Adrian looks up to the giant, pipe grasped tightly in his hand. The brute not worried about Adrian's presence turns back to Rose, more strange grey stuff spirals into Rose.
Times running out, she's in pain.
Adrian runs at him shouting as he gets closer, he prepares a big swing ready to hit him on the back of the head.
Before we see what happens everything goes black.
---
A large unknown clock is ticking, it does not work the same way as a normal one would, large crowds of demons are rushing around a long courtyard preparing and warming up. Mostly by fighting one another. Each of them ranging from different bodies, horns and skin.
Stomping ahead in a hurry is an older muscly man, he has an eye patch over one of his eyes.
''Captain Fon we have approximately 10 minutes till the portals open!''. A guard shouts.
''Where the hell could that low-born be?!''. Fon hisses.
Calming music is playing inside a cozy room, sitting on the bed, a dark-skinned attractive man sits holding a pendant; appreciating it immensely. One final look before placing it in his pocket, He takes a deep breath and goes to exit the room.
As he approaches the door it gets kicked down from the other side, Captain Fon walks in looking redder than he already was before.
''ZELZICK!''. He screams.
Yikes.
''You were meant to be ready an hour ago before the link... You are already testing our patience boy, get to your portal station now before everyone makes the jump''.
Captain Fon screams as he exits the room, he makes sure to add one more remark before he does.
''It's already a mockery that a low-born like yourself is with a squad of royalty... Don't mess this up.''.
Zelzick looks at the destroyed entrance, two guards rush after the enraged Captain Fon.
Back at the courtyard tens of thousands of demons are gathered in squads of 3 each spaced out from the others in a long line, in front of each squad, two metallic rods stick out of the ground. A demon announcer is heard shouting instructions from her megaphone.
''Remember once you have placed your family crest; return via the portal as soon as possible, do not fight angels and also ensure they do not spot you passing your crest. Most importantly stay low and stick together!''.
She continues saying other instructions. Zelzick walks towards the center of the courtyard, his metallic rods are a lot bigger than the others, each set gets smaller from the middle and can be identified by rank, this is determined by what ranking its squad members are, this goes from highest to lowest:
Royal — Lord — Noble — Demon — Low Born
Up on the stand with the largest rods, there is a slender woman with tall horns attached to her forehead, next to her the 8ft red giant, he spots Zelzick coming and calls out to him.
''OOooo look who came, thought you got cold feet and went home HAHAHA!''.
''Garguen stop please we are supposed to be a team, don't make this any harder''. The women adds.
Zelzick goes and tightens his laces.
''Lithus you don't have to worry about me, I'm sure Garguen is glad that im here''. Zelzick says sarcastically, Garguen's voice booms at him.
''HAHAHA you should feel lucky to be in the presence let alone a squad with royalty like us.''.
He continues laughing to himself.
''30 seconds till the portals open''. Shouts the announcer.
All the teams around get ready, sparks start to come off every set of rods in the ground, Garguen smiles, eager to jump in. Zelzick turns to Lithus who is looking nervous, he says.
''I told King Asmodeus that I would keep an eye on you, there's nothing to worry about''.
She snaps out of it instantly and discloses.
''Father does not want me to go. He says that I depend too much on others... I know I'm strong. This will not only proof to him that I am fit to rule one day but also to everyone else who doubts me.''.
Zelzick can see the determination and warmly smiles, he turns back to the portal which is now starting to open.
''All squads JUMP!''. The announcer shouts.
All the squads run into their portals, loud war cries echo as each team charges through.
The once lively courtyard is now fallen silent. Only a few demons remain.
---
Crickets in the bushes of earth are loud, a portal starts to emerge from an empty park near a small fountain, Zelzick, Garguen and Lithus step through, they all look around in amazement. They witness the streetlights and colorful advertisments on the tall buildings.
''Wow, who would have thought that humans would have overtaken us in technology.''. Lithus says bewildered.
''Humans have unlimited potential, makes sense that they can do all of this in so little time, its what makes them the perfect candidates to carry demonic crests.''. Zelzick responds.
They all look forward and see a man staring at the 3 of them, all of them stare back at him; the portal behind them still open. The man drops to the floor screaming and shouting in terror then quickly scampers away.
''These are the humans that we have to entrust? You got to be kidding me.''. Garguen says.
''They may look docile now, but they can be wicked, they learn quick so training them up will be a much quicker process than it would be than choosing another demon as a host.''.
Zelzick continues.
