Chapter Text
True to her word, Reze had only gotten more powerful as time went on. Since her bombing of a large section of Shibuya district, almost in the very heart of Tokyo itself, word had already begun to travel fast. Helicopters airing news channels flew overhead, pointing cameras at the destructive battle below.
The Bomb Devil, not yet known to be a hybrid, who caused the incident was now being battled by three other Devils, reported to be members of Japan's very own Public Safety, specifically from the Special Divisions. All civilians within a ten mile radius of the ongoing battle had been ordered to evacuate the area in an attempt to let the Devil Hunters do their job, and to prevent any more mass scale death. The reports that were being updated on an minutely basis had unfortunately only been proving to make the Bomb Hybrid that much more intimidating. The Chainsaw, Blood, and Shark Devils had all attacked at the same time, originally catching the Bomb off guard and sending her running to regroup. But that all changed when a fifth Devil joined the battle.
Typhoon. The Typhoon Devil burst out of a building, its huge body taking the form of an eyeless baby, its organs used as clothing, flapping along with the wind of its own creation. The sudden entrance of the Devil ended the surprise attack that was dealt to the Bomb Hybrid, and all new's channel helicopters had been blown out of the sky…
Denji had taken to riding the Shark Fiend as if he were a warhorse, wrapping the chains of one of his chainsaw's around the sharks open mouth, embedding his blades into the sharks flesh to keep himself steady. Power had clambered onto Beam's back as well, wrapping one of her arms around Denji's waist while creating a crossbow made out of blood with the other. Her horns had been progressively getting smaller and smaller the more she was using her blood to do battle with the Bomb and Typhoon Devils, though it only required a glance to see that the Blood Fiend was not at all worried about that in the slightest.
"Beam!" Denji pulled on the chain's that acted as the reigns to his new mount. "Get us to the high ground!"
"Yes, Lord Chainsaw!" Beam mumbled back as loudly as he could over all the chaos.
"Kyahahahaha!" Power cackled, firing her blood bolts the massive target that was the Typhoon Devil. She was having an absolute blast, it seemed. "Yes, yes! Pull us toward you harder, Typhoon! So that my blood bolts may strike and pierce your rotten hide at even greater velocity!"
"Power!" Denji shouted over the whistling, skin tearing winds. "Your blood arrows ain't doing shit to it! Shoot at Reze instead!"
"Eergh!" Power, using the butt of her crossbow made of blood, slammed it in the back of Denji's chainsaw head, resulting in a mighty clang. "Do not assume the right to tell me what to do, peon! I'm still mad at you!"
"For what!?" Denji cried.
"For being STUPID!" Power let out a war cry as she raised her crossbow higher and pointed behind them, toward the sounds of explosions echoing in that direction. Not because she was actually listening to Denji's command, but because being exploded by Reze's bombs fucking hurt.
"AAAAARRRGGH!" Power had slit her wrist just below the base of her hand, a steady flow of blood funneling from her open veins and flowing into the crossbow to create more bolts. A hailstorm of bolts rained down upon both the Typhoon Devil and in the general direction of Reze, the Bomb Girl who had dared to make her flee from her throughout the city. The Typhoon Devil wailed below them as Beam soared through the air, almost gliding with his fin's which doubled as extra appendages for feet. Denji held on for dear life, and when Power's grip around his waist loosened and slipped, his hand snapped out to grab Power by the back of her hood, hanging onto her for dear life as Beam somehow managed to maneuver through the turmoil of winds around them whilst also dodging the rubble and debris that flew through the air.
A series of hundreds of tiny condensed explosions followed behind a soaring Reze, moving at new speeds that even she wasn't entirely prepared for. She flew right past the three of them, before letting off a larger explosion in front of her to stop her mid-air trajectory. Denji watched as Reze clasped her hands together before slowly separating them, creating a ball of plasma within the palms of her hands. More than prepared to send it their way.
"Crap! Hang on guys!" Denji dropped lower, still hanging onto Power while digging his feet in, and yanking the chain in Beam's mouth to the right. Beam's large Shark Devil form was tugged in that direction, his stomach pointing up as the three of them immediately started nosediving toward the ground. Just narrowly dodging the burst of light that would have scorched them all to their bones, Denji decided that it was time for a new plan.
"Power! Beam! Take care of Typhoon!" Denji cried out, releasing his chains from around Beam's mouth as he leapt off his body. "I'll distract her!"
"Idiot!" Power called out as she clung onto the Shark Fiend's tail.
"Yes Lord Chainsaw! As you command!" Beam echoed. "Come, Blood, let us tear Typhoon to smithereens!"
Denji didn't hear the response that definitely would have come from power as he weightless tumbled through the air. it was impossible to right himself in any meaningful way. But just then, he remembered something Aki and that weird twink Devil with the wings said about how he could use his chains more creatively. At first, his golden idea of using Beam as a steed was what he thought they meant, but now he realized that he needed to be even more creative than that!
