Shaking like a leaf, Cobalt was marched through the streets of Brimstone. With one hand firmly clamped around the Incubus' shoulder, Magnus kept the gun barrel pressed firmly against his back, forcing him to keep pace with the Oni. Passers-by didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and as he was pushed out into a large plaza, he heard Magnus hiss through the gaps in his teeth.

"About fucking time you got what's coming..." he growled, shoving Cobalt forward.

"M- Magnus, please, what is this about? How did you get a g- gun?"

"Shut the fuck up. It's your fault I'm out here on my ass in the first place."

He felt the gun dig painfully into his back.

"Luck for me, I'm not the only one with a vendetta. Someone paid me good to bring you to them," he bragged, clearly getting some form of sick enjoyment out of this.

"So folks are hiring kids for wetwork now, huh? He clearly doesn't fit the role; tongue's too loose for a start," Lilith stated, sounding usually calm despite the situation.

Cobalt clenched his fists in a silent bid to shut her up, unable to speak to the Devil aloud.

"Ask him who he's working for, kid."

"What are you talking about, Magnus? Who sent you?" the Incubus asked carefully, almost stumbling off the curb.

"Don't know, don't care."

"What? How?"

"It was all in letters and dead drops! Now shut the fuck up and keep walking!"

Hands firmly by his side, Cobalt had no choice but to keep marching along, his heart hammering a thousand miles an hour as Magnus walked him down a secluded side street and into an alleyway. Reaching an empty lot, the Oni abruptly kicked his old teacher's legs out from under him, knocking him to the tarmac. He laughed and pointed the gun at Cobalt's head, shaking from the adrenaline.

"Got you right where I want you, you Incubus fuck!" he spat, finger edging dangerously close to the trigger.

Swallowing hard, Cobalt raised his hands.

"M- Magnus, please, be reasonable. I- I'm sure I can work something out with Mistress Viola; you don't have to-"

"I told you to shut the fuck up!"

He swung the pistol hard, smashing it against the side of Cobalt's face. Throwing the Incubus back against a pile of rubbish bags, Magnus cackled and gripped the gun tight.

"Messages said to bring you to the docks, but fuck that! This... This is my payment right here! Die, you son of a-!"

A flurry of loud gunshots rang out through the night, deafening Cobalt and forcing him to screw his eyes shut. He expected blinding, searing pain - he remembered it well from Quinn and Lorenzo - but was surprised to feel nothing. Carefully opening his eyes, he glanced up at Magnus.

The Oni was standing stock still, face frozen with shock. Cobalt could see blood splashing against the tarmac behind him.

"Wh- Wha...?" Magnus breathed, the pistol slipping from his grasp.

His eyes rolled back and he toppled forward, collapsing onto the ground in a heap. The back of his hoodie was stained red with blood, and he could see numerous bullet holes torn into it. Frozen with fear, Cobalt barely had enough time to breathe as a dark figure winged down from one of the buildings surrounding the empty lot.

It was dark out, and the light of the streetlights were barely enough to see by. But Cobalt recognised the stranger's silhouette. After Diate... it was burned into his memory; draconic wings, a thorned tail, and eyes as red as blood.

A Devil stood before Cobalt, dressed in dark combat fatigues and heavy boots. A steel helmet cast shadows across his face, and clutched in his hands was some manner of assault weapon, its barrel still smoking. Glancing down at Magnus, he scoffed and slung the weapon over his shoulder.

"Civilian scum. Can't count on them to do anything right," the Devil spat in a low and insidious tone.

His crimson gaze locked onto Cobalt.

"You! Name!" he barked.

The Incubus couldn't answer. He was rooted in place. In the back of his mind, he could feel Lilith growing tense.

"I asked for your name, civvie! I'll give you until the count of three!"

Raising his rifle threateningly, he pointed it at Cobalt, snapping the Incubus out of his terrified stupour.

"C- Cobalt! Cobalt Trayer!" he cried, raising his hands.

The Devil growled.

"So, we finally meet..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar. Placing it in his mouth, he struck a match, briefly illuminating his face in the firelight. It was covered in crisscrossing scars.

"The great Brimstone Devil slayer, in the flesh. You don't look like much," he spat, exhaling black fumes from the corners of his mouth.

Toting the rifle with one hand, he kept it pointed at Cobalt as he puffed on the cigar.

"Spill what you know. You're hiding Omega in this rathole civvie town, aren't you?"

"Shit..." Lilith murmured.

Cobalt swallowed hard and shook his head.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" he stammered, feeling sweat trickle down his forehead.

"Don't lie to me, scum! She's here, and I've been sent to find her! Now tell me where she is, otherwise I blow each of your fucking limbs off before splattering your rotten blueskin blood all over the damn wall!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know what you're talking about! Please, I'm not-!"

