The Realm of the Abyss, Duchessborough Castle.
There he was on the dimension screen, laying his tired body on the many corpses, smiling at his hard-earned victory. His golden hair and charming face, tainted with the blood of the many dead imps—the same imps which she sent to clear the rotting area which she declared as her jurisdiction.
{Interesting…using their own tongue against them....} said the Duchess in curiosity.
Her astral form was back to her body, forcing her to watch the interesting human form on the four-cornered screen. She had enough 'force' within her, but the human realm still lacked the sufficient force to even handle her astral form—not after she used her little authority to hold the imps.
She was bored, too bored in her realm of the Abyss, and was waiting for this chance to battle with the pesky angels. Finally, letting loose her fangs and gorging some entertainment.
And she discovered it the moment she entered the mortal realm—to their eventual battlefield known as Earth. Where everyone was searching for the traitor. Even though she also had her search orders, she was busy choosing her area, and, like the devil Lucifer blessing herself, she was met with him.
A single human, with unique features like no other. At first, she was only interested because of his devilishly handsome appearance, considering making him her sex slave. But with every step, he amazed her, breaking her perception of feeble humans.
She didn't know how he used the Imp's Tongue, but she didn't care, as the nature of humans was still ambiguous to her.
{I will keep watching you, boy….what was his name again?…oh right, Aiden….keep entertaining me, Aiden….}
She twirled her dark hair, her twin-tail hair regaling on her pale finger. Her purple eyes glowed with amusement. But her mood came down the moment another screen appeared.
{They finally appeared….what kept them so late…} she said, her amused tone all gone, only coldness pending from her tongue.
...
Finally, taking his eyes off his status, he saw a hand hanging in his direction. He looked beyond, trying to see who it belonged to. His exciting eyes dimming a bit.
He slapped away the hand, standing up on his own feet. The blood of the imps still dripping from his clothes.
Scarface didn't mind, only gazing around the mess that the boy before him created.
"You are a monster, you know that…" he said, a tinge of fear lingering in his words.
Aiden looked back, his golden eyes glaring at him, forcing him to flinch a step back. "You are right…I am a monster. A monster who just saved your ass.." he replied, continuing his walk to his safe house.
What he saw from the bald man's eyes was only fear when he glared at him—not just any fear, a fear similar to seeing a monster, like his words described.
He looked at the building, Emi gazing at him and the bodies of dead monsters he stepped on. Others wouldn't see it, but with his keen eyes, he could clearly see in her eyes. It was the same—the same as the man behind him…..fear.
'Did I overdo it…?' he thought, looking around. He didn't care, the man looking at him that way, but when he met with Emi's eyes looking at him in such a way, a shade of pain clenched his heart.
He clenched his fist, walking by the stairway. He had enough energy to jump to the fifth floor, but he didn't—more accurately, he couldn't. Not when those gazes were on him. For him, it was a familiar sensation—when there were still people, where he was stared down as some alien.
He reached the floor where Emi and his senpai were. Normally, he would speak to Emi, but he didn't have any will to. Walking to the room where his senpai was.
'Let's check up on senpai…'
"Ai…Aiden…" Emi called.
Aiden heard her, his steps stopping, but what he feared was already evident. A scent of fear haunting her call. He could feel it—a call much different than before.
'Well….it's not her fault…anyone would be scared after seeing that butchering mess.' he thought, gritting his teeth.
He paced forward, ignoring her call. But he felt a pull on his bloodied cloth.
"I…I am not scared…" she said, her voice still cloaking her fear.
He sighed, looking back and knocked with surprise. A red mark on her cheek—similar to a handprint.
'Did she slap herself…?' he thought.
Knowing the meaning behind it, he smiled. He brought his bloody hand near her cheek, where she had slapped herself.
"Are you really not?" he asked.
Feeling the cold blood on her cheek, her body wanted to flinch, but she remembered how he had saved her on that fateful day. She knew he was a nice guy—any other guy would have raped her many times within the timeline he was with him. Even though the half-dried blood was cold, his hands were warm.