"Denjiiiii~!" Reze's voice boomed through the winds, another series of colorful explosions going off all around him. Denji didn't even bother to try and keep track of her, she was just too damn fast the way she was now!
"Do you still wanna run away togetherrrrr? I can take us far, far away right now you knooow~!"
"You stabbed me, you crazy bitch!" Denji shouted as he shot one of his chains in a random direction. "That was totally not cool!"
"Heyyy, don't call me that, that's mean!" Reze exclaimed, appearing through the wet fog above him. "What we have is special, Denji! I'm sure I can make it up to youuu~…"
It took a few moments after Denji launched a chain in another random direction. He stopped what he was about to do mid breath, his head snapping toward the direction of the Bomb Hybrid as she hovered above him. From his position below her, he could easily see past that weird apron of dynamite sticks she was wearing. He'd seen her naked already at the pool - but now he was seeing her panties! His chainsaw mouth was left slightly agape as he looked up at her, his long tongue lolling out of his mouth and flapping with the wind.
"Eh? How?" He asked, gulping nervously.
"Oh, you know…" Reze giggled. Her hands moved to cup around her chest, crackling orange explosive energy following her movements. She moved the straps of her dynamite apron inwards, revealing more skin in the process. "I have lots of ways I can make it up to you. How about… an all nighter? If you know what I mean of course~"
"An all what-er?" Denji had to violently shake his head to get the lewd thoughts out of his mind. "Wait a sec- you're just trying to trick me again! Nice try, but I ain't gonna get honey-potted no more! Seriously, and to think I fell for ya!"
"E-Eh!?" Whatever Reze was hearing, it was only that last part she didn't know what to do with. Her hands stiffened suddenly and the straps of the explosive apron snapped back into its rightful place. She began to shake slightly, her devilish mouth hanging open as if in disbelief.
"Y-You fell for me?!" Her shaky voice sheepishly asked.
"Yeah!" Denji pulled his chains taught. "Just like you are gonna fall for this!"
Denji yanked his chains as hard as he could, and two pieces of destroyed buildings sandwiched Reze in between them. He didn't stop there either, because he could already hear the telltale sound of a fuse nearing its end from within the rubble. He launched in chains in every which direction he could, grabbing and throwing more and more rubble, debris, car, and even the occasional dead body at Reze even if he knew it wasn't really gonna work. He didn't really know how he was going to beat her when she was like this, but he figured a good start would be to tire her out!
Just as he figured she would, Reze exploded out of the tightly packed pile of rubble in a large explosive burst. Though Denji could see the bruises and bleeding scrapes on the parts of her body covered only by skin. Cackling, Denji flipped himself upside down and nosedived back into the thick fog caused by the Typhoon Devil. He didn't really know what he was supposed to do now - but that just meant that Reze didn't have a clue what he was going to do next! The destroyed uneven ground caused by Reze's earlier massive explosion started to appear in his sight, and he curled himself into a ball and prepared for landing. Shutting his bright, round, orange eyes to protect them from getting any dust or some other shit in them.
Only he never landed. Something grabbed him by the back of his neck, and Denji yelped as he was thrown - powered by yet another explosion, right in to a building that looked like it was just getting ready to get blown over by a stiff wind. He crashed through a brick wall before rolling through the floor, knocking all sorts of shit around in the process. It was dark and the inside smelled of death. When Denji smacked against a concrete wall, he pushed himself back up to his feet and looked around. Charred and dismembered bodies were strewn about all around him. Thankfully they were all about adult size, but the inside of the place looked sketchy. The walls - or rather, what remained of the walls were blue, and there were these weirdly shaped lights overhead that would have been on if it hadn't been for the explosions that definitely destroyed whatever was powering them. The floor felt like it was full of pores, and when he looked down he saw little black dots on white. When he lifted his head, he saw a metal table in the center of the room, a charred body laying on top of it, with a metal scalpel sticking out of its chest, and with all sorts of destroyed machinery around it.
"Ah, well that's just freaking depressing," Denji said with a shake of his head.
"What is?" Reze asked, suddenly draping an arm around him. Her sudden appearance caused Denji to jump, though he couldn't get away from her as Reze's strong arm had a tight grasp around his cabled neck.
"Oh, all of this?" Reze giggled softly. "You can blame Dee for that. The little smurf wouldn't stay down no matter what I did to him. So I had to hit him with the biggest explosion I ever made before."
"Reze, this…" Denji struggled against her grip. "This is a damn hospital!"
"Yeah… it is." Reze sighed sadly. "Man… he really was right, huh? What do you think, Denji? Is there a happy ending anywhere in sight for someone like me?"
