CHAPTER 2: 00:13

After witnessing the carnage that just took place, Theo – who was still seated in the chair and still restrained – looked at the Fallen. He was still awaiting an answer with regard to what had just happened, however before receiving it, the two serpent things suddenly came into view, looking Theo in his eyes, as if they were sizing him up. Theo looked right back at them, looking them over as well, and while this staring contest of sorts was brief, it was intense. Despite being shocked and confused, Theo’s gaze was intense and full of rage and determination. The creatures quickly looked away and moments later, let out a shrill shriek before a jet of white flames shot out from both of their mouths and hit the rope that was binding Theo. After catching alight, the rope let out a shriek of its own before slithering off of Theo and thrashing about as it burned to a crisp. Theo shuddered slightly as he watched this thing burn, before shaking his head.

“What the fuck is going on here?!” He mumbled to himself before looking over at the corpses of his recently deceased loved ones.

He sighed and stood up slowly. He made his way over to the bodies, before falling to his knees in the still wet blood.

“Oh fuck… I’m so sorry…”

He virtually whispered this in a cracking voice, before starting to sort through the body parts. The Fallen and its two serpent creatures watched on in silence as Theo started putting each of his family members’ severed body parts in the correct place – as if he was assembling a puzzle of sorts; toes to feet, feet to ankles, and so forth. He did this for everybody, virtually trying his best to re-assemble them. His suit was getting covered in blood, and he frequently had to stop in order to regain his composure as he sobbed audibly. It was especially tough for him when he was trying to put the twins together, because he was extremely doting towards them. Seeing them in this state was almost too much for him, but he pushed through.

“…fucking twins.” He said as he took a deep breath. “I probably interchanged some stuff.”

He then looked at Jess’ corpse, and shook his head. She had withstood the most pain and torture before dying, so her body was an absolute mess. Theo choked back a few tears before getting to work once more. The Fallen, which had been quiet all this time, finally spoke.

“Othello… we must talk.”

“Go ahead. You have yet to answer my question, Fallen…”

“I will be brief, pay attention. We do not have long to obtain vengeance, Othello.”

“Why is that?” Theo asked while holding up a big toe.

“Because we only have until dawn before my ability to support you ends.”

“What?! Why?” Theo asked as his head shot up to look at the Fallen.

“We are both weak… and our Bond is weak. Currently, I am not strong enough to remain in this world without a strong host. You are not strong enough to house me at full strength, therefore I can only give you a portion of my power, and only for a short time.”

“How short?” Theo asked as he continued piecing his wife together.

“Until the sun comes up. We must kill that Phantom before dawn…”

“So I only have a window of about… five and a half to six and a half hours to not only find, but kill that bastard…”

Theo then stood up and slowly walked deeper into the house for a while, before emerging with a large white bed sheet. He carefully draped it over the bodies of his family, and then looked at the Fallen, which had lowered itself and was now hovering above Theo’s shoulder. He looked at it as he wiped the tears from his eyes with a blood soaked sleeve and nodded with steely determination.

“Let’s get to it, then. We need to get moving. Finding the location of that bastard has to be our main priority… I wish I knew where to start, though.”

“I know of a method that could help.” The Fallen declared.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“…we feed.”

“We feed? On what exactly?”

“Look around you, Othello… the fragmented corpses of those who work under Phantom and his subordinates litter the floor of your house. All you have to do, is—”

“What?! Fuck that! There’s absolutely no fucking way I’m doing that! You can forget about that!”

”There is no other CHOICE, Othello!” The Fallen barked as its eyes glowed. “You are WEAK! THAT is why you are alive, and your family lies DEAD before you!”

“You piece of shit! Fuck you!” Theo boomed as he scowled intently at the Fallen.

”Silence! You curse me because you know I speak the TRUTH! You do not have any other choice. You do not have the luxury of time to properly investigate and chase down any leads. Our Bond is weak and infantile. My time in this world is limited. You MUST feed!”

“I am NOT a fucking cannibal!” Theo protested as he looked at the body parts on the floor.

”You are not strong enough to decide what you are and are not! The path to vengeance for your family lies through consumption.”

“…for my family. Fuck.”

“Their brains hold the information we need, Othello! They MUST be consumed. Take control of my servants; use them to feed.”

Theo continued to look at the floor— looking at the heads. Some were attached to necks; others were on their own having been lopped off earlier. The Fallen looked at Theo and grinned, sensing it was getting through to Theo, and that it needed to turn the screw just a little bit more.

“The weak do not have the luxury of choice, Othello.” The Fallen then seemed to slither in closer, its foul mouth next to Theo’s ear. “This is for your family… it must be done.”

”…h-how do I control these things?” Theo asked through gritted teeth.

The Fallen gave a quick, twisted grin. It bore all of its teeth, if only for a second, before moving away from Theo’s ear and above his head once more.

”Simply look within yourself… you will find that their consciousness is linked with yours. Find them, and command them to feed. They will obey you.”

Theo reluctantly closed his eyes as he tried to prepare himself for what he was about to do.

‘You aren’t eating them, they are.’ He said internally, as if trying to convince himself that made it better.

He searched for the consciousness of the creatures, and after looking for a little while, he seemed to find two balls of light. He reached out to them with his mind, and felt a sensation akin to grabbing two tangible round objects. Theo then relayed orders using his mind and just as he opened his eyes, he saw the serpent creatures move with blinding speed, shooting out from behind his head and sweeping across the floor in a blur. The Fallen grinned once again as it watched the creatures moving all over the living room floor. Its grin quickly disappeared however when it realised what Theo had ordered them to do.

”Othello! What are you doing?!”

The creatures came back to Theo, mouths packed with brains and before anything else was said, they started chewing and swallowing. Watching them chew was akin to watching crocodiles eat. Theo watched them eat with disgust, but that was suddenly made worse as his mouth was flooded with the taste of raw human brains. There wasn’t even a follicle sized piece in his mouth, but for some reason, he could taste them all, and before long, he was projectile vomiting all over the place; retching violently as he did. He even found himself taking a knee as he vomited, and when he finally stopped, he started spitting like crazy, trying to get the taste of both vomit and raw brain out of his mouth.

“…you defied me, Othello!” The Fallen fumed as it scowled furiously above Theo’s head.

By now, Theo was wiping his mouth with his forearm with the less blood soaked sleeve.

“Holy fuck; that was disgusting… besides, you said that their brains had the information we needed, nothing else. Between going zombie and going full blown cannibal, I chose the lesser of two evils.”

“You do not understand! Human flesh is rife with what is known as Life Essence! No other creature in this world contains such large quantities of it, thus human flesh is sustenance for such as us.”

“Yeah, well human flesh is a fucking taboo for such as me. Besides, I have what we need… These guys didn’t know where Phantom is, but they did know where one those other three is, so let’s go.”

”You do not understand, Othello…”

Theo just stood up and looked down at his vomit while shaking his head a bit to clear it, before walking towards the front door.

”Your clothes are soaked in blood… will you not change them?” A slightly annoyed sounding Fallen asked.

“No, I think not. The blood of my family has seeped into this suit… when I kill Phantom while wearing it, it will be as if they had a part in it too. Well, at least it will to me.” Theo reached for the doorknob, but stopped short of actually opening it. “More importantly, how do I get these things to go away?”

”The same way you got them to feed… use your will to control them, Othello.”

Theo closed his eyes for a moment, and a few seconds later, the creatures slithered backwards, disappearing into his shoulders. Despite them having burst out from his skin, they didn’t leave any damage on his clothing. The Fallen remained, however, and Theo looked up at it.

“What about you? How do I get you to go away? I can’t walk around with a weird looking winged thing jutting out from my neck.”

”Unlike my pets, I cannot be seen by others, Othello – only by you.”

“Alright then. Well, let’s go.”

”Wait a moment. I have something for you.”

Theo looked up at the Fallen, and as he did, it started to glow. Just as it glowed, Theo started glowing as well.

Theo did as the Fallen said, and almost immediately, an orb of white light appeared in front of him. The orb started to stretch and change shape, and after a fair amount of shape-shifting, it resembled a sword or bladed weapon of some sort. A second orb appeared, and much like the first, it also started changing shape. It however, resembled the shape of some sort of handgun – and was ridiculously big. Finally, a third orb appeared. It changed shape as well, and after close to a minute, all of the orbs flashed brightly. Once the flare of light died down, Theo found himself looking at three items that were floating side by side before him.