"Brace up, kid. Let me talk to him."

The Incubus was sent reeling as Lilith ejected herself from his mind, throwing him onto his back as her body reconstituted before the Devil. Upon seeing her, his eyes widened with shock.

"Omega? You... contracted a lower demon...?" he breathed, lowering the rifle.

Lilith sighed and rolled her shoulder in its socket.

"You're out of line, Beta," she said in a dour tone.

Stomping his boots against the ground, Beta raised a gloved hand and saluted her.

"Reporting in, ma'am."

The one-eyed Devil scoffed.

"So I can see. How's the rest of the Corps?"

"Currently seeking your return, ma'am. Delta's in dire need of your reprimanding hand."

"Uh-huh. And how's Gamma doing? Death still got her tongue?"

"She... has yet to speak."

Lilith folded her arms and stared at the ground. Forcing himself upright, Cobalt clutched his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. She knew this Devil? Of course he assumed she'd know all Devils, but she seemed to have some sort of history with this one. What was going on...?

He swallowed hard and deigned to keep his mouth shut. This was all way over his head anyway.

"...I assume you're here to take back the Artillery?" Lilith asked, planting a hand on her hip.

"Affirmative. The prototype is the primary objective, but you are still high-priority, ma'am," Beta reported, maintaining eye contact with her.

He seemed to play the good soldier to a fault, because he didn't look down in time to see Lilith discreetly kick Magnus' dropped pistol over to Cobalt. Eyes widening with alarm, he stared at the weapon as it lay by his shoe.

Clucking her tongue, Lilith nodded at the assault rifle in Beta's hand.

"And I see the old fossil broke out his prized toys for you. What is that, a Sturmgewehr?" she asked as she slowly paced back and forth.

She stepped into Beta's field of view just enough to block Cobalt from sight for a moment. Biting his lip, he ducked down and plucked the gun off the ground, feeling all the more uncomfortable as he weighed it in his hands.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Not sure, ma'am. Alpha entrusted this weapon to me in order to ensure the mission's success," the opposing Devil said.

Cobalt hid the gun behind his back right as Beta glanced at him.

"You and the Iron Artillery are all that matter, ma'am. Any collateral is acceptable so long as you return to Dis."

Lilith narrowed her eye.

"And if I refuse to go quietly?"

Beta's gaze darkened in turn.

"Alpha's orders supersede yours, Omega. Chain of command."

"Then I guess we got a problem, don't we?"

Beta raised his rifle, his gaze burning into Lilith as he leveled it at her.

"I... don't want to do this, ma'am. But orders are orders."

She smirked.

"Beta, do you remember when you were breaking me out of that forward camp in the western ridges, all while fending off that hunchbacked asshole? You were bleeding from a dozen open sores, and I had bugs chewing me up from the inside out?"

"...There's not a day where I don't regret letting Pestilence get his hands on you, ma'am."

"Do you remember what I told you that day?"

"Of course. You told me you wouldn't surrender. Not to them, not to anyone."

"Exactly."

She stepped back.

"Light him up, kid."

Panicking, Cobalt screwed his eyes shut and held out the pistol, his entire body shaking as he aimed it at the Devil. Though he felt sick at the thought of it, he pulled the trigger, feeling his arm jar from the recoil as he fired the gun again and again. Beta cried out and held his arms in front of his face, staggering back as the bullets narrowly missed him.

"You fucking idiot!" Lilith barked, slapping the gun from his hands.

Grabbing his wrist, she dragged him out of the alleyway, her boots pounding against the tarmac as the other Devil recovered from the sudden burst of gunfire.

"Run! Hide amongst the crowd before he finds you!" she cried, shoving him out onto the street.

"But-!"

"No buts, kid! Beta's a trained killer, and I'm not in any state to match him! Now get going!"

With that, she melted away into a cloud of ferromantic magic and reformed with Cobalt, nestling herself back in the recesses of his mind. Hearing an enraged roar from the alleyway, the Incubus took off down the street, barging through passers-by in an effort to escape.

"What the Hell is going on Lilith?! Who is that guy?!" he gasped, skidding around a corner.

"Doesn't matter!"

"It does matter! H- He shot my student!"

"First of all, not your student anymore! Second, he was gonna ice you in a fucking alleyway! Third, shut the fuck up and keep running! He's behind you!"

Sure enough, he heard the sound of flapping wings behind him. Looking up, he saw the dark shape of Beta winging through the air, his rifle aimed and ready to fire. All around him, Cobalt noticed the denizens of Brimstone pointing and gasping, astounded at the sight of what appeared to be a Devil of old.

"Shit! Get to cover!" Lilith screamed.