''Right lets stick together, the angels are estimated to be stronger than we -''.
Before he can finish Garguen charges off out the park shouting.
''HAHA Screw that! Gotta use this time to find a good host!''.
Dammit Garguen.
Zelzick goes to run after him but stops to turn back to Lithus, he asks her.
''Lithus you stay here near the portal, I'll go get him. If anyone approaches you, you run through it ok?''.
Zelzick quickly vanishes, Lithus stands there silently. She thinks deeply to herself and becomes visibly frustrated.
''No, I have to prove to father and the others that I can do this on my own.''.
She jumps high onto a surrounding building and runs off.
Garguen is casually walking down the street, he hears fireworks go off in the sky. He jumps back shaking the ground slightly beneath him and looks up.
''A... Attack? No… A signal''. He questions.
He looks further down the street and sees a boy exit a shop, Garguen slides into a nearby alley. Adrian is walking down the road taking bites of his food, dragging his feet. He waits in the alley for him to get closer. Footsteps can be heard approaching louder and louder, the fireworks make it harder to hear him approach.
Garguen gets ready for him to get around the corner, at the moment he thinks he will walk past he quickly peaks out ready to grab.
No one?
After some confusion he looks across the street and sees Adrian entering his apartment building.
He gets back to his mission. As he goes to continue walking he next sees a young girl exiting the same shop.
Rose.
She looks up and walks down the road towards him, he slips back into the same spot.
Zelzick is jumping across rooftops searching frantically for Garguen, the night sky lights his every leap between the buildings, he kneels at the corner of a rooftop and looks around.
He shuts his eyes and releases shadows from underneath him, they go down the building into the streets and alleys below.
He sits patiently for a while, each shadow strain gets thinner and eventually breaks off into smaller ones, suddenly he opens his eyes and leaps again on to another building.
He looks down into the alleyway and finds Garguen holding up a girl, he is in the process of transferring his crest. Zelzick is relieved however notices another person also down there.
Adrian runs at Garguen with the pipe and swings it at Garguen's head, hitting him perfectly.
He backs off dropping the pipe, Garguen slowly rises his head back up and looks at him, Adrian's frozen.
With one quick swipe of his left-hand, Adrian is sent back into the wall winding himself, Rose tries to shout out to him however cannot.
Adrian tries to look at what's in front of him however is too dazed to make sense of it all, he attempts to stand back up. He grabs the pipe yet again and limps slowly towards him.
''HAHAHA your tough kid ill give you that''. Garguen bellows.
He drops Rose, she coughs and tries to regain her breath, Garguen walks off casually, enjoying himself greatly. As he leaves, he notices someone watching him above.
Its Zelzick.
He frowns and quickly dashes away, Zelzick makes chase but quickly remembers Lithus, after some quick decision-making he turns back towards her and the portal.
Garguen now walking the streets alone, is starting to gather the attention of the people around him. All of them start to run in terror from his presence. He leans down into a street food restaurant and starts to help himself to all the food left over; loving everything he gets a hold of. Before he can finish all the plates in front of him, he gets rudely interrupted.
''You know an animal should instead be eating on the floor from a bucket.''.
He leans back out streetfood restaurant, in the road is a small, ginger young man wearing all white, he holds a sword up to him. Garguen rips off the rest of the chicken meat from the bone and tosses it to the floor.
''HAHAHA you funny kid, I like your little sword''. He retorts.
The young man dashes towards Garguen sticking low to the ground, as he gets closer he swings his sword towards his face.
After a loud metallic clash, the young man's sword gets trapped in Garguen's mouth between his teeth, they have morphed into iron. He looks up stunned by what just happened. Garguen swings his leg back and kicks him flying down the road. He then shatters the sword with his teeth.
''Iron... Hide, you must be a royal...''. The young man says coughing up blood.
''Not just any royal. Your looking at a candidate for the next Demon King''. Garguen gloats and begins laughing to himself.
''Shut up.''.
Garguen looks for where the voice came from, a blonde tall lady dressed in white walks forward, she has a burn scar across one side of her face.
''Mark stand.'' she says.
''Charlotte, he's strong. The council was right, high level demons did come h-''.
''This right here is as weak as they are going to be, as soon as they pass their crest and their family grows stronger they too will also.''. She sharply interrupts him then continues.
''If you can't defeat them now then what makes you think you will be able to later on?''.
Mark stays silent, Charlotte looks over to Garguen and takes a fighting pose, he underestimates her.