”Due to a lack of power, I had to create these out of fragments of the real items. First, we have the sword, Ygg’Rael. Once belonging to one of the most powerful Hunters in the Kingdom of Heaven, this sword has the ability to stretch, allowing its wielder to fight both at close and mid-range. Next, is the firearm, Daemon’s Bane. It has five barrels, with each barrel capable of shooting at a different target. The wielder of this firearm can target and shoot four different enemies at the same time. Finally, we have a cape in the shape of two wings. Made with my feathers, it will allow you to jump higher, as well as glide for a period.”

Theo listened to the Fallen speak as he looked at the items bobbing up and down in the air. The sword, Ygg’Rael was almost unnecessarily large, with the blade thick and pure white. The hilt and guard were also white, but elaborate in design, with gold accents. Daemon’s Bane was large as well. It looked like it was made from two sawed-off shotgun barrels, stacked on top of each other, with a five one in the centre, as well as a white and gold grip and handle. It was impractical looking, and as a trained marksman, Theo shook his head how cumbersome the gun looked. The cape was just two large wings, which, much like everything else, were white in colour. Beautiful and pristine, they wafted delicately in front of him.

”They are yours; reach out and claim them, Othello.”

Theo did just that, and as he touched them, they glowed once more and disappeared. Theo looked around in confusion once he realised that they were gone, before looking up at the Fallen.

”Your wrists…”

Theo pulled the sleeves of his wrists up, and saw what looked like small tattoos in the shape of a cross on them both.

‘Crosses?’ Theo thought to himself, before the urgency of the situation pushed him to forget about them and move.

He opened quickly moved to the door and walked outside for the first time since coming home to the awful situation from before. He saw that the cab he had taken earlier was still parked out front, and after jogging over to ask the driver why, he quickly got his answer without even having to say anything. He found the driver slumped over onto the steering wheel. Theo would have thought the guy was asleep if not for the smell of blood, and the giant section of missing skull, exposing his brain.

“Well… this is unfortunate.” Theo said out loud, before swinging across to the driver’s side of the cab, opening the door and pulling corpse out. He quickly looked the interior over and once he was satisfied that it was clean enough, he opened the trunk of the car, dragged the dead driver to the back of the cab and stuffed him inside, before closing it.

”What are you doing, Othello?”

“Taking this car. It will help us get to our first target.”

”Who is the target?”

“The woman; Black Widow aka Chelsea… something. One of those clowns happened to be in a sexual relationship with her, so he knows where to find her.”

Theo quickly got into the front of the car, and started typing the name of something into the GPS, and then started the car.

”Where are we going, Othello?”

“To an establishment known only as ‘Club S’. It’s a BDSM club owned by Black Widow… she’s a Dominatrix, and people pay her to sexually dominate them. The guy who whose brain had this information found that she could do things to him that his wife couldn’t, and she stimulated desires that his wife neither couldn’t nor wouldn’t.”

”What kind of desires?” The Fallen asked in an almost innocent sounding voice.

“I get the feeling you’ll find the answer to that question when we get there, Fallen.”

Theo began to drive towards the club. The initial part of the trip was made in silence, but during the silence, Theo developed something of a pained expression. After around fifteen minutes or so, he spoke.

“…tell me something.”

“What is it, Othello?” The Fallen asked.

“Where did you get these weapons you gave me? Is there some kind of secret Moon Clan weapons vault or something? Because none of those contracted to Moon Clan demons in the family have weapons remotely similar to these ones.”

”Moon Clan? Do you think I am a member of that pathetic group, Othello?”

“Are you saying that you aren’t?!” Theo asked in genuine shock. “I was using the telepathic channel available exclusively for the family and the Clan to communicate. If you aren’t part of the Moon Clan, how did you hear my pleas?”

”I am many things, Othello. However one thing I am not is a slave to the rules and laws created by that Clan.”

“…if you’re telling me that you are not of the Moon Clan, then who or what are you?”

The Fallen let out something of a knowing, and condescending chuckle as it moved through the air slightly before stopping and settling on Theo’s right shoulder.

“At this moment in time, I am your salvation, Othello. These weapons are my personal artifacts. That is all you need to know for now.”

Theo continued driving as he followed the GPS’ directions. There was a brief moment of silence as Theo contemplated just what this all meant for a few moments. He signed the contract with minimal hesitation precisely because he thought he was signing with the allied Moon Clan, but now having learned that this Fallen was not only an unknown entity to him, but that he signed a contract he didn’t and couldn’t read, Theo was feeling rather apprehensive. The apprehension however barely lasted five minutes, as it was blown away by his burning desire to exact revenge of those who had taken part in the torture and murder of his family.

“You know what, Fallen? I don’t give a fuck who or what you are right now. All I care about is finding and destroying Phantom and all his friends, starting with this Black Widow…”

After following the directions for a little while longer, Theo turned into the entrance of a fairly large parking lot which was actually packed full of cars, despite it being close to 01:10 in the morning. As he waited for the gate to open, a security guard approached him and knocked on the window, which Theo lowered slightly.

“Sorry pal; parking’s full. You gotta use street parking.”

Theo nodded and did just that, reversing out and quickly finding an empty parking pay further down the road. He parked the cab, and spent a few moments with his eyes closed, just focusing on his breathing. Afterwards, he opened the driver’s door and stepped out, fastened the buttons on his suit, and after locking the cab, started walking down the street towards the club.

“Do you have a plan, Othello?” The Fallen asked.

“Of course I do. We walk into that club, and kill Black Widow, as well as anybody who tries to stop that from happening.”

The Fallen began to laugh in some form of twisted amusement and approval. It’s wings spread out for just a second as its eyes glowed brightly, before it calmed down and lowered itself, whispering into Theo’s ear.

“…I like you, Othello. You might be the one…”

Theo wasn’t even listening at this point to the Fallen at this point, as the voices in his own head were monopolising his attention. He got to the entrance and the guard from before came to meet him.

“Yo, sorry about that. The club gets real popular around midnight, and finding parking becomes a real bitch. Anyway, welcome… to…”

The guard’s words trailed off and eventually came to a halt as he noticed the copious amounts of blood stains all over the suit. Theo noticed this and acted quickly.

“You looking at the blood? It’s fake, man. My wife and kids made this shit for me as a Halloween gift, because of how squeamish I am.”

Theo then rolled his eyes and shook his head, and surprisingly enough, the guard actually bought that thin story.

“Anyway, I’m here to see the Black Widow.”

“Shit, you know the Goddess? You’re here to get busy with her, in a suit your wife and kids made for you?!” The guard said incredulously.

“Yeah, she told me to wear it tonight.”

“Man; that sounds exactly like something that bitch would do. Go on in, man. “

Theo nodded and smiled in appreciation before walking in through a small gate. The building was rather large, and funnily enough, plain on the outside. There was nothing externally that even hinted at it being the type of establishment it was, and the sign was just a large neon lit S. Theo walked between the cars towards a large double door with was rather brightly lit. It had guards of its own stationed there, who seemed to be listening to their ear pieces as they noticed Theo approaching. They looked at each other, and then at him and smirked as he walked by them.

“Yeah, Charlie wasn’t lying. That woman made the dude come here to get fucked in something his kids made for him. Go in, you fucking loser.”

Theo stopped and turned to look at the guard who was doing the talking, and the guard suddenly got aggressive.

“What?! You got something to say, motherfucker?!”

Theo just looked away and started walking again.

“That’s what I thought, bitch!’

Theo just walked further into the establishment, and the deeper he got, the more the mood and the decor changed. Red and black were the order of the day, with an assortment of flogs, paddles, crops, and other assorted tools of the trade.

“…why did you allow that to go unpunished, Othello?” The Fallen enquired in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Allow what to happen? You mean that guy insulting me? I couldn’t care less what he thinks. Black Widow is my only objective.”

Soon enough, Theo found himself at a reception desk of sorts, with a woman sitting behind a desk. She was dressed in what looked like a skirt suit, and she looked at Theo and smiled.

“Welcome to Club S, how may I help you?”

“Hi there… I’m here to see Black Widow. Is she available?” Theo asked, looking to see if he could get to her the easy way.

“Unfortunately, the Goddess is not available. Nobody is able to show up and just see her as there is strict protocol that has to be observed if somebody wants to book her services.”

“I see…” Theo said as he looked mildly annoyed.

“I'm sorry about that, but we do have an excellent selection of Mistresses on call, ready and able to assist you in reaching those levels of pleasure you so desire. Would you like me to show you to them?” The woman asked.

“…you may as well.” Theo replied as the woman smiled and stood up.