Denji revved his chainsaw's and sliced the arm Reze had around his neck from the elbow, jumping away from her as she cried out in pain. Reze stumbled back as Denji extended the chainsaw from his other arm as well, getting into his typical fighting stance.
"I don't know shit about happy endings!" Denji shouted. "All I know is the now! I lived my life by the day, and I considered it a damn good one if I was able to get one loaf of bread to eat at the end of the day with my best buddy! Even if it was all rotten and smelly, and it made my stomach feel like shit after, I was still able to wake up the next day and do it all again!" He slashed through the air as he animated his frustration. "I don't know what the Hell happened in your past, but whatever it is, it can't be worth blowing places like this up, can it!?"
"Gh-" Reze recoiled, as if she'd been slapped.
"What's all the shit about my heart anyway?" Denji asked next, his frustration boiling well over the breaking point. "Why's it so important!? How come it makes hot girls like you try and kill me to take it!? I still don't know shit about happy ending's, but if there was one, I'd say I get mine through a girl who wants me for me! For Denji's heart! I sure as Hell was into you for yours!"
Reze slumped forward, her bomb shaped head hanging over her chest as she stiffened up. Denji still had his chainsaws at the ready, just in case she lunged at him at any given moment. Her head began to shake side to side as Reze began to laugh. It wasn't hysterical laugh, nor was it a laugh that was born out of any amount of joy. It was a manic, halfway sob halfway giggle that came from her body. Her shoulders were tense, raised almost all the way up that they were nearly touching her head. Hearing this go on for about a minute, Denji lowered his arms ever so slightly. He hadn't known Reze for very long, but she had an impact on his life - more so than almost anyone else. Seeing her on the verge of breaking down, despite everything she'd done, caused him to hesitate. He just couldn't help it.
"I didn't want this…" Reze said through gritted teeth, her Devil form causing her voice to sound as if she was speaking into a fan inside of a tunnel.
"I didn't want any of this!" Reze raised her head, and molten slog slapped against his chest as Reze's Bomb form half melted away. It still covered her mouth, her neck, and her front. But starting from the tips of her fingers and her feet, her human body began to reappear. Her green eyes were wide, her pupils small, and her hair was now falling around her head loosely.
"I was raised from birth to be a weapon! It's all I know, all I-I ever knew! The mission, I must always think of the mission. You were that mission, Denji!" Reze pointed an accusatory finger at him, tears having long began falling from her eyes. "You did this to me! You made me fail my mission! I-I failed… I failed and now I'm dead no matter what! I should've just- why didn't you ask me to run away with you at the pool!?"
Reze's eyes tightened, her face wrinkling in on itself as her offending finger fell.
"Why did you wait too long!? If you just asked me then… I wouldn't have… and we… None of this would've…" Unable to finish her own sentences, Reze raised one of her hands and scratched at her head, scratching so hard that her nails were slicing off bits of her own hair.
Denji didn't know what to do in this situation. Should he attack while she's like this? For some reason it just felt… wrong. She was pouring her heart out to him now, finally confessing to him and giving him some terrible explanation to why she was the way that she was right now.
"Wait…" Reze suddenly stopped crying. "This… Why am I thinking of…? No… you w-wouldn't, would you?" Her head snapped back up, her green eyes glaring at him.
"Eh?" Denji stepped back, suddenly nervous.
"That aura… he's around, isn't he!? The Depression Devil, he's making feel these things! He's doing this to me!" Reze's Bomb form was suddenly making a return.
"Eh!?" Denji looked around, seeing no such evidence of Dee being around to do that weird aura thing. "No! I ain't doing anything! If he were here I'd be feeling it too!"
"Don't lie to me!" Reze's voice broke into a sob. "Not you… don't you lie to me too…"
"I'm not!" Against his better judgment, Denji let his chainsaw's retract, and he began allowing his form to melt away. "See? If I were trying to trick ya I wouldn't be doing this!"
"You-" Reze's eyes widened again, before a sad smile appeared on her face. "Even after all I've done, you'd still try and help me? Seriously?"
"L-Look, we can figure this out, alright?" Denji tried, in a desperate gamble. He really didn't want to have to fight Reze if he didn't have too, and right now, they just seemed so close to resolving this without having to try and kill each other! "Just… let go, and we can start over… how's that sound?"
"I…" Reze trembled. "I really wish we could… but…"
"But what?" Denji closed the distance at last, placing his hands on Reze's shoulders, shaking her until she forced herself to look up at him.
Reze's eyes darted left and right, as if she were looking for some unseen eye.
"Oof!" Denji felt the wind get knocked out of him as Reze threw herself into him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and shoving her face into his chest. Denji was about to celebrate successfully breaking through to Reze, but was frozen in place when he heard Reze's next words.
"Makima…" Reze mumbled into his chest. Her devilish teeth scraping against his skin. "She wouldn't let me… even if I wanted too."
