บท 47: 45th Adversary: Sudden Victory?
Mainz, Gael.
"Here they come!"
A thug screamed when he saw three persons walking through the blazing streets. These persons were Miko, Ishma, and Regis. It was currently late at night, yet the battle in Mainz hadn't calmed down in the least. In fact, it was like it had intensified.
Miko's demonic crimson eyes were glowing in darkness as he approached the enemy. His entire body was covered with the blood of his enemies as well as his own. His clothes were torn and looked like rags, but all of this only made him look more terrifying. He stretched his hands to the side and two swords made out of crimson flames appeared in his hands.
"Girls, it's time for another round of slaughter."
A huge grin crawled on his face.
"Attack!"
The thugs started firing their weapons at them without leaving anything to spare. Those who excelled in close combat readied themselves to pounce when the chance presented itself.
"Let's go!"
Ishma and Regis dashed forward and faced the onslaught of bullets and rockets without fear. They transformed their arms into blades and swung them at a lightning speed. Bullets bounced off their bodies and were cut as they approached the enemy.
"Use bombs! Bombard them with everything we have!"
The thugs started to throw grenades and other explosives at the two while firing rockets at them.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
Explosions rang out in the night and the flames spread at a terrifying rate.
"Hahaha!"
The men heard a mad laugh coming from inside the mass of flames in front of them. They soon saw Ishma leap out of the flames, and thrust her swords at them. She stabbed through a man and swung her other hand to the side and beheaded a couple of them. Regis flew out of the flames with wings made of blades on her back. She flew into the crowd and cut down people wherever she went. She stopped and then spun like a top, slicing up people like fruits in a blender.
"Damn monsters!"
The thugs cried.
"Monsters? Hey, now. Those are my cute partners you're talking about."
The men looked towards the flames and saw Miko walking through them. He lifted one of his flame swords into the air and the surrounding flames started moving toward him. The flames started merging with the flame sword, causing it to grow bigger. Before long Miko stood holding a giant flame sword. He looked at the men and showed a cruel smile.
"The only monster here is me."
The temperature in the area skyrocketed. The men felt like their skin was on fire.
"What is this?!"
They wanted to point their weapons at Miko, but they became too hot for them to hold. They were forced to let them go.
"Look!"
They all looked toward Miko and saw the flame sword turning crimson. The flames were now the same color as blood. They saw a face appear in the flames. A laughing face, as if a demon was trapped in them.
"Are those the flames of hell?"
One man fell on his bottom in disbelief. His whole body was covered with cold sweat, despite the place being so hot.
Miko saw all the men's expressions and laughed.
"Well, when it's all said and done, it's not like I had a grudge against any of you. It's just that as fate would have it, we're on different sides. Long story short, I don't want to die, so you'll have to!"
Miko swung down the burning sword.
"Ahhh!"
The men screamed in horror as they saw death creeping up on them.
*Bam!*
The moment the sword hit the ground, a tidal wave of flames spread out and devoured everything in the area. The men screamed as their skin melted and their organs were cooked. They all fell dead by the dozens. Before long none of them were left. The buildings also suffered. The flames caused a couple of them to crumble. It became worse when the explosives that were hidden on the men and in some of the buildings exploded. This caused the destruction to spread along with the flames.
"Damn, that was more powerful than I expected it to be."
Miko admired the destruction he caused. He waved his hand and recalled the flames. He felt something flow into his body along with the flames. It was the negative emotions of those he had just slain. He could feel the demonic power inside him grow stronger. His mind also felt more clouded. Cruel thoughts started to run rampant in his mind.
"Miko, unless you want to turn into a bloodthirsty killing machine that can't differentiate between friend and foe, I urge you to deactivate your demon blood."
Ishma walked up to him and said.
"Y-Yeah."
Miko answered with a strained voice. All he could see in front of him was crimson. Everything was starting to become cloudy. He tried to calm down and deactivated his demon blood. After he did, the burn sensation in his body disappeared.
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Good. I can't afford for you to be devoured by your demon blood until you free me."
Ishma smirked.
"Are you alright?"
Regis asked.
"I'm fine. Using Beleth's blood just influences my personality a bit. I'll give it a rest for now, since it feels like my normal abilities have recovered."
Miko looked at the scorched corpses on the ground and ruined buildings.
"Yup. I won't hear the end of this later."
He said with a sigh. He looked further ahead and saw a bar with a sign that said Dazzy's. This was where Daz was hiding.
"Alright, let's go."
He and the girls headed towards the bar. Once they were near it, they realized something strange.
"I can't sense any life inside."
Ishma said.
"I smell blood too."
Miko walked to the door and tried to spread his senses inside. That's when he noticed that there was life in the bar, but only one. He kicked the door open and walked in.
"My, my. Aren't you aggressive?"
The moment he entered, he heard a flirtatious voice. He looked and saw a woman drinking liquor from a bloodstained cup. She sat around the bar counter with her back facing Miko.
"Should I kill her?"
Ishma walked in and asked.
"No. I need to know who she is first."
Miko replied while looking around the bar. There were dead people everywhere, riddled with bullets or with cuts all over their bodies. Their blood was splattered all over the room. The corpses all had painful expressions on their faces.
Miko turned to the woman.
