Forum Thread

"Urgghhh..." Athena almost passed out from the sudden wave of exhaustion. Forcing her eyes open, she shook away the sleepiness and reached Aster. Bringing her blade up, she sliced at him, making a cut in his right leg. She attacked like a whirlwind, slicing and dodging. But it wasn't doing anything, Aster was too strong for her attacks to actually have any effect. And the exhaustion was still lingering, making her feel nauseous. She was a tactician, she was supposed to plan out attacks carefully! Not go charging out without any plan in mind. Everyone knew that it wasn't possible to take on a demon by yourself and survive, not even Neo (Abyss?) could do that. Heroism was really going to be the death of her...

---

"Man, Even though you are nice and interesting Calico it would be really nice for a human companion."

---

Aster had to admit. He was caught off guard to see his prey literally charging towards him without a second thought. (Giving Belphi the benefit of the doubt) he also mockingly screamed at Athena, a look of fake shock and terror appearing on his face before melting away when she girl had actually sliced him.

Okay... Now he was really angry. He already had to wait for his busted hand to heal, now his leg? The girl attacked without any real thought, seemingly swiping the air at random- desperate to land a hit. He chuckles mid fight and aims a kick at her chest. "Aw how rude, Belphi shut the door" Aster whines while he waits for Athena to recover from the blow. "How am I going to seek my revenge now?" He swipes the air in front of Athena's face, purposely misjudging the distance so that his claws would just barely miss her throat. "I guess you'll have to do for now" he growls.
...
That girl, Athena. Why did she run out there? Sure, Nox did tell them to attack, but option A or even option C would've worked a lot better. Would Athena be okay? Could she really hold her own against one of these guys? She could tell already that these demons weren't any ordinary demons.

Wonderful assessment Captain Obvious. Nox was still feeling the effects of exhaustion when Belphi came bursting inside. Once again, he was claiming to be friendly and promised to lure away the other demon. Again, Nox was inclined to believe otherwise. She had seen... And well, eventually killed, enough demons to know that they were tricky and didn't really care about humans. Lies and deception are their legal middle names.

So why wasn't she reacting? She should stab this demon right now. It wouldn't take much to move within range. Was she really this desperate for his words to be true? Her gut was screaming at her to attack, but she ignored the feeling and straightened up, trying to appear as menacing as she could. "Drop the girl off and leave" she tells him while glancing behind her and towards the kitchen towards (afk) Cath, Abyss, and Liliac. She was confident about her team, Athena would have to hold her ground for only a few minutes longer if things turned South. Right?

There is was again, another hit of exhaustion. Sure, the food was great and the walk today was long. But was she really this tired!? She didn't remember being this exhausted moments ago. She takes a step back, no longer trusting that she would have the strength to fight any of the demons if things turned South.

Charging out without a second thought was probably the second dumbest thing she had ever done. The first was believing those traitors when they said Neo had died. She was getting rusty. Too late now for regrets. At least she could the useful and lead the demon away, make sure her friends were safe. As much as moving away from the house would probably mean her demise. But she would probably die anyways. The impact sent her flying, and she landed hard on the grass. Now he was just toying with her, they both knew she was not walking away alive.

Narrowing her eyes, she got up, and began running as fast as she could away from the house. Luckily, Cath's devices still worked, and she could move a lot faster than Aster. In a few mere minutes, she had almost reached the edge of the forest. Pausing to take a breath, she looked back, and sure enough, there was the demon lumbering after her. Letting him catch up a bit, she formulated a last minute plan. It obviously wasn't a thought out as her other plans, but maybe, just maybe, it would work. She knew Cath hid emergency supply stashes around the world, and if she could make it to one, it might have the equipment she needed to escape. Seeing that Aster was catching up, she turned around and kept running.

---

Oh hey, wasn't that demon...