"W-What…?" Denji looked down at Reze, eyebrows raised and eyes wide with confusion.
Reze stepped away from him just as quickly. Her Bomb form taking over again.
"I'd rather it be you, Denji." She said as her head was overtaken once more. "Better someone I love than the likes of her…"
"Gh," Denji jumped away from her, reaching for his ripcord. For some reason, Reze let him transform again.
"Sorry, Denji," Reze said, raising her harms as sparks began to fly from her hands and body once more.
"For what its worth, I really liked dancing with you. Just like I'm enjoying dancing with you right now… But this will have to be our last round, okay?" Smoke began to fill the air as she crouched down, preparing to launch herself at him again.
"I'm doing this for you, y'know. So you better be grateful."
"Tch…" His chainsaw's burst from his arms once more. "Grateful my ass. You just confused the heck outta me!"
Reze sighed.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out."
Beam soared through the middle hole of a destroyed building as he and Power continued to do battle with the Typhoon Devil. Whilst his Lord Chainsaw was dealing with the Bomb, it was their job to deal with this storm! The Blood Fiend upon his back continued raining a hailstorm upon their foe. But heir bolts were too small to do any significant damage to the Typhoon Devil. Much to Power's dismay and frustration.
"Ugh!" Power threw her crossbow away in anger. "Stupid thing must be broken!"
"Idea, Blood, I have idea!" Beam explained as he jumped from debris to rock to rubble. "We should separate! I can smell the power of Master Sad within you! Use it to draw the Typhoon Devil's aggression, and I shall open my jaws wider than ever before to take a big bite out of it!"
"And let you steal the kill right from my well deserving hands!?" Power shouted back, slamming a fist on the top of the Shark Fiends head. "Nay! You shall be the distraction, and I shall use all of my granted blood for one massive attack that shall kill the Typhoon in a single blow!"
"Eh!?" Beam stopped for a moment. "You could've done that the entire time!?"
"Semantics!" Power called back. "Cause a wound on the Typhoon's soft face, and I shall use that window to strike with my FULL POWER! Now move already! We're sitting ducks out here!"
"A-Ah! Right!" Beam shot forward like an oversized insect, using his many legs to leap from point to point. "I shall trust in you, Devil of Blooooood!"
"Tsk," Power watched the Shark Fiend dive into the air, his voice getting lower and quieter the farther he soared away from her. "As if I needed your trust in the first place!"
She called upon the still latent power of Dee's flesh within her, and felt herself turn intangible. Immediately, she began to swim through the air, holding her breath the entire time. Dee explained that when first learning to float like this, that she could akin it to swimming, and so that was what she was doing! She could hold her breath for a massive amount of time, after all. She was a gold medalist swimmer from the Olympics, after all! Her arms and legs flailed through the air as she swam through the air, her lungs did not burn from the effort, and she did not take in several sneaky breaths through her nose as she continued to swim up.
Thanks to her newfound intangibility, Power did not need to worry so much about being struck by random debris. It didn't stop her from flinching whenever a stray rock got a little too close for comfort, but she had full confidence that she would be fine! Her durability had no equal, after all. She could take the force of a million exploding suns and come out unscathed, after all! Alas, now was the time that she had to take a battle seriously. This Typhoon was incredibly annoying with the way it caused a perpetual storm around itself at all times. Beneath her, she could see as her ally, the graceful Shark Fiend, Beam, was sneaking in bites here and there whenever he could. But alas, he would not last very long without her aid. Releasing her breath, Power clapped her hands together almost as if she was praying - and praying she was! She was praying to the most powerful entity on both the planet Earth and the realm of Hell, as there could be no other deity that she could rely on in a moment like this!
That deity was herself! The Blood Devil!
"Grrrh," Power growled as sweat began to trickle down from her brow. Her hands began to open, a mixed ball of blood from all the zombies she had eaten before as well as the black ichor that belonged to Dee, her third favorite person. Yet as she continued to pray to herself, she decided that she needed to put her all into this new most powerful weapon conjured from her blood! She felt the curled horns on the sides and top of her head begin to shorten, and the ones on the sides beginning to disappear entirely. The open gashes on her wrists spewed even more blood into the ever growing ball. Which increased in size the more blood that was added to it. Eventually it got so large that Power had to move it above her head, and began to warp and contort the congealing blood into a weapon.
A Hammer. Yes. Just as she slew her very first Devil as a member of these foolish Public Safety people, she would do the very same to Typhoon!
Power groaned as she applied more and more effort into her newest creation. The blood that came from Dee served to strengthen it even more. It was both impressive and also incredibly frustrating to see that the small amount of blood that Dee provided her was overpowering even the gallons of zombie blood that she had ingested weeks ago. Truly, the Depression Devil was easily the most liar of all liars! They possessed strength that would have served her well as part of her glorious imperial army! So far she had Topknot, stupid idiot Denji, Meowy, the Shark Fiend, and Dee shall be her newest addition!
