Amidst the screaming of guests and the roaring of gangsters, the sound of crunching wood sounded out through the frigid night as Izzbelle Suyas hurled herself straight through the front door of the central hall. Behind her, Cobalt cried out and shielded his face with his free arm as he dragged along behind the Oni, his limp wrist clutched tightly in her hand.
Gritting her teeth, she glanced around for any guards. She knew the Sulfur Bloods better than anybody; it didn't take long for them to arm themselves for a fight. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be anyone waiting for them outside. Yet.
"Quit whinin' and start runnin'!" Izzbelle growled, shoving him in the direction of the estate entrance.
"I- Izzbelle, what the Hell are you-?!"
"No questions! Just move your fuckin' feet, dumbass!"
He stood there quivering for a few moments, but after an intense glare from Izzbelle, he batted his wings nervously and began to run, scattering snow with every footstep.
The man was cold and scared, that much was plain. Scrawny and weak-willed, too. Not that he was going to say anything about it. He was a terrible fit for the Sulfur Bloods.
So just why did her father choose him?
"Of all fuckin' people...!" she hissed to herself, guiding the exhausted Incubus through the compound.
She could hear footfalls and yells coming from behind them, as well as the sound of voices being raised from all over the estate. They didn't have long.
The heel of her shoe suddenly broke, causing the Oni to topple into a wall. Swearing loudly, she kicked them off and made to tear the hem of her dress, as it was getting caught up in her legs. As she grabbed the fabric, however, she paused.
Izzbelle wasn't much for dresses and the like, but when her mother presented her with her wedding dress, she actually found herself warming to it. It was based on the regalia of ancient Oni battlemaids, designed to be both stylish and practical. Unfortunately, it didn't allow her to run very fast.
"Agh... Sorry, Mom...!"
As much as she cursed her old woman for allowing this entire debacle to happen, Izzbelle couldn't remain mad at her. After all, it was by Aelda's blessing that she was able to ditch the wedding, thanks to some well-planned sabotage.
Ripping the lower half of the gown off, Izzbelle smoothed down the ragged skirt and looked up at Cobalt, who was staring at him with worried amber eyes. His gaze caught her off-guard.
"Gah! What the fuck are you starin' at?! Get goin'!" she barked, causing him to jump.
"B- But... are you alright?!"
"I'm fine! Just go!"
With an encouraging shove from the Oni, the Incubus hurried down along the path, with Izzbelle following closely. Before long, the pair approached the wrought-iron gates of the Suyas estate. Before they passed through, however, she ground to a halt.
"Izzbelle?!" cried Cobalt, stopping just outside the gate.
She pointed at the road leading from the compound.
"Brimstone is just due east of here. Keep runnin', and don't stop for a second," she instructed.
"You're not coming with me?"
Izzbelle took a deep breath. A part of her wanted to go with Cobalt and keep him safe, but that part was being drowned out by a much louder, much angrier part.
"No. Gotta give these bastards a reason to stay."
The Oni raised her arm and concentrated. Her hand began to grow hotter and hotter, warping the air and causing the snow on her skin to hiss and evaporate.
"Ocov et! Amra ilobaid!" chanted Izzbelle, splaying her hand.
The air exploded, forming a blazing rift in front of her. Plunging her arm deep into it, her fingers wrapped around something solid. Ripping her Bronze Axe free, she swung the smoking weapon around before bracing it against her shoulder.
"Just go, dumbass. I got a shitload of steam I gotta blow off," Izzbelle stated resolutely, rolling her shoulder as the shouts of gangsters grew louder.
"But-!"
"Hey, this ain't me fightin' for no reason, okay?! I'm doin' this for you! Now do us both a favour and fuckin' run!"
Cobalt opened his mouth to contest, but said nothing. He seemed to see something different about Izzbelle.
No kidding; she could feel something different about her. She was angry, yes, but the rage within her didn't burn quite so brightly as it always had. It was a strange, smouldering kind of anger that didn't cloud her thinking nearly as much. Adrenaline was flowing freely, and yet she could see perfectly.
She gave him the best approximation of a smile that she could muster.
"Just trust me, alright?"
Nodding slowly, Cobalt buttoned up his jacket and prepared to brave the cold country roads. As he made to run for his life, the Incubus gave Izzbelle one last look.
"Stay safe, Izzbelle."
With that, he began to run, disappearing into the darkness of the snow-choked night. Gripping the haft of her axe with both hands, Izzbelle turned to face encroaching voices. She relaxed her shoulders and lolled her head back, breathing through her nose as that ball of primal rage within her grew larger and larger. The heat of anger gradually spread throughout her entire body, tensing her muscles and causing her breath to come out in puffs of smoke. But she still felt in control.
