Oops. There were certainly plenty of other words I had picked up over my travels that might better suit the situation than ‘oops’, but that also summed up my casual view of all that I had become and bore witness to. A little mistake in the making was forgivable, assuming that I survived the day.
As the trigger was pressed, I let out the energy of the shot. A continuous beam of bright, radiant energy burst forth, straight for the first of the two rifle-wielding demons. Even the air of the Hells sizzled as the divine power moved like a snake.
It struck the first in the chest, curving through him and bursting his organs out of the exit wound. The projectile continued its path as if guided by… was I guiding it? It spun a right angle and bore through the second demon’s head, exploding his brain into the air like fireworks. Job done, but I couldn’t stop it. It swirled around down to the lower floors and pulsed its way through three more demons before I could let it go.
The beam shattered in the air like sparklers as it faded out of view.
[That was new… Eric?]
I had drained my divine side, and now the wall of neutral balance struggled to hold back the swelling tide of demonic power. Inevitable. It was as though I had convinced myself it would not happen, even as the cold reality shivered through me.
The brief silence and stunned looks of the remaining demons ceased as I leaped toward one. Blasting the trigger in tune with my thudding heartbeat. Knife in my offhand, I rammed it through an eye socket as I spun and unloaded the cylinder into another. The gun rotated in my hand and I lashed out with my leg, putting demonic power into it as I struck the side of their knee, dislocating it.
I fought the pressure in my head, two points of pain threatening to burst from my skull. Not like this.
[You are currently Bad Eric, you need to take control.]
Wasn’t sure where Wight was. Could hear him, not see. Only demons before me, my weapon of death in my hand. Three more shots, three more kills. Knife-hand warm with demonic blood as it ran down the thirsty blade. More to drink. Much more.
My right eye twitched. “Wight,” I seethed through clenched teeth. “I need to vent demonic energy.”
[I will assist.]
Cooling energy fluttered down my arms alongside black feathers. Didn’t do much to abate my anger, just empowered me more—but I could see what he had planned. We had never had to do this before, but doing things in the moment seemed to work out so far.
The fifteen-foot wide beam of energy cored through the space before me, blinding those not in its path with bright white and crimson energy. But then, it didn’t end. I stood and growled as Wight pushed through more energy, and I assisted with my own. Slowly, I turned the attack, scouring terrain and demon alike from existence. It felt like a good twenty minutes, but in reality it was maybe a handful of seconds before I felt my reserves falter.
Wight dropped possession and reformed beside me. My hands burned like I had stuck them in scalding water, and my legs shook. The damage was sobering, as I had cored a wide section of the hanger, brought it to ruin. A hole forty feet wide, and scoured straight into the amber outside. Above us, the roof groaned and creaked, the remaining structure on that side struggling to hold up the small second floor.
[I think the roof is about to collapse.]
I looked up, and it was. “No, it’s not,” I said.
My left hand rose into the air, still gripping Pearl’s dagger tightly.
A shard of dark gray flew from the raised dagger, a pinch of icy cold pain sliding up toward my hand in its wake. It struck the complaining ceiling with a somewhat wet pop. Then the entire roof turned to ash in one burst.
The stone second floor crashed down, no longer having enough supports to keep it in place, crushing a handful of demons. Dark snow rained down on those of us still remaining. My hand didn’t explode, which was nice.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Who… the fuck are you?” A rabbit-demon asked from a little way off.
I grinned and shot him a tired glare. "I'm in search of new allies. May I see your boss?”
Stunned, the remaining demons dropped their weapons, wowed by my show of… so much bullshit. With both my divine and demonic energy all but spent—mere puddles in my internal jugs—I had severed off part of the neutral wall to expend Entropy without burning myself. There was still enough balance to keep the two powers away from each other, and they were no longer strong enough to fight against it.
How convenient the solution to causing too much damage with untold power was to do even further damage. Not very convenient for the demons, but I wasn’t exactly eager to survey them for their thoughts. Just going by facial expressions, they were onboard with me doing a little hostile takeover of whatever was running here.
The door of the collapsed second floor opened, and a bloodied figure stumbled out. A rabbit demon in a fancy jacket that was now covered in dust and crimson. His furred head was gray, and his two ears were pierced by gemstones that caught in the light in interesting ways.
Even without realizing it, as he righted himself to draw his pistol, I was already upon him. Target acquired. Normal shot through the forearm and his weapon clattered to the floor. He dropped to a knee and growled in pain.
Wight came and picked up the gun. Gave it a little inquisitive glance.