Power looked above her head, seeing the blood hammer start to take form. The shaft was long, easily three dozen feet in length. At the very tip of it was a still forming building sized block of congealing blood. Power licked her lips upon seeing it, resisting the instinctive urge to ingest all the blood that she had just released from her body to form the weapon in the first place. The temporary power that she gained from devouring a portion of Dee's flesh had began fade away from her now that she had poured all of his blood into this weapon. At any moment she would begin falling, and when that happened, she had to ensure that this weapon would hit and kill the Typhoon Devil in a single attack!
"Yes, yesssssss," Power cackled as she reached up, gripping the hammer as her body began to flicker back into tangibility. "My time is coming! The greatest weapon any Blood Devil has ever created! Behold, world, for your empress has come!"
Beam struggled to stay in one piece as the Typhoon Devil was pulling out all the stocks against the annoying pest that must've been him. Beam was incredibly durable, able to shrug off debris that happened to hit him - and earlier, he'd even been able to tank several dozen of the Bomb's explosions! The Typhoon was poultry in comparison. Beam panted and heaved as he traveled through the expanse of the Typhoon's… well… typhoon. Thanks to the smooth skin of his shark form, the strong winds did nothing but just make his movements a little harder to maintain. Air was like water, shapeless, and malleable. It can take any shape, and therefore he should be able to swim in it!
It definitely wasn't just him swimming through whatever rubble that happened to soar his way, nay. That was an ability he always knew and remembered that he had! Beam counted to three in his head, the highest number he could count too, and continued to do so as he jumped from rock to rock, flapped his tail side to side to push himself through the air, and to swim through the larger buildings that were too heavy to be picked up and thrown around. With his enhanced sense of smell, Beam knew that his ally, the Blood Fiend, was cooking up something glorious to throw at the Typhoon Devil. He could smell it even from all the way down on the ground, as he scampered across the side of a building, and as he dove underground as if it was water. The Blood Fiend was preparing an attack that would destroy the Typhoon Devil in a single blow. And a great thing that was!
Lord Chainsaw was taking care to single-handedly take on the Bomb, and he entrusted him and his new ally to take care of the Typhoon while he did so! Failure was not an option.
The Typhoon Devil's actual body was soft, slow, and gargantuan. It was the winds that protected him from his bites, blowing him away every time he grew near. But beam had a plan - a great plan! A plan he was enacting in this very moment to catch the Typhoon Devil off guard.
"Kyahahaha!" Beam cackled as he transformed backward into his humanoid form. Wearing nothing but his trousers, Beam turned around and slapped his own ass in the direction of the Typhoon Devil, who could certainly see him.
"You can't hit me, you can't hit me!" Beam chanted cheerfully, earning the Typhoons disgusted glare.
"Urgh! You're so annoying!" Typhoon's baby sounding voice echoed throughout the eye of the storm. "I'll squash you like a bug, fiend!"
"Woho!" Beam dove off the building, hands outstretched in front of him and turning himself into a human shaped arrow as he dove head first into the ground beneath him. Like water, the ground gave way to him. Only his fin poked out of the ground as Beam continued to swim closer and closer to the Typhoon Devil. Above him, Beam could feel the vibrations of rocks, debris, and destroyed pieces of buildings and cars being thrown in the general direction of where he was, rather than where he was going to be. Beam's cackles were muffled by the liquified ground as he swam at incredible speeds. Great White Sharks could swim through the oceans at a maximum speed of fifty-six kilometers per hour, even faster during short bursts to ambush prey.
As the Shark Fiend, Beam could easily reach the hundreds of kilometer's per hour, no, even faster! Beam could go faster, faster, faster yet! Transforming back into his shark form underwater, Beam clamped the extra appendages he used to crawl around with as tightly to his sides as he could, turning his body as shark like as possible. He twisted and waved his tail to glide through the water with as much energy and strength as he could muster.
A sharks primary tactic in hunting prey was an ambush attack. Swimming at incredible speeds, coming up from beneath its prey. When the seal was caught between its mighty jaws, the shark would still break the surface of the water, launching its body several meters into the air before crashing back down.
The Typhoon Devil realized that something was wrong when it couldn't smell the Shark Fiend anymore. Frantically, he looked left, right, down, and up, only to see nothing at all. Gritting its toothless gums against within its mouth, the Typhoon decided that it was time to return to Lady Reze's side, and help her take the Chainsaw's heart! It took one meaty slap of a step within the direction of the sound of her last explosion, before Typhoon felt itself get lifted off of the ground.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAH!" Beam's shark jaws bit deeply into the Typhoons thigh, his head growing thrice its own size to be able to fit its razor sharp teeth all around it.