She don't know what had brought on this change.
Or maybe she did, and she just didn't want to admit it to herself.
Whatever it was, for the first time in her life, Izzbelle felt tempered by her anger, rather than getting consumed by it. So with an almighty battle-cry, the Oni gripped her Bronze Axe tight and took off back into the compound.
-----
There was a pair of Sulfur Blood grunts - each armed with a submachinegun - patrolling by the mess hall, both searching for the runaway bride and her errant husband-to-be. They were both well-built men, hardened by years of conflict.
But they were no match for their boss' daughter.
She fell upon them like a blazing storm; a cyclone of blistering bronze that tore through what little defence they had and knocked them flat onto their backs. They tired to retaliate with their own Bronze Axes, but Izzbelle didn't give them the chance. With an upward cleave, she sent one man flying into a snowbank, and with a heavy swing, she knocked the other cleanly unconscious with the flat of her axeblade.
"C'mon, give me a fuckin' challenge!" she grunted, reaffirming her grip on her weapon.
It felt good, to let loose like this. For so long, they only means of stress relief available to the young heiress was going toe to toe with the gangsters down in the common room, and it was no fun when her opponent was already half-inebriated and ready to collapse. There was no sense of victory.
But this? She could get used to this.
"Hold it, young miss! I don't wanna shoot!" hawked a voice from behind her.
Wheeling around, Izzbelle narrowed her eyes at a Sulfur Blood that had appeared from behind one of the small storehouses, brandishing his submachinegun. The weapon was aimed right at her, and he looked about ready to fire.
"Don't be a fuckin' coward! Do it!" taunted Izzbelle, slamming her fist against her chest.
"I'm warning you!"
"Ha! I'd be shakin' in my boots if I weren't barefoot!"
The gangster shouldered his weapon, but by then she had already lifted her axe above her head. With a mighty heave, Izzbelle hurled the weapon, causing it to spin towards the Sulfur Blood at a breakneck pace. It cut through the front of his jacket and left a sizable gash, before continuing on and lodging itself in the wall of the storehouse. But as he tried to stifle the bleeding and aim his weapon, the gangster was suddenly swept clean off his feet by an oncoming shoulder tackle. The runaway bride slammed her opponent into the cracked wall, which groaned under the strain. Once she knocked the gangster out with a decisive punch, the bricks shattered, sending her toppling into the storehouse in a shower of broken masonry and crumbled mortar.
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"Heh... just gettin' started..." Izzbelle muttered to herself, smearing dust all over the front of her dress as she got to her feet.
Spotting her axe lying by a half-opened crate, she marched over to pick it up. Glancing something shiny within, Izzbelle wrenched the lid of the crate off and peered inside.
It was filled to the brim with silver fireworks, the kind often set off at the end of Oni weddings. Her father certainly spared no expense for this whole event.
"Almost a shame..." she breathed, picking one of the rockets up and rolling it over in her hands.
For a few moments, Izzbelle had considered what would have happened had she not decided to run at the last moment. If all went without a hitch, she would have been wed to Cobalt. He would likely have lost his job, but as the husband of the future Sulfur Blood leader, it wouldn't have mattered all that much. Money wouldn't be an issue, and once Izzbelle took up the boss' mantle, they would be the most powerful couple in Brimstone.
It... was almost tempting.
But the simple fact of the matter was that Izzbelle didn't want to lead the Sulfur Bloods, and she wasn't about to drag Cobalt down for the sake of her father's obsession with tradition.
"Menidutitrof ihim ad. Singi."
Izzbelle snapped her fingers, causing a spark and lighting the fuse of the firework. As it hissed and gradually burned away, she hoisted her axe up onto her shoulder and tossed the silver rocket back into the crate. As she stepped back out into the snow, the howling of the wind and the shouting of mobsters slowly died away as she found herself getting lost in her thoughts.
Would it have been so terrible a fate? Cobalt was hardly the worst person to end up with...
No. No. Absolutely not.
Thinking back on her embarrassing display at the altar was already enough to make her heart twinge painfully, imagining an entire future with him was almost too much. That night before, when he slept beside Izzbelle in her bed, she didn't sleep a wink. While Cobalt slumbered on, the Oni lay with her eyes wide open, heart going faster than it had ever gone before. She had never seen him so open and vulnerable before, and as she watched him murmur and twitch in his sleep, Izzbelle felt the overwhelming urge to protect him, rather than beat the Incubus to a pulp.
Izzbelle only felt that way about two people; James and Jelli. But it was more than some mere protective instinct. Indeed, when Izzbelle pictured Cobalt's face, she was reminded of something he said on that fateful night in front of the dorms.