Meanwhile, deeper in the club, there was a large open floor area where all the magic happened. There were sound proof private booths all along the walls, there were hanging cages filled with men and women, hogtied in various ways, with all kinds of things shoved in them. There was an open area in which live shows were taking place, with a number of submissives were being dominated, with everything being visible to the audiences. All of the screams, moans, vibrating devices, lashes, grown men making animal noises, women booming out orders, they were all cheered as those who received sexual pleasure from public humiliation and domination were being subjected to just that. It was another great night in Club S, which unfortunately for the patrons, came to a literal crashing halt as the sound of shattering glass and dread filled screams filled the room. Everybody suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up towards the source of the screams that sounded so different from those that had been echoing in there previously. They looked up to see one of the reception girls, flailing and screaming as she desperately clutched to the arm that was holding her through the shattered window.

“P-Please!” She begged. “Please don’t do this!”

Before she could plead any more, the girl was tossed towards one of the private booths that were close to the wall. She screamed the entire way down, and crashed right through it, before landing fortuitously on a large bed. The collective attention of everybody present was solely on the girl, and then on the person who had thrown her as he came into view. He quickly leapt out from the hole where the window once was, and landed on the floor with a loud sounding thud, before standing up to his full height; his white suit contrasted with the large sections of red. He looked around slowly as he breathed in deeply, before booming.

“BLACK WIDOW! WHERE ARE YOU?! WHERE!?” Theo boomed dramatically.

“Calm down, Othello. Simply making noise will not draw her out.” The Fallen declared.

“I will not calm down, Fallen. Nothing good awaits me in the realm of calm and quiet.”

Before the Fallen could try and press the issue, a whole bunch of guys dressed in suits appeared and surrounded Theo. The patrons as well as those performing the live show seemed to be unfazed by Theo’s intrusion and watched on in interest as they expected to see him get his ass kicked.

“We don’t know who you are, but you’re fucked.” One of the guards boomed. “Get him!”

The guards rushed Theo, in no particular formation or order, while Theo just eyed them all with a look off thinly veiled rage. The first one reached him, and before he was able to even throw a punch, Theo had reached out with one hand and grabbed his tie, yanking him to him violently, before thrusting his other hand straight towards the guard’s face, his fist crashing right into the middle of the guard’s face with a loud and sickening crack. He started rotating while still being yanked, with his feet very quickly flipping over his face. Mid flip, Theo was already confronted by another guard, who had swung at Theo, but whose punch was caught with the arm fully extended. Theo the raised his knee with blinding speed and crashed it into the elbow directly above it, shattering it and causing the guard to scream out in pain. Theo then took a step forward and turned his body, while bending his arm and jammed his elbow into the guard’s stomach, and as the guard doubled over, he adjusted his torso and brought his fist up, and crashed it into the guard’s face with a short hook. Theo then ducked below a swing while twisting his body to face the direction of the person attacking him, and unleashed a flurry of punches, throwing two punches to the body, then the face and repeating the combination before the guard’s legs gave way and he crumpled to the floor below once Theo had landed a total of eight punches. He then stood in an orthodox fighting stance with his guard up. The other guards had stopped dead in their tracks and were all looking at him with morbid trepidation. Those guys were all taken down in a matter of seconds, and nobody wanted to be the next guy taken out. On the other hand, Theo glared at the men through his guard, his eyes as intense as the scowl on his face. He suddenly broke eye contact and looked at his hands, feeling somewhat surprised.

“What the fuck happened?” He mumbled to himself.

“Are you surprised at your power increase, Othello?” The Fallen enquired.

“Is this because of the contract?” Theo asked.

“That is correct, Othello. Despite our Bond being infantile, you are still subject to all the physical bonuses every single Contracted Human receives, and considering how you have such high grade Blood, your already impressive natural abilities are boosted.”

“Is that so? Let’s test this out some more…”

Theo suddenly dashed forward towards the group of guards who all shuddered slightly but before they could react, he was already upon them. Theo leapt up into the air and reached forward, grabbed the cheeks of one of the guards and raised both knees, driving them into the face between his hands. He released the guard’s head and landed on the ground, crouching somewhat as he landed, before springing up and entering the range of another guard, who had already started swinging. Theo raised his guard and went on the defensive, slipping and dodging the blows that were launched his way. He was evading them all rather easily as the attacks were so unbelievably slow, Theo couldn’t believe it. He was always a gifted fighter, but never had it felt this easy to fight people of this particular level. The novelty of watching the slow attacks wore off rather quickly funnily enough, and Theo quickly smacked both the guards fists away before reaching forward, grabbing his neck and belt, before closing the space between the two of them and then proceeded to lift the guard high into the air, and then slammed him back first onto the floor, executing the Choke Slam perfectly. Theo didn’t waste even a second, and was already on the attack once more, closing the space between himself and another guard in the blink of an eye. He stomped his left foot into the ground decisively and pushed his right off the ground, driving his blood stain covered white dress shoe right into the chest of the guard, causing his arms and legs to stretch out ahead of him and he was launched back with immense force, the sound of his sternum cracking almost unnecessarily loud.

“Lucius!?” The guard cried as he flew backwards and crashed into a table where some people were sitting, but surprisingly didn’t try to move.

“Who is Lucius, Othello?” The Fallen asked as he hovered above, watching the action.

“Beats me.” Theo replied, before slipping a punch from behind.

He grabbed the wrist of the arm with both hands, and pulled it down, shattering the elbow on his shoulder, before flipping the guard over his shoulder and onto the floor in front of him. He knelt down and quickly brought his fist to the screaming guard and with one punch, knocked him unconscious. Theo then stood up really slowly, fists clenched and by his side. As he stood to his full height and turned to face the remaining guards, their eyes all baulked with dread as they looked at him and saw his eyes start to glow white as what appeared to be hazy, white flames seeped from his eyes and wafted up towards the ceiling. His fists were clenched, and a sort of white aura surrounded his body, and started doing the same thing as his odd eye flames. The unbuttoned suit jacket was fluttering behind him, and above his head, two large eyes formed out of the aura, with two large, black eyes suddenly appearing and glowing. As the eyes appeared, a huge amount of pressure was emitted from Theo’s direction, causing a few of the guards and patrons present to actually vomit due to being unable to handle it.

“W… what is he?” One of the remaining guards asked nobody in particular.

Just then, their radios all started blaring static, before a voice spoke.

“The Goddesses elite, personal guards are going to take care of this guy. All of you fall back, and get rid of everybody else in the room – quickly.”

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The guards suddenly looked at each other and nodded, before quickly getting to work and following orders. What seemed to surprise them was that Theo was standing still and letting them do exactly that. He neither tried to stop them, nor put them off; he just stood with an immense scowl on his face.

“You are not going to stop them, Othello?” The fallen enquired.

“There’s no need. I told you before; my goal is to destroy those who stand between the Black Widow and me. These fools have just passed that that baton onto these so-called ‘Elites’. I’m going to crush them until that bitch comes out from wherever she’s hiding.”

Just as Theo finished talking a large number of figures suddenly descended from above, all of them landing on the floor with a somewhat loud thud. Theo stood perfectly still as people were evacuated behind him, and the elite guards slowly stood up to their full heights. The tension in the air was thick, and almost tangible. Theo upped the intensity of his concentration, which resulted in the aura flaring up and growing slightly bigger. The scowl on his face deepened, and his fists clenched even harder, with his knuckles cracking as they did. Theo’s eyes suddenly balked as he looked the guards over, and his mouth opened slightly.

“What the..?” Theo said to himself as he looked them over.

Despite being different races, heights and builds, the men were all dressed in the same attire. They all had black leather masks covering their entire heads, with the only holes in them a circular shaped mouth hole, which had a ball gag, placed in it. Their nipples were all pierced, with large studs going through them, and further down, they were all wearing black thongs and leather boots as their only forms of clothing. Their bodies were shining and glistening with some kind of body oil, and the lights in the room were reflected on their skin. They also had tails sticking out from their butts, and Theo swore he could hear a faint vibrating noise coming from each man.

“…what on earth are these men wearing, Othello?!” The Fallen asked as it lowered itself to Theo’s shoulder, looking completely confused.

Before Theo could answer it, all the elite guards reached behind their backs and grabbed what looked like sticks. They pulled them out from behind them and brought them to the front. The “sticks” in question made the Fallen and Theo’s facial expressions become even more shocked, as each and every single one of these men was holding a large, black phallic object which served as a weapon. The surface of the odd club was ribbed like crazy, and despite these ‘clubs’ being so large and heavy looking, these men were carrying them with consummate ease.