The force of Beam's ambush caused both predator and prey to soar a dozen meters off the ground. Beam bit down as hard as he could, severing the Typhoons leg off entirely. Typhoon screamed in agony, the focus it had on causing the typhoon around itself faltering. Above, the clouds began to gave way to a strary night.
Above, the moon shined in the sky, hundreds of thousands of miles away.
The moon was partially blocked out by a hammer the size of a building.
"W-What is that!?" Typhoon cried, falling back down onto the ground, helplessly and weakened.
It's answer came as the hammer began to fall, chasing it down with a speed faster than gravity. At the end of the shaft, the Blood Fiend could be seen cackling as she swung the hammer down with all her might, directing it toward the Typhoon Devil's soft baby-like head.
A tsunami of blood exploded out in every which direction, flooding entire city blocks as the Typhoon Devil was reduced to a pasty mess of organs, shattered bone, and skin.
It was Beam's natural habitat.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Beam exclaimed happily as he dove up as he repeatedly jumped and dove back into the river of blood. "Blood, blood, blood!" The Shark Fiend swam toward the epicenter of the large crater that formed where the Typhoon Devil used to be. The Blood Fiend would be found there, although, she appeared to be getting closer to the Shark Fiend as she rode a piece of the Typhoon Devil's skull like a surfboard on a wave of blood. Beam's cheer was muffled by the blood as he swam toward his ally, Power, poking his head out of the wave of blood.
"Power, my ally! What a wonderful stroke!" Beam complimented. "With the Typhoon Devil slain, we can return to do battle against the Bomb!"
"Yes, yes!" Power thrust her fist in the air as the blood wave started crashing down. The horns on the top and sides of her head which were large and curled moments ago, now reverted back to their usual size atop her head alone. She had bags under her eyes, and her balance swayed from side to side as she regarded the Shark Fiend.
"Alas, it seems I have used up all my stamina creating that hammer. I require at least twenty hours of sleep. Urgh…"
"Ah!" Beam leapt forward and caught Power before she could fall into the river of blood. "Do not worry, Blood Fiend, I shall get you to a safe place!"
As Beam started taking power in a direction where he figured would be a safe place to drop her off at, he couldn't help but constantly taste the taste of blood in his mouth.
"Wait, wasn't I supposed to get blood to someone else before?" He wondered out loud, pausing for a moment in the stilling river of blood.
"Meh, whoever needed it, I'm sure they're fine!"
Beam carried Power as far away as he could, and decided that the strong looking tree branch was a good place to leave the Blood Fiend before turning around to hopefully be of use to Lord Chainsaw in his battle against the Bomb.
Reze waved her hand, sparks flew, and another city block was destroyed.
Denji was like a cockroach. No matter what she threw at him, no matter how many times she blasted an arm or a leg off of him, he just kept healing and getting back on his feet. He was getting better the longer that they fought. Somehow, her explosions felt weaker than they did before, and she didn't really know why, but she didn't really care to know the reason for it anyway. Reze had noticed that Typhoon had been slain, and that reinforcements were likely on their way to her and Denji right now. Even if she were able to beat him now, she wouldn't be able to get away.
So why was she still fighting?
Without being able to answer that question herself, Reze continued to blast herself through the air, keeping herself off of the ground so that Denji couldn't easily get to her. He had remarkably been able to quickly master the use of his chains to maneuver himself around the city. Whereas in the beginning of their battle, he was just mindlessly charging at her with no real plan in mind. Now he was much harder to hit, and he was actively getting better and better at fighting with her up close when he was able to close the distance. In a way, Reze was proud of him for it. In different circumstances if Denji were able to have a normal life, she was sure that he would have ended up like some sort of prodigy in whatever it was he decided to do. Funnily enough, she imagined that Denji would have been a great boxer. He certainly knew how to take a hit, at least. She could never quite keep him down for longer than a few moments.
Reze watched as Denji swung himself around like some comic book character, twisting and flipping through the air erratically, before somehow maneuvering himself mid air with an additional chain she didn't notice before. Every explosion that missed destroyed more of the city beneath them. Their battle had taken them miles away from where they originally started fighting, and they were getting closer and closer to the Port of Tokyo. Most of the city had been ordered to evacuate, so the casualties were being minimized. Were the people now censoring the coverage on the news now? She wondered if that was why she felt that she was weaker now. But again, she didn't really care much in either direction.
She lost track of Denji while thinking of all that. Hovering in the air using little explosions to propel her upwards, she turned her head and moved her body in an effort to locate the target of her mission. She gasped when she felt a chain suddenly wrap around her body, the blades of a chainsaw digging into her as she was forcefully pulled down from the sky.
"Gotcha!" Denji cried out as he slammed her into a building, before yanking her back out and slamming her down onto the empty street.
