3rd Pov:
The Next Day:
The sun hung high in the sky, casting warm light on the surface as humans went about their day in an almost predictable routine.
The city of Yokohama boomed with activity and noise. It looked peaceful to the naked eye, but to those who protect the innocent, it looked different.
Black birds were scattered across the city in small to medium flocks, occasionally taking the chance to swoop down and steal food for their own survival or children.
Outside the mansion where Xicor and Kuusetsi reside, Mira, Kyouka and Yuuki, who was in his slave form, stood outside the luxurious structure that had nothing wrong with it on the outside.
But the murderous intent emanating from it told a different story.
Kyouka's and Mira's gaze swept across the structure, finding no one watching them, not even a shift in the curtains.
But almost a minute later, Kyouka caught a shadow dart away from the window out of the corner of her eyes. Her eyes narrowed, contemplating whether it was a figment of her imagination.
"There may be someone inside. Be on your guard" Kyouka said, keeping a hand on the hilt of her katana and gripping Yuuki's chain tighter.
"They chose this place as their base? It seems like they went for comfort rather than practicality" Mira said shifting her hat up slightly.
"So why haven't they shown up to greet us if they already spotted us?" Mira questioned, "Are they chickens or something?"
"Maybe they want us to enter" Kyouka commented.
Before anyone could reply, heavy footsteps reached their ears from the side of the house as a Shuuki with four arms and a hunched posture, with a thick reptilian tail supporting its balance, lazily walked into view, its arms swinging with each motion.
Once it turned to face them, two pairs of red eyes shone at them, like a predator marking its target, and its upper body was almost covered in rock-like plating. The Shuuki opened its mouth and roared, after slamming the ground with its arms.
"Well, well, looks like they got themselves a big bodyguard" Mira commented, eyeing the creature that seemed to be as tall as the mansion itself.
"Though I do wonder how the police didn't notice this thing while searching?"Mira questioned.
"An ability perhaps?" Yuuki guessed, if things did not align with logic then the conclusion would be an ability to do things as they can alter the very laws of things.
"Maybe, but let's take this guy down before he gets cranky" Kyouka shrugged, pulling out her blade and pointing it at the tall Shuuki.
It growled at them before charging. Its steps kicked up dirt as it slammed two of its arms down on the trio. All of them dodged as the Shuuki thrust its other two arms out to the side before it caught Mira and Yuuki.
Kyouka managed to leap up and land on its stretched arm before the Shuuki could grab her. Kyouka quickly swung at its wrist, where she could see its skin hidden behind the armour, forcing it to let go of Yuuki.
Just as the creature turned to Kyouka, Mira leapt up and thrust a fist into its chin.
Caught off guard, the Shuuki staggered and shook its head before involuntarily looking down at its right hand to find Mira still there, struggling in its grip.
It glanced up to find the Mira that punched it was still standing there, giving it a grin.
The Shuuki's eye twitched before crushing the Mira in its grip, turning it into a puff of white smoke. It looked back down at its hand before opening and closing it.
It was almost curious about what had happened, something that was unheard of among Shuuki.
It looked back at them, at Mira specifically, before letting out a low growl. The Shuuki stabbed a single hand into the ground as the trio leapt away before stone spikes shot out from the ground.
Yuuki was the first to land as his clawed hand dug into the earth, skidding him to a halt before launching himself at the beast.
Yuuki ducked under an arm before throwing a fist at its chest, pushing it back a bit before uppercutting it.
The Shuuki growled in irritation as it brought its head down and clamped its mouth down on Yuuki's shoulder. It shook him around for a second before throwing him up and swinging the back of its hand at the slave.
Yuuki's body crashed into the walls of the Mansion as rubble covered the slave in a makeshift grave, leaving only his head and an arm visible.
The Shuuki was about to take a step towards him, but it instinctively raised an arm to block Kyouka's swing.
From below Kyouka, the Shuuki's second arm shot up and was about to grab her leg, but Mira shot down and slammed the arm into the ground with both feet.
This attack threw the creature off balance as its body tilted to the side but it quickly used its tail to stop it from falling down.
Though that left it in an awkward position that was quickly taken advantage of by Yuuki who let above with his arms raised high above his head as golden energy pulsed around him.
Yuuki shot down and slammed his arms down on the Shuuki after quickly lifting a single arm to try and defend itself. The impact pushed the Shuuki back into the ground before cracks of golden light began to appear on the Shuuki's arm as its eyes widened in panic.