“W-Why… why are those things bumpy?!” Theo found himself asking.

Just then, the guards all started stroking their weapons back and forth, which further made Theo and the Fallen look completely flabbergasted. The phallic clubs began vibrating rigorously the more they were stroked, before something suddenly shot out from the tips, resulting in Theo cringing and actually taking a step back.

“What the fuck?!” He boomed.

The guards immediately held the clubs up vertically, and whatever it was that had shot out from them suddenly burst out from a seam running down the length of the entire weapon. It actually turned out to be a metallic blade, which was quite long and pointy. These clubs had transformed into large, single edged bladed swords, and the guards all pointed them at Theo threateningly.

“Othello! These men must be eliminated!” The Fallen boomed itself.

“Because they’re in the way or because they’re… weird?” Theo asked as he slowly shook his head and regained his composure. “Besides, I get the feeling they’ll be a lot more trouble than the previous idiots.”

“Why is that? Because they are wielding bladed weapons? You have Ygg’Rael; summon it and cut these… men down.”

“That’s right…”

Theo then looked raised his right hand and looked at his sleeve.

“How does this work?” He asked himself. “Uh… Ygg’Rael… come forth?”

A cross shaped glow could be seen coming from behind the red stained cuff, and immediately afterward, a huge gust of wind emanated from Theo’s body as the cross moved from his wrist into the palm of his hand, and started growing. The larger the cross became, the brighter it glowed, and it eventually started changing shape until it was a large, golden silhouette of Ygg'Rael. Instinctively, Theo wrapped his fingers around the glowing hilt, and the moment he did, the golden glow started seeping off the sword, as if it was some sort of gelatinous substance, and one it was all gone, Ygg'Rael’s pure white blade shone in such a way that it inspired near reverence from most of those who were present. Theo couldn’t milk the moment however, as he quickly had to grab the hilt with his left hand as well before the entire sword fell to the ground. It was almost indescribably heavy, and it took a conscious and concerted effort for Theo to hold Ygg’Rael up properly.

“What the fuck?!” Theo enquired as he looked to his left shoulder. The Fallen was still hovering there, and looked at Theo. “Why is this thing so damn heavy!?”

“Because you refuse to consume Life Essence rich flesh, Othello. Everything we do requires Life Essence – be it the summoning of my pets, or the use of items I gave you. Due to your stubborn refusal, you likely have an extremely limited number of uses of each weapon’s abilities. You likely are only able to use them one at a time as well.”

Theo looked at the Fallen, before looking over at the elite guards and scoffed. He then held Ygg’Rael up in a threatening manner.

“I’ll finish these guys off quickly and get their boss out here in my current state, ‘Life Essence’ be damned.”

The Fallen scoffed as well but didn’t say anything further as it wafted up above Theo’s head once more. Theo wasted no time in attack, charging the group of guards who had been standing in their various battle stances waiting for Theo.

‘First time using this cumbersome weapon… for now, let’s just defend for a bit and get used to it.’ Theo thought to himself as penetrated the group.

He was not mistaken thinking that he would not be able to coast against these guys as they all started attacking with speed and ferocity. Despite the phallic swords being large, they were incredibly quick, and cut through the air mercilessly. Theo found himself on the back foot immediately, ducking below a horizontal strike and as he adjusted his feet and torso to retaliate, he found himself having to dodge yet another attack. He was able to evade easily enough, but the transition from defense to offence was not quite as smooth as Theo would have liked. He slipped and evaded a series of thrusts aimed at his head before standing up straight while dragging Ygg’Rael behind him, and with an almighty heave, unleashed an insanely powerful diagonal slash that ripped through the air with such force that it could be heard. Despite the power behind the swing, it was so slow; it was evaded rather easily by the guards, some of whom had started taunting Theo with gyrating hips and pelvic thrusts. They had created a fair amount of space between themselves and Theo, and as he looked at them, the white aura from before suddenly enveloped his body once more as he scowled deeply.

“These motherfuckers… first they attack me with ribbed cocks, and now they mock me…”

“Kill these fools, Othello!!” The Fallen barked as it was even more annoyed by these antics than Theo was.

“That’s the plan…”

Theo charged the group once more, Ygg’Rael held down by his waist, pointed behind him as they charged him right back. Theo was once again on the defensive as before he could sort out his hands, he was leaning back in an effort to avoid two strikes coming from either side of him. He twisted his torso and stabbed Ygg’Rael into the floor and using it as a pole of sorts, he sprung up mid twist and extended his legs, completing a sort of Windmill type kick, which surprised a few guards and managed to catch two on the jaw, resulting in them spinning and twisting through the air. They quickly recovered however, and landed on their feet along with Theo. Theo recovered just that bit quicker as he pulled the sword out from the floor and performed a looping vertical strike, swinging Ygg’Rael in an arc from above his head. The strike came up short though, and went straight into the ground, which the guards assumed was a mistake on Theo’s part, yet he actually continued the motion, leaping off of his feet and completing a somersault while still hanging on to the sword. He tucked his feet in whilst upside down, and once his back was facing the floor, Theo thrust his legs out and his shoes landed flush on the faces of the two guards and sent them flying. The guards in question went completely limp the moment Theo’s shoes hit their faces, and they flew towards the other side of the auditorium type room, leaving their ‘swords’ behind. Theo twisted his body and landed facing the other guards, who had leaped into action themselves, with three of them all thrusting their weapons at him. He pulled Ygg’Rael out from the floor and held it with the flat facing his attackers. The sound of impact between the respective blades was incredibly loud, and it was now Theo’s turn to get launched backwards. He crashed through a bunch of tables that had been vacated, before smashing into the stage on which the show was being staged.

“Ughf!!” Theo exclaimed as he looked at the sword. “This thing is ridiculous. I’m using my fucking sword as a pole vault and a forsaken shield!”

“Eyes up, Othello!” The Fallen warned.

Theo immediately looked up to see the elite guards quickly closing the gap between themselves and Theo. He took a deep breath as he stood up to his full height, holding Ygg’Rael low once more.

“That said… I’m quickly figuring out how to fight with it. I was never the strongest at sword fighting, but these guys aren’t that great themselves.”

Theo’s aura started to pulse even more impressively as his eyes also began to glow once again. He charged towards the onrushing attackers, but held Ygg’Rael even lower as he lowered his torso and ran in a somewhat hunched over position. About two thirds of the way of the way down, Theo was already beginning his attack, turning his body to the side as the soles of his shoes slid across the floor, as he twisted his hips to generate momentum, his hunched over shoulders and arms flexing and tensing as he swung Ygg’Rael with as much speed and force as he could muster, unleashing a horizontal strike of epic proportions. The approaching guards were caught by surprise by Theo starting his attack so early, and whilst a fair number of them were able to evade, some of them were caught by it. The sound of the strike boomed and echoed through the room as those guards who were hit discovered, Ygg’Rael’s strikes were almost unreal. Those who were able to raise their phallic swords to block found that it was useless, as they and those who weren’t able towere cleaved in two along with their weapons and everything else that was behind them. What felt like gale-force winds sent leaking body parts, décor and whatever else that was caught up in them hurtling violently through the air and crashing loudly moments later. The Fallen just looked at the carnage before him, then down at Theo who was being rushed by those who had managed to evade the deadly.

“…Space Ripper… this man was able to unleash it with such a pathetic version of Ygg’Rael…” The fallen then grinned, baring all of its sharp teeth. “You impress me so much, Othello—”

Just as the Fallen said that, Theo was on the receiving end of attacks that actually made contact, as the guards used a series of dummies and feints to get Theo to try and block with the sword, before pummeling him with multi-strike melee combinations to the face and body, sending him flying back into the stage once more.

“Were you saying something?!” Theo asked as he looked up at the Fallen, before looking ahead of him and quickly doing a backflip up onto the stage above to avoid the influx of attacks. He slid backwards while readying himself to launch another attack.

“…no, nothing.” The Fallen said in a deflated sounding voice.

The guards cautiously jumped up onto the stage as Theo ended his slide with a very loud, very wet sounding ‘squelch’. He looked down at the surface of the stage before shaking his head.

“…I hate this place.” Theo said to himself, before he heard the guards start to chuckle and laugh at him. “…I really fucking hate this place.”

Theo readied himself for another attack when the guards all suddenly stopped laughing, stood up straight and started shaking rather violently.

“What the fuck is it now?” Theo asked as he remained on guard.