Denji darted forward, one of his arms detached while the other revved up a chainsaw prepared to cut Reze in two. Reze struggled against the chains, bleeding more and more as the blades continued to dig into her body the more she moved against the. When Denji got to her, she had just managed to break free from the chains. His chainsaw slashed her across the hip rather than cleaving her into two like he planned too. He knew that if she was like him, than she would likely survive such an attack. But she was just too damn good at this shit.
Denji didn't need to look back to know that Reze had exploded herself behind him now. Hew pivoted on his foot and crashed right through the concrete wall of a parking garage, sliding on his belly like a penguin until he was on the other side of a truck. He pushed himself onto his hands, and pressed the back of his feet against the truck behind him, and kicked back as hard as he could like some donkey. The truck spun and twisted through the air, only to be punched through by Reze.
Cursing to himself, Denji moved to the next car and punted it toward the Bomb Hybrid, causing her to cross her arms and deflect to the side. He threw another car at her, this time it was destroyed by an explosion - which was just what he wanted.
Reze ran through the black smoke of her own explosion, and was met with the big bright headlight of a motorcycle. Denji's long tongue hung out of his mouth as he pushed the bike to accelerate at full speed, one of his chainsaw's spread out to his side. Reze gasped, and raised her arms to block, which proved to be a mistake as Denji slashed straight through it.
"Oof!" Reze gasped again as Denji grabbed her with that same offending arm.
"C'mon Reze! Want to go for an other swim!?" Denji exclaimed the question as he bear hugged Reze to his side similarly to how she did to him earlier in their battle. "I'll take ya there on my new ride!"
Where and how Denji managed to learn how to ride a motorcycle, Reze had no idea. But for whatever reason, he was a natural at it. Whilst pushing the motorcycle to accelerate at full speed, Denji steered the vehicle toward the Port of Tokyo. Reze growled and kicked against him, and shoved his face upwards to get his eyes off the road with her one remaining arm in hopes of getting him to crash. It worked to some extent, as Denji couldn't keep his eyes on the road, and inevitably ended up taking them both onto the sidewalk, which was built at the bottom of a hill.
Using the slanted hill as a ramp, totally on purpose, of course, Denji and Reze were launched into the air and fell from the motorcycle. The flew forward at the same speed of the motorcycle before crashing into the side of a large building on the port, then fell back down onto the ground with two dull thuds which kicked up dust all around them.
Slowly, the two of them got back up to their feet, both of them gasping for air. Denji had lost an arm due to mostly using it to swing himself around by his chains, and Reze was down an arm as well thanks to him cutting it off. Still, they stood against each other.
"Give up yet?" Reze asked, healing her arm back effortless and regaining her stamina via her regeneration. "I got a lot more powerful after putting the fear of bombs into Japan, you know. I don't need as much blood as I needed before anymore."
"Oh yeah?" Denji did not have the same luxury, but he didn't look like nor was he about to give up. "Then you could've used that awesome explosive power to blast me to smithereens earlier! Why waste time talking, eh?"
"Oh, shut up." Reze said with an amused huff. "You're lucky you're cute."
"Your little flirts aren't gonna get to me anymore!" Denji proclaimed. "I'm immune to being seduced while in combat mode!"
"Oh, really?" Reze lowered herself closer to the ground, preparing herself for yet another round of combat. Denji noticed, and brought up his own chainsaw in a defensive posture.
They both knew it, Denji was at a severe disadvantage right now. He was low on blood, energy, and was barely hanging on by a thread.
Though it wasn't Denji who continued to hesitate and stall the inevitable.
"I won't lie, you've definitely gotten better." Reze complimented her opponent. "But you're on your last legs. What do you say to letting me kidnap you? I'll make sure to treat you well on our way back to the Soviet Union."
"Nah," Denji spat blood off to the side. "I'm good. I've got steady job, a house, and two annoying fucks for roommates. What more could I ask for?"
"Hahaha," Reze couldn't help but laugh. "You're so simple, Denji… that's part of why I like you so much."
"Yeah, yeah," Denji sighed. "Get it over with, will ya?"
Reze sighed as well.
Oh well, it was only a matter of time anyway-
"Usage: Ten years."
"Eh-"
Reze was only able to dodge out of the way just enough so that the spear struck her in the leg rather than through her heart. She rolled to a stop, slicing off her own leg with the side of her hand and regrowing it back. She looked up, seeing an Angel standing atop the building, summoning another spear out of the golden glowing halo above his head. He looked down at her with an emotionless expression, his wings spread out to his sides as he prepared another spear.
Another spear was launched at her, this one even faster than the other. Reze was able to twist her body so that the spear pierced through her shoulder instead of her heart, though the force of the spear caused her to fall onto her back.
