Seeing roses bloom where they ought not to.

Cobalt stared at the words he had written on the notepad on his lap, his entire face creased with concentration. Ever since Caeneus left him with those words, he had been pondering them over and over again, struggling to discern just what they meant. The Glutton told him that it was supposedly only something an Incubus would understand, but there he sat, staring at the words and not understanding them one bit.

As he made to draw a line beneath the cryptic phrase, the smooth flow of his pen suddenly grew rough as the ink ran dry. Frowning, he clicked out the empty cartridge and rummaged around in his satchel for a fresh one. He had to hand it to Karazelle; this pen was a masterpiece. If only it didn't run out of ink so often, though that was probably more to do with the fact that he simply hadn't used any other writing implement since she gifted it to him.

"Ow! Stop poking it!" whined a high-pitched voice on the bleachers next to the Incubus.

"I am checking for fractures," responded a quieter, more monotone voice.

"You don't have to do it so hard!"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Shutting the notebook for the time being, Cobalt set it aside and glanced over at the two individuals sitting beside him. Whitney Brode had her arms crossed with one exposed leg lying upon the bleacher, her shin bruised rather badly. The Nymph was whining and complaining as an apathetic Elya poked and prodded the wound, evidently taking her sweet time in actually treating it.

"Owww~! Just give me the bandages, I'll do it myself!" she snapped, reaching for the nurse's first-aid bag.

Whitney recoiled as Elya swiftly slapped her wrist.

"I am the medical professional tasked with overseeing this joint effort. Do not undermine me."

"You just like torturing me, don't you?!"

Rather than respond, the Fallen just flicked the bruise, causing Whitney to howl in pain.

Cobalt sighed and wiped his forehead.

"Elya, could you please just sort her leg out, please? She took a pretty bad hit out there," he sighed, nodding down at the sports field.

Down on the grass, two Applied Demonics classes - the Wrath and the Hubris demons - were in the throes of mock combat as a joint-exercise. Oni were swinging their axes with reckless abandon and slinging flames and kinetically-charged projectiles all over the place, whilst their Nymph opponents ducked and dived with their spears, countering wherever they could with chained lightning strikes and tactically-conjured illusions. Over by the side-lines, Mr. Zespire and Mrs. Lundstor were chatting to each other, occasionally calling advice to their students as the melee drew on.

Whitney had been doing okay, up until she fell victim to a rather nasty sweep-kick from none other than Izzbelle, who had been completely overwhelmed by battle-frenzy. Though she wanted to keep fighting, Mrs. Lundstor insisted that she withdrew to the sidelines, and judging by her flushed cheeks, Cobalt figured that Whitney's pride had taken the most damage from her slipup.

"Ah, I nearly had her, you know," the Nymph whined, throwing her head back.

"Perhaps you should not have been showing off," Elya responded, applying an icepack to the bruise.

"I- I wasn't!"

The Fallen gazed directly into Whitney's eyes with her piercing violet gaze, causing her cheeks to flush even more than they already were.

"I didn't know Mr. Trayer would be watching, okay?!" she scoffed, turning away as she folded her arms.

"You should. He always spends his breaks out here. Is that not correct?" said Elya, looking over at the Incubus.

He didn't respond, too wrapped up in thought. Perturbed by his silence, Whitney cleared her throat.

"Hey sir? You've been - ow - kinda, like, spacing out for a while. Is something - ow! - the matter?" asked the Nymph, wincing every time the nurse's fingers brushed her bruised shin.

Cobalt frowned for a moment as he glanced down at his notebook, then down at Mr. Zespire. Since his encounter with the Rowdy Boys at the cemetery, he had considered speaking to the Oni AD teacher about his deceased brother, but swiftly decided against it. The mystery surrounding the Hellhound - or Brass - was a personal crusade; it wouldn't be fair to bother his co-workers with it, especially ones that had lost family in the Damned Defense.

"I'm just a little out of sorts. It must be the weather," he sighed, shielding his eyes as he gazed up at the sun.

"Well it has been getting a lot- for hellfire's sake will you quit that?!" Whitney suddenly cried, pulling her leg away.

Elya just rolled her eyes and began to pack her supplies away.

"I was gonna say it's been getting a lot hotter lately. You got any, like, plans for the summer, sir?"

Again, Cobalt didn't reply. He stared down at the ensuing battle, his brow furrowing as he honed in on a figure standing stock-still in the middle of the melee.

"Uh, sir? Hello?"

It was Izzbelle. She was holding her Bronze Axe aloft, ready to strike, but she had completely frozen up. Mr. Zespire seemed to notice too as he began to call her name, but the Oni didn't respond. She was completely paralysed.