“Who sent you? How’d you find us?” The demon hissed at me, which seemed odd from a rabbit face.
“I’ll ask the questions here.” I raised the revolver and placed it against his forehead. It was a struggle to fight against my intrusive thoughts. Kill the demons, Eric. Soon.
“What do you want to know?” Panic flared across his pale eyes.
I leaned closer and pulled back the hammer. “That was another question.”
“Sorry!” His mouth opened and closed a few more times, his brain still wanting to ask me more, but also not keen on taking a vacation to the wall behind him.
It would be nice to fill him in on a little exposition, and with my mind still rolling from nearly becoming a demon again, I felt slightly mushy. Fill that head up before it has little use, at least.
“I’m a Hunter. You must know what those are. I got wind of your… intentions.” I jerked my thumb toward the wagons. “Some consider me a protector of the mortal realm, so I couldn’t let it slide. That’s why I’m here. That all make sense so far?”
The rabbit-demon nodded, but didn’t have anything to say.
[What we need to know is the location of the portal.]
“I… don’t know,” he grimaced back at us.
My eyes ran around the ruined warehouse, now bathed in the amber light of the Lowers. I brushed some ash from the brim of my hat. There wasn’t any obvious reason why the bombs had been brought here if the portal wasn’t in this location.
“Why were the bombs being brought here?” My patience was running thin. I wanted coffee and something to eat, as if emptying my energy also emptied my stomach. Wasn’t like me to want to consume on the job, but it had already been quite the first day back on the horse.
“We had to outfit them with some tech before sending them to the next destination.” He winced, and I drew him closer. “But they hadn’t sent the co-ordinates for there, I swear!”
I turned my head to see my remaining demons intermixed with the remnants of the warehouse, standing around and watching me do the deed. “Everyone head out, you can join Redd Death, or you can die.”
“There’s some transport around the side.” Hoff nodded before giving me a brief salute. “Until next time, boss.”
With a nod, the rest began to leave the building. It was odd, but I was too tired to fully process how I’d just wound up recruiting another handful or two demons to my cause. My cause being ‘kill all demons’ so it seemed a bit unproductive for them, but who was I to judge? Oh, yeah.
I pressed the barrel back into the head of my prisoner. “So you were meant to do the job, then once it was done, you’d receive the next location? From who?”
“They don’t reveal their names, I don’t know!” He squirmed beneath my inevitable silencer.
That didn’t seem to add up. Too well thought out. Inconvenient. Most harrowing of all; it wasn’t a cliche. I raised an eyebrow to Wight, and he gave me a knowing nod. We were too experienced for this. The revolver withdrew and I put my left hand atop his furred forehead.
His eyes widened. “Just s-outh of the Rot Spires, in a place known as Peach Surprise.”
Trigger pulled, and his lying brains got what they deserved. His inert body slumped over to the side as I sighed.
[That area is dominated by demons who are part of the house of Lust.]
I knew that. Up until this point, we had been dealing with those under the purview of Wrath, Gluttony, and Sloth. Org didn’t like to put us against many from the Lust area of the Lowers, for reasons I shuddered to think about. Still, out of the seven sins, they seemed to be the least likely to dabble in the affairs of the mortal plains. The demons from the Mids were a different matter, as my run-in with Cherub had proven, but down here in the muck, the demons were happy to wallow in their filth.
That made it the perfect place to hide something the Org wouldn’t think to look.
//Want me to relay that information to the Org?
I paused and listened to the sound of wagons or whatever transport my gang had requisitioned drive off into the background. It was unlike me to care if they survived, but there was a bigger game here I could bend to my favor with enough willing hands—I was sure of it. Something in my bones vibrated with the answers from the future.
“Yeah, maybe they’ll find another way to tidy this shit up.” I sighed and lifted my hat to rub at my forehead. Maybe they’d find some other shmuck to sort the portal out. Even without feeling the heat of corruption, I felt like I had overstayed my welcome and worn myself out quicker than I should have.
I held out my hand and took the blade from Wight. Placed it in my belt and turned toward the convoy.
Even before it hit, I was stepping through back into the basement, Wight pooling in beside me.
Rodney looked up from his screen. “Cargo destroyed. Saw them pop right before I lost the connection. It was… explosive.”
I tipped my hat to him. There was a one-liner in there somewhere, but my brain gave up the search. Instead, I went and sat in my recliner and deflated.
[What did we learn today, Eric?]
My eyes closed. “To open my heart to friendship?”
[No.]
I fell asleep to avoid having to learn anything else.