Their tails seemed to be the cause of this sudden and violent bout of the shakes, as their vibrations suddenly kicked into overdrive. Before long, grunts and groans could be heard coming from the group as they continued to shake, and as Theo and the Fallen watched them closely, the Fallen suddenly noticed something.

“Othello… look… look there.”

“Huh? Look where?”

“Down by their feet… something seems to be… dripping… at their feet.”

Theo looked at the feet of the guards and when he noticed the fresh wet spots on the stage floor, his gaze naturally sought out the source, and his eyes balked once more as he noticed that whatever the substance that was dripping onto the floor was, it was coming from the front of their thongs.

“N-No way…” Theo said as he blinked a few times. “Those guys are actually… nutting, in the middle of a fight?!”

“Nutting? I am not familiar with this phrase, Othello. What does it mean?” The Fallen said as it lowered itself onto Theo’s shoulder and looked at him.

“Uh… orgasm.” Theo said as he looked at the Fallen.

“What!? How in the Hell did they do that, Othello?”

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s because of those… tails. They appear to vibrate, and…”

Theo went on to give a brief explanation of what he thought the tails were, and the Fallen’s eyes grew larger as the explanation progressed.

“WHAT?! THOSE THINGS ARE VIBRATING IN THEIR—”

“Yeah…” Theo said as he looked back at group.

“…does it feel good?” The Fallen asked as it looked at Theo once more.

“How the fuck should I know?!” Theo barked as he shot the Fallen an annoyed look.

There was no time for the conversation to continue however, as the noises coming from the group suddenly turned into pained groans. Theo and the Fallen watched on with grim curiosity as all of a sudden, the groans turned to screams and strange lumps started to appear on the sides of the guards’ torsos, as if something was trying to push out of their bodies. Their skin was stretching back and forth, and a few moments later, things forced their way out as the screams got even louder. These things varied from guard to guard in terms of size and length, but what Theo knew for certain, was that they were appendages – most likely arms. They were covered in blackish fur, and as they burst out, the guards themselves began to have short black fur cover the rest of their bodies. Some guards had two of these arms; others had three, or even one. Their already muscular bodies actually grew in size and mass, with parts of their bodies regularly pulsing.

“Contracted Items… “

“Yeah… given to those of a certain level by a Contracted Human in order to bestow a power boost upon them, at a cost.

“You are surprisingly well informed, Othello.” The Fallen said.

“Yeah, well I do come from a family with a long term Contract with a demon clan, after all. But this place… man, fuck this place.” Theo said with a shake of his head. “How is it popular?! Not only are the orgasms ruined, but they come at the cost of you turning into a fucking monster.”

As if to emphatically solidify Theo’s statement, the ball gags in the mouth holes all shot out and a long, slimy tongue like thing thrust out of the hole, with a four pronged tip that split and opened up, revealing a hole in the centre with what looked like spikey teeth lining it. This was followed by a horrific screech, and both Theo and the Fallen cringed as they looked at these guards complete their transformations. They glanced at each other for an instant before they leapt at Theo, causing him to dart off to his left. The guards all jumped after him, no longer walking but hopping and crawling on all fours like a swarm of bugs or something. Theo slid to a stop after a few moments of running, and then started charging the group. He ducked below one of them as they attacked, and slashed up towards another airborne guard, who twisted in midair and avoided the strike, before swinging his own weapon at Theo’s head. He quickly ducked and avoided the strike and planted Ygg’Rael into the stage, using it to generate momentum once again and pushing off the ground, driving both his feet into the gut of another guard, who felt the attack, but didn’t appear to receive as much damage as Theo thought he would. The guard grabbed both of Theo’s ankles as two guards leapt into the air, and executed two downward thrusts with their phallic swords. Theo let out a grunt of effort as he used his core to draw his legs back, and lift the guy holding his ankles up into the air. Whether through planning or sheer luck, Theo flipped the guard above himself right as the other two who here attacking were about to hit, and both their swords sliced into the guard’s torso and fortuitously got stuck in it. Just as black blood started spraying from the guard’s cleaved torso, Theo pulled himself out from beneath the flow of blood and quickly spun around to the other side of Ygg’Rael. He then pulled the sword’s blade out from the stage and immediately swung it as hard as he could, all the while hoping he would make it in time. Luckily for him, he did, and as the two guards were focused on pulling their blades out of their fellow guard’s torso, their heads were lopped right off; black blood shooting from their necks like water from a fire hose.

Theo could barely even settle as he felt a stinging pain in his side as one of the guards got him in the side with the back of his phallic sword. Fortuitously enough for Theo, he was hit with the bladeless, ribbed side of the weapon, so the damage was only blunt. He let out a grunt of pain as he positioned himself to slash in retaliation, but he suddenly felt something clamp down around both of his wrists. Theo then looked down at his wrists and saw a pair of those four pronged tongue things with a firm grip of his arms.

“Oh, you’ve GOT to be—”

Theo couldn’t even finish speaking as he felt himself being yanked from where he was standing and whipped into a bunch of benches, tables and racks on stage, that thankfully for Theo, were dry and not recently used. The crashing sounds were very audible, and the pair of guards who were responsible for this forcefully whipped their heads and caused Theo to be lifted high in the air, before being slammed down into the stage floor, and then through it with a loud and painful sounding thud. There was a brief moment of quiet, before the guards retracted their tongues and looked at each other, communicating by making odd sounding screeches and the like. In what sounded like a conversation between two oversized pterodactyls, they seemed to be laughing and patting one another on the back. All of a sudden, two hands broke out from beneath their feet, grabbed a pair of ankles, and suddenly pulled them down through the floor into the abyss beneath the stage, along with the body connected to them.

“Skree! Skree!”

Was all that could be heard as a white light glowed out from the large hole in the floor, and soon afterwards, the sound of fighting could also be heard. The scuffle which was taking place beneath the stage was very brief, and after half a minute or so, it all went quiet. A few moments later, Theo emerged from the hole as he lunged at the other guard responsible for tossing him around the stage. He reached for the guard’s neck, but was instead attacked with the strange tongue once again. He saw it coming this time though, and grabbed it from the side, and as he landed on the stage floor, he quickly dashed behind the guard and wrapped the tongue around its neck quickly. The guard tried to turn around and stop what was happening, but was quickly punched in the face repeatedly until it was dazed, and then turned around. Theo then drove his foot between the guard’s shoulder blades, and began to push it forward while pulling back in the tongue. There was a screeching noise that came from the mask, but it was quickly replaced by a loud crack and then thud as Theo had snapped its neck, and dropped the guard to the floor. He then turned around and saw the two remaining guards watching him and hesitating. He slowly walked towards Ygg’Rael, which had been left on the floor when Theo had been tossed around, and wiped blood from his brow, nose and mouth as he reached the sword.

“Well? What are you two waiting for?” Theo asked as he spat out a wad of bloody saliva.

Despite the power boost granted by their grotesque transformation, Theo seemed to have quickly adjusted and actually gotten somewhat stronger himself while dealing with the guards – something that they had noticed. The two guards looked at each other, and without saying anything, both ran for it, running as fast as they could. Theo just scoffed as he wiped the last bit of sweat and blood from his face, before bending down and picking his sword up.

“Hmn… this sword feels a bit lighter than it did when all this started.” Theo remarked more to himself than anybody else.

“Incredible… our Bond actually became stronger during this fight. If only we had more than a few hours together, Othello.”

Theo held Ygg’Rael in both hands as the Fallen spoke, before turning around and starting towards the edge of the stage. He was about to continue his search for Black Widow, however as it turned out, the search was not going to last for much longer, as the sound of echoing footsteps filled the entire space. The high heeled black boots continued to make noise, and Theo cracked his neck as he jerked it to and fro in both directions. A scowl adorned his features as Black Widow slowly came into the light, with both guards who had run away being dragged behind her, both attached to what looked like webs.

“What the fuck is going on in my club?” Black Widow said in a voice that sounded all too familiar to Theo.

Black Widow was also scowling intensely as she was in something of a foul mood. She was dressed in her Dominatrix gear and had her hair tied in a high ponytail. She looked up at Theo who looked as though his eyes were about to shoot laser beams of hatred at her.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are b… but…”

Black Widow’s speech tapered off as she looked Theo over. She knew that she had met him before, and it was a recent meeting, but it took a minute or so for her to actually realise who this blood drenched suit clad man was. Her eyes grew wider and wider with each passing second as recalled the events of a few hours earlier.

“…how? I saw you die… your head fucking exploded! How are you still alive?!”

