After a split-second of hesitation, Nero pushed down the shock in her chest and peeled off the mask, revealing her blonde hair and blue eyes. She glanced at Lena, who stood there calm as ever, not a flicker of surprise on her face, and asked, "How'd you know it was me?"
Lena pointed at the ponytail swaying behind Nero and said with a smirk, "The smell of coffee."
Damn, that nose is way too sharp.
But what could she do? Against a creature like Lena, whose senses were beyond human, Nero would've had to scrub herself head to toe before disguising herself to avoid getting sniffed out. And let's be real—she wasn't about to go through that hassle every time she played dress-up. Besides, she'd only created two identities to gather intel more effectively, and Lena was never someone she meant to hide from.
As long as Lena didn't blab, this little secret wouldn't cause any trouble.
Nero flashed a "you got me" grin, took Lena's phone, and added herself to the contacts. Handing it back, she said, "You got it wrong, though. I already covered your coffee."
She conveniently left out the part where Sosei had paid Lena back, slyly pulling some goodwill her way.
"What's up then?" Lena tilted her head, cutting straight to the point. She was as direct as they come, skipping all the fluff and getting right to business.
Nero chuckled and leaned in. "Didn't you say you wanted someone to hunt demons with? Well, I'm your gal."
A spark of excitement lit up Lena's eyes. She sized Nero up, gave a nod, and said with a grin, "You're one interesting woman!"
"Rude much?" Nero shot back with a playful smirk. She knew Lena didn't mean anything weird by it, but she corrected her anyway. "Call me Samael when we're out hunting demons. Got it?"
In other words, don't use that name unless they were gearing up for a fight.
Lena nodded, but Nero wasn't entirely convinced she'd grasped the nuance. Just to be safe, she added, "Any other time…"
"Interesting woman," Lena replied without missing a beat.
Alright, she gets it. Nero tilted her head back, feeling the evening breeze, sniffing out the faint trace of demonic energy in the air.
"Over there?" Lena pointed, picking up the same vibe.
Sure enough, the demonic aura was thicker in that direction. Nero didn't bat an eye at Lena's nose being as sharp as her own. After all, this was the same girl who could pick up coffee shop scents from hours ago—tracking demons was probably child's play for her.
"You keeping up?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No problem," Lena said, clutching the emerald pendant at her chest. She called out her weapon's name: "Maxias."
In an instant, ghostly flames flickered in Lena's eyes. The same fire wrapped around her hands and feet, forming curved, claw-like blades.
She dropped to all fours, poised like a cheetah ready to sprint.
"Then don't fall behind," Nero said with a sly grin. She leaped into the air, flipping onto the roof of a low building nearby. Pausing for a second, she glanced back to see how Lena would follow.
Unlike Nero, a descendant of Sparda, Lena's power came entirely from her demonic gear, Maxias. From what Nero could tell, it let her control flames, boosted her physical abilities, and sharpened her demon-sensing skills, but it didn't involve manipulating raw magic. That meant no double jumps or magic-fueled acrobatics like Nero could pull off.
Still, Lena had her own way. With her enhanced strength, she scaled the wall in a flash, using pipes, AC units, and window ledges like stepping stones. She climbed with such grace it was practically flying.
Nero let out a low chuckle. "What are you, a cat?"
She meant Lena's climbing moves, of course.
Seeing Lena could keep up, Nero didn't wait around. She darted across rooftops, weaving through the city until she reached the source of the demonic energy.
Night had fallen. In a dead-end alley, a group of ragged figures—looking like homeless drifters—huddled together. The sound of chewing and swallowing echoed faintly, like they were tearing into something.
Nero dropped from the rooftop, landing behind them. She strolled forward, her boots clicking against the pavement in the narrow alley.
"What's cooking, boys? Got something tasty?" she called out.
One of them turned, his eyes glinting with a feral light. He grinned, baring jagged teeth. "Oh, it's delicious. Wanna bite?"
The other four turned at the sound, blood staining their lips. Their gazes locked onto Nero, hungry and wild.
"Delicious, huh?" Nero said, tilting her head.
"Yeah…" another one murmured, voice dreamy. "It'll make you feel things you've never felt… pleasures you've never known…"
"Look at the moon," one of them rasped. "Crimson… beautiful…"
Too bad for them, it was a cloudy night.
Lena landed beside Nero, silent as a shadow.
Nero's nose wrinkled as she ignored their creepy stares and peered at the center of the group. A swirling mass of black demonic energy hung there, but nothing else remained—just a few bloodstains on the ground, proof something had been there once.
"Hey… heh… come join us…" one of them slurred.
The group staggered to their feet, shuffling out from the alley's depths, closing in on Nero and Lena like a pack of wolves. Nero sighed, muttering, "No saving these guys, huh?"
In the next instant, claws and fur burst through their tattered clothes. Right there in the moonless alley, their bodies twisted. Black fur sprouted, muscles bulged, and their faces stretched into long snouts. Ears shifted to the tops of their heads.
In the blink of an eye, they'd gone from human to towering, wolf-like monsters. No question about it—they'd devoured demon flesh.
And not just any demon, either. Regular demon scraps wouldn't have the juice to turn five humans into mindless beasts this powerful. So what was something like that doing here? A fully developed metropolis wasn't exactly the place you'd expect to dig up ancient demon flesh. Someone—or something—capable of crossing into the demon world had to have dropped this here on purpose. But who? Little Ace? Or the mastermind who turned Mutsu and Kairin into demons?
"Ugly as hell," Lena said bluntly, cutting through Nero's racing thoughts with her no-nonsense jab.
The wolf-beasts didn't take kindly to that. With a snarl, they lunged, claws flashing.