"Something isn't right..." Cobalt muttered, standing up.

Though both his injured student and the school nurse called for him, the Incubus rushed down the bleacher steps and darted out across the playing field, much to the two AD teachers' alarm. They blew their whistles and called a time out, causing the sparring to die down all around Cobalt as he approached Izzbelle. He could see her muscles tenses like she was just about to swing her axe, but she wasn't moving at all.

"Izzbelle...?" the Incubus asked, slowly approaching.

He waved his hand in front of her face, but the Oni's glazed eyes just stared out into the middle distance.

"Oi Cobalt, what are you doing?!" roared Mr. Zespire amidst the irritated groans of his students.

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Swallowing hard, he turned to his colleague.

"Ethan, I think something's wro- AGH!"

A large orange hand suddenly grabbed Cobalt by the throat as Izzbelle suddenly bolted into action. Wrapping her fingers so tight that he couldn't breathe, she lifted him high into the air, his feet dangling several inches off the ground as her grip tightened. The teachers began to rush to his aid as the students gasped and gawked, but with her free hand, Izzbelle snapped her fingers, causing an unholy screeching noise to rip through the air. It was so loud and painful that it forced every Oni around them to fall to their knees, while many of the Nymphs passed out altogether, unable to handle the frequency with their sensitive ears.

The Incubus tried to pry her fingers apart, but her grip was like iron.

"I- I- Izz... b- belle...!" he choked.

She looked up at him, her gaze nearly stopping his heart.

Izzbelle eyes were glazed over with a silvery sheen that glinted in the light. Slowly, an uncharacteristic smile spread across her face.

"Ah, I thought I was getting rusty in my old age, but it seems this kind of thing is like riding a bicycle," she sighed in a voice that was not her own.

It was a deep, terrifying voice that sounded like rusted metal plates scraping against each other.

Izzbelle's head cocked, twisting like that of a doll's.

"So, we finally meet, face to face. In a manner of speaking."

"Wh- Who...?!" spluttering the Incubus, stars dancing at the edge of his vision.

The Oni's mouth spread into a wide grin.

"Aren't I your lovely student, Miss Izzbelle Suyas? No? Very well. Though I'd rather not use a puppet for this, I suppose beggars cannot be choosers."

Cobalt cried out as he was swiftly thrown to the ground. Before him, his student laughed.

"You may call me Diate, Cobalt."

Coughing and spluttering, he held a hand to his throat as he looked up at Izzbelle. No, at Diate. Whatever was going on, someone appeared to be puppeteering his student's body, but how? Even the most twisted of Lust demon psychomancy couldn't completely control someone's mind like that.

"H- How do you know my name?"

"Well it's a name on everyone's lips these days, but I consider myself to be a longtime fan of yours. Oh yes, I've been watching you from the moment you arrived in Brimstone...!"

With a maniacal grin, Diate swiftly kicked Cobalt in the stomach, launching him across the playing field. He cried out in pain and curled up into a ball as his attacker approached him.

"I saw you risk your life to calm this little strumpet down, that night in front of the dormitories. I must say, that was a ballsy move," Diate said casually as he strode across the field.

He craned his neck forward just as a glassy black arrow whizzed past his head. Scoffing, he looked over at the bleachers, where Elya Yalfre stood, Obsidian Bow in hand. Whitney had been knocked out by the high-pitched frequency, and judging by the way the Fallen was shaking, she wasn't holding up much better.

"Elya, no...!" Cobalt cried, but his voice didn't carry far enough.

Dispelling her bow, she drew Immoderata and leaped high into the air, wings spread as she launched towards Diate. Without even flinching, he stepped out of the way and swiftly lashed out with a foot, kicking her square in the face and knocking her to the ground, right next to Cobalt.

"This is a private conversation, madam," he jeered as the Fallen struggled to cling to conciousness.

Unable to get back to her feet, Elya looked over at Cobalt.

"M- My love... She's... p- posses... sed..."

The Fallen's head thunked against the grass, her eyes slipping shut.

"Elya!" gasped Cobalt, reaching out for her.

His desperate call became a scream of pain as Diate slammed his foot down onto his hand.

"Saw you fall off a building and survive. Saw you get shot and survive. Saw you break through solid ice and survive. I must say, you Incubi really have a knack for not dying, you know that?"

Grabbing Cobalt's lapels, he dragged him up in front of his student's possessed face.

"But there's something wrong. Of course, you're weak, scrawny and utterly pathetic, but that's to be expected from a malformed, stunted runt," Diata jeered cruelly.