Theo didn’t answer the question. Instead, he stabbed Ygg’Rael’s tip in the stage emphatically, and began to neaten up his suit, tucking his shirt in properly, adjusting and aligning his tie, and then fastening the buttons of the suit jacket. He did all this while staring directly into Black Widow’s eyes, never breaking eye contact, or even blinking. The wrath within him continued to grow, and it was shown in his eyes. Black Widow was not used to being ignored, and within the blink of an eye, the floor tiles in front of the stage suddenly cracked, with bits of ceramic residue shooting off in multiple directions. Black Widow was holding a whip in her right hand; eyes now filled with anger while face morphing scowl almost made her look like a completely different person.

“You will NOT ignore me, slave! Answer my question!”

“All I need to hear from you is the location of that Phantom bastard; nothing more, nothing less.”

Theo said this as he was tugging on the cuffs of his jacket, scowl still on his face.

“All of you motherfuckers are going to pay for what happened to my family.”

“Says the weakling who sat and watched his family tortured to death. I still remember your screams, the pained expression on your tear stricken face… it was such delicious spectacle.”

Theo finished neatening himself up and then pulled Ygg’Rael out from the stage floor with one hand, just holding it one handed as he looked at Black Widow.

“Tell me where Phantom is, and your death won’t be quite as painful as it could be if you don’t.”

Black Widow’s scowl suddenly disappeared as she looked completely bemused by Theo’s declaration, before throwing her head back and absolutely howling with laughter. She even had to take a few moments to steady herself as she stumbled around a bit.

“Oh my, a mere slave talking so tough when all he could do was get his ass kicked when it really mattered?”

Black Widow started laughing once again, and Theo just looked at her as his grip of Ygg’Rael tightened.

“Ignore her provocations, Othello. She underestimates you – use that to your advantage.”

“I hear what you’re saying, Fallen. But the image of this bitch dragging Jess and the kids before me, as well as the look she had on her face when she did is so vividly ingrained in my memory, that I doubt I’ll be able to maintain my composure for much longer.”

Theo said this as his body began to shake with barely contained rage, the white aura from before once again making an appearance once again. Black Widow saw the bright, pure white light pulsing all over Theo’s body and her laughter quickly came to a halt. She just looked at Theo as her gaze intensified once more.

“Othello Barausse… you are a Contracted? When did that happen?!” She asked through gritted teeth. “You definitely weren’t one a few hours ago!”

Theo didn’t even give the woman anything resembling an answer as he jumped down from the stage and immediately charged her. Black Widow scoffed and spat in Theo’s direction, before raising her whip above her head and spinning it a few times. She unleashed a strike with the whip so fast; it was all Theo could do to evade the tip of the whip. The cracking of the whip was almost obscenely loud, and the damage caused to the floor was greater than that from the previous strike. Theo didn’t have time to look at the point of impact as he was already on the move, trying to close the gap once more. Black Widow continued unleashing whip strikes, the speed with which the strikes followed each other so rapid, it sounded like an automatic hand gun was going off. To his credit, Theo was dodging them all, and while doing so, was slowly closing the distance between the two of them. As Black Widow increased the speed of her strikes, flying debris and dust clouds were the order of the day. Theo was also increasing his speed as necessary, his body becoming a white and red blur. Black Widow found herself becoming increasingly frustrated at her inability to land a hit on Theo continued to increase her speed as much as she could.

‘How is this… no matter how powerful an entity he formed a contract with, how can Othello be this fast?’ Black Widow thought to herself.

Her internal monologue was cut short however, as within the blink of an eye, Theo suddenly shot forward, having completely closed the gap. He turned his body and thrust his shoulder into her body, launching Black Widow into the air and sending her flying back. Theo followed after the woman, Ygg’Rael held up high above his head as he looked to cleave her in two right off the bat. She reached behind her and grabbed hold of the webs her subordinates were attached to and pulled them forward, launching both of them in front of her to act as a pair of humanoid shields. As she did, the webs detached from her body and quickly wrapped themselves around the two. With a roar, Theo swung Ygg’Rael down with immense force.

“That’s it!” The Fallen boomed. “Space Ripper!!!“

The sound of Ygg’Rael ripping through the air sounded even more intense this time, and Black Widow’s guards became little more than sacrifices to buy her a few precious moments to evade the attack. The two web wrapped guards literally exploded into web covered, hairy, bloody chunks of flesh that rained down onto the floor.

‘S-Such… power…’ Black Widow thought to herself once more as she quickly darted away to what she thought was a safe distance.

Theo quickly closed the gap once more; his sword above his shoulder this time. He launched another attack and black widow found herself stumbling over chair that had fallen over. By the time she had recovered, she found it was too late for her to react due to the speed with which Theo was on her. At least, that’s what she thought, because in spite of his strength increase allowing him to hold Ygg’Rael with one hand when not using it to attack; Theo was still rather clumsy at using the naturally heavy and cumbersome weapon. Black Widow saw the strike coming in what seemed like slow motion in comparison to Theo’s previous movements.

‘His sword is SO fucking slow!!’ She thought to herself while smirking.

Black Widow found she had enough time to roll away, stand up, and then create some space between them once again. Ygg’Rael hit the floor and caused a whole bunch of damage, splitting the tiles and concrete below with a loud boom, sending dust flying everywhere. The dust quickly settled to reveal Theo standing in the middle of a small and somewhat shallow crater, holding Ygg’Rael in his right hand, looking at Black Widow, who had a knowing and mocking smirk on her face.

“Well, fuck.” Theo said as he walked out from the hole. “I was hoping to finish her off before she realised how slow I am with this damn weapon.

“There are some barriers we cannot overcome in a matter of hours, Othello, and this is one of them. That said, you must still finish this woman off quickly. You are running out of time with Ygg’Rael.”

The meeting between Theo and the Fallen was cut short as Black Widow approached Theo, smirk growing larger with every passing second.

“You know Othello; you really did catch me by surprise. That a mere slave such as you would display such speed and skill. If not for the absurd disparity of speed between you and that weapon, I would have been in trouble.”

“That was certainly the plan…” Theo said as he took a few deep breaths, as his mind went to work trying to formulate another strategy.

“You’ve received some form of training, haven’t you slave?” Black Widow asked. “Yours aren’t the movements of an amateur. Even back in your house, your ability to fight in the dark with ease suggested that you weren’t normal.”

“You continue to refer to me as a slave… I suggest you stop.” Theo said somewhat menacingly.

“Why should I? I hold dominion over every single member of the male species is on this world.” Black Widow said as she flicked her hair, before looking directly into Theo’s eyes. “That also includes you, Othello.”

“Is that so?” Theo asked. “What about that Phantom bastard? Is he also one of your slaves?”

“The Phantom? His is an existence is one that has transcended the binary nature of us humans… Neither man nor woman, the Phantom is nobody’s slave.”

Black Widow seemed to have immense respect and admiration for Phantom, and it actually showed not only in her eyes, but her voice as well. Her admiration was right on the precipice; feeling very similar to reverence to Theo. She held out her left hand and reached behind her back with it. Theo heard the sound of something he couldn’t quite identify, but the noise was the least of his concerns as she pulled out a second whip, that was identical to the first.

“I’ve figured you out, Othello… you’re too dangerous to fight up close, so I’ll keep you at bay and kill you from a far.”

Black Widow started putting on a bit of a show; dual wielding her hips while spinning and cracking both whips, the floor on either side of her getting torn to shreds as she did. She suddenly unleashed an attack on Theo with both whips, the double crack it produced sounding absolutely brutal. Theo was able to avoid the first strike, but the second caught, if only slightly, on the cheek. It didn’t hit him flush, but Theo reacted as though he was hit with a large fist; head snapping back. He slowly turned to face Black Widow, blood flowing from the resulting wound on his cheek. He reached up with his left hand, rubbed his cheek with it, and then examined the blood on his fingers. He then looked up at Black Widow with a scowl.

“You just made me do something so fucking clichéd, it’s not even funny.”

Strangely enough, doing this seemed to make Theo angry, and a sudden burst of wind blew out from his feet as his eyes glowed and his aura came back. Black Widow just smirked, and started drawing out power herself, with her eyes glowing bright red as she did. Her ponytail danced around violently, as her skin darkened slightly, nails became black and pointed, and her teeth all sharpened and became pointy. A black and red aura enveloped her body, and the aura formed into the shape of some sort of head, above her very own head, All of a sudden, a whole bunch of beady, red eyes opened on what was the forehead of the head. They all seemed to be looking directly at Theo, and he could feel the presence of whichever entity Black Widow had signed a contract with. The aura started spreading, as if it was trying to become the dominant force in the room.