The wave of exhaustion stopped Mei's train of thought instantly. Yup, that's exactly who she thought it was. Mei had seen first-hand how powerful Belphi was, but it's been ages since she saw him. Was he really just sleeping the entire time? Speaking of sleep... The urge to just go home and crash was invading her ability to think straight. She could easily overcome it though, thanks to the constant noise in her ear. Cerberus barking his damn head off, the voice of darkness just giggling in her ear, and the commotion that was right in front of her eyes. She would've grabbed some popcorn to watch the scene unfold, if she even knew what that was. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and watched with amusement This was fun, much more enjoyable than actually being involved. Then again... If she was just left alone, or even with just Neo, there was no way she would survive. She could barely survive one, and Aster wasn't even using his ability.

And Belphi... Mei did not want to deal with him. Even with her inflated ego, and even at her strongest, Mei knew that the best she could do was a couple of deep cuts, but nothing that would hinder him.

She would've admired him if he wasn't a demon, really. His acting was on point, and his power was immense. Oh well, maybe if things were different she would allow herself to show her respect. For now though, everyone here, including her, was one step away from death. Cerberus had fallen victim to the spell, which made staying awake a little bit more difficult. She could easily just fall into the shadows and avoid this mess, but that would draw attention to herself. Best to just watch from the sidelines, I guess.

Abyss stood up.

"Oho, what is this? A challenge?"

He walked towards the demons, wearing that stupid, arrogant smirk on his face.

"Woah, Belphi? What's a demon like you doin' all the way out here?"

Abyss twirled his daggers as he approached.

"I knew this host would get me into all sortsa trouble, but seeing a demon as powerful as you around here, I made the right choice, signing a contract with this guy!"

---

Ugh, Aster just had to rain on his parade huh. And who the Hell was this human to speak his name? Oh well, he could work with being an asshole for a change. "Oops, jig's up." He sneered, the pitiful act sliding off his face in an instant confirming Nox's worries. But soon they'd had much more pressing things to worry about as Belphi threw the the bait at the group of humans hoping to send them tumbling like bowling pins, turning around to slam the door shut. Just as he reached the door, he saw Athena speeding away and grit his teeth at the thought of prey escaping. Before he could do anything though, Athena was gone and far outside his range. "Let it go!" He advised Aster, voice dropping into a low growl at the thought of all the energy he would have to use chasing her down. "These cockroaches always come back for its friends. As long as we have the rest under our heel, that maggot will come crawling back in hopes to save them. Now come on. There's a certain purple rat I saw who I suppose is your real target."

---

Yes, she had definitely been tricked. Not surprising, but that didn't make it hurt less. If only she wasn't go 'good' and 'selfless' and 'heroic', maybe she would stop falling for all this. This was probably the ten thousandth time she had been tricked the same way. Spinning around and running back, she mentally cursed herself for not closing the door faster. Now there was a demon in there, with her friends, and who knew what was going to happen next? She also had her own demon to worry about, now that she had turned around, she was speeding right at him. But he didn't matter anymore. Setting her gaze past him, she gained speed and rushed past, before he could score a hit. Almost breaking the door in her haste, she crashed through and got ready to fight.

---

It was quite intriguing to see the technology that the humans have developed come into play. As Aster watches the girl run off, he was tempted to turn his back onto the plan and chase the girl down. Their technology was something, but it would be nothing compared to his full speed. Oh how badly he wanted to test out his powers against their technology...

But the scent of the purple haired girl was driving him crazy. Curses, why did he have to waste time on that girl? He bears his teeth and stares towards the door right as Belphi comes running out. He smiles at Belphi's words. He wouldn't openly admit it, but Belphi was right. The girl would be back, hopefully she would return to corpses. He strides towards the door, frowning when the girl passed by the two and nearly throws herself inside.

"Well that wasn't very smart" he said with an amused smile. "Please, waste your energy before the real battle begins. An easy snack will hit the spot after this fight!" He presses his hand onto the door, holding it open so he can look into the room. A wide grin appears on his lips when he catches Mei sitting back onto her chair. "There you are! Found you~!" He chants.
...
The demon was right there... Why didn't I attack? Why? Nox shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts and waves of exhaustion. She would have time to scold herself later. Now, she would have to ensure everyone in this room survived.

She takes a step forward to catch the woman that Belphi threw, her muscles buckling under her weight. Fortunately, her body seemed to be complying. So she was slowly breaking out of whatever spell she was in just moments ago. She tries to drag the woman inside, clearing the hallway so Abyss, who was standing closest to her, could fight without worry.