Cobalt dived behind a car right as Beta opened fire. As his weapon spewed a storm of lead down upon the street, the citizenry of Brimstone broke out into a panic. Demons screamed and ran for cover from the Devil's assault, scrambling over one another in an effort to avoid the spray of bullets. Some were glanced by the rounds, but most managed to flee to safety.

As a shower of steel casings tinkled to the cobbled road, Beta touched down a few feet away from Cobalt.

"Come out and raise your hands! By order of your maker, your death warrant has been signed and sealed!" he barked, ejecting the magazine from his gun.

The Incubus gasped for breath, sweating bullets as his heart beat so fast it threatened to pop. Terror froze him in place as he heard Beta draw the bolt on his rifle.

"Kid you gotta return fire. You're pinned," Lilith urged.

"M- Maybe if I surrender, he won't-"

"Focus, for fucks sake!"

"No! This is not my fight, Lilith! It's you he wants, right?!"

"I'm making it your fight! Hold out your hands!"

Cobalt flinched as an intense stinging made itself known in his left eye. Ferromantic magic flowed from his hands, gradually solidifying in his hands. Just like what happened with the Sandlady, he soon found himself holding a weapon comprised entirely from iron; an assault rifle, just like Beta's. Crying out, he dropped it on the ground.

"L- Lilith, no! I'm not doing this!"

"Yes you are! Where's the Devil slaying Incubus I heard so much about?!"

"I- I'm not a killer!"

"You're an Incubus! Yes you fucking are!"

Feeling a sting of anger in the pit of his stomach, he bit his lip and shook his head as he felt a fresh hail of gunfire rattle off the car.

"No! You can't make me!" he cried.

He agreed to hide Lilith, but he absolutely did not agree to fend off Devils! No matter what people said about him, he was not a violent man! He didn't want this!

In the back of his mind, Lilith roared in anger.

"Don't forget that this is my contract, kid! If I need your body for something, then I'll just fucking take it!"

A dreadful, numbing sensation fell across the Incubus' entire body as the Devil possessing him took forcible control. He pleaded with her to stop, but Lilith ignored his cries as she forced him to pick the rifle off the ground and plant his back against the car, waiting for an opening.

"Don't make this any harder than it needs to be, Omega!" Beta called.

"Go fuck yourself, old friend...!" Lilith hissed, compelling Cobalt to duck out from cover.

Rifle raised to his shoulder, his finger was pulled against the trigger. The stock slammed into his shoulder again and again as the rifle fired at Beta, forcing him to duck down behind a wall. Marching forward, Lilith conjured a replacement magazine into Cobalt's hand and reloaded the weapon, ready to fire again.

The nausea in Cobalt's stomach grew worse as he was forced to watch. Trapped in his own body, he could only feel horror and despair.

"Lilith, stop...!" he breathed.

"He'll kill us if we don't kill him first!" she responded, reloading the gun again.

Pieces of the wall protecting Beta were beginning to break away as the rifle in Cobalt's hands grew hotter.

"Please, I don't want anyone to die!"

"Suck it up! You've killed before, you can kill again!"

"I don't want to!"

"You don't have a choice!"

Tossing the overheating weapon aside, Lilith urged Cobalt's body onwards, forcing him to run up to Beta and punch him in the face, hard enough to jar his entire arm. Staggering back, Beta growled and swung the butt of his gun at the Incubus, knocking him back as he scrambled to reload his weapon.

"Back the fuck down, civvie!" the Devil roared, booting Cobalt in the chest.

He was bowled into a set of dustbins, scattering rubbish all over the street as spasms of pain rocked through his body. With her concentration interrupted, Lilith's hold over the Incubus' body was shaken. Sensation returned, and the pain intensified tenfold.

"Get up! Before he gets a bead on you!"

"What the Hell gives you the right to command me what to do?!" cried Cobalt, forcing himself upright.

"It's my damn birthright, that's what!"

His anger sparked something deep down. He could feel it already; a roiling in his gut, a stirring in his blood. Cobalt had to escape the sights of this Devil, and fast.

As much as he wanted to snap back at Lilith, he swallowed his frustration and quickly grabbed a nearby bin bag, hurling it Beta before he got the chance to fire again. With the Devil distracted, he ran as fast as his feet would carry him down the street.

In the span of a few minutes, the entire town had devolved into chaos. People were screaming and running into buildings, locking the doors and piling furniture against the windows as the police mobilised outside. Officers rushed past Cobalt with their revolvers drawn, each looking pale and terrified at the prospect of facing a Devil. Behind him, he could hear ensuing gunfire, spurring the Incubus to keep his head down and run faster.

Deep down, a sick part of him wanted to turn back and join the fray. Karazelle's burger sustained him a little, but he was still starving. Cobalt could already feel his knuckles itching.

"Shit, he's tougher than I remember. Need to get somewhere outta sight," Lilith muttered.

"No, I need to find Karazelle. She could be in danger," he panted, rushing into a plaza.