"You may feel alone, Izzbelle, but you're not. Even if you don't want me, I'm here for you; as your teacher, and I hope as a friend."
He was an idiot. A tender, lovable idiot that cared more for others than he did for his own personal safety. The Oni had fallen for him, she knew that much.
And she didn't know how to handle it.
Feet planted in the snow, Izzbelle took a deep breath.
"Keep it together, Suyas... Tch, fuckin' habits are rubbin' off on me..." she said aloud, cracking her knuckles.
Up ahead, a crowd of Sulfur Bloods emerged from behind the central hall, pointing and yelling at the heiress. As they brandished their guns, Izzbelle tightened her grip on the haft of her Bronze Axe, ready for the upcoming brawl.
All that fuzzy-wuzzy feelings stuff could wait. For the time being, the Oni had Hell to raise.
"BRING IT ON, YOU LIMP-HORNED SONS OF BITCHES!"
Right on cue, the storehouse behind her violently exploded.
Silver sparks, broken bricks and burning wood sailed through the air as the sky was briefly illuminated by hundreds of fireworks all going off at once, screeching and screaming. The flying debris scattered the gangsters, allowing Izzbelle to leap straight into the fray.
"GORAH~!"
Whirling around like a flaming bronze tempest, Izzbelle steamrolled through her father's men, smashing their guns to bits and scattering them in a hail of blood and sparks. A few stray bullets grazed her arm, but with the amount of adrenaline that was pumping through her veins, she didn't even notice.
With a savage roar, she swung the axe overhead, smashing it through the snow-covered cobbles and scattering chips of stone everywhere, just narrowly missing a pistol-toting mobster. However, the blade got stuck, allowing him to aim her gun right at Izzbelle's forehead.
But he never had a chance to fire it. The gangster suddenly froze up, before his eyes rolled back into his head. He toppled over into the snow, allowing Izzbelle to see the trio of glassy black arrows embedded in his back.
"The fuck...?!" she breathed, wrenching her axe free.
She was given no chance to ponder what had just happened, as the Sulfur Bloods weren't relenting. Dodging a hail of gunfire, Izzbelle braced herself and began to fight her way towards the centre of the compound, fixing to take as many of them down before she was inevitably overwhelmed.
However, every time she thought she had been caught off-guard, an arrow would sail down from on high, striking her assailant and leaving them bleeding out at her feet.
Someone was helping her.
"I can handle my own shit...!"
An opportunistic Oni tried to jump her with a switchblade, but Izzbelle took him down with a well-placed clotheslining manoeuvre. Grabbing him by the hair, she bellowed and hurled him into the central courtyard, shattering the ice covering the ornamental pond and dousing him in freezing water.
"Who's next?! Huh?! Who the fuck wants to step up next, huh?!" Izzbelle howled, raising her axe above her head as she marched into the centre of the courtyard.
All around the edges of the yard, the wedding guests stood stock-still, watching the Oni with fearful eyes. Her own extended relatives glared at her with disappointed eyes, while Cobalt's mother and most of his sisters were panicking outright.
"Izzbelle," boomed a voice from the central hall, prompting her to turn on her heel.
Lorenzo Suyas emerged from the shattered doorway of the central hall, arms folded and brow furrowed.
"Father," she spat in reply, narrowing her eyes.
He slowly marched out into the courtyard, positively glowering. The snow around him melted almost immedietely with every step he took; it was clear from a glance that he was livid.
"Not content to just ruin things for yourself? Have to go fuckin' it up for all of us, and make a damn fine disgrace of yourself as you do it, huh?" he growled, slowly cracking his knuckles.
"Fuck you, old man! I told you once, I'll tell you a thousand fuckin' times; I'm not runnin' this fuckin' clan!"
"You don't get a say. It was the same for me."
Lowering her stance, Izzbelle raised her axe.
"Well I ain't tryin' to be anythin' like you!" she hissed, teeth bared.
Lorenzo snorted, before he raised an eyebrow and glanced around the courtyard.
"Where's Trayer?" he asked.
"Far away from here. Safe from you."
Sighing, he massaged his temples.
"For fucks sake... I spent damn near a fortune to get him here, and you just..."
"Shut up, and let's do this! I don't got all night!" yelled his daughter, stamping her feet threateningly.
"Do you have any idea what lengths I go to in order to keep this clan on top? Do you?" Lorenzo sighed, stepping forward.
Izzbelle clenched her teeth. It was always about the damn clan with him!
"Between keep the cash flowin' and makin' sure our enemies don't try to get one up on us, I don't got a lot of time to myself. I'd like to use that time to be with my family, but because of you, I've had to expend far more than I'd like dealing with your petty bullshit!"
He began to count on his fingers.