Grabbing the Incubus' jaw with his free hand, he forced Cobalt's mouth open and peered inside.

"Ah, there's the problem. You never got your adult teeth."

Wrenching his head out of his assailant's grasp, the Incubus kicked and clawed at him, to no avail.

"What the Hell are you talking about?!" he spat, clenching his teeth.

Diate's hijacked eyes narrowed as his twisted grin grew wider. He balled up his fist.

"Don't worry. I'll fix them for you."

Without warning, he punched Cobalt directly in the mouth. Through the pain and the blood, the Incubus felt something crack.

"Let me tell you something, Cobalt!"

He punched again. The Incubus felt one of his front teeth give way. Tears began to blur his vision.

"You may not know me, and some may say you don't deserve this!"

Again, Diate struck his mouth, breaking yet more of his teeth.

"But I have lived my live in shame for too long, and I will take my revenge in one form or another!"

Cobalt's mouth began to fill with blood as his own shattered teeth threatened to choke him. The pain was debilitating, but he dared not cry out.

"We'll settle things once and for all, but I want you to be as you should be! As the monster you really are!"

With a mighty kick, Diate booted Cobalt to the ground, where he limply flopped onto his side. Wincing and sobbing, the Incubus shakily got onto his knees and opened his mouth, allowing a deluge of blood and broken teeth to spill out into his hands.

Though every fibre of his being urged him not to, he blinked the tears away and looked down.

No.

That wasn't right.

Something was very, very wrong.

There, in the Incubus' cupped hands, was a pile of soft rose petals. Most were a brilliant red colour, but he could see that some were white as well.

"W- Wha...?" he guttered, a few more petals fluttering down from his mouth.

Up ahead, Diate laughed a deep, booming laugh.

"You have no idea how good this feels. You know, that little pissant Brass really fucked up by letting me live. He really should have killed me. It would have saved you a lot of trouble," he called, cracking his knuckles.

Looking up from the pile of rose petals in his hands, Cobalt blinked a few.

"Y- Youah... he Hevih...?" he spluttered, pushing the remnants of a shattered incisor out with his tongue.

"That's right. The Devil that attacked Brimstone during the Damned Defense... That was me. A younger and much more stupid me, come to think of it. Heh... I really had designs on taking over the world back then. These days, though?"

His glazed-silver eyes locked onto Cobalt.

"These days I just want retribution any way I can find it. But I want to make sure that you're ready first. I want to make sure that you'll come at me with a willingness to kill."

No.

"Because it is there, isn't it? Deep down?"

No!

"I know you've been denying what you are, Cobalt. But you can't hide it from me. I know exactly what an Incubus is."

Shut up...!

"Deep down, you're nothing but a timebomb that doesn't even tick, just waiting to blow up and take everyone around you down in a flurry of flesh, bone and blood."

In the pit of Cobalt's stomach, that terrible, boiling sensation began to manifest, hotter than he had ever felt it before. He could feel his inside burning as it rose throughout his body, like his insides were aflame. That indescribable, scorching wrath began to coalesce in his mouth, causing his bleeding gums to burn painfully. Falling forward, the mess of blood and teeth spilled onto the grass as his fingers dug into the soil. A low groan of pain rumbled from his throat.

"That's it! Show it to me, Trayer! Show me the Incupsychosis I've been waiting to see again all these years!" Diate jeered, clapping his hands.

All at once, Cobalt let loose with an agonised howl. Blood burst from his mouth as sharp, brand new teeth pierced through the flesh of his gums. Diate's smile grew wider at the sight of them.

"Hah, and there they are! The jaws of a carnivore!" he cried.

"SHUT UP~!"

Kicking off the ground with newfound strength, Cobalt raised a fist and swung it at Diate with all of his might, ready to wipe the smug grin right off the bastard's stolen face.

But the Devil just caught Cobalt's punch in mid-air.

"It's just a shame you're still so weak."

He wheeled around and bluntly kicked the Incubus across the side of the head, throwing him to the ground next to Elya's unconscious body. The strike rocked Cobalt's skull, darkening his vision and sapping his strength.

"You ought to prepare yourself, Trayer. Because when we meet in the flesh, it'll be a fight to the death. Ta-ta for now," Diate warned, waving at the Incubus.

The last thing he managed to see was Izzbelle's eyes return to their regular hue, before they rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground, completely out for the count. Overwhelmed by pain, fatigue and his own boiling anger, the strength ebbed away from Cobalt's limbs as his eyelids slid shut.

Diate. Devil. Brass. Hellhound. Incupsychosis. Roses.

It was too much.

It was all just too much...