“The fuck is this?” Theo asked as he tensed his muscles.

His own aura started growing in size, and after a few moments, the formation of the humanoid head and neck from earlier could be seen above Theo’s head, black eyes opening and glowing as well. There seemed to be something of a personal battle between the two entities, as a screech could be heard coming from Black Widows’, while a roar in the Fallen’s voice came from Theo’s one. Auras and voices clashed, as black and red pushed up against white and vice versa. Theo and Black Widow also exchanged deep, intense gazes during the brief clash. Theo then spoke to the Fallen without breaking eye contact with the woman.

“Fallen… how have I been summoning this aura?”

“Do you mean to tell me that you have not been doing so consciously?” The Fallen enquired in shock.

“Yeah… it’s just been popping up, and the result is a boost in my physical capabilities.”

“I cannot believe this, Othello; to draw out power instinctively is impressive… but you are still at a disadvantage. This woman is strong.”

“I know, Fallen. Those dual whips are going to be a real pain.”

“I don’t know where you think you are, but having leisurely conversations with your Contracted Entity during an engagement with somebody else is rather foolish. I could have killed you by now.”

“No you couldn’t have.” Theo retorted as the clash between the Fallen and whatever it was that Black Widow was Contracted to.

The winds died down completely, and the two looked at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Theo decided to go first, Ygg’Rael held firmly with both hands as he closed the gap – well, as he tied to, at least. Black Widow immediately launched a counter attack which was even quicker than the taste she had given Theo moments earlier, and Theo found himself having to devote all of his concentration to dodging the whips. The strikes were not only lightning quick, but also surprisingly heavy. The biggest issue with the whips was that Black Widow could literally target two parts of his body at the same time, and that was precisely what she was doing. Theo would be jumping to avoid a strike at his feet when he would be forced to twist his torso to avoid another strike aimed at his body, then quickly move and try to gain some more ground – rinse and repeat.

‘Fuck me!’ Theo thought to himself as he found himself increasingly on the back foot.

He was thinking of ways to try and overcome his disadvantage when he looked down at the ridiculously large sword in his hands. He quickly looked up and evaded an attack aimed at his face and another aimed at his feet, causing him to jump back. The moment his feet touched the ground, Theo suddenly assumed a more compact, hunched over stance as he had earlier, presenting the woman with a smaller target and started running forwards. Black Widow rained the attacks down on Theo, but he just raised Ygg’Rael and used it as a shield once more.

“Hmph!” Widow scoffed as she increased the speed of the strikes, as well as changed the direction each strike came from.

Theo was forced to roll, jump, parry and slide his way through the barrage, with the sounds that echoed through the room being absolutely brutal. If it wasn’t for the sound proofing webs the entire building was lined with, those standing outside would have thought a bunch of explosives and such were going off. The floor was being torn to absolute shreds; however Theo was finding a measure of success using this method of approach, as he was actually closing the gap. The problem was that each time he would gain a considerable amount of ground, Black Widow would move back to maintain the gap between them. After a few more attempts at getting closer that ultimately failed, Theo eventually jumped back a few steps in order to catch his breath. He stood up to his full height as he took a number of deep breaths. Black Widow’s smirk dripped with absolute arrogance and she continued to whip the floor either side of her.

“That didn’t work out too well for you, did it slave?”

“On the contrary, I’m about to crush you.” Theo said with absolute confidence.

Before Black Widow could find out what the basis of this confidence was, Theo was on the move once more, Ygg’Rael held down low, pointed directly behind him. He was also running perfectly upright, having completely abandoned defending himself.

“A battle of pure speed, is it?!” Black Widow asked. “Bring it!!” She boomed as she suddenly became serious herself.

Theo became a blur once more, moving quicker than he had at any point during the fight, with Black Widow also increasing her speed monumentally. They were dealing in milliseconds in this exchange, and Theo wasn’t evading while using lateral movement; instead, he was moving like a bullet train. The whips were cracking and actually making contact with his body; however, due to slipping at the last possible moment, Theo was able to take most of the hits on his clothes. While he still felt the attacks, he was doing his utmost to ignore the pain and push forward. The whips were a blur of constant movement, and Theo was a blur of sheer force, however the speed of each whip continued to increase and Theo found himself becoming less and less able to evade and slip the blows, with some of them landing flush on his body and face. Theo let out an immense roar as he just tanked the successful hits, continuing to close the gap. Black Widow, whether consciously or otherwise, started aiming all her strikes at Theo’s face, hoping that snapping his head back would slow, or even completely halt his momentum. As it turned out, that was a smart move, as while the first few hits to his face weren’t enough, around the fourth and fifth strikes rocked him, snapping his head back. Black Widow quickly capitalised on the opening, unleashing a deliberate series of attacks directly at Theo’s face, snapping his head around in all directions so rapidly, it looked like a boxing speedball. Blood was spraying all over the place like crazy during the barrage, and right at the end, Black Widow wrapped the whips around Theo’s ankles and began rotating her torso furiously, resulting in Theo spinning around and around above her head, before she released him in the direction of the now battered stage. The sound of Theo crashing through the front of the stage was almost unreal, and sounded like a legitimate explosion or building detonation. Black Widow, who only moments earlier was quite worried suddenly threw her head back and cackled. Her shrill laughter was filled with as much relief as it was with arrogance.

“You pathetic slave! You thought that you could beat me with such a simple and straight forward plan of attack?! Fuck you!” She bellowed. “Have some more!!”

Black Widow started launching more whip attacks, with both whips growing in length as they seemed to find their target every time, destroying more of the stage with each strike as shrapnel was sent flying. With each successful strike, Black Widow’s laugh would become progressively louder and shriller with every strike, and just as she delivered what she thought would be the finishing blow, she felt resistance as she tried to withdraw her whips.

‘…what the?’ She thought as she continued to pull on the whips.

All of a sudden, Black Widow was airborne, being pulled violently in the direction of the stage and before she could even think of letting go of the handles, a fist thundered into her cheek with such force that she thought the entire building was shaking when she hit the floor. She actually bounced off the floor, and was quickly hit with another punch that slammed her into the ground and rendered her motionless.

“Shut the fuck up.” Theo said as he spat a red wad of saliva out of his mouth. His suit was riddled with gashes and cuts, some of which had blood seeping from them. His face looked like a scored chicken breast, with blood pouring out from the wounds. “You were having fun while going to town on my face, weren’t you? I also saw how my kids looked when you brought them out… my wife too…. You must have a thing for faces.”

Theo, who had been wrapping the whips around his forearms as he spoke, suddenly reached down and pulled Black Widow up to her feet. He then went to work, driving both fists into her face as he unleashed what seemed like a never ending combination of lefts and rights, delivering each blow on to her pretty face; each crunching blow produced a spray of blood, and after a while, the sound of cracking bones and teeth, with a few of her teeth rattling around in her mouth. As Theo delivered a hard punch to her cheek, a combination of blood, spit and teeth fragments spewed out from her mouth, yet before Black Widow could hit the ground, Theo grabbed her by the ponytail and held her up.

“Not yet…”

He dragged her to where Ygg’Rael was fortuitously sticking out of the ground, with the blade pointing towards the ceiling.

“How lucky.” Theo said as he picked up the near limp body of Black Widow.

He held her up horizontally, and just as he was about to impale her on the sword, a web shot out from Black Widow’s back and stuck to the ceiling. She quickly shot out of Theo’s grasp as he tossed her down onto the blade.

“Huh?!” Theo exclaimed as his head darted in the direction Black Widow flew off in.

She had flown and stuck to the ceiling, and was looking down at Theo as blood leaked from her severely mangled and beaten face.

“I can’t believe I have to do this for a mere slave…” She said in a heavily muffled voice.

Suddenly, she started screaming as the black and red aura from before enveloped her body. Black Widow’s blood curdling screams filled the building, Theo bent over and pulled Ygg’Rael out from the floor and watched intently as her body started behaving the same way as those of her subordinates as they transformed. It didn’t take long for four growths to shoot out from her sides, with two on each. They were clearly arms however, and they were covered in spikey black hair – which also grew all over the rest of her body. Her feet burst out from the leather boots as they grew in size and were also covered in the hair. Her head grew in size, and spider like fangs pierced their way out from her cheeks, while bloody, vertical slits of varying sizes appeared all across her forehead. They all opened simultaneously, revealing an unnerving number of glowing red eyes, all of which were looking directly at Theo. Her butt had morphed into a large, hairy growth resembling a spider’s abdomen. Once the transformation was complete, Black Widow let out an ear-piercing screech. Theo and the winged growth that was the Fallen’s vessel both looked up in poorly veiled disgust.

