. The crowd fleeing before was now amassed out behind them, whooping and hollering. One, in particular, he noticed to be the boy that she'd mended. The child was jumping up with his fist in the air, cheering.

"GO GET 'EM, BLUE!"

Lyric smiled. "He shouldn't have to tell you twice... Let's knock this bastard's lights out."

The Miscreant smirked in reply.

"Damn straight! Call that last bit a knuckleduster, you freakin' creep!" Kyoya dashed once more to the front of their quarry, smashing through an attempted counter and beginning another chain, as crackling energy began to hint at his partner's intervention. If he could buy her enough time to score a clean hit, she was plenty capable to end the fight where they stood.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" The Demon inhaled to roar again, but as Kyoya had prepared for, the appearance of a sparking, hissing polearm jutting through the Demon's left lung forced it to a stop.

"Sorry, you say somethin'? I didn't catch that." Lyric removed her weapon and sprung off the enemy's head, leaving Kyoya to satisfy an unmatched challenger's hunger.

His onslaught raged on, roaring blazes following the exhilarated Miscreant.

"WE'VE GOT PLENTY MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!" Every hit sent the Demon further and faster, and yet he caught it with another blow every time.

"YOU'LL REGRET TRIFLING WITH THESE FORCES, CHILD! CEASE AT ONCE!" The Demon was wailing now, distorted pleading only furtherly fueling his urge to drive this Devil into the deepest ends of the Void.

In short, the Miscreant paid it no credence.

Just before impact with yet another decisive blow, their enemy spun out of its knockback and landed in a berserk sprint toward the opposite exit. "There weren't humans like you before the Schism! I'll have to inform the-"

A familiar amber-eyed gal tapped a patient foot, standing some ten feet ahead and blocking the path.

"Going somewhere?"

"I'll have your head on a skewer if you continue interfering, human!"

"Whoa, hey, don't look at me. Tell that to him."

Lyric leaned on her staff, pointing a finger over the oppressor's shoulder.

The moment its head turned, a thundercrack swing from Lyric shook the courtyard. She sent the Demon careening into a lined-up uppercut from Kyoya, using the same technique of dragging his claw along the ground to keep friction and heat higher for more stunning effect.

It was launched right back to Lyric, who sent an electrified kick skyward.

She chased into the air with a follow-up overhead slam, lightning bolts amplifying the hit and guiding their target straight into an awaiting Miscreant.

Kyoya reeled back and flexed his knuckles as their target got within range.

"Tell your friends that topside's different now..."

Time slowed to a crawl as a blistering orb flared around his fist—unfathomable heat deriving from both indomitable pride and unbridled ferocity.

Cheers began to erupt from behind him once again.

"That's it, kid!"

"Give it to 'em!"

Then he heard that child call out.

"Do it!"

As they all knew, he didn't have to be told twice.

The Miscreant planted his front foot and kicked up boulders the size of wagons.

He threw the punch.

"AFFINITY EXTENSION: CRITICAL OUTBURST!"

Kyoya's roar resounded across galaxies. That hit carried with it the force of every before it, and then doubled.

His fist met the Demon's face within a blink. A brutal shockwave gave way to a linear crater being seared into the courtyard as the enemy blasted through any obstacle that dared to try and stop the Devil turned projectile. Another few moments, and it had flown far too deep in the woods to see anymore.

Only the smokey aftermath remained from the line of trajectory. All that remained of it were the pathetic wisps of darkness being burned away by simply wandering too close to him.

While he hadn't felt it in the moment, the adrenaline wearing off brought a wicked ache to his attention—his now burned-out fist was the source.

However, a few sores were the least of his concerns. Kyoya entertained the thought of that Demon having survived, but after a show like that, he figured it at least mostly unlikely for this one in particular to be back anytime soon.

He didn't really care at that point, though. All that mattered was that he got to return an old favor...

...With this being the first of many, of course.