"Not bad. Did you do this?"
"No, it was like this when I came here."
"Why do I find that hard to believe?"
The woman laughed. She turned around in her chair and looked at Miko.
"You need to trust others more, Miko. If you don't, it might be the end of you."
Miko looked at the woman's face. He had to admit that she was pleasing to look at, but he couldn't see himself trying to pursue her. The reason being-
(This woman is poisonous.)
He could sense a very dangerous feeling coming from the woman. It didn't have anything to do with strength, it was more like she had a venomous aura. Despite her face being beautiful, her smile was a bit frightening.
"Every rose has its thorns, huh?"
Miko muttered.
"That's a unique way to describe me."
The woman said with a laugh.
"Well, if I was a rose, then I was one that grew from the concrete streets of the slump. I might be beautiful, but I'm tough."
"Regis, capture her."
"Roger."
Regis quickly moved in front of the woman, grabbed her by her arm, and placed a blade at her neck.
"Move and you die."
Regis's tone was cold.
"Don't worry, I'm harmless."
The woman continued to wear a smile on her face.
"Now then, where's Daz?"
Miko approached her.
"I think you can find him over there, there, and there. He was cut up into so many pieces that it's hard to remember where."
"And you didn't kill him?"
"Well, not directly."
"I see. Final question."
Miko looked into the woman's eyes with a draconic gaze.
"Who are you?"
"Layla Song, but you'd most likely know me by Nebulous."
"Oh, you're Nebulous?"
Ishma's urge to kill doubled when she heard that.
"Bullshit."
Miko instantly denied her claim.
"You don't believe me? What proof do you have I'm not Nebulous."
"If you're Nebulous, why kill Daz? Wasn't he one of your closest subordinates?"
"That's simple. The situation was getting out of hand and he was a loose end."
Layla smiled and then said-
"Also, this is my present to you. It's to show you that I've surrendered."
"You what?"
"I've surrendered. I have too much on my plate, and I admit that. So I had no choice but to surrender to you."
Miko looked at Layla's smiling expression and his eyes turned cold.
"Regis, Ishma. Kill her."
"Roger!"
"With pleasure."
The two girls responded and move to kill Layla.
*Bam!*
That's when the bar door was suddenly blasted open. Miko and the girls looked towards the entrance, ready to fight whoever walked through that door.
"Miko!"
They became perplexed when they heard a familiar voice. They saw Hina, Ace, and Sora rush in, looking quite frantic.
"Right on time."
Layla said. Her mutter was heard by Miko, who quickly looked at her.
"Nebulous!"
When Hina saw Layla, she flew up in a fit of rage, but she didn't act recklessly because she saw the situation before her eyes. Miko was going to kill Nebulous.
"Miko, you can't kill her. We need some information out of her."
Sora quickly urged.
"So you're telling me that this woman is really Nebulous?"
Miko asked with a frown.
"Didn't you hear them? They said Nebulous."
Layla spoke while Regis's blade was pressed against her throat.
"You, you knew they were coming didn't you?"
Layla only smiled in response to Miko's question.
(What a reckless woman. If they were even a second later, she would've been dead right now. Yet, despite knowing this, she had a smile on her face from start till finish. It was like she believed in her own luck to the point of insanity.)
Miko immediately rid this thought out of his head.
(No. She just believes in her ability to control the situation. She had absolute confidence that she would make it out alive.)
Miko silently walked up to Layla and stopped in front of her.
"?!"
The atmosphere suddenly became cold, which caused everyone except Layla to shiver. They saw Miko's body covered by a dark sinister aura. Layla looked up and saw a pair of eyes that was as dark as the deepest abyss staring down at her with no compassion or warmth at all.
"Congratulations, you're the first person in a long time that I truly want to kill."
Miko's voice was like ice in your ears.
"I admit you have what it takes to be this country's Crime God, but you're too dangerous. It would be better off if you were dead."
"But you're not going to kill me, right?"
Layla still kept her smile and remained fearless.
"That's right. I admit killing someone like you would only lead to countless pieces of valuable information going to waste. I'm not that stupid to pass that up."
He turned his back to her and looked at the trio. His eyes weren't cold anymore, and the atmosphere slowly returned to normal. He looked back at Layla.
"Nebulous, I'll accept your surrender for now."
"You can call me Nebby if you like."
"Don't push your luck."
Miko replied coldly.
"First, answer me this. What cornered you so much that you had to come up with this risky plan? Surely you don't think I don't know your goal was to gain my protection, or rather, for me to take you under my custody."
"You knew?"
"You left subliminal hints in our conservation. How could I not pick it up?"
"I see. You're as smart as I hoped."
Layla stopped smiling and spoke with a serious tone.
"The one who cornered me is someone you know very well, Miko. You can say that he's the real mastermind behind everything."
When Miko heard that, a name instantly popped into his head. If was really them, then the situation was extremely serious.
"The one I'm fleeing from is none other than the Great Elder of the Dragna Clan, Krow Dragna."
At that moment a sudden headache hit Miko.
"That damn Krow again."
He cursed. He looked at the serious Layla and thought to himself.
(Krow aside, I can't trust this woman in the slightest. She's plotting something, and I think that I might die if I'm not careful.)
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