"What?! Fuck your purple floozy, we need to-!"

"Lilith, just shut the Hell up! You may want to ruin my life, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you put her's in danger!"

A few stray demons were still lingering in the plaza, hiding behind cars and overturned carts. A few whispered and pointed as Cobalt rushed in, frantically looking around for any sign of his student.

"Karazelle?!" he called.

"Those cops are only gonna hold Beta for a minute or two! You gotta run, kid!"

"I told you to shut up!"

"I've seen him spear angels by the dozens! You don't stand a-!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

His veins flashed through his skin. Blood sprayed from his hands as teeth pierced through his flesh, jutting out at erratic anger. Staggered by the sudden onset of pain, Cobalt fell to one knee, hissing red steam through his teeth.

"Sugar...?"

Cobalt looked behind him. Karazelle was crouched behind a street corner, her eyes wide and vigilant. Peering around for any sign of danger, she crept over to the Incubus and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, where'd you go? What's going on?" she asked.

Glancing down at his hands, her eyes widened.

"Oh, sugar..."

The Succubus made to take his hand, but recoiled as a drop of his heated blood dripped onto her finger.

"Karazelle... You gotta..." Cobalt gasped, clenching his teeth as the fire in his stomach began to intensify.

"Hey, save your strength. What's going on? Why's everyone running?"

"Devil..."

"What?"

"There's a Devil."

The Succubus' jaw dropped open.

"A- Another one?" she breathed.

Cobalt nodded.

"You have to get to safety," he gasped.

He heard the Succubus swallow hard, clearly shaken by this news. But to Karazelle's credit, she did not panic. Taking a deep breath, she grasped Cobalt's arm and helped him stand up straight.

"Okay, let's head back. Saw a bunch of police head that way, so hopefully they-"

"FOUND YOU!" boomed a voice from on high.

Wreathed in gun smoke and stained with blood, Beta descended into the plaza, crashing into the road so hard that broken cobbles were scattered everywhere. He pointed his rifle at Cobalt and pulled the trigger, only for it to hollowly click empty. The Devil pulled a face and tossed the weapon aside. All around the plaza, people ran for their lives.

"Tch. Atsah. Mutucs," Beta chanted, raising his hands.

In one hand, a heavy iron shield formed. In the other, a spear, the sight of which rooted Cobalt in place.

The last time a Devil bore a spear against him...

He could still remember the agony as it pierced him...

He remember dying, how much it hurt. His heart beat faster, his blood boiled to a fever pitch. The teeth on his hands chattered in the corners of his vision, desperate to tear the Devil apart.

Beta pointed the tip of the spear right at him.

"You can't run. Die in the name of your trueborn betters, civilian scum!" he barked, dropping into a readied combat stance.

"Sugar, what do we do...?" Karazelle whispered, clinging to his jacket.

"Kid, ditch her and run. Beta's a soldier among soldiers; he'll slaughter you!" Lilith urged, her voice slowly getting drowned out by the high-pitched whine building in his head.

Slowly, he raised his hands, blood hissing against the ground as it dripped from countless jagged fangs.

"You... You just want me, right?" he called to Beta, taking a step forward.

"Your life is already forfeit. I'm here for Omega and the Iron Artillery," the Devil responded, his eyes narrowing in the shadows of his helmet.

He glanced at Karazelle and scoffed.

"Any other lower demon is of no consequence to me," he added, taking a deep drag of his cigar.

Cobalt swallowed hard and nodded. He could already feel the urge building within him; he wasn't likely to stop it. But if he could hamper the Devil enough for Karazelle to get away...

He took a shaky breath.

He stood up to one Devil. Surely he could do it again. Just until help arrived; surely the BPD would be bringing in the big guns soon.

"Karazelle, run," he told the Succubus, raising his fanged fists.

"What?!"

"What?!"

"No! Sugar, I-!"

"I'm not asking, Karazelle!" Cobalt yelled, turning back.

He fixed her with a steely, terrified gaze.

"Go. Get your mother. Make sure everyone at the school is prepared in case..."

He swallowed hard.

"...I'll be alright. Just go."

She lingered for a moment, but a silent plea from Cobalt was enough to get her to turn tail and run towards the school. As the Incubus returned his attention to the Devil, he heard Lilith scowl.

"Now you want to fight?" she scoffed.

"I'm not looking to kill him. Just... to keep him from hurting anyone else."

"This is suicide, kid."

Of course it was. The last time Cobalt faced a Devil, he was left right on the edge of life and death. And Beta appeared to be a cut above the likes of Diate. But the police couldn't hold the Devil back, and the Incubus could feel the burning bloodlust that he had been suppressing was building up again. If he couldn't stop it... then he could at least use it to keep people safe.

He narrowed his eyes.

"I know."