“What? Why? Why must all this shit be gross, Fallen? Why?” Theo asked as he shook his head.

“Look at all those eyes, Othello.” The Fallen replied in an equally disturbed voice.

Theo activated his aura – once again by instinct – and he held Ygg’Rael firmly in both hands.

“This is not good, Othello. We are extremely low on Life Essence, and will likely be able to use Ygg’Rael for one more attack.”

“Don’t worry; I’ve got a plan… All I need is one strike.” Theo said as he took a deep breath.

Black Widow spread her legs wide and her weird hairy butt growth suddenly bent down into the space, with the spinnerets pointed directly at Theo, who along with the Fallen suddenly opened their eyes and raised their brows in apprehension.

“She had better not be aiming her ass this way with the intention of—”

After a sudden bit of throbbing and pulsing from the growth, a beam of wet webbing shot out of the spinnerets and cannoned towards Theo, who jumped out of the way in a manner that can only be described as ‘bitching out’. One leg was bent up from the knee, while his hands were tucked up against his chest. Funnily enough, both Theo and the Fallen had the exact same look on their faces, before looking up at once again screeching woman.

“She just shot something out of her ass at me! She tried to kill me with demonic spider diarrhea!” Theo roared as he looked about as disgusted as his face allowed him to look.

“She deserves death! Give it to her, Othello!” The fallen boomed as well. “Because if you do not, I suspect that a vibrating contraption will be shoved up your—”

“That’s not an option! Nothing with eight limbs is shoving anything up anything of mine! Let’s do this, Ygg’Rael!!”

Black Widow reached down and in a process that left Theo and the Fallen further grossed out, squeezed out six web whips with a wet sucking noise; one for each arm-like limb. With each one produced, the growth would throb and resemble a tube of toothpaste being squeezed from the bottom when the whip would come out of the spinneret.

“I will cut off your arms and legs, and use you as my personal play thing for the rest of your days, Othellllloooo!!” Black Widow boomed in a disgusting sounding voice.

She quickly prepared to unleash an attack with all six of her whips as Theo regained his composure and closed his eyes for just a second, focusing on his breathing.

‘Ygg’Rael.’ Theo said internally. ‘I need to use that long range capability of yours. So, uh… Grow, Ygg’Rael!’

As if the sword could actually hear him, it responded to his command, and all along the blade, and at regular intervals, glowing golden lines appeared going across from one side to the other. They appeared at seven inch increments, and no sooner had they appeared, that they all split from each other, being held together by a multitude of golden threads that were seven inches in length themselves. As Ygg’Rael grew in length, Theo found that just holding it was an entirely different experience from how it was only moments earlier. He didn’t have time to think on the feeling however, as Theo looked up to see Black Window looking increasingly closer to attacking. He started to spin Ygg’Rael in a circular motion repeatedly, going faster and faster and causing the ‘blade’ to not only spin like some sort of whip, but also grow in length, creating a sort of twister-like entity with Ygg’Rael’s blade. Black Widow let out yet another screech as she ‘whipped’ all six arms in Theo’s direction, causing all her whips to crack and snap through the air in his direction, only for him to redirect the blade twister in the direction of them. The sound of them all being cut to shreds filled the room for a second or two, and while Black Widow screeched in lamentation over the destruction of her weapons, Theo ceased spinning his sword, and just pulsed and whipped his arms in her direction, with the pliant, extended blade-whip pulsed towards Black Widow through the air like a deadly serpent. Gold and white hit black and red, completely destroying the ceiling, its web insulation, and the roof above it with a MASSIVE explosion; the sound it all made being the loudest and most violent of the entire night, and completely drowned out Black Widow’s pain-filled shrieks. The entire building shook, from the now damaged roof, right down to the foundation, and as large parts of the roof came crashing into the floor, Theo stood with his arms down by his side, breathing heavily through his open mouth.

“Magnificently done, Othello.” The Fallen said as it approved.

“I fucking hate swords…” Theo said in between breaths.

He quickly remembered that he had three more targets that night, and walked towards the pile of rubble where the roof and Black Widow had landed. After a few moments, he found who he was looking for, as buried under a pile of rubble was her body, with half of it sticking out, and leaking its dark blood profusely. Her many eyes all fluttered open and she saw Theo standing above, looking down at her. His heavily wounded cheeks were still bleeding, and while his suit showed signs of having been hit multiple times by her whips, it was still in one piece.

“…h-here to finish me off, are you slave?” She asked; her voice only partly demonic, despite still being in her transformed state.

Theo’s eyes started glowing brightly as he finally summoned the serpent creatures from the house. They ripped their way out from his shoulder blades, screeching and roaring as they looked around in morbid curiosity at their new surroundings. They quickly noticed Black Widow on the ground, as darted towards her as if about to devour her. They suddenly stopped, wincing and flinching as if they had been beaten or something and quickly withdrew, hovering just above Theo’s head.

“Why… why did you stop them, Othello?” Black Widow asked.

“Because even though I may very well find out without you saying so, I want to know… why did you and Phantom do that to my family? What did they do to deserve such a fate?!”

“…” Black Widow was quiet as she contemplated her answer, before she coughed up some blood and closed all of her eyes. “You… are only the second penis wielder that I acknowledge… I will answer your question.”

Theo looked on expectantly, his breathing having become normal once again.

“Your family was subjected to that torture… because they were your family. As to why we did it, they were orders given to the only other penis wielder I acknowledge – Phantom. He only told me that there was a well-paying job that he had accepted, and that was all I needed to know.”

‘What happened to all that bullshit she spewed earlier about his transcending human existence and all that?’ Theo scoffed to himself as he looked down at Black Widow, who was still bleeding out pretty quickly.

“I have no regrets, though. That person saved me from an existence that was worth than death. So actually dying for him here… is… just fine. How-however having said that, I don’t know where he is…”

“…appreciate the honesty, Chelsea.” Theo said through gritted teeth, as he clenched his fists hard.

Her human eyes suddenly shot open and looked up into Theo’s, but then she immediately felt something on her neck, and her perspective changed. Her head rolled over and she was looking at the rubble that was next to her head.

“Goodbye, Chelsea. For your role in my family’s demise, I hope your soul forever burns in flames of Hell, you crazy bitch!”

Black Widow actually caught that farewell message, before her cranium was ripped open by Theo’s pets. They quickly got to eating the brain within, and just as after they consumed the brains of the goons in Theo’s living room, Theo found himself on his knees, violently projectile vomiting. As he did, images of Chelsea’s memory flooded his head as images of her suffering severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of a much older man, and then eventually, a whole bunch of other men. The images in question were sickening and depressing, but at the very beginning, it all started because Chelsea found this older man trying to abuse another young girl named Nathalie. All subsequent abuses were committed under the guise of protecting Nathalie. Theo couldn’t for the life of him explain why he was seeing all of this, but it didn’t take long for him to find more information relating to the location of Mike D. He took a few minutes to try and get the taste out of his mouth once more, spitting something fierce; however it did little to help.

“Fucking hell, this is disgusting.” He with a shake of the head.

Theo stood up as all his wounds started glowing and making a hissing, virtual sizzling sound. Having consumed the brain of a relatively high level Contracted Human gave Theo’s Life Essence reserves a welcome, if not ultimately minute boost.

“Hurry up and consume the rest of this woman’s body, Othello!” The Fallen ordered.

“Really? This again? I told before, I will not eat human flesh! It’s bad enough that I have to eat fucking brain, but I have no choice with regard to that.”

“Very well…” The Fallen said, having given up surprisingly easily in Theo’s opinion.

He looked at the woman’s face, which not only was still intact, but the human eyes were still open.

“I won’t retract my previous statement about you burning, but I… I think I better understand why you became what you did. Taking on that burden at such a young age to protect that Nathalie girl was… well, it was noble. I hope those who abused you all suffer a fate worse than you, and that you get to watch it all as you burn.”

Theo didn’t even know why he was talking to this literally empty head, but just as he was about to turn around, he saw tears flow from her eyes, and a small smile form on her lips.

“…t…thank… you.” The head said before the eyes closed, and the smile faded.

Theo just stood flabbergasted at the fact that a brainless, decapitated head was able to speak, and even smile. He quickly shook his head as if to banish the image and turned around, walking off.

“…man, fuck this place.”