'He is the same….' she thought.
"No!...." she now said with confidence.
Aiden's smile etched even further, his heavy heart turning light. "Thank you, Emi….thank you so much. I promise I will properly handle stuff like this and think about you."
Emi's cheeks turned red, taking his words literally into her heart. But in hindsight, he was talking about how he handled the imps. Without the help of that demon—her—his senpai would have been dead by now, as his arrogance to be like a main character took over him.
He had power—more power than he thought. His weak will was easy to be drunk on power, but he also had people he cared about around him. So no more. He enjoyed leveling like in games and getting stronger each time, but this was life, not a game, where death was imminent. The former Earth was no more, only leaving a few humans and demons all over the place.
'I thought that demon would come again…..well, can't trust demons…'
...anybody there!
He heard a familiar voice, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Senpai..?"
He came running to the room, with Emi in tow, who was surprised, Aiden calling her senpai out of nowhere.
Both of them entered. The girl who was on death's door now on her toes, like the wounds on her back weren't much to begin with.
"Senpai..?!" he called out, his words shouting his emotions—saying finally, someone he knew.
The girl in bandages gazed back at the golden-haired boy and the girl with cold eyes. She would say thanks, but for many days, she had learned to live cautiously. But the voice of the golden-haired boy caught her off guard.
The only person who called her senpai with that voice was only him.
"Aiden…..?" she asked.
Aiden nodded his head vigorously, sweeping his long golden hair and blood off his face. His face now clear to her as her eyes opened wide. The golden-haired boy whose whole body was covered with blood was her junior.
"…it's really you.." she said, her voice crackling from disbelief. If she had tears, she would have cried from the bubbling warm sensation she was feeling. But she had run out of those tears long ago. But she still had her feet to run to him and her hands to hug him.
Not caring a dime about the blood latched all around his clothes.
"Thank God you are alive…" she said, her heavy tone loosening up a bit.
"You too…." he replied, hugging her back. "….did you get smaller, senpai..?" he asked.
After so many hellish days and nights, a smile came out of her lips, feeling the warmth she was craving from within for so many dark days. "…no, you just got taller…baka." she replied, pinching his waist.
"Ouu…ouu..senpai.."
Emi could only look, not interrupting their happy reunion. She would also be happy that there were survivors, but she didn't feel right, gazing at them with such closeness.
"Oh…didn't know she could smile.." said Scarface.
Emi looked to her side. She didn't know who the man was before, but upon looking closer, she backed away in fright. His scars waking her trauma.
"Yo…you.."
"Don't be scared….I won't do anything more, necessarily. I can't do anything.." he said, looking at the boy who was bathed in blood from the hundreds of monsters he killed.
Knowing Aiden was there, Emi calmed down, taking a step away from the scary bald man.
"Ummm…."
"What..?" Emi asked.
The man looked down, and her gaze followed, to her own hand gripping a long knife, pointing at Scarface like she would finish him in a moment's notice.
"Oh..sorry….it became a habit.." she said, putting her hand down. Her eyes still cautious of him.
With all four now conscious and present, they all sat down, discussing their near-death adventures. Aiden told Akia everything, and so did she—about her parents' deaths, about her trying to fulfill her mother's wish to survive in this hellish world.
As he listened, he wanted to punch Scarface out of existence, but he still brought her to this place. And thank God she was saved before she could lose any more blood.
"Don't worry, senpai….I will keep you safe.." he confidently said.
Aki kindly smiled. "Who will save who…?" she said, showing her hand with a certain white glow.
Both Emi's and Aiden's eyes turned wide in surprise, with different reasons gaping their minds. For Emi, it looked like magic, feeling a warm energy from that glow. But for Aiden, it wasn't her glowing hands, but from the notification which just popped before him.
[Holy Force Detected….]
'….what in the actual fuck..?'