"Damn, she's fast." Angel commented as he started summoning a third spear. "Really, this is starting to turn into a lot more than one ice cream, Aki."
"I'll get you three if you shut up and keep throwing them." Aki remarked, walking up next to him. Reze scowled at the devil hunters.
"About time you showed up!" She laughed, pushing herself back up to her feet and wrenching the spear out of her shoulder, and throwing it to the side. "I was just about to finish Denji off, you slow pokes!"
"You have no idea the amount of traffic laws I broke in order to get us here in time." Aki commented as he drew his sword. Angel reeled his head back and prepared to throw a third spear, and Reze was prepared to try and dodge it for a third time, but was caught off guard as the human devil hunter grabbed his shoulder, being careful not to touch any of his skin, stopping the devil from launching the third spear.
"What's the matter?" Angel asked, emotionless as ever. "Don't you want me to finish this?"
"Don't waste any more of your years," Aki explained, his eyes widening slightly before his expression turned confident. Unbeknownst to everyone else there, Aki had been given a glimpse into the future.
"There's no need. She's defeated here no matter what."
What does he mean by that? Reze felt her eyes widen as she felt a presence appear near her. Instinctively, she threw her hand out in that direction, sparks already beginning to fly at the-
Black eyes stared at her. Very familiar black eyes.
His uniform was different now. He no longer wore the usual suit of devil hunters, but now was wearing some kind of traditional robes, made from cloth, they were a slightly lighter shade of blue as they wrapped around his body.
There was something very different about the Depression Devil this time. His body was otherwise the same, his very long hair waving with the wind as he pointed a finger at her - the gesture was in the shape of a gun.
The biggest change were his eyes. Whereas before they were full of nothing but a black void, now there was a glowing white symbol taking the shape of cross-airs in a circle which now acted as his iris and pupils.
"Bang."
Reze didn't even realize she was holding her breath. But she didn't get the chance to release it as a hole punctured through her chest.
"Bang."
Her left leg was blasted off, leaving her to hobble backwards before falling onto her one remaining knee. She threw her hand out again, trying to set off another explosion in an attempt to.
"Bang."
The offending arm was ripped off by an invisible force. Reze coughed up blood, staining the front of her chest in red and pooling beneath her form.
The Depression Devil aimed higher now. A smile on his face as he prepared to fire the fourth and final shot. Though, he held himself back as a certain blonde teenager dove at her with his arms outstretched, a desperate expression on his face as he clashed with her.
"Time for our swim, Reze!" Denji cried, melting out of his chainsaw form as the two of them began to fall into the ocean.
Dee let out a long sigh. Having just watched Denji tackle Reze into the ocean, they couldn't help but shake their head in disappointment.
"Even after all that, you still want to save her, huh Denji?" They commented, letting their hand fall to their side. Their new get up didn't exactly have pockets, but there were many places they could stick their hands in and hide them from view.
The Depression Devil meandered to the edge of the port, looking down into the ocean. They saw a reflection of themselves in the dark, blue ravenous waters. Blackened eyes now glowing with a white light from the symbol within them
The Gun Devil flesh they ate granted them a new, powerful ability. It required little to no energy to use, the perfect weapon to their liking.
Aki ran up beside him, a panicked expression on his face as he dropped to his knees and frantically searched for Denji in the water.
"Shit!" Aki swore. "That idiot! What the Hell was he thinking!?"
"They'll be fine." Dee remarked. "I'll find them."
"How? They can wash up anywhere, and there isn't a beach around here for miles!" Aki scowled. "Where were you?! I thought you said that you'd handle her!"
"I was remembering." Dee replied in a flat tone.
Aki leaned back, his eyes widening slightly.
"Remembering what?"
Dee crouched down, reaching toward to but not touching the white tipped waters beneath them.
"Remembering why I came here." Dee replied cryptically, before standing up again. They turned and looked up at Aki, his gaze silencing him from any more outbursts.
"The Shark Fiend will find them, I'll deal with what comes next." Dee said, walking away from the edge of the port.
"You should go home," Dee added. "What comes next is probably something you wouldn't want to see or have a part in."
"What?" Aki looked at him, confused. "What're you talking about?"
"They're right, you know." Angel commented, having just came over but overhearing the entire conversation. "You're a human, so you have the ability to get driven insane by some terrible acts. Us Devil's don't need to worry about such things."
"Tch, since when do you care about how human's feel?"
"Well, I guess I didn't before," Angel looked down at the waters, seeing his rippling reflection on the surface. "But I am also an Angel, after all. So I guess a bit of Guanyin's compassion has been rubbing off on me."
Aki looked at Angel, a confused expression on his face.
"What…?"
"Ah," Angel suddenly looked just as surprised as he. "Why do I… know that name…?"
The question would go unanswered for now.
There were bigger things to worry about at the moment.