"Let's see here... Hirin' all those drill instructors, payin' for all the damage you caused when you were in elementary school, gettin' rid of that fuckin' human..."
Izzbelle's heart nearly stopped.
"You... what...?"
"I warned you about that little shit, Izzbelle! I told you that hangin' out with a human was out of the question! But did you listen?! Do you ever fuckin' listen?!"
In the span of an instant, the Oni's tenuous grip on her anger was shattered. Her rage boiled over, setting the edges of her dress alight as smoke billowed from her mouth. Everything went red, and thought her father was still talking, his voice was drowned out by a high-pitched whine that split her head.
Raising her axe, she kicked off the snow-covered stones and rushed at her father.
"YOU BASTAAARD~!"
She swung her weapon in a lateral arc, fixing to cleave Lorenzo's head clean off his shoulders.
But he was ready for her.
Stepping out of the range of her swing, Izzbelle's father quickly closed the distance between them and slammed his fist into her stomach. As the wind was knocked from her lungs, he opened his palm and swiftly brought it up, striking her in the jaw. Completely rattled, she could only stagger back as Lorenzo raised his foot and whirled around. He let loose with a savage roundhouse, knocking his daughter clean off her feet. As she crumpled to the ground, her Bronze Axe slipped from her grasp, dissipating into nothingness.
"Stupid girl..." he sighed, though his voice sounded distant.
He snapped his fingers and gestured for a nearby gangster to keep his gun trained on her. Izzbelle tried to get back up, but her father's strength far outweighed her own; just a few strikes put her out of commission.
"I'm gonna have to delay the wedding. Maybe get Titch to make a collar for you, too..."
"Lory!"
Everybody in the courtyard turned their gaze to a figure that was limping through the churned-up snow.
Corris Alderi slowly trudged over to her employer, looking unhealthily pale as she dragged something behind her. Her neck was slicked with dried blood, and her face was bruised.
"Corris, you better have a good reason for disappearin' on me," growled Lorenzo.
The older Oni scoffed.
"Of course I do. Try 'there's an insane Fallen on the loose, and she just left me for dead in a field,'" she retorted.
Izzbelle's eyes widened. Those arrows...
"That's just what I fuckin' need right now..."
"Don't start panicking just yet. I brought you a gift."
She dropped what she was dragging in the middle of the courtyard, allowing everybody to see what it was.
It was Cobalt.
"No...!" gasped Izzbelle.
"Corris, hold her still and make sure she doesn't try anything funny," commanded Lorenzo.
Nodding, his advisor take her place by Izzbelle's side, gun drawn and aimed at her head. Though she struggled and squirmed, the strength had been completely drained from her body.
She was helpless, forced to watch on as her father approached the Incubus.
"Are you proud of yourself, Trayer?" he asked, circling him.
Cobalt coughed and rolled onto his side.
"Y- You can't expect us t- to be okay with this...!" he groaned, clutching his stomach.
"This marriage is a foregone conclusion. It's gonna happen, even if I gotta break all of your fuckin' bones and have you wed in a hospital!"
Lorenzo roughly kicked Cobalt in the stomach, rolling him over into the snow. Coughing and spluttering, the Incubus slowly rose to his feet. Izzbelle bit her tongue and silently hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid.
"You... You can't do this. Not to her," gasped the Incubus, pointing at Izzbelle as he rocked back and forth unsteadily.
"I can. I'm her father, and I know what's best. End of discussion."
Cobalt turned his gaze downwards.
"Y- You're a man of action, right?" he asked, bringing his finger up to his mouth.
Izzbelle's eyes widened. No! Not that! Not against him!
Biting into the the tip of his finger, the Incubus daubed a shaky pentagram onto the back of his hand. Curling his fingers into a fist, he rose it high into the air, for all to see.
"B- By my decree as a... lawful Hell citizen, I hereby initiate the R- Rite of Fair Combat with Lorenzo Suyas!"
"SNOOKUMS, NO!" shrieked Jezebel Trayer from the edge of the courtyard, struggling against the two burly mobsters holding her back.
A hole opened up in the pit of Izzbelle's stomach. Against her father, Cobalt didn't stand a chance...!
"The terms are thus; the victor of this battle shall dictate what happens to Izzbelle and I! Do you understand and accept?" Cobalt announced, presenting his bloody fist to Lorenzo.
The grizzled Oni's face twisted into a grin. He lightly touched his knuckles against Cobalt's before he looked back at his daughter.
"Make sure she sees every second of this," he said to Corris, before cracking his knuckles.
Pulling his jacket off, Lorenzo took a step back and opened his arms out wide.
"Alright then, Trayer; lets see if you live up to the blood that runs through your veins!"