''HAHA she's right, I will only get more powerful from here, there's nothing you can do-''.
He stops talking, something's different. The laughing personality is quickly changed, Garguen looks at her with a serious expression.
She in the blink of an eye leaves his sight. He spots her last second above swinging her sword down at him, he hardens his arms to block the blade. It works however the attack was so quick he couldn't harden enough to fully stop it. She jumps off his solid arms and creates some distance between them. She enters another stance. Blood leaks from Garguens arm.
She flicks her sword throwing blood up the road, Garguen starts to breathe heavily and let's out a terrifying roar.
---
Adrian helps Rose onto a nearby bench, a person runs past in background, fireworks still going strong.
''I hope everything's ok over there, what the hell was that massive guy!''. Adrian says.
She coughs.
''Are you alright?''. He adds.
''Thanks, yeah I'm not hurt. Just feel a little... strange? Thanks, Adrian.''. Rose says.
A girl runs over to them both, out of breath. She says.
''Rose! There you are I've been looking everywhere for you, are you alright?''.
''Yeah luckily Adrian was with me.''. Rose says.
She hugs Rose tightly, Adrian smiles. Rose's friends turns and speaks to Adrian.
''Thank you, I really appreciate it whatever you did, don't worry I can help her now. You look hurt too you should go see a doctor.''.
''Nah its fine really, I should head home now actually.''. Adrian explains.
''Take care of yourself Adrian, I really appreciate what you did earlier. I'll see you a college yeah?''.
Adrian's face lights up from what Rose said.
''Yeah, sure!''. He replies.
He slowly walks back to his apartment, once he is out of sight of the girls he starts to succumb to his injures. Adrian limps into his apartment building and starts gradually climbing the stairs one by one, he holds his stomach as he does. Once he gets to his floor, he notices that his door is not only wide open but someone is rummaging inside.
He rushes to the entrance to his room.
''Don't worry the door was already open, I didn't break in, unless you count coming through the window then yeah I guess I did.''.
Zelzick says while skimming through a dirty magazine.
''This isn't your room, you should leave. Now!'' Adrian demands.
Zelzick drops the magazine on the bed, he says.
''You know, I saw you earlier attack that guy three times bigger than you.''.
Adrian is surprised.
''Yeah I did… And… If you don't leave now ill do the same to you.''.
Zelzick kicks Adrians feet out from underneath him and places his hand on his stomach, a dark aura starts to emit into him. Adrian tries to escape however is held into submission.
After a few seconds of holding him down, Zelzick gets off him, he shuts the door then heads to the window, Adrian uses what little energy he has to lean up and ask.
''What did you do… To me?''.
Zelzick turns and says to him.
''You will know soon enough.''.
Adrian passes out on the floor, Zelzick looks down to the street below, he whispers under his breath.
''I'm Sorry...''.
Zelzick jumps from the window, Adrian is left alone on the floor motionless.
---
The portal is still open in the park, two young kids are watching it and throwing rocks in it. Zelzick lands in the park and looks around. Lithus is nowhere to be seen, he begins to panic.
She swiftly jumps down and joins him near the portal.
''Im glad your alright, did it go well?''. He says.
''Yeah!'' She gleefully responds.
The two boys are standing there with rocks in their hands, gobsmacked.
''We need to find Garguen now, if not he could be in trouble.'' Zelzick demands.
Lithus nods.
Both Lithus and Zelzick quickly turn their heads to what they think is an attack, something is thrown in their direction.
A head.
Garguen's head.
It rolls across the floor towards them leaving a line of blood, both of them are shook to the core; they see the two assailants.
Charlotte and Mark come forward bearing their blades.
''Your friend was pretty durable, took awhile before we could finally break through.''. Says Charlotte.
Zelzick looks at the decapitated head below, he starts to build up with rage but quickly stops himself. He says to them.
''You really are no different to us, savages who think killing is fine if justified by your own twisted beliefs.''.
Lithus grits her teeth and tenses her face, she is unable to stop her anger, she emits a dark purple aura which witheres all the trees, grass and flowers around her. Zelzick places his hand on her shoulder. She calms down.
Both Zelzick and Charlotte notice the two boys watching from afar watching in fear, Mark gets ready to attack, Charlotte puts her hand out to stop him.
''Why, they are about to escape!?''. Mark wails.
She says nothing, Lithus confirms with Zilzick, she jumps through the portal. He does too but stares at Charlotte as he does. Their eyes following eachother. The two demons leave.
The portal disappears.