Using a free arm, it blurred towards Yuuki and punched him away. Yuuki rolled across the ground before stabilising himself.
The Shuuki quickly got up and leapt back before inspecting its cracked arm. Its arm shook from the energy pulsing inside it.
It glanced at Yuuki, its gaze burning deep into him before a flickering flame of purple energy covered its fist as the cracks around its arms slowly faded away.
Kyouka's and Yuuki's eyes widened at the sight and Mira took a cautious step back. The Shuuki let out a low rumble that almost sounded like a laugh.
The flickering flame disappeared before it stabbed two of its hands into the ground as well as its tail. Yuuki immediately leapt away but as soon as he landed a stone spike shot out from the ground and embedded itself into his thigh.
Yuuki yelped in pain as he quickly pulled himself out, he closed his eyes as a golden aura surrounded his form, and more spikes shot out from the ground but as soon as they made contact with him, they shattered.
The Shuuki's eyes widened but quickly, it lifted its free arms to slap at Mira and Kyouka on either side of it.
Both Kyouka and Mira gracefully manoeuvred through the attack before Mira slammed her fist into the Shuuki's fist and Kyouka swung her katana behind her, creating a deep slash wound in the armpit, causing the arm to go limp immediately.
The Shuuki yelped in pain before slamming Mira into the ground, causing her to puff up in white smoke. It quickly chose to ignore the smoke and shot its head at Kyouka, intending to bite down on her.
Before it could bite down on her, Yuuki charged into the Shuuki, pushing it into the mansion as the brick wall shook from the impact with dust and bits of rubble fell on the Shuuki.
Yuuki took a small step back before raising both arms, coated in a golden aura, and repeated slamming his fists into the Shuuki's face.
In sheer desperation, it used all three of its usable arms in an attempt to get the slave off it, but one arm was cut in half by Kyouka, with her blade gleaming gold and her eyes boring into the desperate creature.
Another arm was subdued by Mira as she held it back, with multiple Miras pulling it back as it struggled in the hold.
However, none of her other clones could reach the third arm as it travelled closer to Yuuki. As it reached mere inches from his face in slow motion, his eyes darted towards the incoming arm, watching as it moved like a snail.
Yuuki reeled back and slashed down on the arm, coated in a golden aura. The arm was cleanly sliced off as it dragged itself across the ground, leaving a shallow dirt track.
The Shuuki screamed in pain before Yuuki continued punching the creature. He didn't know how long he had been punching the Shuuki but Kyouka's voice brought him out of that daze.
"Yuuki!!"
Yuuki blinked several times as reality returned to him. Staggering back, he looked down at his hands to find they were coated in the Shuuki's blood and could even make out some blisters.
Looking up at Shuuki, whom he had been attacking for who knows how long, he found that its body had slumped down on the floor and its face was unrecognisable.
Two of its arms had been cut clean off with another having a deep cut in its armpit. Blood continued to flow out of the dead creature, painting the grass a dark colour.
It was almost like a wild beast had torn it to shreds.
He stood there in a daze, not even believing this was his handiwork. He was broken out of his thoughts by Kyouka placing a gentle hand on his arm.
He flinched upon contact and looked down at her as she looked up at him with concern, "Are you alright?"
He glanced at his bloody hand that dripped onto the grass and at Shuuki's corpse before he let out a shaky breath.
"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine" Yuuki said, "What happened while I was..."
He didn't finish his sentence, not finding the right words for what came over him.
"While you were repeatedly beating that Shuuki up, this guy showed up just the minute you began that barrage of punches on the poor guy" Mira said as multiple versions of her came out of the house with women wrapped in spider silk, with one of the Miras pointing a thumb at a dead spider-like Shuuki.
"I quickly took care of it and saved the captives inside, which wasn't hard as they were hung in the front lobby of the mansion so I didn't go further in without you guys" Mira said as Yuuki took steady breaths, calming his nerves.
Kyouka glanced at Yuuki one more time, who gave her a reassuring nod, before moving her gaze to Mira, "Alright, let's move in"
Mira nodded as some of Mira's stayed behind with the captives, while the rest scattered around the lower levels of the mansion as Kyouka, Yuuki and Mira moved to the upper levels.