Her eyes widen when she sees Belphi slam the door shut. Don't think about that now, focus! Once the woman was safely inside the kitchen Nox relaxes a little bit. She stands close to Ceberus, Cath, and the woman. She silently begs that Athena will be okay and visibly relaxes when she sees Athena throw herself inside. But a horrified look appears on her face when Aster calmly walks inside behind her. She grips her daggers and glances between Abyss, Belphi, Aster, and Liliac, looking visibly anxious on what'll happen next.

Abyss started to laugh.

"How fun, how fun. Two demons and an unconscious woman break into a resistance base. Sounds like the beginning of a wonderful joke, doesn't it?"

"Honestly, you two think you're all that, eh? How amusing!"

"I'm in a human host right now and I could still crush both of you! Granted, this host is one of the most powerful I've had."

---

Guess they spotted her, and now she was target enemy #1, for Aster at least.

"I was wondering when your slow a** was gonna catch up to little ol' me..." She mocked, not exactly threatened by his presence. He was too slow to keep her in Hell, too slow to actually land a blow on her, too slow to engulf her in the flames, and too slow for this little party. Seriously though, shouldn't this be a breeze for him? Oh well, it didn't change the fact that she had to plan her next move, and words, carefully.

Did she? No, of course not, she had a snarky comment to make. Would it be the death of her? Yeah, probably.

"Oh no, so scawwy! I'm gonna cower in fear and let you kill all of my fwiends!" God that childish voice she did was incredibly annoying, even to her. Well if it worked on her, it worked on everyone else, that was good enough right? Not to mention the whole "fwiends" thing... They didn't even like her, and she didn't like them, and this wasn't the mutual feeling that made friendships. It's what made enemies. Speaking of enemies... that whole thing going on with Abyss finally showed itself, and it was as dumb as she thought.

"Hey edge-lord, don't get so cocky there! You're the one acting like you're all that here, get over yourself!" She gave a strong laugh, almost a cackle at how absurd this was. If he was so powerful, why the hell had she never heard of him? Nothing about him sounded familiar, and the 'aura' that could only drip out of him was so feint. Sure, it could be the human part of the whole thing that was covering the demon's true potential, but he didn't even seem dangerous in the slightest. Well, better do something before she was jumped at.

Mei immediately faded to nothing, only to reappear behind the door where Aster couldn't see, then kicking the door to slam it shut. She didn't only use her legs though, a sea of black began to flow behind her as she started her kick, crashing into the door like a tsunami. The kick even shook the room a bit, but afterwards, she returned to her chair and acted as if nothing happened. Well, she tried, but she couldn't hold back the devious grin.

"If us two were the only people in a zombie apocalypse then what would be your weapon of choice Calico?" Sobble gazed at the sky hoping for something interesting to happen or to find someone.

---

Demons. Two of them. Knocking on the door, claiming to bring another injured person to her humble lab, which somehow had the reputation of a resistance base. Why were people letting strangers into her house? Like, seriously, it was getting annoying.

Athena had run into the woods, Nox had fallen into a sleepy stupor. Lilac may have returned to the chair for now, but Cath had seen everything she had done. Based on the demons' incoming trajectory, she had led them here.

Because, correction. Cath may have had an out of body experience for what felt like two days, but she still had access to her security system. And she. Saw. Everything. The words continued to play through her head on a loop, worming their way into her brain...

"I'm in a human host right now and I could still crush both of you! Granted, this host is one of the most powerful I've had."

Abyss was a demon, and he had possessed Neo. So this was what he meant by making a deal with the devil. She resolved to keep this information to herself. Athena felt guilty enough.

She helped Nox get the woman into a third stretcher. She would be fine enough eventually. Professor Caerthynna Elysium entered a string of commands into the wall module. She would fight smart.

---

Everyone was in the kitchen. Cath still hadn't said a word since the battle began. She put a steadying hand on Cerberus, who seemed to like her and Nox better than Lilac at the moment. Mei knew that Abyss was a demon, but she seemed to be the only other one.