As they moved along a hallway, checking each room, the eerie silence became more and more suffocating. Yuuki looked between every corner, silently gathering that golden aura he had been using in his fists.
Kyouka kept a firm grip on the hilt of her unsheathed blade until she opened a door slightly as she heard haggard breathing.
She looked back at the two, "There's someone in here" she whispered as Yuuki and Mira got ready for a fight.
Kyouka kicked the door open and entered the room with the other two close behind. Inside was a single woman behind a wooden, pristine desk with her body slumped against it and her eyes hollow, staring blankly at the desk's wood patterns.
Kyouka scanned the room before cautiously making her way to the woman and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
The woman visibly flinched as her eyes slowly looked up at Kyouka's. She bit down on her lip, and her face paled.
"It's okay, we're with the Demon Defence Force" Kyouka said trying to comfort the woman.
The woman glanced at Kyouka before opening her mouth, "It won't matter... That demon has already killed me"
Kyouka blinked several times, confusion written on her features. Before she could even question what the woman meant, the woman's eyes rolled up as her body shook violently.
Kyouka could do nothing other than reach for the woman, but by the time she reached for her, she fell limply on the desk with foggy eyes.
Yuuki and Mira watched from the side, inching closer to get a better look at the woman.
"...Is she?" Yuuki asked hesitantly.
Kyouka pressed two fingers against the woman's wrist and found no beat of her heart, not even a slight tremor.
Closing her eyes and sighing, Kyouka faced the two, "She's dead, heart attack if I had to guess, though the timing was too weird"
"Could be the God of Thunder's ability perhaps?" Mira summarised, crossing her arms as more Miras entered the room to inspect it.
"Maybe..." Kyouka glanced at the woman's body before walking out of the room, "Let's report this once the authorities arrive and tend to the body"
Mira left the room with her as Yuuki lingered in the room longer, expecting something to pop out, yet nothing came.
Sighing, he moved out of the room, not spotting the small flock of black birds flying past the window behind the desk.
1 Hour Later:
Back in the hotel they rented, Yuuki, now back to his normal state, looked out the window and down at the bustling streets, filled with laughter, joyous chatter and distant vehicles roaming the roads.
The room was empty, leaving only him, the three beds, and the silence. Yuuki's mind wandered to the time he killed the Shuuki brutally.
He shook his head while pressing a hand to the side of his head, 'Just what happened to me back there, all I remember is crashing into that wall and waking up with a dead Shuuki in front of me'
He rubbed his face with the same hand, trying to make sense of what had occurred, but nothing came to mind.
'Maybe it's something related to the new form I acquired, maybe discovering caused a passive effect on me' Yuuki thought, more of an excuse to calm his thoughts.
Shaking his head, he turned around and began walking to one of the beds, "I need to lie down for a bit" he mumbled.
"Yeah, you do, mind if I help you with that?~" a sweet voice said behind him.
"Huh?" Yuuki's eyes widened before he snapped his head around to find the very person he and the others were looking for.
Before he could even say anything, Kuusetsu threw a sharp feather at Yuuki's shoulder, stabbing deep into him.
He gritted his teeth as his body fell to the floor. Yuuki attempted to get up and call out for Mira, who was just outside, but his body wouldn't listen.
Only his eyes seemed to work as he glared at God of Thunder in front of him, who wore a sweet, chilling smile on her face.
"Aw~ don't worry, this won't hurt little" Kuusetsu said, walking closer to him.
"Now, stand up", she commanded.
Almost immediately, Yuuki jolted upright as his eyes tracked her movement with his body constantly shaking, fighting back control.
She stood in front him as her eyes scanned from head to toe, "Interesting, you carry a blessing, but it's not one of ours"
Her eyes narrow as a sharp nail traced his chest, "Maybe I should open you up and see how it works inside you, better yet, I should take you to big sis Jaku'un"
Yuuki's eyes widened as he struggled even more, unconsciously pulsing golden energy around his body, making Kuusetsu eyes widened.
Without warning, Yuuki opened his mouth, much to Kuusetsu's surprise, "Mira!!"
A second later the door burst open and yellow blur shoved Yuuki aside before thrust a foot at Kuusetsu. Kuusetsu quickly brought up her arms as the foot made contact and pushed her and Mira out of the window.
"Hey there" Mira said with a toothy grin.
Kuusetsu wore a small confident smile, 'Perfect' she thought as they both flew further away from the hotel.