Oh well. If this hurts, sorry Neo.

She pushed a button. A high frequency pulse emitted, reverberating around the room. She, even with her freakishly acute hearing, could barely hear it. But as for the demons, they would be crippled by it. Their brains had the exact same reverberation frequency, and would rattle inside their skulls until they were knocked out. Simple. Effective. Not as messy as blade attacks.

She smiled. N-30 brought Cath her bow and quiver. She notched three poison tipped arrows as insurance.

Fight smart, not hard.

"The Professor has joined the battle..." She whispered into the stillness.

---

"Please be quiet, I detest it when mice think its in their place to squeak at a higher being." Belphi intoned, not really minding the ruckus that Mei was kicking up (hah). "Besides, I'm just a lazy good-for-nothing doing his job. I'm sure you understand that's how it works, considering the type of vermin you are. Now, I'd appreciate it if you all just went to Sle-" Before he could even finish, an annoying hum that had only been present in the background began to grow, making him shiver and shake, head twitching as it tried to comprehend what was going on. The sound only grew and grew, pressing against his head as it felt like his insides were attempting to escape out of his body. It was uncomfortable, verging on painful but it was only the smallest of his worries as Belphi realized he couldn't move. He was just stuck there, standing listlessly while he attempted to track down the source of that horrid noise that wouldn't stop and only kept growing louder and louder. His eyes darted around, trying to locate who the isolate vermin was but only spotted the damned dog that Aster had mentioned before and saw a hand on the canine's head. "There you are..." He thought before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the demon collapsed into a heap onto the floor, unconscious.

---

"I'm going to go insane."

---

This was going to be fun! He couldn't wait to slowly cut his way down towards Mei. Her kick caught him off guard, but it showed both him and Belphi what she was capable of. He couldn't wait any longer. He was about to rush past Belphi and attack Abyss when a ringing attacks his ears.

The sound makes him painfully clench his jaw. He tries to turn his head, desperate to block the sound. He lets out an irritated growl when he is unable to escape the sound. His muscles were tense, he finds that it freezes him in his tracks and makes him unable to move. What was happening? Had their technology seriously improved this much.

His vision was becoming dark. He was quickly starting to lose consciousness. It was a struggle, but he takes a step towards the room, desperate to spill some sort of blood. If he is going down, then someone would be going down with him! But he only manages to take a step before collapsing onto the floor.

"Let's run now Calico, towards an ocean." Sobble and Calico run towards a direction lol.

---

Athena saw Cath press a button, and then a slight ringing filled her ears. Not enough to bother her, but it seemed to have a big effect of the demons. They fell unconscious within a matter of seconds. Sometimes Cath was a lot smarter than her when it came to pressurized situations. Neo/Abyss seemed to be uncomfortable too, but... Wouldn't that mean... He was a demon!? Or at least part demon. That... She didn't know what to think. No one could blame Neo for what he did to survive, including letting a demon possess him. But that was just so wrong! They hunted demons! Now Neo was part demon! Abyss was probably the demon, Neo was still in there somewhere, thank the goddessess. If it was only possession, maybe there could be a way to get Neo back...

Of course, this was her fault again. It was her fault for everything Neo went through. And she would never forgive herself. Narrowing her eyes, a new goal was set in her mind. She would bring Neo back, no matter the cost. Then finally would a tiny bit of her debt be payed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cath notch three arrows. Warnings began going off in her head. She knew what Cath was going to do. Turning away completely, she tried to focus on something else. Like Cath's blank wall. Staring at it, she imagined it filling her mind, turning everything blank. This made her vulnerable, it was about as good as falling asleep during battle, but there was no way she was going to relive those memories again. Even if it meant death. They were just too painful.

---

Abyss' eyes widened as the ringing grew. He stumbled, and fell to the floor.

"What the-"

His head felt like it was splitting open, and his nose started to bleed.

"What... is this-"

The throbbing pain didn't stop, and he couldn't think. He hadn't fallen unconscious though, probably because he's half demon.

"Gah- god-"

The color of his eyes flickered from a dark red to it's normal pale blue.

"What the hell is this-"

---

"Can you talk Calico?"

---